Chapter 11
Walking in the streets of Abnegation, Eric scared anyone who came across his path. With his determined and strong strides, his hair tied back and how heavily armed he was, even Max was a bit taken aback.
"What are you up to, boy?" he had asked Eric, eyebrows raised.
"Nothing, just wanted to see how the mission is going here."
"Well, I didn't know you would be so into the mission. You can check on the soldiers up that neighborhood," Max pointed a street, "but then you head to Erudite. Jeanine wants you there, you didn't forget now, did you?"
Eric shook his head in negation and then walked in the direction Max pointed, leaving the man dumbfounded. After all, Eric had always been a very polite soldier toward his superiors; Max had never seen him this tense and he looked like he could kill the first person who was unfortunate enough to annoy him.
Eric had decided to follow his original plan; which meant following Jeanine's orders. Now that Tris was truly gone, there was nothing he could do to help her anymore. He did not know where she was at the moment and could not afford to search thoroughly for her.
But maybe just taking a look in Abnegation would do no harm to his main mission. If he was lucky, Tris had already found and saved her parents and all three of them were hiding far away from here. So it was a relief, not seeing her or Andrew Prior among the kneeling Abnegation people in front of him.
Or among the dead bodies lying then and there.
Don't hesitate to kill anyone causing you trouble. That's what Jeanine had instructed everyone to do. After all, the less Abnegation members, the better.
So no Tris in sight was a good thing. He'd just have to deal with her after the attack mission. Hopefully she didn't choose a hiding place too concealed because he planned on finding her later. Or maybe she would be the one to come to him after everything was finished. That would be extremely reckless, but knowing Tris, Eric knew that she would find him before he could.
Already forgetting his decision, Eric checked further in the streets to be sure she was not here. He then even disobeyed Max and took a quick look at the other neighborhoods.
He felt stupid doing this. There were so much Abnegation people, he could have missed her face or maybe her dead body was lying in a dark alley. It was foolish to have let her go alone. Even binding her to his couch would have been a better option.
But he couldn't have given up on the mission. He had worked for Jeanine for years and even if he didn't agree with her ideas, he had worked hard and had suffered too much to just throw everything away for Tris.
Readjusting the heavy rifle on his shoulder, Eric headed to the train tracks. It was time to go back to Erudite. His former faction.
He remembered the first time he met Jeanine. He was fourteen. The perfect Erudite schoolboy who always got excellent marks, was praised by all his teachers and every Erudite child was jealous of him.
But his life was far from perfect. The time spent at home was a torture.
That's why he studied so hard, stayed as long as allowed in the library.
His parents hated him. He didn't even know if they were capable of love or why they had him. They didn't seem to like each other a bit and probably saw their marriage as a requirement to a normal social life.
They only talked to their son to ask him about school or to inform him his presence was needed at whatever gala.
So when Jeanine Matthews came to see him in person and promised him a better life, in glory and happiness, of course he wanted to believe her.
When he accepted Jeanine's proposition, she made him undergo an intensive 2-year-long training in secret, so that he would get the skills to pass Dauntless initiation and even better, rank first.
While every Erudite child attended conferences and private lessons after school, Eric went to Jeanine Matthew's private research center. It was a building of its own. Eric's parents believed he went there to participate in her new project to elaborate a mysterious serum.
They were delighted, not because they were proud of their son, but because it gave a brilliant and intelligent image to their family. They even started to smile to him and showed some affection during the galas.
In fact, Eric didn't work in a laboratory. Every evening he would head to the last floor of the building and train.
Running, body building, fighting, shooting, knife throwing, facing his fears in simulation and even some theory on the psychological state of mind of Dauntless.
A week before the Choosing Ceremony, his aptitude test gave Erudite.
Still an Erudite inside, but a true soldier on the outside.
Initiation wasn't even that hard and he made it to leadership –even though he ranked second.
Two years later and Jeanine's serum was finally ready and synthetized in thousands.
