Author's Note:

"Hey! What happened to Anissa?"

*smiles deviously*

PAIRING: Eric/OFC

RATING: RATED M FOR "MATURE"/ NC-17

WARNINGS: THE FOLLOWING FAN FIC IS AN A/U, NON-CANON WORK OF FICTION. ORIGINAL CHARACTERS FROM VERONICA ROTH "THE DIVERGENT SERIES" ARE OOC, IN THIS FIC. THERE ARE ADULT THEMES AND MATURE CONTENT IN THIS WORK OF FICTION. ADULT LANGUAGE. STRONG USE OF VIOLENCE.

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN THE ORIGINAL CHARACTERS IN "THE DIVERGENT SERIES". JUST THE ORIGINAL CHARACTERS IN THIS TALE.

*~oMLo~*

Epilogue: All that Glitters ain't Gold

"—Tragedy struck in the Iron Side Section of the Dauntless territory, mid-Saturday morning…"

Hazel-brown orbs lifted their gaze from off of the road and slapped it onto the dashboard's radio. Her right hand let go of the steering wheel, so the fingers could adjust the volume to the radio. A second later, the radio deejay's voice filled the sedan's cabin.

"…A twenty-nine-year-old mother and her six-year-old son were brutally attack…"

'…her six-year-old son…'

'…her six-year-old son…'

The old image of a small, curly-haired boy, ran through her mind. The old memory was of a meager incident that occurred in Dauntless' Memorial Plaza. Her eyes managed to catch a glimpse of Eric, in all of his domestic splendor, and a pair of children as they surveyed the territory's structures. The curly-haired child was one of the children that was with him. She was able to view enough to know that the child was his eldest kid, the one that he had sired when he was still trying to "persuade" her to breakup from Patrick. The child was a spitting image of Eric, when he was a child. The only differences between them were the eye color and the skin tone. Whereas, Eric carried a naturally-pale, white tone, this child's skin was a light shade of brown. The skin tone reminded the doctor of melted butter, melted toffee and the lightest shade of a peach's skin. It also reminded her of the color that was attached to piss, as well.

'Now-now, Anissa…' the phantom, Madeline lightly scolded. 'Never allow anybody to make you feel angry. Anger is a wasteful emotion! Especially… When the object of your anger is another woman.'

"…According to witnesses, a shrouded figure approached the woman as she was getting into her vehicle and then he opened fire. First, the assailant opened fire on the child, striking the boy as he sat in the backseat of the vehicle. The mother, in what appeared to be in a state of anger, attacked the assailant. Then, according to the witnesses, the assailant began to open fire on the woman, striking her. The suspect, then, fled on foot…"

'Mmmmm…' she hummed, feeling a bit of regret about letting Aidan take control of the plan. 'He could've given the idiot an unmarked car to drive. Or, he could've escorted him to the apartment and then waited for him, so he could escape. It would've been better that way… Could've killed him, then. Rather than wait until later. But you know what? I'm not going to dwell on it anymore. What's done is done. He'll handle that part.'

"…We've tried to speak with officers from Dauntless P.D., in hopes of obtaining more information, in regards to the identities of the victims. Or, at least, more information about the shootings…"

'Like those yokels have a goddamned clue… They spend most of their time, chasing skate-boarders away from the Plaza and harassing the faction-less than doing actual police work. I bet, when they got that call, they jizzed themselves in excitement. It's better than breaking up fights between drunks, down in The Pit.'

"…But, we turned away and they declined to comment…"

'That's because… They don't have anything,' concluded Anissa.

Her eyes focused on the familiar structure, which was the twenty-four storied building that served as the official medical facility for Dauntless that was several feet away.

"…In regards to the identities of the mother and son, we still don't know…"

'It's your precious leader's wife and his bastard-son.'

'Now-now—

"Can it, mother," her lips spewed.

Her eyes glimpsed at the radio before her fingers reached down and turned it off. Silence soon filled her car, right before she pulled up to the sloping driveway that led to the parking garage's gate. She commandeered her vehicle to drive alongside the ticket meter device.

"You can't fucking measure!"

The hair that graced the back of her neck rose. Yet, it didn't rise as fast as her sense of indignation. A hiss escaped her clenched teeth just as she stabbed the slot of the machine, with her kiosk card. Her eyes, then, watched the automatic barricade lift up, allowing her admittance into the employee parking garage.

"…The only thing that you've represented in my life was fucking death… The only reason why you're going on and on about my life, about my wife and everything else is because you have nothing!"

This time, Eric's sardonic tone filled her mind and fed into her anger as she turned the ignition off for her car's engine.

"You're fucking mediocre. You're just a beautiful face amongst the sea of beautiful faces."

For two months, the time that managed to pass since that encounter, the verbal barbs that he doled out from that intense argument stung. Like it was sulfuric acid. It stung at her spirit and soul. His insults managed to leave a lasting mark on her sense of pride. His words caused that iron-clad armor that was her ego to corrode, just like metal when its exposed to acid.

"The only thing that you've represented in my life was fucking death… The only reason why you're going on and on about my life, about my wife and everything else is because you have nothing! Without my ass, you wouldn't even be here in Dauntless. You've would've been in Erudite, with your mother, trying to fleece decrepit old geezers in low-rent, country clubs!"

For every trace of the tutelage that Madeline has bestowed upon her, Eric's rant managed to dispute everything, within the span of five minutes.

"You're fucking mediocre—

"Enough!" she screamed. "Enough! ENOUGH—

Her hands folded into fists and then she began to clobber at the round curves of her steering wheel. Her hands became bombarded with pain, but her rage ordered her to bear it.

"Mmmm… And he said 'what'?!" Madeline, then, chuckled. Her joyful voice slithered from out of the cell phone's earpiece and into her ear. The underlying meaning behind her mother's joy was very evident. She found joy in Anissa's brief state of misery. "And… You allowed it?!" Then there was an arrogant grunt, an expression of Madeline's sense of distaste. "I can't believe that you would allow that man talk to you that way. I… I remember him. I remember when he was just a scrawny, dirty little street rat that you used to show mercy to. He was a skinny, little thing. Plus he used to… Stut-Stut-Stut-Stutter!" Another chuckle floated from the phone's earpiece. " I can't believe it. You allowed that… Lice-bait, to talk to you, like that." There was another chuckle from the elder, Erudite-bred woman. It was beginning to breed a strand of condescending, now. "I told you to never put all of your eggies in one little basket, Anissa! I told you… To leave yourself open and keep your options available! Keep a mystery about yourself, dear! Never let a man get all of you! Flirt-flirt-charm the pants off of men! My Goodness! But, noooo… You decided to put all of your money on that one raggedy, drug-addicted, wonky… Race horse, all because he was a leader to a bunch of gun-crazy morons and he managed to get some muscles! Muscles! Muscles and good looks! My God, girl! You're supposed to look for men that can take care of you! Men, who can take care of you for the rest of your life! You shouldn't waste your beauty, your charm and-and… Your power… On some young, handsome man with muscles! That's going to be your downfall, Anissa! You're foolish and young enough to go and chase after some young guy with a nice body and… WHAM! You're going to end up with a baby, an out-of-shaped body and poor! All because you saw a good-looking guy with a nice—

"SHUT… UPPPP!" Anissa screamed into her steering wheel. "SHUT! UPPP! SHUT—

Her fists continued to unleash their hatred against the steering wheel. In her state of fury, she saw Eric's smug face and the finely-manipulated, porcelain-skinned face that belonged to her mother. She fantasized having her small fists pound and tear at their flesh. She could see the looks of terror on their faces while they tried to shield themselves with their hands.

