The first place Florence went the next morning was the Slammer.
Gally was pacing back and forth in the cell, his eyes wide and searching frantically, and his face pale with tiredness. His fingers fumbled over his hands as he approached the bars upon seeing the girl.
"Hi." She said quietly, suddenly feeling quite awkward.
"Hello." His voice was gruff and hoarser than usual, but Florence couldn't imagine that the boy had been shouting or screaming. He seemed dishevelled as he stared at the girl.
She glanced quickly to the Bagger stood further away to give them privacy, desperate to break eye contact with Gally. She finally looked back to the boy with a heavy sigh.
"You can get out of here."
His eyes relaxed but his eyebrows shot up, a contrasting combination.
"What?"
"You're done. I think you're pretty sorry." The sarcasm dripped off her tongue like acid, because there was no humour in it, but Gally had never looked so relieved.
Florence called to the Bagger who used the key gifted to him to free Gally. She held her hand out to the boy when the door swung open, and he hesitated. After a pause in which Gally considered her offer, he took her hand and stepped out and into the Glade.
She gave his hand a squeeze. It was rough - obviously from working as a Builder - but surprisingly warm. Letting it go, she folded her arms across her chest as she moved across the Glade with the skittish boy.
Everyone was staring at him. Alby hadn't specifically announced Gally was in the Slammer when he was, but everyone knew. News travels faster in the Glade than the Runners.
Florence tried her best to glare back at them, to get them to stop looking. It mostly worked, but there was still a few that glanced at Gally out of curiosity. They had never seen him like this.
The girl felt nervous leaving him alone. He seemed as though he could break at any given moment, but she had been given specific instructions to release him from the Slammer and send him back to work.
She approached the Builders who shared nervous looks between them presumably about their Keeper. Florence thought that they would be the best people for Gally to be around seeing as they were his friends. Maybe she was wrong.
Avoiding the other Builders' intrigued glances to her, she turned on her heel to return to the Med room, when a shout from behind stopped her right in her tracks. Glancing back, she saw the complete unexpected.
Gally was running straight for the Maze.
He had seemingly taken off as soon as the girl's back was turned. Florence had no idea what to do. Gally didn't know the Maze. He could get lost, hurt, stuck over night. But she had just regained the trust of Alby and Newt after going into the Maze without their permission. Was going after him worth the risk of losing their trust again?
Florence had paused for too long, and Gally had disappeared into the Maze.
"Alby!" She yelled, louder than she ever had before - surprising herself - before sprinting to the entrance of the Maze where Gally was disappearing around the corner. She stopped at the entrance, panting heavily, her eyes wide in fear.
"What the shuck is going on?"
The leader appeared just by her side, and she pointed desperately into the Maze. Alby suddenly knew exactly what she meant.
"Gally."
It didn't take a second for Alby to take off into the Maze, glancing back with an expression that gave Florence enough certainty to follow him inside. She sprinted alongside the leader - who was surprisingly quick - following the path Gally had taken.
She didn't know if Gally would be punished for this, if he ended up being stung by a Griever, Florence was sure that would be punishment enough.
"Is he gonna be punished?" She asked their leader fearfully, and Alby exhaled.
"I don't know. Let's just concentrate on getting him out of here first."
"This is my fault." She mumbled under her breath, but her words were caught by Alby. He was beyond confused by it.
"Your fault? In no shucking way is it your fault Florence. Don't you dare think that." His tone came off harsh and Florence felt herself swallow the lump in her throat.
They ran silently for a moment before Alby glanced around a corridor and immediately halted to a stop. Grabbing the girl's arm, he yanked her backwards so her back was flat against the Maze wall just like his own.
"Alby-"
"Don't make a sound. Look, very carefully."
And so she did.
Glancing over his shoulder, she caught sight of the Griever creeping up the corridor to Gally where he was stood frozen to the spot. Florence's heart lurched. Despite the fact she had run the Maze a few times now, she had not once seen a Griever up close.
It was terrifying.
Gally whimpered when he saw it, but it was too late for him to turn and run. Alby's grip on Florence's arm prevented her from moving to help Gally, not that she would even be able to do anything about it.
The creature grabbed Gally with its arm and Florence felt her breath quickening in fear for him, and Alby's eyes widened in terror also. He was thrown against the wall, and as quickly as he had been grabbed, the Griever had stung him.
