Caleb's POV
What have I gotten myself into? I am sitting here on this cold bench cursing out loud in my mind. I only have myself to blame. Learnt my lesson today. Never, ever wander into dark rooms. There could be a deeper, philosophical meaning to this situation but I am too lazy and frustrated with the world to find it out.
I think about the layout of this whole place. A room in a room in a room. A very weird place. I saw a picture like this in my tab. It was captioned with 'Inception'. It showed a boy staring into many mirrors inside a mirror.
…
The waiting room seems like a setting for a crime scene. The sim room is even more so. Isn't that what murderers look for? Empty, desolate places with not a shadow of a witness. I keep the file beside me. I need to find a hiding place to stow in and find later. What will I say to Alev when he comes over in the morning? I could say that I was reviewing my fear simulations and coming up with strategies to battle them. I don't know if Alev will believe me. I remember him telling us that this was resource was open to all of us whenever we want to look at our simulations.
I should look at my simulations so when he checks it in the morning, he can see my entry in the computer records. I am dreading it so, so much.
Okay, this is the price you pay for sneaking out. My face scrunches up as if it could protect me from my mind's monsters.
I go to the table on which the computer is kept. The cloudy white serum has several of its twins in the drawers, the syringe too. I grab a needle and a vial and load the needle with the serum. I give the syringe a couple of sharp taps. I wouldn't want air in my bloodstream.
How do I inject myself? The question is answered when I have to stab my jugular with the needle. It is a very painful experience. I run to the seat quickly and wait for the serum to take effect. The blank white walls are the last thing I see. I am overwhelmed with the desire to leave a mark of my suffering on the cold white walls.
Come on; throw everything you have at me. I'm ready for anything, any damn thing.
Oh, I am so wrong.
A giant ball of black slime is hurled at my face, mocking me. What am I afraid of? Rotten-food-slimeball fights? I can feel liquid pooling near my legs. I glance at my legs. The fluid is a sickly green. My legs seem to be stuck to the ground and my face also. I touch my face and look at the sticky green goo. It looks like nothing else I've seen before.
My hands are entirely covered in the black gloop which seems to spread and slide down my arms. I can't help but do a fake-puke motion and be entirely disgusted. Honestly, this thing's stink is worse than Max's (the Dauntless leader) unwashed-for-a-week gym socks.
I evaluate the fluid. It is exactly the consistency of cornflour mixed in water. The more you try to fight it, the more it traps you. I tried to punch it and my hand was almost broken. It is a non-Newtonian fluid. (I tried this experiment and mom frowned at me hard for wasting an entire ration of cornflour.)
How do I fight it, without making it worse? I can submit but the burning is getting to bad to bear. It is a weird kind of burning, almost stinging but not quite. I can't put my finger on the exact feeling and I doubt that you would like to jump into this cesspool just to find out what it felt like.
It is not an acid burn, it is probably some organic compound derived from some peculiar plant. That may explain the green colour. I see around, I am trapped in a tiny rusted metal tank with the rust mixing in with the slime and imparting its own odour with the slime. I'd be thankful if my nose still works after this torment.
I spread my legs around slowly because moving too fast will make the fluid jam up. I look for an inlet/outlet, anything. After a foot or so, I can sense a tiny whirlpool below my feet. This is where the slime's coming from. I stamp on the whirlpool and it has no effect. I need a big weight to stop it.
Where is the weight? I bend down and find the drain. My olfactory nerves revolt but I need to get the hell outta here! It is covered by a really heavy drain cover. The drain cover (or the entrance to the Underworld) must have big holes in there. I form a plan inside my head but I almost expect another piece of bread to fall from the sky. The semi liquid seems to get thicker after it erupts from the drain. I could lift the cover to make enough liquid dilute the entire tank before it thickens up or I could try to block the holes with the clothes I have on.
I have a gut feeling that blocking the holes wouldn't help. Time is running out and the burning is getting really bad, bad, and worse! My arms turn a scarlet-fever rash-y red. I wish I had Dauntless strength. The cover's made of cement and the really slow tugging will tear off my deltoid along with my biceps, triceps, external obliques and whatever it finds. My zygomaticus major would also rip off due to the excessive frowning.
