I walk slowly into the room. The room full of Candor, the room where the truth will be told. The truth about Will. I feel all eyes bearing into my soul. They know. They have to know. Else they wouldn't be looking at me this way. Christina must know, she must have told them. That is why she hasn't come to see me.
'Stop Tris!' I think to myself, I'm just being paranoid, it's ridiculous, nobody knows, I haven't told anyone. Not even Tobias. I take a deep breath whilst a man walks into the centre of the room. His blonde hair is cropped short, and he is wearing a black shirt with a white tie and matching white jacket. His face is stern, and I know instantly that he isn't going to go easy on us. He gets a chair ready and the loud murmur softens ever so slightly. I spot Christina's face in the front of the crowd, she is smiling, but it is fake, it doesn't reach her eyes. She waves me over and I walk at what is a steady pace, as I try to calm my nerves.
"Hey," she says as I reach her, "I am so glad you arrived in one piece, after not hearing from you in weeks I thought something had happened."
"I'm fine," my voice comes out as a croak, the butterflies in my stomach were going crazy. I had to calm down.
"Erm listen," she began to say, then looks down, "I know this isn't the right time, but I reckon its better hearing it of me than it gets mentioned in the trial."
"What's up?" I wonder if this will be our last conversation, she will never forgive me once she discovers what I have done.
"It's," She looks back up and her eyes begin to fill with tears, "Will." She swallows, "he was killed in the attack, his body was found shortly after we came back to reality after the simulation."
My heart beats fast, blood rushes through my ears, so I can't hear anything. Does she know who did it? My god look at her face, she is broken.
"If I could have your attention please." The stern-faced man in the middle says, "for those who don't already know me, my name is Niles. I am going to be leading the trials today. You all know how it works, I will ask the two Dauntless what happened before their arrival here. I will inject them with the truth serum to ensure that they are being completely honest. Can you, sir, come to the centre first please."
I turn to look at Tobias, he kisses me gently on the forehead, "I love you no matter what," he whispers into my ear. I can't look at him. Will he still mean that after he discovers the truth?
He slowly walks into the centre of the room, his jaw set firm.
He sits down on the wooden chair in the centre, whilst Niles wipes his neck with a numbing agent.
"May the truth set you free," he says. He injects the serum and Tobias' face goes straight, all life from his eyes gone. Just like Dauntless under the attack serum.
"What is your name?" Asks Niles.
"Four." Tobias replies with some struggle.
"I need your real name."
"Tobias." He says with pain in his eyes.
"Tobias what?" Niles pushes him with some impatience, he flinches.
"Why is this relevant?" Tobias says quietly, knuckles wrapping around the arms of the chairs.
"The more you fight the serum, the harder this will be." Niles forces.
"Eaton!" Tobias shouts, "Tobias Eaton," he says quieter the second time.
Everyone gasps, including Christina, "Did you know this?" She asks.
I nod slowly, and her hands wrap around mine. My heart begins to pound, blood roaring in my ears. I close my eyes and see Will's body crumple to the ground in a lifeless heap, his eyes staring into nothing. I watch his blood slowly leaking out of the bullet wound, the gunshot rattles in my ears still. I just stand and stare into his lifeless eyes. I feel squeeze at my hand and open my eyes to find ten minutes has passed and Tobias is covered in sweat, flinching every now and again.
"You are doing very well, just one last question." Niles says, "What is your biggest regret?"
Pain flashes across his face and I begin to wonder if there is something he is hiding from me.
"My," I have never seen him look so upset before, "`My biggest regret is meeting Tris."
My whole body goes cold, I drop Christina's hand.
"I have fallen in love with her, and I know that if something ever happens to her, then I don't know what I would do. I have turned her into a weapon for people to use against me."
"Thank you for your honesty," Niles says.
The whole crowd repeats after him. I don't. My cheeks burn red and my legs begin to move, slow at first, but then with speed. I run out of the room, behind me I hear the footsteps of Dauntless guards following after me, but I don't care. I head for the stairs and run upwards, I keep going up and up, tears streaming down my face at this point. I get to the top and the footsteps have gone, they have obviously given up.