"BLOONNKKK!"

The sudden erupting sound from her car's horn managed to cut into her enraged state, by frightening her. There was a sharp gasp and a strong flinch from her seated frame. A pair of wide, tear-filled eyes took in the sights of her hands' current appearance. Her left hand was still in a combative state, balled up in a fist and it was a centimeter away from the steering wheel's surface. Her right, balled-up hand was in mid-air, on its way to becoming another weapon for her. Both appendages possessed reddened flesh and waves of pain. Anissa looked away from her hands and she made a glimpse to the steering wheel. Then, her bleary vision took a shaky glance at her car's windshield and she peered at the dismal, concrete-paved scenery that was on the other side, still in confusion.

'What?' she silently whimpered as she stared into the garage.

A sniffled escaped from her nose, before she began to survey her car's interior, more out of nervousness than it was about looking for something. Her line of sight ventured up and to the site that belonged to the rear view mirror. The young, Dauntless woman was met with her reflection. 'Oh God!' she called out in alarm, in her head. During her raging moment, she managed to ruin her makeup and slightly muss up her hair. Her tears managed to cut through the layers of foundation and concealer, as well as, cut through the makeup that covered her eyelids. Her cheeks glistened with spent tears, which managed to leave tracking marks. She was able to spot the family of reddened blemishes on her cheeks and chin. It appeared to the doctor that her latest break-out was mocking her as she stared at their reflection.

"Oh…God," she muttered.

She looked away and she peered at the front passenger's seat. Her view landed on the black, leather knapsack that was casually resting on the seat. With a rapid snatch of the bag's straps, she then brought the bag to her lap. Fingers began a hasty search through the interior of her backpack, rudely brushing aside products that she didn't need at the moment. Her eyes looked for the familiar plastic packaging that carried her makeup products. Once discovered, she snatched up each item and she began the task of making corrections to her face. Her lips hummed and lowly sang as she patted another layer of foundation down onto her cheeks. "…Mmmm… I feel pretty… Oh, so pretty… I feel pretty and witty and bright… And I pity any girl that isn't me tonight…"As she reapplied her beauty products, her mind began to undergone a peculiar war with itself. Memories' snippets that involved her mother and Eric played out, yet, it was her mind that forced those images to go away.

Once she was finished, Anissa gave her reflection another look-over. A tight-lipped smile of satisfaction took over her lips, when she detected no flaw in the reapplication. Her eyes did peep the case of pinkness that covered the sclera in both of her eyes, the only evidence of her previous crying bout. But she knew that the mild discoloration would disappear within the next hour. Her glossy, plump lips issued an air-kiss to her reflection and then a toothy smile. "Alright… Let's go and amaze them, once more, for the day," she stated to the reflected image. She looked away from the mirror and then restored all of her tools back into the bag. With a quick fastening, she performed a swift surveillance of the interior to make sure there wasn't any sign of disarray. Once satisfied with the outcome, she removed her keys from the ignition and then made her exit from the vehicle.

As her clogged-covered feet strolled through the garage level, she occasionally came across her fellow colleagues. They were either walking passed her to get their own vehicles, all of which carried expressions of relief on their faces, or, they were walking passed her and muttering words of displeasure. She found herself slightly responding to their piss-poor attitudes with a snarl of her lips.

"Doctor Howard?"

Anissa's ears picked up the calling of her name and her brain quickly alerted her of the caller's identity. The masculine voice was a friendly familiar, she assessed. The young woman came to a halt and turned around to face the man. Her eyes immediately picked up the image of another one of her colleagues, the medical chief-of-staff, Dr. Roderick Kader. Her eyes widened in pleasant surprise while blood rushed to her ears, making her hear a low stream of buzzing.

'Doc…Tor Kader,' her interest purred.

Her hazel eyes took in the physique that was a few feet in front of her.

"Muscles! Muscles and good looks! My God, girl! You supposed to look for men that can take care of you! Men, who can take care of you for the rest of your life!"

Anissa secretly snorted in disagreement. 'Well, Mother, Kader is old enough for you to like and a little something for me… Best of both worlds,' she concluded as she continued to stare at him.

Dr. Roderick Kader was in his late-forties, but he carried the physique that was similar to the younger men in Dauntless. According to Anissa, he had the kind of body that most of the men in Dauntless possessed, right before their marriages and their wives would make them become fat. The kind of frame that was adorned with muscles and a moderate-sized frame. There was skin that carried the tone that reminded her of her own mixed-heritage. There was a natural tan tint to his flesh, which she knew that didn't come from the sun. It made the silver and the gray strands of his hair shine.

"Doctor…Kader… Good-Good morning," she greeted in a soft and polite tone, which was a total contrast to her actual mood. A toothy smile slithered across her mouth. "How are you doing, this morning?"

The older gentleman took a breath as the corners of his lips turned north. "Good morning, Dr. Howard," he cheerfully greeted. His hands slipped into his pockets. "I am doing okay, this morning. And you?"

Anissa softly nodded her head. "I am doing okay, myself. I'm… I'm about to head into the clinic to start my shift," she reported.

"Ah… You're working the Pediatrics wing, today?" he asked as his left, silver-strand eyebrow slightly raise.

"No," she answered with a shake of her head. "Urgent care," she corrected him.

"Aww, man!" Dr. Kader playfully groaned. "That's a bummer," he joked.

Anissa unleashed a giggle. As the tail end of her laughter approached, her right hand purposely reached up, to her right temple. Fingertips brushed a lock of her soft hair behind her right ear. 'Alright… Let's see if he's really noticing me.' She made a glimpse to an insignificant object that was behind him. "Yeeeaahhh," she slightly drawled. "I'm… Working Urgent Care. But… You know what? It is not-so-bad working down there. Time goes by pretty quickly for me," she told him.