I pull the cement cover slowly, the water flow helps me. I have the cover in my hand for a second and I heave-ho it away with whatever strength I have left. The cover lands on the surface with an enormous 'plop!' a few centimetres away from my feet and sinks down.
The gargantuan force of the liquid threatens to bonk my head against the roof of the tank. I am thrown upwards but I submerge downwards a few seconds later.
Well done, I didn't even think of the possibilities of drowning. It is too late. The slime enters my nose and holy Styx, it burns like hell. My eyes seem to be going blind. The fluid gets into my ears and mouth. The taste is like a rotten egg dipped in an acid bath and a lot of dust too.
I am blind.
Deaf.
Anosmic.
Speaking is fighting a lion with a toothpick.
All pathways of information shut down. The slime covers each and every inch of my self.
This is what I feared, isn't it? I have no information for my brain to process, with my only lonely thoughts for company.
Despair, deep, dark, dense despair, fear's twin strikes me with a vicious maul. Time, the most ancient of all things, becomes a nonentity.
The simulation decides to show mercy on me.
It lets me go.
…
I open my eyes and can almost feel the slime on my eyelashes. I check my arms, the rashes never existed. I go to check the time on the computer and it shows eight minutes, good but not that good, considering eight minutes were spent in fighting only one simulation.
I go back to my bench and try to sleep there. But before that, I tuck the file in between the waistband of my jeans and the front of my blue hoodie. I am really thankful for baggy clothes now. I just need to make sure that Alev doesn't find the file on me in the morning.
Sleeping is a risky business. I could move around in my sleep and the file would be exposed, but even then I am human and I need my sleep. I put my elbows on my knees and my head in my hands. Sleep overcomes me almost instantly.
…
"Wake up, Caleb!" An arm shakes my shoulder vigorously.
"Huh, Beatrice, go away. I don't want to go to school." My voice is the perfect impersonation of a zombie.
"Who is Beatrice?" A deep male voice speaks. I jump out of the bench due to embarrassment and nearly hit Alev on the neck.
"Oof, you got my elbow."
"Sorry, Alev" I get up and rub my eyes. I check my hoodie discreetly, the file is there.
"How was I locked in here?" "How were you locked in here?" Both of us get to the question at the same time.
"Okay Caleb, I find it really strange to find you here locked up in the sim room."
"I had come here at night to undergo a simulation and come up with strategies to fight them. After doing the simulation, I got locked in." I wipe at a thin line of drool at the corner of my mouth. My eyes are crusty as well; I wonder how Alev is talking to me without running away. I rub my eyes frantically.
"How was I locked in, Alev?"
"It happens sometimes, actually the doorknob is fit with fingerprint mapping technology and it creates a virtual log of anyone who enters this room. That log malfunctions sometimes and the door gets locked."
"Even the doorknobs have computers in them?"
"Yes, they have." He doesn't say this with a look of pride but merely states a fact.
"Who is Beatrice?" He gets curious, and prods around for information.
"She is my sister, she chose Dauntless this year and she was really annoying. Her wake up pranks were the worst. Once, I found a really big insect on my face. Imagine having a big black beetle on your face when you wake up." My rambling is a force of nature; God knows whom it decides to strike.
"So you confused me with your sister?" He has a faint smile on his face. It is probably the first time I saw him smile.
"Yes, sir"
"Oh, no need to get so uptight in the morning. I get strict only after 8.30 am. It is only seven." His smile grows a little bigger. It reminds me of someone else's. Who can it be?
"Facing any problems here?"
"No" My reply is remote. The file inside my hoodie grows heavier. I can't help but see this as a severe breach in the trust Alev placed on me.
"Now run along, today has new challenges for you."
"Thank you, Alev."
I run to the dorm, careful not to drop the file on the ground. It looks like I enjoy putting my hand in the lion's mouth.
The whole dorm is catching the last few minutes of sleep. Might be a good, restful sleep for some, might be nightmarish for others.
I stow the file carefully between layers of clothes. I say layers of clothes because Anahita (and Tristan of course) gets me a new tee almost every day.
I go through the morning drill. Brush, shower, dress, wear shoes. I go outside to the park.
…
Ohmygodohmygodohmygod. Rhiannon runs outside in the park. Her tank top makes me notice things I didn't notice before.
