Chapter 4

"If you heat up the water to a certain temperature then all the harmful bacteria will die off and the water will be safe to drink." I explained to Alby.

"What?"

"But how do you know when it's safe?" Minho asked.

"Well we don't exactly have the right tools, so instead we have to wait for it to boil for a certain amount of time, but it can't be for too long because then the water will begin to evaporate. So, we'll just let it boil for about three minutes and see what happens." I came to my conclusion as Minho and Alby both stared at me with blank expressions. "This is probably safer then you two grabbing water from the stream."

I wiped the beads of sweat that gathered on my forehead as I finished helping the builders patch up the house where we prepare food. There was an accident with one the Slicers losing their temper, so instead of the builders remaking a whole new wall I gave them a idea to just patch up the hole.

"Hey! Hey!" I looked towards the forest past the garden as I heard screaming. I quickly began to run towards the noise. Thomas came running through the trees pleading for help as Ben came running towards him.

"Shit." I quickly picked up my pace as I ran towards the two. I passed the others that were on their way to help. Ben jumped and grabbed Thomas' leg and sent the two flying into the ground. When Thomas turned around Ben climbed on top of his and pinned to him to ground. "Ben! Stop!" I yelled as I ran closer to them. Newt came towards the two with a shovel and quickly hit Ben's head. Ben rolled onto his back from the hit while Newt, Gally and the other's grabbed hold of Ben. "Let me see." I said as I kneeled down beside Ben.

"What you doing?" Newt asked his friend.

"Calm down Ben." Gally said. As all the others began to figure out why Ben attacked Thomas I quickly noticed the blue vein in his neck. It was enlarged and pulsing. I lifted up his shirt to see that he was Stung. There was a hole on the right side of his stomach that showed the poison reaching outwards with blue veins.

"No. No. No, please." Ben began to beg for everyone to listen, but I shook my head.

"He's been stung, in the middle of the day?" Gally seemed surprised, but so were the rest of us. Alby kneeled down beside me. I looked towards him and I shook my head. He and I knew what we had to do next.

"Put him in the pit." Alby instructed.

"Come on, everyone, help get him into the pit." Some of the boys began to help carry Ben towards the pit. I walked with them to continue to see what was happening to him. There was so little information on what happens to a person after they get stung, so I continued to try and understand. Ben continued to wiggle in everyone's arms as he tried to explain that he was okay.

"Jade, please! You know I would never hurt anyone." He began to beg with me.

"I know, Ben, but you know what we have to do." I said. He yelled out in frustration. As we arrived at the pit we opened the door and threw him in there, but one of the boys let his leg go a little too early, so his foot flew outwards and hit my side before he landed inside of the pit. My right hand flew to my left side as I grabbed where he hit.

"Jade, are you okay?" Newt asked me. I nodded my head.

"It'll probably just feel a little sore. Those boots are made out of hard material." I said as I felt the pain in my side.

"I don't feel comfortable letting you go in their alone." Newt said to me as I was at the door of the pit where Ben was.

"Well I've done it before." I stated.

"But Ben seems more unstable."

"Maybe he just needs to feel comforted before he starts making sense."

"We'll be right here though, so if he does anything then we're pulling you out, okay?" Gally stated. I nodded my head before climbing into the pit with Ben. He sat up against the wall with his knees hugged to his chest. He was rocking back and forwards while making whimpering noises.

"Ben, it's me, Jade. I need you to tell me what you saw." I calmly approached him. When I knew it was safe to kneel down in front of him I did.

"It's all his fault. He put us in here." Ben began to mumble.

"Who, Ben? Who put us in here?" I asked him again. Ben launched himself forward and grabbed my wrists as he pinned me to the ground.

"It's all his fault Jade! He did this to us! He needs to leave!" Ben yelled in my face as his grip on my wrists tightened. Gally and Newt had jumped into the pit and pushed Ben off of me before pulling me out. We shut the door and locked it as I inspected my wrists. I could feel the tenderness of my skin from how tightly Ben grabbed onto me.

"You shouldn't have done that." Newt scolded me as I continued to look at my wrists.

"They're going to bruise slightly." I commented.

"Did he cut you?" Newt asked me. I showed him my wrists to show that my skin was intact, but that I would slightly bruise.

"I'm fine. Give it a few days and it'll be okay. I'll bandage them up just to give them extra support, so I don't cause any further damage."

"I told you not to do that!" Gally began to raise his voice.

"Well I'm the only one who can without losing their temper!" I yelled at him.

"Did you even get any information out of him or was that a complete waste of time?" He asked me.

"He was just yelling about how he did it."

"Who's he?"

"I don't know, Gally. If I did then I would've told you." I snapped back. I pushed past him and began to walk away before I lost my temper with Gally. I made my way towards the hut where Jeff would be to pick up some cloth to wrap around my wrists.

"Maybe next time you should stay outside the pit." Jeff told me.

"We have to learn more about the Change." I said.

"I know, but at what cost?" He asked me. "This was a little bruise, but what about next time? Every time this happens you deal with it and you're the one who gets attacked. Just let someone else do it next time." He said as he finished up with my wrists.

"I'll think about it." I said as I stood up and patted his shoulder. "Thanks Jeff." I walked out of the hut to see Minho running towards me. I smiled as waved at him, but as soon as he reached me a hurricane of questions flew out of his mouth.

"I heard what happened, but what actually happened? Are you okay? Did Ben really do this? I told you not to go into the pit like that! Why don't you ever listen to me?"

"Minho, stop. I'm fine. It's just a little bruising. It'll be a little tender for the next few days, but it'll be okay." Minho grabbed hold of my arms, so he could look at my bandaged up wrists.

"Stop doing that. Make one of the boys do it or something. You shouldn't be near anyone who's going through the Change."

"Look, I'm the one person that everyone trusts, so I have to be the one who talks to them. I could be the only one who gets actual information out." I explained.

"But every time I come back I shouldn't see you like this." I shook my head.

"I don't tell you how to do your job, so don't tell me how to do mine." I reached up and lightly touched his cheek. "I'm perfectly fine. I promise." He grimaced towards me before sighing and placing a chaste kiss on my forehead.

"Just be more careful."