She knew that she needed to maintain a positive outlook to her work. Well, she needed to appear that she had a positive outlook about her occupation. Especially when she was having a conversation about her job with her supervisor's supervisor. Anissa figured, if she couldn't share a marriage bed with Dr. Kader, then she would settle for gaining a new career position, in which she held some power and a corner office, perhaps next to one of the clinic's cabinet members.

"Soooo… What about you? Where you're heading off to, so early this morning?" she inquired.

"Me?" The silver-haired, handsome doctor used his left hand to point to himself, using his 'Aww, shucks' tone of voice. It definitely gave away signs of his Amity-pedigree, to Anissa. "Well… I am heading over to Erudite, right now," he broadcasted to her.

'Oh…Really? There's plenty of experienced doctors over in Eru—

"You're a doctor, but so is the hundreds of doctors that are living in this city! You're just a glorified nurse."

Both rows of molars gnashed against each other while a hot-tempered, exhale was slowly excreted from her nose. The small measure of happiness that she felt, for the past few minutes, evaporated. Her once-dormant, anger managed to wrestle back to the surface.

Then, the image of the curly-haired boy and his brown-skinned mother, flashed through her mind.

A notion formed in her mind. 'What are the odds…? Mmmm… If they're in Landsteiner and Popper right now...' Her mind's voice trailed off just as her manicured eyebrows rose a little. "Oh… Really?" Her arms folded across her chest. "Are you heading over there for one of their symposiums?" With her attempt at fishing for information, a look of feigned awe appeared on her face. "I've been trying to attend one of their symposiums since my first year as a…"

Dr. Kader raised his left hand while his head softly shook. "No-no-no…" His hand dropped after he noticed that she had stopped speaking. "…I am going there for a volunteer medical mission. I am going to Landsteiner-Popper to help perform a surgery."

"Dr. Kader… Who's the person that's getting the surgery?" she asked, feeling a bit hopeful.

The medical, chief-of-staff unleashed an uneasy laugh. It was the kind of sign that said he was about to violate the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

"It's… One of the leaders from the faction. He's… Having a triple by-pass surgery and being that I am… More equipped, when it comes to this type of surgery, I am heading over there to orchestrate the process," Dr. Kader announced.

Disappointment filled her spirit like it was an unexpected downpour. "Oh," she softly groaned, which easily could've been misconstrued as a sign of sympathy for the patient. "Well, they have the best man for the job," she remarked.

The gentleman lightly chuckled. "Well… Thank you, for your encouraging words, Anissa." He gave a glance from over his left shoulder. He was unaware that his young colleague was assessing his physicality, during his glancing. He turned back to her. "I must go," he announced. "I want to head over there before traffic becomes worse." The doctor took a step forward and he extended his right hand in front of him, a wordless request for a handshake.

Anissa obliged his request. "I hope that your surgery is successful today, sir," she told him.

"Thank you, again, Anissa. I hope that you're day goes by quickly," he wished.

"Thank you!" she chirped.

Both hands detached and each appendage doled out a wave to each other.

Anissa gave her next target a glimpse to go along with the smile, before she turned away. To make sure that she left the doctor with a lasting image of her, her hips began to sway along with her steps. The smile became deeper, when there was faint wave of heat against her back. 'He's staring... He likes me,' she silently cooed.

'Ooooh, a doctor! How exciting!' the phantom Madeline echoed in her head.

"Hush," she muttered as she approached the black, metal door that led to the stairwell. "There's no need to hear…" Her hands pushed at the metal door. "…your voice." She entered the well-lit stairwell and then began to ascend the first round of stairs.

Taking the stairs rather than ride an elevator to the fifth floor was Anissa's mode of fitness, for her work days. The heart-racing method of transportation also allowed the doctor to run through her daily itinerary. Or, whatever medical-related quandary that she was in charge of solving.

As she reached the top of the staircase that led to the entrance of the second floor, nine minutes later, her calves' muscles burned as well as her chest. Plus, she managed to go through half of her list of tasks. Her almond-shaped eyes performed a quick sweep in the small alcove between the two staircases. Her feet made a few steps into the direction of the gray, concrete wall that was facing her. She attempted to soothe the raging beast that was running rampant inside of her chest. "Okay…" she huffed. "…There's…S-Six more… Six more flights," she panted. Her clog-covered feet performed a turn into the direction of the next ascending, staircase. 'Why…? Why-in the-hell am I…So breathless?' she pondered as her right foot landed on the first step.

Another four minutes passed and another round of staircases were climbed. 'Third floor,' she announced, as her left foot touched the top step. 'Two more to go.' She turned the corner, which led to the first step of the seventh staircase. As she lifted her right foot, she was struck by an invisible force. 'Wha…?' It smelled like a manufactured fragrance. She was able to swiftly conclude that it was men's cologne. The scent, which held the overpowering smells of cut cedar wood, pine and a hint of amber oil, was too strong of a fragrance for a woman. 'Mmmm…' A matching moan escaped from her throat. '…I wonder which doctor's wife brought him a bottle of cologne.'

Anissa's feet climbed to the center of the staircase as she continued to take in the residue from the very pleasant scent. Meanwhile she kept her head straight ahead, as well as, her gazes. Subconsciously, the young doctor expected to be greeted by a gray, dingy concrete wall, as she grew closer to the top step. Her hazel-hued sight, instead, was met with pure darkness, which was mixed with strips of gray. 'What the... FFF—

Her vision became sharper and it landed on the appearance of a Dauntless man. He dressed in black, medical scrubs. He carried the bearing of a man, who didn't have a thing to worry about. He stood in the stairwell with the same level of regard that one would have at a public, bus stop: his weight was leaning against the wall, feet were hip-width apart with his left foot was pressed to the wall and the right foot kept him up. His head was bowed and he was staring down at the phone that was in his right hand. His left hand was slightly tucked behind his left thigh.

Her widened in diameter while she became filled with a mild layer of surprise. The fragrance came back, but the waves were strong enough to knock her over. 'What the fuck…?' she secretly breathed as she took in the intriguing yet peculiar image. She knew that he was the kind of man that she should avoid, especially when they were alone in a stairwell. But there was something about the frightful energy that was radiating off of him that made this stranger very alluring to her senses.

Anissa rapidly learned that she sighed too loudly, too late, as she watched the stranger lift his curly-haired head and his gaze landed on her. "Shhh-it," she softly cursed.

