𝗚𝗥𝗢𝗪𝗧𝗛, gally (tmr)

Chapter Eleven

The next day, Ada found herself scouring the edge of the forest, looking for twigs they could use in a fire. She was moving as slowly as possible, since Frypan was making sandwiches, and they were possibly the most boring thing she had to do in the kitchen.

And then, from the depths of the forest, she heard a shout.

Her head perked, straightening up from where she was crouched at the forest floor, and she looked either way to try and find the source of the noise. Seeing nothing, she chose to turn back to the Gardens; to find Newt so he could investigate it instead of her.

But then something happened in the blink of an eye.

Thomas' cries for help had hit her ears a moment too late, and when he came crashing to the ground from the Deadheads, a seemingly feral Ben had crawled on top of him. He was snarling, speaking incoherently, and scratching at the poor boy.

Ada, being the closest to the chaos, dropped the bundles of sticks in her arms instantly and bounded over. She grabbed Ben's collar, and attempted to yank him back off the boy, briefly stealing the attention from Thomas and moving it onto herself.

Ben's eyes were dark and his skin was deathly pale; as if he was sick. He dug his fingernails into either one of her arms, making her cry out in pain, before shoving her to the ground. She narrowly avoided whacking her head as she crumpled, and Ben had already turned his attention back to Thomas, who had attempted to crawl away.

Hovering over the innocent boy again, he began to yell out, "I'll kill you!"

Ada struggled to stand up from the ground, but it seemed she had nothing to do when she did. Newt and a number of other Gladers had arrived on the scene, with the blonde boy swiftly smacking the attacker over the head with his shovel.

Ben was immediately pinned to the ground by a few boys, including Gally, to tried to persuade him to 'calm down'. Ada couldn't see the point in this.

Can't they see he's past the point of return?

Immediately after catching his ghastly expression, she had caught onto the fact he was Stung. Gally confirmed this, lifting the edge of his shirt to reveal the dark sting on his stomach, and dropping it down again.

Alby ordered his move to the Slammer. Ben was still fighting the boys holding him captive, but what had Ada pitying him was the way he had yelled out for them to just help him.

She wished they did.

She found herself being guided away from the muttering crowds by a strong hand on her shoulder. Stifling a sob, now feeling the marks on her shoulders from where Ben had pierced her skin and even caused bleeding, she managed to glance up at the figure to identify him as Gally.

Once they were under the shade of the trees, Gally took his hand from her shoulder and instead engulfed her in a hug. Holding her close to his chest, she found no choice but to wind her arms around his waist and hug him back as tightly as possible. She tried to slow her tears, but the thought of her infected friend, and her still painful shoulders, were all too much.

She wasn't aware of it, but Gally was death glaring anyone that sent them a glance. He was more concerned about her than she could possibly imagine, and when they broke apart, he began scanning her for injuries.

"Did he hurt you?" He murmured, in a low voice.

She rolled up her sleeves to show the nail marks Ben had left. Parts of her skin was smeared with blood, but it mostly looked fine, despite how it stung. She shrugged off Gally's concern, but waited patiently for him to return with a towel to wipe up the blood and some bandages.