Four's POV
The bright sun was making my throat parched. Thankfully, a drink of water quenched my thirst. I quickly put the water bottle away before standing up. It's time to get going. The faster you find them, the faster you can get back to Tris.
As I began to run away, I thought I heard a scream. It sounded suspiciously like Tris. Straining my ear, I heard it clearly: "Four, help me!"
I immediately spun around and raced in the direction of the scream. Tris was in trouble.
Suddenly, a blonde-haired boy ran straight into me. He was panting from exertion.
Agitatedly, I pushed him away. "Sorry, I'm in a hurry," I replied in apology, before quickly continuing my sprint.
"Wait!" the boy yelled. His long legs helped him catch up to me quickly. "Are you Four?"
I nodded suspiciously. "Yeah…"
"Thank god. I was running away when Tris yelled your name."
"Tris? Running away?"
"We got attacked with bandits. Hurry, she might not be able to fight all of them."
A flash of fear struck my heart and I followed him into a clearing.
The boy's blue eyes looked worried. "They were just here!"
Dammit. "What do you mean?! She's not here right now!" I shouted.
He ran around, checking the nearby trees. "They went this way!"
We sprinted through the thick vegetation, before four blurs flashed in front of my vision. "Wait," I whispered. The boy skidded to a stop and watched me expectantly. I followed the figures with my eyes. Two of the men were carrying a lump—probably Tris—and they stopped and sat down near a river. "Okay," I said. "We're going to hide here and watch them."
The tallest thug, the ring leader, stood up and smirked at Tris. "I'd hate to destroy such a pretty face," he said.
He swung his right arm back and smashed it into Tris' face. I heard a sickening crack. Tris groaned. Her arms and legs were tied up, so she couldn't defend herself. The ring leader gestured towards his burly companion. The muscular man flicked open a switchblade and held it under Tris' neck. To my horror, he jerked it upwards and blood began to gush out of Tris' neck. I stared at Tris' bloody body and all thoughts of hiding vanished.
"Yo, asshole!" I screamed, standing up. Four heads turned in my direction and gaped at my sudden appearance. I took one look at Tris' bloody face and sprinted towards them.
I attacked the two closest men. Five quick punches to the stomach and an upper hook disposed the first man. The second man grabbed me in a choke hold, cutting off my air supply. I jabbed both of my elbows backwards into his chest and twisted around. Slamming my fist into his face, I watched in satisfaction as he swayed before falling to the ground.
The third man sprinted towards me and tried to tackle me, but I was ready. I danced out of the way and watched him barrel into a tree. He fell down upon impact and sat up, dazed. I hid a grin. It looked like he was hugging the tree. What a stupid person. Folding my arms, I glared at the Tree-Hugger.
"Four, look out!" the blonde boy screamed. I turned around just in time to see a fist flying straight into my face. Before I could dodge it, Tree-Hugger grabbed me from behind.
The punch hit me between the eyes, and stars began to dance across my vision. "What…" I moaned. Suddenly, Tree-Hugger let go and I fell to the ground.
Turning, I realized that the boy had stabbed Tree-Hugger with a thick and pointy wooden stick. Tree-Hugger was howling in pain and incapable of moving, but the ring-leader headed toward the young boy.
"Where do you think you're going?" I asked calmly, before aiming a punch at his chest. I leaped onto his shoulders and kicked his stomach as hard as I could. He groaned before falling to his knees.
With the back of my elbow, I hit his solar plexus and knocked him out.
"Are you alright?" I asked the kid. He nodded.
"Dude, that was so badass!" he exclaimed.
Chuckling, I couldn't help but grin. "Hey, I never asked what your name was."
"I'm Killian."
"Nice to meet you," I replied curtly, before grabbing rope from my backpack. I began to hogtie the ringleader.
"Why don't you just kill him?" Killian asked curiously.
"Think about it. He looks like a robber, but what do robbers do? They steal money. But this guy didn't even try to search us for money. They were trying to kill us. I'm going to interrogate him as soon as he wakes up."
Killian nodded, before surveying our surroundings. "Tris!" he yelled, spotting a bloody heap.
We raced up to her. Grabbing her, I brushed away her hair. Her whole face was covered with blood. It looked like she had a broken nose.
"Tris! Are you okay? How are you feeling?" I screamed frantically.
Her eyes focused on me for a second. "Four? Why are you here? Y-y-you came back for me…" she murmured.
"Of course I did!"
Tris' eyes fluttered shut.
Oh no… oh no oh no oh no. I placed a finger on her wrist, searching for her pulse. I let out a sigh of relief when I found it.
"Killian, Tris is alive but her pulse is weak. We have to get her to a hospital, or she's going to…" I trailed off. She can't. She won't die. I won't let her.
Killian nodded before pointing at the ring leader. "He's conscious again."
I pursed my lips. Do we have time to ask him questions? Quickly making my decision, I ran towards the man. Grabbing him roughly, I tilted his head towards me.
"Why are you here?"
"Mmph," he murmured.
"What the hell?" I screeched urgently. "Why isn't he cooperating?!" Killian pulled my arm off of the man.
"You're choking him."
I turned back to the thug and prodded him. "Did you hear my question?"