Like the handsome Dr. Kader and a certain demographic from the male population in Dauntless, this silent and beguiling stranger carried his physique like he was a superhero. He was monumental in size, Anissa guessed that he had to be taller than six-feet and three inches tall. He carried his weight just as well as his towering height. Broad and strapping shoulders that gave way to a pair of short-sleeved, muscular arms that held his tats and scars like they were badges of honor. He was being carried by a pair of legs that were also long and thick, possibly with more muscles, underneath his pants. The skin that was exposed to her eyes were the coloring of bronze. The irises from his eyes, besides carrying the imposing aura, also held onto a deeper shade of hazel-brown. Right above his intimidating glare, there were a pair of hirsute brows that lacked upkeep, but didn't deter his sex appeal. Her eyes caught a slight flaw in his right brow, in what appeared to be a scar.

'He's… He's going to be fun to break in,' she concluded as a ghost of a smile appeared to her lips.

Her lips slightly parted, which was an initiative to speak and then she quickly clamped her lips shut. She realized that this big beast was a man, who had his fair share of women throwing themselves at him. And she wasn't going to be one of them. So, she knew that she needed to exude the power that she possessed. Otherwise, Madeline's tutelage would've been wasted.

'You can't ignore him,' her libido called out. 'You can't.'

A tight-lipped grin slowly danced its way onto his lips while his eyes remained focused on her.

'Hmm…' Anissa grunted in her mind. '…If he thinks that this is going to be a case of the wolf finding a hare, then he has another thing coming. I'm just as much of a wolf…'

There was an audible inhale just as his shoulders reared back. "Miss Howard…" he precipitously greeted her. His voice… It was smooth as glass and just as sharp, as well as, rumbling.

Her glossed lips parted and made a sharp exhale. A throbbing erupted into her toned, concealed stomach and then it sank down into her sex, where it dissolved into a light puddle of pulsations.

He pulled away from the concrete wall and took a step forward. "…please to meet you," he practically growled. His top lip performed a flicker of a snarl. "Goliath Grant the Second," he grunted, introducing himself.

'What?' she silently scoffed as a cocky and lopsided grin took a hold of her lips. 'Grant…. Grant…Grant…Grant…' The recited surname kept being repeated inside of her mind in a chant. The name sounded familiar to the young, Dauntless woman.

'…Grant…Grant…Grant…Grant…Grant…Grant…Gran—

Her wave of concentration was disrupted, when a flashing image of a toffee-skinned little boy with a headful of blond coils managed to pop up in her mind.

Realization struck her consciousness like it was a thunder bolt from the god Zeus, himself.

The arrogant smirk quickly faded from her lips. The joy and the desire that was laced in her orbs, evaporated.

The fear swiftly took over, along with the widening of her eyelids. A flash of bright whiteness took a hold of her vision and then a shade of deep red. A blanket of frigidness wrapped itself around her skin and it was forth a wave of numbness that nipped at her skin.

"N-No…" her plush lips breathed, in shock. "…N-N-No…N-N-No…"

Anissa's instinct for protection immediately filled her soul, even before her fear could fully settle in. Her clog-covered feet took immediate action by making backward steps, descending down the staircase and into the path that she had just taken. Her fingers scaled down the metal bannister as she slowly descending the staircase. Frightful eyes kept their gaze on the ominous and intimidating figure that was glowering her as if she was his prey.

'…No…No…No…No…No…N-No… N-No…N-No…' her brain whimpered out in fear.

A seed of pressure managed to bloom inside of her chest, making it difficult for oxygen to pass through her lungs and for her breaths to be expelled in shuddering pants.

'GET… AWAY!' her logic and instinct screamed at her.

Behind her eyelids, she was met with the image of her sedan as it was parked in its assigned parking spot, in the garage. A reminder of the destination that she needed to head to, before this monster could grab her.

'GGGGO, AH-KNEE-SA—

Even though her consciousness waded in the thick muck that was her fear and her shock, she was able to listen to her instincts. Her body began to obey, by fleeing. Her soul hoped by fleeing and making it to her car, where she'll drive away from this place. Her fingers released the hold that they wielded against the steel railing. Then, she was met with a quick blur of gray and a breeze as her body sliced through the air, when she turned her back to the menacing Grant. Her shoes' soles found their bearings against the stone steps. She began a choppy and rushed path down the remaining stairs. As her feet pounded the stairs, her dulled sense of hearing caught the sounds of her light panting and the muted-down beats of her pumping heart.

Cut cedar wood. Pine. And, a hint of amber oil.

The three scents filled up her nose, once more.

A band of fleshy, strength crudely wrapped her shoulders and causing her arms to be bound tightly against her torso. There was a force, which snatched her clogged-covered feet from off of the steps and her back into a firm wall of heat.

"Where do you think you're going, mmm?"was crudely growled into her ear.

Cut cedar wood. Pine. And, a hint of amber oil.

The fragrance now clogged up her mouth, along with her nostrils.

Her lips parted, which was a sign for her brain to help in releasing a scream. A scream that would've been so powerful that it would alert her colleagues and the police that walked the halls of the clinic. A scream so overwhelming that it would cause Dauntless soldiers to enter the stairwell and come to rescue her. A scream that would've been so powerful that it would cause bullets to rain down on this monster.

"Oh no," she heard crooned into her right ear, a taunting. "Oh, no-no-no-no-no…" He was close. Too close to her. "…no-no-no. We're just getting…" His voice was drowned out by the booming noise of electric crackling.

Pain. Breath-stealing, burning pain. It began in an insignificant spot that was on her lower back and by her right hip. Then this breath-stealing, burning pain shot through her body, leaving every muscle locked and seized.

There should've been a scream. One, in which it was so powerful that it would've summoned a legion of the best Dauntless soldiers. Instead, the cement walls were gifted with a stream of pathetical garbled, hoarse whimpers.

That powerful scream remained lodged in her mind until everything had gone black.

~*oMLo*~

When Lila Devereaux stood on her back porch, it was usually considered to be ordinary by everyone that lived in Amity. Hell, even the non-Amity citizens would've considered the act to be innocuous. But amongst the three-thousand and thirty-nine residents that lived in the faction of peace, catching Lila standing on her porch would've been considered to be one of the town's staple. It was well-known amongst the small faction's population that Lila loved her farmhouse's porch. In fact, for the 66-year-old woman, the wraparound porch was the main selling point for her, when it came to purchasing this property.

For Lila, having a house that contained a wraparound porch was a desire that she held since girlhood. After moving into the house and on the property, with her first husband and their two children, the porch became her favorite haunt. This was the place where she loitered on most of her days, when she was a young woman. She practically took care of her children, five out of the seven children, on this porch. This was the place, where she took her squalling babies to calm them down. She would sit on any of the porch's chairs and would nursed them. Shit, she even gave birth to her youngest one on this porch, after Bull refused to take her to the hospital, because he didn't "believe in them".

