A/N: Hey, everyone! So sorry for this super late update and I thank you all so much for your patience, and mostly your PMs and concerned reviews over the past few weeks. It has been a tough time to say the least. Work has been difficult, COVID is kicking our asses in several ways, and I even lost two amazing colleagues to the virus and didn't feel like writing anything at all until a few days ago. I appreciated every message and it was so heartwarming to know I was remembered and cared for :) Thank you to Bamberlee (as always!) for returning this chapter to me at light speed so I could post it. I do hope you enjoy. Stay safe everyone.
Chapter 26
TRIS
But of course, Tobias would rather stay and try to save Dauntless from Evelyn, even if it cost him his life. I don't know why I had dared to hope that side of him wouldn't resurface along with all the other parts of him, even while knowing it would, because that's who Tobias is. Ironically, it's one of the things I admire most about him- his moral compass, his desire to do the right thing at all costs.
I am not so honourable.
Though not all of them, many of my Abnegation attributes died a natural death inside me; when I'd just arrived, staying alive in Dauntless meant looking out for myself much more than I've ever had to. I learned that trust isn't something you just give, and that most people here have their own best interest at heart. Naturally, the list of people for whom I'd do anything became incredibly short.
But Tobias' experience was entirely different; he was already so respected after he stopped the Erudite takeover that he could fearlessly embrace his divergence- the two halves of himself living in perfect harmony. He was brave enough to put his heart and soul into his work, not resting until he knew everyone in this city was safe.
I remember some days I wanted to strangle the Abnegation out of him, and other days it was the reason I loved him most. Today I'm somewhere in between the two, angry he won't let me whisk him away to safety yet proud he values the lives of so many others above his own. In a perfect world, they'd value his just the same, and this nightmare would've been over before it ever started.
Impatiently, I knock on Harrison's door at least twenty times. I want so badly to see my son that I almost forget to greet Harry when he finally opens the door.
"Tris!" he yells in surprise, and he swiftly wraps his arms around me. "I was just on my way to see you. You're out?" He pulls away and with his hands on my shoulders, he holds me at arm's length and scans my body from head to toe. "Is everything okay?"
"Yeah," I assure him. "I'm fine. I was let out, but please don't get me started on how," I shake my head when I see how puzzled he looks. He's wearing his glasses, which means he was most likely reading or watching television.
"Derek?" he squints his eyes.
"In a way," I mumble with annoyance. It's not as if Derek has done me such a selfless favour.
"He's still refusing to accept your statement?" Harry asks anyway, and he allows his hands to fall to his sides before ushering me in.
I roll my eyes, and I feel every muscle in my body clench when I say, "He's had me declared legally unfit to testify."
"What?!" Harry blurts out behind me as he closes the door.
But before I can explain any further, I hear the sweetest voice yell, "Mommy!" and my heart instantly melts as my bones turn to butter. I fall on my knees as he runs to me, and when he collides into me, my arms instinctively wrap around him, squeezing him harder than I ever have.
"Baby!" I say as I kiss him all over his face. "Oh, I've missed you so much!" I rub his back, his hair, his cheeks, just about anywhere my hands can find. The tears come easily.
Andy sniffles, and he looks like he's about to cry, too. "They came and said I couldn't stay with grandma anymore," he whimpers, looking right into my eyes. "I tried to hide under the bed but they found me."
"It's okay, Baby. You're safe now," I kiss his forehead and I rub his hair frantically. "Did they hurt your grandma? Tell me, Baby."
"No," he shakes his head. "Uncle Uri was there."
"Uriah was watching the house," Harry sets a hand on my shoulder. "He said he didn't have time to get them out so he resorted to making sure they weren't harmed."
"Okay, good," I let out a breath. I'm thankful he was there and I might have to ask him to go back. With this monitor on my ankle, I won't be able to leave the compound to check on my mother. She should be safe, but there's no telling how far Evelyn will go to hurt me or Tobias.
"Where's Daddy?" Andy asks me and he glances at the front door of Harrison's apartment as if he's expecting his father to walk through it. My heart breaks.
"Daddy's hurt," I tell him honestly. "He's in the infirmary."
Andy's face falls and his eyes sink to the floor.
"Don't be sad, Baby," I lift his chin. "Everything's going to be okay."
Andy nods, and softly he says, "Derek said daddy did bad things, and that's how he got hurt."
