Sapphire Stones

Ben taps into his inner animal! (🦁🐯🐻! Oh my!)

I'm bandaging up Winston's arm when the screaming starts. I immediately drop the bandages that are halfway around the Slicer's arm, the shouting startling me. I think I might be going crazy; that this is just a voice in my head, a side effect of the dreams from last night. When I look over at Winston, however, he has the exact same look on his face.Winston shoots to his feet before I can finish wrapping his bloodied arm, already out the door and into the sunlight before I can start running after him. When I step outside, I notice that the Glade has turned to utter chaos. 

The Gladers are all running towards the outskirts of the Deadheads where the source of the commotion must be coming from. I just barely catch of glimpse of blonde hair through the thick crowd of boys before the shouting comes to a stop.

The Glade is silent for only a moment before I hear Newt ordering a few Keepers to hold someone down. I can't see over the crowd. No matter where I try to move to, there always seems to be someone in the way.

I can hear boys grunting as they try to hold the blonde boy down, but I can't see who the blonde is. I can hear someone snarling as the Keepers hold the kid still.

"Calm down! What are you doing?!" I hear Newt's thick accent cut through the commotion of the boys in front of me. I hear quiet whispers of who the kid is, but there's too much noise to be able to fully understand what they're saying. 

It's when I hear Gally shout, "Calm down, Ben!" that I feel my heart drop. He should be in the Maze, not here. I immediately force myself forward, pushing the boys around me out of the way so that I can see what happened.

"What the hell happened?!" Frypan asks, struggling along with the other Keeper's to keep Ben still. 

"He just attacked me!" The new boy, Thomas, says, standing up and panting. Chuck stands beside him, trying to console the kid. 

I finally am able to break through to the front, wishing instantly that I hadn't been so curious. My hands cover my mouth as I stare at Ben writhing and snarling on the ground, held down by Newt, Gally, Zart, and Frypan.

"Ben..." I gasp as my hands fall to my sides. I'm unable to stop tears from springing into my eyes. Newt and Gally both look up at me at the same time, the exact same expression on their faces. Pity. 

Ben's eyes meet mine and he stops struggling against the Keepers, gasping for breath. I see a gash on his temple, dark blood oozing from the wound. Just a few inches away is a shovel, blood staining the once silver metal.

Alby breaks through the crowd, slowly walking towards Ben. The Runner's eyes go wide and he begins struggling to break free from the Keeper's grasps, but they hold his limbs firmly to the grass beneath him.

"No... No. No, no, no, no!" Ben whimpers, trying to shrink and disappear into the ground.

"Alright, lift his shirt." Alby orders, pointing at the boy. "Lift his shirt!"

"I didn't-" Ben starts, but is cut off by the boys ripping up his shirt to reveal his pale abdomen. He groans, still trying to get away, but it's no use. The Keeper's have too strong of a hold on him.

The sight before me is enough to make my stomach twist. I have to cover my mouth again to keep myself from throwing up.

There's a small but deep hole in Ben's stomach, but the blood looks dry. He must've had that for a while now for a wound like that to be dry by now. A large bruise has already formed around the wound, but the veins are truly the star of the show. Dark red and purple veins that start at the base of the wound and stay close together until the outside of the bruise, where the veins begin fading out into a bluish gray color, creeping towards his chest and back.

Groans erupt from the crowd, some boys closing their eyes to keep themselves together. I'm not one of those people. 

I just stand in my spot, numb to the core. All I can do is stare as Ben cries out, pleading for help. 

"He's been stung," Gally says into the silence, but his voice sounds as if he's underwater. It reminds me of my dreams from last night. I shake my head to keep myself from zoning out, forcing my eyesight to not blur. "In the middle of the day?" The Builder turns to Alby for advice, but our Leader doesn't seem to have any answers. We're all confused. Grievers only come out during the day. The only time we've heard that they've been out during the day was when Ben and Minho were exploring that cave system. That seems like so many years ago...

Ben's body begins racking with sobs, blood still gushing from the wound in his temple. "Help me, please." He whimpers, tears trickling down his cheeks. "Please."

I see Alby looking at the Keepers. They all know what to do. I know what they're gonna do.

"Alby, we can help him." I hear myself say suddenly. My voice sounds loud and strong. I sound important. "Just let me help him."

Alby looks over at me, a serious look on his face. He knows what he has to do and I know it too. 

"Please, Alby." I beg. The strong, important woman who was speaking just a moment ago is already gone, replaced with a terrified, heartbroken girl who's about to watch her best friend be sent to certain doom. "Let me help."

Our Leader looks back at me, then the Keepers, then me again.

"Please just help." Ben cries, his voice cracking and full of pain. Alby shoots to his feet, breathing heavily.

"Put him in the Pit." He orders immediately, pointing towards the Slammer. All sympathy has left his face, replaced only with disgust for the terrified boy in front of him. "Everybody help! Take him to the Pit!"

Ben's started writhing and growling again, desperately trying to get out of their grasp. "No, no, NO!" He shouts.

"Medjack!" Newt shouts, pointing at Clint and Jeff. I'm glad that he didn't point towards me. I think he knows that I wouldn't be able to handle that.

"PLEASE DON'T DO IT!" Ben screams, flailing every limb he can. He almost nails Gally in the face, but the Builder grabs hold of his arm, forcing it back to the ground. "HELP ME! VENUS, HELP ME!"

"Alby, don't do this! Please!" I plead, running in front of Alby to try to get him to stop this. He ignores me, staring straight ahead at the group of boys struggling with Ben.

"VENUS, PLEASE!" Ben shouts, throwing his head back so he can look at me. 

"I can help him! Just let me try! Let me try!" I beg, trying desperately to hold back my sobs. Gally is ordering the group of boys to grab hold of Ben and hold him tighter, all the while trying to calm the Runner down.

"LISTEN TO ME! PLEASE!" 

"Stop! We can help him! Just stop!" I shout, running after the group already carrying Ben towards the Pit.

"Go away, Venus." Gally orders, trying to keep Ben in his grip while also trying to shoo me away.

"No! Just stop this! Put him down!" I shout, trying to be heard over Ben's screams and pleas for help.

"Winston!" Gally shouts, calling the Slicer's attention to him. Winston runs forward, arm still dripping blood. "Take her to her hut and don't let her out 'till it's over." 

"NO!" I shout, ripping my arm out of Winston's grip.

"Venus, I don't have time for this!" The Builder snaps, keeping his eyes forward, all emotion gone from his face. Ben's screaming and crying is drowning out whatever Winston is trying to say to me.

Winston grabs a hold of my arm gently once more, but this time, I don't fight back. There's no point. They won't listen to me anyways.

"FUCK YOU!" I scream with every ounce of anger and frustration I have. Gally ignores me, leaving me behind them to stand. Despite Winston being right behind me, I feel lonely. I feel betrayed. I'm angry with all of them. All I want to do is curl up in a ball and cry, but I have no tears let. I spent them all last night when Ben held me.

Ben...

I allow Winston to take me back to my hut, my best friend's animalistic screams and roars accompanying us the entire walk.