Hooray for reviews! OK, a little bad language in this one. And sorry I couldn't remember if we know Uriah's last name... What do you think?
We're sitting close together on the floor of the train so we can all hear Tris over the clack of the tracks and the wind rushing through broken windows. Jeb is lying in a makeshift stretcher nearby.
"We don't have a lot of time before they realize we're not coming to Amity, so we decided there's no point in trying to sneak around Dauntless," Tris shouts. "You and Rat and I are just too recognizable, anyway."
I raise an eyebrow and shoot a frown at Rat. "You've been gone 10 years," I note. "Do you really think that many people will remember you?"
"They'll remember me," he chuckles.
I just look at him skeptically. Sure, he's tall and has a pretty distinctive scar on his face, but once you're gone, people tend to forget you were ever there. Like footprints in sand.
"He was a Dauntless leader," Tris explains, and I quickly clench my jaw to keep my mouth from falling open. Rat shrugs apologetically as I stare at him.
"Okay," I finally say slowly. "You'll have to tell me more about that sometime. Go on, Tris."
"We'll come up from the tunnel at, you know, the spot," she blushes and her eyes flick up quickly at me from under her lashes. "Nobody knows Gordon," she rushes on. I glance at him and realize he's wearing some of my clothes. The pant cuffs barely graze his ankle, and the shirt is tight, but it's good enough. He'll pass for Dauntless. "He'll take Jeb up to the hospital, staying away from the cameras. Then he'll go see if Leo is in the control room. If he is, he'll tell Leo to come to the Pit. Then he'll go back to the hospital and help with Jeb until we come for him. He's a doctor," she adds, shooting me another glance. "The three of us will go straight to the Pit and just start talking to people. We'll tell them what's happened, who we think the traitors are, and that we're looking for Uriah."
"That's it?" I say, in disbelief. "That's the rescue plan?"
"Yep," Rat says happily. "Better to keep it simple. Use the crowd, and the fact that only a few of them are against us, as both a shield and a weapon."
I frown. "Only a few of them are with Johanna," I correct him. "At least half of them were against us."
Tris shakes her head. "I don't think they really knew what they were doing," she says. "We have two former Dauntless leaders, and we'll have Leo there to stand with us. Anyone who doesn't trust you will trust him."
"Yeah, well," I grumble, "let's just hope he's still alive, then."
Tris scowls at me, crossing her arms. "Come on, Tobias," she says impatiently. "You almost sound like you want us to fail."
"I just want to get out alive," I snap. I inhale deeply, rubbing my hand wearily over my face and closing my eyes. I can feel the anger rising up like magma from my guts, burning in my throat. I take another deep breath and open my eyes, shoving the anger back down and dragging my mouth into a small smile.
"It's a good plan," I say, as she looks at me suspiciously. "As good as it's going to get," I amend, reaching out to take her hand. I get one of those rare, sky-blue, Tobias-only gazes, and a tight grip on my hand in return. I can literally see the tension lift from her shoulders as a faint smile flits across her face.
We ride in silence the rest of the way.
Getting up the ladder and into the rocks around the river is difficult. Jeb weakly insists he can manage the climb himself, but Gordon says the effort might kill him. So Gordon and I do our best to carry him up, at least managing not to drop him. Rat wrestles with the stretcher. We flop down in the rocks and catch our breath for a moment.
"Do you think you can manage alone all the way up to the hospital?" I ask Gordon. He nods.
"Okay," I sigh.
"He'll be able to get someone to help him," Tris offers.
"I'll just tell them it was a training accident," Gordon rumbles, rising up.
"Yeah," Tris deadpans, "maybe someone threw a knife at him. It happens."
"Good luck," I say, ignoring the jibe and gripping the shoulder of this man I barely know.
"You, too," he returns. Rat pats him on the back, and then goes to talk quietly to Jeb, who is still in and out of consciousness. Much to my surprise, Tris gives Gordon a quick embrace.
"Be careful," she says softly, and he nods at her,
He carefully lifts Jeb out of the stretcher and slings him across his back. Once we lose sight of him in the rocks, I turn and look at Tris.
"What?" she says defensively. "He's a good guy, you know."
"Been hanging out with these Factionless too much," I mutter, jerking my chin at Rat.
"What's that supposed to mean?" he says mildly.
"Bunch of huggers," I answer sourly, as he laughs and seizes me in a big bear hug.
"Hey, off me!" I swat at him, swearing loudly.
"Shall we go cause a ruckus?" He says, letting me go and bowing slightly, sweeping a hand elaborately toward the path.
"High time," Tris nods. "After you."
I lead the way up the path and over the rail, startling several people milling around the edge. It's late morning, right before lunch, and the pit is packed, pulsating with talk and laughter, all jostling elbows and clasping hands. As we walk into the crowd, however, a hush begins to spread like a ripple across water.
"Four?" I hear someone say, and I see Lauren. I smile at her as we walk past and touch her outstretched hand. Some people gasp when they see Rat, and I'm startled, too, when I steal a sidelong glance a him. Gone is the genial, sly-tongued Factionless drifter; in his place is a hard-faced man, standing straight and tall, a challenge glinting in his eyes. One hand is resting lightly on the gun at his hip, and I can see the fingers of his other hand curling up toward his sleeve, where a knife blade pokes out. I can tell he wants everyone to see that it's there.
He gives me a grim smile when he sees I'm watching him, and inclines his head slightly. Well, well, I think. Will wonders never cease.
We're creating quite a stir now, with people murmuring our names and reaching out to touch us. Once we reach the middle of the pit, we stop.
