Two months pass. Ash remains the only girl in the Glade. The only major change is that she gets a small dresser (only two drawers) to replace the wooden crate she'd had in her room. There, she keeps what little supplies come up in the Box especially for her, usually in a small wooden box marked only with her name, much like the first one. The boys always ask what she gets, and she tells them it's soap, hair ties, and underwear. She doesn't mention the tampons and pads she also recieves.
Though to be fair, she hasn't yet needed those particular items in the entire two months she's been in the Glade. Ash knows it's the stress.
By the time the next Greenie comes up in the Box, she's been promoted to Keeper of the Medjacks. Jeff, her fellow Medjack is more than happy to let her take that role.
The Greenie after her, a terrified blond boy named Arthur, is quiet and keeps to himself for most of his first two weeks. He's rather clumsy, apparently, and frequently ends up in Ash's care. He's sweet, and young, and Ash doesn't mind so much.
The boy after him, Josh, is another story.
Although he starts off just as scared, even having to go so far as to be thrown in the Pit for a short while to calm down, he quickly becomes a nuisance. As soon as Alby starts giving him the tour, they run into Ash. She gives them a brief moment to introduce herself before heading off to take care of a Slicer, and the Greenie immediately starts asking question after question about her to Alby.
He puts his foot down, adamantly stating that Ash is off limits. He even mentions that this unofficial rule has been approved by her. The Greenie doesn't say much after that, but the situation is far from over.
For the first two or three days, he seems to be just as clumsy as Arthur, always finding himself in the Medjack hut with a scraped knee, a splinter, a burn, a cut on his arm. By day four, Ash decides to start passing him off to Jeff every time.
Josh's visits stop after two more days.
On day seven since Josh's arrival in the Glade, Ash does the Track-hoes a favor by going to get more fertilizer from the deadheads— the Gladers' nickname for one of the deepest parts of the woods. It's where all the... business from the animal pen gets deposited until it's ready to use in the gardens.
She isn't out there for long, using a shovel to get the stuff into a wheelbarrow, when she hears a twig snap on the ground somewhere behind her. Stiffening, Ash doesn't stop her work just yet, knowing it could just be Nellie coming to find her.
The arm that appears around her own, the hand over her mouth, tells her otherwise.
She tries to scream, but it's terribly muffled by this boy's dirty hand. Ash knows immediately that it's Josh— no one else in the Glade would ever dare to do something like this. No one else has ever given her bad vibes like Josh.
Lifting her heel up behind her, she manages to kick him in the crotch. He lets go of her, and she grabs the shovel and wacks him over the head with it before running. Unfortunately, he doesn't stay down for long, and chases after her. He's quite taller than her, and his long legs have no trouble catching up.
"Get— off— me!" Ash shouts, trying to push him away, but he's too strong.
His hands grab at hers, his legs straddling hers, pinning her to the forest floor. He pins both her wrists down with one hand as his other reaches for her shirt. Before he can touch the fabric, though, he's sent flying off her.
Ash sits up, gasping for breath, and scrambles to grab her knife. She can hear the sound of a struggle, and looks over to see Josh getting the shit beat out of him by none other than—
Gally.
Ash can already see the bruises forming on Josh's face, and she rushes forward, dropping the knife, and tries to pull Gally away.
"Gally, enough!" she begs. She can see bruising on Gally's fist, knuckles lightly splattered with blood. She doesn't know if it's his blood or Josh's— it could be either.
He pauses, breathing heavily, and looks at her. There's something in his eyes that she can't decipher, but surprisingly he listens, and shoves himself off the Greenie.
"Are you okay?" she asks, and that seems to throw him for a loop.
"You're seriously asking me that?" he replies, and reaches over to pull a dead leaf from her hair. As they both look at it in his hand, he seems to realize what he's just done, and turns away. "I'm fine. We should get this shank to Alby and the others. I'm sure they'll have a lot to say about what just happened."