Florence was forbidden from moving, thanks to her leader who was doing it for her own safety, so she watched helplessly as the Griever dropped the boy and began scuttling down the corridor away from them. As soon as it disappeared, Alby released her and they ran over to Gally's limp body.
"Shuck, Alby. What are we gonna do?"
He bent down to the unconscious boy, hauling his arm over his shoulder and heaving him up from the floor. Florence rushed forwards and threw Gally's other arm over her shoulder, her legs not prepared to carry his weight.
She stumbled, and ignored Alby's glare as they began to half jog and half walk back towards the Glade. Although the Griever had taken off in the opposite direction, it could come back at anytime, and they were defenceless and certainly weaker thanks to an unconscious Gally.
When they neared the Glade, they could see the group of boys awaiting their arrival. Florence's breath was quickening with every step they took, Gally's weight clearly too much for her to bear. But they were nearly there.
Only a few more steps...
When they finally stepped into the Glade, a group of boys rushed forwards to help them with Gally. Florence felt her arms lighten as she let go of the boy, but she moved towards Clint and Jeff who immediately looked stressed out.
"Where do you want me?" She asked the Med-jack Keeper, whose eyes softened upon seeing the exhausted girl. He patted her arm reassuringly as he fell into step with the other boys helping to carry Gally.
"Go sort out the Gladers or whatever then meet us in the hut. No rush, seriously!"
'Oh no rush, Florence. It's not like Gally's been stung or anything!'
Sometimes I wonder if they really trust me in the Med room.
She couldn't help but feel a little disappointed about missing out on Clint and Jeff injecting Gally with the serum, and dealing with his sting - as guilty as that made her feel - but she obeyed him.
Alby was still occupied with the rest of the Gladers who were crowding around him and hounding him with questions. For once, it looked like too much for him to bear. Florence weaved her way through them and captured their attention with the way her face looked as though she was about to spill all of the details.
"What do you all want to know?"
Alby was actually grateful that she chose to step into his leadership role at that moment. His head was all over the place, a mixture of confusion and anger at the fact Gally had run out in the Maze, and what he really didn't need was a bunch of Gladers invading his personal space.
"Why did he run out there?"
Florence let out a dry laugh. "I couldn't tell you anything that goes on inside that boy's head. He must have gone insane."
"Are you going to throw Gally in the Slammer again?"
"Listen, I think this is enough to teach Gally - and all of you - that the Maze is serious. This is why we don't go out there. Gally could've been killed. We don't need to put him in the Slammer because I'm certain he won't pull that klunk again."
Newt spoke up from the back of the crowds, causing everyone's heads to turn to him. Moving to reach Alby and Florence, he parted the Gladers like the Red Sea. He was a saviour in that moment; saving Alby from the stress of the Gladers, and allowing Florence to slip away to the Med hut.
Pushing open the door, she was welcomed into a surprisingly calm atmosphere. She didn't know what to expect in this particular scenario, but she didn't imagine Clint and Jeff reacting so naturally. It was almost unnerving.
How many times had they done this before?
An empty serum syringe laid on the metal tray beside the bed, and Clint and Jeff had tied Gally's hands down to the bed to stop him from lashing out and hitting himself or anybody else. At the moment, he was lying still, however his breathing was rapid and uneven and his eyelids were flickering with Florence assuming that was the visions.
"How long will he be like this?"
She asked, not realising how worried her voice sounded. It was scary for her since she hadn't seen anyone endure the Changing before. How would she knew what it would be like?
"For up to about a week. We'll just have someone monitoring him during the day, he should be fine during the night." Clint told her, taking the empty syringe and putting it into the bin. He was acting as though everything was fine, and Florence couldn't understand it.
And so she volunteered to take the first shift.
This was the only time Gally would ever be this still in his life. Florence felt creepy for watching him, but she couldn't help how intrigued she was. She was longing to know exactly what was going on inside his head but of course she couldn't.
He would mumble every so often, unintelligible words, and no matter how had Florence tried to understand him, she couldn't. Clint and Jeff left to eat dinner, with the girl promising to join them soon, but of course it slipped from her mind.
Her back was to the entrance of the hut, and she was so invested in her focus on the bedbound boy that she didn't hear the person approaching her from behind. Minho placed a hand on her shoulder, making her jump out of her skin.
