Tris pulls back and turns toward the screens. We look at them for a while, and I'm wondering how Janine managed to create something so small to control all of these people.
Then a terrible thought hits me.
"Was I running the simulation?" I ask.
"I don't know if you were running it so much as monitoring it," Tris replies. "It's already complete. I have no idea how, but Jeanine made it so it could work on its own."
I shake my head, unbelieving. "It's… incredible. Terrible, evil… but incredible."
"Tobias," Tris suddenly says, voice sharp and eyes fixed on one of the screens. "Now!"
Something happened. I hurry to the computer, looking for a way to cancel the simulation. I press a couple of buttons, searching through all of the options to find something that can shut this down. Finally I find what I was looking for, and I start typing in a code.
"Tobias", Tris says again, urging me to hurry up.
I finally finish and press the confirming button. Everybody on the first floor freezes, their arms falling to their sides. Then the Dauntless starts to look around, confused. Some of them cover their faces in their palms and sink to the ground, rocking back and forth. I wonder for a brief moment how they must feel, knowing that they killed all of those innocent people, and I feel bad for them.
Then I crouch next to the computer and pull the side off, revealing tons of wires and metal plates.
"I have to get the data," I explain to Tris, "or they'll just start the simulation again."
I reach into the computer, my hand sliding against the back of it until I reach something that feels like a small box. I pull it out.
"Got it," I say, holding up the computers hard drive to her. She takes it and puts it in her pocket.
It's better if she's got it. She's smarter than me, kinder than me, braver than me… just better than me.
"We have to leave," Tris says, pointing at a screen. A group of Erudite dressed in blue are heading towards the control room.
"Yes, we do." I put an arm around her, supporting her. "Come on."
We walk together down a hallway to the entrance and around a corner. The room in front of us is filled with bodies drenched in blood.
Tris suddenly twists out from my arm with a sound between a scream and a moan and throws up against the wall. I frown, concerned, and look away from her to see why she's so upset. I swallow hard. One of the bodies on the ground is Andrew Prior- her father.
Tris stays crouched on the ground for a few seconds, before she gets up, her cheeks wet with tears. She starts walking toward the doors that lead out of this building, and I follow her, still concerned. Outside the doors she meets a boy dressed in blue, and she wraps her arms around him.
"Dad?" the boy asks.
Tris shakes her head. This must be her brother, Caleb.
"Well", Caleb says, and his voice sounds muffled, "he would've wanted it that way."
Then I see the man that stands behind them, and I stop abruptly, my body suddenly cold.
He starts walking towards me and I try to ignore the painful memories that rise inside me at the sight of him. I look up at the ceiling, making my face empty of emotion, although I'm filled with hatred, pain and frustration all at once.
"Son", Marcus says, sounding relieved.
I can't help but wince. I'm not his son anymore.
I try to control my breathing as I refuse to look at my father.
"Hey", I suddenly hear Tris voice call out. Then she slips into the space between Marcus and me. "Hey. Get away from him."
She pushes Marcus back a few steps. "Stay away."
"Beatrice, what are you doing?" Caleb asks.
"Tris."
I mean to say so much more, to say thank you, to warn her, but I only manage to say her name. She ignores me.
"Not all those Erudite articles were full of lies," Tris says to answer Caleb's question.
"What are you talking about?" Marcus says quietly. "I don't know what you've been told, Beatrice, but—"
"The only reason I haven't shot you yet is because he's the one who should get to do it," Tris says fiercely. "Stay away from him or I'll decide I no longer care."
I finally manage to break free from the shock of seeing my father here, the shock that for a moment paralyzed me, and I reach forward to place my hands on Tris arms. I squeeze gently, as if telling her to be careful. I'm not sure if Marcus would actually try and hurt her, but I don't want her to take the risk.
We all stand quiet for a few seconds, Marcus looking sternly at Tris, and I'm guessing that she's staring back, because she doesn't move.
"We have to go," I say carefully. "The train should be here any second."
No one has anything else to suggest, so we start walking toward the train tracks. We don't say anything for a while, and a couple of days ago it's what I would've wanted, but now it's too quiet. I'm painfully aware of my father walking just a few steps behind me.
I clench my jaw as I try not to think about the memories of my childhood Marcus brought to the surface. They were buried deep inside me until he showed up, and now I have to go through burying them again.
"Sorry", Tris suddenly mumbles next to me.
My anger and hatred melts away as I look at her. Doesn't she understand? She's the one who saved me.
"You have nothing to be sorry for," I say softly, my voice low to prevent it from shaking. I take her hand.