She is so damn beautiful. My gaze cannot help staring at her like a creep. It travels along her body. I scold myself. My face resembles an Abnegation mother's typical candy-denying expression. I remember mom used to wear that face sometimes.
I hold my head in exasperation. She notices me and comes near.
"Having a headache, Mr. Prior? Want me to bring an aspirin?" She mimics an impersonal, cold, medical voice but her eyes give her away. They are pools of liquid bronze and emeralds, with small flecks of brown in them.
"No thank you, Dr. White. I was just thinking about something."
"Doctor? Really?"
"Oh yeah, and a really cute engineer as well." Oh, how did I learn to flirt so painfully obviously? I need to stop it. We are barely on the 'friends' plane. I need to make sure of that before adding 'girl' to it.
She goes quiet. I scrunch my face up.
"Was it that bad?" I ask timidly.
"Not at all. What made you grace me with your presence this early?" The subtle flirting from her side is also not unnoticed. She does it so well.
"Just wanted to get out of my bed and into the sunlight."
"Anyway, I got those media files you asked for. They're in my dorm. Want me to get it right now?" Her tone goes all businesslike, no trace of joking.
"Yes please."
"Aye aye, captain! I'll be right back!" She sets off into a run, and I can't help but think that it is clumsier than her usual jog or sprint.
She runs to the dorm. I wait for a few minutes. This girl is completely out of my league, planet as well. She switches personalities so efficiently. A minute ago her voice was all businesslike and half a minute ago it was something out of a comedy show. She is unpredictable as a river. It reminds me of someone else. Beatrice.
She comes back and presses the tiny flash drive into my palm. She stares into my eyes for a second and my heart is trying to match the speed of a mouse's heartbeat, which is something averaging 500 beats per minute. Pure energy shoots into my hand.
"Goodbye! Today has new challenges for you." She says and runs off.
Bizarre. This was the exact thing Alev said to me before I ran off from the sim room.
…
"The test was a roundhouse kick, sucker punch and a full nelson, all in one." Tristan contributes his opinion to the conversation. He loves to compare everything (especially surprise physics and math tests) to a fighting move. I don't even know what a sucker punch or a full nelson or a roundhouse kick is.
"What is a roundhouse kick, sucker punch or a full nelson?" Anahita voices out the curiosity in my mind.
"Alright, I can explain the theory but don't laugh at my demonstration. I was never good at practical fighting. Those velocity and acceleration variables were too 'variable' for a good calculated move. And I cannot do things on instinct. Fighting places you higher in the Dauntless hierarchy. I never had any use for fighting and Dauntless never had any use for a nerd like me." Tristan sounds almost bitter when saying this.
"Even I find no use for fighting. I think everything can be solved with a warm, loving hug. Not to criticise Dauntless, but they like to bulldoze through everything before thinking. Have you seen their body modifications? I bet most of them were drunk while getting those." Anahita says.
"I agree, I am not Dauntless now, you are free to criticise my former faction."
There they set off again. I can't help feeling more and more like a weird third wheel. Both of them quarrel in a not-really way.
I walk to the dorm. The flash drive is carefully stowed in my glass cabinet. I have the key stored in the bottom of my midnight blue sneaker. It is odd, but pesky keys are most commonly depicted as falling out of hoodie or shirt pockets.
The dorm is empty. Most of the time it is. Most of the initiates feel trapped in this dorm and try to find a piece of home by roaming around the whole unfamiliar compound.
I take the key out of my sneaker. I open the cabinet and take the tiny flash drive out of the pocket of another pair of jeans I own.
The tab does not have a USB port. Irritatingly, it has two micro-USB ports. Well, my bad. I need to get an adaptor from wherever I need to get it.
I look at the map in the tab, my new best friend. All electronic equipment is manufactured in the miscellaneous manufacturing department but the sale depot is in the media office. It is so strange; it would be better having the sale depot in the manufacturing facility itself. Well, I'm not bothering with finding the motive of this placement.
I go up to the second floor. Helpdesk 'Violet' gives me the usual 'May I help you?' stuff.
"I want to go to the electronic devices sale depot. Please don't tell me that I cannot buy stuff from there before initiation ends." Wow, I am getting so desperate.
