Tris POV
Morning dawns bright and early and I got so used to Dauntless being dark that the sunlight wakes me at a seemingly ungodly hour.
Nevertheless, I get ready for the day and grab my bag to load onto the truck before heading for breakfast.
It looks like I am not the only one up, Eric and Tobias are both storing their bags when I get there.
Together we head to breakfast and, to my relief, it is relatively quiet. Tobias is in front of me in the buffet line and hands me a plate before offering to serve me whatever he chooses. I know this is the last time I can spoil myself a bit and accept graciously.
"Come on, Stiff, get going," Eric growls from right behind me and I turn around, raising an eyebrow in silent question while Tobias progresses through the line with our plates.
"This is my last proper breakfast for the next few weeks. I think I am entitled to make sure I am enjoying it." I quip and turn back around to follow Tobias without waiting for a response from Eric.
We settle down at an empty table and Tobias pushes my plate over. I haven't had a chance to raise my fork to my mouth before a glass of orange juice appears in my line of sight, followed by Eric sitting down next to me.
I look at him, clearly surprised by his action. "Just drink it, Stiff," is all I am getting and I do so quietly. We don't talk during breakfast and it is over before either Johanna or Peter can join us.
Eric has some quiet words with Tobias before we head out the door and then leads me the opposite direction from where Tobias is heading.
"Where are we going," I ask out loud.
"To beg Johanna for some coffee to take with us," Eric replies, and I feel like slapping myself on the forehead for forgetting all about it.
We are heading back to Johanna's house just to see her step outside.
"Good morning, Eric, Tris. Did we forget anything?" Johanna seems extremely chipper and I am wondering, not for the first time, if she allowed herself some peace serum.
"Would you be able to commission some coffee for us to take along?" Eric is once more surprisingly polite when talking to Johanna. I am starting to think he has a soft spot for her.
"Certainly," Johanna looks at me enquiringly. "For you and Tobias as well or only Eric?"
"If you don't mind to calculate enough for four people, we would appreciate it," I state, not meaning to highlight the fact that she left Peter out.
"Oh yes, your Candor transfer..." she smirks at Eric "How is he doing this mighty fine morning?"
"I apologize for his behavior. It has been addressed and I am going to keep him out of Amity when we are finished with this project," Eric replies, and I can't help the sound of annoyance leaving me.
"Did you not fill Tris in, Eric? As a leader in training she should have been involved," Johanna admonishes and turns to me. "While the two of us were busy last night, Peter decided to see if he had any luck with the Amity women." I gasp. "Our guards picked him up and had to bring him back to the dormitory twice, the second time he was given a small dose of a sedative. They were afraid his amorous intentions would be multiplied if he was given peace serum, which we tend to do with members who act up." Johanna explains and it is my turn to glare at Eric.
"What? I couldn't just go knocking on your door like I would have in Dauntless," Eric excuses his behavior and Johanna actually snorts.
"Contrary to my men who came and informed me about what was going on in my faction?" There is a poignant pause before she continues to lecture Eric. "Tris is a leader in training. She can not be trained by textbooks alone, she needs to experience first hand what you have to deal with. Does she look like she needs to be coddled?" Johanna doesn't give Eric the chance to open his mouth. "Tris is first ranked in her year, she is a leader in training, a full member of Dauntless and apparently Max deems her able to go on an extended trip with you, Tobias and Peter. Give her some credit and do... your... job!" With the last three words she pokes Eric's chest repeatedly.
Eric sighs. "I apologize, Tris. Peter acted out of order last night. The first time the guard returned him they did not inform me about it. The second time they informed me, but gave me no choice regarding the sedative that was given. Peter was still out when I got up this morning and I haven't had a chance to lay into him yet. You are certainly welcome to join me, but I am afraid that Four will have a first go at him as he was tasked with getting his trainee up and ready to go."
Wow, this must have been hard for Eric. I just nod, not wanting to give the impression I am soaking up his admission of failure in front of Johanna.
"Good, now that all of this is settled we can get you all the coffee you want. Follow me."
Johanna leads us to a different warehouse and I can actually smell the coffee when we pass through the door. Johanna leads us to a shelf in the far back where there are multiple boxes. Checking the labels she opens one and removes six large tins.
"Do you have enough space for these?"
Eric grins. "I would happily leave something else behind to make them fit." He takes three out of Johanna's arms and I take two. Together we walk back to the truck where I can see Tobias and Peter waiting for us.
It is obvious Tobias is still angry and Peter won't make eye contact. Maybe something else occurred?
"Peter," Eric growls and nods his head towards where Johanna stands, helping me load the coffee.
