Chapter 10

"Hey look, Sleeping Beauty is awake." Tris felt someone poke her shoulder. She tried to straighten herself up, but the pain in her head made her a little woozy. The grating voice bounced around her head. "Come on girl, wake up." She blinked and saw Max in the front seat driving and Eric next to her.

"I see you really do get your kicks from bouncing around little girls." Eric chuckled before he slapped her across the face.

She felt the blood ooze out of the cut. "Now look what you did." He examined his hand. "You got blood all over my ring."

Tris looked at the cars they passed on the highway. No moonlight nor streetlamps kept her from seeing where the car headed, but she knew New York City got smaller in the rear view mirror.

She worried about Tobias. She doubted they killed him; the Dauntless liked to make their killings public. If everyone knew how they silenced their rivals, no one would stand in their way. "How much further?" Eric asked Max.

"Just a few more minutes."

They pulled into a rest stop that resembled a log built hunting lodge. Tall, motionless pine trees surrounded the parking lot. Tris saw a sign, north on the New York State Thruway. "They're over there," Max said. They drove to the far side of the parking lot and pulled next to a car. A bulky man without a neck sat in the driver's seat. She wondered how someone so muscle-bound could move. His moon shaped face with peach fuzz belied his age. Close cropped hair topped him off. Peter looked slight sitting next to him.

A sweat ball formed on her nose when the door opened and hot and humid air hit her.

A head bobbed up in the back seat of the other car. Tris covered her mouth with her hand and she gasped. Tears welled up behind her eyelids when she saw Tobias. She didn't know if he could see her. His normally bright eyes barely blinked due to the swelling. She whispered to him. "Tobias, what've they done to you."

"Let's get outta here as soon as possible," Max said. "I want to be back on the road in a few minutes."

Eric pointed to the other car. "Park it out back."

Max grabbed Tobias by the arm and put him in the middle seat. Eric and Peter sat in the back seat. Tris joined Tobias in the middle; Max and the Drew sat in the front. She took Tobias' hand and gently kissed him. She moved the hair out of his eyes. He looked at her through the slits. "Oh Tobias, why are they doing this?" She leaned into him. He shifted until he found a position he could bare.

"We'll find a way out." His whispered words reassured her, but she couldn't see how they could escape. It was four against two and the Dauntless were armed.

"I know," she said back.

Tris wasn't sure how far they drove after she drifted off, but they left the Thruway.

"Which way?" Drew, the driver, asked.

Max slapped him in the back of the head. "Just follow the GPS you idiot."

Tris and Tobias bounced back and forth as they drove along the country roads. Tobias grimaced as he brought his hands up and guarded his chest. He remained quiet; he didn't want his captors to know the extent of his injuries. She moved the hair out of his eyes and spotted a small sparkle.

"Holy Christ! How much farther is this place?" Peter whined.

"Shut up asshole," Eric said.

Tris rolled her eyes. The four bickered like four old men arguing politics over coffee at her local diner.

"Couldn't we just have driven straight home instead of going all the way up here. It takes us way out of our way," Peter said.

"ERIC! Shut him up!"

"We're in a hot car dick. We gotta change to the one up at the cabin." Eric said. "Now shut your trap!"

Tobias leaned into Tris, "look for any chance to escape."

Tris mouthed, "no, not without you."

"If you get away. Find help."

Tobias' head flew forward. "You two. Shut up." Eric said.

Tobias squeezed Tris' hand. That comforted her little.

Drew turned onto a dirt road. They bounced up and down with each pothole driven through.

"Turn here," Max ordered.

They approached a one story log cabin. Shutters covered the windows. Weeds and untrimmed hedges surrounded the building. It hadn't been cared for since last year. Drew parked the SUV around back, out of sight, next to another SUV.

Tobias leaned on Tris and walked to the cabin. A few Adirondack chairs adorned the porch, red paint peeling from the chair backs. A coffee can full of cigarette butts sat in between them.

A musty smell reached Tris' nose when Max opened the door. "We'll catch a couple of hours sleep before starting out again. You two, on the couch." Tris helped Tobias sit. Her eyes darted around the room. A picture window occupied the center of the wall. Smaller windows lined the walls of the dining room and the kitchen.

Tris stood, "I have to pee." Her four captors stared at her. One by one, she eyed each of them.

"Drew, take her. I don't want her smelling up the car." Max said.

Drew grabbed her arm and she lurched forward. "Let's go stiff. Don't take forever." He slammed the door of the windowless bathroom.

"I guess a bathroom with a large window was too much to ask for." She searched the small room for anything she could use as a weapon. The closet nor the medicine cabinet didn't offer any items of use. She looked under the sink. She stuck her finger on a piece of metal. She bent it back and forth to break it.

"Let's go Stiff! We ain't got all night. I gotta get some sleep."

"Relax. I'll be finished in a minute." She bent it faster and muttered to herself. "Come on, come on."

"NOW STIFF!"

She flushed the toilet and ran the sink. The metal broke off after a few more bends. She slid it in her pants. She ran her hands under the water and then opened the door.

"I need a towel."

"Wipe them on your pants." He shoved her back to the couch.

"You okay?" Tobias nodded yes. She took his hand and laid it on her pants. He felt the outline of the piece of metal. He squeezed her thigh. She lay her head on his lap and fell asleep.

Gale did a double-take when Katniss got in the Suburban. "Holy crap Katniss! You look like shit!" She had dark circles around her eyes and he could hear her labored breathing.

"I feel like shit," Katniss said.

"I think the ER is where we should be headed."

"Just drive."

"Where?"

"North." Gale put the car in gear and took off for their road trip. "What's in the bag?"

"Glimmer made us a care package."

"Outstanding." Gale drove the car with his knees as he unwrapped his breakfast sandwich.

... ring ... ring ... ring "Yeah Carol."

"You're going to meet the Ulster County Sheriff and someone from the State Police. I'll text you the address. We also sent that photo. He thought they might be able to identify it from a water tower in the background."

"Thanks, Carol. Let me know if you hear from them."

"Okay. Talk to you later."

Katniss plugged the address into the GPS. "Wake me up when we get there." Katniss turned to Gale whose cheeks resembled a chipmunk's. "I see you liked the sandwich."

"And your's too," Katniss shook her head at the bottomless pit called Gale's stomach. She reclined her seat and went to sleep.

Lily, give me your hand.

No Mommy.

Please Lily, take my hand.

No Mommy.

Let's go Lily

Yes Daddy

"OH!" Katniss blinked as the sun shined through the window.

"You have a nice rest?" Gale asked.

"No. It was a little unsettling. Are we there yet?"

"No, still got a ways." Katniss checked her phone. "You haven't heard from Peeta yet?"

Not sure if Gale knew Peeta had left, she kept quiet.

"He'll come around Kit Kat."

Katniss turned her head away from Gale as her eyes moistened.

"He was just angry because ..."

"I don't want to talk about it Gale. Just drive."

Knowing how stubborn Katniss could be, he turned his head back to the road.

The pain radiated across Tris' chest. "Get up Stiff!?"

She rubbed her shoulder. Peter almost ripped her arm out of its socket. "What the fuck is wrong with you asshole?" Her nose almost embedded in her brain after Peter's fist connected. She tasted the blood streaming down her face.

Peter picked her up and dragged her outside and dropped her on the grass. She opened her eyes and looked down the barrel of a gun. "I thought Jeanine wanted me alive."

"Thank God she finally found a new guinea pig to experiment on. I drew the long straw and won the privilege of blowing your brains out."

It all went black.