I just want to say thank you to everyone who has been reading this story. I'm so glad you all keep coming back for more. See you next week!
Chapter Six
Max's office is the biggest out of all the leaders, but it is by far the messiest. Every available surface is covered in papers, graphs, or maps. Having been in leadership for almost ten years, and the head for the last six there is plenty of stuff packed into the space. It is well known not to leave paperwork with him but at Martha's desk.
He has pulled two chairs and cleared them for Four and I. Giving orders to Martha that no one is to disturb unless it is matter of life or death: or it's his wife. He may come across as the scary leader, but the man loves his wife.
"Now I've heard about what happened in the training room and I saw the tapes. Care to explain what was going on there?" He asks looking at me, waiting for me to come clean, even if I feel like I am in the right.
"I didn't find Tori or Zeke's behaviour towards Hannah appropriate. They want to be her friend. They think that talking, joking around, and feeding her cake is all she needs. I've seen her, she is still that girl we picked up a few days. If she thought she could get away with it, she would attack. She might be pleasant at times, and not look like a deadly weapon, but it's still in her." I tell him, trying to be honest and sincere in front of Max. he normally accepts my snark and hot-headed temper, but I know now is not the time.
"I agree with Eric." I turn to glare at Four surprised that we are on the same page. "I've seen her twice when she was defensive. She doesn't trust anyone, and we should not trust her at the moment. We do need to earn her trust but still be guarded around her. I wouldn't be surprised if she is planning how to get rid of Tori and Zeke and out the door right now. She's already shown she is prepared to go down fighting, no matter who it is."
"She attacked you, Eric?" Max questions me, with a look of surprise. Most people leave me alone, unless they have had a few too many drinks, and forgot themselves. They always regret it in the morning.
"Only verbally in the training room, but she was going to when I returned from our meeting this morning. She dropped a mug on the floor, and even just the look in her eye meant business." I sigh rubbing my hand over my face. "I know we are trying to get her accustomed to life in a faction, we want her to have a purpose here, but I don't see that ever happening."
Max looks down at his desk, looking at a folder that I can only assume is Hannah's. "I see you must have shared some of your opinions with Hannah. She had plenty to say about your time together. I think we can safely say she thinks she has plenty to say about you as well. I know we don't talk about it a lot. There's plenty of rumours going around, evidently even out on the streets. I hope you know that we support you and want you to be here." I watch him side eyes Four for a reaction. Max knows Four and I have not always seen eye to eye on things, but we have been forced to be civil when he finally accepted a position in leadership six months ago."
"You can speak freely Max, Four knows. He knows it all." Looking down at my lap as I know this is in direct disobedience with the orders that I received from him and those in Candor.
"Oh, I didn't know you and Four were close. I know you have had your differences, but these past months I had hoped you could work together. You helped push each other during training, and I truly think you balance each other in your leadership styles. You both want the best for this faction and Chicago. I know we have been quiet about your involvement with Jeanine, but it would have been a whole lot worse if you had not acted."
"Do you think we need to do anything to show that we have faith in Eric, even just for Dauntless?" Four questions and I roll my eyes at him, even after I've been an ass to him he always wanted to be a fixer.
I know I am a leader, and many think I'm loud and always at the centre of everything, but in all honesty, it's not what I want. My Erudite side wants to sit back and plan, to make sure everything is running smoothly and efficiently. "Oh God, please no. I need nothing like that." I say firmly looking directly at Max trying to get my point across.
"It's about time, we at least address top-level: leaders, department heads, and patrol captains that we are behind you and appreciate what you have done and continue to do for this faction." Max says more to Four than me. I know I've already lost the two of them. Once they are on the same thought there is no stopping the two of them.
"The hell you will not," I shout at the two of them.
"You could always send it out in the next email, I know everyone read them." Four states, already forgetting I'm in the room and want no part in this. Max seems to be nodding his head in agreement, quickly making a note. I hope it gets lost in the piles around his office.
"Going back to the reason why I brought you both here. I know we dropped Hannah on you Eric, and I would like for her to continue with you. However, if you don't think you can continue, I will find someone else. This is not a failure on your part. It might just be a better fit for someone else."
"No, I can handle her. But I can't have people questioning every single thing I do. If I am to continue to oversee Hannah, I must be allowed to do what I see as needed. I will train her, work through the suggestions Erudite send and some basic education as needed. I will check in with Foster on her limitations. But if I need to discipline her or punish her, I am the one in charge. I'm going to finish this, whether that is in six weeks at the train tracks, or when we decide she can't remain with the general Dauntless population."
"You keep her alive," Max says looking me over. "You allow her to get to know other people. You can choose and supervise them, but she needs to meet others: ones her own age. If you need someone else to oversee her for a bit: whether it's you need a break or to get to work, you ask." Max orders, making sure I look in his eye and acknowledge him.