"I need to apologize for my behavior towards your members and the blatant disregard for Amity's values." Peter recites, and it is clear as day that he doesn't mean a word of it, but Johanna just replies. "Let there be peace between us." A classic Amity dismissal that goes unnoticed by Peter, but I can see Tobias' mouth twitch and Eric's eyes soften a bit.
"Everything loaded," Eric asks nobody in particular.
"The coffee is stored safely," I report with my own smirk his way and he raises an eyebrow in challenge.
Tobias is dragging Peter to the cab and pushes him inside before following him up.
Johanna gives me a hug. "Let me know if I am attending a wedding when you get back." Over her shoulder I can see Eric pause briefly on his way to the driver's seat, the only sign he heard her.
"Of course," I reply and give her a kiss on her cheek. "Thank you for everything, Johanna."
"Don't mention it, Tris. Well, maybe mention your experience to Jeanine and ask her to send us more of the stuff you liked."
With that last exchange I walk to the passenger side and take Tobias' outstretched hand to ease the way up.
My door bangs shut and once more Eric takes off right away.
Once we leave Amity's compound we are heading down a barely used path to the second perimeter wall.
It still takes us close to thirty minutes before we reach the actual wall.
Eric pulls the car up right in front and gets out. I look at Tobias who shrugs.
"Come on!" I can hear Eric yell from outside and open my door to get out. Tobias helps me once again and I realize I have to figure out a way to get up and down on my own.
Eric is rummaging through the back of the truck and comes up with a can of black spray paint and four clipboards with blank paper.
"Here," he hands one to each of us "write down everything that you think needs to be improved, positions for additional security and whatever stands out to you."
He moves to spray a large zero onto the wall.
"What are you doing?" Peter can't seem to help himself, he loves to insert himself into other people's business.
"I am marking the miles around the wall. Why don't you stick with Four and talk about camera positions and security hatches while Tris and I work on leadership skills," Eric snarls and Peter actually backs off. Eric turns to me and motions for me to follow him along the wall.
"Max wants the control room to install cameras that will be monitored by us in Dauntless and a secondary group right here at the fence line. Four and Peter will have a look at how they will propose this, but we need to do our own evaluation and we need to see where we want the guards to be stationed, the distance between these outposts and anything else that needs to be done." He looks at me expectantly so I nod my head.
"How many guards does Max want to assign and how many do we actually have to spare?"
Eric smiles at me in approval of my question. It is something so rare it throws me slightly off.
"We do not have enough guards to man both fences adequately and still patrol factionless. We have to recruit over the next years and need to come up with the best ratios until then."
"Do we really need the guards at the city wall?" I ask cautiously.
"Yes and no, we want to avoid the factionless roaming outside the fence and we need less staff if we only man the inner wall." Eric explains, but this only brings up more questions.
"Why do we force the factionless to stay in the derelict sector they occupy? What harm will they do if they leave their sector?" I honestly want to know because this has always baffled me that all the people are forced to life there.
"It has mainly to do with security. If we know they are inside the city then any other person coming towards the gate is a possible threat. The Amity are always together, always in a truck when they approach and it is easy to distinguish them from a distance. If the factionless were allowed to roam wherever they wanted to then the system Amity built might be at risk for they would be foraging through the fields and maybe even steal from Amity even if they were given some handouts."
I do see the truth and logic behind Eric's words, but it still doesn't make it feel right.
"Think less like an Abnegation and more like a Dauntless." Eric admonishes and I blush. "And stop the blushing, it is not right for a leader to blush when something makes her uncomfortable."
"How am I supposed to suppress it?" I snark in annoyance and surprisingly Eric does not punish me for this outburst.
"We'll work on it," is the only thing he says. "Now, what else?"
"Do we monitor the outside of the fence or the area where we are standing as well," I ask my next question.
"Max mentioned only the outside, but the inside is a secondary area we should look into. We will have guards and cameras. Another camera facing us won't make much more work," Eric thinks out loud. "Before we decide on the distance of the guard shacks we needs to see the terrain. We can't make it too easy to travel around, but we probably need to make it easy enough for us to patrol and settle down. For now we should mark every mile along the wall. Max couldn't even tell me the actual length so this is something we need to measure ourselves. Once we know the basics we have to think about the rest, like supply routes."
Eric trails off and stares into the distance.
For me the thing that stands out the most is the sound of an electric fence.
"Eric, is that an electric fence?" I point up to where the wires are on top of the wall.
"Yes?"
"Where is the generator or how is it powered," I ask my follow up question, and I can see the cogs moving around in Eric's head, carefully slotting together.
"We will find out," Eric replies unexpectedly. Wow, they left Eric just as much in the dark as the rest of us.
"Come on, Tris. Write down what you've got so far and then we head down the first few miles."
And that's what we do until lunch. Mile after mile we leave the truck, look around, note down things that blocked our way, like the downed tree between mile four and five or the one growing too close to the wall for comfort at mile twelve.
