SOJOURNER (III): tmr gally

We should know better

Leo Short

"You feeling any better?" I ask. My hands unwrap the tight bandages around ankle. The skin beneath is red, and slightly swollen, but it seems to be doing better. Her ankle is less rigid, at that. Maybe it wasn't a break. At least, I hope it isn't. I've got nothing to fix her with.

Saph nods up and down, staring forward. Her eyes flicker up to mine, before they glance back down. "It doesn't hurt quite so much."

I nod. The night has practically swallowed the Earth whole. Most people who can sleep are doing so. I'm glad Saph is up as well, and not just me. The pain is probably getting to her. Rose and Hilde are up to watch, and though it is my turn later, I can't sleep now.

"It doesn't seem broken," I tell her, placing her ankle back on the ground. "So, you might just be lucky and have a sprain. You'll have to get someone else to help you walk until I can make you some sort of crutch. No running."

"I can't stop running," she tells me steadily.

I pause my work, leaning back to look at her. She glances down, averting my gaze. Her cheeks tinge pink. It's a look I find all too familiar. A look I'm sure I've given Dawn before.

"You were a Runner?" I ask, trying to keep the lines of communication open between us. "Before you left, I mean."

She shakes her head back and forth. "No, I wasn't. I was a Raiser. Took care of the animals. Marie and I are the only two of those left. She took care of plants."

I look around the room at the group. They've swindled down to less than half the originals.

"What were everyone's jobs?" I ask carefully, glancing around.

"It's mostly Runners left," she tells me, looking around at the group. "Only four weren't, anyway. Just us Raisers, and the two Builders. Misi and Sacha."

I don't know those girls, but I nod anyway. "Why do you care about running so much?" I ask, looking her up and down.

She looks at the ground beneath her feet. I can't help but feel the guilt piling up in my stomach.

"Everyone who died in the lightning storm was a Builder or a Raiser." She tells me. "Only the Runners are living. If I can't run, it might be me next."

My heart sinks in my chest as I think about Newt. He can run, but not well. What if his body lies out in the sand, and we simply haven't looked for it? Perhaps he, like some of the other boys, his corpse was set on fire and he turned to ash. I don't know if he's alive.

That's why I can't sleep anymore. I think about all of us that have died, and think about the Group A. What if their numbers reflect our own? What if they are worse? With him and Dawn gone, they both could die, and I would never know what happens to them. That might be worse than the truth, because no matter how hard I try I can't seem to imagine the pair of them living. It seems more than impossible to picture something good out here. How could Dawn just pick up and leave us?

"You feel it too," her voice is still and practically silent.

"Sorry?" I ask, not quite understanding.

She reclines, moving further backwards. "You remember Beth?"

Beth was their Gally. I've heard her mentioned briefly, in passing and in hushed whispers, but I haven't paid much attention to their gossip. I nod carefully, moving my head up and down.