AN: Thank you for all the reviews. I do want to say that while I love reviews even constructive criticism, I don't love negative reviews with threats. With that said to the guest who left me that review, I already have this story planned and a couple chapters written in advance so while I sometimes take suggestions and change little things I won't change big things. I hope everyone out there is enjoying this story, sorry for the extra long note.
Enjoy! :-)
Trips POV
I fall asleep moments after Tobias tells me to rest, my body's exhaustion and pain overcoming my desire to be a part of the trip to Amity. My sleep is heavy, deep, but filled with nightmares, real and imagined. I relive my parent's deaths, the trip to Candor, and then I watch as my friends are killed one by one. Lastly, Tobias is standing in front of me, his expression is grim. I see a faceless man standing behind him holding a gun to his head. I try to run towards him, but I am stopped by strong hands holding my arms. I struggle for a moment before a shot rings out and Tobias falls to the ground in front of me, his eyes are lifeless unseeing orbs. My breath catches and the faceless man morphs into someone who haunts my nightmares often, Peter. I release a strangled scream and jump awake. My whole body is shaking with residual grief from the dream and a cold sweat covers my body. It takes several moments before I register that there is a commotion outside of my curtained area. I slowly get off the bed, ignoring the throbbing in my head, and peak around the curtain.
I am met with a gruesome sight and at first I think I must still be dreaming. I pinch my arm hoping to wake myself up, but nothing changes. People are running every direction, shouting orders. I see a Candor man, Anthony I think is his name, being carried by on a rolling bed. He looks ghostly pale and has blood covering his clothing. I hear voices coming from my right and I turn to look at what's going on. Before I can see anything I hear his voice, I could never miss it. He comes around the corner following another bed surrounded by a group of doctors. My heart stops in my chest as I take in the sight of him. His hair is disheveled, eyes wild, but what really catches my attention is the red covering his shirt and hands.
"Tobias" I whisper, not loudly enough for anyone to hear, but as soon as his name leaves my lips his eyes snap up to meet mine. I see concern and dread written on his face and his eyes flash back to the bed before quickly meeting mine again. My eyes follow the path of his and any feeling I had left in my limbs, leaves me. My legs crumble beneath me and I start to fall. He is by my side in an instant and catches me before I fully hit the floor.
Without a word he gently picks me up and carries me behind the curtain. He sits down on the bed with me still in his arms. Even though I can no longer see what is happening on the other side of the curtain, I can still hear it. I untangle his arm from around me and start to stand up.
"Tris" he says as he grabs my arm lightly, holding me in place. I don't turn to face him as I reply.
"I can't stay here Tobias. I need to get out." He nods and keeps his hand on my arm as we stand together. He goes past the curtain first making sure that the coast is clear before leading me out of the infirmary and towards our apartment. Neither of us speaks until we are seated on the couch in the living room.
"What happened?" I ask slowly, unsure that I want to know.
"Erudite was prepared for us." Tobias responds simply.
"But we knew they would likely be there. Weren't you prepared?"
Tobias winces slightly at my words and somewhere in the back of my mind I realize that this isn't his fault, but right now I need someone to blame and he's here.
His words are calm as he responds. "Of course we were prepared Tris, but so were they and we were outnumbered. We are lucky we didn't lose more."
"Didn't lose more?! Because the ones you lost aren't enough! Because my best friend isn't enough!" I scream at him. Rational thought escapes me right now as I seethe in anger at his calm, nonchalant behavior. I get up and start pacing back and forth in front of the couch. Tobias tries to catch my arm and pull me back to the couch with him, but I can't sit still right now and I can't be consoled. That would make this too real, I need something else to focus on. I make the decision to find someone else who can tell me what happened in Amity so I can start preparing for what's next. I move toward the door.
"Tris, where are you going?" Tobias pleads with me.
"I need to do something, anything right now." I explain quietly.
"I'll come with you."
"No, stay here you need to rest." I tell him taking in the bags under his eyes and his sagging posture.
"Stay with me?" he whispers.
I instantly feel guilty, but I know what I need right now is space. "I'm sorry, I need to go alone." I tell him before slipping out the door.
I walk quickly through the hallways, searching for anyone who went to Amity and might be able to tell me what happened. I enter the cafeteria and spot Dee sitting at a table with a man I've never seen before dressed in Amity colors. I make my way over to their table and sit down across from them.
"Oh hey Tris. I thought you'd still be in the infirmary." Dee greets.
I cringe slightly at her mention of the place I basically ran away from. "I wanted to know about Amity and get the ball rolling." I reply.
