❝and there's nothing i can do❞

GALLY HAD COMPLETELY TAKEN OVER, AND IT WAS A MAJOR PROBLEM. He had too many people convinced that Thomas was going to lead them to their deaths, and he was taking advantage of their fear and using it to make them even more scared. How he was planning on dealing with the whole Griever problem, Iris really wanted to know.

He had thrown Thomas, who was still unconscious, into the Pit after they gave him the serum. It seemed to make Alby better pretty soon, until he died, obviously. Now, Gally was standing in front of all of them in the middle of the Glade, giving them some speech.

"Thomas and Teresa will be Banished in two days, and anyone who wants to join them is welcome to," he informed them threateningly. People were so terrified to die that he had convinced them that staying in the Glade was their best bet, even though it was not safe anymore.

Iris looked over to Minho, and they knew that they needed a plan. Newt noticed this as well, and they all silently agreed to come up with something. Minho glanced at Jem and then back at her. She nodded, knowing what she needed to do. After Gally walked away, she turned to the Slicer boy. "He cannot actually be serious right now."

"I'm pretty sure he is," he sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. He was honestly terrified of his best friend at that moment. He used to admire him and everything he did, but now, he was not so sure. Gally was being extremely controlling, and he was offering people to the Grievers.

She sighed, and he already knew what she was going to say to him, what she was going to ask of him. He also knew that no matter how hard he tried, he was not going to be able to say no. Because it was Iris. "Jem, you have to stop him. He'll listen to you. The doors aren't going to close. The Grievers are going to come back."

"You don't know that. Maybe there was just some sort of malfunction," he tried to reason, but even he was not putting a lot of faith in that argument.

She raised her eyebrows at him, and she scoffed because she honestly could not believe that he was trying to defend Gally's actions when he was being absolutely insane. She knew it was dumb to put your trist in someone you just met, but Minho trusted Thomas. That was enough for her. "You really want to take that risk?"

"I don't know, okay? I am awful at making decisions. He's my best friend. What do you want me to do?" he questioned. He did not think that she understood that this was the guy that had stood with him through everything and vice versa. He would trust Gally with his life, but now, he had to tell him that he didn't?

"Make him understand that we cannot stay here forever," she responded, and she sighed, seeing the hesitance in his eyes. "They aren't sending any more food or supplies. We have to go. It's now or never, Jem."

He knew that she was right, which was why he was knocking on the door of the Builder Hut that Gally turned into his office of sorts. He did not wait for an answer before stepping inside. "Gal, can I talk to you for a second?"

"I'm kind of busy," the boy answered, and the dark-haired guy noticed that he was pouring over about ten sheets of paper with a pencil in his hand. It was odd to see him like that, sitting at a desk instead of chucking a block of wood at someone. "I'm figuring out how to ration all of our supplies to last us the longest it can."

"That's no way to live," Jem sighed. He really despised the idea of having half a stale crouton a day for the next five years and having to fight off Grievers every night. He would honestly rather die so that they could eat him.

Gally glanced up at him, a bit annoyed at his friend's response to him trying to keep them alive for as long as he possibly could. "Well, it's the only way."

"There's always Thomas's plan," Jem reminded him, and he winced as he said it, knowing that it was an awful idea.

Gally's head snapped up at the sound of that, and he put his pencil down and leaned forward on his elbows, trying to process the fact that his best friend just suggested the plan of his enemy that was trying to get them all killed. "I know you did not just say that to me."

"A lot of people trust him and think that it'll work," Jem defended. He knew that pretty much all of the Keepers were on the Greenie's side, including Iris, Minho, Newt, and even Winston was leaning that way. Sooner of later, they would be able to gather enough people to fight Gally on this.

The Builder just shook his head, "They're being brainwashed."

"Iris wants to do it," Jem finally said, and Gally realized what the whole conversation was about, or at least he thought he knew. He thought that the boy was so whipped that he had been sent to convince him. That was not true because Jem honestly believed in the plan. It seemed solid in his opinion.

Gally licked his lips, and he wanted to know how loyal Jem was to this girl that he hated a month ago. Would he die for her? Would he defend her? "Well, then, I'm going to have to throw her in the Pit with Thomas and Teresa. She's a traitor."

"No, she's not," Jem scoffed in disbelief. He could not just tie everyone that did not agree with him to a pole and feed them to the Grievers. That was no way to lead a whole group of people that were supposed to trust him. Alby had kept them alive for three years, and he never did anything like that. He knew that people were going to disagree with him, and he did not kill them for it. Jem was also not about to allow Iris to die when he could do something about it. "She wants to live. She wants to leave."

"Leaving is a death wish! I cannot have her infecting the others with her beliefs!" Gally hissed, standing up.

Jem wondered if he knew how ridiculous he sounded at that moment. He was talking about infecting people with beliefs. He was trying to scare people into submission, and it was honestly working, which it really should not be. "Do you hear yourself right now? Where is my best friend?"

"Jem, I'm trying. I'm trying to save us," Gally told him, begging him to listen to him, to just hear him out. Jem had heard him out, though, and his plan had no real evidence that it was going to work. It sounded like a bunch of people just being miserable until they inevitably ran out of supplies and died slowly.

"I know, but we're going to run out of supplies sooner or later," Jem sighed, and he gestured to the open door where the Walls were, practically a welcome sign for the monsters to come back any moment. "The Grievers are going to come back."

Gally nodded, and he seemed to firmly believe that giving Thomas and Teresa to the Grievers was going to make them just take the people and leave. "That's why I'm offering Thomas and his girlfriend to them. Now, please don't force me to make you join them."

"Gally..." Jem breathed out, but the Keeper of the Builders had already backed him out the door and closed it in his face.