Left Behind -Gally-

Chapter 7

A week after the bonfire, it rained again. Luckily, it didn't start until the morning. Emma was able to rest most of the night before the dripping of water began. She moved to the end of her bed, but it wasn't comfortable. After an hour, she decided to get up and get ready for the day.

She ventured toward the Gardens after getting dressed and stopping by the Kitchens to grab breakfast. Newt, Jack, Brandon, and Zart were already there. "Ah, there she is," Newt spoke. "Late as usual."

Emma rolled her eyes. "Not late. All of you got here early." It was unusual for the four boys to be here this early. They usually didn't start until the sun had risen further.

"As soon as the sun shines," Jack winked.

Brandon spoke next. "Rain kept us up. We all decided to get a head start." That made sense to her.

"The rain was relentless last night," Zart muttered under his breath. "It's never been that bad before."

"Or that often." It had just rained less than two weeks ago.

Emma looked at the sky. There were a few clouds, but it was clearing. There were traces of the blue sky. In a few hours, the sun would shine down on them as if it had never left. "Yeah," Newt agreed. It was odd, but there was nothing they could do about it. "Could you help me with this?" The question was directed at Emma.

"Sure." She came to his side. There were three large barrels on different stands. They held fertilizer. The rain had caused the bindings to weaken. They were old, with no sign of any nails to keep them together. To her, that was a mistake. A stand that holds that much weight needed support. "What do you need from me?"

Newt surveyed the stands, scratching the back of his head. "I was going to ask you to help me bind these with fresh thread, but I don't think it'll hold long."

Emma agreed. "Have you tried using nails?"

"Asked Gally once, but he never got around to it. I think it slipped his mind." Newt dropped his hands to his sides. "That was a while ago. We were pretty busy back then. Hasn't been an issue until now." The bindings wouldn't last much longer. If it rained again, they would break.

"I can ask him," Emma offered. "Or Dmitri. Or even ask for the equipment so Brandon can do it himself."

Brandon looked up from his spot on the ground. "I could do it." It would be easy. The Track-Hoe was younger than them but easily the strongest.

"Sure, yeah," Newt agreed without much thought.

"Good that." Emma turned on her heel, walking toward the Builders station.

Zart watched her leave. "Was sending her a good idea?"

"What?"

"Gally doesn't like Emma," the curly-haired boy said. "He'll say no."

Newt shrugged, not having thought about that. He should have gone himself. As Second-in-Command, he could order Gally to do it. "If he does, I'll remind him that it's his job." He couldn't say no to Emma simply because he didn't like her.

Emma walked across the Glade, her hands swinging at her sides. She didn't think much about asking for help. Dmitri would agree, even if Gally didn't. This wasn't about befriending him, not right now. The Gardens needed help, and it was the Builder's job to help. That was it.

As she approached the Builders, she found Dmitri nowhere. He wasn't there. "Shuck," she muttered under her breath. Glader slang came easier to her now. There were a few Builders, but they all appeared busy. Setting her sights on Gally, she built up the courage to ask him. "Gally," she spoke, lacking her normal cheerfulness. The Builder stopped what he was doing and looked up at her, waiting for her to continue. "We use barrels to hold the fertilizer in the Gardens." Gally didn't understand why she was telling him this. "And those barrels sit on stands." A few of the other Builders stopped what they were doing, watching the interaction. "The stands are bound with thread that's falling apart from the rain. One more storm, and they're going to collapse. Can you fix them? Hammer a few nails to keep them stable?"