Hey folks! I have been completely binging on everyone else's story and thought I should just go ahead and write my own.
I'm hoping to upload a new chapter every Sunday if all goes according to plan.
Most of the story has been written and the plot is pretty much completely set, but if anything changes I will fix the tags etc.
I hope you enjoy this as much as have writing it. I have also posted this over on Fanfiction dot net in case people would prefer to read it over there.
Chapter 1
Things had greatly changed in Chicago in the last six months. Things had just completely blown up. It started when Jeanine's plans got out. Eric would say it was the effect of all the alcohol that he had had that night. The night when looking at another one of emails filled with demands and plans. He'd had enough and just forwarded her message to all his contacts instead of replying and following her requests like normal. People had said Eric had finally seen the light of how evil the plans had truly been, when in fact he was just done being bossed around by her.
It had quickly fallen to pieces since then. Erudite and Dauntless had gone to war against the other. Any divergents in either of the factions are unsure whether to run or stand up for themselves. The brave ones stood up against the leaders, whereas the cowardly ones took a quick and easy way out. Within five days of the email: Jeanine was arrested, removed from leadership, tried for treason and murder, and finally executed. Any of her loyal followers were arrested and tried. Many were executed and others were simply thrown in prison to remain for the rest of their lives.
A council had been formed and made many decisions for the future of Chicago. The biggest issue was the ever-growing revolt of the factionless. There was more of them who had been born factionless than anyone knew, many of whom had no records at all. It was decided that they needed to be brought back into society.
Those who had been kicked out of their old factions would be split between the factions. They would become residents, rather than members. They would not have a say in their government, but they would have jobs and homes. Their children would be taught in the school system with the rest of the children in Chicago. They would take the aptitude test and go on to choose where they would belong, continuing initiation with everyone else. Those who had been born factionless and were already past the age for their choosing ceremony would be allowed to pick where they wanted to reside. They would also only be residents, but they could decide to train in one of the skilled jobs in their factions. The faction would then decide if they had earned the right to be a member. Their children would also follow them and be put into the system. The final group those who had been born factionless, but of choosing age would take the aptitude test with the rest of the sixteen-year-olds and go to the faction of their choosing for initiation.
The decision had come through only a few weeks ago and many although apprehensive went where they were told. However, there were still some hiding out in the shadows, suspicious of the motives of the government. Eric couldn't blame them it was a well-known fact that many people had mistreated factionless, and for those who had never stepped foot into a faction before it was a rather daunting thing.
After many appeals from the government, Dauntless soldiers would be going out on patrols to round up the remaining factionless Many of them were children and young people, who didn't believe what the government was offering, or were too scared to come near a faction member after many years of conditioning to that way of life. Eric doesn't know how he ended up on one of the patrols but here he was. Whoever thought that his presence would bring more ease or comfort to them, or even make them want to come back with them willingly had not spent enough time around him recently.
What made it even worse was that Tris and her friend Christina were also part of the patrol group. Now, full members of Dauntless, they had been part of those who had a new vision for Dauntless and Chicago. There was also two other members of our patrol: Zeke and Nate. Both had been part of my initiation class: one Four's best friend and the other was mine.
"Shall we head out then, if we are all here?" Zeke asked as he adjusted his gun in its holster.
"I'm driving," Nate responds back quickly, grabbing the keys from the entrance area and heading out to the loading dock. I roll my eyes at his answer, knowing how bad of a driver he really is. The many ruined gates and fences around the compound could attest to that.
As we all piled into the car, I made sure to jump quickly into the front seat beside Nate. I might have been forced onto this patrol, but I wasn't being forced to sit beside the two women as they talked about their boyfriends.
"We've been assigned to the city centre near the old factories. We are under strict instructions to bring in any factionless unharmed. However, there is always the potential for attacks. Many are just kids. Force is our last option. Everyone understands?" Zeke called out, but it was clear that it was meant for me.
I sneered from the front seat as Zeke continued to explain what was going to happen. Round up, drop them off at the testing centre for redistribution and return to Dauntless.
We arrived at our spot shortly after Zeke stopped his rant. It looked empty, but there were signs that people had been here, not long before we had shown up. There were piles of blankets on the ground made to look like nests, a small kindling fire to keep them warm, as well as a small selection of old food wrappers. Abnegation had stopped passing food around in the hopes that it would draw them into coming forward.
Tris was the first one out of the car, heading over to what would have been the small camp. She poked the fire, easily putting it out. Turning she looked around the buildings for signs of life.
"We have food and a warm place for you to stay. We just want to help you." Tris called out to the space. After a few quiet moments, a group of three children stepped out from behind a dumpster.
"Please don't kill us." The oldest asks as he leads the two younger kids over towards us. Tris and Christina reach them before they are before us. The two women wrap their arms around them, trying to shelter them from the cold.
"Is there anyone else here with you?" I ask making sure to get the job finished sooner rather than later.
"Hannah, but she left to get us food. She found us yesterday and gave us some of her bread. She told us she would come back today." The older once again answers as they continue to be led back to the car.
"Is she your sister?" Zeke asks.