Both Harrison and I stop breathing and the room becomes eerily quiet. I'm suddenly filled with so much rage; I'd strangle Derek to death if he were standing in front of me. When and why was he alone with my son?
"That's not true, Andy," I try to say steadily, but I can hear the bitterness in my voice.
"I know," he says forcefully. "Daddy would never hurt anybody."
"That's right." I take his face in my palms. "Don't let anyone tell you otherwise."
He nods and his beautiful eyes are filled with the most earnest sincerity when he asks, "Can I go see him? Maybe he will get better sooner if we visit him."
"Of course," I quickly answer, although I'm not sure how seeing his father all frail in a hospital bed would affect him. They need each other right now. "Get your bags," I tell him. "Let's go home and then we'll go see Daddy."
When Andy runs back inside the room to collect his things, I stand to my feet, and that's when Harrison's eyes land on my ankle monitor.
"What's going on, Tris?"
I sigh. "I'm on house arrest until after Tobias' trial. Derek had me evaluated by an Erudite psychologist," I work up the nerve to tell him. "I'm supposed to attend a bunch of meetings because apparently I'm suffering from P.T.S.D and some other crap and that's why I can't testify."
Harry's eyes open wide with worry, and insistently he says, "You have to go to the meetings, Tris."
"I know," I answer, and my jaw clenches. If Derek really means to, he could take Andy away from me if I don't cooperate. With that psyche evaluation and all the charges I had against me, he could easily paint a picture of me being an unfit mother. I don't doubt it's all a part of his plan to back me into a corner and use my son against me.
"Have you spoken to Four?" Harry takes a step toward me.
"I have… and he knows… and I think he's glad about it," I almost laugh, but I feel as the tears build up behind my eyes again.
"Because that means no matter what happens, they won't touch you."
"I know," I whisper with a nod. "And Andy needs me."
"He does," Harrison says gently as he rests a soft hand on my shoulder. "They both do."
I shake my head a little and I stare off at Harry's undecorated living room wall. "I knew this would happen… yet I feel so unprepared for it."
"That's expected, Tris," he sighs. "Knowing the troubles you'll face doesn't make them any easier. I'm just glad Four has his memories back. That gives us the best possible chance of getting you both out of this."
I turn my head to look up at him. "Does it? We're still under Derek's thumb. I don't expect anything about Tobias' trial to be fair. He's already trying to fill my son's head with lies," I growl. "God knows what he's said to the rest of the faction. Who the fuck does he think he is?"
Harry scoffs. "Only one of the most powerful men in Dauntless."
"Like I give a fuck," I snap. "I will enjoy tearing that power away from him, because he doesn't deserve it."
"He doesn't," Harry all too quickly agrees. "Truthfully, Four was the only person who I thought deserved that seat. He's the only one so far who didn't allow it to corrupt him."
I let out a long breath as I think about the painful irony of it all.
"Yet all that honour of his might not be enough to save him," I say, and I hear my voice quiver. "It's like all the good he's done for this faction, for this city, holds no weight against the charges brought against him. Even he knows it." I look up at Harrison and I hear the pain in my voice when I say, "I feel like he's given up."
"He hasn't," he says insistently. "Four would do anything to be with you and Andy, and you know that."
But would he do anything? I wonder, remembering yet again the conversation Tobias and I had not too long ago. He will ultimately do what he thinks is right, and what scares me most is that doing what's right might be the very thing that takes him away from me again.
"He is just as scared as you are, Tris," Harrison reminds me as if having read my mind.
"Yeah," I swallow. "Because we're running out of time and Derek's playing dirty."
"And if we have to, so will we."
I search his eyes and they're filled with pure determination. It reminds me that I'm not in this alone. Here's a man who loves Tobias like a son, and somewhere inside this compound is another man who loves him like a brother. Between the three of us, we have to save him.
"Has Derek said anything about the trial?" I ask, and I finally take a seat. I peep down the corridor but Andy is still inside the bedroom.
"As soon as Four is discharged from the infirmary, but we all know Evelyn will strike before then," Harry sighs heavily as he takes a seat beside me.
I pray to God she doesn't. Tobias isn't strong enough yet. "How much time do we really have, Harry? Be honest," I say, looking up at him.
He takes a few slow breaths. "We've got maybe a week. Four said with him gone and Tony dead, that's more or less how long it would take for Evelyn to figure something out, but as soon as she does, she'll be here."
