Tobias POV
It's midnight now. Time to leave. We all head into a couple of jeeps. I help Andrew up onto the jeep. I hesitate when Marcus takes out his hand, expecting me to help him, but I take his hand and help him up. We start heading for Erudite.
Tris POV
Around an hour before my execution time, I'm given clean, new clothes. I put the long sleeved black shirt and loose pants. No shoes. How considerate of them.
It is still not time yet. I find myself lacing my fingers together and bowing my head. Sometimes my father did this in the morning before sitting down at the breakfast table, but I never asked him what he was doing. Still, I would like to feel like I belong to my father again before I … well, before it's over.
A few silent moments later, Peter tells me it's time to go. He barely looks at me before staring at the back wall, glaring. Hmm… Out of everyone I've known, I would've thought that he'd be the most happy to see my death. I get up and walk with him down the hallway.
Down the hall, I hear a collective amount of mumbling. There's a crowd of mindless Dauntless down the hallway. They're all wearing the same zombielike expression, armed with a gun.
Peter shouts, "Clear a path!"
They all follow his order and press their backs against the wall. It's quiet. Peter lets me walk ahead of him. I know the way from here.
I reach the end of the hallway and stand in front the door to my execution chamber.
I open it.
There are a few Dauntless soldiers and a lot of Erudites. The only one who really stands out is Jeanine. They all make a path for me. There's a metal table in the center of the room, and Jeanine stands next to it. She wears some makeup to cover my scratch marks. It's not really doing much justice, but I don't tell her that.
I sit up on the metal table. It's cold. I wonder what will happen to me afterwards. Not my body. I know what the Erudite will do with it. Probably more testing. Will I go to heaven if there really is one? Probably not, considering the amount of deaths I'm responsible for. I'll find out soon enough.
Peter places an electrode on my chest, where my heart is. He then attaches a wire to the electrode and switches on the heart monitor. I hear my heartbeat, fast and strong. Within a couple minutes, there won't be anything.
I don't want to die.
Jeanine steps forward with a syringe full of purple serum. Her glasses reflect the fluorescent light above us, so I can barely see her eyes.
I need to live. I killed Will in exchange for my life. Mom died for me, not because of me.
Jeanine lifts my head with a steady hand and inserts the needle into my neck with the other.
I shout in my head, "I'm not done here!"
"The serum will go into effect in one minute," he says. "Be brave, Tris."
My heart begins to race. Those are the words our instructor said before putting us in the first simulation. Why would he say that? He wouldn't be offering me any kind words.
All the muscles in my body relax at once. A heavy, liquid feeling fills my limbs. If this is death, it isn't so bad. My eyes stay open, but my head drops to the side. I try to close my eyes, but I can't—I can't move.
Then the heart monitor stops beeping.
So I've decided to cut the chapter into three or FOUR (sorry, but I had to). I hope you're fine with it, and I'm hoping to finish them all today :)
