They Don't Own Me

Chapter 37

"Oh my god," Ivy breathed. She stood quickly, ignoring Nicole and James, and went to her friend's side.

"Is it really you?" Gally said, his voice weak and strained.

"Yeah, Gally. It's me." She grabbed his hand when he reached for her, squeezing it to give him some comfort. "Oh my god, Gally. I don't understand. How are you here? Minho, he... the spear..."

"We found him in an abandoned WCKD facility," James told her. "There was a spear in his chest and we thought he was dead. It wasn't until we heard him move that we realized that he was still breathing. Turns out the spear was able to keep him from bleeding out. We got him out of there and I managed to stop the bleeding and save him."

Ivy studied the boy before her. His body was covered in a thin layer of sweat, like he had a fever. His shirt had been removed but most of it was now covered in bandages. Ivy could see the patch of blood where he had been hit with the spear. Ivy shakily reached her free hand forward, letting it rest above the wound but not touch it. She could remember staring at Gally after he had shot Chuck; she remembered looking into his eyes and still seeing a bit of life left in them. Had she realized that he was still alive, she would have begged WCKD to take him with the rest of them so they could heal him. Now, looking at him here, covered in sweat, bandages, and blood, she wished that she could have done more.

Ivy shut her eyes, willing herself not to cry. She could feel Gally's grip slack a little on her hand. She opened her eyes and saw that he had merely fallen asleep. After a minute of silence, she looked back at James, noting that Nicole was no longer there.

"He's going to be okay?" she asked him.

"With plenty of rest, he should be. The spear almost hit his lung; the tip just barely grazed it. He was lucky. Certain activities may be difficult at first, but with time, he should be back to his normal self."

"What kind of activities?"

"Lift objects above a certain weight, running, anything that would cause a lot of physical labor."

Ivy couldn't help the small chuckle that escaped her.

"He's not going to react well to that news. That's all he's done the past three years. He hates not being able to do anything."

"Were you two close back in the Maze?"

"Not as close as some of the others there, but we had our moments. I thought he had died."

"He was close to it. But we got to him just in time."

Ivy nodded. James knelt down next to her so he could start working on her stitches. Ivy sat still, only moving when James needed access to another one of her wounds. She pulled off her shirt at one point so James could get to her other bullet wounds. James let out a low whistle after he pulled the bandages away from under her tank top.

"What the h*ll did they do you in those Mazes?"

"Things you wouldn't believe."

"How long were you there?"

"Three and a half years. We escaped..." She paused to do the math. "Almost a week ago. It seems so much longer than that."

"You've been through a lot these last few days. It's understandable."

"When did you find him?" Ivy questioned, looking back at Gally.

"About three days ago? He woke up yesterday, but all we got was mumbling from him. Those were the first understandable words I've been able to get from him."

"And has he always been like this?"

"Only for a day or two. He broke out into a fever so he's sweating it off right now. The fact that he's resting is helping. I found some pain reducers in the pack you guys brought, along with two tubes of some kind of blue liquid. We can give him the painkillers later if he needs them."