I sigh, and I sink my face into my palms. "And we will be entirely unprepared because Derek is an idiot."
To my surprise, Harry smiles. "I wouldn't say so just yet. There are a lot of people in this faction still loyal to Four, Tris. It might surprise you to know how many."
I quickly sit up straight. "What are you saying?"
"I'm saying," he begins, "leave Evelyn to me. I'm working on it."
A part of me beams with hope, and another part of me is too afraid to embrace that hope. "And what about the trial?"
"Listen, Tris," he sighs. "Four is awake and ready to fight this. He knows the damn law better than anyone, even Derek. If there's a loophole he'll find it."
"Is there a loophole to avoid execution?" I ask sarcastically.
Harry chuckles. "You know, Max almost pulled it off. His trial was a political nightmare. No one in Dauntless wanted to testify against him, and there was no way to prove he was a willing participant in Erudite's schemes, because technically he hadn't done anything yet. We all knew what his intentions were, we just couldn't prove it."
"But then Candor got involved," I say, remembering the story as Tobias had told it to me. The Candor don't usually intervene in the judicial matters of other factions unless invited, but Max's trial drew a lot of attention, and Kang showed up on his own, demanding to unearth the truth. That's when Dauntless first learned of truth serum. "I asked Derek to have Kang do the trial. But of course he refused. He even refused to speak to Johanna."
"Let me worry about Kang; he's a friend and he owes me a favour. I might be able to get him to intervene without an official invitation."
"Might," this catches my attention.
"Might. But it's worth a shot," he nods.
"Everything is worth a shot at this point," I grumble. "Derek has his hands in more pots than we could imagine. I'm sure he's done a lot of personal investments with the people who are on that jury list."
"People who were once loyal to Four," Harrison stresses. "And some of them still are. So we need to stay positive."
I nod and I take in a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves. "Is Chad a part of the jury?"
Reluctantly, Harry answers, "Yes."
I scoff. "So the real traitor gets to judge my husband?" I scowl at the thought of that sordid waste of a human being walking around somewhere, taking up space and wasting perfectly good air. "I should have killed him when I had the chance."
"And then you'd be locked up for the rest of your life," Harry says casually. "Unnecessarily, since Four and Zeke will be taking care of that anyway."
"What are they planning?" I pinch my eyebrows together. Tobias never mentioned anything.
"In a nutshell, Zeke will go after Evelyn and he's taking the Cavalry. I'm to set up a meeting with Derek and Chad, but we're doing it with or without Derek's approval."
I look at him questioningly. "But how does that take care of Chad? And if he knows the plan to go after Evelyn, it's doomed to fail."
"But that is the plan," he winks. "That's how we'll catch him."
"You'll set him up." My eyes open a little wider.
"Like he did us," Harry smiles, and when I don't smile back, he says, "You look disappointed."
"Well, I was sort of hoping to kill him myself," I frown a little, and Harry instantly laughs at me.
"I'm sure you'd prefer that, Tris," he grins and it coaxes a smile out of me.
When I hear the pitter patter of tiny feet running through the hallway, I turn around to see Andy finally coming toward me. I can't imagine what he spent so much time doing since he doesn't have that many things to pack, but when he smiles at me I decide I don't care. I just want to take him home now.
"I'm ready!" he says cheerfully, carrying his blue backpack and his toy dinosaur in his hand.
I stand and stretch a little before reaching down to pick him up. I will forever rue the day he's too heavy for me to carry. I sigh into his little neck and I breathe him in. "I've missed you," I whisper in his ear.
"I missed you too, Mommy," Andy smiles. "Grandma helped me make some drawings for you and Daddy. Can I show you them when we get home?"
"Of course you can, my love," I whisper sweetly to him. Then I turn to look at Harry. "Thank you for watching him, Harry."
"Anytime," he smiles at us both. "The pleasure is always mine."
"I'll see you later, okay?" I smile back, finally feeling a bit of wholeness with my son in my arms.
"Okay, sure," he answers. "I'll let Zeke know you're out."
"Yeah," I nod. Then I kiss Andy on the cheek. "Let's go home, Baby."
"Bye, Harry!" he waves at his Godfather as we walk through the front door.
With an endearing smile, Harry says, "Bye, Kiddo."