So, no, seeing Lila Devereaux stand on her house's porch wasn't considered to be 'out of the ordinary'. But, the act of standing on her back porch, at 2:38 in the morning was what made the loitering act, so out of the ordinary.

Under normal circumstances, the gruff grandmother would've been in bed, enjoying the remaining one hour and thirty minutes of sleep, before having to wake up at 4:00AM. If this early morning was like any of her other mornings, then she wouldn't have been standing there, fully-dressed and partaking in her 'morning cigarette' so goddamned early.

As she smoked her cigarette, which was perched in between her full lips, her charcoal-gray eyes were focused on the battered, aged structure that was close to one-hundred and fifty yards away. Her eyes took in the sight of her barn, with its weathered walls and rusty, inoperable weather vane that was mounted on the roof. Every so often, her eyesight and her attention, would become distracted. They would drift and then land on the site that contained the chip-painted, double doors. Lila would stare at those doors and at the beams of light that poured from every crease.

Plus, there was the woman and those screams that currently inhabited the inside of the barn. They were also distracting, as well.

They began, soon after Little Goliath arrived to her farm, with her. Lila was expecting her nephew to make this late-night visit, after she received a phone call from his mother, her sister, Davina. 'Vina' called on late Saturday night, right after Lila settled in for the night. She expected for the call to be another 'progress report' about her niece and her grand-nephew, ever since they were still in that Erudite hospital. Instead, she received news about her nephew's impending arrival. Even though her baby sister didn't outright mention the arrival of Little Goliath's traveling companion, the old woman did know something was up. She gathered that much just by noticing the change in Vina's voice. The tone and its inflection was too high in mood and it was too polite, as well as, impersonal.

The voice-tone reminded Lila of their mother's voice as she spoke to their neighbors, when they came to the front door to make "wellness checkups" on the family. The impromptu visits usually came on the mornings after their father would spend most of the nights beating up on them. Lila, as a child and as a teenager, would listen to that high-pitched and impersonal voice as it spilled words of assurances to concerned neighbors, or, to the Dauntless patrol officers that were summoned by those same concerned neighbors. Of course, these words were spoken from the other side of the front door, which also served as a shield for their mother. That door was a multi-purpose, household tool in that home, Lila thought. That thin, sheet of oak was strong enough to keep the truth contained inside of their turbulent home, it hid their mother's shame, kept their neighbors at bay and the concerned social workers standing on the porch.

So, once Lila heard Davina's tone and the message, she knew that she had to break out the 'welcoming mat' for her nephew and whatever fuck-shit that was coming onto her property.

Little Goliath didn't arrive until around midnight, early Sunday morning. He came pulling up in her farmhouse's driveway, in a black Ford-styled pickup truck that would've made any Amity farmer envious. She welcomed her nephew, of course, despite internally recoiling due to the precarious energy that was radiating from off of his form. A brief and curt flashback of memory ran through her mind after their customary hug. The memory caused a chill to grip onto her flesh, making goose-pimples appear.

After more pleasantries were exchanged, she was shown the reason for his impromptu and late-night visit. With a casual demeanor, her late brother-in-law's namesake pulled the black, plastic tarp from off of the truck's flat-bed. Lila performed a subtle glimpse into the flat-bed and caught the view of a Dauntless woman. She was bound and gagged, laying on the floor. At first, the oldest Devereaux sister thought that Little Goliath kidnapped a child, because this person was a small, twig-of-a-woman. So, she peered into the flat-bed, again. It was indeed a woman. Judging by the black, now-wrinkled medical scrubs, Lila assumed that the captured woman was a medical professional. Those same dark gray eyes focused on the woman and observed her current condition. The bound woman was displaying signs of distress. Her tiny body shook while releasing sounds of repetitive sobs. The cries were muffled by the thick knot of rope that was violently lodged into her mouth. Her face was mildly swollen from the persistent sobbing and it was also stained with redness, as well as, tears. She had her ankles and wrists in a hog-tie fashion, where both sets were bound by the same thick rope.

Lila, once again, allowed her vision to trace the rope's journey as it was entwined around the small sets of limbs. She could feel it. She knew that this act of forced bondage was another message from Vina.

'Hog-tied… Hogs… Feed her to the hogs.'

Curiosity got the best of her, which led to the elderly farmer to ask her nephew about Davina's purpose for wanting this woman to be made into pig feed. With just a few grunted words, which could've been misconstrued as being disinterested in the activity, Goliath Junior explained that this woman... This small, twig-of-a-woman... Was involved in the attacks against Nasira and her little boy. Upon listening to his words, Lila's eyes focused, again, on the woman. She eyed Little Goliath's captured prey as the fire grew in her chest, making her face grow hot. She silently recalled snippets of that terse conversation she had with Davina, after she learned about the shootings. She recalled Vina's gulping and shuddering breaths. There were the recollection of hearing the exact words, which gave Lila the insight about the assault, when it was screamed into her ear by a hysterical Davina.

With the fading memories' remains still in her mind, she turned away from the view and she glared at her nephew. Then, with a deceptively-calmed voice, she enlightened the young man that her collection of twenty sows weren't fed since the afternoon of the previous day. She ran out of feed and she foolishly forgot to re-stock her supply. Then, she told him that her pigs' health were important to her, so he needed to take "precautions" before this twig-of-a-woman was even thrown into their feeding pen. Once she recited the list of feeding instructions to him, she was met with a soft grunt and a curt nod of his head. Then, she watched her towering nephew snatch the writhing and crying woman from out of his flat-bed. He tossed her onto his shoulder and he proceeded to carry her as if she was a sack of refined earth.

As Goliath Junior walked off, gray eyes met with a pair that carried a golden shade of brown. Even under the layer of muck that was her ruined makeup and the puddle of tears, she was able to see the desperation and abundance of fear. She continued to glare at Lila as she was carried closer to the barn's entrance. And, she remained in Lila's sight until she was carried inside.

Lila heard the first set of pain-filled wails around 1:00AM, close to an hour after their arrival. She was in the process of getting ready for bed again. The farmer was in the process of re-adjusting her night shirt's collar, when a warm breeze carried the echoes into her bedroom. At first, the old woman thought that it was a part of her imagination, but then a new round of faint screams were released into her bedroom. Lila felt the tingles run down the length of her spine and the gentle tugs of her own past come creeping to the forefront of her mind. 'No. No. No,' she said to herself. 'This is different,' she reminded herself. 'This is different.' With an inhale and then a hushed statement of "Serves her right" escaping from her mouth, she strolled up to her window and then her fingers drew it shut.