"No sir, you are welcome to buy whatever you want from the electronic devices depot. Please go to the end of this hallway." She points forward.
That was unnecessary. There is only one wide hallway in this part. The left side of the hallway has three wooden doors while the right side is an enormous glass wall, showing the underbelly of the great media office. Where the seeds of rumours about Abnegation are planted.
I see Jeanine talking to one lady in the office. The thick glass wall makes it impossible to hear parts of the conversation. The lady looks fearful but it is not the kind of fear that you have for someone you respect deeply, but the kind of fear which is evident in life and death situations.
Is everyone that afraid of Jeanine here? Her cold blue eyes send chills down my spine and I am standing at least fifteen metres away. I know her method of threatening, it is either blackmail or stating cold hard facts which have so much of truth in them that it hypnotises, no, makes you a slave. It is all subtle manipulation, moves and countermoves.
She would never get down to the level of threatening directly. People who threaten directly show that there is something they need from you. Jeanine makes it look like you are doing the thing for yourself but actually it is her you are serving.
I go into the depot. It is bright like a dentist's office. It stuns my eyes for a moment. I get the cable quickly and run away from the depot. I don't even notice the cheerful lady trying to make conversation with me. I avoid all eye contact and go into robot mode.
I am running for my life right now.
…
I don't stop running until I reach the dorm.
I attach the cable to the flash drive and the tab. I hide the connected flash drive underneath my leg.
The amount of data on the drive will take years to sort through. I put a few filters on the search bar and seven reports pop up.
Three of the articles report killing but it is not manslaughter. Instead, it looks like suicide attempts. The time period is around initiation. The people are two sixteen year olds and one eighteen year old. One sixteen year old is from Dauntless, the other is from Abnegation while the eighteen year is from Erudite. The names are Josh Stevenson from Erudite, Anneliese Smith from Dauntless and Carmen Harrington from Abnegation.
A few months earlier, around the beginning of the year, there is another nineteen year old dead from Candor. His name is Steve Yates.
The pool of people is varied but it is in the sixteen to eighteen year old gap. Steve was killed. The other three were suicide attempts. There are many differences between Steve and the other three people.
Steve was killed in a road accident the common area, near the factionless sector. The other three had committed suicide in their faction compounds. Two of them hung themselves while the third jumped into the chasm.
The road accident was a head on collision with an Amity truck and Steve was said to be 'under the influence of an intoxicant'.
The road accident seems totally separate with the aptitude flexibility. Why would three people decide to commit suicide in the exact same day? Carmen committed suicide in the wee hours of morning. Anneliese apparently got drunk and jumped into the chasm at night. That is the most preferable method of killing yourself in Dauntless. I need to ask Tristan about that.
The two cases are too much of a coincidence except the two year age difference. They both killed themselves on the same day and the modus operandi were the same. Hanging themselves.
There is definitely something fishy here. The other people from the initiate class would be aged twenty six something now. I need to look at the common initiate file now.
I grab the common file from the cabinet, hide it under my shirt and get inside a bathroom stall. I stand inside the (kinda smelly) stall and take the file out. There are sixteen people in that year, ten Erudite born and six transfers.
A brilliant idea hits me.
I look at the poor results list. If there was a factionless person on the list then I could maybe talk to him or her. They probably would not have any underlying loyalty for Erudite. If I ask any members then they would smell a rat and register a complaint against me.
There is only one factionless person in the whole list and he became factionless by choice. His name is Jordan McCullough. He would probably be twenty six now. I just need to figure out a way to gain his trust.
I get out of the bathroom and stuff the file hurriedly in the cabinet. Just as I am about to close it, A really unwelcome visitor pops in.
"What are you acting so sneaky about, Stiff?" Xander asks.
…
I'm sorry for cliffhangers like these. The last song was "Where Did The Party Go? by Fall Out Boy. It is from their album 'Save Rock And Roll'. Guess this song. It is from the same band. By the way, has anyone read Trials Of Apollo? I haven't, I want to know that whether it is a standalone or it is a series. Seriously, I wonder how all people could have waited after all the truly horrible cliffhangers in Mark of Athena and House of Hades.
Good day/night (evening, afternoon, whatever)
TheVibrantNight