Something's boiling.
I can feel it in the air, even though i'm completely alone in my cell. Alone in this darkness with only my own thoughts as company.
It's been like this for about a day. Maybe more, I can't tell anymore. I feel like the silence is beginning to drive me insane.
There are guards on a 24/7 watch outside my door. I glare at them through the window in my door for a while, then I get up and start banging at the door.
"Open the door!" I shout. "I need to talk to you."
One of the guards pushes a couple of buttons and the door slide open. I stumble away from it.
"What's going on?" I demand as the door closes behind the guards. "Where's Tris?"
The guards exchange a brief glance, then return to scowling at me.
"Where is she? I want to see her!" I exclaim. "I wanna see her!"
"Shut up", one of the guards growl. "We don't even know who you're talking about."
"Tris!" I snarl. "I want to see her!"
Then something moves outside the door, a silhouette visible in front of the light from the window. And I recognize her immediately. Of course I do. Tris.
It feels as though a heavy weight is lifted of my chest as I walk up to the window, matching the palm of my hand to hers on the window. Even though there's a thick layer of glass preventing us from touching, I can almost imagine the warmth of her skin against mine. I lean my head against the cool glass, closing my eyes for a brief second.
When I open them again, she's gone. I feel my heart sink to the bottom of my stomach, and I try to swallow the lump in my throat.
The guards snort at me, push me brusquely away from the door, scan a keycard and exit the room. The door clicks shut after them and I'm alone again.
(***)
I sink to the floor next to the door. I don't know how long it takes before I hear the beeps of the buttons to open the door again.
I rise with a sigh, annoyed, assuming that it's the guards coming to torture me again or something.
"What do-" I begin, and then I see Peter, carrying Tris. Or rather, Tris's body.
My heart stops and my body goes cold as I see her, lips slightly blue.
She's dead. She's dead. My Tris is gone.
Panic spreads through my body, my heartbeat loud in my ears.
"Oh my god. Oh-"
"Spare me your blubbering, okay?" says Peter. "She's not dead; she's just paralyzed. It'll only last for about a minute. Now get ready to run."
It takes a couple of seconds for his word to register in my brain, before I'm calm enough to speak.
"Let me carry her", I say, eyes fixed on Tris's closed eyes.
"No. You're a better shot than I am. Take my gun. I'll carry her."
Anger bubbles up inside of me, but I know that he is right, so I just take the gun. And then we run. I follow Peter through hallways, the gun ready at my side.
"Left!" Peter suddenly shouts.
My reflexes kick in, and I spin to the side, locating the target within seconds.
"Hey, what-!" A guard down the hallway demands.
Then I fire, and he falls to the ground.
Then we continue running. I focus on my breathing, trying to stay alert.
"Right!" Peter calls out.
I turn, aim, fire. Dead.
"Whoa", I hear Peter mutter through his breath. "Wait, stop here!"
He comes to a halt in front of a door, swinging it open, just about to hurry through it when Tris puts out an arm to stop him from smacking her head into the door frame.
"Careful!" Tris croaks.
Relief floods through me. She's alive.
Peter turns, carrying Tris into the room head first. Then he puts her down on the floor, taking a few steps away to catch his breath.
I kneel next to her, fear and concern pumping through my body.
"Tris", I say, searching her face.
"Beatrice", she corrects me, her voice weak.
A small laughter escapes my lips.
"Beatrice", I agree.
And then I kiss her.
"Unless you want me to throw up all over you guys, you might want to save it for later", Peter grunts.
"Where are we?" Tris says.
"This is the trash incinerator," Peter replies, patting the door. "I turned it off. It'll take us to the alley. And then your aim had better be perfect, Four, if you want to get out of the Erudite sector alive."
"Don't concern yourself with my aim", I say sternly.
Peter ignores the comment and opens the door to the incinerator. "Tris, you first."
Tris stumbles over to the small door and, with trouble, swing one leg into the chute. The paralytic must still be in her system. I reach down and help her lift the other leg. And then she slides down the trash chute.
A couple of seconds of silence pass, and then I hear a thump and a small grunt from her.
"Go ahead!" Tris calls up to us.
I gesture toward the chute, eyes on Peter. He makes a face but slides his legs into the chute and down he goes.
My legs have recovered by the time Peter lands, on his side instead of his feet. He groans, and drags himself away from the opening to recover.
I let a couple of seconds pass before I slide down the chute after him. The smell of rotting food reaches my nose just as I drop to the floor. My knees buckle beneath me and give out, but Tris reaches for me and pulls me up. We support each other.
"Got that gun?" Peter asks me as I guide Tris away from the incinerator; a big, metal furnace giving off a strong smell of fire and smoke.