"If we take the train in the opposite direction, out of the city instead of in, we can get to Amity headquarters," says Tris a little louder so everyone can hear her. "That's where the others went."
"What about Candor?" Caleb replies. "What do you think they'll do?"
Tris doesn't respond. We reach the train tracks, but we have to wait a while for the train to come. As time passes I have to support more and more of Tris's weight, and I hear her breathing getting heavier by the second. Eventually I pick her up, giving her the chance to rest.
"Thank you", she whispers, her eyes closing. I smile a little at her.
While we wait I think about Caleb's question. What would happen if we showed up at Candor headquarters? I don't think they'd turn us over to Erudite to be slaughtered, but we can't be sure they won't let Erudite know that we're there. And if Erudite comes, they might not even take our side and protect us. No, Amity is probably our safest bet. At least they'll do anything to prevent violence. We won't be harmed there.
When the train comes I put Tris down so she can get on the train. I jump in after her and we sit down next to each other so that I'm separating her from Peter and Marcus.
I put my arm around Tris and pull her closer to me.
"My parents," Tris mumbles. "They died today."
She pauses for a second, then continues; "They died for me."
"They loved you," I say, like it's the simplest thing in the world. "To them there was no better way to show you."
She nods, like she's trying to convince herself to believe it.
"You nearly died today. I almost shot you." My stomach sinks at the thought. "Why didn't you shoot me, Tris?"
"I couldn't do that," she says. "It would have been like shooting myself."
I take in a deep breath and lean in so close I can almost feel her lips against mine.
"I have something to tell you," I say.
She runs her fingertips over my hand and I shiver. She looks up at me, her eyes tired, but still so bright, and a little curious.
"I might be in love with you." I tell her with a smile. "I'm waiting until I'm sure to tell you, though."
"That's sensible of you," says Tris, smiling back at me. "We should find some paper so you can make a list or a chart or something."
I laugh a little, letting my nose slide down her jaw and place a kiss just behind her ear.
"Maybe I'm already sure," I mumble, "and I just don't want to frighten you."
"Then you should know better", she replies with a laugh.
"Fine. Then I love you."
At my words, Tris leans in and kisses me. Her lips are soft against mine. I put a hand behind her head, pressing her closer.
When we pull away, she takes the hard drive out of her pocket and turns it in her hands. Then her eyes shift from the data up to look at something behind me. I look over my shoulder and see Marcus watching Tris's hands closely. I quickly look away.
Tris holds the hard drive in both her hands, presses it to her chest and leans her head against my shoulder. Somewhere along the ride she falls asleep.
But I can't. I don't even close my eyes. My thoughts are racing and I can't sort them out.
Abnegation and Dauntless are broken, while Erudite remains complete. Tris's parents died today, and she almost did too. I almost killed her. Which means that Jeanine now have developed a serum that works on the Divergent too. My father's here. After everything he's done to me, he expects me to... what? Forgive him? No, because he doesn't think he's done anything wrong. He expects me to let him be my father. But I'm not his son anymore.
And we're going to Amity Headquarters now. At least we'll be safe there for a while. But after that? We're going to be living a factionless life from now on. And I have no idea what's going to happen.
But at least I have Tris. And she'll always have me.
O my gooood! Last chapter! What did you think? Please leave a review, tell me what you thought about the whole story, about this chapter, if I did it justice or if something was wrong.
I have loved writing this so, so much, because Divergent is an amazing story and because you guys have been so wonderful and kind! It's so sad that it's over now, I started this story September 272014, and finished it today. It's been a great experience and I really love writing for you guys. I might do Insurgent (if I do, the first chapter will be posted sometime during the summer) or I'll just make a story up completely and post. I do really believe that I'll keep writing here, although I can't make any promises.
I really hope that you enjoyed reading this story as much as I enjoyed writing it. Now don't forget to leave a review! And please tell me what you thought about the Divergent Movie, if you've seen it! I loved it, it stayed almost completely true to the book and the chemistry between Theo (Four) and Shailene (Tris) was so incredible. The only thing I kind of miss is the relationship between Will and Christina, I wish that she'd told Tris about their kiss or something. I also really wanted Uriah, Marlene and Lynn to be there, because at one point in the book they're the only real friends she has. Also Uriah has been a great support to Tris throughout the book. But who knows, maybe they'll be in the Insurgent Movie.
Now, if you even bothered to read this far, I want to thank you guys so much for following this story all the way and for supporting me and not giving up even though I've been basically TERRIBLE at updating sometimes. Love you so much. :)
- Johanna
