15 minutes can go by so quickly, you don't even notice the ticking of the clock. Or it can be like walking through a cold vat of syrup, one agonizing step at a time. This 15 minutes does not go by quickly.

I'm thinking it is just about time for us to give up and follow Tris when we see three black shadows ooze out of the drainage pipe. They stand still for a moment, heads bent together, looking at the ground, before setting off, roughly in the direction the others took. We wait and start to follow, stepping on marsh plants to avoid the noise of the breaking ice.

We've been following them for a few minutes when the hair on the back of my neck rises. I only have a few seconds to realize someone is behind us before a hand claps over my mouth, and from the sound of it, someone has Inez, too.

"Shh," a voice says in my ear. "Bobby sent us to warn you - those guys have orders to kill. I'm going to drop my hand now, OK?" I nod, and look over to see a hard-faced man I don't recognize, though he's obviously Factionless.

"Who..." I start to say, but the man shakes his head. He leans so close to me, his lips brush my ear. "Sound carries out here," he whispers. "No talking."

He has a knife in his hand, and he looks at the gun in mine and shakes his head. Too loud, he mouths. Others? I mouth back, and he nods, holds up three fingers and points off behind us up the embankment, waving his hand, which I take to mean they are not close. Then he points two fingers back to the pipe, with a swirl of his fingers and a little smile, suggesting they are lost in the pipe system. There is only one other person with him, and from the height and build, I would say it's a female. Four of us to three of them; I like the odds.

The three Factionless move quickly, as close to the retaining wall as possible, and I immediately see why. There is a concrete gutter running along the wall, and though it does have some ice in it, it is possible to run along it, much more quietly. Once again, I have trouble keeping up with them, as they move easily and silently along the crumbling cement.

We close in on the three hunters quickly, and the Factionless man points two of us to the left figure, one to the right, and indicates that he will get the middle. He catches my eye and mimes cutting a throat, then puts a finger to his lips. He doesn't want any sound. He holds up his hand, putting up one finger, two, and then on three, we spring.

Inez and I take the first, and we've been working together enough that it is smooth and over instantly. I pull back his head and jam my hand over his mouth, yanking him backwards, and Inez cuts his throat, without a moment of hesitation. I keep my hand over his mouth as Inez stabs him the kidney, too, for good measure, and then we ease him to the ground.
The middle stalker is face down on the ground, with our guide kneeling on his back and pressing his face into the frozen marsh. The other Factionless woman did not fare so well, and she is on her knees, grappling with our would-be assailant. There are some grunting and gasping sounds, but fortunately they do not make much other noise. I move to help, but a knife goes flying past my face, landing squarely in the tracker's back. He cries out, but I am on him before he can make any other noise, drawing my knife across his throat. He makes a gurgling, frantic noise, as his hands clutch at his throat and he turns to look at me, his blood spraying me in the face. My eyes widen, and I step back in horror.

It is Steven, one of my cohort from Dauntless. It can't be - he's a friend. Has been, ever since initiation. He actually jumped into the net right before me and was the one who offered a hand up. "We were the last two to jump," he had chuckled at the time. "Might as well stick together." And we did, for the most part. We definitely competed with each other; he actually knocked me out once in a sparring match, but he could always make me laugh, even then. "I know this is all too easy for you, Four," he had drawled, as he offered me a hand and pulled me up, "but napping in the ring is just a little much, don't you think?" Initiation tends to create alliances - and that's by design, part of the process of breaking us down, and building us back up with a bond to our new faction and a life of combat. They want you to learn fast that the only thing you can count on is the person next to you. So it was Steven, me, Shauna, and Zeke, with a couple of people on our margins, mostly against Eric and his cronies. Steven was really the first friend I ever had.

I catch him as he falls to the ground, and he's looking at me, eyes swimming with terror, trying to speak. He can only make wet, gasping sounds, as he clutches at my sleeve. Is it possible we made a mistake about which group following us was actually the threat?

I look quickly at our supposed Factionless ally, but he's kneeling next to his fallen comrade on the ground, his back to me. She's curled into a fetal ball. He wouldn't put his back to me if he were here to kill us.

"Four," Steven gasps. I look down at him. "Didn't know..." he struggles to say. "Sorry," he whispers, as the blood flowing from his neck pulses with his last convulsive heart beats.

"We have to move," Inez says in my ear, "now!" I lower Steven to the ground, staring at his frightened eyes, but Inez quickly flips him over and pulls her knife out of his back. The she nudges me with her foot.

The Factionless man has the woman up and draped on his shoulders. He just makes eye contact with me and nods, before turning around and heading back toward the drainage pipe.

Inez is already moving across the marsh, back into the gutter. I take one last look at Steven, dying alone in the frozen mud, and run after her.

The Ferris Wheel isn't far now; I can see its loop rising up over the marsh.

Tris is already there when we catch up with her. She turns to me in relief and then freezes when she sees that I'm covered in blood. "Not mine," I mutter, as I angle my body away from her to avoid an embrace and squeeze her shoulder briefly. As much as I would rather be in her arms right now, everyone huddled in the lee of the wheel is cold, scared, and watching us. They will only be as confident as we are. Hurt flashes briefly across Tris's face, followed quickly by comprehension, much to my relief, and then she clenches her jaw and nods. That's my warrior girl.

