Chapter 24- 'The World awaits'

Tobias POV

Is that really civilization?

And then all too fast, I feel the car start to shift and sink.

And panic starting to let loose in the car.

On lonely cold days in Dauntless when I feel the tingling urge to enter my fear landscape, the first thing I remind myself is to be brave. Face your fear straight on. It's only Marcus. One day you will face things much worst.

And sure enough that day has come.

Without question, I slam my foot on the accelerator and the engine roars while the tires begin to spin. Zeke slides down his window and pokes his head out.

'Crap! We are stuck!' he shouts.

The tires are spinning but the thick black rubber wheels are incapable are moving. Quickly, the tires are beginning to squirt out dirty thick mud around the car. I unravel the window and I am immediately engulfed with the acrid smell of burning rubber. I press the window up again but not before a spot of mud hits me on my cheek.

I mumble a profanity under my breath.

My heart is racing as I feel the roar of the engine and the car turning from side to side ever so slowly. I turn around and everyone is staring with wide eyes and shocked expressions.

'Everyone, listen. We need to remain calm.' I exclaim.

'What do we do?' Zeke interrupts.

My mind thinks about this as I glance out of the window again. 'We need to get out. The only way we will be able to do this is by pulling the car forward with a rope near the rocks. With all of us we should be capable of doing it. Then we need to drive as fast as we can to get through this water. It doesn't look too deep.'

Everyone exclaims some sort of agreement.

We open our doors and Zeke grabs the rope from the back of the car. He throws it over to me and I place a satisfying double knot loop around the metal rod on front of the car, my fingers trembling, and without trying to get my boots stuck in mud and water. Everyone else gathers behind me on the harder surface of the path.

I chuck the rope and Uriah catches it at the back.

'Tris!' I command, 'I need you to steer the wheel. Sit in the car and press the accelerator. It's to the right of the brake pedal!'

Tris quickly jumps into the car and obeys while everyone else grabs onto the rope, equally spread. I am at the front, Uriah is at the back, Zeke in the middle, and the girls and Will are placed equally.

'On my count! One two three, PULL!' I exclaim.

We all pull, followed by sounds of disarray and gritted teeth. Our muscles flexing and our brains in focus, the car is slowly pulling forward.

'Again! One two three PULL!' We all pull again once more and despite my hands getting rough cuts from the rope, the car is moving forward with Tris' help behind the wheel.

With a couple more enormous pulls and grunts, the car is pulled out of the mud onto the harder rock form we are standing on.

I wipe off sweat that is forming on my face and yell, 'everyone get in, and we have to be as quick as possible!'

I rapidly swing open the driver's door, and Tris has already moved to the passenger's seat, seatbelt on. Everyone else flings themselves in the car as I hurriedly lock the seat belt in place.

Once again, and this might become a recurring motif, I slam on the accelerator and the engine roars and the wheels thrust forward. I forget about the small pebbles that might wear down the tires and just focus on the straight line ahead that happens to have an increasing level of dangerous shimmering water.

As I approach what looks like a fairly deep pool of water, I don't slow down instead I increase my speed. The car bounces up and down and a lot of people in the back are holding onto each other for dear life. A rock hits the side of the car and I instantaneously know it has made a dent.

Increasing speed, my fingers curl round the wheel tightly, making my knuckles turn white. I dash through the pool of muddy water, the car jumping up and down, and in a second it's gone. I continue my heart pounding, nerve racking speed, the area around us flashing by, until I'm just about to close my eyes to forget the danger. My life flashes before my eyes. I see Tris, then Marcus beating me and I see Dauntless. And that's when I realize that I have to finish the road of hell. I continue but immediately stop when I see a change in atmosphere.

Instead of rocks and water, I am greeted with smooth desert roads. I sigh with relief. I turn left, steering us towards the small village and as soon as I am sure the land around me won't sink I park the car and turn of the engine. Silence appears in the car.

I take my hands off the steering wheel and trace them through my hair and leave them there, bending my back slightly and closing my eyes. I still feel the ghost print of the steering wheel on my hands.

I feel a small hand gently cress my shoulder.

'You did it,' Tris whispers.

I smile weakly, my face pale, in response.

When I finally tumble out of the car, I notice, my eyes slightly cringing from the striking sun, the damages of the vehicle. The side of the passenger seat has a massive dent in it. At the front one of the lights, closest to the floor is smashed. And don't even get me started about the damage underneath the car.

'Don't worry about the damage,' a deep voice calls. 'We will fix that up in no time.'

I spin around at the sound of his voice. He is a tall man, dark black hair with brown eyes and tanned skin. He is wearing some sort of uniform, black and white. Maybe here has its own Candor?

Bewildered, I stand there in shock. He walks towards me. ' I'm truly amazed how you got past the water. Astonished even. We have seen no one come from that way before. Who are you? Where have you all come from?' He asks. His voice is tinged with an accent but I can understand him well. His friendly attitude reminds me of Uriah.

'I'm Four. We have come from…' I pause; the question is where have we come from? ' Chicago.' I say.

'Chicago?' he asks, his eyes widening. 'No, you can't be. No one has ever come from there.'

'Well we have been sent out from there to discover more.'

'But no one has ever crossed the gates before. They are not allowed.'

'The gates?' I ask. 'How do you know about us?' My eyebrows are raised.

'Well,' he scratches his ear, 'Chicago is the test city. Everyone in the US knows that.'

'The test city?' Tris interrupts.

'U.S?' I question.

'United States of America, and' he turns his attention to Tris, 'what's your name Miss?'

'Tris,' she replies.

'Well Tris, I think it would be better if the leader of our village explains that to you.'

His voice is firm, but he looks apprehensive. He motions to another man.

'Richard, go get the truck. We are going to take them to Collins.'

He turns back to us. 'I'm Daniel,' he stretches out his hand. With slight hesitation, I shake his hand. He turns to Tris then Zeke and shakes their hand too.

A buzz of an engine starts to become apparent and Daniel turns around. In front of him is a large truck.

'Follow me,' he states.

We walk with him, deciding to trust him and seat ourselves into the truck. I for one am thankful I don't need to drive anymore.

I gaze out of the window as we drive in the truck. Outside is filled with a small village. It's not exactly what I suspected. But what did I imagine? A whole city buzzing with life?

I shake my head thinking those thoughts would evaporate off me.

'This is the village outlying our city,' Daniel states from the front seat as if reading my mind.

'You mean there is more?' Tris asks.

'More! Of course there is more, this is the United States of America.' He exclaims with dignity.

'Don't forget Daniel they have never been here before.' Richard argues calmly.

Daniel mumbles something incomprehensive.

Richard goes on, driving as he speaks. 'This is the little village where very few people live because there aren't many jobs. Many retired people live here. They say they like the view. We guard the city.' He turns left, 'after the village is the main city which is where the heart of the city is. Our leaders is Lewin Nicholas-Collins. Further onwards, you will find many other states with different leaders.'

'And beyond the states?' Zeke asks, curiosity dripping from his voice.

'Well, you see my friend. Beyond the states is thousands and thousands of miles of oceans. And then? Land. More land. Africa, Europe, Asia, all these wonderful continents. Then countries, then cities. It's beautiful really; all these countries have different languages and culture.'

'I don't understand, we were told there was nothing out there.' I say. Richard takes a right turn and then reaches a red light when peculiarly, he stops.

'Ah,' he pauses, the light turns green and he continues driving, gently pushing on the accelerator, 'that my friend is why your city is called the test city. And why no one has ever approached your city. You see, like a great woman once said, 'what's past is prologue my dear, the world awaits.'

Silent falls.

And remains there for a very long time.