Eric sighed.
In a week he would be part of Jeanine's new government and live a pleasant life and be respected by the whole population of Chicago.
"Sir, aren't you getting off here?" a man suddenly spoke up.
Startled, Eric's gaze snapped to the open door. He was leaning in a train car and he could see Erudite's buildings through the door.
He nodded to the soldier and jumped.
He could not give up on this just for Tris. She wasn't worth four years of hard work, was she?
:::::
"How is he?" a man spoke softly.
"He'll live. I have tended to his leg already and his head is alright. It's up to him now," a woman dressed in grey answered as she pressed a small bag of ice against the head of the young man lying on the floor.
He had been laid on a small plaid that might have been purple a few years ago but was now a brownish pink. His body was partially covered by a smaller grey cloth, leaving only his right leg visible, his thigh wrapped in gauze.
"Is he even going to wake up one day?" the man sighed.
"I know he'll wake up. I hope for Marcus…" the woman trailed.
"Poor Marcus," the man agreed, "he lost his wife, and now that he could have reunited as a family once again with his son, the boy is injured and will probably never wake up."
"Don't be pessimistic," she gave him a little slap on the shoulder. "We need to believe in this boy."
She stroked the cheek of the latter in a motherly way.
"I don't know what the Dauntless make their children go through but he shouldn't have been shot, it's not fair. He's just a boy."
"When I found him I thought he was dead; his body was lying in the grass and he had lost so much blood."
"Thank God he was only shot in the leg."
"Someone must have knocked him out. The bump on his head seems so painful."
"I wish I could take some of his pain away," the woman added.
The man took the pack of ice from her hand and settled it on the floor.
"Come Elisa darling, it's no good for you to stay here. I can see your eyes getting sadder with the minutes," he said while leading her away from the makeshift cot and down a staircase.
They arrived in a dark room where at least twenty Abnegation men and women were huddled together, but still far enough from touching each other. Elisa instantly let go of her husband's hand and they sat at a corner of the room.
"Where is Marcus?" she asked.
"Oh he said he wanted to make sure everyone is alright. He must be downstairs where we laid the other wounded."
"Always so selfless," she sighed, "even when his son is injured."
A boy also dressed in grey large clothes walked to them, "Can I join you, Sir, Madam?"
"Of course, boy! Don't stay alone," the man gestured for him to sit in front of them.
"My name is Harrison," the young man introduced himself. He was joyful when he spoke to the two adults, unlike most of the Abnegation children would have dared to be.
"I'm Richard and this is my wife Elisa."
"Thank you for letting me sit with you," he smiled.
"Where are your parents, Harrison?" Elisa asked.
"I don't know, Madam."
"I'm deeply sorry to hear it. Please stay with us as long as you wish to."
The couple asked Harrison about school for a few minutes but then silence came back.
"When you were upstairs, I heard that Natalie Prior is wounded," Richard suddenly said.
"How?" Elisa startled.
"Well, she was the last one of us to find shelter in here. While we luckily didn't run into soldiers, she did. I overheard her conversation with Andrew. Said she wanted to save their daughter Beatrice but couldn't find her anywhere."
"That's awful. Their girl who transferred to Dauntless, right? But she would never attack her former faction!"
"Maybe Natalie thought the Dauntless soldiers had forced her to come. We all saw there were Dauntless children among the soldiers."
"I don't understand why this is happening, Richard," her voice trembled.
Richard reached for her hand and squeezed it.
"Everything will be alright in the end."
"I hope so," she whispered.
"Can we play a game?" Harrison asked innocently and both of the adults laughed.
::::
Jeanine was looking down at her with an expression of pure disgust, as if she wasn't even human, as if she wasn't even worth of breathing the same air.
"You know, I wanted you for my next clinical research. Andrew would have loved seeing it," she smiled warmly at Tris. "But I changed my mind. I'll have Eric pick me a less filthy Divergent. And you're so agitated, a real animal," she stated as if she was complaining of dust on her neatly trimmed skirt.