"No, she's the one you go to if you have a problem out here. She looks after people on the streets."
"Is she a grown-up?" Zeke continues to question.
The youngest one is quick to answer: "She's like really short."
This causes the two young ones to giggle before the older one finally answers. "She's not going to go with you. She said she would rather go past the fence and die than go with you."
Eric raises an eyebrow at the comment. Many people wouldn't dare look past the fence let alone even joke about passing it. It appeared in many people's fear landscape, and if he was being honest, it even gave Eric the creeps. "Well, we are very good at being persuasive"
"What does that mean?" One of the younger kids asks.
"What Eric means is that we can be such great company that she would totally want to come with us and be our friends," Christina responds to the child's question, her own smirk plastered on her face.
"Hannah says not to trust people who call themselves your friends. She says they are filthy bas..bas. What's the word she uses?" The child turns to ask the eldest.
"I think they all get the idea El." The eldest says to the child before turning to address me. "Hannah wouldn't be coming willingly. She's one of the only ones who doesn't run in a group. She knows how to survive out here. She's done it all her life. Food and shelter will not get her to come with you."
"She's coming back here though, right?" Nate finally pips out from his spot.
"She promised the younger ones more food. I think she takes it from some of the storage containers near Amity. She should be back before it gets dark."
"Well then, we will wait for her," Zeke says, Everyone hops back in and grab some of the food from the back.
Nate moved the car out of sight from the walkway, but we still have a great view of the clearing where the kids had been camping.
It feels like hours pass by and everyone is getting angsty in the car together. The food has run out and the younger kids have started to fall asleep in the back. With the headlights out and dusk starting to come, it makes it increasingly harder to make things out.
However, I see a slight figure in the distance, and a small chuckle escapes from me. She is indeed short; she would be lucky if she is the same height as Tris. But her hair is what really stands out. It is bright red, completely natural, something that would make many of the Dauntless women want to kill for.
Her footwork is light as she steps out into the clearing looking for the children. It is evident that she has spent most, if not all her life with the factionless. She is slight, her hair although bright in colour looks dirty, and in need of a cut. The grime on her face is evident and her clothes are ripped in various places. I seem to be the only one who has spotted her. I turn around in my seat and nudge Zeke.
"That's her?" I ask the leader of the group of kids, the only one who is still awake.
"Yep, that's Hannah."
"Eric, Christina, let's head. Nate be ready to move. Tris make sure the children stay asleep." Zeke says as he grabs the door handle.
We each open the doors and head over in her direction. We don't get far before she hears us. Her head jerks in our direction and I truly understand the saying of a deer caught in headlights, as her eyes got bigger than I could ever imagine. Just as quickly as she sees us, turns running in the opposite direction.
I feel my legs start to move instantly to follow her further down the alleys. I hear Christina and Zeke hot on my heels as well as the engine of the car.
I still see her outline ahead of me. She's fast that's for sure. She turns down an even darker alley and I can tell her panic is getting to her. But she knows the streets, there is a chain-link fence that she finds a gap and dives through, but I'm able to easily jump over it, and continue the pursuit.
As she runs down the next street, I shout behind me: "Take the next right, it should get you in front of her, we hopefully will trap her in." I don't even turn around to see if someone follows my order. She's still in front of me, but even though she knows the streets well and is fast, my long legs are starting to gain on her. It takes her to make one wrong move and she ends up down a dead-end street. Her eyes are darting around trying to find a way to escape. I slow down in front of her, hearing other footsteps behind me.
Christina rushes ahead of me, "Hey I know you are scared but you need to come with us. We promise you will be safe, we don't; want to hurt you."
She scuffs back at Christina. "You don't know what I need." She spits out at us, the anger in her voice is enough to stop Christina right in her tracks.
Zeke is the next one to try: "Look we just want to help you. You don't need to be on the streets anymore. We want you to come back with us, let us find out where home could be."
"This is my home. I know exactly what you want, it's what they all want. Get away from me."
I start to draw my gun towards her. When Zeke notices he waves me off. "We are not to use force. She's scared, not dangerous."
I see it before anyone else, but for some reason, I can't react. The girl, Hannah must have just said fuck it as she jumps up and sinks her teeth into Zeke's shoulder. The wail that comes out of Zeke almost sounds animalistic as she bears down on him. The force causes the two of them to fall onto the ground. Her teeth are still attached to his shoulder, but she starts to attack the rest of his body. It's obvious she has not trained in any way. She fights dirty and nothing is coordinated, it's all for survival.
I feel someone run past me: Nate. He runs straight over to her and looks to stab something into her own shoulder.
My mind jumps back into action, and I head over to them. Now that I'm closer I can see that Nate has injected her. Her arms and legs have stopped moving, but her teeth are still attached to Zeke's shoulders.
"Get her off me," Zeke shouts at us. The last of the serum must be working as we peel her off him, and her mouth finally detaches from him.
She looks right at us as she starts to lose consciousness. I have seen many people's reactions and expressions in my time at Dauntless: fear, anger, frustration, brutal and vicious, but her's is a completely new one: barbaric.