Hey guys! First off, I just want to say Merry Christmas/Happy Hanukkah and I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday so far! Secondly, I made sure this chapter was extra long as an apology for how long it took for me to get this up! The majority of this was written at 2 in the morning so please bear with me if there is any major grammar mistake because I'm a lazy shit who cannot be bothered proof reading. Just an extra little warning on this one nearer the end because it's slowly getting a bit more gory but hey! My English teacher doesn't call me 'The queen of dark stuff' for no reason! I hope you all like this and I pinky promise that this will not be my last update of 2016!
All Characters belong to Veronica Roth except the one you don't see in the book series :)
"Fuck" I mutter under my breath as I watch yet another bullet sail into the wall, inches above the target's head. I can hear snickers from behind me and I choose to ignore them and try to refocus my attention on the target.
"Hey Stiff!" I hear a voice yell from behind me followed by more giggles and I turn around to see a group of two boys and two girls stood, all watching me. The boy in the middle, the one who I assume spoke, is stood smirking with his arms folded across his chest and a smirk on his face. It's not a smirk like the one which is usually on Four's face; this one is one of mockery.
"Okay, two things. Firstly, my name is not Stiff, it's Tris. And secondly, what do you want?" I ask, my eyes narrowed at the little group. The one who spoke is tall and muscular with thick brown hair and dark green eyes. At first glance, most would assume he was someone with an angelic personality but the smirk on his lips clearly says otherwise. The other boy is shorter, it would help if his shoulders weren't so hunched, but just as muscular as the other boy with orangey red hair which resembles an old carrot. One of the girls towers over carrot-head, she is quite well-built but some of her features like her bulbous nose still looked out proportion especially in comparison with brown eyes. The other girl was still quite tall, not as tall as the other girl but she still towered over me. She was slim with a very willowy frame and dark skin, her hair short and black with brown eyes.
"Is it not?" tall boy asks, cocking his eyebrow and that irritating smirk on his face, "I thought it was because you shoot like a stiff". I watch how his comment makes the rest of his gang crack up laughing, Carrot-head looking in pain and Big-nose sniggering and snorting unattractively, the dark-skinned girl being the only one who looked normal when she laughed.
"Wow, I am in awe of your impressive wit" I mutter under my breath, rolling my eyes as I turn back to the target and aim the gun once again before pulling the trigger. This time the bullet sails straight into the centre of the target's head, making me smile. I turn around, taking in the group's stunned expression gleefully, and walk over and place my gun down on the table.
I look over at the tall muscular boy, watching how he's about to open his mouth to speak when Four shouts out suddenly "Right that's enough training for today". My own smirk grows slightly as I watch the muscular boy's mouth shut and purse his lips as his eyes narrow at me before stalking off with the rest of his little posse.
"Hey" I hear a voice behind me say and I turn around to see Charley walking towards me, a sheen of sweat covering her face. I smile at her as she gets closer before swinging her arm around me and asking "how was shooting?"
"To be completely honest, I'm pretty shit at it. Caleb clearly got all the good genes when it came to that" I say, grinning sheepishly at her as we begin walking towards the door.
"Bullshit. It just takes practice. I couldn't shoot at all the first time I picked up a gun; remember the time when I nearly shot Jack in the leg because he was standing near the target" Charley states, making me giggle at the memory of Jack's feminine screams as he ran around the Dauntless training room.
"I wouldn't say being about 12 metres away counts as being near" I say through my giggles, ignoring how Charley gently shoves my shoulder as she tells me to shut up. It's good to see her acting normally instead of how she's been acting since we got here; it's good to see her being Charley again.
"How was your training?" I ask, turning to face her.
"It was good. I mean when we first started, one of the guys came over to me and started talking to me in a really condescending way like seeing as I'm short and a girl, I wouldn't be able to fight properly. Well, that's probably what he thought until he was paired to fight against me" Charley says, a smile on her face and I know exactly what she's talking about; Charley may not have much muscle but god, she's fast on her feet and is quick on picking out people's weaknesses.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" a voice says as Charley and I round a corner to see muscular boy and his little squad. I roll my eyes at how as the leader of the group steps forward, the rest of his little gang taking step with him as if it will double the standard of intimidation.
"Fuck off" I say, taking a step forward with Charley to go to the dining hall but two of this person's minions step in front of use, carrot-head and the girl with the gigantic nose.
