like/hate? please r&r!
Getting on the train with Jeb unconscious is a challenge, but we manage it. I put him over my shoulder, with Rat and Inez helping haul me through the door.
We're heading farther north of the city than I've ever been. The train doesn't come very often, but Uriah assured me the line goes a long way in this direction, right past the wall, without stopping.
We lay Jeb out on the seats and I check his bandage. It's holding well; no sign of serious bleed through. I brush his hair gently off his forehead and look down at his unconscious face, realizing for the first time that he's just a kid, probably not even 16 yet. He's heavily muscled for a guy his age, but his face still has that slight hint of baby fat around his jawline. In any case, he's way too young to be a casualty of a war he didn't ask for.
I sigh and think maybe we all are.
Except for Rat, who has to be pushing 50. He's way too old for this kind of thing.
We have about 20 minutes on the train, so there's time for me to look at Rat's hands. The slashes are deep, defensive wounds; we'll need to stitch them when we get to the safe house. I clean the cuts, close them as best I can and wrap him, and he grunts in appreciation.
"There were only two of them," he shouts over the wind, "but I didn't hear them coming. Stupid," he grimaces.
"We had three," I say, "but some help from Factionless, otherwise we would have had some trouble, too."
He gives me a funny look, and I raise my eyebrows quizzically at him.
"The ones who attacked us were Factionless," he notes.
"Dauntless," I respond. "At least, the one I got a good look at was." We stare at each other for a minute, and I shake my head.
"Did you know him?" I ask.
He nods. "Her," he clarifies, barely audible over the wind from the open door. "I knew her."
"Me, too."
We'll have to work through what it all means later, when we're all together.
The sun is all the way up by the time we near the right stop. It's in an area with a number of large homes, or at least, Uriah and Zeke thought they were homes. As the train passes through, I think the ones I can see look large for a family, but Uriah said that's what the layout inside the places looked like. Perhaps families were bigger back then - it's very rare now to see a family with more than one or two children, with the exception of Amity.
I'm able to rouse Jeb enough to get him to stumble off the train on his own; we're lucky this is a spot where the cars slow down for a curve in the track. Even so, he falls hard and knocks himself out again, and I have to redo his bandages before we can continue.
Our safe house was no family home, that's for sure. Zeke said he figured it was a club of some kind, maybe for people with boats, given that there are the remains of jetties, falling into the marsh. One more piece of evidence that it used to be a lake, once upon a time. Maybe it still is somewhere out there. The place has a couple of big rooms that can serve as training areas, but it's not so large that we can't defend it. There's a tower next to it, too, which gives us a good view of the surrounding area. Apparently, Tris and Uriah already set up a watch, because they meet us before we even get inside the fenceline.
Uriah and Martin take over carrying Jeb, and I breathe a sigh of relief and rub my neck and shoulders. He was getting heavy.
"I thought I told you to leave if we weren't here an hour after sunrise," I grumble at Tris.
"Yeah, well, it's good to see you, too," she shoots back unapologetically as I put my arm around her shoulders. We start to walk into the building when I realize Inez and Laila are hanging back.
"What?" I say to them.
"We're going to look for Jose," Inez says, a stubborn cant to her chin. I know that while it's not even remotely a good idea, there's not likely to be anything I can say that will change her mind, and, I realize, nothing that I want to say. It's what I would do, too.
"Hold up just for a few minutes," I respond quietly, not releasing Tris. "The train won't be back by for a little while, so there's time to get something to eat. One of us," and by us, I mean Dauntless-trained, "will go with you." Inez looks at me gratefully and nods, and we all go inside.
Inez and Laila only stay long enough to get a drink of water and change their heavy packs for light ones with a few provisions. Uriah offers to go with them, and the three of them quickly leave. I am very uneasy that they are going back out into the marsh in broad daylight, but it can't be helped. Neither Laila nor Inez will be any good on this mission if they don't at least go look for Jose.
The rest of us spend the morning arranging our new headquarters. There are a number of smaller rooms that we can use to sleep in, and Tris and I are able to claim one just for the two of us. As we're putting our packs away, I close the door quietly, and press her up against it, lunging for her mouth. She bites my lower lip, her fingers in my hair, and I pulse my hips into hers. I'm just reaching under her shirt when we hear someone calling me. We both freeze, hoping whoever it is will give up and go away, but instead, the voice is getting closer. Tris sighs into my mouth and scoots out from under me. I bang my forehead lightly against the door, adjust myself a bit, and then open the door.
"Yeah?" I say, trying not to sound too irritable. "I'm up here."
"Oh, hey. There you are. Is Tris with you? Everyone's looking for you guys." It's Fernando, totally clueless, which is probably why he's the one who came looking for us.
"Yeah, well, you found me," I say sourly, crossing my arms. "What is it?"
He just looks at me unperturbed, one eyebrow up. "We have the computers up and running and the chip Linus gave you on screen. We think you'd better take a look."
"Okay," I sigh. "Are you coming?" I ask Tris.
"Not right now," she says. "Rat and I were going to work on the training program with the Candor."
"Rat?" I say blankly.
"Yep. He's actually a pretty good fighter - you'd be surprised. Erudite-raised, but chose Dauntless. Lived there for years before he took off for Factionless."
"He told you that?"
"People tell me lots of things," she smirks at me, brushing up against me as she squeezes past through the door, her hand discreetly trailing across my groin. I try not to flinch.
"But I'll see you later, right?" she says, shooting me a look back over her shoulder and running her tongue over her lower lip. Well, she went from being a shy virgin to a big tease pretty fast, didn't she? Do they give girls lessons in that or something?
Fernando clears his throat, pushing his glasses up. "Ah, I wasn't interrupting anything, was I?" He says nervously.
"Not at all," I respond, voice dripping with sarcasm. He looks scared, so I relent and clap him on the back. "So, show me what we've got," I say, trying to sound enthusiastic, as we set off down the stairs.