Josh starts to whimper as Gally grabs him by the shirt and pulls him up. Ash retrieves her knife and puts it away, swallowing harshly. Her head is swimming with emotions— shock, mostly. Some fear. Gratitude toward Gally, for sure, along with something else.
She follows Gally out of the woods, not bothering to go back for the wheelbarrow. George is the first to approach them, and he immediately asks what happened.
Quietly explaining, Ash tries not to let her emotions get the better of her. She can feel her throat beginning to close up with unshed tears, but she quickly clears it. George has a dark, angry look on his face, and he glares at Josh, who is half-hanging from Gally's grip.
"I'll go get Alby," George says. "Newt's out exploring and won't be back until later, but I'm sure he wouldn't disagree with whatever we cook up without him."
A small chill runs down Ash's spine, and she continues to follow Gally to the Gathering House, where the Keepers hold meetings, usually to decide which job the latest Greenie is best suited for— though occasionally they have a meeting when someone breaks a rule.
Just like Josh has.
Gally isn't very gentle when he slams open the door to the Gathering House, and shoves Josh to the middle of the floor. The kid tries to complain about being handled so roughly, but Gally only laughs humorlessly at him.
"You need to shut your mouth," he says. "You're lucky we haven't tied you up yet."
Ash remains quiet, trying to figure out why this seems to have Gally so worked up. Sure, he's seemed rather protective of her ever since she patched up his hand, but this... this feels like something else.
He towers over the kid on the floor, arms crossed and scowl fully formed. Ash watches him carefully, ready to step in if need be. As much as she rather enjoyed seeing Josh get his face smashed in, she'd hated to see Gally being the one to do it.
George and Alby walk in, both already clearly upset. The first words out of the latter's mouth are a quiet, "you okay?" to Ash, who nods slightly, shifting uncomfortably from one foot to the other. He stares at her for a moment, probably trying to figure out if she's lying or not, before nodding back and turning to Josh.
"What the hell were you thinking?" he asks the kid, who flinches.
"I— I—"
"He probably wasn't," Ash says quietly, then her voice turns dark. "At least... not with his brain." George fails to stifle a snicker, but disguises it as a cough when both Alby and Gally shoot him a glare.
"I'm sorry," Josh whimpers. The lower half of his face is nearly covered in blood— his lip is split open, and one of his eyes is starting to swell shut. It looks like he might be missing a tooth, but it's hard to tell.
"Sorry for attacking Ash, or sorry for getting caught and getting the snot beat out of you?" George asks, crossing his arms. Josh doesn't respond— and he doesn't need to.
Alby shakes his head, sighing in frustration. "Throw him in the Pit," he says. "No food at least until Newt gets back."
Gally nods, and hauls the Greenie back to his feet. George helps him escort Josh out of the house. Ash goes to follow them to the Pit, but Alby stops her.
"Do you wanna decide what happens to him?" he asks her quietly. Ash stares at him in shock.
"Me?"
Alby nods. "You're the victim, here. And what happens today could set a precedent for the others that come after him."
Ash stays quiet for a moment. "I don't think I can handle that responsibility alone," she finally admits. "I definitely want him to be kept far, far away from me... but I don't think I could handle deciding on a punishment by myself."
Nodding again, Alby gently pats her shoulder. "I get it. We'll have an official meeting tonight, as soon as Newt gets back." Ash gives him a small, grateful smile, though it turns into a grimace by the end.
"I should go get the fertilizer I was getting for Zart," she mumbles, looking toward the door.
"He already went to go get it," Alby assures her. "I was with him when George came and got me. He said to let you know you can head back to the Medjack hut if you want."
Ash nods, sighing. "Think you could help me get Gally over there?" she asks. "I should take a look at his hand, make sure he didn't hurt himself too badly on Josh's face."
Alby chuckles. "I don't think you'll have too much problem getting him to let you patch him up," he says, which only confuses the girl.
"What do you mean?" she asks, but Alby just lets out a full laugh and heads out of the Gathering House.