I climb out onto the roof, on top of the Merciless Mart and turn around slowly gulping in the fresh air. I look over the wall down, at the ground far below, then I look up at the grey sky. I sink down against the wall and bury my head in my hands, tucked up into a ball.
I begin to sob, I know I shouldn't, he didn't mean it in a bad way, he was trying to say he wants to protect me. But it still hurts.
When I eventually look back up, he is stood at the roof door, looking at me with a sad look in his eyes. He slowly walks over and sits down next to me. He takes my hand, but I snatch it back.
"I'm sorry tris." He says looking into my eyes, "I didn't mean to upset you, I am being perfectly honest though, I don't want you to be used against me as a weapon. I don't want to put your life in danger."
"So you regret meeting me then?" Now, I feel more angry than upset, "and to say it in front everyone in Candor!"
"I don't regret meeting you, I just wish that the world was different, and we would be able to be happy together, but in this world, there will always be a setback or a problem. And plus, I was under the serum, so I couldn't help admitting it!"
"Well, I'll do you a favour, if I'm no longer a part of your life you will have no reason to regret meeting me." I get up and start to walk back towards the door, but before I leave I turn around to say one last thing, "And in future can you not lie to my face please."
"What?" he looks a bit bewildered.
"Well before you had the serum you told me you loved me no matter what, after you last statement I don't quite thing that was true. So, in future don't lie to me Four." I turn around and walk away, smiling to myself because I know calling him Four would hurt him.
I run down the stairs, and the first thing I hear as I reach the bottom is a gunshot. Then I hear the screams.
I see flashes of black and small strips of blue. Dauntless traitors. I carry on down the stairs, heading towards the underground floors. A group of girls, all about the age of 18 and 19 run up the stairs towards me. Long, white night dresses tripping them up and they are all screaming at the top of their lungs. They obviously haven't been in an encounter like this before. And then I see the dauntless soldiers running behind them, and one by one the girls drop- like dominoes- to the floor.
Suddenly I feel a burning pain in my right leg, and I drop to the ground. The soldiers run past, and I figure playing dead is my best option as I see none of the other girls moving around me. A soldier steps on my fingertips, and I try not to flinch.
"All clear," a harsh female voice yells, and I hear footsteps as the soldiers carry on up the stairs. When I'm sure they all passed I sit up and look at my leg. I could tell it wasn't a real bullet that hit me, the pain wasn't too bad, but I do notice tiny, cylindrical tube sticking out of my leg. Obviously, Erudite still haven't managed to make a serum that will affect both normal people and Divergents. I stand up and head down to the bottom floor, where I know they have a stock room full of guns.
I go as quickly and as quietly as possible, hiding in doorways every time I hear a sound.
I find the stock room, but find the metal door was locked, preventing me from entering. I bring my foot up and smash it against the lock, the gate rattled, so I try it again and again. Smashing the screen, then making a dent and I keep going until sparks fly out of the lock and it is disarmed. I enter and pick up a large gun and put two pistols into my belt. I suddenly hear footsteps from nearby. I lift my gun up to my chin and my finger hovers over the trigger. I can't identify where the sound came from. So, with my legs shoulder width apart, I circle around slowly, my heart racing. I feel a hand on my shoulder, someone is behind me. I dart around to see someone towering above me. I aim my gun, ready to shoot.
"Tris! Tris. It's me." A familiar voice says, urgent at first, then calming after each word. "It's Uriah, it's ok, Tris, put the gun down."
I lower the gun and look up at the figures face. And it is him. And then I notice the confused look on his face, and then I notice it. The small tube sticking out if his arm, just like the one in my leg. I'm shocked for a moment then come back to reality.
"Divergent?" I ask. He nods slowly as if unsure whether to admit to it or not. "Grab a gun and follow me. I will explain later," I say as I begin to leave the room. We run together at the same pace. Going down corridor after corridor until we find another large stair case. Our feet hit the metal steps in unison, sounding like a horse galloping. We run up as far as we can, and end up at an open door leading to the ground floor of the Merciless Mart. Two traitors stand in the doorway and we shoot them down with two swift gunshots. We step over the bodies and run through the door. But stop almost immediately.