His lips turned up in a smile at the way she reacted, but then vanished as his eyes moved to Gally. His frown only grew more as he scanned the green veins on Gally's skin.
"It's not great, is it?"
He commented, and Florence rolled her eyes. Only then did she notice the plate of food in Minho's other hand, and she felt her heart quicken. He held it out to her and she took it gratefully, realising that she was actually rather hungry.
As she ate her food, the Runner sat on the other chair at Gally's bedside, on the other side. He went to prop his legs up on the bed, but was immediately scolded by the girl. He fidgeted a lot, the girl realised, and couldn't seem to find a position in which he was comfortable.
Once she had finished eating, they sat in silence for a while, an unspoken way of the pair being respectful to the boy.
"Are you okay?"
The question caught Florence off guard. Her eyebrows knitted in confusion as she looked at the boy sat opposite her with genuine concern written over his face.
"Of course I am, wh-why wouldn't I be?" But as she spoke, she felt her voice shake. She refused to let herself cry. She hadn't cried in front of anyone but Newt. She really didn't want that to change.
But she felt like she needed to cry so badly.
Why? It wasn't like she was stung. It wasn't like she was hurt, not physically at least. Maybe it was seeing Gally get hurled against the wall so helplessly, and having to watch as the Griever stung him without being able to do anything to stop it-
Yeah, that was it.
A tear fell from her eye before she was able to stop it. She wiped it away with her hand quickly, but Minho had already seen.
"Are you sure?"
His voice wasn't teasing. For once, he seemed as though he was entirely serious, and this only made Florence feel like she needed to cry even more.
Before the second tear could fall, Minho had moved and wrapped the girl in a hug. She could feel herself shaking due to the sobbing, and she knew that Minho's shirt would get damp from her tears, but in that moment she couldn't bring herself to care.
She wished more than anything that she could've stopped Gally from getting stung.
Minho's hand cupped the back of her neck, his fingers getting tangled up in her hair as he moved his other hand up and down her back soothingly. She clung onto the back of his shirt, burying her face in his chest.
"It's okay, I know."
And Florence didn't know how, but she knew he understood. In the two years he had been there, he must have wound up in a similar situation.
She pulled back from the hug, taking in his still concerned expression, and finally felt the wave of embarrassment from her tear-stained face. She wanted to seem strong in front of him, because he always was.
Reaching up to her face, Minho swiped his thumbs across her cheeks to dry her face of tears. Then, with a sad smile, he held out his hand.
"Let's get to bed, princess. You need rest."
She didn't hesitate to take it. She let the boy lead her from the hut and outside. Florence looked briefly over the Glade. She didn't realise how long she had really spent in there but it must have been a while, as everyone was now asleep.
But one person was still awake. She was a little surprised to see their Greenie sat against the tree in his sleeping bag, holding something up in the air in attempts to view it better in the moonlight.
"I'll catch you up."
She said to the other boy, squeezing his hand before letting go. He looked to what had captured her attention, briefly pausing with a chuckle, then turned to make his way back to their room.
Since she had a lit torch, she approached Chuck curiously. He jumped in fright at the sight of her, and she placed a finger to her lip to remind him to stay quiet.
Settling beside him, the flickering light of the fire on her torch allowed her to see the mysterious objects in his hands. In one, was a small carving knife presumably taken from the Slicers. She admired the boy for this; the Slicers had one too many knives for her liking.
In the other was a small wooden figurine. She realised that he had been carving it with his knife.
"That's amazing Chuck." She murmured softly, leading the younger boy to blush shyly. He hadn't shown anyone what he had been carving, and he had no idea how good it really was.
He held it out to her, and she took it, running her fingers along the grooves of the wood and each detail Chuck had carved out. It really was amazing.
"It's for when we get out of here, I can give it to my parents."
It took everything in Florence not to cry at that moment. She handed it back to him, her eyes glistening.
"I'll make sure you give it to them myself."
Five days had passed since Gally's sting. Florence made it her responsibility to keep an eye on him as much as possible; partially because she was curious to see the Changing up close, but mainly because she was worried for him.
The Changing was unnerving. Gally's body had been invaded by thick green veins and in his unconscious state he would scratch and hit himself, leaving dark bruises. And he would scream. It chilled Florence to the bone every time she heard him scream.
