Of course Alby wanted to have a Gathering, which I thought was pointless since Ben was dead. The arrow had landed in his skull, coming out the other side of his cheek. But Ben had been pronounced dead upon impact.
I expected to hear something from Gally because I was yet again involved with another death, but surprisingly he went after Thomas.
"I told you something was fishy about him." Gally scowled, pointing a finger at Thomas. "Why would Benny attack the Newbie after getting stung? He saw something." Thomas of course looked confused. He had no actual idea what the Changing was, just that it was gross and made Ben crazy. "Not to mention Jane just so happened to be there." I slumped in my chair. There it was.
"We already heard that Jane was an innocent bystander, Ben didn't say anything about her." Alby pinched his nose. Gally liked to repeat himself a lot, so this wasn't anything new that I was suspicious of anything.
"That we know of. For all we know, he could be lying for her."
"Hey Gally, how 'bout you shut your shuck face hole. You weren't there, and if you were, you would have klunked your pants from the sight of 'Benny'."
Gally's face turned almost purple from how mad he was. Alby and Frypan pushed him back down when he stood up to threaten me. "You fuck-"
"Watch it." Alby warned then he turned to, eyes set hard. "No speaking until you're asked to." I sarcastically zipped my lips and flicked the 'key' away. Thomas stared at me, mouth agape. Gally wasn't that scary, just a big bully with no real points and a lot of skepticism. "Now there's nothing we can really do, considering they were defending themselves and Ben is...well, dead." Gally muttered something about a waste of time and I actually agreed with him. Alby looked uncomfortable and scratched his neck. "Good that. We'll end the Gathering there. Get back to work."
Everyone filed out, but I stayed behind with Newt and Alby. I sent Thomas to go help Chuck.
"What's up, Jane?" Newt asked.
"Why doesn't Gally trust Thomas? Did he ever tell you what he saw in the changing?"
Alby shook his head. "You're the only one to say what you saw. But it can't be a coincidence that Gally and Ben saw something on our Greenie and they freak out about it." He rubbed his jaw with his fingertips. "I want you to keep an eye on Thomas. Not the stalking type. Be his friend, help him and what not, but I want to actually make sure there's nothing off with him."
I nodded and headed for the door, Newt catching up with me. "Hey. Are you okay?"
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" He looked at me like I was stupid for asking that. I sighed. "I'm fine. Still a little shaken up, but nothing I can't walk off."
He bobbed his head, silent for a second. Then, "Did you visit Nick?"
"I did. We're gonna have to replace the wood soon."
"Not surprised with the temperature of those bloody woods." We walked down the steps and I wanted to talk more to Newt, but I didn't know what to say. I felt bad for going mute on them, but I couldn't help it. It was better to say nothing then cry all the time. When I did finally find something to say a loud alarm went off, scaring me. I looked around and then realized what it was.
"The box." We said at the same time.
"Why is it coming up?" I ran off to the box, everyone having the same idea. It was chaotic when I got there, everyone wanting to be in the front and talking over each other. I pushed and elbowed my way to the front, Newt following closely behind me.
"Jane, what's going on?" Thomas and Chuck, stood a couple people behind us and were just as confused as we were.
"Maybe it's just early supplies."
