The Reason

Resistance

Gally was going to collect Thomas for his night in the pit when he overheard a terrible commotion in the hut where they'd been keeping Alby. There was talk of a syringe and not knowing whether it would kill him or not. After Newt agreed to let them inject Alby, the leader came to, grabbing Thomas and yelling. It all happened so fast and went suddenly silent. Gally ventured in, his eyes sharply avoiding the new girl, and looked at Thomas.

"Sun down, Greenie," He said, not sounding as tough as he wanted to, still shaken by what he'd just heard. "Time to go."

He led Thomas across the glade by firelight, feeling even more determined to do anything to keep Thomas from shucking up their lives even more than he already had. If he had to get nasty to do it, so be it. Nikola might lose all respect for him, but at least she'd be safe. There was no peace without sacrifice.

"What is your problem with me?" Thomas asked him, earning an emotionless stare.

"Everything started going wrong the minute you showed up," Gally informed him as if he didn't know. "First Ben, then Alby... Now the girl. Everybody saw she recognized you. And I'm betting you know who she is."

Thomas didn't have anything to say to that. Gally opened up the pit and stood back for Thomas to go in, closing the barred door behind him and bending over to secure it closed.

"Gally," Thomas voiced called up to him. "Y-you know we can't stay here forever... right?"

Gally didn't say anything to that. Until Thomas had shown up, staying there forever didn't seem all that terrible if it meant they were safe. If staying there forever meant no one would be stung or killed by grievers, it seemed worth it to Gally. And he couldn't let Thomas jeopardize that for him or anyone else. He stood up silently and walked away.

Nikola had to spend that night with the new girl, Teresa, and she was not happy about it. She'd begged Newt to let her stay somewhere else, but one look from Gally and Newt was immovable on the subject, obviously not as all powerful as he'd seemed when he appointed Thomas a runner. So, Nikola lay there with an icepack on her swollen and bruised nose, trying not to fall asleep in case Teresa decided to finish her off. She felt like such an idiot for feeling guilty about the boys having someone else to lust after, she hoped for it now.

"Hey," Teresa spoke with a voice sweet like honey. "I'm sorry."

Nikola said nothing.

"I know we got off to a bad start, but I hope we can get along," Teresa tried hopefully.

"Listen," Nikola said from beneath her icepack, her voice more nasal than usual. "I've got a splitting headache and my face is sore, all thanks to you. So, if you don't mind, just shut up and leave me alone until morning. We can work it out then, alright?"

She heard Teresa chuckle lightly. "That's fair," she relented and Nikola heard her settle down into bed. "But you sound like that tall, angry boy."

Nikola's head throbbed harder as she willed herself not to cry at the thought of Gally. She closed her eyes tightly and tried to calm down. She thought of that fateful night, the one not that long ago that felt like forever ago, when she'd pressed her lips to his. His lips had been softer than she'd expected, and the way he held her... the way those lips moved with hers, she'd almost forgotten her name all over again. She just kept playing that in her head, never getting to the end where he'd pulled away, never got to him locking her in this very room, never got to him avoiding her. In her mind all they did was kiss.