DOUBLE TAKE
I wasn't the only one from my initiation class going on the trek. I found a familiar face in Marlene, one of the Dauntless-born girls, who was coming along. After the fallout from the Abnegation attack she had taken a role in one of the internal city defense squads. Her end goal, she told me one night at dinner, was to work her way up into intelligence.
For now though Marlene's squad was taking lead on the supply run, spreading out between the twelve trucks that we were bringing to act as points of contact. When I got to the motorpool I immediately went to find her supervisor, Lieutenant Morgan, who was currently running the operation.
"Ah, Prior," he greeted me the moment he looked up over his clipboard. "Coulter said you had volunteered for this mission. Good to have you. You're taking initiative and that's commendable."
My smile grew as I flushed slightly. Notoriety had followed me since the trials at Candor and not always in a positive fashion. Morgan seemed to be in my camp though and I relished the opportunity to be commended for my choices rather than rebuked. "Thank you, sir. Just trying to do everything I can to pass Leadership trials," I said quickly.
After a moment I added sheepishly, "And I really wanted to get out beyond the wall." That made him laugh, the sound disappearing into the dull roar of trucks surging to life. He sent me to my assigned crew with a warning that we were leaving within the next ten or so minutes.
Fast paced and bustling, this was the part of Dauntless that I loved. Someone took my pack, strapping it into a recess in the upper segment of the roof. I got swept into the remaining loading process, hauling crates to the mammoth supply trucks. They weren't designed to hold troops, instead maximizing locked down storage crates. Once they were secure, we were sent back to our respective troop transports. I wasn't fortunate enough to get on a crew with Marlene but the caravan was sticking together such that I was certain to still see her on the road.
A holler cascaded through the motorpool as the "flagship" vehicle - Lieutenant Morgan's - tore out of the garage in a cloud of dust. Our unit was assigned towards the end of the line, keeping a ready eye on the horizon behind us. I settled in to my seat, hands gripping the bench beneath me to keep myself grounded.
Excitement bubbled in my gut. I couldn't help the grin on my face as I glimpsed Chicago's city streets racing along through the slit windows. The plate armor on the sides of the personnel carriers was effective in every regard save visibility. Then again, we could hardly rely solely on the bulletproof glass windows. Any half-decent rifle with armor piercing rounds would smash right through without a second thought.
Chitchat filtered around the truck as people introduced themselves. Everyone was a rather mixed bag of different occupations from shop clerks to weathered fence guards. More than a few had already made supply trips like this before. I felt more than a little overwhelmed by my own lack of hands-on experience so at that point I excused myself from the conversation. Staring out the rear windows - which were also heavily armored - kept me from thinking too hard about the fact that I'd really never been involved in a genuine Dauntless mission.
The stopover at the wall put a halt to my pity party. Everyone offloaded to go through identity checks. Echoes of Four's teachings from Initiation rose to mind. It was key when sending a regiment this large out to ensure that every single person who was leaving Chicago was identified. The primary concern was security - Factionless were not allowed outside of the wall and non-city natives were almost never allowed inside. Secondly, we needed a record of those who didn't come back.
One of the fence guards approached our crew, bobbing her head in greeting to those she recognized and carefully noting down everyone's names.
"Everyone set?" Eric came by, clapping his hand on the guard's shoulder. He scanned over our crew, eyes sharp as he shifted the pack on his back.
"Looks like it, sir," the guard chirped back. "Everyone accounted for. I'm just waiting on Pearson's signal."
Eric nodded to himself. "Excellent. Make sure that list gets radioed in to HQ. We're good to go. Pearson told me if you're done then we're ready to ride," he ordered. "Let's load up! We're burning daylight."
I didn't anticipate that he was coming along, too. The last that I'd heard about our fearless Leader was that he was out on an inspection of the fence guard patrols. It seemed his decision to come was as unexpected to Lieutenant Morgan as it was to me, but after a moment of awkward posturing between the men it was apparent that Eric was happy to come along without taking over the mission.
"I won't even ride up front, how about that," Eric said with a wink. "I'm trying to keep my finger on the pulse of ops like these. You don't need me pulling rank on you and confusing the chain of command." I watched from the corner of my truck, hanging out the back doors.
Morgan finally agreed and the pair shook hands. I had to scramble back inside the truck when I realized Eric was heading towards me. I had spent a decent amount of time with the blonde Leader throughout my training during and after Initiation. Still, I couldn't quite get a read on him. He'd go from hot to cold in an instant. Passionate and demanding only the best of his men, I relished the opportunity to prove myself directly. He already would have been reading the report as both a faction Leader and as my training supervisor. Now he would get to see me in action personally.
My stress level ticked up a few notches, adding to the unnecessary tension that my conversation with Four had garnered. Eric hopped inside, making a beeline to put his gear away. At least he wasn't the kind of asshole who just handed his bag to someone else to deal with.
I worried for a moment that he was going to wedge his way in between me and the Dauntless next to me but he ended up taking a spot up towards the driver instead. I let out the breath I'd been holding and settled in for the long ride.