Everywhere, Everything ◆ Thomas ◆ TMR

010 - Greenie

Ari jumped in shock as Ben's eyes opened, bumping into jeff who took ahold of her arms to steady her.

Ben turned his head slowly. The way he was looking at her, was so full of betrayal and hurt and so much pure anger that she felt it all the way in her bones. His mouth was turned in an upset frown. "What are you doing here?"

His voice was quiet, shaking with a growl. Ari looked to Clint for support, but he looked just as confused as she felt. Jeff's hand tightened on her arm.

"I wanted to see you, Ben," she said. She didn't know the Runner very well, but there was a connection to him that had taken ahold over the past day. But of course, Ben wouldn't feel that.

"Get out," He sneered, his upper lip lifting to show his teeth like an angry dog. "Get out!"

Ari did not move. Her bones were frozen in complete shock at the outburst. No matter how much she told her body to move, it refused to obey the command. Ben rose from his place on the bed, stumbling as the quick movement threw him off balance. He caught himself against the table.

Within a second, Jeff had pushed her body behind him, holding out his hand in a gesture for the other boy to calm. "Ben, take it easy, all right?"

Ben threw himself forward, but the Keeper of the Med-jacks had already calculated the move and had him blocked before Ari even registered the movement. Clint and Jeff were on him while she was stuck by the door, shaking with panic.

"You can't trust her!" He screamed, spit flying from his mouth. It was like she could see the sanity slowly leave his eyes. "They'll kill us! They'll kill us all!"

He squirmed and screamed in the two boys hold, and it wasn't long before Alby came bursting through the door, pushing her aside so hard that her side slammed against the wall. Newt followed, and Ben's words were becoming a mess of screeching curses thrown at the world, at her, at the creators. There was not a thing in the universe that was not out to get him.

Her vision blurred, and it was like the flooring had been removed from under her feet. Her stomach felt the same way as if she was falling down to the first floor of the building, and she was just standing there, waiting for the impact of the hard ground.

Alby was yelling, and she was sure she heard her name in there somewhere, but she just couldn't get herself to move. Ben was like a wild animal, spit flying in the air like bullets as he fired his mistrust into every single listening ear. Mostly her own.

She didn't even know what he was saying anymore, and she'd known since she woke up in the glade that she'd been involved with the creators. But having an assumption of it with Newt in her ear, bashing every single doubt of her morality away because she'd come here to save their leader – so how bad could she be? – and hearing it from someone who was getting their memories back? It was completely different.

Maybe it was time she simply just accepted that she was bad and stopped worrying about it.

"What are you doing up here Greenie?" Alby yelled, bringing her out of her head. The leader looked furious, perhaps more than she'd ever seen him. His momentary loss of focus let Ben's arm slip free to hit Newt over the head, making the blond groan in shocked pain. "Ari, get the shank out of here right now and don't let me see him 'till morning."

She was set into motion immediately, grabbing ahold of the frozen boy in the door and pushing him into the hallway. It shut with a rattling bang, and her heart had not stopped its furious pounding. But even then, she was sure she didn't look at bad as the Greenie in front of her.

They were both observing each other with horrified faces, breathing heavily and uncertain of what to do. Her eyes flickered between his; brown and calm, with specks of green like the trees in the deadheads. They gave the same feeling of serenity as sitting in the quiet woods and breathing. She thought maybe something must have been lodged in her windpipe for the past month, because air had never flowed into her lungs so easily and without strain.