When all the initiates were distributed, the groups set out again to find a base. Alex left the planning to the other initiates. In her opinion, she had already done enough for today.
In fact, she had only one goal for this round. Eric. He was going to let her go. Ruining her whole future and all because she hadn't kept the night's rest. Worse than that. He had wanted to expose her. Alex stroked the trigger of her gun.
When the go signal sounded, Alex stormed off. After showing off her new climbing skills, she had been assigned the role of a scout and was supposed to find the location of the enemy base. To do this, she climbed onto the nearest building and surveyed the surrounding regions. A small glimmer of light on a façade was enough for her. She ran across the rooftops to the old market hall, where indeed some windows were repeatedly illuminated by a glow from a torch. Alex watched the spectacle for a few moments, then jumped silently onto the roof and dropped down onto a ledge on one side. The window creaked softly as she pushed it open and peered into the hall at her feet.
Alex took a quick picture of the situation before raising her rifle and taking aim at the dark silhouette busily giving orders in the middle of the hall.
There was only a muffled groan from Eric as the shot hit him in the thigh. Alex waited until the beam of a torch illuminated her before she winked at Eric and shot him in the chest. Then she turned on her heel, climbed down the facade and sprinted towards her own base. Behind her, shots and wild shouting could be heard again and again, but she would not be dissuaded. She did not even stop when she reached her base and the defensive line that Four had set up. The pursuers were greeted by a whole horde of gunfire. While almost the whole of Four's squad was defending the base, keeping most of Eric's people busy, a small group was to steal the enemy flag. Alex's job, on the other hand, was done. She had roused Eric's people and taken them to their base. Even though the way she had done it probably hadn't quite suited Four's ideas.
So she ran past the defensive line into the next alley and there into a nondescript house. On the third floor, she finally came to a halt at the window and took a moment to catch her breath before trying to help her team from this elevated position as a sniper.
The deep breath was interrupted when she suddenly felt the muzzle of a gun on her back. A hand wrapped around her shoulder and gently brushed down her arm to the weapon in her hand.
"I wouldn't move if I were you." Eric's voice sounded so playful and so deadly at the same time.
Without resistance, she allowed the gun to be taken from her.
"Turn around." His voice was barely louder than a whisper and yet he took up the whole room with it. Her skin prickled and she obeyed.
His face was only a hand's width from hers as he gave her a look she couldn't identify. Then he smiled. His gun was now pointed at her stomach.
"Now, explain to me what our little Erudite was thinking by shooting a Dauntless leader not once, but twice?"
Alex was still fighting the unwanted reactions of her body, trying to get Eric out of her head. A deep breath. A second.
"Are you going to complain about getting shot during war games?" Alex had composed herself and playfully threw the question at him.
"You deliberately shot a Dauntless Leader twice." Eric narrowed his eyes.
"You could have taken cover after the first time," Alex threw back sugary-sweet.
He eyed her, eyed her for far too long. Alex stared bravely into his eyes, not even allowing herself to blink, and just as he opened his mouth to speak, she deftly snatched the gun from his stomach and held it against his forehead before he could react.
"I wouldn't move if I were you," she threw back his own words.
Slowly she let her hand brush over his shoulder and arm to the gun in his other hand. Then she tossed the second gun into a corner of the room and concentrated on the gun on his forehead alone.
Eric grinned.
"I didn't expect an Erudite to give up her plans so easily."
"Careful, you shouldn't upset the person holding a gun against your forehead. I would therefore advise you to stop naming me after my old faction."
"That might be difficult, seeing as you're so easy to upset." Her eyebrows twitched.
"I think anyone would be upset if they were kicked out of their faction for a sleepless night."
"If only it had actually been a sleepless night." Eric's eyes twinkled. This time she saw the challenge that lay dormant in them.
"What do you mean?"
"After your absence was noticed tonight, I took the liberty of putting our staff from the control room on your disappearance. It took them a while, but they found some very interesting footage from the last few nights. Here an arm at the edge of the field of vision, there a shadow. It seems like someone was sneaking through the corridors trying to avoid the gaze of the security cameras."
"You should probably look into that. Only I still don't know what it has to do with my absence." Alex tried to play innocent.
"You will soon enough." He was still smiling, which for some reason very much infuriated Alex.
"I have to say I'm glad you tossed your little charade game. Initiation will be much more interesting now that you have no reason to hold yourself back."
"What charade?"
"Come on, little Erudite. I think we're over playing dumb. You're not as good of an actress as you think. The way you analyse your fellow competition, how you mimic the others, the tip you gave Kylie during her fight, your "lucky shot" during your first fight, how fast you react ... There were many clues. You prepared for this. You know what you are doing - at least to a certain degree." Was that a compliment?
"I guess I should have known that a former Erudite would notice the signs. Analysing the initiates, putting one and one together. Sounds like you haven't left your old faction behind either."
"You can save your taunting for others. Unlike some, I know who I am and which faction I belong to. And I can proudly admit that even as a dauntless leader, I can't resist a good puzzle."
Alex tilted her head.
"The good puzzle being-"
Alex didn't have a chance to see it coming. Eric moved so quickly, so deftly. One moment she was holding the gun to his forehead, the next he had it strapped to his belt and was calmly looking at his watch.
"Time to go. I think I've distracted you long enough for Ben to steal the flag."
"What?"
She turned jerkily to the window and could just make out a shadow dipping into a side alley with their flag. He must have snuck up behind them and escaped down an alley that only Alex could see from her position behind the defensive line.
It was like a punch in the stomach when Alex realised how Eric had played her.
Alex looked back at Eric and it dawned on her that her great plan to ensure she would stay in Dauntless had maybe just been part of Eric's plan to solve another puzzle. Now, he knew she had been holding herself back in training. She had been so focused on trying to be underestimated that she made the mistake of underestimating him herself.
There was a subdued mood among Four's squad as they headed home, while the people on Eric's team talked excitedly about the evening's events.
Alex plopped down on the floor of the train compartment next to Lucas and Kylie.
"I think I owe you two an apology, I know how much honesty means to you and-"
"Let me stop you right there. Honesty means a lot to people from Candor. We're in Dauntless now. We get it, playing it safe for a while is a good strategy in a competition like ours," Kylie took her hand it squeezed it reassuringly.
"Playing it safe, a good strategy ... that means a lot to the people from Erudite" Alex said, her voice weak.
"Well, good thing you are Dauntless now." Lucas winked before letting his head rest against the train wall.
"Yeah, good thing." Alex whispered before resting her head against the wall as well.
