My face stung as if someone slapped me. I could hear a muffled voice, like it was at the opposite end of a long tunnel. I couldn't focus on the voice very well. My mind is blank. All I know is that the Government had done something really wrong to me. I have to fight back and show them they can't just make me do what they want. I was special. I was important. I wasn't sure why I was either of those things, but I think I remember someone saying I was. Wait, who am I? Or more importantly, where was I?
"Tris!" the voice suddenly became clearer and my eyes opened.
The room was so bright that I brought my hands up to shield my eyes. My throat felt raw when I croaked, "What?" It must have been a long time since I've had anything to drink. I could really use some water right now. If only someone could turn down that incessant racket. A loud buzzing sound was everywhere and it hurt my ears to listen to it.
"We have to get out of here!" the girl told me as she pulled on my arm to get me out of the bed I was in.
Wires were hanging of machines attached to long silver poles. The sheets were strewn off the bed and Velcro straps were left hanging by the sides and end of the bed. Restraints. Everything was white and smelled of rubbing alcohol and lemons. It stung my nose. What was this place and why did my legs feel like mush? I had a hard time standing up, so much I almost fell over if not for the girl who wrapped her arm around my back.
"I'm Nita, I'm here to get you out of here," she explained as we began to creep away from the bed.
"Warning, facility contaminated. Please evaluate to the nearest exit" a bland and monotone voice indicated. I wasn't sure where it came from, but Nita looked stricken.
"Hurry, we have to leave. I think they know about me now, come on Tris!" she yanked hard on my arm, but my body wasn't responding to her very well. I was clumsy and unable to stand my own weight.
"Shit, you aren't in any shape to go anywhere yet. Geez, why do I get myself into these situations?" she mumbled to herself. I gave her a half-hearted apology because there wasn't anything I could do to help her. Nita looked around the corner out of the door to the room we were in, "Crap, here they come, here, sit here and just…stay there. I'll be back." She pulled a gun out of her pocket, crouched, then left the room.
I looked around as Nita left, what was I doing here? I looked down at myself and saw the blue and white checkered gown, my bare feet and my hole prodded arms. What was I doing here? I was a patient obviously. Was there a reason I was brought here? I couldn't think clearly. It was as if my mind was fighting for me to remember something that I couldn't recall. Why was it still sounding an alarm? Should we leave?
Loud bangs down the hall had me swerving in my chair to see what the commotion was. I heard a few more loud pops, then silence. I didn't see anyone running through the halls. The buzzing still continued. It was loud and giving me a headache. Soon the lights went out and small dim lights came on. They circled in a light amber color. Warning lights. The power had been cut from the facility. Perhaps that is Nita. I couldn't tell. I sat in that chair and just stared at my hands forever. I flexed them back and forth as if I hadn't done this a million times before. The tingly feeling in my fingers began to go away and my toes now felt like they had needles pricking them. I curled them under and stretched my feet, my legs, and arms. I now felt good, possibly good enough to try and stand. I pushed on the arms of the chair to right myself and stood on my feet. I wobbled a bit, but I balanced out. I'm not sure I could walk by myself, at least not yet. I really hoped Nita came back soon.
My request was granted when a tan face with stringy hair in her face peered around the corner of the easement and her face came into the room. "You can walk?"
"I'm not sure. Just standing feels off," I replied.
"Well, we don't have much of a choice. They know you are trying to get out and most likely with me. We're going to have to run and you're going to have to do it without help. I'll try to carry you as far as I can, but I need my gun to take down anyone who gets in our way," Nita replied as she came into the room, grabbed my arm and swung it around her shoulders, her own arm around my back and we started walking out into the hall.
Smoke billowed out of the hallway, most likely from gun fire? The hall was dark except for the rotating amber lights that were placed sporadically on the walls. Nita's arm around my back was stiff and her gun was out in front of her. Her eyes darted from side to side to take in her surroundings.
"What is this place?" I asked in a hushed voice.
"This is a medical research facility. I was banished from Chicago by your boy Tobias and I was brought here. They do testing on Divergent subjects here," she said with a little heat in her voice.
"Divergent subjects?" I asked. "Tobias?" Both words hung in my head. They felt familiar, but foreign all at the same time. They both felt like they held weight with me, but I couldn't place them.
"Yes, you are Divergent, meaning you can't be conformed to one way of thinking. Originally this was a sought after genetic effect by the Government, until the fall of Chicago. Now they view you as a threat. They have been reconstructing all the faction cities in the United States, collecting the Divergent and testing on them."
I was confused by her language. Most of the terms she uses I can't place. United States? What was that? Is that where we were? Factions? So I was brought her for testing then. Testing for what? Who was this Tobias person she spoke of and why does my heart flutter at the mere thought of his name?
"Who is Tobias? Why did you call him my 'boy'?" The word Tobias stuck on my tongue. I couldn't get it to go away. Something nagged at me once again to remember, but I couldn't.
"Never mind him. He's a cold son of a bitch and he would probably move heaven and earth to get to you. Best to stay away from him."
"So he's a bad person?" I asked, not sure if I believed those words as I spoke them. Tobias and the word bad just doesn't seem to want to fit in my mind.
Nita looked at me then looked away. Shame filled her face, I could tell. She was hiding something, "Not necessarily bad, but he isn't fighting for what we believe in. He wouldn't conform to our mission. So now he is the enemy."
"What exactly do we believe in? Who are we fighting against? The Government?" I asked, curiously.
"We believe in the freedom to be as we wish. Equality for all no matter if you are Genetically Pure or Damaged. We are all people and cannot conform to one way of thinking. And we fight against anyone who doesn't believe that as well," Nita responded with pride.
I could feel the rightness in her words, but some of the terms confused me. Genetically Pure? Damaged? What did those mean? So I could understand fighting against this clinic. She was trying to free the Divergent then. If so, where were the others?
"And the other Divergent subjects?" I asked. Certainly I wasn't the only person here.
"Gone. I couldn't save them. But that's okay. I can save you and that's all that matters."
We hobbled though several hallways. Most were littered with bodies of what looked like security. I didn't see a single person I would identify as a Nurse or Doctor which made me think of the people who were running tests on me. Where were they?