"Not to sound rude or anything but can you please get out of our way?" Charley says, her eyebrows raised and confusion on her face as she takes in the situation. I just gently shake my head at her telling her to leave it and thankfully, she does.
"Sorry, no can do" the tall boy says, his usual cocky smirk on his face. I watch as he goes to open his mouth again but a booming voice fills the air.
"What the fuck is going on here?" the voice yell and I turn around, hoping to see Four but I'm disappointed when I see it's the tan boy who shot Charley, Calum I think his name was and another boy who I vaguely remember from the night I was kidnapped and the dining hall with blonde hair.
"Nothing" Carrot-head squeaks, making me smile at how quickly his demeanour changed. I watch how he and big-nose quickly scramble backwards behind the tanned girl and the leader as the two men step closer.
"I don't think it's nothing" the blonde says before grabbing my arm and dragging me forward as Calum does the same thing to Charley. Calum's action makes my blood boil as I watch how Charley's expression is terrified at the fact the man who shot her is currently forcing her to walk to god knows where.
We both remain silent as we walk with the boys and we eventually stop outside the entrance to the dining hall. They both let us go and nodded to us both before entering the dining hall, leaving Charley and I stood outside the door.
"Are you alright?" I ask, gently placing my hand on her shoulder, she nods with a weak smile on her face before beginning to walk into the dining hall with me following behind her like a lost puppy.
We both find two seats in the dining hall and we both eat in silence until I feel someone hovering over us and I look up to find Lynn and Chrissy looking down at us, both their expression closed off.
"Can you two please come with us?" Chrissy says, politely but the look on Lynn's face tells us we really have no choice in the matter. I notice that almost the entire dining hall has gone quiet around us, everybody watching to see if we will refuse or start a fight. Neither of those things happen.
Charley and I both stand up willingly and walk with the two girls towards the door, ignoring the feeling of everyone else staring at us as we walk away. You can hear the sudden burst of noise as we leave the dining hall, probably people gossiping what may be going on.
We walk down endless corridors silently, the only sounds being our footsteps echoing down the hallways. Charley and I share multiple looks, trying to communicate wordlessly to figure out what the hell is going on.
"Where are we going?" I ask quietly, looking straight at Lynn. I watch as Lynn and Chrissy exchange a look before looking straight back ahead, ignoring us.
"We found someone from your gang snooping around earlier" Chrissy says suddenly, brushing off the scorching glare Lynn gives her. "We don't know but Four said he wants you two to come and see him" she finishes before stopping directly in front of the door before pushing it open and ushering us inside.
When we get inside the room, all we can see is a semi-circle of backs, all crowded around something. Lynn and Chrissy gently push us forward until we can see exactly what everyone is crowded around and it makes a gasp rip its way out of my mouth.
Alex is tied to a chair in the middle of the room, blood soaking his t-shirt and smeared across his face as well as in staining his thick, brown hair. Both eyes are black and his face is a mix of blue, purple and black from the multiple bruises. He's hunched over in the chair; his eyes are shut and he has a pained expression on his face. I can slowly feel my heart breaking as I take in his appearance.
"Oh my god" I hear Charley whisper quietly beside me; her hand covering her mouth and I can feel my eyes starting to swim with tears at the sight of the man who I always saw as strong and determined; unbreakable. Clearly, I can see I was wrong.
I'm about to say something, about to try and help Alex but the door swings open and a dark silhouette stands in the doorway. The silhouette takes a step forward and I realise it's Four.
"Has he still not cracked yet?" Four asks one of the men standing in a semi-circle, who shakes his head in response. Four turns his head back to Alex before saying "you know, this could all be over so soon, you can leave with your life and return back to whatever you have back in your gang, the two girls can go with you, everything can go back to the way it was and all you have to do to achieve that is tell us what we want to know".
I watch how Alex's jaw clenches and he shakes his head, making tears start to spill down my cheeks. I look over at Four who is already staring straight back at me before he says, "fine, have it your way". He looks back at his gang members and says "take those two girls" pointing at Charley and myself "and the prisoner to the pit. Also, prepare some boxes; we're going to need something to send the bodies home in".
So what did you guys think? Btw it literally broke my heart writing the end of this; I'm sorry Alex Gaskarth! I didn't want it to have to be you!