Andy and I spend most of the next few days in Tobias' bed. The three of us hardly fit, even with our arms wrapped tight around each other, but we wouldn't have it any other way.
The first time I took Andy to see him, Tobias couldn't hold back the tears, and so neither could Andy. We ended up spending the night and since no one took us out of the room, we spent another night and now it's just understood this is where we sleep. Andy and I only leave to shower and eat, and those few hours away from Tobias feel like an eternity. I imagine that's why Andy swallowed his breakfast without chewing, showered and would have forgotten to use soap if I weren't there to remind him, and is now running ahead of me because I am obviously walking too slowly.
"Paula!"
Andy rushes into the infirmary and his eyes shine bright when he sees his favourite nurse standing in the small lobby. Without warning he wraps his tiny arms around Paula's legs. She laughs and she quickly picks him up and gives him a candy out of her pocket.
"Well aren't you excited," she giggles.
"You weren't here yesterday," Andy answers with a small frown.
I shared in his disappointment when we came back to the room after breakfast only to find Tobias handcuffed to the bed. One of the other nurses doesn't trust he won't try and escape, especially now that he's regained so much of his strength. It was heart-breaking, because I knew how badly he wanted to hold his son.
"I'm sorry," she gently answers. "Yesterday was my day off. But I'm here now."
"You're taking care of my daddy today?" Andy beams.
"Yes, I am, Andy."
Carefully, Andy wraps his arms around Paula's neck and buries his face into her shoulder. "Thank you," I hear him whisper.
I walk up to them and smile at them both. "Really, thank you, Paula. He says you've been very kind to him."
"Of course, Mrs. Eaton," she says with a nod. "You're welcome." She slowly sets Andy back down and he takes my hand and pulls me toward Tobias' room.
"Okay, okay," I chuckle at my son, and I smile back at Paula who is looking at us both ever so sympathetically.
"Open the door please, Mommy!" Andy fusses after he's struggled to turn the knob.
"Okay," I answer him again, as if I'm not just as excited to see my husband even though we spent the entire night with him.
The door is barely cracked open before Andy pushes himself inside wearing the most ecstatic grin. It stretches even wider when he sees who is standing by his father's bed.
"Uncle Zeke!" Andy practically screams out, and in less than a second he's being thrown up in the air by an overexcited Zeke. His laughter fills the room the way it always does, and I almost don't hear when Tobias says, "Hi, Beautiful," and of course I turn to mush the way I always do.
"Hi," I whisper and I slowly climb into the side of his bed that I've already claimed as my own. I press myself up against him and smile when I breathe him in. He's clean and cool and his hair is still a little wet from his shower. As usual, the only thing on him is the bottom half of his hospital pajamas.
In a second his lips are on mine and our fingers intertwine at our hips. He smells fresh and his body feels cold.
"Okaaaaaay," Zeke whistles. "It's about to get nasty in here so I'm gonna leave now."
Tobias and I ignore him, making sure to get in a proper good morning kiss. That's when Andy giggles and energetically bounces in Zeke's arms and says, "No! Stay, Uncle Zeke!"
"So I can look at that?" Zeke answers him, gesturing at me and Tobias in the bed. "No, thank you."
Breaking away from Tobias' lips with a smile, I finally acknowledge our friend. "Good Morning, Zeke."
"Oh, you're just seeing me now?" he teases and he puts Andy back down.
"No," I laugh. "But I don't want you to leave."
"It's fine, Tris," he smiles. "Four and I were just finishing up. I'll see you guys later." He and Tobias exchange a friendly smile and a nod, and after climbing into the bed, Andy waves Zeke the biggest goodbye.
Zeke waves back and chuckles under his breath as he leaves the room, and then there's just quietness for a while.
"I owe him so much," Tobias says serenely, staring at the door Zeke closed behind him. "He's already done so much for you and Andy, and now it seems he'd do whatever it takes to give me my life back."
"He loves you and he blames himself," I explain. "He insists that he was supposed to be on that train, not you. It ate him alive."
"I know. Shauna told me," he frowns, and then he eyes me curiously like he wants to ask me something. But just before he does, Andy slowly climbs between us, demanding attention.
"And how is my big boy?" Tobias grins, and he lifts his arm so Andy can snuggle underneath it.
"Where'd the big, white tube go?" Andy asks curiously, and only when he says so do I notice the tube in Tobias' side is gone. There's a small stitch there now, closing up the wound.