"Kill her."
As soon as she said the words, Tris thrashed again to get out of the grasp of the two dauntless men that were holding her. Her heartbeat picked up so fast that it hurt in her chest. Her eyes wide in the realization that she was going to die. She couldn't. She couldn't die. Not now. Not when she didn't even know if her parents were alive. She didn't know if they were safe, she wanted to protect them. And what about Caleb? She still cared about him, no matter what he said. And. She wanted to see Eric one last time; she wanted to tell him that she truly regretted their argument. She should have admitted out loud that he held a special place in her heart. Because now he would never know.
But how was Eric going to be without her? He had no friends, there would be no one to love him, no one to believe in him and hope for a better Eric. She didn't want to leave him alone in his misery.
She wriggled her body in an attempt to free herself. She managed to elbow the man on her right in his ribs and he grunted though he did not loosen his hold.
Jeanine stepped closer to them but still out of reach of Tris's flying limbs. Her contained and peaceful appearance made an awful contrast with the agitated Tris.
"Take her away, I've seen enough of her. You," she glanced at one of the Dauntless men standing behind her, "help them. Get her to the lab 3; I'll send for someone to activate the machine."
What machine? Was Jeanine planning on torturing her before killing her? Or maybe the machine was to incinerate her body after she was killed.
"You bitch! You fucking coward!" Tris screamed. "I could beat you, I could rip you apart easily if you weren't hiding behind your minions!"
She had to get away before the third man came to help.
Couldn't anyone just come and save her?
She stomped on the feet of the same man she'd elbowed. His grip on her right arm loosened and she managed to crush her knuckles on his nose. He groaned.
That was the only thing she had the time to do for her defense. The man who still held her left arm grabbed her right one and forced both of them behind her back in brute force.
Tris screeched in pain.
"Eric, finally you're here," Jeanine's voice said with delight.
Tris froze. Her eyes shot to the door of Jeanine's office. She couldn't hold back a whimper.
There he stood.
Tears flowed in her eyes, blurring her vision. He came. He was going to save her.
"Eric," Tris cried. Finally everything was going to be alright. It felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulder. And it felt good. It felt so good to rely on someone. She wanted to smile. In fact, maybe she gave a small laugh.
He turned his head toward her.
Face expressionless.
Eyes void of any emotion.
The laugh turned into a strangled sob.
Her eyes did not hide the horror she felt.
He wasn't going to do anything. Her shoulders shook as she looked at him. Please, her eyes said to him. No. The strength was leaving her.
"Have you not understood yet? Eric works for me. He's not here to save a mere initiate; there's no need to beg," Jeanine sighed.
These words deepened the wound in her heart.
"How pathetic. Take her, now," she ordered the soldiers.
While the man she had hit held his nose to stop blood from spilling on the floor, the third one arrived and hit her quickly in the stomach.
The image of cold grey eyes imprinted on her retina.
It hurt. Her chest ached. Not because of the fast heartbeat or any bruise the soldiers could have caused but because of betrayal. And the loss of something she believed in so much. Her heart shattered.
And everything went black.
:::::
Cold.
That was the first thought that crossed her mind. The coldness of the surface she was laid on, causing goose bumps on her arms.
She tried to move and felt the hardness of the floor.
She felt a dull pain on her temple and quickly brought her hand to her head in an attempt to feel it. But by doing so, her elbow hit something hard on her right.
She cursed.
A wall?
She opened her eyes and blinked a few times so that they could adjust to the brightness. Everything was so white.
As soon as she did, she panicked and her breathing came out in ragged pants.
She was trapped. In what seemed like a long glass coffin.
Tris jerked up but her head hit the roof of the box.
She had to get out of here.
She lifted her head again just enough to look and the end of the box where her feet were. There was no exit there. So she wriggled her body around to look at the other end of the tube, her eyes wide with hope. And swallowed a sob. It was all glass.
