Four is jolted awake by a searing pain piercing through his shoulder. He opens his eyes but everything seems to be blurred. The smell of smoke and something else metallic is thick, and it takes mere seconds for him to realize the agonizing pain is coming from the seatbelt holding him uncomfortably in an inverted position.
"Fuck." He says scratchily as he tries to turn his head towards where Tori was just sitting. He sees nothing except shattered glass in the windshield where it appears a person may have been ejected through.
"Tori! Tris! Eric!" He yells to no avail. He's unable to move his body to turn towards the back of the van where Tris and Eric were previously sitting.
He tries to feel around on his injured shoulder and his hand comes back covered in sticky, warm blood. He hears strange creaking noises and sees sparks igniting a fire near the van's engine compartment. He is dazed by his own injuries, but he quickly realizes that the situation he is in is dire, and he needs to get away from the flames. He reaches again towards his shoulder and realizes the seatbelt is embedded deep in his skin. He feels around for the buckle, while doing his best to brace himself for the eventual fall once he is able to maneuver a release.
Once he finally pushes the release button on the belt, he falls only slightly, and he screams in pain. The embedded belt in his shoulder burns deeper through him as he thrashes until he's able to brace himself against the passenger seat. He slowly begins pulling the belt away, and cannot help the screams he emits.
"Here, bite on this." Tris' voice cuts through, and he puts the layers of stiff fabric she offers between his teeth as she quickly removes the rest of the shoulder belt. She then pulls the fabric from his mouth.
"Thank you." He pants and she nods. "We have to get out of here."
"I can't find Eric or Tori." She says in a watery voice.
"They may have been able to escape." He offers, knowing that it's unlikely based on what he can see, but he needs her to focus. "Tris, we have to get out of the van before this fire reaches the fuel." Four says and she nods. They help each other crawl through the mangled rubble.
Tris ignores the pain she is in, instead she focuses on getting away from the burning van, and then finding her husband. She helps Four kick an already broken window out and then follows him through the opening. The two stumble to their feet, and briefly take a look at their surroundings.
"Tori…" she cries out, seeing a crumpled mass at least 30 feet from the wreckage. She and Four run towards their friend, but as soon as they approach they know they are too late. "Noooooo!" Tris screams and Four does his best to shield her from seeing Tori's incredibly damaged body. "You have to make sure Tobias… you have to check her…"
"She's gone Tris." Four replies. "She was ejected through the windshield. Theres no way she survived."
She feels the tears pouring down her cheeks, she is mourning the friend who once was the keeper of her deepest secrets.
"She died protecting Eric." Tris mumbles.
"She made the same decision to save him that you and I both did, Tris. She had a choice and she made the right one." Four explains gently.
The two take a few minutes to quietly mourn their friend. Tris begins to frantically look around. "Eric!" she yells. "Eric, where are you? Are you hurt?"
"Eric!" Four joins in, and they begin looking around the wreckage for any signs of him. Four braces himself for the inevitable discovery of another body, but incredibly they see no signs of him at all. They soon see headlights approaching in the distance, and Four sprints towards Tris.
"We need to hide." He says.
"I have to find Eric." She argues.
"We will, but right now we need to get out of the sightline of whoever that is." He replies and she nods. They both move towards the best cover they can find, down in a ditch behind some much higher grass. Once they are both squatted down, Tris doubles over in pain.
"Ohh…." She moans.
Four turns his attention to her, reaching for her in the dark. "Where are you hurt?" He asks quietly.
Tris knows her situation isn't ideal. Her abdomen has been wracked with cramps for the past several minutes. "Cramps…" She whispers before breaking down in tears.
Four wraps his arms around her as her body shakes with quiet sobs. He keeps an eye out and he sees a dark jeep pulling up to the site of their fiery wrecked van.
"Oh my god, do you think they came back…?" Tris whispers and he squeezes her a bit. They are rather well covered due to the thick grass and foliage, but he has no idea what they are possibly about to face.
"I'm not sure." He replies quietly.
The jeep comes to a stop and both Four and Tris watch what appears to be two men inside the vehicle. The passenger jumps out quickly and jogs closer to the fiery remains of the van, does a quick perimeter search and shakes his head. The driver moves the jeep father down the road, parking on the side.
"What are they doing?" Tris whispers. Four shakes his head.
Both the driver and passenger begin cautiously approaching the wreckage with their weapons drawn. With the light emitting from the fire, they can see the two men are completely uniformed in protective gear, and their faces are obscured by helmets. Suddenly the men see Tori's body and Tris and Four watch as they shine flashlights on her.
"Tori…" the taller of the two men shouts. The two men rush to her, and Tris and Four watch as one of the men physically pulls the other man back.
"We're too late." The shorter, broader man says. The taller man squats down, obviously troubled by the sight of Tori's body, and both Tris and Four are wondering how he may have known her. The shorter man removes his helmet and squats in front of the grieving man, talking in a low voice.
"What the fuck?" Four whispers. "Amar…"
"You know him?" Tris asks.
