The Garden of Heathen

Broken

Gally felt the air sucked out of the room with Gertie's words. It was unacceptable, he had to have misheard her.

"Wh-what?"

With tears free falling down her face, Gertie stepped sideways and gestured toward and empty cabinet and the mess around the room he hadn't noticed yet.

"I kept them right here, and when the Griever came I went straight to them to be ready for anyone that was stung, but they were gone. I made this mess looking everywhere for them," Gertie explained to him through sobs as her voice got more and more congested sounding. When she looked back at Gally he had a wild glint in his eyes.

"Where is Aris?"

Aris was huddled in the basement, being comforted by a few girls when quick, heavy footfalls came rumbling down the stairs. Gally appeared, red and sweaty, panting as his eyes scanned the room beneath his deeply furrowed brows. He looked crazy, he would have looked like he was stung if there were any black veins, but Aris didn't see any. Finally, Gally's eyes locked onto Aris and the smaller boy felt himself shrink even more as Gally's face distorted in rage as he flew across the room. When Gally's fist connected with his face he almost forgot his name for real.

"Where is the serum?!" He heard Gally's voice yell at him but the bright white lights popping in his vision made it impossible to see even a giant like Gally. He felt a fist holding the front of his shirt and could just imagine the other one winding up to hit him again.

There was a commotion as some girls tried to get away and others tried to get closer. Joan had come and held Gally back from landing another blow before Aris could answer him.

"What's going on Gally?" Joan asked through a voice strained with the effort of holding his arm back.

"The serum is gone! He did it-I know he did it!" Gally yelled again, the rage of his voice and actions scaring everyone. Joan almost lost control of him as he had a burst of strength.

"Who needs the serum?" Joan asked next.
She felt some of his tension slacken as his strength wavered. She saw him unclench and reclench his fist. This didn't bode well in her mind.

"Aussie," Gally breathed finally.

"Oh shuck..." Joan breathed as she lost her own strength and her grip on Gally's arm.

Even Aris looked shocked and upset by the news.

"You tell me where it is, right now," Gally tried to demand but it came out more pleadingly than he wanted.

"Why do you think Aris had something to do with it?" One girl spoke up defiantly, earning a soft murmur of agreement around the room.

"Because he probably did," Rachel stated firmly as she came to Gally's side, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Gally, go be with Aussie, I'll find the serum."

Gally still held onto Aris, tears falling even though all he felt was anger, all he wanted to do was beat Aris till he was a smear on the basement floor. Part of him couldn't bear to watch the humanity slip from Aussie, to have to hold her down as they strapped her to the bed because she was thrashing around like Rani had. He couldn't handle it. But also there was an ever shrinking window of sanity she had left in which he could tell her something important.

"Gally, trust me," Rachel told him, her voice was strong and resolute. He felt like he really could trust her with this. "I got this. Go be with Aussie."

Gally's grip on Aris loosened and he slowly staggered to his feet, shuffling back a few steps before turning and racing back upstairs. Rachel took Gally's place in front of Aris and as his vision cleared he did not see the face of a friend.