She could see that there was no chance of getting out but she lifted her arms anyway and pushed with all her might.
She whimpered. It was no use.
She let her fingers trail to the corners and where the screens of glass met. She pushed again. She pumped the glass with her fist. She turned around again and slid until her feet met the glass at the other end of the box. She parted her arms and placed her palms on either side of the box to block her body from sliding while she kicked.
She was trapped.
Suddenly, she heard a strange noise. It was coming from above. She looked up. There was a hole. A black hole as large as her fist. And the loud noise was coming out of it.
She saw it and didn't even have the time to react as it arrived too quickly.
Water poured out of it. Right on her forehead, the water attacked her eyes making them burn. She yelped and wriggled around again to avoid the stream of water from pouring directly in her eyes.
Another scene of her fear landscape was replaying. And no one was going to save her. Not even Eric who had been right there in front of her.
She ignored the lump in her throat that came when she started thinking about him. There was no time for that.
She looked around through the glass; the long box was in the middle of a white room, probably a lab. Lab 3, she remembered Jeanine ordering her men to take her there. She had mentioned a machine. This insane box was the machine. They planned on drowning her. Why? Couldn't they have just shot her? She sobbed.
Jeanine was a twisted and mad woman; if she had picked this method to kill, it was surely because she had seen Tris's final test and was using irony to make her death even more painful and pathetic.
The water was filling the box at a steady pace. They were going to drown her slowly. Tris imagined Jeanine watching through cameras, laughing madly.
She pumped again against the glass. She couldn't give up.
For long minutes, enough time for the water to submerge her whole body, she hit the wall stubbornly ignoring the searing pain on her knuckles, even when the skin split and blood dripped, tainting the clear water into a pink cloud around her hands. She began to scream to find strength. But came the moment were there was too much water and her screams were making her choke. She had to close her mouth. Lifting her head, she took a deep breath to inhale as much oxygen as she could.
Her limbs were feeling light in the water. Maybe it was the time to accept her death. After all, death was an easy thing, just like Al died. Just like Four died.
She cried her last tears. She steered her last thoughts to her parents, dead or alive, she didn't know. She loved them. To Caleb, no matter what he did she forgave him. To Christina, Will, Uriah and-
No.
Not Eric.
She whimpered, exhaling some air and making bubbles, because she couldn't help herself from thinking about Eric even at her last moments. He had betrayed her. She shouldn't think about him. But she did. Eric. She pictured his black hair. And the rare genuine smile of his, that he only made in front of her. Her chest ached. She didn't know if it came from the lack of oxygen or from Eric. But it ached.
The last few days of her life, she had attached herself to this man. Too much. She shouldn't have. It had led her to no good. Hell, it killed her. And here she thought she actually meant something to him.
She closed her eyes and felt herself drifting apart from reality.
What a useless life.
In her sixteen years, she had managed to kill two people. Al and Tobias.
At least she wasn't given the time to kill her parents.
Maybe the world was better without her.
Strong hands gripped her shoulders and she was thrust into a sitting position.
Her eyes flew open, she coughed, her chest heaved from breathing the oxygen her body badly needed and every muscle of her body was tense.
I am alive? How?
Tris looked at her surroundings, trying to understand why she was breathing. She looked up. The roof of the glass box had been lifted. The flow of water was stopped and some was dripping from the box starting to make a small pool on the white tiled floor.
Then she caught sight of someone moving on her right.
She turned her head and gasped.
"Ssh. You need to keep quiet."
.
AN: Ahaa! That's an awful and evil cliffhanger. And here I am smiling madly.
Tell me what you think of this chapter :) It felt different, didn't it?
So yeah that was chapter 11. Not as long as the last chapters. Sorry it took me so long to update. I truly can't wait to hear -or read- your reaction!
Thank you (so)x10^100 very much you out there -yes, you- who read, reviewed, followed or favorited this fanfiction.