She managed to get an hour's worth of decent sleep before she awakened by her own volition. She surveyed the darkened walls and ceiling, before she came to the conclusion that she woke up on her own. Then, for the following twelve minutes, she stared at her room's ceiling and attempted to fall back into slumber's clutches. After being met with reminders of weeping, golden-brown eyes and first-hand accounts of being bound and fearful, she came to the conclusion that she wasn't going back to sleep. She slipped out of her bed with a huff from her mouth and then a muttered curse. She prepared for her impending day's activities.

It all eventually led up to this moment of Lila as she stood on her back porch and her sight on the pair of barnyard doors.

"Mama?"

It was her youngest son's voice that snapped her out of the reverie. She heard the calling come from behind her, from the other side of the screen door and inside of the kitchen. She glanced over her right shoulder to stare the black, decorative, wrought-iron door. "Howie…" The familiar sounds of the iron, screen door being pushed, erupted. "…What are you doing…?" Then, it was followed by the sounds of footfalls against the porch's wooden floorboards. "…up?"

There was a soft chuckle. "Mmmm… I can say the same about you, woman," Howie stated into the early-morning's air, before he joined his mother's side.

Lila glimpsed at her son's silhouette before she peered at the barn's doors again. "I couldn't sleep," she confessed. "You?"

"Me, too," her son notified her. "But I think that it has to do with my drive down from Dauntless, though."

The mere, innocuous mention of the military-faction caused a shiver to run down her spine. 'Speak…King, of Dauntless…' She eyed her son. An all-knowing smile crept up on her face. "So… He didn't recognize you, huh?" she asked you.

"No-pah!" the man stated, emphasizing the one-word answer. The detective chuckled. "But… You can't blame him for that though, Mama. We, Devereauxes and Grants, breed like rabbits. There's too many of us. We can't even keep us straight," he pointed out. "Do you remember the joke about us, around here?" There was a streak of soft chuckles from the Dauntless man. "If you throw a rock around any part of Amity, then you're bound to hit a Devereaux."

Lila smiled. "Yeah…" Her dark gray orbs focused on the barn again. "…That's what they say."

Both mother and son fell into a stream of comfortable silence. The duo were serenaded by crickets and the occasional rustling sounds that came from the union between the trees and the wind. Lila thought this kind of moment would've been serene, if it occurred under normal circumstances.

"Received word…" Howie started out with. "…from a nurse at Landsteiner that Nassy was released from the O.R…"

Relief. It rained down on her spirit, disintegrated the pent-up worry. She found her eyes closing and a soft grimace appearing on her face. 'Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank…'

"…She said that Nassy will be fine, now. Her condition is stabled. She's going to be staying in the Intensive Care Unit with Little Lukie-Boy, so they can looked after until they're one-hundred percent," explained Howie.

"Oh…" Her right palm softly landed on her rising chest. "…Thank the Lor—

"AAAHHHHUUUUHHHH!"

Lila's body was maliciously gifted with fright, at the abrupt eruption of the wail. Her eyes snapped open just at the moment of her body's reaction.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHUUUUHHHH!"

Lila's attention soared across the vast field and she peered at the barn's entrance. Her sight locked on the now-cleared, doorway. The doors were now sluggishly swaying in a breeze.

"AAAAHHH…"

The husky, pain-filled wail drew her attention to the pair of shadowed figures that were a few feet away from the barn's entrance.

"…HHHHUUUUHHHHH…"

Both figures were avoiding being hit full-blast by the pathway's sconces. But Lila was able to see just enough. She noticed that the taller figure strolled behind the shorter, stumbling figure. The taller figure would force the smaller one to walk down the pathway, in the way of firm shoves to her back. 'Death march,' Lila's logic told her as she continued to watch.

"…HUUUUHHHHH—

The wail came to an abrupt end, when the smaller figure tripped and crashed, face-first, onto the pathway's asphalt-paved ground. Lila watched her land with a skin-crawling thud. More loud cries came from the now-prone form.

"Oooh… Damn," hissed Howie. His reaction earned him a side-eye glance from his mother.

She returned her glare to the fallen figure. She viewed the innocent-looking, twig-of-a-woman slowly as she scraped her limbs against the pavement, as she gradually slipped into a kneeling pose. In this new posture, the mysterious woman kneeled in front of a pair of facing sconces, putting her in a spotlight. The hogs' impending feed was now on full-display, to the farmer's sight. Lila's ears were then subjected to another on of this woman's wailings.

"AAAAHHHHHHHUUUUUHHHHH! AAAAHHHHUUUHHHHH! AHHH…"

Lila took note of the fact that Little Goliath took her list of precautions seriously. As she eyed the now-nude, kneeling woman, she detected no trace of hair on top of her bowing head. The thick, long mane that she viewed earlier was now gone with the exception of a few wisps of hair that danced in front of a light beam. The sobbing woman kept her face covered with the palms of her hands. She also were deprived of her fingers, if Lila's perception was correct. The farmer was standing too far away and the appendages were covered with too much blood. The old woman watch crimson strings crawl down the woman's forearms and then come to an end, once they dripped off of the points in her bent elbows.

"AAAAAAHHHHHH!" the woman cried into her mutilated hands.

The taller and portentous, shadowed figure approached, stepping into the light. The elderly aunt and mother was witnessed to the unveiling of a pair of shins and parts of his thighs. Once he stood behind the crying woman's sloping back, he fell into a mode of stillness.

The woman sensed his presence near her because she sprung from her kneeling and she scampered across the pavement like a frightened critter. Using her wounded hands and feet, she ran a few feet before collapsing into a huddle in front of another sconce's light.

"Up!" Goliath's raised voice echoed through the property. By the time it reached Lila and Howie, the command sounded subtle.

The bundled ball of flesh and limbs broke out of her huddle and she turned onto her back, with a shriek escaping her mouth. A streak of chopping, guttural grunts spilled from the woman's lips as she eyed the taller shadow.

"Up!" Goliath shouted again.

'His voice,' her instinct called out to her. To the old woman, Little Goliath sounded angry; the kind of anger that comes along after being frustrated for far too long. To the antipathetic or even for the people, who could catch a glimpse of the scene, her nephew would've looked like enraged monster. But, Lila knew better. He was frustrated and angry, because...

'...He doesn't want to do this,' Lila quietly concluded.

A family of sobs and shakes escaped from the tortured woman's frame.

"Get up!" the Dauntless soldier screamed. In response, she issued more hoarse cries. "Get Up… Now," he called out as his feet took several steps into her path. The action earned the morning's sky a litany of screams and sobs from the woman. "If you don't get up right now, then I…"

The threat was swallowed up by the sounds of her loud and heart-wrenching sobs.

'Stop... This.'

