Hi! Thanks to all of you who reviewed, sorry I haven't posted in a while I've got two other stories I need to finish,
Disclaimer: I'm using a lot of quotes in this chapter, but they belong to Suzanne Collins and Veronica Roth, not me!
Tris' POV
The next day, I'm called into Command, I don't know why, and that makes me nervous, I've only been here for a day so I haven't made a proper judgement yet, but the people I have met seem nice so I remain optimistic.
I walk into command and see Katniss talking to a guy with bronze hair and tanned skin, when I'm noticed in the doorway Plutarch comes up to me and says "Tris! We have good news! Ever since you arrived we have set up a patrol in the forest for others from the faction program," I nod, he continues "We received intelligence this morning that they found a boy, well teenager, who had dark hair and dark eyes, they couldn't find out his name since he was dehydrated but he was carrying a letter very much like yours, saying he was from the Dauntless faction like yourself,"
"Do you know who wrote the letter?" I ask, my hope building, there are only two teenagers I know who are Divergent, from Dauntless, with dark hair and eyes, Tobias and Uriah, frankly, I'd be happy to see both,
"No, our connection died, but-," he presses a finger to his ear, "They have returned here and they are bringing him down, he'll be here shortly," I nod and take a seat opposite Katniss, she smiles at me, she must have over heard the conversation, I smile back,
A few minutes later I hear the door open and spin around, I look up to the figure and something within me deflates,
Uriah,
But as soon as I feel this it's gone, I jump up and hug him, he hugs me back tightly, the screens around the room light up but I ignore them, I pull back,
"What are you doing here?" I ask,
"I came to get you," he says,
"On your own," I ask, surly Tobias would have came if I was able to come home,
"No Four came too, we just split up because we didn't know where to find you," he explains,
"He's on his own out there?" I ask panic rising,
"No he's with Evelyn," my head snaps up,
"Evelyn," I hiss, he nods his head,
"She was adamant that she would stick with Four," he says,
"Why?" I ask, I'm seriously confused,
"That's why," says a voice behind us, I turn to see a man named Haymitch, he's looking at the screens, I turn my head and my breath catches, Evelyn stands behind a man white an unnatural white beard,
"But if Evelyn's there, where's-," I start but then the screen pans out and I nearly collapses. Tobias. He's sitting in a chair next to a boy about Katniss' age with blonde hair,
"We have some exiting new guys," says the man with the white beard, in a high pitch accent, "Century's ago, even before the first Hunger Games, our government created a district that was cut off from us, this project was called the faction program, we have a representative of the faction program, so please, welcome Evelyn Johnson," the man steps away and Evelyn steps up and starts to speak,
"Thank you Mr. President, a s you know my name is Evelyn Johnson and I'm the representative of the factions, we ourselves have recently faced a war that left thousands dead, the reason for this war were people called Divergent, they can't be controlled, they are dangerous and deadly, one actually stood by and watch her parents killed and it had no effect on her, she even killed her best friend and it didn't faze her," she says, is she talking about me, can she honestly think the war didn't faze me at all? I listen to her continue, "This girl is called Tris Prior, she is part of your rebel army, she escaped with the help of that boy over there, I'm not quite sure why he'd help her, why don't we hear from him?" the camera moves to Tobias who looks like he could murder her right now,
"You want to know why I helped her. Because I love her, I'm in love with her," Tobias speaks quietly, Evelyn looks shock for a moment, Tobias gets a sinister smirk on his face, "You seem surprised, I'm not following your game, you can threaten me all you like; I refuse to deny what's right!" Tobias looks start into the camera, "I'm Divergent, I can't and won't be controlled by a power hungry monster that'd do this to her own son," Evelyn steps off the podium and walks over to Tobias slaps him, she looks at soldiers in white suits and they come and beat Tobias to a bloody pulp, I feel Uriah's arm around my waist and realise I was falling, the camera moves back to the podium, the president is there and he introduces the blonde boy as Peeta Mellark, he gestures for Peeta to begin speaking, he speaks in a frustrated tone about the need for the cease-fire. He highlights the damage done to key infrastructure in various districts, and as he speaks, parts of the map light up, showing images of the destruction; a broken dam in district seven, a de-railed train with a pool of toxic waste spilling from the tank cars, a granary collapsing after a fire. He blames the rebel army for all of this.
