Chapter 14

Rich raises his eyebrows when he sees me coming. I stop, my heart pounding against my chest, demanding more air and to release the carbon dioxide that is pulsing through my system.

"I need guns." I command. A concerned look sweeps across his face.

"You can't kill him Tris, we all decided on it." He speaks softly, resting his hand on my shoulder. I shrug it off.

"Not for him. Where do I get guns?" My voice is sharp, annoyed.

Brian begins to speak but I don't have time to listen, I run down the stairs until I get to the Pit. I run through the people talking and drinking. My eyes searching for my friends. I run to the canteen and look towards our table, there are a few initiates sitting there so I run over, perhaps they know where Uriah, or Christina are.

When I reach the table Hetty, Isaac and a few others are eating hot dogs, laughing and joking. A spark of anger tears through me. How dare they be laughing, joking, when something is happening. They look up at me.

Hetty puts down her hot dog and tilts her head to the side a bit like a confused puppy.

"You okay Tris?" She says, trying to be reassuring.

"Do you know where Tori, Christina or Uriah are?" I pant out.

They all shake their heads. My heart drops and shoulders slump.

Hetty stands up. "I'll help you find them, okay?" She smiles gently and grabs my hand.

We run to my friends rooms, the Cazen, Control room, but I can't find them. When we get back down to the pit she stands, resting her arms on her knees to help keep herself up, but I have no time to wait around. Where will there be guns? Where would they keep them?

The training room.

I run down the corridor that has become so familiar, not needing to look at the ground like I once did.

I burst through the doors and scan the room for a gun, not even one is lying about. When I look again I see a door, shaped into the rock, almost invisible in the dark unlit area at the back. I jog over and pull on the metal handle, but it is locked. I feel the rough fake stone material attempting to hide the door, and kick it hard, it disintegrates the moment my foot comes into contact, and hole appears I bend down to peer through but another metal door is behind it. I kick and punch until the entire door is showing and hear someone enter the room, I turn around and see Isaac running towards me, Hetty behind. When he gets closer he chucks something at me, I catch it. A key.

I turn around and shove the object in the lock, the door clicks open and an automatic light inside shines. I pull the door, it is heavy, but I am strong now so it isn't hard. I take a step inside. It is lined with metal shelves from floor to ceiling, boxes upon boxes are stacked on each other. I walk in, it is small, only one person can fit at the hip, and maybe four long. I pull a random box, it is filled with bullets. I take it and hand it to Isaac behind me. I take five more off the shelves and start looking for the guns.

I would have missed it if it wasn't for the tiny ray of light to just hit the metal. A glass cabinet is skilfully hidden in a corner of the room. I walk over and open it. I touch one of the weapons carefully and pick it up. I turn around and hand it to Isaac who passes it to Hetty, then hand one for him, and turn back and get one for myself.

I turn around abruptly and Hetty shoves a backpack at my chest. I open it, it has a torch, a knife, rope and a few other things in it. I put some of the bullets in it, and gently wedge the cold gun in between my trousers and skin and pull my t-shirt over it.

Looking up I scan the initiates faces. I know their emotion, I sometimes felt it. Fear.

I shift past them in the doorway and sprint out of the room, I soon hear their footsteps as I tear through the corridors. People jump out of the way. Running to the tracks I see a light in the distance, the train. My feet, so fast I almost don't touch the ground.

When we reach the tracks we are only stationary for a moment before the train zooms past us, I search desperately for an open cart, but there is none. Not a single one is open.

I run and grab onto a handle that is screwed to a cart. Holding my weight I claw at the door, for it to slide open, but this door is too heavy. There is a ledge on top of it though, my hands scramble for stability. My fingers suddenly grasp onto it, like magnets. I push with all my strength up, and lift my right leg, it meets contact with the top of the train.

I tumble onto the roof of the cart, landing on my back looking up at the sky. The clouds are so beautifully, and fluffy in the ocean of blue that masks the deep dark pitless sky. The sky that has seen man kill one another in search for equality, and acceptance. The same sky that every year watches flowers blossom and die then blossom again. Nature is both divine and disgusting.

I sit up, the wind hits my back with a thud and the breath wheezes out of me. Air tearing through my hair.

I peer over the side, and it is only then that I notice the initiates are nowhere to be seen. They did not make it upon the train. I look around at the landscape, and in the distance I see the Dauntless compound growing smaller by the second.

I sit there for a while, taking in the buildings that sweep past me. The faded signs hinting at the life before the experiment.

After a while I turn not realising how close I was to the Hub. I could stay on the train, waiting for it to slow down and then jump off, however it would be a risk of getting caught up in something when I don't really know what is going on, or jumping off the train going at high speeds and possibly getting injured.

I pull the cord to tighten my backpack and shift to the side of the cart, my feet dangling off. One. Two. Thr- I throw myself off, curling into a ball. I hit the ground with a hard thud and roll for a few seconds before coming to a stop. I open my eyes slowly. I am right at the side of the track, I need to move for shelter. The buildings looming over me create a slight shadow, but not enough. I scramble to my feet. Just behind me is a small alleyway with bins pressed against the wall. As I walk into it the pungent smell of gone off meat hits me, saliva forms in my mouth warning me of the imminent sick that will arise. I crawl in between to huge metal bins and see some blood on the ground. I'm confused, whose blood is it? I catch sight of my arm. The top layer of skin is scraped off completely from my elbow to my wrist revealing a soft spongy layer of skin, blood running in between my fingers and trickling off them slowly. The adrenaline seems to stop suddenly and the pain rips through my arm. Bile spews up my neck and into my mouth. I gag but refuse to be sick.

I reach for my backpack and dig inside with my right arm, holding my left away from my body to avoid the blood staining my clothes. Right at the bottom is an assortment of bandages, and just beside is a pack of antiseptic wipes. I tear one open and carefully place the small damp towel to my cut. I clench my jaw and squeeze my eyes shut. When done I wrap the bandage around my arm, and place a small tape to keep it from coming loose. I shove everything back into my backpack.

I stop automatically at the sound of something further down the alley. My hand drawing to my side slowly I feel for my weapon. The metal comes into contact with my hand. I lean forward past a bin and see a shadow of a person. They are eating something, blissfully unaware of my existence. A few moments later he walks into the building beside me, the butchers.

I get up and jog quietly to a black metal staircase that is attached to the butcher's wall. I step up onto the first step, testing the stability but most importantly how noisy it is. However due to the recent refurbishment it is silent. One by one I ascend the five floor stairwell, holding my gun close to my chest.

When I reach the top I can see the windows of the glass giant buildings that tower over the little brick ones.

A small wall is built on top of the butchers and I step over it. When I place my foot upon the ground I hear a crunch and freeze. As I look down I draw a quick intake of breath, my eyes so wide they could pop out. My head spins.

I lift my foot and move it a little further forward and push my weight onto it. I turn around slowly and look down at the body which lays before me. I stepped on the little boy's finger. He looks only about nine. The gravel which lays to help evaporate the rain is covered in moss, and surrounds the boy.

I sweep the hair out of his face and close his eyes. It is then I notice a small badge in the shape of a circle sewn upon a blue band on his left shoulder. Nobody I have seen, from any faction wears this symbol.

I stand up and turn around and begin to walk to the end of the roof. Only a few building rooftops away is The Hub.