"I can agree to those terms. I wouldn't be able to make every leaders meeting, but I will send reports and updates through Four." I say looking over at him, and he agrees with what I'm saying.
"Can you agree to this Four?" Max asks. He simply nods his head in agreement. "Alright, I will be round at some point today, as I would like to speak to Hannah myself. Again, set the rules, and allow her to understand how serious we are taking this." He looks at his watch, checking the time. "It's almost time for lunch. I have a meeting with one of the teachers: Evan has not been listening to his teachers. I can already tell he's going to be a nightmare initiate, and he's only seven. Just wait till you are both fathers and you will see why I enjoy coming into the office." I roll my eyes at the suggestion, and Four looks horrified at the idea.
We all rise from our seats and head to leave: "Remember my door is always open for you both. Just don't tell Martha, you know how she gets."
As we leave Four turns and asks if I want him to join us for lunch in the apartment, but I decline. I know Hannah is not his biggest fan, and she is already pissed at me. Stopping at the kitchens, grabbing two to-go boxes for Hannah and I. Racing back upstairs to wait for Tori to drop her off.
I make it to the apartment before them. I pulled out my own lunch, starting to eat while working on my tablet. I'm struggling with keeping on top of my emails and ever-growing to-do list. Normally if people just needed a question answered they would have come by my office, but no one comes around the apartment, under Max's instructions. Maybe I should delegate some of it elsewhere? No, I would rather command it.
With my lunch finished, I look at the time, surprised that they weren't back yet. I was about to phone Tori when there was a knock at the door. Zeke and Hannah stood together, but she looked pissed. She stomped through the door, grabbed her lunch and headed straight to be room.
"Looks like you all had a lovely time," I say sarcastically to Zeke, who just rolls his eyes at me.
"She's only pissed when we walked through the dining room and saw Nate eating cake. Told her she wasn't allowed to eat down there."
"She's obsessed with that fucking cake. Nate only mentioned it once, and I have to hear about it all the time." I am the first to say the cake is a bonus of Dauntless, but it's starting to get on my nerves with how often Hannah brings it up.
"She doesn't like being told what to do." Zeke simply states. He hasn't walked into my living room but doesn't move from his spot in the corridor. "Apart from that, she was good. Tori had her run a few more laps, she tried some sit-ups, but she has no core strength. We stopped into the tattoo shop; Tori left her tablet there. She was really interested in the artwork."
"Yeah, I think she can draw." I simply state, and that seems to be the end of our conversation when we just stare at each other for a moment.
"I need to go. Got another session with Foster, hopefully, get my stitches out." He turns and waves his hand at me, and I head back into my apartment, going towards Hannah's room.
Without knocking I open the door. She's sitting on the bed, looking at the meal before her. "It's not cake." She says with clear disappointment, and anger behind the words.
"I hear you were not impressed with Nate enjoying it without you," I say while side-eyeing her when she closes the lid on her lunch.
"I want cake." She whines, without even looking at me.
"You don't get cake. Selfish people don't get cake." I simply state while lifting the to-go box from her bed and holding it out of her reach.
"I'm the selfish person?" She now looks over at me, and it's obvious she is confused by my statement.
"You get cake when I deem you have done something to deserve it. If you keep asking for it, you will never get any. Now, we don't eat in our bedrooms, out before you spill anything." I say while walking out of the room with her food in my hands, setting it on the coffee table.
She obeys and follows me out and over to sit on the sofa. She eats the food in silence. I watch her before checking my tablet, once again. When she finishes her food, she cleans up and grabs more of her medication.
"Can you read?" I finally ask when it becomes clear she doesn't know what to do, standing in the kitchen staring at me.
"My mum taught me what she could. If there were signs or rubbish with words on it. When she died, I didn't try. There were some of the older ones who were born in factions, they would teach some of the kids. I wasn't going to give them anything in return. I needed street smarts, rather than book smarts." She shrugs her shoulders, trying to state it all as facts, without showing any emotion in regards to it.
"Well, I'm going to teach you. You will need to be able to read for initiation here." I state. It's not completely a lie, but it is well known that many are just followers rather than thinkers in Dauntless. However, I believe Hannah would never just blindly follow someone or their orders.
"I thought you learned to fight here?" She now is walking over towards the sofa again, perplexed at what I am saying.
"You will go through our protocols for guarding, and then you also review some battle strategies. All of these are important aspects of Dauntless that everyone needs to learn."
"Am I going to school?" She questioned and she actually looks excited at the thought of learning.
"I have a few books we can go through. I know Erudite have set up some training for those who need some help before their choosing ceremony. Max is having some stuff sent here for you." She looks me up and down, checking that I'm being guanine with my offer. "I have some work to do, but we can start after dinner. As long as you let me get my work done."
