Just then, I hear shots and shouts in the distance. I pause the simulation and am at the door in two long strides, gun in hand. I peer cautiously out; the hallway is completely empty.
There are other computers in the room, so maybe I can bring up the surveillance system and see what's happening. If the assault is failing, I'm going to need to get Tris out of here.
I lock the door and drag a tall, heavy cabinet in front of it, just in case someone with the combination tries to get in. I find a weapons locker – the key flutters in the open door. They were so overconfident. Book smart isn't always all that smart. I tuck two more guns in my waistband, lock up the rest and pocket the key.
I don't have to work too hard to get into the surveillance system – two of the computers already have it on screen. One shot is of my cell – it's empty, door ajar.
Another window shows Control Rooms A and B – what's left of them. A smoking heap of metal, glass, and wire. The traitors were certainly thorough.
Down in the lobby, the battle is raging, a heaving tangle of bodies, gunfire, and smoke. It is impossible to tell which faction is which, with loyal Dauntless, traitor Dauntless, and reformed Dauntless, crossover Erudite, and factionless, all fighting with and against each other. In other parts of the building, I seek a few panicked Erudite running through the corridors, but no one who appears to be heading this way.
But I may not have much time.
I go back to Tris – she's still sleeping, stretched out on the metal table. I kiss her on the temple and turn again to the computer screen, tapping a key. Peter, Tris, and I are hiding in a building, under a stairwell. It wasn't exactly easy for us to escape Erudite, but it wasn't all that hard, either. Again, I wonder why that's not tipping Tris off that this is a simulation.
"Why did you do it?" she asks Peter. "You want me dead. You were willing to do it yourself! What changed?"
"I can't be in anybody's debt, okay? The idea that I owed you something made me sick," he bursts out.
The shock shows openly on our faces as Peter explains that he lives by a rather extreme Old Testament code, in which he takes "an eye for an eye" quite literally.
It's a pretty good explanation for what might have motivated Peter to act, but it's a little too good. It took too much planning and too much risk for someone like Peter, whose highest priority is always going to be self preservation. He would not be willing to get on Jeanine's bad side at this point, even to satisfy his perverse moral code. Then again, I can't pretend I know what would be realistic for a sociopath.
