Dec 10th - Your dad is Santa. He's missing and we have to save Christmas

Pounding on my apartment door at three in the morning was unfortunately not too unusual. I threw myself out of bed and grabbed my boots along the way to answer. When I opened it up, it took a moment to realize who was standing in front of me.

Eric's hair was a mess and he was a far cry from put-together. "Tris, you gotta help me," he breathed.

In that moment, still half-asleep and barely dressed, I was ready to do anything for him. That was the duty of being Dauntless. "You got it, Eric," I said. "Just let me get dressed."

He paced the entire time, raking a hand through his hair over and over again. "It's a nightmare. Absolute nightmare," I heard him mumble. It took poking and prodding but I got the situation report from him in bits and pieces.

After the raid last week there had been some civilians who were reported as missing with no leads on last known locations. Many had been found after a combination of failure-to-check-ins and recoveries from decimated buildings. I hadn't realized, but Eric's father had been in one of the buildings on the edge of Chicago which had been partially demolished by an RPG - yes, the raiders had brought fucking RPGs to try and blast their way into our storage centers.

It had taken three days for Erudite to admit that they still had a section of their faction who had just never been found. I threw on the first set of clothes I could find where I could move properly in and tugged on my boots. We were out the door and down to the motorpool before I even questioned how Eric must have been feeling.

When we got down there, I realized that it wouldn't be smart to have Eric driving. Regardless of how little I'd been trained, at least my hands were steady. I hauled ass down the main roads, skirting just past the danger-zone that Richards had impressed upon during my driver training. I didn't care. Eric's father was Missing In Action. Three days trapped under rubble was dangerously on the edge of how long a person could survive.

"Talk to me, Coulter," I said finally after sitting in tense silence. No matter how hard I pressed, I still wouldn't be able to make it to Coulter Senior's last known position any faster.

Eric was tense, his hands flexing on his lap. I had to speak up again before he would reply. "My father played Santa every year," he said quietly. "That's all I can think about. He has to make it. Erudite has our, their party every year this weekend."

I didn't have to ask any further. Eric continued to ramble off memories of his father as we bounded our way through the streets. By the time we pulled up to the last building to be searched, I was more than invested in finding Eric's father. I don't think I would be able to forgive myself if I failed him now.

Eric was out the door before the engine was off. I made sure to radio in our position to dispatch and call for any additional backup to help with the search. It took a minute for Kyle - of course Kyle was the one stuck on dispatch at four AM - to get back to me, but he assured me that "the job would be done."

I got out and hustled over to what looked like a command center. There was a bit of confusion around who was in charge, something that I fought to rectify. There was an odd mixture of Erudite, Dauntless, and factionless all milling around trying to get a handle on the situation.

Eric took a fresh team into the building armed with sledgehammers, particle masks, and an EMT kit. I kept on the radio with him the entire time, giving him as much support as I could between my shouting matches with whoever was trying to give me a hard time.

The sun crept up. Four more trucks loaded with Dauntless search crews showed up. Kyle delivered and then some as these were tough sons of bitches, all raring to go.

I ended up kicking out a bunch of useless Erudites from my command center, sending them home to get rest before they got themselves or one of my crews hurt.

Around ten-thirty in the morning Eric's voice came over the radio. "An elevator shaft got cracked. Sent down a cam and we got signs of life," he breathed. Relief came over me the moment I heard it. Without a single bit of confirmation I knew somehow that Eric's father was there.

Seven hours later we got the shaft opened up and a rig lined up to pull out the survivors. They sent down an EMT first to tend to any immediate wounded. Those who were able to came up one at a time in the harness. Every time one did, I felt my heart race faster and faster. What if I was wrong?

"We got wounded coming up!"

I was trapped in my created role of team leader, waiting to hear over radio waves if our efforts had been enough. My finger hovered over the radio call while I waited.

I wished I had a camera setup to watch the elevator shaft.

Tick.

Tick.

Tick.

My receiver hissed. "Repeat?" I barked.

"We got Coulter," Eric's voice was hoarse and I heard him cough to clear his throat. "I repeat, we have Charles Coulter. Injured and dehydrated, but alive."

I blinked back tears that pricked my eyes. "Roger. Report updated," I croaked. We did good. Thank god, we did good.