As Andy gently places his hand where the tube once was, Tobias answers, "They took it out this morning, said I don't need it anymore," he grins. "And Paula took out my stitches, too." He rolls over a little to show us his abdomen; the large scar down the middle of it holds him together.
Andy gasps. "Does that mean you're getting better?"
"It does," Tobias smiles. "I even get to drink water today, and I had oatmeal for breakfast."
"Yuck." Andy grimaces.
His father laughs and says, "Usually I'd agree with that, but it actually wasn't that bad."
I scoff. Tobias hates oatmeal. It was one of the things he was glad to leave behind in Abnegation.
"That might be because you haven't eaten anything in a week," I tease him.
"More than likely," he playfully answers. "I could have sworn there was some flavour in there."
I smile at him and rub my hands through his hair when I see how much he's getting back to his old self. "You seem better today. How's the pain?"
"Pretty much gone, and I'm done with their special treatment." His eyes glance up to where the bag of blue medicine once hung. "Dr. Watson says I can begin with soft food now to be on the safe side, but he believes I'm almost completely healed."
"And then you'll come home?" Andy tenderly asks from between us.
My heart breaks a little, because I know it's not that simple.
"As soon as I can," Tobias answers confidently. "You're taking care of your mom in the meantime?"
"Yes."
"Good. I love you so much."
"I love you too, Daddy." Andy snuggles closer into Tobias and rests his tiny head on his chest. Tobias closes his eyes and kisses Andy's hair, and I know he feels it too- the fear that these moments could be stripped away from us forever.
"Has Derek said anything official yet?" I quietly ask Tobias.
"No," he answers flatly. "He's wasting time he doesn't have. But we expected as much. Harrison and Zeke are planning to move out tomorrow since at this rate I could be discharged at any time and Derek's bound to call a trial the second I walk out the door."
"Good. As soon as we have Evelyn we will be one step closer to ending all this. Harrison said he'll reach out to Kang and see if he can intervene. It would be so helpful if he could."
He nods slowly. "Any faction leader on our side would be helpful. Is Marcus still leader of the council?"
"Yeah… but he wouldn't be able to-"
"Yeah, I know." He frowns. "It's a conflict of interest. Just asking." His eyes fall to Andy's head still pressed up against his chest, and he slowly begins to stroke his hair.
"Tobias, are you considering asking him for help?" It would be a desperate move since, apart from their little encounter in Abnegation the other night, Tobias hasn't spoken to his father for more than ten years. But desperate we are.
"Only if I have to. But I will turn over every leaf if that's what I have to do." He looks deep into my eyes and I in his, and in them I see the honest vulnerability that only I have ever seen. "I won't let my pride take me away from my family, Tris."
He laces our fingers together again, and he brings my hand to his lips. I get goose bumps as he presses a soft kiss there. And then he asks me, "Have you spoken to Christina? I saw her this morning."
My eyebrows furrow at the sudden change in topic and the topic in question. "She came to see you?"
"She dropped in," he nods. I find it convenient that she would do so during the few hours when I wasn't here. She's probably still mad at me and doesn't care to look at me. "We spoke for a while," he continues. "About you mostly."
"She hasn't spoken to me," I frown, and why would she? I practically diminished her relationship to one of desperation and loneliness. And though I honestly don't understand why she wouldn't help me rescue Tobias, I didn't have the right to insult her the way I did by suggesting she didn't love Will as much as I loved Tobias. I surely didn't mean to, but I said the words, which means some part of me believes them. And apparently she's always felt that I wasn't happy for her and Uri, but I was, I am. It's just that I can't understand it. I can't imagine ever loving anyone the way I love Tobias, and that could very well be because of the strength of our love.
Or it might just be a sign of my weakness.
"What did she say?" I mumble.
"She doesn't know what to say to you."
"I don't know what to say to her. It's hard to explain away what I said."
Tobias sighs. "I heard," he says, and I remember he was sitting there, handcuffed and drugged and without his memories when it all took place. He lifts my chin a little and whispers, "You're not wrong, Tris. No one could ever understand what we share, because it's our reality, our time spent together, our memories, everything we've been through together, and everything we know about each other. This is our journey, and what makes it so different from most people's journey is that along the way they found someone to make it with, but we were always meant to make it together." His eyes gloss over a little. "People who have never met their soulmate won't understand that."