"What can I do while you're working?" She says, and for once I think she doesn't see me as the enemy. I'm nowhere near some she trusts, but at this moment, she is not feeling the need to be defensive or attacking.
"I assume you aren't able to fill in those forms, I gave you the other day." I find them on the coffee table, holding them up to remind her of what I mean.
"Can't really read remember?" Her words are sarcastic, but without anger or venom, which actually causes me to give way to a small smile.
I decide since this is the first time, she has been laid back I will let her enjoy the rest of her day. It will hopefully also mean I can get more work done. "Well, you seemed to keep yourself busy with drawing." Showing her the picture that she drew, while smirking at her. "Think you could pass the time with that?"
"You want me to draw?" I really don't think that's a very Dauntless thing to do."
"Dauntless members follow the order of their leaders, no matter what." I hand her paper and a pen, and she doesn't say anything else. "Max will probably call at some point, to see you today. You will respect him, if you don't that looks bad on me, and remember I hold the key to the cake." I say with a smirk, and it seems to give her enough reasoning to not question me anymore.
She simply nods her head and looks back down at the pages before her, and sits down on the sofa, bringing her feet onto the sofa, and I let her, even though it's a known rule in my apartment.
I'm actually able to get a good chunk of the work done that I need to do. Hannah keeps her head down and seems content in her drawing. I can't see what she is drawing from where I sit, but she works at it for hours. She seems completely engrossed in it, as she sketches and works with the paper more than anyone else I have ever seen.
It's getting close to the end of the workday before Max calls round. He leads Hannah into her room so they can talk alone. She looks nervous to go into the room alone with him, but with a bit of silent encouragement from me, they head in closing the door behind them.
With them gone I clear up my mess from work and tidy around the kitchen. Coming from Erudite meant that everything had a spot, and it was still very much ingrained in me. I have never lived with anyone in Dauntless other than the few moments in initiation years ago, so it was strange to think that a few pieces were not mine to sort.
The pages I had left Hannah were still sitting on the coffee table. It looked to be a skyline of Chicago with a sunset behind it. It was extremely detailed with the buildings, making it easy to determine where it was. It was near the courts in Candor and looking over the main assembly area for the factions. It's easy to see that she has been here many times, that she is able to draw it from memory. I don't know the significance of the location to her, but I'm nearly impressed since I know that she has not been professionally trained.
Leaving the pages on the coffee table, I head into my bedroom, trying to find a book suitable to work through with Hannah. Not many people want books in Dauntless, mostly those who transferred from Erudite or the few who also may have received an Erudite aptitude. Which made it easy for me to be able to get a good selection. However, many may be a little too advanced, even if I just want to see where she is. I pull out a favourite from my childhood: Wizard of Oz. Flicking through the first few pages and I'm content with my choice.
When I step out of the bedroom with the book in hand, I can see that they are still in her room. I take that moment to run down to the kitchen, unsure when someone is bringing food. I walk through the crowds, a few people eye me, probably looking to see if they can get a glimpse of Hannah.
Nate waves at him from his seat, he's surrounded by Uriah, Will and Christina. Nate has always been friendly with people, and for some reason also wants me to be too. I head over for a quick word.
"Where's Hannah? You didn't leave her upstairs to starve?" Nate question me around a mouthful of food before I can even sit down.
"Max called over to talk to her, I just came down for our food. You need to stop teasing her with cake. Every single day, it's all she asks for. I'm going to send an order out that there is to be no more cake." I say not with much threat, and Nate knows it.
"Now, that would cause a revolution," Will says from his spot. "How is Hannah? I've only heard from Nate and Four about her. She's settling in okay?" I've never had a strong opinion on the guy, but I will admit I do prefer when some from Erudite works in the control room. Especially when I go down looking for something specific.
"There are some growing pains, and I can't see us getting over them any time soon. Actually, Christina are you working tomorrow?" I say turning to his girlfriend, who never got rid of her ill feelings of me. For a year she refused to talk to me, she will now at least give me a snide comment.
"I have a morning meeting to go over plans for some tweaks on the patrol weapons with Harrison, Other than that I'm pretty free." She looks over at me suspiciously and I'm actually surprised she told me. "Why what do you want Eric?" And there's the snark.
"Max wants her to spend time with other people, and she doesn't seem to like Tris. You might have more luck. I have a meeting with the patrol captains in the afternoon. I can either drop her at yours or you can come to meet her at mine."
"Is she safe to be around Hannah by herself?" Will, the ever-overprotective boyfriend since initiation. I roll my eyes at his actions.
"As long as you don't piss her off. She can bring a friend or two, not too many. Just as long as they are going to be able to help you if she does get out of control. She's not super strong, but she can be stubborn. I don't want any more paperwork added to my pile."
"Shauna and Lauren are off tomorrow. I will see if one of them can help me out. If you want you can drop her off at mine after lunch." She suggests and actually looks pleased that I came to her and asked.