"Sure, oh, this is my brother Daniel. Daniel this is Tris, the girl I told you about." I give Dee a funny look wondering what she means when she says, I'm the one she told him about.
"It's nice to meet you Tris." Daniel says with a warm smile.
"You too." I try to return the smile, knowing that it must look like more of a grimace right now.
"Come on, let's go up to the meeting room so we can talk." Dee stands up as she speaks and Daniel and I follow.
Once we are situated in the room at one end of the table, Dee tells me everything that happened in Amity. I keep a lid on all my emotions until she gets to the part about Christina being shot. My eyes start to fill up with tears, and I try to hold them back. Until I remember the scene in the infirmary and they start to run free. Once it's started I can't stop, without saying anything Dee gets up from her seat, walks over to me and wraps her arms around me. She runs her hands through my hair, just like my mother used to do, and this makes me think of my parent's being dead. All of the emotions I have been keeping bottled up, continue to come out. It takes several minutes before the tears subside and my breathing evens out again. Dee releases me with a gentle smile on her face, but I see no pity and for that I am grateful.
"So what's next?" Daniel asks, interrupting my thoughts.
"Now we plan for war." I state simply.
"Let's get to work." Dee adds.
…
Several hours later, I am not sure of really how many, Dee and Daniel have left to get some sleep, and Zeke, Shauna, Uriah and Marlene have taken their places at the table I'm working at. I have a large map of the city spread out in front of me. With help from Daniel I have marked several locations that Amity has decided they can safely get to, to exchange supplies with us. It is their plan to give us food and water in exchange for weapons and knowledge of the war. We are all surprised that Amity wants weapons, but apparently there are those amongst them, who want to be able to defend themselves if the time comes. The first exchange will be in three days near the Candor section of the city.
I look up as the door opens again, revealing a slightly better looking Tobias. The dark circles under his eyes are still there, but less pronounced and it looks like he has taken a shower. I feel bad for the way I left him earlier, and to show that I am sorry I get up quickly and walk over to him. He opens his arms for me as I approach and I cuddle into him laying my head against his chest, listening to the sound of his steady heartbeat.
"I'm sorry, for earlier, I was…"
"Tris, shh it's okay." He tells me before kissing me passionately. We are interrupted a second later by several people clearing their throats behind me. I pull away from Tobias and look over at my friends sitting at the table. They are all smiling devilishly at us and I feel my face heat up. Before anyone can say anything the door opens again.
Will walks in with puffy, tired eyes.
"How is she?" I ask sheepishly. I am ashamed that in the past several hours I have tried to push thoughts of my best friend from my mind. It was too painful for me, but I should have been there for her and for Will.
"She's out of surgery. They say she's stable, but critical. Our medical supplies and technology aren't as good as Erudite." He explains in a defeated voice.
"We need to get more supplies from Erudite." Uriah spits out.
"And how do you suggest we do that Uriah." Zeke rounds on his brother.
"We break in obviously."
"Don't you think they'll be expecting us?" Shauna asks.
"Probably, but that's why we have to get in in the most illogical way." I add. Everyone looks at me like I've grown a second head. "Seriously, they're Erudite, they can only think logically."
"She's got a point." Uriah agrees.
"No, it's too dangerous." Tobias finally speaks up.
"It could save Christina's life, and in case you haven't noticed we're in a war, we'll need more medical supplies eventually." Will says angrily to Tobias.
"It's settled, we'll go tonight." I say.
"Tris, please." Tobias says, begging me with his eyes.
"No Tobias, I can't just sit here and let Christina die."
"But it's more likely that more people will get hurt going to Erudite. Christina wouldn't want that." Marlene argues. I can tell she is sick of Uriah going off, to God knows where, getting shot at just as much as Tobias is sick of me doing the same.
"I'm going. Anyone who wants to join me, feel free to stay and help us plan. Anyone else can leave or shut up." I say angrily.
Marlene gives me a death glare and I can feel Tobias' eyes nearly burning a hole in the side of my head, but I refuse to turn and look at him. Before we can begin planning we are interrupted by a loud alarm sounding throughout the compound. I instantly tense thinking that Erudite may be attacking the compound again. We all jump up and run out the door. I am the first down the path into the Pit. I grab the first person I see.
"What's going on?" I shout over the alarm.