But over the last day or so, he had been quieter. The bruises were beginning to fade, and the veins were beginning to return to their normal colour.
Gally was getting better.
And then, in the one moment she had stepped away to take a shower, he had woken up. Chuck had been sent to fetch her, as her fellow Med-jacks knew she would be infuriated if she hadn't been informed immediately after he was awake.
He began to bang on the shower door, making her jump and narrowly avoid bumping her head on the shower head. Glaring at the door she switched off the stream of water and called out to whoever had interrupted her moment of peace.
"What?" Her tone was impatient, as if she was challenging the person to give a reason good enough to interrupt her moment of peace. However, the reason really was good enough.
"Florence? Gally's awake." Her heart skipped a beat. She yelled back to tell Chuck she would be out in a second, before speeding to get changed as quickly as possible.
She swung the door open, her hair still dripping wet and sure to catch a cold, but in that moment she didn't care. She just cared about the boy who had just woken from the Changing. She jogged towards the Med hut as casually as possible despite the fact she was freaking out on the inside.
Realising that Gally would be shaken up, she opened the door to the hut carefully, and walked over in a way to make it look like it wasn't a big deal that he had woken up. Everyone knew it was a big deal however, and so Florence was just making a fool of herself in her attempt to downplay it.
Clint and Jeff were both looking at the boy who had his eyes firmly on the floor. Gally seemed nervous, as though any sudden movements would scare the life out of him. Florence flashed her fellow Med-jacks a smile, lowering her voice to speak to them both without the other boy hearing.
"Can you give us a second? Maybe get Alby, or Newt, so they know he's awake?"
Clint and Jeff shared an uncertain expression, but knew it would be better to just listen to the stubborn girl. They glanced back to her once before leaving her alone with the boy.
There was an uneasy silence after the door slammed shut behind Clint and Jeff. Florence took a deep breath as she took a few steps towards Gally's bed, tilting her head to the side ever so slightly.
"How are you feeling?"
It was a stupid question, so Florence wasn't surprised when it elicited no response. Gally was curled up on his bed, hugging his legs to his chest with his bedsheets wrapped over himself in his sitting position. His eyes were red and bloodshot, with dark bags looming under them. He held a blank expression.
The girl suffered through an uncomfortable few minutes of silence until eventually,
"I remembered things."
Florence felt a chill run through her body. The sentence was unnerving. She edged closer, until she was sitting on the side of his bed. He jumped, and Florence held up her hands defensively, creating a comfortable distance between them so he didn't get spooked again.
"What did you remember?"
At first he shook his head, his eyes wide and fearful. He let out a whimper and his voice was barely a whisper when he finally replied.
"I can't tell you."
What memory was so disturbing that he felt this afraid to talk to somebody about it? Were the visions really that bad?
"Why can't you tell me?"
"They won't let me."
And for some reason, Florence understood how serious he was. She had no idea what had gone through his mind and what he had seen, but she knew the Creators would do something awful if he did something they didn't like.
So she chose her next words carefully.
"Is there anything you can tell me?"
Gally paused. His eyes danced along the bedsheets he was shivering under and then up to her eyes. They looked empty, as if he had been drained of energy or life. And Florence knew he had been.
"There was a boy. I think, he was doing all of this to us, I don't know why..." His voice grew quieter towards the end of his sentence until it had become a whisper. He clenched his fists around his bedsheets, taking a shaky breath and darting his eyes around the room.
Now the girl felt desperate to reassure him. But how do you reassure someone about something you don't understand?
"I know that this is awful to go through. Well, I don't know myself but I- I saw. You know you can talk to people right? You don't always have to act tough. And you certainly don't have to run out into the Maze. Why would you want to do that?"
Her tone was too gentle to come off like she was scolding the boy. He barely reacted to the words, but she knew he was listening.
"Well, who am I supposed to talk to?"
"Me, stupid. Of course I would listen to you."
She almost felt mean calling him stupid, but she did feel it was ridiculous he didn't know to come to her if he had to talk about anything. He hadn't been able to talk to anyone else at all, instead he just bottled it all up, which is what led him to go out into the Maze.
He finally looked at her, and when their eyes locked, it felt like Gally was staring directly into her soul. His eyes were so empty, and he was different. It wasn't just short term change that she felt.
Florence could tell that Gally would never be the same again.