Tori and Tris: Chapter Twenty Seven - A piece of me - Part Two
It had been awhile since we had made love in a way that was as satisfying to our souls as to our bodies, so we made sure, several times, to get it right. Although we were pretty worn out we were not at all tired. Tris gets the alcohol and I get the tobacco, we are scheming now. "When?" I ask, having wandered around with my head up my ass for days, I wonder what else I have missed. "Today, my name hasn't been announced yet but I have it on good authority that that it will be," she replies. "Eric?" I ask, she replies "You know it."
"Do you think it is possible that you and I can garner enough support here at Dauntless to hold off Chicago?" I ask her. Tris doesn't answer that question but says, "When I asked if you would leave, it wasn't a trap, you're not obligated, Tori." I am shaking my head, "We just got through all of that, Tris, I don't think you want to trap me, I have made my decision and I am good with it. But before we go, we should be sure to exhaust all of our options."
"We should liquidate our stock, pack a bug out bag, choose a meet up point in case we get separated. Should I signal Luka, now? We should take Eric down, for us and for Dauntless." I don't say for Four, but it's out there. "Ok, let's take a breath." Tris smoothes my hair back, "Jeanine isn't coming here to get me, she is waiting for someone to bring me to her, that gives us some time. Now, we would be asking Dauntless not only to choose between us and Eric but between us and Eric and Chicago. I don't like our chances, Tori, but I am willing to try."
Under cover or early morning darkness Tris and I make our way onto the roof, stash 2 bags holding valuable trading stock and contraband; medication, drugs, alcohol, weapons in the power box. We silently climb over the side of the building concealed by trees, making our way down until we can get into the tree itself so that when we reach the ground we will be far away from any eyes trained on our apartment and the building.
Of course we hope not to be seen but from this point on we consider ourselves liquidated. We run steadily and stealthily through Dauntless toward the forest between our faction and the fence, we won't be safe on trains or anywhere we can be seen. When we get reasonably deep, I run straight up the trunk of a tree, pushing off I reach for and grab hold of a good branch and haul myself up a little way. I pull a little net from my pocket and lay my bug out bag in it, Tris tosses hers up to me and then begins obscuring our tracks, backing away. I wrap the two packs together in the net, cover them with some greenery, then taking a sturdy branch, I swing out of the tree, landing as far away from the trunk as I can.
Tris and I jog back a roundabout direction and as we head back into Dauntless we split up. Time is short, I wake some people up, first, someone from my cohort. I tell her what she needs to know and what I need from her, her support is immediate and unequivocal. Next, a black market contact, again what he needs to know, his assurance is dependable. There is someone from the alliance I can trus, I tell him what I need and he gets his people together.
Sitting with my cohort at breakfast we are all pensive, when I am sure that the mess is at capacity and I climb up onto the table and address my faction. I speak for a minute or two when Eric steps forward, arms out, palms up, this is his moment, he is smiling like he cant believe how easy we have made it for him. "So Tori wants the faction of Dauntless, wants you all, to turn our back, go rogue, on Chicago, who we promised to protect and defend, because her girlfriend is a criminal?"
Before he can continue, Tris stands on her seat, surrounded by her cohort, she speaks, "It is true, I am Divergent, but I am no criminal." Every eye in Dauntless is on Tris, "They say Factionless don't fit into any faction and Divergent fit into too many - if that is true that indicates that we have at least seven factions, not five. You all have to work out what you think that means, but in the meantime, Eric is right, Dauntless did promise to protect Chicago and its inhabitants. But Chicago is not under attack - its inhabitants are."
"We were asked to commit ordinary acts of bravery, and to embody the courage that drives one person to stand up for another. Eric, you are a bully and a coward. You introduced unnecessary rule changes that cuts initiates cut for your own sense of power. You subjected initiates to brutal beatings in Fight Club. You hung Christina over the chasm when she asked for mercy," Here Christine stood up, silently staring at Eric, Tris pushed on, "You forced Al to stand in front of a team of knife throwers." Will stood, next to Christina, remembering that day and that Al was no longer able to stand for himself. "You shot Molly with a neuro stim dart," Now Molly stands up too, "You held a gun to Four's head when he was under simulation during a training exercise in Abnegation." A few of Four's closest friends stand because he is no longer here to stand up for himself.
Eric begins to see the writing on the wall and starts to back up, but he finds his way barred by a silent wall of Alliance members, standing shoulder to shoulder. I pick up the mantle, "Eric, you are a threat to Dauntless and you have colluded with Jeanine Matthews against your own faction." Eric laughs loudly, "Where's the proof?" I continue, "He told us that they were tracking devices," I say, pointing to a fresh cut on my neck where Tris and I removed our trackers overnight, "But that's a lie, Jeanine, Max and Eric have implanted us with neuro-transmitters, we can be controlled directly by Jeanine, bypassing Dauntless command procedures. Eric has offered us up as remote controllable soldiers, not in defence of Chicago but on behalf of Chicago against its citizens. Like Divergents who have been accused of no crime and are suspected of no wrongdoing." Eric and Max find themselves quietly restrained.
I look around, "We have all failed to engage in the ordinary acts of bravery that would have put a stop to Eric and people have paid for it with their lives. Tris. Four. Yesterday it was Eric's war on the vulnerable, today it is Jeanine's attack on Divergents, who will be next?" Peter, keen to keep his alliance options open, stands to ask "What exactly do you want from us?" His framing of the question underscores the notion that there is an us and them, luckily for me Tris has a wider field of vision, "We are leaving," she says, stepping down from her table and moves in my direction, I too step down.
Eric arcs up, "No, no, there's a bounty on her, Jeanine wants her. She's Divergent, she's a danger to the whole faction system." He is pulling against the hands that hold him tightly. I take her hand when she reaches me, "We are leaving. Check out your trackers and see who is telling the truth. If you decide as a faction you want to be truly dauntless, if you want us back, if you can protect us from Max, Eric, Jeanine, maybe Peter here, you let us know and we will come home."
As we start moving through the room, urgent discussion breaks out - could it be true about the transmitters? If there is a bounty should Tris be allowed to leave? Eric is frothing at the mouth, straining at the hands that bind him, he is screaming "She is Divergent, she is Divergent." As we pass through the room I pause before him and run my fingers across his neck, someone from behind pulls his head back by the hair so I can have access, I am looking for the chip I know is not there. Aloud I say "No chip?" and more quietly I say "You bit the wrong beast, don't choke." Tris and I are flanked by our brothers and sisters, no one stands with Eric, they have known him too long and too well to doubt the truth of our claims.
We are escorted safely out of the building through the compound, as we are embraced we thank our cohorts for their faith in us, for their dauntlessness. They assure us that we will be home again soon and hand us our bags as arranged, we slipped them on and ran.