Hello lovelies. I've recently decided to pick this story back up. If you're a returning reader, kindly read the first chapter again. It has undergone some major editing.

Enjoy!

This weird new environment, albeit familiar, was unsettling. The man had led Tris to a SUV parked on the main path that ran through the Abnegation district and they were now making their way out of Chicago. The route he was taking was familiar. They were headed for the compound. The same place she had felt her life leave her body just a short time ago.

Tris kept her eyes forward, watching the man's movement out of the corner of her eye. The rifle's aim was, of course, permanently trained on him while her mind wondered.

Her consciousness had been there just a few hours earlier, yet everything seemed so different. In fact, everything was different. Life in what she now knew to be a simulation was not idyllic by any means. One would think that it couldn't get much worse than an already decrepit world where society was as deteriorated and corrupt as it could get. But adding to that the absolute lack of people and animals, the rotten and vile vegetation and the diseased tones of this world, Tris was silently wishing for her own broken world back. She even wished she could see the birds that plagued her fear simulations soaring high in the sky.

She was burning to know what had morphed the world. "What happened here?" Given the man's earlier reluctance in providing an explanation, she was surprised when he gave up some information.

"I'm not big on the details. It was before I was sent here on assignment. From what I know, there was some plague going around long ago. A disease that affected everything and everyone. When people were sent here to deal with it, they tried the only solution they could think of. Sure, it worked, but they never managed to get you guys back to normal." At this, he shrugged. "Dying in the simulation is the only way to get out of it."

"What happens when people die of old age or of natural causes?"

"We find them dead. More often than not."

Tris narrowed her eyes at the man. "What's your name?"

"Mark. Do you want my last name too?" He smirked at her.

She shrugged. "Sure. Might as well know the full name of the man I may end up killing today."

Surprisingly, he laughed. "It's Martinez. You know, you seemed like a self-righteous bitch in the simulation."

"Did I?"

"Yeah, you did. You're not so bad in real life though. How about you stop pointing my own gun at me? I am not a threat to you."

Tris snorted. "Really? I distinctively remember you shooting this very same weapon at me."

To her, Mark Martinez seemed excessively amused for a man in his current position. "Let's put it this way, I'm not a threat to you if you're not a threat to me. You are heading to where I need you to be so that I can do my job. I have no reason to hurt you."

Slowly and keeping her full attention on him, Tris slowly lowered her gun. Now that the shock from waking up in this strange world was subsiding, her brain was coming down from its fight-or-flight state and she could think more clearly. Of course, she now recognized that she was playing into his hand. Well, maybe not Mark's hand per se, but whomever had given him his orders. She never liked not knowing and she most certainly did not enjoy being played. She'd had enough of that to last her a lifetime. However, given the state of the world, she would never be able to survive alone. How would she be able to get water and food? If the people who were watching over the Chicago experiment were working from the compound, she was sure she'd find supplies there. Plus, if she wanted to get answers and have a chance of seeing her parents again, the compound was the place to be.

It was with a heavy foreboding feeling that Tris spotted the compound in the distance, the building becoming larger by the second. As Mark pulled up to the guard station that controlled the gate, she knew it in her bones that she was walking into the lion's den. Willingly.

If you enjoyed this, drop me a review. Suggestions on how to make this better are always welcome.

See you next time! Stay home and stay safe!