"Don't kill me!" he yelled. Seeing my glare, he immediately said, "It's not my fault! I needed the money, so I agreed to do it! He told us to kill a tall guy with brown hair and dark blue eyes, and a scar on his chin! That's… you. And he also said to kill your companions, so we jumped the girl and the kid."
I resumed my hold on his throat. "What else did he say?!"
"He said… he said to kidnap a blonde girl with blueish, grayish eyes. He doesn't want us to hurt her."
They weren't supposed to hurt Tris… so why did they attack her? I glanced back at Tris, before realizing the answer. After days of trekking, Tris' blonde hair picked up a bunch of mud, which made it turn brown. The thugs were looking for a blonde girl, so they didn't hesitate to attack Tris.
"One last question: who hired you?" I already had an idea of who was capable of such a cruel treachery.
The ringleader's next words proved me right: "Jason Eaton."
Cursing, I let go of the thug. "Run away before I change my mind," I hissed.
Killian watched me curiously, no doubt wondering why I had let the thug go.
"He's right; it's not his fault. It's Jason's," I answered the unspoken question. Killian nodded in understanding.
"Wait… who's Jason?"
"A complete asshole. You better hope and pray that you never meet him," I responded, before grabbing Tris. "There should be a town about a few miles from here. I'm going to carry Tris. Try to run along and keep up."
I pushed Tris on my back so that I was carrying her piggyback, before I broke into a run. A feeling of dread filled me as I realized that her pulse was even weaker than before.
"Dammit, I spent too much time questioning the thug," I muttered, before running even faster. Killian was panting next to me.
"Why are you running so fast?" he asked, gasping between breaths.
"Because Tris can't die. Because if she dies, then so do I," I replied simply.
The steady vibrations of Tris' breaths weakened and I gasped.
"No, no, no, Tris, stay with me!" I screamed.
"Tris… you can't leave me! You are everything to me!"
My feet thumped against the dirt path.
"Tris, you can't die before you find out the truth. I hate Julia. I despise Julia! I don't like her at all. I couldn't possibly like her, because I love you! You're the only person in my heart. I can't—I wouldn't want to love anyone besides you."
The sun was beginning to set and the dirt path beneath me turned into grass.
"Please stay with me, Tris. You would be more evil than Jason if you left me here alone. I'd rather die than live a day without you. Tris, please," I screamed. "Tris, I love you! Don't you dare leave me!"
My tears dripped off of my face and watered the grass beneath me.
And then, Tris stopped breathing. Suddenly, I was carrying a dead weight.
"Tris!" I screamed in shock.
I bit down on my lip, drawing blood. I need to run faster. The trees flew by as I sprinted. After what seemed like hours, Killian spoke.
"Four," he gasped. "I see a town."
I looked up and saw a row of buildings. A myriad of houses surrounded the buildings. "Thank god," I breathed. Running up to the nearest house, I pounded on the door.
A surprised man opened the door, almost fainting at the sight of Tris.
"Take her. She needs medical attention. Hurry!" I yelled. The man looked petrified.
"We need a doctor!" I screamed again, frustrated. The man nodded before pointing at the tallest building.
"That's the hospital."
Killian and I sprinted to the hospital. I raced to the front desk. "My girlfriend is dying," I yelled. The secretary took one look at Tris before running through double doors. A few seconds later, she returned with another woman, a stretcher, and a group of medical personnel.
"I'm Dr. Wendell," the woman introduced tersely before spotting Tris. "Hoist her onto the stretcher." Her companions readily obliged.
"I'm going to need peace and quiet while I try to stabilize her," she said, before disappearing through the double doors.
The secretary pointed at a row of chairs. "You can sit there, if you'd like."
Killian tried to drag me to the chairs, but I refused. "You need to rest," he protested.
"What if Tris—what if she… what if she dies?" I moaned.
"Shut up, she's going to be okay. She's the toughest person I know," Killian replied stubbornly. "Now sit down."
"No!" I shouted defiantly, before a wave of nausea hit me. Killian caught me as I collapsed. "Make sure Tris is fine…" I murmured groggily. The world went black.
"Four."
The voice jerked me from my sleep. "What is it, Killian?" I asked, blinking away my fatigue.
"You fainted from exhaustion. Dr. Wendell is here."
I looked up and saw the stern, serious woman from before. Scrambling to my feet, I quickly asked, "How's Tris?"
"She's fine. She lost a lot of blood, and went into cardiac arrest. We revived her with a defibrillator, but her vital signs were going crazy. It turns out that she was going into haemorrhagic shock, and her right kidney began to fail. Thankfully, we started a blood transfusion before any other organs were damaged. Don't worry, she'll be able to survive with one kidney. The cut in her throat wasn't deep enough to damage the bronchial tube or esophagus, but the trauma affected her larynx. It shouldn't be too injured, though, and she can probably still talk. You need to give her time and let her rest. She's been through a lot," Dr. Wendell informed.
I let out a sigh of relief. "Tris is okay. Tris is okay," I repeated to myself.
Killian grabbed my arm. "Let's go see her."
This has been the longest chapter so far! I hope you guys liked it :) Shout out to absmwill for the wonderful, heart-warming review. It made me feel warm and fuzzy inside... and I ran around the house screaming with happiness.
Please review, review, review! It would make my day.
~BubblyFanatic