When an eighteen year old Tobias Eaton was the first transfer to jump down the rabbit hole into Dauntless after watching three Dauntless born successfully jump before him, he was helped off of the net by a squat, but extremely strong man with caramel skin, dark brown eyes and a shocking mop of curly brightly dyed orange hair that flopped around wildly. The man doesn't seem to be much older than him, but he definitely has an air of authority about him that intrigues Tobias.
"You must have been pushed." He says with a smirk, eyeing the lanky young man clad in the boring Abnegation grey clothes.
"No sir." Tobias replies.
"Interesting. You're the first transfer to jump, and I'm not sure we've ever had a Stiff come to Dauntless willingly. So what's your name?" He asks.
"What's yours?" He challenges, getting a true smile from the man.
"Oh you're you must be one of those Erudite Noses dressed up like a Stiff huh? Well since you were the fourth person to jump, I'm just gonna call you Four until you figure your life out." He replies. "Fourth jumper is Four!" He shouts to the crowd gathered in the net area.
"Amar, you can't just call the transfer kids numbers…" a female voice shouts back.
"Watch me!" He shouts back, earning a hearty laugh in return before glancing at the next figure falling into the net. "Look, it really is a fucking Nose this time. Hello there number Five!" Amar says as he pulls a male Erudite transfer with dark blonde hair from the net.
Tobias was more than willing to shed his birth name, and the stigma he carried with it and when the Dauntless man he now knows as Amar turns toward him with a glint in his eye and a wink, he realizes this could be the start of something pretty damn amazing.
Sitting here, almost three years after his trainer was declared dead, it is almost as if he is looking at a ghost. The bright orange hair dye has grown out, with the darker roots fading into the faded orange, but the voice, the size and the face are all the same.
"It's Amar." He whispers.
"I thought he was dead… Tori said…" Tris begins and Four cuts her off.
"She must have been wrong." He replies softly.
They watch as Amar helps to remove the other man's helmet, exposing his dark hair. Tris nudges Four and gestures towards him.
"I'm not sure who that is, but he seems to be very affected by finding Tori." He whispers. "He must have been Dauntless too."
They continue to watch as the two men carefully wrap Tori's body in blankets and gently place her into the back of the jeep. The two men also retrieve fire extinguishers to snuff out the fire, which thankfully happens without any of the van's fuel igniting. They have searched the wreckage, and when they seem satisfied they begin to head back towards the jeep.
"I think they're leaving." Four whispers to Tris, but she doesn't respond. "Hey…" he nudges her, but she rolls limply away from him. "Oh God…Tris…" He says as he tries to rouse her. "Tris…" He says a little louder, but realizes she is completely limp. He frantically searches for a pulse and finds one. "Tris…" he says a little louder.
He glances up, seeing the men have reached the jeep and have started the engine. He acts quickly, standing up, getting his balance then picking Tris up bridal style and rushing towards the road.
"We need help!" He yells. "Please… help us!" He feels Tris beginning to slip as his shoulder starts to give way. He crumples to the ground to break both of their inevitable falls.
He watches as both men exit the vehicle, weapons drawn, and the flashlight attached to their rifles shining directly at him.
"We were in that car. She's pregnant. Please." Four yells to them. "Amar?" He says hesitantly.
"Yes, it's me." Amar replies.
Amar and his companion jog towards Four and Tris. Amar swings his rifle back across his shoulders and begins assessing Tris' condition.
"She has a pulse, her breathing is a bit shallow." He says as he gently lays her on the ground. "How long has she been bleeding?" He asks as he gestures towards her. "Four?" Amar calls and sees his former initiate's eyes beginning to lose focus. "Hey, focus on us." Four tries to stand up, but quickly falls to the ground again.
"George, help me get them to the car." Amar says and George quickly swings his rifle to his back. He helps Four to his feet, pulling him up so most of his weight is supported by George while Amar picks Tris up.
"George…" Four says weakly. He looks up and sees the same almond shaped eyes of Tori staring down at him. "You're both dead… are we dead too…?"
"Stay with me. Just focus on putting one foot in front of the other."
Four slumps against George, finally losing consciousness. George slings the man across his shoulder with a grunt.
"These kids are dying, we gotta take 'em back with us." George says. "I wonder in the hell were they doing out here to start with."
"They were looking for me." Amar replies. Once they reach their jeep, they slide both Tris and Four into the back seat, securing them as best they can.
"That boy seemed pretty fucking surprised to see you. Sure they were looking for you?" George asks.
"Yes. They were looking for me, but they didn't know it. They're the ones Jack told us to meet." Amar replies as he puts the jeep in gear and spins tires as he accelerates. "There were supposed to be four of them total though." He sighs. "I'm sorry about your sister."
"I was so close to seeing her again." George replies as he scrubs tears from his eyes. "She coulda met my wife and kids." He quickly contains himself and tries to get focused. "Where's the other one then? Didn't you say to make room for four people total?"
"I have no idea. I'll need to get back so I can get on the secure channel to speak with Jack. I know one of them was set to be executed but he never told me which one." Amar retorts.
"We have one missing, one deceased and two knocking on that same door, and no idea which one of them is on the run. Jack sure as fuck didn't give us much to go on. Why did you agree to this?" George asks.
"Because they're just like us." Amar says. George's eyes widen with realization and he simply nods his head.