"No, I figured I would shoot the bullets out of my nostrils," I say sarcastically, "so I left it upstairs."
"Oh, shut up." Peter snorts. He lifts another one of his guns and takes the lead, walking out of the incinerator room.
As Tris and I enter the hallway, my heart flutters as I see the EXIT sign at the end of it. Almost. Soon, we'll be back home.
We charge through the door, out into the warm sunlight, breathing fresh air for the first time in days. We hurry down an alley and stop at the end of it. I press myself against the corner of a building, peeking around the edge. Two Dauntless guards are standing along the other wall, faces made of stone. They can't see me yet. I reach for my gun, take aim with support from the concrete wall, and fire. I hit one of them straight in the gut, the other one in the arm. But it's enough to incapacitate them.
"Hurry", I urge Tris and Peter.
The sound of gunshots will surely attract more guards.
And so we take off into a run again, Peter leading the way. I look around, trying to figure out where he's taking us, until I realize he has no goal. He's just trying to get away, as fast as possible.
"Take the least logical route!" I yell at him.
"What?" Peter shouts back, confused.
"The least logical route, so they won't find us!"
Peter abruptly turns left, and we head down an alley filled with junk and boxes. I sway slightly to the left, narrowly avoiding tripping over a pile of dirty blankets.
And then suddenly, we're right in front of Erudite Headquarters again.
"Bad idea!" Tris exclaims, declaring what had just gone through my head.
More running follows. We're all gasping for air by now, but we can't stop yet.
Then Tris does. She grabs a hold of Peters arm and pull him toward the closest building to our right. I realize what she's doing; stopping is the last thing they'd expect us to do. It's the least logical thing.
Smart.
The door to the building is locked, so I put a bullet in the nearest window and reach in, unlocking the door.
We hide under a stairwell meant for escaping during fires, all three of us heavily panting.
"What?" Peter suddenly says, looking at Tris. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"How did you do it?" Tris asks him.
"It wasn't that hard. I dyed a paralytic serum purple and switched it out with the death serum. Replaced the wire that was supposed to read your heartbeat with a dead one. The bit with the heart monitor was harder; I had to get some Erudite help with a remote and stuff—you wouldn't understand it if I explained it to you."
Tris ignores the last comment, and says instead; "Why did you do it? You want me dead. You were willing to do it yourself! What changed?"
Peter stays quiet for a while, not breaking eye contact with Tris. His eyes look thoughtful.
"I can't be in anyone's debt," he finally says. "Okay? The idea that I owed you something made me sick. I would wake up in the middle of the night feeling like I was going to vomit. Indebted to a Stiff? It's ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. And I couldn't have it."
"What are you talking about? You owed me something?"
"The Amity compound", Peter explains, looking annoyed. "Someone shot me—the bullet was at head level; it would have hit me right between the eyes. And you shoved me out of the way. We were even before that—I almost killed you during initiation, you almost killed me during the attack simulation; we're square, right? But after that . . ."
"You're insane," I interrupt him. "That's not the way the world works . . . with everyone keeping score."
"It's not?" Peter raises his eyebrows at me. "I don't know what world you live in, but in mine, people only do things for you for one of two reasons. The first is if they want something in return. And the second is if they feel like they owe you something."
"Those aren't the only reasons people do things for you," I protest. "Sometimes they do them because they love you." I pause. "Well, maybe not you, but . . ."
"That's exactly the kind of garbage I expect a delusional Stiff to say", Peter says, rolling his eyes.
"I guess we just have to make sure you owe us", I say. "Or you'll go running to whoever offers you the best deal."
I can't stop thinking about how insane that sounds, and how stupid he must be for thinking that that's how we're supposed to live.
"Yeah. That's pretty much how it is", Peter says with a shrug.
Tris shakes her head, but doesn't say any more.
"So when can we get out of here, you think?" Peter asks.
"Couple hours," I guess. "We should go to the Abnegation sector. That's where the factionless and the Dauntless who aren't wired for simulations will be by now."
"Fantastic," Peter mutters.
I ignore him, putting an arm around Tris's shoulders, and I'm reminded how happy I am that she's not dead. She leans into me and closes her eyes, and for the first time in several days, I finally feel relaxed.
Oh, hi, guys… *nervous laugh*. I'm sorry I haven't updated in a super long time! I know this is the worst apology in the world but school has really kept me busy. But I got a random review recently and it sparked my motivation, so I thought I'd give you guys a chapter. I really hope you all like it, and that you haven't given up on me finishing this story. I swear I will, no matter how long it takes.
Hope to see y'all soon again!