Suddenly, I was in a black room, confused and with a pounding head. My skin felt too tight for my body, and my ribs felt like they're being squeezed together. I sat up and looked around. I was sitting on a plain mattress, in a small room with no door, strapped to a machine, feeding me IV. I started panting, gasping, and shaking, and the machine started beeping like crazy. Before I knew it, I was on the stone floor, my vision dimming, and then I blacked out.
The next time I woke up, an Erudite stood over my, syringe in his gloved hands, and glasses on his pale, skinny face. I shrieked and punched him. On my life, I swore that I wouldn't allow anyone to inject me with a serum. No one. I was done with those. The man shouted in pain, and ran out of the door… the door, that I could have sworn wasn't there before… I could hear the man yelling for reinforcements. I wasn't going to allow it. I stood up, and dashed out. My muscles were stiff, as if I haven't used them in a long time. My brain felt slow, and tired. I started to ramble in my head. My name is Beatrice Prior. I'm 16 years old. My parents… for a scary thought, I couldn't remember. My parents are Natalie and Andrew Prior, both killed during the attack in Abnegation. Four… FOUR! TOBIAS! I sprinted through the building, a group of men on my tail.
I recognised this place as soon as I took a look around at the light blue walls. Erudite labs. The same place I was almost delivered to my death. So why was my room black? I didn't care why. I needed to find Tobias. I opened another door, and ran smack into someone another scientist. He looked up.
Caleb…
I stared at him.
He looked behind me, where the guards started cuffing my arms together. He waved them off.
"Tris… You're awake…"
"Oh my God! Caleb… What… What are you doing here?" I gasped, forgetting how to exhale. My voice was raspy, like it hasn't been used in a long time. I must have looked panicked. Last time I was here with him, he was a traitor, bringing me to my execution.
"Tris, I'll explain later. Can we go somewhere private first?"
I nodded. Caleb seemed to know his way around the place. He turned a corner, into a corridor, and opened the door on the right. He looked at Tris, beckoning her. She walked inside and sat on the mattress in the middle of the room.
"Ok, explain Caleb. Explain to me why we're inside the city again, in Erudite, no less, where I wake up in a black room to a guy about to stick me with a needle, and have a bunch of guards chase me around when I walk out, as if I'm a prisoner."
"Listen Tris, how much do you remember?"
"About the war outside the gate?"
"Yes."
"We… They were going to use memory system to wipe out everyone's memory inside the gate to start another experiment, right?"
"Go on," Caleb urged her. "What else?"
"We had to stop it, put in a code. I think it was 080721,"
"080712," Caleb corrected, a slight smile on his face. "Go on."
"You were supposed to survive the death serum long enough to put in the numbers and stop the serum. I didn't let you. I couldn't have another family member die for me. I couldn't live with myself."
I looked at Caleb.
"Is there a point to all this?"
He signalled for me to keep going.
"I survived the death serum. I don't know how, but I did. I made it to the room. David was there. He shot me after the numbers were put in. I must have been in a coma or something. And now I'm here. Now enlighten me Caleb. What's going on?"
Caleb looked sad.
"Tris, you weren't in a coma. You were dead."
I froze. How could I have been dead? More importantly, if I was, how was I alive? I looked at him, opening my mouth to speak, but he held up his hand, stopping me.
"Tris, I can't have a family member die for me, just like you couldn't, but you gave me no choice. I've lived with the guilt, and I couldn't stand it. I brought you back."
I stared at him.
"Back… from the dead… But how?"
"We hooked you up to a machine that shocked your heart into pumping. Once we managed that, we were able to send faint magnetic waves into your brain, enough to keep you from being brain dead. You were in a coma, in that condition for a year. I didn't even know if it would work or not. Oh god Tris, I was so scared it wouldn't, but you're here."
I was speechless. My brother, whom I spent my last moments with, pondering his loyalty towards me, had just brought me back from the dead.
"Tobias… Is he ok?"
"He's grieving. Still. He's been terrible. Cold, Cruel, he's changed."
"Where is he?"
"Dauntless, but Tris, listen…"
"I have to go to Dauntless then," I shouted. I started to get up, but Caleb grabbed my arm. I yanked it back, and he stumbled.
"Wait Tris please…"
"Caleb, you don't understand. I have to get to him."
Caleb, still on the ground, thought for a moment.
"Once a week," he said. "once a week, you come back to Erudite, for half an hour, just so we can monitor you. Please."
There were tears brimming the bottom of his eyes.
"Promise me Tris," he begged. "I'm so sorry for everything. Don't run away from me again. Promise. You're the only family I have left."
I looked at him. After all he'd done for me, I could tell he loved me. And I loved him. I ran into Caleb's arms and held on tight, sobbing.
"Never. I will never leave you. But I have to go. I'll come back." I sniffed, gripped him once more, got to my feet and sprinted out the door. I looked back. Caleb stared at me from the floor. I covered my mouth with my hand to stop another sob from escaping me. I ran out of Erudite headquarters and I didn't stop until I leapt onto the train.