Nellie had really bonded with Frypan both at the bonfire and the next day, and so Ash is left alone in the Medjack hut on her second night in the Glade. She tosses and turns, unable to sleep for a long while. It's rather cold— surprising, given the heat of the day. With her hair still damp from her cold shower, it feels even worse.
At some point, she ends up stealing the blanket from the other cot, wrapping herself up in both it and her own. She tells herself she'll put it back in the morning, and is just about to finally fall asleep when someone slips into the hut.
Sitting bolt upright, her fingers inch toward the knife on the table beside her, but she doesn't grab it. The intruder doesn't seem interested in her. He shuffles around in the chest of drawers near the door, looking for medical supplies, and clearly trying (though failing) to be quiet.
"What are you doing?" Ash hisses, and the boy jumps, startled.
"How long have you been awake?" he asks in return, and she recognizes the voice as belonging to Gally.
"Hours," she dismisses. "Now it's your turn to answer my question."
He doesn't, not right away. Letting out a small sigh, he reaches outside the doorway with one hand to grab a lantern he'd left out there; he's cradling his other hand carefully to his chest. He sets the lantern down on top of the cabinet, and Ash blinks as her eyes adjust.
"I was cutting up some wood for a project, accidentally got my hand," he says gruffly. "I was gonna bandage it up..."
Ash slips out of her cot, feeling the cool grass between her bare toes. Approaching Gally, she asks to see the cut, and he reluctantly shows her. It looks worse than it is— not very deep, but there's blood and dirt all over it.
"You should go wash that in a sink," she says quietly. "Otherwise it'll get infected... I think the nearest one's in the kitchen."
He rolls his eyes, muttering that he knows where all the sinks are. Nevertheless, Gally stalks out of the hut, toward the kitchen. He leaves the lantern behind, so Ash uses its light to find the bandages. There are four drawers of medical supplies, and each one is in total disarray.
"How does anyone find anything in here?" she mutters to herself. Finally, she manages to find a roll of bandage and a wad of gauze, both half-buried beneath all the other supplies. In the bottom drawer, she also finds an opaque brown bottle. Twisting the lid open, she takes a small sniff, then pumps her fist in victory.
The scent is subtle, but sharp, and tells her exactly what she needs to know.
Gally comes back a moment later, still looking grumpy, but his hands look freshly cleaned.
"Sit," Ash instructs, pointing to the second cot.
"What?" Gally looks and sounds bewildered.
"Sit down," she says. "I'm gonna disinfect and wrap it up for you."
His mouth flops open, like he wants to argue, but a single look from the girl is enough to stop him. Sitting on the end of the cot, he holds his injured hand back out for her. She starts by spilling some of the liquid from the brown bottle into the gauze, and is about to press it into Gally's palm when she pauses.
"This is gonna sting," she warns him, before continuing. He hisses a sharp breath through his teeth, clenching his other fist. The fingers of the hand she's holding start to curl, and the muscles tense up as he tries not to move too much and possibly make it worse.
"Sorry," she murmurs, gently dabbing at every millimeter of the cut. It's a rather long slice across the middle of his palm. The liquid bubbles up around the edges of the cut, and they both can practically hear the sizzling as they slowly pop and fade away.
"Son of a—" he bites his tongue to cut himself off. "What is that?"
"Hydrogen peroxide," Ash says, finally throwing the gauze aside.
"How the hell are you so sure about that?" he asks. "The label on that thing doesn't say what it is. Jeff won't touch the stuff. The only reason it's even in here is because it was in the box of other medical stuff."
"Opaque brown bottle, and the label says to store it in a cool, dark place," Ash explains, carefully winding the bandage around his palm and wrist. "H-2-O-2 reacts with sunlight, breaking down into water and oxygen, which is why it has to be stored the way it does. It's a great way to kill infection-causing bacteria."
Gally just stares at her for a moment, the look on his face unreadable, and she blushes.
"It's chemistry," she finishes softly, feeling rather sheepish. She doesn't meet his eyes, and reaches over to grab her knife off the table. She keeps it unsheathed at night, and so doesn't hesitate to use it to cut the bandage where she needs to.
Tying it off, Ash steps back and tells Gally he's good to go. "I wouldn't go back to your project tonight," she advises. "You might wanna go get some sleep, so you don't hurt yourself again."
"Uh, yeah," he mumbles, grabbing the lantern off the cabinet with his good hand. "Thanks."
He leaves, and Ash puts the leftover supplies away, quietly muttering to herself about being sure to organize the cabinet in the morning. She finally crawls back into her cot, pulling both of the blankets up to her chin, and finally begins to fall asleep.
Meanwhile, Gally has indeed gone back to the Homestead. He lays out on his hammock, gently rocking back and forth. Holding his hand up, he quietly inspects the wrappings. The girl had done a good job, he has to give her that. And she'd somehow known what she was talking about, too, so she's smart.
He finds himself thinking about her warm brown eyes, seeing the light from the lantern reflecting in them. Her hair, dark curls cascading over her shoulders in an untamed mess. Her face, round and innocent and kind— her lips, and her tongue poking out ever so slightly... shit.