I nod at her in acknowledgement, rising to stand, saying I need to head back, knowing that Max is probably finished and looking to go home to his wife and child.
When I head up to the room, Hannah and Max are sitting on the sofa. I hand the box and utensils to Hannah and nod to Max. He stands and turns to Hannah.
"It was nice to finally meet you, Hannah. I do wish you all the best for your time here. If you need anything ask Eric, and he will hopefully be able to help. I'll see you around. Eric, I will check in with you at the leaders meeting in a few days. We may require your attendance at our Candor meeting next week, nothing to worry about, just going over the choosing ceremony since we'll have extra this year. I'll see myself out, so you can both enjoy your food and evening." He closes the door behind him and once again it is just Hannah and myself.
"What did Max say to you?" I ask after Hannah has opened the box and started eating her dinner.
She looks over at me, and it was clear she was trying to think how she would answer my question. She took another mouthful as she pondered. "He was giving me some pointers on living in Dauntless."
"You going to share?" I ask with a smirk, knowing that she is holding back on me.
"Nope." She simply stated back at me. "Can't be giving all the secrets away." She actually smiles back at me, and I'm surprised that I'm allowed to see her playful side, and it's even directed at me. No one is ever playful, they either want something from me or are fearful of me. Nate's playful with everyone so I'm not sure that counts.
"I'm sure I could get them out of you." I stare back at her waiting for a reaction knowing I probably went too far.
She doesn't look unsettled at my words and just finishes her food. Again, once she is finished she clears up after herself.
"You would think you had been raised by stiffs. You can wait a few minutes before cleaning after yourself." I remark knowing that both Tris and Four are the same way, only they would be clearing up after the others.
She rolls her eyes at me, "Living on the streets means you don't have a lot of stuff, whatever you do have, you need to make it last as long as possible. You aren't guaranteed when you're going to get another one."
I just shrug in agreement at her statement. I have never had to go without. My family were in well-paying jobs in Erudite when I was growing up. With joining leadership straight after initiation, I have never been low on the things I needed or wanted.
"Shall we start with your reading?" Grabbing the book from the coffee table. She looked down at the book, before smiling back up at me, and I took that as my answer. "Right get over here, can't read from the whole way over there."
She moves over to sit beside me and looks directly at the book. I opened the first pages for her as she stared at it in my hands.
"I'll read the first sentence and then you can try repeating it after me. Unless you think you want to try it by yourself first."
She looks down at the pages, scanning the words. "It might be best if you go first."
"Alright." Placing the book down on the table, in front of us, putting my finger on the first words. As I read them slowly, dragging my finger over each word as I speak. Her eyes watch intently over each word I say. When I finished I turned to look at her, "When it's your turn, you show me what words you want to read. It helps your brain to connect the words on the page to the words you are saying. It will make it easier to remember them if you see them again."
She slowly repeated the words, uncertain as she read. When she got to the end of the sentence she looked over at me: "What are Kansas prairies?"
"Kansas was one of the states, before the war and the factions were developed. They had fifty in total. Prairie just means a lot of grass-covered lands, it's mostly flat. A lot of the times it was left, to grow, rather than farming the land." I clarify for her, sounding like a textbook. If it was someone else they would have commented that my Erudite was showing.
"Do we live in Kansas?" She questions.
"No, Chicago was in a different state: Illinois. It's more to the west of us." I stand up, going to the bookcase to lift a certain book, bringing it back to the sofa. Flicking through an old textbook and finding an old map of America. "Here, this is where we are. Kansas is here. They were not super far from each other, compared to some of America." Pointing at each item on the map as I spoke.
Hannah looks at the map with great interest, placing her own fingertips on the page as she looks over it. "Do people live there now?"
"Who knows, but it's passed the fence and there are only bad things on the outside. The whole point of the fence." She looks fascinated at the books, moving her eyes from the story to the map. She turns to me, and I see how eager she is, soaking it all up, and I'm unsure why but I feel proud of her. "Shall we continue with the book?"
We slowly make our way through. She stops often to question the meaning of the words and I don't mind, compared to having to explain the same thing over and over again at meetings. When we make it halfway through the chapter, I notice the time. It's later than I would have expected. With having to train Hannah in the morning it will be an early start.
"Come on, it's time for bed." She looks at me and actually pouts at me. I could laugh at how ridiculous she looks right now."
"We didn't even finish." She huffs out at me, I remember saying the same thing to my mother when she would read to me as a child.
"There is always tomorrow. Come on, I'm not being your alarm clock in the morning., and we have training. to do." When I think she's going to speak again, I glare at her reminding her I would not be asking her twice.
She heads over to her room, shrugging and muttering as she goes. When I go to stand, I notice that she lifted the book and brought it with her. I should at least be mad, angry or frustrated, even a combination of all three: but instead, I find myself not minding.