The ride back to erudite is long.
"I'm proud of you, Tris," Jeanine speaks to me over the roar of the engine, "you were able to over come a broken heart and get the revenge on the man who turned against you. Against us."
"I'm glad I was able to please you, ma'am," I speak back quietly.
"One less traitor in the world," Max throws in his two cents.
I look to the back seat to see Christina and Tori watching me with unreadable expressions, I turn back to look out the windshield.
We had to get out of Chicago.
...
Eric POV
I feel cold. Why am I so cold.
You just got shot, dumbass. Tris just shot you.
"Eric," I can hear a distant voice calling to me, I can see an outline of a mans shadow.
"Dig it out," another voice says.
"Eric," the other voice calls again.
Then a shrill pain over takes me, and in a few seconds, the pain subsides and I can blink myself to see clearly.
Zeke and Tobias are kneeling over me.
Tobias, what is he doing here?
"Eric," Zeke speaks again, "hey man."
I touch my chest where the once gaping hole is now patched with a pad of thick gauze.
"Dude, she missed your fucking heart," Zeke says clapping my shoulder gently.
I shake my head.
"What's the craziest thing about you that I don't know," Tris asks me as we lay under the stars together.
"I have a condition called dextrocardia," I reply, smirking down at her, waiting for her to ask what the hell that means. She lifts her head from my chest and looks down at me with a small grin.
"Your heart is on the wrong side..."
"How did you know that?"
"You're not the only smart one around, Eric."
She wasn't aims for my heart.
Tobias' jaw drops, "what the hell was she aiming for then Eric? Because I don't think shooting you in the chest and allowing you to live was part of the plan here."
"My heart is on the wrong side, Tris knew."
Tobias glances to Zeke then back to me.
"What are you doing here," I ask towards Tobias.
"I was hoping to find you two before Jeanine did, we have to get out of this place."
"Not without Tris."
"Eric, she just shot you! In the fucking chest!" Zeke pleads.
"Not leaving without her," I groan and sit up, the pain almost unbearable, but the adrenaline is already pumping through my veins.
"Fine, but if we all die, I'm blaming your ass," Zeke grumbles, helping me to my feet.
"We won't die."
...
Tris POV
"Tris," Christina calls into my room.
"What?"
"I'm sorry about Eric," she whispers moving closer to me.
"He left me, it was his revenge," I murmured, I didn't know who to trust anymore, everyone said they looked to me as a leader...maybe I didn't trust myself anymore.
"He loved you."
"I didn't love him," I lie.
She shakes her head and starts to leave, "you know, people are still looking to you for leadership, people want to get out of these walls and be free."
"We will never be free."
She turns and leaves my room completely, my text alert lights up my phone, it's Max.
M: Briefing the children, come to the entrance.
I set my phone aside on the bed stand. I quickly fix my hair into a long braid cascading down my back, I pull a new shirt over my head, it's a simple black shirt, I leave my leather leggings alone and change into a pair of navy blue combat boots.
...
"Hello my children," Jeanine greets the new faces, "my name is Jeanine, I'm sure most of you know me."
Sobs and sniffles echo through the vast entry way of Erudite.
"I am your leader," her voice books over the crowd, I feel eyes on me and turn my head slightly to see Uriah watching me, "and as your leader, I ask but one favor of you, do not betray me."
We had all heard this speech before, and to be honest it was getting old.
I caught a slight shadow moving towards the back of the entryway by the doors leading further into Erudite.
"You belong to me now," Jeanine speaks again, she seems on edge, "this is your home. You are my army."
I catch the movement of the figure at the back of the room again, and Max does too, because he is whispering fiercely into Austins ear, he and Caleb run quickly though the crowd towards where i last saw the shadows.
"Tris," Jeanine called to me, "follow me, please."
I follow her quietly towards her office.
"Ma'am," I ask slowly, taking note o her tense body language.
"The box you delivered to me," she starts.
"What about it?"
"Only a Divergent can open it."
I don't reply, she looks at me before continuing on, "I need your help."
"What do I need to do?"
"You have to pass a series of simulations, and each simulation will be from a different faction, only then, the message will be revealed."
Before I can think, my mouth blurts out, "I'll do it."