It has been over three hours and we are only twenty miles in. It is slow going through the bush and the constant stopping with each new mile that we spray onto the wall.
Our lunch break is a first glimpse of how we will be living over the next weeks. Eric pulls out a table that is attached to a hidden compartment beneath the truck bed and lays out the bread and some cold cuts. We each have our own canteens and I actually opt to stretch my legs while eating. The front of the truck is quite cramped and I can vividly imagine how sore my muscles will get over the coming weeks.
Sooner than I want to we are heading back out. The bushes and grass are growing thicker and we have to slow down even more in order to be able to stay close to the wall. When we reach mile thirty Eric calls it a day.
I look at the clock and am surprised to see it is already six o'clock and the sun is setting.
Once more Eric takes charge and pulls out all the camping gear. There are only two tents as far as I can see. Great!
"Let's give Tris her own tent," Tobias suggests, and I hold my breath until Eric agrees.
"Why does she not have to share? This is discrimination of men!" Peter just has to open his mouth to argue once more.
"And who is going to share with Tris? You," Eric asks rather calmly, and Peter finally realises his mistake.
"No, I thought either you or Four could..." Peter has the smarts to shut up halfway through.
"Look, if they are too small for three I can share. It is not a big deal," I offer, hoping I sound sincere enough.
Eric and Four just look at me and start assembling the tents. Needing to be useful I sort through the equipment, glad to see there is four of everything else.
The tents are large enough to hold three people, so I get to have my own.
I am in the middle of preparing dinner while Eric and Four rearrange the load on the truck when Peter makes himself known again. He doesn't seem to care that I can hear him when he shouts "Eric, what are we going to do about toilets? I've got to shit!"
Eric doesn't even stop what he is doing when he answers. "Go dig a hole!"
I have to snort at that which gains me Peter's attention. "Anything funny, Stiff? Just wait until it's your turn..."
I give him my sweetest smile and throw him a satchel that I have attached to my backpack. Looking inside his face goes blank and then he sighs. "Thank fuck!" I actually get a nod in thanks and off he goes.
"What did you give him?" Tobias comes over and grabs a bowl.
"Toilet paper and a foldable shovel," I smile at him and ladle some stew into his bowl.
"I might have to borrow that later," he admits and I make a sound of approval while tasting the first bite of meaty goodness. Whoever prepared this is a really great chef.
"This is really good," Tobias exclaims with his mouth full and I have to laugh.
"You sound a lot like Uriah," I tease while holding my spoon suspended. The next thing I know it disappears in Eric's mouth and I gape at him in shock.
"Yes, this IS good," Eric agrees and I hand him my bowl, grabbing a new one for myself.
I am done with my first serving when Peter drops the satchel next to me and serves himself. We don't talk much throughout dinner and I don't mind, I'd rather enjoy the quiet than hearing the bickering or have them start a fight with each other.
Once we are all done Tobias grabs my satchel and looks at Peter.
"About a hundred steps behind the truck is a tree," is all he says and Tobias nods. Men!
"So, Stiff, ever gone camping before?" I look at Peter like he should know the answer. "I take that as a no. How come you are so well prepared?" Peter sounds rather genuine so I do answer.
"I know when to ask for help," I admit and even Eric nods.
"Could have asked me." He sounds a bit offended and I look at him questioningly.
"You seemed a bit upset yesterday morning," I simply state instead of highlighting his mood and temper.
I can hear Tobias walking back and Eric takes this as his cue to get up and grab his own spade and toilet paper roll from his backpack. I repeat: what is up with these men?
I stand up and start cleaning the dishes and pack leftovers, storing everything once I am done. It is rather dark now and when Eric comes back I wish them a good night.
"Uh, Tris, you might want to trek down to the tree now while we are all still awake," Tobias suggests, and I just look at him.
"I am fine, thanks," I decline and they look at me like I am nuts.
"Are you feeling okay?" Eric sounds a bit concerned.
"Of course, why?" What is up with them?
He comes a little closer so he doesn't have to talk so loudly. "You haven't used the bathroom all day and that doesn't sound healthy."
I know I am blushing and I am glad that he had the decency to try not being overheard. I am well aware that Tobias and Peter can hear every word.
"I am just not that obvious, Eric. I am fine, I promise. Thank you for your concern." I touch his arm gently and then wish everyone once more a good night.
The night is rather cold and I am glad for the thick sleeping bag and well insulated mattress.
Before I know it, morning dawns and we are getting ready for another day on the road.
I am aware this is not my usual writing style. It is an old story, like, before my first post ever, that just needed some closure. I decided to not rewrite it completely but that doesn't mean I won't go back in a few months and do exactly that. Who knows? ️