The Garden of Heathen

Forget Me Not

"Gally, what is i- What did you do to her?!" Gertie heard him before she saw him and, when her eyes landed on the unconscious half dressed Aussie in his arms, she went a bit nuclear on him.

"Let's get her inside first," he said as he kept moving toward the house, girls coming out of the trees where they hung hammocks and slept at night.

Joan and Georgia fell in step with him while Gertie ran ahead to open the door. He took her to the back room, laying her gently on the bed. Joan and Georgia came in the room as well and girls started to come into the house to see what was happening.

"Shut the door," Gally told Gertie.

She hesitated, giving him a look of worry and confusion.

"Gally, you're scaring me," she told him honestly.

"I'm scared too," he almost snapped at her and tried to calm himself down a bit. "Please, just shut the door and I'll tell you everything."

She got up and kicked the door closed before returning to the bed side.

"Start talking," she told him as she put a hand on Aussie's forehead.

Aussie seemed to be asleep, but her eyes were moving rapidly behind her lids, her lips moving in almost inaudible mutterings.

"I walked her to her house because we were both worried about Aris, and she- ah, she asked me if I wanted to stay," he admitted, her limp hand clasped in both of his as he knelt by the bed.

Gertie's eyes darted to him across the bed, a narrow, accusing glare.

"Were you guys-"

"No, shut up, I'm telling you," he interrupted, feeling there wasn't time to waste. "I left to get the mat from the tent to sleep on the floor, she must have been changing- I don't know, but I got back and found her... and Aris on her bed... and she was dressed like this."

"Oh god! What?!" Gertie exclaimed, her face contorting in shock and disgust.

"He did something to her?" Joan asked.

"I don't know," Gally almost broke down in tears. "She wasn't trying to stop him. He held her and he was about to kiss her-"

"No, she wouldn't do that," Gertie firmly shook her head.

"What did he do? Where is he?" Joan asked pointedly.

"I pulled him off her... I might have shoved him down the stairs-"

"Good!" Gertie commented.

"- and he fell into the pit as he tried to get away from me, so I turned back to check on her. She was curled up in a ball with her hands over her ears, and her hand looked like this."

Joan tore out of the room real fast, closing the door behind her again as Gally showed her the hand he was holding, revealing a small puncture and some black veins near it, the top layer of skin slightly peeled near the wound.

"What the..." Gertie muttered as she looked at it.

"I saw one of those things in her room, the little shucking robots," he told her. "I think it did this to her, but I don't know what this is!"

"I think you're right, this is like... she was electrocuted or something. But..." Gertie trailed off as she looked at the rest of Aussie.

"But what?" He pressed her.

"I don't doubt that thing could electrocute her somehow, but electrocution has an entry and exit point," Georgia informed him.

"Help me look for another wound or mark- and try not to enjoy it too much either," Gertie told him, still giving him an untrusting look.