"ENOUGH! ENOUGH! ENOUGH OF THIS SHHH—" Goliath Junior screamed out. His feet suddenly broke out of their stillness and formed a charging step. It led to a gathering of swift steps, which were aimed into her path.

'Lee... Stop. This... Now.'

With water-soiled eyes, Lila watched her nephew ferociously charged forward.

"AHHH! AHHH! AHHH! AHHHH!"

'Lee...'

An explosion of fearful screams pierced the air as their creator crab-crawled against the pathway's flooring. Her mode of defense was no match for Goliath and his charging. Within seconds, she was snatched up from of the ground. His steps carried them from out of the sconces' path, submerging them both into a thin veil of shadow.

'Lee... Please... Stop this.'

She watched her sister's son pulled that woman from off of the ground by her throat and then proceeded to choke. The screams soon became cut off. She listened to the sounds that were now flooding the air: the feral groans of frustration that were coming from Goliath Junior and the gasping pleas for oxygen that were coming from the woman.

'Lee...'

As Lila watched, her heart rapidly pounded against her chest.

'God help me,' she silently breathed.

~*oMLo*~

'God help me.'

"God help us, woman," she heard Howie mutter, for the umpteenth time.

Her dark gray orbs peered at her youngest son as he filled up the bedroom's doorway.

"Cos, once Aunt 'Vina…"

Lila peered down at the sleeping face of the mysterious woman.

"…finds out that this filly is still breathing, she is going to blow a gasket! She'll…" Then he muttered, "…probably have some drones come over here and blow this house up to smithereens."

"Enough… Howie," she scolded her son.

Her eyes peered down at the left hand that was resting on her towel-covered right thigh. Her gloved, fingers held up the severed digits and she observed the new sutures that kept the wounds closed. 'Not bad, for an old-timer who haven't sutured within these past three years,' she silently congratulated herself. Her eyes performed a brief glimpse to the flooring that was beside both of her booted feet. Pooled at her boots, a family of rags and bloodied towels that were used during the impromptu treatments.

"Now…Let's not bullshit ourselves, here," she called out as her sight was traveling into her son's path. "None of us…Not any of us…Wanted this girl to be eaten by my sows…" Lila peered behind her, over at Goliath, who was sitting at the foot of the bed with his back to the three of them. "…Including, you, Goliath." Once she was met with his heated glare, she stated her case. "I can tell by these cuts, young man…" She glimpsed at the wounded hand. "…that you didn't want to do it. They're… Sloppy. Besides, most people would've just chopped off her hands… Or, rip the nails off."

"Okay…" Howie huffed. He shifted his weight. "…you're right, Mama. You're right. We didn't want to … Sink down to her level… Okay, you're right! But what are you planning on doing now?! The best things that I can come up with are dumping her in a factionless colony or having me take her to Dauntless and throwing her in jail, ever since there's a warrant for her arrest. Because…" Howie's head shook. "…You can't keep her here like she's some feral cat, Mama." He folded his arms across his chest. "Ma… She is dangerous. Do you honestly believe that once she wakes up from her sleep that she's going to be some…Harmless kitten?! She is not going to take this treatment, lying down. She's not like one of your wild horses that you've broken in! She is going to plot and she's going to try to escape!"

"Howie has a point, Auntie," Goliath Junior pointed out. He slightly turned his body in his seat, so he could stare at her. "She is not some… Innocent bystander that's managed to come up on a crime scene. She's the reason why my sister and my nephew are laying up in some hospital, right now. She actually planned on having my sister killed, Lee."

Lila softly nodded her head. "I know that, Goliath," she said pensively.

"Then, you should understand as to why this needs to be done," he indicated. "She is not going to wake up and be eternally grateful towards you. This girl is like that rattlesnake from the story that you used to tell us, when we were kids. And you'll be the 'Little Boy' from that tale," he warned.

Lila huffed, out of frustration and indignation. "Okay! So… what do you think that I should do? Mmmm?" she asked her nephew. "Cos, every option that I can think of, all of them lead to one thing: her death." She looked to her son. "If you take her in and she's placed in The Land, then you might as well have a bull's-fucking-eye tattooed on her forehead, because she will have a target on her back. Especially, since she's a pretty, young thing who can barely defend herself. If the Sisters don't get to her, then it will be the guards and if not the guards, then she's going to get killed by any of those male inmates after they had their fill and see no more use for her! Then, let's not forget about your plan of dumping her into a factionless colony. What are the odds that she would make it out alive and not scarred? Cos, I can think of an answer, which is 'slim'?"

"And you'll end up dead, if she stays here with you," Goliath stated.

Another curt exhale was made from the older woman. It signified the beginning of a streak of silence, which lasted a mere minute.

"Mama…" Howie said softly, making his concern evident. "…why are you so…intent on having…Her…stay here with you?"

Lila gave another second of her time to her son's appearance and then she gazed at the drugged and subdued woman, who was laying a few feet next to her. Her weathered hand gingerly placed the mutilated and abused hand onto the woman's blanketed stomach. Then, those same fingers made a grab for the plastic tube of healing ointment from off of the nightstand's tabletop. "Well, Howie…" she muttered as she unscrewed the cap. "...consider this to be a reminder of history," she announced. She placed a bit of the medicinal cream onto the sole of her covered, index finger. Then, she began to take care of the cuts and the scrapes. "I…" Her naturally husky tone rang out. "…can… Already see that you two have forgotten that I've just spent a little over twenty years of my life in The Land…" A latex-covered fingertip applied a layer of ointment to the tip of the woman's upturned nose, where a scrape had marred the site. "…for a crime that was just as heinous—

"But that was different, Mama!" Howie protested. The emotion that was laced in his voice caused his mother to stare at him. He took a step into the bedroom. "You killed a monster, who… It's different!"

"I know," she croaked. The lump in her throat made it difficult to speak. She made a hefty inhale and on the exhalation, she uttered, "I know". She glanced down at the woman. "But it doesn't matter. Not in the eyes of the law, it didn't." Then, a thin layer of ointment was applied to the scrape that decorated her forehead. "I was still sentenced by a Candor judge and a jury of my peers…" Then, under her breath, she muttered, "…while they were wearing their furs and diamond rings and thousand-dollar cuff links."

Lila became quiet, which led the way and conducted the ambiance in the room. During this period of intense stillness, she gazed down at the woman. Even she found her feeling of empathy and her sense of sympathy towards this woman, to be absurd. But, then that tiny-toned voice would appear and say to her that it wasn't right.

