The Implant Variable

Young and Vulnerable

            "Hey, what is your problem with me?" Thomas glanced up at Gally, who was a solid four or five inches taller than him. They crossed over to the pit as the sky darkened rapidly, already almost full-on night even though the sun had just finished setting. Gally's torch swayed with his gait, the Builder not hesitant to explain his reasoning for having a distaste in all the recent Greenies.

"Everything started going wrong the minute you showed up," Gally began, in a half explanatory, half accusing tone. "First Ben, then Alby... And now the girls." None of it had happened before Thomas's arrival, and seeing as Gally just wanted to keep things as they'd always been, it was understandable that he would be upset. But there was nothing Thomas had done that directly caused any of those things, just coincidence he'd been involved in them. "Both of the girls. You come back from your little joyride in the Maze with one you found, and everyone saw that the other one recognized you." Gally held out his hand, making a point as they stopped just in front of the pit. "And I'm betting," he jabbed his forefinger into Thomas's chest intimidatingly, narrowing his eyes at the other boy. "That you know who she is."

Gally nodded in affirmation at his own statement, satisfied with the silence as Thomas didn't quip back. He leaned over, stabbing the torch into the soft soil. "Hey, She-enie. How's your fist holding up?" Gally taunted Rachel, but she merely stared back at him with a blank expression. "Try anything and I'll personally see to your banishment," the male threatened, untying the door to the cell so Thomas could get in. To his pleasure, Rachel didn't move a muscle while the door was open, and Thomas cooperatively hopped inside, thanks to the fact it ultimately had been Newt's decision to put him there. The Glader with seniority shut the door once more, beginning to secure it when Thomas's annoying voice piped into his ears.

"Gally," the Greenie began, grabbing one of the bars and staring up at the boy he was addressing with squinted eyes. "...You know we can't stay here forever... Right?"

The Builder slowed his tying down, making eye contact with Thomas as he finished off the knot. Gally glared at him for a moment, as if to say "Don't tell me what I can and can't do", before seizing the torch and storming away, leaving Thomas and Rachel in the darkness alone.

Thomas turned, his eyes not yet adjusted to the lack of light, so he couldn't see Rachel. She seemed to have noticed, or probably been thinking the same thing, because her voice cut through the silence. "I'll sleep on the left half, I'm in the back now." He could hear shuffling, before feeling a hand on his shoulder and tensing up, startled. "Relax," Rachel instructed, the eye roll evident in her voice. "I was just reaching over because I didn't know where you were." She patted his shoulder twice, before slumping down against the wall she'd said she would. "Get comfy, and welcome to hell."

As the hours passed, Rachel and Thomas had nothing to do besides talk, and so that's what they did. "We had this giant bonfire," he told her, amazed at how long ago that had felt like, even though it was only a few nights prior. "Gally makes this dis-gus-ting moonshine, burns your throat like you've gone to hell and back. Nasty stuff." Thomas ran a hand through his hair, the tips of his shoes touching hers as they sat against opposite walls of the pit. "But I remembered my name, that night. Gally whooped my ass and suddenly I remembered."

Rachel giggled at this, having grown more comfortable around Thomas the longer they spent together. "God, you sound like Aris now," she shook her head a little, before starting her own story. "When he came up, the girls hated him, they wanted to throw him to the Shades as bait. I was the only one who stuck up for him, and when the other girls finally accepted him as one of us, Ximena freaking nailed him square in the cheek." She laughed, finding the story funny now, even though it hadn't been at the time. "And then he remembered his name. She always said that was the fastest way to remember. Guess she was right after all." Rachel smiled at the memory of the other Icers, glad she could tell stories like this, because it made her feel like they were still right there with her.