No. No, Gally refuses. He does not have a crush on the Greenie. She's different, she's a division from what's normal, what's safe. He can't afford to like her. Besides, she probably only seems as pretty as she does because Gally has no frame of reference— he has no memory of ever seeing a girl before.
She's dangerous whether she means to be or not, and Gally can't afford to trust her, let alone like her.
The next morning, Ash is awoken by a knock on the door. She's pulled from a very strange dream, and has to admit she's grateful. Answering the door the second time her visitor knocks, she sees Alby standing on the other side. Judging by the sunlight, it's not quite as early as the previous morning.
He leads her to the tables for breakfast, just like before, where a few boys are already scattered around trying to wake up. George has a table saved for them, seeming way too chipper for the time of day. Nellie lays at his feet, licking at an empty plate. The way she's going at it, it clearly had something delicious on it.
The events of the previous night come back to her when she sees Gally emerge from the homestead, making his way toward the kitchen to get himself a serving. Alby follows her gaze, and almost immediately spies the bandages on the builder's hand.
"What happened there?" he asks Gally as they pass.
"Wood saw slipped," Gally mumbles in reply, avoiding looking at either of the others.
"And you patched yourself up? When?"
"I did it," Ash says softly, cheeks heating up as Alby looks at her in surprise. "I couldn't sleep anyway, and I was already in there, you know?"
"Looks like you did a pretty good job," Alby says, clearly impressed.
"She did," Gally admits, clearing his throat. "And she uh… knew what she was doing, kinda."
Ash shrugs, mildly embarrassed by the praise. "I just kind of… looked at the supplies and knew what to do," she says.
"Looks like we found the perfect job for you, then," Alby says with a chuckle. "You good with that?"
She nods, offering a small smile to both of the boys before grabbing a plate from Frypan— no oatmeal this time— and heading to eat with George. She tells him the good news about her job, and he gives her a high five.
A few more boys emerge for breakfast, and eventually the day truly begins. Ash gets to properly meet Jeff, the only other Medjack in the Glade, and he lets her organize the drawers in the hut. They go over inventory together as she does it, and she tells him about the hydrogen peroxide— as well as a few other things they find in the drawers.
Butterfly stitches, calamine lotion, and a box of small plastic sheets with a small mesh hole in the middle. Jeff has no idea what any of those three are, and it takes Ash a few minutes to figure out what the third one is.
"Calamine is for itching," she says. "And the butterfly stitches are for smaller cuts, of course, but these things…"
She takes one between her fingers and gently rubs the plastic. It's thin, but not super thin. There are some words printed on it, this side up and for single use only. She sighs, putting the box away in the lowest drawer, which she's designated for the least-used supplies.
"We'll figure it out eventually, I'm sure," she grumbles, and Jeff pats her shoulder.
He's a very laid back guy, and cracks jokes and tells her stories between visits from the other Gladers. Winston has to stop by twice, both for small mishaps in the bloodhouse. One of the Track-Hoes— Tyler, she thinks, remembering George's introductions her first night— comes to them with not one but three massive thorns in his palm, from a weed he'd been pulling.
Her mind wanders to Gally, and she hopes his hand hasn't gotten infected. She's ninety-nine percent sure she'd done a good job preventing that the night prior, but a full day of working outdoors can change that. Jeff suggests she go check on him if she's so worried about it, so she does.
Exiting the Medjack hut, she sees him almost immediately, working by the homestead. It's the room where she'd seen him and Alby talking last night at dinner. It's almost finished by now, and she realizes that it's her room. She approaches, and Gally barely glances at her before the signature scowl settles on his features. He keeps working, hammering away.
"Hi," she says quietly. "I, um, I just wanted to check on your hand… make sure it didn't get infected or anything."
"It's fine," he grunts. "Wasn't that hydro-whatever supposed to prevent that anyway?"
"Only if the bacteria's already present," she says. "You've been using your hand all day, so something could've happened since then…"
"I'm fine," he repeats himself, clearly done with the conversation. Ash swallows, biting her lip as she begins to walk away. The hammer stops for a moment, and she hears him say a single word more, sounding somewhat reluctant but still genuine.
Hiding a small smile and mentally declaring a victory, she goes back to Jeff at the Medjack hut. The rest of the day goes by rather slowly, with only one more visit from a Slicer— not Winston this time, but the last greenie, Eddie.
By the time dinner is called, Ash's room is ready to use. George shows it to her, and she sees that a hammock has already been strung up inside. There's a small wooden crate for her to put her things in, and some dry straw on the floor. The room is small— barely enough for the hammock and crate— but it's perfect since she's the only one who's going to be living in it.
"Pretty sure Gally was up most of the night to work on it," George says offhandedly, not noticing when Ash freezes momentarily.
Cutting up wood for a project, Gally had said. A small pang of guilt hits her for some reason— he'd cut his hand working on something for her. Because she'd asked for her own room.
After dinner, on her way to bed, she passes by Gally, and offers him a smile as she returns the last word he'd said to her earlier that day.
"Thanks."