Ash follows him as far as the door, but heads toward the Pit to find Gally. He's already got Josh locked up, and is glaring down through the wooden bars with his arms crossed.
Not wanting to get too close to the prisoner, Ash calls out to Gally from a distance. She points to him, then to the Medjack hut. He nods, then holds up one finger for her to wait a moment. Turning back toward Josh, he crouches down and says something to him.
Ash can't hear it, but she can see his jaw and lips moving. He still looks angry. Furious, actually. He stands back up after a long moment, and starts heading toward Ash. She can see the blood on his knuckles, and the light purple bruises underneath.
Her heart clenches in her chest, something stirring at the sight, and she quietly leads him to the hut. He doesn't argue when she tells him to sit on the cot— the moment is reminiscent of their first real conversation together.
Jeff is nowhere to be seen, which means he's probably at the Bloodhouse, fixing up a Slicer— it also means Ash and Gally have a moment alone together.
She doesn't have to tell Gally to hold out his hand, he just does it, even before she's ready.
Grabbing the pitcher of water off the table, she pours a little into the bowl next to it and grabs a washcloth. Soaking it and wringing it out, she brings it to Gally's hand, gently wiping away the blood. He hisses slightly, as she passes over the discolored patches of skin.
Now that she can get a closer look, it doesn't seem to be his own blood. His fist is bruised from impact, but there's no scrapes or cuts anywhere. She rinses the washcloth in the bowl, then goes for a second pass on his hand.
"Thank you," she murmurs. "I don't even wanna think about what would've happened if you hadn't—" She tears up a little, and wipes them away with the back of her wrist.
"You're okay," he says, just as quietly. "It didn't happen, and it's not going to. I won't let it."
She sniffles, trying not to smile. "You can't be there all the time, Gally. You still have a job to do, too. Pretty important one, if I remember."
"True, but I could... teach you to defend yourself better," he mumbles, and it seems like the faintest blush appears on his cheeks— but Ash dismisses the idea. Gally doesn't blush.
"Hey, I kicked him in the crotch and hit him over the head with shit-covered shovel," Ash says defensively, though she's grinning. "That bastard is just resilient."
"I would've loved to see that," Gally chuckles. "But my point is, you need to— I mean, I could—" he groans, running his good hand over his face as he clearly struggles for the right words.
"I could definitely use the help," Ash admits. "If you're willing to, I mean..." Suddenly realizing how close they are, how long she's been touching him, Ash lets go of his hand and tosses the bloody washcloth back into the bowl, then goes to grab a roll of bandage from the drawers. They're much more organized than the last time she and Gally had done this.
She doesn't look at his face, not even a glance, as she wraps up his hand. If she had, she would've seen the way he was already looking at her, his eyes scanning over every inch of her face, like he's trying to count every freckle and eyelash.
"I feel like I should be apologizing," she mutters, almost to herself. Gally jumps slightly, startled at her words.
"For what?" he asks, and she finally looks at him, sheepish, as she ties off the bandage.
"If I'd been able to defend myself better, or if I'd been just a little bit faster... you wouldn't have had to step in," she says. "You wouldn't have gotten hurt."
"I..." Gally's a loss for words. "You shouldn't ever feel... guilty for what that shank tried to do to you. I did what I needed to do— and I'd do it again if I had to."
Now it's Ash's turn to struggle for words. She can feel the heat rising to her cheeks, and fights it down. "Thank you," she finally manages, not looking at him. She moves back, going to put the leftover supplies away. Gally gets up, stretches a bit, and starts to leave.
"Um, you should be careful with your hand," she says, and he pauses in the doorway. "It's already damaged, it'll be too easy to make it worse— especially since it's your dominant hand, right?"
Gally nods, both to confirm her assumption, and to acknowledge her advice. "Thanks," he says, and then he's gone.
Ash sighs, and slumps onto the cot once she's finished cleaning up. It's been a long day, and it's far from over...