Chapter One
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"What exactly am I looking for?" I scan the screens throughly but quickly darting through each image with quick clicks on the keyboard beneath my fingertips. The images are similar and strange. Some with words and others with pictures of groups of people, but none of it makes any sense. I stop briefly over a plan for efficient city sewage usage and I feel my annoyance make my neck stiffen.
"You should see some sort of city record. It should be there, remember he said it would." came the slow, careful voice through the earpiece wedged in my right ear.
I roll my eyes and sigh as I flip through more and more images of blueprints and programs. I look over my shoulder at the dark metal door with peeling olive green paint shut tight. I bolted the lock just to be careful, but I still do not want to linger here long. It wouldn't be much longer before the guards I hit with the Sleeping Serum grenades will wake. I used a low dosage, but still I don't want to take any chances. I tap the computer three more times, my impatience growing, when I finally stop and go back three spaces to a list with names on it.
The air inside the dark room with only the screen illuminating the space is cold and quiet. I hear a slight hum from the monitor and then the image jumps a little. I scan the list and it takes only moments to find the name I need. I feel myself grinning as I press my fingertips into the earpiece.
"I'm in."
"Good" he says to me. "Now you should get out of there, I think the backup alarms just activated and you'll only have about five minutes before the police show up. Won't be pretty."
I tap the screen and drag the file onto a folder on the desktop. It transfers and I yank the small, rectangular flash drive out of the side of the keyboard. I'm not worried about the police, but I also don't want an unnecessary fight on my hands either. I walk toward the metal door and glance back at the computer. I feel my heart pound a little in my palms and I can't help but think about the moments ahead.
As I step out into the hallway, it is long and flooded with dim yellow fluorescent light. The guards I inoculated are slumped against the adjacent walls, their bodies still in a slight stand or lean. Some of them are completely passed out on the dingy tan carpet, breathing softly through their gaping mouths. I don't hear them, but I know the alarms have been set off. I disabled the main system, but with the new overrides Chicago has in place, I knew it wouldn't be long before they'd turn on again. No matter, I have what I came for.
I stride past the guards and into the stairwell, rising up three flights toward another door. The stairs smell like sawdust and drying paint, stale and strong. Then I hear the muffle of rushed voices beneath me. I waste no more time and shove through the door and find myself on the roof. The night air is cool and wraps around my skin. Even in my long sleeves, I feel the goosebumps protrude on my flesh and I shiver. I shut the door behind me and see a long broken and rusted metal bar to my right. I grab it, feeling the rough texture under my palms and shove it through the door handle, blocking it from being opened…briefly. I know it won't hold. I see the train track in the distance, about seven rooftops over and I must make it there.
Even back now, they still stop for no one. Well, I guess it's not as bad as I used to hear it was. Chicago is different now, it has gained some of it's…civility, if that's the word to use. I hear angry voices behind me through the door and then the shoves come. I rush toward the edge of the roof and leap across to the next one, just before the bar is broken and three officers burst out. They look madly around the roof and one of them I recognize as Amar with his dark skin and long locked hair. I dive around a air vent and watch their feet as I stay low.
Amar says something to the other two officers, one who is tall with a wide nose and thin lips. He looks confused and angry all at the same time, while the officer to his right is searching around for any sign of an intruder. I cannot see his face, but I can tell he is shorter and stockier, thin ink lines running across the side of his neck. Former Dauntless, I think to myself as I hold my breath. The factions may be extinct, but their denizens are not, at least not physically. Even Amar in his black cargo pants and tall, thick soled boots are reminiscent of the Dauntless instructor he once was. Even now, he is still the same. There's a part of me that shouldn't be expecting different, but it's interesting being here in this glimpse of a photograph.
It is the city I know and am used to, but it hasn't been touched yet with shadows or conflict. Conflict, I hope, I can prevent from coming to fruition. They eventually leave the roof and go back inside and I breathe. My hair flies around my face in the night breeze and I pull it out of my eyes. I stand up and face the next rooftop. I hear his voice come into my ear and he asked, concern feeling his speech.
"You okay?"
"Yes, stop worrying. I'm on my way back."
"Alright, but be careful. Use the glasses when you get on the train."
"Those stupid things." I mutter. "I suppose. No one will even notice me."
"You have a pretty familiar face." He says darkly.
"Please, it technically doesn't exist yet." I chuckle as I flip forward and land on my feet on to the train platform. I got here faster than I thought.
"Stop with the acrobatics." He hisses into my ear, making me cringe at the volume.
"Jeez, you really got the Stiff gene bad."
He says nothing for a moment. "Well, our genes are strong. See you when you get back."
He hangs up and I am left standing on the train platform alone. The last train would be coming in two minutes and although few people ever seldom ride it, it will come. I think of tomorrow and how everything is about to begin. How everything will be difficult, but wonderful at the same time. All because I found her. I found them. But her first.
Beatrice Prior.
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