Traitors surround us, creating a circle blocking us in. We lift up our guns but realise there is no point. Two against a dozen. There is no way we can take them all down. I turn around in a slow circle, trying to take in all of the Dauntless traitors, see if I recognise any. I stop mid-step, as I have laid eyes on someone I recognise. That someone is Eric.
"Uriah? Wow. You hid your divergence very well! I'm impressed. But Tris, you made no attempt to hide it did you?" Eric torments, a smug look on his face. "but we only need the special ones, the special divergents. And I'm really sorry Tris, but I don't think you are special enough. I will test you anyway, but if my theory is correct then I will just have to kill you and your divergent friend." He says with a fake sympathetic look on his face.
Two soldiers come forward, grab our wrists and drag us into Jack Kang's office. They shove us to the ground where we kneel facing Eric, along with other random people, obviously divergents. We are all in a line, and a dauntless soldier steps in front of us, and handcuffs all of us. I look down the line, next to Uriah is an elderly man, with thin grey hair and tired blue eyes. He looks like he is in his late seventies. He doesn't deserve this. Further down the line is a young girl, no older than six. Her long ginger hair sits across her shoulder in a braid and her eyes are red and puffy, obviously from a lot of crying. I carry on scanning the line looking for someone in particular. But when I can't find their face I being to panic, did something happen to them? And then I begin to feel anger, they probably just left without us! No, they wouldn't.
'Stop thinking about him Tris! Remember he was the one who said he regretted meeting you, you're not part of his life anymore!' I think to myself, 'let's just figure out how to get out of this situation'
Before I can finish that thought Eric steps towards a middle-aged man at one end of the line. He holds up a small machine. It has a small handle, just big enough to fit Eric's hand, and then has three pieces of metal sticking out of it in a triangle shape, each one has a small green disc at the end. He puts the machine up to the man's head, and the discs fit perfectly against each temple and the centre of his forehead. The discs light up, and a blue screen appears just above the machine, from some sort of hidden projector in the machine. The screen has 13% written on it in big letters, and the Amity and Candor symbol appears either side of the percentage.
"13%?" Eric says to himself, "that isn't good enough," he holds up his other hand and clicks. A dauntless soldier steps forward and shoots them in the head. A mix of gasps and cries fills the room of divergents, as the man slumps to the ground, his eyes rolling up in to his sockets. Eric moves to the next person in the room and holds the machine up to the little girl head. The screen reads 21% and has the Candor and Erudite symbol on it, he lifts his hand up to click, but before he can I jump up and everyone stops and looks at me.
"Are you really going to kill the is little girl Eric?" I ask.
"It is what Jeanine has instructed me to do." Eric replies, "now sit back down Tris and stop trying to be everyone's hero, or I will shoot you here and now."
"That's a bit of demotion isn't it, Eric? You've gone from being a Dauntless leader to one of Jeanine's puppets, her robot, her doll, you just do what she instructs you to do?" I say knowing I'm going to get myself hurt but at least it diverts his attention from the young girl. He pulls his gun out of his belt, and lifts it up slowly, everybody is watching holding their breaths. Then I see movement behind Eric and see someone's elbow go into his temple, as he drops I see it was Tobias, and then I see Christina and some other dauntless run in behind him. The room fills with the sound of gunfire as people fire back and forth. Some Candor rush in and undo our handcuffs for us, and I stand up and get into a fighting stance. I head for a dauntless traitor, a young woman with purple hair, I punch her in the stomach and she doubles over, but before she can react I kick her in the head and send to her to the ground. I turn around as a fist flies at my head, I stumble backwards and feel a pounding in my brain. The room spins, but I stand up straight and manage to focus at a person running towards me, I get ready to fight, but recognise the short brown hair, and realise it's just Christina. She puts her arm around my shoulders and helps me over to the side of the room. I slump down to the floor leaning against the wall and rest my head on my knees. Most of the Dauntless traitors have left the room, running out of a side door, and the remaining few are dropping like flies.
Everybody leaves, and the room eventually stops spinning, then I see a tall figure walking towards me. I realise it is Tobias, and he sits down next to me. I rest my head on his shoulder and breathe in his familiar scent. The everything goes black.