"Dauntless!" Rat booms, and Tris and I look at each other, even further stunned by his transformation. "Listen to me," he commands. "There are still traitors among you who would destroy all of you and everything Dauntless stands for. It is the reason I left ten years ago when I was your leader, and it is the reason I have returned today." The cavern is completely silent, but for the sound of the tumbling water. "It is time to take back your own destiny and stand up to these cowards."
"We have been betrayed from within," Tris shouts. "Jeanine tricked you and used you; she turned you into murderers to suit her own ends. Her servants are still here, hiding among you."
"They have taken one of our own prisoner," I add. "Uriah Jones - his life is in danger. We need your help saving him. Has anyone seen him? Does anyone know where he is?" The crowd begins to rumble and shift uneasily, and out of the corner of my eye, I see Leo coming down the path, Christina, Darius, and Zeke close behind.
"Please," Tris says loudly, raising her hands dramatically, and I realize she's trying to keep attention away from Leo. "He may not have much time, especially now that they know they are exposed."
"Who are they?" a voice calls out from the crowd.
From memory, Tris calls off every single name we know - except for Shauna.
"Don't let them get away," Rat calls out urgently, over the swelling anger of the crowd.
In the yelling and tumult that follows as people try to run and are seized, pushed to the ground, punched and kicked, Leo is able to reach us.
"What the hell are you doing here?" he spits out.
"Saving your life," I answer calmly. "There's a hit out on you." Leo's eyebrows shoot up, but he recovers quickly and then shrugs. "Figured," he mutters, but he lays a hand lightly on my shoulder.
"Uriah is here?" Zeke asks me urgently. "Is he okay?"
"We don't know," I answer. "He's being held somewhere - we'll find him. But Zeke, I need to talk to you for a minute. Alone."
I turn and push through the roiling crowd until we get to one of the alcoves, and we step partly behind a pillar. I position myself so I can see Tris and Leo, and Zeke is facing me. I glance at him, and see he is pale and sweaty.
"It's Shauna," I say, looking back at Tris. I can see Christina has reached her, and they are embracing, laughing. Darius is behind them, scanning the crowd warily. Good.
"What about her?" Zeke says, confused.
"She's one of them."
"One of who?"
"The traitors."
Zeke takes a step back from me, eyes wide. He starts shaking his head vehemently.
"No... That's... That's bullshit, Four. You don't know what you're talking about. She would never... She wouldn't..."
I don't say anything. I just watch him, with my arms crossed.
"You should go find her," I say softly. "We'll try to protect her, but I don't know what's going to happen."
Zeke just stares at me his mouth moving wordlessly.
"She might know where Uriah is, Zeke. They're going to kill him."
Zeke backs away from me, shaking his head again. "Fuck you, Four," he finally says. "Just...just...fuck you." He turns sharply and stalks away from me. As I watch him go, I know I've lost him. He'll probably forgive me, he won't blame me once he has time to think about it, but he will never really be able to be my friend again.
"What the hell is going on here?" I hear Tori shout, wading into the crowd, and I start to run and shove through the crowd as soon as I see who she's with. It's Harrison, weapon drawn.
"Tris!" I shout. Her head snaps up, and a shot rings out a second later. The room erupts into screams and chaos before I can see who's been hit.
"That's enough!" Rat shouts over the surging crowd, firing his gun into the air. "Everyone stop right where you are and shut up. Are you sheep? Are you children, pissing in your sheets? You are Dauntless!" He roars. People look at him, shocked into silence.
"Dauntless!" he roars again, fist in the air, and the crowd shouts back at him. Soon, it's a deafening chant: "Dauntless! Dauntless! Dauntless!"
I'm able to get to Tris, and she is obviously unharmed. My shoulders sag in relief.
"Where's Leo?" I say in alarm. She nods off to the side, and I see he's with Tori, crouching over someone.
"Harrison," Tris says softly when I look at her. "Rat had him before he could get a shot off."
I glance up at Rat, who has the gun in his hand, muzzle still smoking and jabbing up into the air, punctuating his shouts of "Dauntless!" Soon, though, he begins waving his hands downward, signaling for silence.
"This went all the way to the top," he booms, glaring around the cavern. "Harrison was not here to show you the way; he was here to ruin you." He pauses, giving everyone a chance to take it all in. The room is full of uneasy murmuring and heads turning to look where Tori now stands alone, anger etched in the lines around her eyes and mouth. "It is time to choose a new leader. It is time to choose a new beginning. It is time to choose Dauntless again."
I'm not at all surprised when they start to chant his name. Not Rat, of course, but Ralph. Rat is someone else, someone they will never know, shed like a second skin in the tunnels of the Factionless. He holds up his hands for silence again.
"Thank you, my friends. My family. It would be my honor to lead you back to greatness," there are raucous cheers and wolf whistles, the stomping of hundreds of boots. But he just shakes his head. "No!" He roars. "That is not my path," he continues into the shocked silence. "I will go with Tobias Eaton and Beatrice Prior. We will go beyond the wall to save you all, every man, woman, and child here, your children and grandchildren not yet born. We will save Dauntless!" The cheers that started again then die back at his next words. "And we will save the Factionless! And the survivors of Abnegation. We will save Amity, and Candor, and yes, even Erudite. We were literally born to save you all. We are Divergent!"
"Divergent!" Someone from the crowd calls out. It starts hesitantly, but grows quickly in strength, and soon the entire room is screaming out "Divergent!" and even "Save us!"
"Four," someone says urgently, pulling at my sleeve. It's Darius. "They found him. Come now - hurry."
"I have Rat's back," Tris shouts at me. I look at her uncertainly for a moment, and she gives me an annoyed look. I can practically hear her yelling at me that she is not helpless.
"Hurry, damn it," Darius urges, yanking my elbow. I give Tris a last look before I turn and run after him.