I am answered by a voice coming over the speaker system. "Dauntless listen closely. We have taken Abnegation and now Amity. We now control your government and your food and water supply. In exchange for food and water rations we want you to turn over your Divergents." I zone out at the word divergent. Instantly reaching for Tobias' hand and I grip his fingers tightly. … "If you do not hand over one divergent in 24 hours you will not receive any supplies and we will attack your compound." The message finishes and I look up at Tobias. He has a terrified look on his face. I know that this is bad, but I am left wondering if I missed something while I was zoned out after he takes off running. I follow as quickly as I can, but his long legs carry him away from me. Uriah catches up and starts running next to me.
"Where is he going?" I pant
"I assume he's trying to get his hands on the list that Erudite referred to in their message." Uriah explains.
"List? What list?"
"Didn't you hear? They said they had a list of all known divergents among the factions."
I pale at Uriah's words. My name is probably on that list, along with Tobias' and Uriah's. I hope that Tobias can get to it before anyone else can.
Uriah and I finally make it to the control room and I lean against the door frame panting heavily, while my head pounds furiously. I watch as Tobias quickly types on the keypad in front of the main computer. I don't know anything about computers so I can only guess at what he's doing, but Uriah must know something because he goes over and starts to help Tobias. We hear heavy footsteps coming down the hall and I look worriedly towards them.
"Tris, shut the door and lock it behind you." Tobias commands.
I quickly do as he says. We hear people on the other side of the door and banging sounds like someone is trying to break through it. "Go get a gun and shoot the lock out you idiots." We hear someone yell from the other side.
"Hurry up!" I urge the guys.
"One minute." Tobias replies. "There, got it." He holds up a little drive with a successful look on his face. I hear more people shuffling outside the door and then the gunshot goes off. I dive away from the door as Tobias and Uriah duck behind the desk. When I look up Tori is walking in, followed by several angry looking Dauntless.
"What are you three doing in here?" Tori asks.
"We were just searching the database for floor plans of the Erudite complex. We want to break in and steal some supplies." Uriah quickly explains. "What the hell are you guys doing shooting a gun at the door?"
"It was locked." Tori answers.
"Well yeah we didn't want to be interrupted." Uriah gives her his best, are-you-dumb look.
Tori slowly looks at each one of us in turn, her eyes are searching for something, I assume it's anything to give her reasonable doubt to accuse us.
"Did you all hear the message from Erudite?" She asks finally.
"Well who could miss it, it's like they are trying to blow our eardrums out or something." Uriah jokes.
"We need to find that list."
"Already done." Tobias replies. I turn to look at him with an incredulous look. We just spent 10 minutes trying to prevent them from getting their hands on that list and he is just going to hand it over to them. That list could put us all in serious danger. "I took the liberty of destroying it in our system." He finishes.
"You did what!?" Tori yells at him.
"Divergence is nothing, it's just another way for Erudite to make us fight amongst ourselves. The names on that list were probably picked strategically to throw us off our game."
"Don't you think the members of Dauntless and Candor deserve to decide that for themselves?" Tori questions.
"Maybe." He shrugs, "but it's done now." I smile slightly, not allowing it to really reach my face or betray my true emotions, but I am sincerely happy that Tobias told them that we deleted the information. Now maybe we can focus on getting into Erudite and exchanging supplies with Amity instead of continually fighting amongst ourselves.
Tobias walks casually to me and holds out his hand for me to take. I take it giving him a sincere smile while my back is turned from the others and he pulls me out the door. Uriah follows right after us.
"Whew, that was close." He mutters just loud enough for us to hear.
"Too close." I murmur back.
We make our way to the cafeteria, and see all of our friends seated at our usual table. Well, not all of our friends, Christina isn't there. The mood at the table is somber, no one is really speaking.
"Where did you three run off to so quickly?" Lynn asks.
"Control room." Tobias states.
"Did you find the list?" she asks again, curiosity written in her features.
"No, we destroyed the data link." He explains. Lynn's face falls, I don't know why everyone is so afraid of divergents. If anything we can be an asset in the war, thinking like other factions. Shauna slumps down into the chair next to Lynn and places her head in her hands.
"What's up?" Lynn nudges her sister's arm.
"Rough night… and day." Shauna replies. "They don't think Christina is going to make it unless she gets medicine that only Erudite has."
I freeze with my fork halfway to my mouth. Suddenly feeling very sick and not at all hungry.
"I'm going to Erudite tonight." My voice doesn't waver when I speak.
"I'm going with you." Uriah says. There is a chorus of me toos. I look at Tobias, he looks sad, defeated almost, but he responds with as much conviction as I had.
"Where you go, I'll follow."