Suddenly the screen is replaced with a picture of Katniss standing in a pile of rubble, Plutarch jumps up, "He did it! Beetee broke in!" Peeta comes back on the screen, he tries to carry on speaking but the images of Katniss, a little girl and the man sitting next to Katniss distract him, it seems like a war to gain control, everyone in the room is ecstatic with every image, but Katniss looks horrified, so does the man sitting next to her and Haymitch, a seal comes onto the screen for about twenty seconds then the president is back on the screen, he asks if Peeta has any parting thoughts for Katniss, he response with;
"Katniss… how do you think this will end? What will be left? No one is safe. Not in the Capitol. Not in the districts. And you… in Thirteen…" He inhales sharply, as if fighting for air; his eyes look insane. "Dead by morning!"
From off camera the president yells "End it!" then Katniss is back on screen every three seconds, the Capitol is in turmoil, a camera gets knocked over and all you can see are people's running feet, but then the shouting is drowned out by the unmistakeable sound of someone's cry of pain, then blood is splattered onto the tiled floor,
I look at Katniss who looks as if she could scream, the entire room is shouting trying to crack Peeta's coded message, Haymitch growls in frustration, effectively making everyone quite, he says in an annoyed tone "They're beating him bloody while we speak. What more do you need? Katniss, help me out here!"
Katniss gives herself a little shake to bring herself back to reality, "Haymitch's right." She says, I don't know where Peeta got the information, Or if it's true. But he believes it is. And they're—" she cuts herself off, probably thinking of what they're doing to him, I have to say I'm worrying about Tobias too; What is Evelyn doing to him? Haymitch picks up where Katniss left off;
"You don't know him," Haymitch says to the President of thirteen. "We do. Get your people ready." The president looks calm as she sits there and thinks about Haymitch's words, she reminds me of Evelyn, the way she seems to crave power, after a while she says, "Of course, we have prepared for such a scenario. Although we have decades of support for the assumption that further direct attacks on Thirteen would be counterproductive to the Capitol's cause. Nuclear missiles would release radiation into the atmosphere, with incalculable environmental results. Even routine bombing could badly damage our military compound, which we know they hope to regain. And, of course, they invite a counter strike. It is conceivable that, given our current alliance with the rebels, those would be viewed as acceptable risks."
"You think so?" Haymitch says with mock kindness, which the president either doesn't acknowledge or simply ignores,
"I do. At any rate, we're overdue for a Level Five security drill, let's proceed with the lockdown." She starts type rapidly on her keyboard, when she looks up, a high pitch sirens sound from the sound system that goes around the compound,
I'm lead by a man named Boggs- along with Katniss and the man she was sitting next to- down hallways and stairs, we just keep going down, Uriah was taken to get check in the infirmary, so I'm on my own again,
Boggs leads us to the edge of a cavern and tells us to show our schedules, to make sure we haven't wandered off somewhere, I look around, but the place reminds me of the dauntless compound so I have to turn away, Plutarch comes skipping up to us the joy obvious on his face "Ah, here you are," he smiles widely at all of us and turns to Katniss, "Katniss, obviously this is a bad moment for you, what with Peeta's setback, but you need to be aware that others will be watching you."
Katniss looks ready to punch him, I put my hand on her wrist to remind her to stay calm, "What?" she asks
"The other people in the bunker, they'll be taking their cue on how to react from you. If you're calm and brave, others will try to be as well. If you panic, it could spread like wildfire, you can help to Tris, people here are vaguely aware of your story and they'll somewhat look up to you as you come from the brave faction," Plutarch says, we stare at him blankly, "Fire is catching, so to speak," he says looking at Katniss as if she's thick,
"Why don't I just pretend I'm on camera, Plutarch?" Katniss says sarcastically, Plutarch seems oblivious to this,
"Yes! Perfect. One is always much braver with an audience," he says. "Look at the courage Peeta and the other lad just displayed!" other lad?! I think, this time Katniss has to put a hand on my wrist, even though she looks like she wants to slap him silly, "I've got to get back to Coin before lockdown. You keep up the good work!" he says then he skips away, I sigh and shake my head,
Katniss takes me to my compartment; it's verified with a 'D' at the top of the opening, I go in and sit on the bare bed,
"You okay?" asks Katniss, I nod,
"Yeah, you?" I say,
"I guess, but I have to be 'strong for the people' so I can't be anything other," she says,
"I was ready to punch him, how could he call Tobias' and Peeta's act a show for the cameras, it was brave, it was... dauntless," I say putting my head in my hands,
"What do you mean?" she ask,
"There is a line in the dauntless Manifesto, 'we believe in ordinary acts of bravery, in the courage that drives one person to stand up for another.' That's what they were doing, they were standing up for what's right no matter what, and if Plutarch thinks it's an act then we live in one messed up world," I say
"That's exactly what it is," Katniss says, before going to her own compartment