"How many are here?" I whisper.

"We're missing two groups," she responds. I can feel that Inez is right behind me, and I turn to see Uriah is there, too. Good: he, Tris, Cara, and I know where the safe house is.

"Tris and I will stay and wait for the other groups," I say. "Uriah, you get Cara and the others to the safe house and we'll meet you there. If we're not there by an hour after sunrise, go to the fallback. If we're not there by noon, pick another one, and we'll try to find you later."

Inez pulls on my shoulder to get my attention. She jerks her head away from the group.

"Send Tris ahead or leave her here and you go ahead," she mutters, once we're out of earshot.

"Why?"

She meets my eyes. "You're not as good when she's around," she says flatly. "You care too much. Wrong instincts; dulls your situational awareness."

I look at her in surprise, anger rising up my throat. Inez crosses her arms and doesn't even blink, meeting my gaze evenly.

"Getting mad at me won't make me wrong. You know it's true."

We stare at each other, and damn her, I do know she's right.

I turn away from her without a word.

"Tris," I say when I get back to her, taking hold of both her shoulders. "We can't stay together. I'm sorry. Can you take them to the house?" She looks up at me darkly, searching my eyes, as if she's trying to figure out my motive for sending her away. She glances back at Inez, who must nod or something, because Tris nods slightly back at her.

"Okay," she breathes, and starts to turn away.

"Tris," I say urgently, and she looks up at me. This time, I do pull her to me. "Be careful. I love you. Always," I rasp in her ear, nipping her earlobe gently. She smiles at me and runs a finger along my lips.

And then she's gone without a backward glance. Uriah gives me a little wave and a makes a kissing gesture as he moves to take up the rear guard. I roll my eyes at him and give him the finger.

Inez and I find a good hiding place, where we can see the wheel clearly, and settle in to wait. We don't talk, but she leans up against my shoulder, and we give each other weary half-smiles. The body warmth helps.

Laila arrives soon after, looking grim, and then utterly hopeless when she sees there's no one at the wheel. I approach her quietly.

"Laila," I whisper, which almost sounds like shouting in the silence. She doesn't jump, however, and turns quickly toward me. I motion her over, and she follows me to Inez.

"What happened?" I say quietly.

"Ambush," she whispers to us. "They got Cyd and Jose," she holds a hand out to Inez. "I'm sorry."

Inez nods at her, expressionless. "Is he dead?"

"I don't know," Laila whispers apologetically. "Cyd is, but I didn't see what happened to Jose. He told me to run."

Inez nods again.

"Let's give Rat 30 minutes, okay?" I look at Inez closely, to see if she's going to be alright, but she shows no emotion whatsoever as she nods briefly at me. She doesn't lean away, either, though, as I move my shoulder back along hers. Laila sits on her other side, and rests a hand on Inez's knee.

We end up giving Rat an hour, which is as long as we can risk it, because the light is beginning to creep up the horizon line over the marsh. It turns out to be a good thing we waited, though, because he makes it - barely. He and one of the Candor women are struggling with Jeb strung between them. I take one look at Rat, the furious cold look in his eyes and rigid line of his shoulders, and realize that he must have deliberately failed his combat assessments. This is a man who knows how to fight.

We emerge from our hiding place, and I see Inez and Rat make eye contact.

"We have to move," I say urgently. "Do we need to bandage him first?" I gesture at Jeb. Rat nods urgently, and they ease Jeb to the ground. He's barely conscious as Rat pulls his shirt up. Jeb's shirt is soaked in blood and he has a deep knife wound in the back, all the way through to his abdomen, almost at his hip bone. I wince and hope they didn't get any major organs. Inez hands me a pad, and I can feel she's soaked it in antiseptic. I shake my head and gesture for the kit. I use the pad to clean the wound and flip the pad over to dry it as best I can, picking the butterfly plasters out of the kit. This wound has to be bound together on both sides, or he'll bleed to death before we can get him anywhere. Then I get another pad and some stretchy bandages and wind them tightly around his torso, pinning it in place. The whole thing takes me less than two minutes, and I look up to see Rat, Inez, and Glory (the Candor's name - and really, who else would name their kid Glory?) looking at me with wide eyes. I smirk at them. Really? They're surprised that Dauntless know how to do field dressings?

Then I stare at Rat impatiently - "other injuries?" I whisper harshly. He points to Jeb's shoulder. I look, and he has a second knife wound, above his shoulder, dangerously close to his neck. Both of these wounds came from behind. Anger smolders in my guts. Fortunately, this one is much shallower and only needs a light bandage.

I look at Rat in concern and gesture at him. You, too? I mouth the question. He holds up his hands, and there is blood seeping through bandages wrapped around both. "Good enough," he mutters to me. Glory nods that she's okay, though her eyes are wide with fear, and I realize we need to keep her from going into shock. I make eye contact at Laila and jerk my head towards Glory. She understands immediately, and moves next to her, whispering urgently in her ear.

Jeb has passed out now, so Rat and I pick him up and make a basket out of our arms to hold him in.

"Let's move," I whisper. "Laila, Inez, watch our backs and make sure we're not being followed. Glory, keep close in case we need your help with Jeb. Make sure none of us is dripping blood, okay? We don't want to leave a trail." Glory nods, a bit glassy eyed, and follows us, looking nervously at the ground.