' WIRES. '
CHAPTER 006.
STICK IT OUT.

"WHY DID YOU help me? Why did you take me to Lawrence?" Neve asked, putting supplies on the shelves of the supply room. Gally was behind her doing the same thing. She still didn't understand his reasoning and couldn't fathom the idea of it simply being to help her, to protect her, to save her.

Gally looked at her for a moment then sighed before going back to what he was doing.

"Hey, I asked you a question. And I don't want any more of that bullshit about me being smart or anything because you knew me for less than a day before taking me behind your friends' backs to the man in charge. Why?"

"They're not my friends," he said, hands tightening around the edge of the table.

"Oh my god, who cares? Tell me why," Neve groaned, turning away from the shelves.

"Chuck," Neve heard him whisper under his breath.

"What the hell is that?"

Gally shook his head. "You really need all the answers, don't you? Why can't you just give it a break for once? God, you never stop asking questions. You're so damn persistent," Gally said, turning around, suddenly angry.

"Cool it, tough guy, it just doesn't make sense. Stop being so cryptic. You either have an insufferable hero complex or you're just a lot dumber than I thought you were," she scoffed.

"Why do you do that? Why do you have to be so aggressive about everything? Anytime anyone tries to tell you you're wrong you can't accept it. You go on offense and you just don't know when to stop. Why don't you ever just let it go? Not everyone has some sociopathic reasoning behind what they do," he jarred.

"Oh, so I'm a sociopath?" Neve raised an eyebrow at him as he looked down.

"That's not what I said."

"It's what you meant," Neve stated, closing her eyes and shaking her head. "Whatever, I don't care anyway. I just want to know why you're so uptight about this because it's really messing with my head."

"Well, some things just aren't your business," Gally huffed, taking his hands off the table and shoving another can onto the rusty shelf.

"It's my business when it's regarding someone basically saving my life. You brought me here and I want to know why. Not that I needed you to save me, I was perfectly fine on my own and-"

"Well, then why don't you leave," Gally said suddenly. "Go stick it out alone again and stop giving everyone a headache." He didn't turn away from the shelf this time, he only rested his head on the metal unit. She heard him let out a long breath and inhale deeply.

Neve stopped talking, she felt something in her chest, something she didn't like. The feeling was all too familiar, so familiar that Neve felt it was becoming a constant. The feeling of loneliness was becoming the only thing she could trust, the only thing she could count on. "Maybe I will. I don't need your damn charity," she snapped, putting the final cans on the shelf in a stretch of pained, awkward silence. After the final can hit the corroding metal, Neve stepped away, eager to get out of that room.

"Hey, for the record, I'm not the only one who gets aggressive any time their ego gets challenged, alright?" Neve stated, clapping Gally on the shoulder and walking out the metal door. She stood there for a moment, in the hallway outside the door, not knowing where to go.

She decided to aimlessly walk down the perimeter of the building as she usually did when she didn't know what to do. It had been just over a week since she arrived and had yet to make any real friends. Most of the conversations she'd had were with Tuck and Gally, both of whom made it clear that they didn't ever feel very eager to converse with her. Neve decided then that if they didn't want to answer her questions, she'd stop asking. Stop initiating. Stop trying to help.

She'd never seen any of these people as potential friends (at least that's what she told herself), but she did hope to at least find decent allies, for once. Neve ran her hands over her face as she reached the stairwell, stopping at the top. For a split second, she almost considered apologizing to Gally, but by the next millisecond, she decided that it wasn't her who owed the apology.

Neve never really seemed to know what she'd done wrong. Even before the Flare, she'd say something and the next moment the recipient of her words would be inexplicably angry or upset. Neve had taught herself to stop caring, to stop trying to worry about how people received her words. It was too much energy and too much pain to try to balance other's emotions in addition to her own. It was easier to leave emotions behind, to lock them away. All they ever did was make things hurt.

She started down the stairwell, hand running over the cold metal railing. Neve heard heavy footsteps behind her. She turned to see Gally at the top of the stairs, walking down quickly. He wasn't even facing her. Instead, he was looking towards the stony, grey wall.

"What? Are you following me now?" Neve retorted, turning her face back down the stairwell, continuing walking.

"Nope," he said shortly, passing her and turning down the hallway without another word.

Neve felt her cheeks heat up slightly in what she decided was anger. She stepped into the main area and saw several people putting on the dark masks that covered their faces, Gally and Tuck among them. She wanted to ask where they were going but didn't. She leaned against the wall and watched as the people climbed on top of the vehicle to leave. It wasn't uncommon for groups of people to set out into the outskirts of the city to rally people, to gain support, to create anger for the people who lived in safety behind WCKD's walls.

She let her knees buckle and slid down the wall, sitting on the dusty ground. She watched the group as they drove out of the building with their long black guns and creepy masks. Neve let her head fall back against the cool wall and shut her eyes. It was all too much.

The next thirty minutes were spent against that wall. Neve was contemplating whether she should leave, whether she would truly be better off alone. It wasn't something she wanted. She wanted to stay. She felt safe here, she was protected. Neve was fighting with herself to stay practical, to approach it purely logically.

Neve didn't even realize how much time had passed until she felt herself being tapped on the shoulder. She opened her eyes to see Declan, clad in a stained white tee shirt, grey cargo pants, and brown leather boots that were worn to the point of tearing.

"You've been sitting here for a while," he stated. Neve nodded in response, looking from the ground to his face. She noticed then that she'd never really looked at his face. He had wavy, strawberry-blonde hair, cut short over his ears. His round face was covered in what seemed to be millions of pink freckles. His warm grey eyes were framed in curly blonde eyelashes. He couldn't have been older than sixteen. "What are you doing?" he asked, sitting down beside her.

"Thinking," she replied, looking back at her hands. She picked at her dirt-caked nails.

"Seems like you're always thinking," he commented, "Doesn't it get tiring?"

Neve was silent for a moment. "Yeah," she replied.

"Maybe you should stop thinking for a while," he shrugged, kicking his boots against the ground. Neve felt like this was the advice of a five-year-old and nearly disregarded it. She nearly scoffed, already forming an off-the-cuff remark, but she stopped herself. She remembered all the silly things Declan had said, all the things she'd written off as stupid. Maybe the things he said were stupid, but he'd survived this long. That had to count for something.

She turned to look at him and nodded again. It was rare that you found someone with such innocence anymore, someone with a soft face and such a simple outlook on the way things were. At that moment she found herself appreciating Declan more than she thought she'd ever appreciated anyone before. The sentimentality Neve was feeling made her want to slap Declan in the face, but she didn't.

"How about you? What are you doing?" Neve asked. Declan grinned, glad to be able to talk about whatever he had been up to. Neve forced herself to listen for his innocent freckles and childlike eyes. She told herself it wasn't all that interesting, but truly she enjoyed his rambling and excited openness.

skye speaks.
This book has lowkey just become Neve making friends with everyone but Gally but I hope you liked this chapter! Now that it's summer I'm planning to have an actual posting schedule, I'll be updating every Tuesday!