The Garden of Heathen

White Rabbit

The whole Garden seemed to be buzzing with activity. There were chores to be caught up on and life to live, as far as they could tell the earth was still turning as it usually did, even after tragedy.

No one was immune from the desire for distraction, even Gally was busy bugging Joan about the maze. They spent days in the map room going over the model and the map drawings, Joan tiredly retelling the long history of the unsolvable maze. He'd drag Georgia into it as well, surely so many smart girls could figure this thing out. All he knew was the knot in his chest of wanting to get out of there.

Aussie had finished his first button up shirt and made a second as well, keeping herself busy too. And Gertie was very gung-ho about Gally's physical therapy for his shoulder. She often was roped into the maze discussions since she couldn't pull him away from it as he did his exercises. He never refused to do them or put them off and he always asked about his progress and if he should do more. Gertie was concerned at first that he might do something dumb and set himself back, but that seemed to be exactly what he wanted to avoid, so thankfully he always listened to her. After a few days the sling came off for good, replaced with an arm band Aussie made simply to remind him not to do any heavy lifting for a while.

"Haven't you learned it all by now?" Gertie asked as she walked into the map room.

"No," Gally sighed as he sat at the table, looking blankly at the model. "If I had then I'd have a solution. But I don't."

"Well, maybe it'll come today," Gertie said optimistically, earning a confused glance from him. "You know, in the box? It's newbie day, genius."

"That's today?" He asked in surprise.

"Yeah, you forgot? I wondered why you weren't helping Aussie with the preparations, or at least getting in as much time as you can with her before the newbie sucks up all her time and attention," Gertie grinned teasingly at him.

His brows furrowed. He hadn't thought of it that way, being replaced. It was Aussie's job to show Newbies around, and she'd have to do that for the new girl they'd get today too. But what he and Aussie had going was more than her just taking care of the newbie, wasn't it?

"I wonder if it'll be another boy..." Gertie mused, glancing at him sideways to see his reaction.

He didn't disappoint her as he shot up from his chair and his long legs carried him swiftly towards the door. Gertie raced after him with a grin.

Aussie was pacing by the box as Joan stood stoically.

"Is it time for the-"
Gally's question was interrupted and answered by the loud alarm for the box going off.

He picked up his pace to get there as Aussie stood beside Joan, rigid and tensed in anticipation, jumping when he touched her shoulder. More girls gathered, curious what the box might do today.

"Oh god, oh god," Aussie muttered under her breath, fingers wringing at each other, leg shaking.

"Hey," Gally said, elbowing her when she didn't look at him at first. "It's gonna be fine."

Her stormy blue eyes didn't look any less worried by his assurances. He didn't even convince himself.

The rattling came to a stop and Joan went to open the gates. Aussie's hand snapped out like frogs tongue and grabbed his hand tightly as she waited for the big reveal.

"This one's awake," Joan informed her.

Aussie took a deep breath and Gally felt her thumb rub his palm before she released his hand and carefully climbed down into the box. Gally couldn't help but make a grab for her, not wanting her to get in that thing considering what had happened with the shaft. His hand swiped at empty air however.

Aussie was moving slowly, hunched over to be less intimidating as she approached the girl.

"Hey there," she said softly to the girl cowering in the corner.

"Don't come any closer!" She panted, her arms coiled tightly to her chest.

"Ok, ok, I'm gonna stay right here," Aussie softly complied as she sat down in the box where she was. "I know you must be confused, maybe a little scared. I know I was. But I'm here to help you, ok? Nobody is going to hurt you."

Gally wished he'd had this kind of experience when he'd arrived, hearing kind words from Aussie's sweet voice was much better than what had actually happened.

"Really?" The girl asked doubtfully. "Then what happened to you?"

Aussie was still quite bruised up on her arms and face and had completely forgotten about it.

"Oh me?" She chuckled slightly ruefully as she tried to come up with an explanation. "I just had a run in with ... one of our goats. You can't see them from there, but we have goats and chickens and even a dog. His name is Moo. Oh and my name is Aussie. Do you remember your name yet?"

The girls eyes shifted away from Aussie's with a look of alarm.

"It's ok if you don't," Aussie told her gently. "It'll come to you eventually."

"How do you know that?" The girl asked, shifting her attention back to Aussie, breathing heavily on the verge of panic.

"Because the same thing happened to me and everyone else here. You're not alone, and we're all going to help you through this, ok? Now, you can stay right there for as long as you want, you just let me know when you're ready to come out."

Gally was impressed, Aussie sat there, still and composed, when a minute ago she'd been freaking out. The girl must have relaxed just a little because she rubbed her eyes hard with the heels of her palms for a long moment.

"Do you feel ok?" Aussie asked her quietly, not moving from her spot.

"No, my head hurts," the girl sounded to be on the verge of tears.

"We can give you some medicine to help with that. You probably need to drink some water too, it helps. I can have my friend Gertie bring it here, or you can come with me and we can talk somewhere more comfortable," Aussie offered.

"I- I guess I can come out," the girl agreed.

"Ok, let me tell you this so it doesn't surprise you," Aussie smiled to let her know it was ok. "When you stand up you're going to see grass and trees and other girls. And you're going to see some very big walls, ok? I'll explain everything to you, but first let's take care of that headache, alright?"

Aussie reached her hand toward the girl and slowly began getting up, not wanting to startle her. The girl started to uncurl from the corner. She had on olive colored khaki pants and a white shirt, her hair was long and reddish.

"Did you all get one of these as well?" She asked as she grabbed something from her lap and went to hand it to Aussie. "Do you know what it means?"

Aussie took what turned out to be a small slip of paper. It was white with a black outline of a rabbit on it. Her mouth gaped at it for a second before she recomposed herself and smiled at the girl.

"We know a little bit about this, there's a lot to explain before it'll make sense though, but we'll get to it," Aussie promised. "Come on, let's take care of you first."

The girl took her hand and stood up, looking up at the people gathered at the edge of the box.

"These are my friends, Gertie, Gally, and Joan," Aussie introduced, her eyes trying so hard to communicate with them.

Joan reached down and helped the girl up out of the box and Gally helped Aussie, his eyes never leaving her until she slipped the paper to him.

"Like she said, I'm Gertie, I'm kind of the doctor around here," Gertie said as way of distraction. "You said you had a headache?"

Gally looked up at Aussie to find her eyes already on his.

"White Rabbit," he whispered.