"Very well," she smiles at me, her lips curving wickedly.
She gestures for me to follow her towards the simulation room, I hesitate slightly before following close behind. My curiosity getting the best of me.
I look into the room to see leads hanging down from the ceiling behind a glass wall. I look to Jeanine and she nods slightly, picking up her tablet and walking to stand directly in front of the leads.
"Tris, if you don't mind," she gestures with her hand towards the leads.
I walk to them confidently and stand, ready for the pain. I've seen these used before, i
The last time they were used, they killed Peter.
The pain shoots through me like electricity as my skin is punctured by the sharp needles, and I am lifted off the ground and thrown into a sim.
Dauntless.
"Hello, Tris," it's Harrison.
I turn to see the evil look in his eyes, and his smirk grows upon his lips.
"Did you miss me," he asks, moving ever so close to me.
"Hardly," I retort.
"Seems, I underestimated you," he starts to circle me in the empty room, "I never would have taken you for someone who kills for revenge."
"You tried to kill me you bastard," I sneer at him.
"You were blinding Eric, I had to do something."
He moves closer to me every time he circles around me.
"How Dauntless are you, Tris," he whispers menacingly in my ear.
Eric appears before me, shut in a glass box, he looks panicked.
"Let him go," I sneer.
"Help him escape, if you are so truly Dauntless."
The glass box begins to fill with water at his feet, and thick black smoke near his face, he sputters and gasps for air, his eyes begging and pleading me for help.
I run to him, kicking and punching at the glass until my hands are bloodied and cut. It does nothing.
"Tris," Eric coughs, trying to catch a breath, "help me."
I turn to Harrison who is smirking at me with a curled lip.
He is holding a pistol.
I move quickly to him and land a quick punch to his jaw, he fights back right away, nearly knocking me off my feet with a swift kick to my legs.
I side kick him straight to the ribs, he grumbles a curse and the pistol falls to the floor.
In the next second I clamber to the weapon and pick it up in my hands and fire twice, the sound of shattering glass echoes in my ears.
...
Eric POV
"Get Tris," Zeke tells me and Tobias, "I'll take out Jeanine."
We nod silently and move quickly along the back wall of the main entrance as Jeanine gives her welcome speech to the children she has just kidnapped.
This ends today.
"You've got two guards after you," Zeke warns through the radio. Tobias and I duck into a corridor and wait for the guards to come.
"They went this way," I can hear Caleb say, I hear their heavy steady footsteps approaching slowly.
Tobias motions to me a countdown to pounce on them.
When he hits one, I knock Caleb to the floor and Tobias takes out Austin.
"Wow, I never thought you'd show your face here again," Caleb sneers at me.
"Where is Tris?"
"Does it matter," he grumbles.
I slam his head hard onto the tiled floor.
He grimaces, "Jeanine needed her...to open the box."
"Take me to her. Now."
...
Tris POV
Abnegation
I look around at my former home. Abnegation. It's still as grey as I remember it, grey walls, grey clothes, grey sky.
"Beatrice," I can hear the distant but yet familiar so song voice in my head.
I turn quickly, "mom?"
"Oh Beatrice," she smiles and hurries towards me. I stiffen slightly.
"Mom, how did you recognize me, where's dad?"
"I would know my daughter anywhere..."
"I miss you," I whisper quietly.
She just smiles down at me and takes my hand, leading me into the house.
Eric is sitting at the table in the kitchen, talking to my dad.
"Eric," I whisper. He looks up at me and a smile reaches his eyes.
"Do me one favor," my mother speaks, but it isn't her voice.
"What favor," I ask, my voice cracks.
"Kill him," Jeanine's voice rings through my ears as she hands me a sharp knife.
I look long and hard at the knife in my hands, I was trained to kill those who betrayed Jeanine, I had become a soldier at the age of nine, killing shouldn't be so hard.
Eric didn't betray anyone.
I let the knife fall to the floor, the metal clattering against the concrete.
...
Jeanine POV
"She has passed Abnegation, ma'am," Edgar calls from the monitor across the room.
"Her vitals," I ask never taking my eyes off of the young girl hanging in mid air.
"She seems strong, ma'am."
"Keep her in."
I can't kill her until this is over.