She closed her eyes and sank her head back, making her face point to the ceiling. There was a noticeable inhale and an exhale from her. "To be honest with you both… I'm…" A sob-sounding, sigh escaped her. "I'm… Just… So-fucking-tired... I'm tired of hearing about women that were brutalized… Raped… Beaten… Killed… Left to die…" Another sigh escaped her. "A woman with her two kids came to the shelter today. She was from Candor. Candor! And she came all-the-way down to our little hippie-hillbilly paradise to get away from her husband. A husband, who, by the way had beaten the shit out of her, on the night before. In front of her kids. Then… Today, I read in the Gazette that a woman's body was found near the Dauntless train's home station. She was a born, faction-less woman, who was possibly killed by her customer." A husky breath was spat from her lips. "I'm… Just… Tired." Her head bowed forward, willing her tears to escape from the very narrow seams of her eyelids. She opened her eyes and a few more tears were exposed to the bedroom's stagnant air. Fingers traveled to the cheeks and proceeded to dry them. "Besides… I am going to sound like the kook that I've always been accused of being, but, ummm…" She sniffled. "When I saw you…" Lila turned her head and she glanced at her nephew, from over her left shoulder. "…Goliath, snatch her up and choke her out… I heard Nassy. Clear as a bell! I heard her tell me to stop you. She told me to stop you from killing…" She glanced down at the sleeping woman again. "…her. It was as if your sister was standing next to me."

"Oh… Come on!" scoffed Howie, in disbelief.

Lila stared at her son. "I don't know this girl, from Adam. But I caught one of my feelings…"

Howie blew a raspberry, as an act of disbelief. "Your feelings! Yeah, right!"

"Yes! One of my feelings! I felt one of my feelings! I felt it, first, the moment that I saw this woman in his truck! I ignored it. I was angry at her. Then, it faded just as quickly. I should've known that something was up, then," she told her son. She glanced over her left shoulder again to take a gander of the blur of golden–brown skin again. "I should've told you to get your tail on and leave her here," she confessed.

"Anissa Howard," her nephew said in response.

"What?" she said softly.

"Her name… It's 'Anissa Howard," he informed his aunt.

Lila looked away and stared down at the girl. "Anissa, huh?" A gloved, fingertip lightly grazed and outline an arch eyebrow on Anissa's face. Lila clicked her teeth. "Don't like the name," she muttered. "It sounds like her mama was trying too hard to give this child a glamorous name, in hopes of getting a glamourous lifestyle..." She reached for the tube of ointment again. "…I've seen plenty of those women…" Her slicked fingers reached for a cut that graced her scalp. "…I've seen them when they first entered the Gen-Pop and as they walked through the doors at the Women's Shelter. They all have been through it, after searching for that 'glamourous life'. All that glitters ain't gold." Her fingers reached for the injured woman's left cheek. Lila's gray orbs provided a full sweep of the face. "She needs a new name," she told both men. She glanced at her son. "She can't stay in Amity without having a new identity. I know… One of y'all can change names and make up new identities in the Bureau of Records."

Howie released a sharp exhale. "Do you even hear yourself, woman?! You're over here sounding like you're freaking, Ma Baker or something!"

A low groan escaped the hulking man, who has been silent for most of his time. Another low, purring-like groan escaped from him. "Evangeline."

"Wha…?"

"What, honey?"

Both mother and son had spoken their inquiries, at the same time.

Goliath Junior lifted his elbows from off of his knees and he straightened his back. He rolled his brawny shoulders thrice. "I said… Evangeline," he groaned. An imposing, right eye glanced over his right shoulder to stare at his aunt and cousin. "That should be her name. Evangeline," the Grant son broadcasted.

'Ah...Van… Gel… Leen… Mmmm…' Lila turned away from her nephew and she glanced down at her patient. "I… I like that name, Goliath. That's a good one," she remarked. Her right hand reached down and placed a nurturing grasp on the woman's cheek. "Evangeline… It fits."

"By the way…" Goliath Junior groaned before lifting off of the bed. His towering arms reached to the ceiling and performed a stretch. A boisterous, groan of content escaped from his barreled chest. Once the loud, purr-of-a-groan died down, he looked at his mother's sister. "As long as she stays here, then I am staying here," he announced. "I don't trust her. Don't worry...I'm not staying here, so I could change your mind. I am not going to bother to try to change your mind, because… You're not…"

"Damn straight," the woman murmured while staring at her nephew. A tight-lipped smile adorned her face.

"…But I'm not going to leave you here, by yourself. But, I am going to promise you... If she tries something, then I will kill her, Auntie," Goliath warned.

"What?! You're going to stay...Here?!" Howie muttered, in disbelief. "What…? What about your job? What about being in Dauntless? It's against the rules!"

"But.. You're here," Goliath Junior disputed.

"It's different, Gee!" Howie pointed out. "I'm... I'm some low-level, pencil-pusher at the precinct. You're... Y-Y-You work from out of the Defense Department! Isn't that some kind of 'secret mission-Special Ops' kind of shit?! Aren't they…? Aren't they going to miss you or something?" he asked his cousin.

"No…" Goliath answered, with a shake of his head. "…Not really. I have a real…Lenient, work schedule," he reported with a broad and toothy grin.

"Wha-What do you do over there, if you have a 'lenient, work schedule'?" asked a subtly bewildered, Howie.

"In simple terms… I get rid of problems and I find ways to get questions, answered," the towering man explained.

"What...? What does-?

"I search for people and then I interrogate them by torturing them. And if it's been ordered... I kill them," the hulking man explained, in a nonchalant manner.

A slow, gasp of shock entered Evangeline's new bedroom.

Lila's eyes remained locked on Anissa as she listened to the men's conversation. "Evangeline…" she whispered. "…That's a fine-damn-name."

'Don't disappoint me, Evangeline.'

THE END.

SOOOOO... THIS IS IT, YOU GUYS! THIS HERE IS THE END OF "WAITING IN THE VOID"! YAYYYYYY!

FYI, IN CASE SOME OF YOU READERS ARE CONFUSED: THERE IS ONE MORE STORY FOR THE "ERIC AND NASIRA" SERIES (I STILL HAVE TO FIND A CLEVER NAME FOR THE SERIES... IF YOU CAN THINK OF ANY, THEN DROP ME A MESSAGE ON THE REVIEW BOARD OR IN A PM).

FOR THE FINAL ONE: I WAS THINKING OF COMITTING TO A TALE OF ONE-SHOTS, TOLD FROM BOTH ERIC'S AND NASIRA'S POINT OF VIEWS. I HAVE A FEELING THAT THIS LAST STORY WILL BE LONGER THAN ANY OF THE STORIES THAT ARE POSTED ON HERE. I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO WRITING FOR IT.

I WOULD LIKE TO THANK EVERY ONE OF YOU READERS, WHO HAVE READ THIS TALE. THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

NEXT UP... ANOTHER CHAPTER FOR "THE HOUSE WARD". COMING... SOON?