As he wipes the single tear that escapes from my eyes, he adds, "But they're lucky… in a way."
"What do you mean?" I can't imagine feeling lucky for not having met Tobias.
"They'll never know what it feels like to die from the inside out," he whispers. "Chris told me how bad it was, after I was gone."
My mouth opens as I try to find the words to explain, but there are no words, just painful memories and horrible thoughts. "You would have been ashamed of me," I cry.
Gently he rests my cheek inside his palm. "No," he says. "I was supposed to be here, and I wasn't." He lets out a breath. "But Chris was… and I'm grateful for it."
"Was," I say with a hint of sadness.
"She'll come around. She loves you," he assures me. "At first I was upset she refused to help you, but… I can understand her wanting to protect you."
"Is she mad?"
He raises an eyebrow. "Not at all. She's terrified you'll have to relive the worst moments of your life, and that this time might be worse."
"I won't have to," I quickly answer. "Because if all else fails, we're leaving."
"We are," he nods, and he moves his hand from my cheek and pulls Andy closer to him. His little eyes are closed but I can tell he isn't sleeping. He breathes evenly and relaxes peacefully in his father's arms.
Suddenly, the room becomes pitch black, and it takes about five seconds for the emergency lights to come on. They're barely bright enough for me to see in front of me, but I lie still. This has been a usual occurrence over the past few months and now we know Evelyn's always been behind the blackouts and power surges. It can only mean her attack is that much closer.
When more than a minute has passed, I feel Tobias' hand on my face again.
"What's happening? Why is the generator taking so long to kick in?" I ask him.
"Because it's not going to," Tobias whispers worriedly, just as I hear a few loud screams coming from outside the infirmary. "They're here," he says a little more sternly, and I suddenly feel nauseous. "You have to go, Tris. Now."
"No. Fuck," is all I can say, with my heart in my throat and my thoughts at a standstill. Tobias seems to have mentally prepared himself for this moment, whereas I find myself wishing that whatever is happening out there is something else entirely, and we still have more time. But I snap out of it when I hear my baby whimpering and I quickly sit up out of bed.
Just then, Tobias' guard comes rushing into the dark room. It's not someone I recognize, eliminating the possibility of me taking Tobias with me.
"Daddy, what's happening?" Andy sniffles.
Sitting up out of bed and pulling Andy into a hug, he says, "Go with your mother. And do everything she says, okay?"
"What about you, Daddy?"
"I'll be okay," Tobias assures him, and he leaves a kiss on his forehead. "I love you."
"I love you too, Daddy. Mommy and I will come back for you."
The thickest of tears stream down my cheek as I watch my son hang onto his father for dear life. My heart races and I feel sick in the worst possible way. I knew this moment would come, but I never prepared for how hard it would be to leave Tobias here to fend for himself. I stand paralyzed for a moment, wanting to say something, but feeling like I would choke over every word.
A single gunshot rings outside, tearing me away from my daze, and Tobias yells, "Tris! Go! Now!"
I grab his face, pulling his lips so hard into mine it hurts, and I kiss him with a kiss that says everything my words can't.
"I love you, Tris," he says breathlessly. "Be safe."
"I love you too," I manage to choke out, and upon hearing the second gunshot, I pick up Andy in my arms and I carry him out of the infirmary. Every moment of it feels impossible, and I'm torn into a million pieces when every step toward Andy's safety is another step away from Tobias.
I think I cry out loud, but it's drowned out by everyone panicking around me. I can't see what they're so afraid of; the compound is full of Dauntless and only Dauntless. And though there were two gunshots, no one seems to know who fired or who was shot. But I don't concern myself with anything else except keeping my son safe.
He hangs on tightly, and his face is buried into my neck as he refuses to look around him. I try to soothe him every few seconds, telling him everything will be okay and that his daddy will be okay, and then I pray that God doesn't make me a liar.
Almost at the only exit Tobias insisted I use to get out of the compound, I sigh a little with relief. But it's short lived when out of nowhere I see a disgustingly familiar face standing in front of the door with a gun in his hand. It's one of the men who Evelyn ordered to finish me off, the one whose hand I wanted to burn off after he shoved it up my shirt.
Clutching onto my son, I freeze when he raises his firearm. And with a filthy grin he says, "Hello, Tris."
