Wow. I didn't think this would be this long o.O Well, for you dark and dangerous souls out there, here it is.
Warning; contains character death and strong language
Disclaimer; See the 9 previous chapters and choose your favourite. They all say the same thing anyways.
When I open my eyes, it's to see a harsh blue light. I try to shield my eyes from the glare with my arms, but I can't. I look down. They are tied to a rough plastic plank, as is the rest of me.
"Welcome back, Beatrice," says a grating voice that I would know anywhere. Jeanine. I freeze. How is Jeanine here? Is this a new fear in my landscape? I look up, and there she is, as hideous as ever.
Her tight blue sweater dress shows off her soft, squishy layer of pudge, something no Dauntless would ever have. Her impractical glasses still dangle off of her nose. She gives me a calculating look with her watery greyish-blue eyes.
"That was an interesting choice you made," she continues. What is she talking about? And where is Four? Dread sinks into me as I realize a mind-numbing fact; this is not a simulation. This is real.
"I shot you," I manage, but my lips are barely able to form the words. I am numb with terror. What have they done to me? Jeanine laughs. Despicable.
"No. You only thought you did," she says, and now an edge of menace is in her voice. I need to be careful around her. Jeanine is much too good at masking her emotions, and I need to be on my guard. She is like a snake. Docile, but liable to strike at any given moment.
"You see, after the war, we kept all of the surviving Divergent rebels here to study."
Oh no. No, no, no. It can't be true. It can't! If it is, though, that means that Tobias is here, unless he was- no. I will not even consider that possibility. But is he's here, it still doesn't mean that he is safe. Or that I am safe, for that matter.
My breathing starts to become shallow and quick, oxygen racing to my lungs. Jeanine pokes a needle full of something green into my arm and immediately, I relax, though it is against my will. It is as though all of the energy has been drained out of me, and I can only lie still and helpless, at the Erudites' mercy.
"How long do you think you've been here?" Jeanine snaps quizzically. It is a command to answer, rather than an option. "I don't know," I say, hoping to ward her off, to appear as helpless as I can to increase my chances of escape. If I am harmless, then I will not be so heavily guarded.
I scan the room. It is plain, and futuristic, with one heavily armed and monitored door, no windows, and no furniture except for my plank. No escape. My heart sinks down to my boots. Or it would have, if I hd actually been wearing footwear.
"Liar," she snaps coldly, and slaps me across the face. It stings, but not as much as the realization of utter and total defeat. But I will never give up. Divergent never give up.
The bitter water rises and replaces my blood again, flowing through my veins. "A week?" I say hopefully. Jeanine barks out a laugh. "Three months," she says abruptly.
"It is interesting," she begins, "to see how you God-fearing nobodies from Abnegation are the majority of the Divergent. Granted, you must be strong-willed to exert that amount of self-control. But surely the other factions must as well?
"So we have taken you, and with your cooperation have explored your minds." Explored our minds. She still has a way with words. What I would have said was plunged us into a living hell.
"We have looked into your fear landscapes. Funny that you only have seven fears, or rather six and a half now. Little Beatrice Prior. Your boyfriend," she spits out the word, "only had four. Hence his foolish nickname."
My heart swells inside my chest. Tobias. Is he alright? I need to save him. Escape routes start running through my head, as do ways of inflicting injury. Wait. Jeanine said had. Not has. Had.
"Too bad he died. The new serum was too much for his system. His heart stopped, to pu it simply for you lesser-intellect Dauntless. Surprising you lived, and he didn't."
There is a dead silence.
Four. My Four. Is dead. Tears prick my eyelids, and I struggle not to let them out. I will not let Jeanine have the satisfaction of seeing my cry. Tobias wouldn't have wanted that. My chest constricts until it is so tight, I can barely breathe, and my vision goes blurry with tears.
Tobias. I never even got to say goodbye. I don't even remember the last time I saw him, the last words I said to him. And now he is gone. Forever. I have lost everything. Everyone. I say the two words I have been meaning to say to Jeanine ever since I met her.
"You bitch."
She looks taken aback. Good. It proves that she is still human, not machine, no matter how twisted her soul may be. It proves that I can still kill her. Revenge will be sweet.
"I have had enough of this," she says suddenly, back to mechanical monstrosity. She pulls out a walkie-talkie from her belt and flicks on the switch. "D-2 to the Submergent room. Now," she says, and clicks it off again.
I am scared now. I start struggling again, managing to bite Jeanine's arm when she tries to hold me down. The taste of metallic blood floods my mouth. Nothing has ever tasted so satisfying. I spit at her. She gives me a look of cold fury.
The door opens, and in walk the two people I least want to see. Peter and Eric, clothed now in blue uniforms from head to toe. "Put her under," Jeanine hisses, staunching her bite wound with a piece of cloth.
Peter moves forward, grinning, and holds me down, no matter the protests I make. He is stronger than I am on a good day, let alone when I am drugged and tied to a plank. I don't want to let him touch me. Ever. Disgusting coward.
Eric grins sadistically and moves forward with a wicked-looking needle, filled to the brim with a lethal-looking blue liquid. I shrink back, and he laughs, cruelly. "So long, Stiff," he says, plunging the needle into me.
I feel adrenaline flooding me, washing away the bitter water, chasing it out and speeding up my heartbeat. Fast. Much, much too fast. Jeanine, Peter, and Eric look on in respective curiosity, glee, and mania.
The last thing I register before my heart gives out, just like Tobias's, is a cruel irony. Tobias's eyes are –were- the exact same shade of blue as the serum they injected me with. I finally let go into the dark, and find blessed, aching release.
This story is now finished. That doesn't mean you can't leave a review.