Chapter 17
I don't know how long I've been here. It feels like forever. The way my stomach growls loudly and my head spins every time I try to rise from the crumpled ball I'm currently in, I'm guessing at least a day. There is no way to tell however, in this room with no windows.
Being in complete darkness for this amount of time lets me appreciate the things I get to look at every day. Tobias' eyes. The blue strip lighting in the Dauntless corridors. The light streaming into the pit. I hope to be able to see these things again. I hope I don't die in here, alone.
On the other hand, it gives me time to think. How clearly, I'll never know. Peace and quiet isn't something I've come across much in this last year. In my old faction Abnegation, most of our time was spent in silence, unless it was dinner time or we were in the family room. At these times, we listened to one another. I was never particularly good at listening, I always asked too many questions. How Caleb managed to get through it, hiding his thirst for knowledge, I'll never know. A pang twinges in my heart at the thought of Caleb. What will he be doing at this very moment? Does he think of me?
And then I hear something – movement. I swear. I don't think I'm going mad. There it is again! It sounds like a chair scraping across a floor, right above me.
I lift myself up from my position on the floor and scramble my way in the direction of the staircase. I try not to make too much noise, but it proves quite difficult in the pitch black. I almost trip over the chair, but manage to catch myself before tumbling to the ground. I get to the staircase and whilst guiding myself with my hands, walk up the stairs and reach the door. Just as I lift my arm ready to pound until my hand is numb, a loud crash comes from somewhere in the building. Then screams, and then – is that gunfire? I feel a glimmer of hope flutter inside me at the possibility of rescue. It flashes away as quickly as it came when I remember that we are in the middle of nowhere. Who would ever find me here? More screaming.
Then I hear the most terrifying noise of all, a set of boots clunking against the ground coming in the direction of the door I'm stood directly in front of. Eric, he is coming for me. I turn as quickly as possible, but the door slams open so quickly it catches the back of my leg. I tumble down the flight of stairs and searing pain crashes through my skull as my head collides with a wooden step.
"Shit!" Somebody curses loudly.
Christina?
I try to regain focus long enough to see the figure running down the stairs two at a time, the light from upstairs illuminates their figure alone, but I can't see their face.
"God, Tris, I'm so sorry. I didn't know you'd be behind the door. Are you okay? Are you hurt? Come on, let's get you on your feet and out of here." I look up at her face as she comes closer and start sobbing. She's come for me, but how?
"Christina, how did you find me?" I ask through choked sobs.
"Explain later, come on – up, up, up." She says hurriedly. I notice the large gun in a sling, swinging across her shoulder.
"Is there a problem? Get a move on!" A voice hisses from the top of the stairs. I recognise the voice immediately, but can't see exactly who it is.
"Yes, Shauna – there is a problem. I just nearly killed her by knocking her down a flight of stairs." She turns to me, wrapping her strong arms around my waist. "Can you manage like this?" She asks, I nod my head in agreement. I fear that if I start talking, the sobbing will return.
Christina hurries me up the stairs and when we reach the top, I acknowledge Shauna with a tight smile, which she manages to return. I take this as a good sign. Like Christina, she is also armed.
I take in my surroundings for the first time, I have to squint against the bright light streaming in from outside. There is a thick layer of dust on every piece of furniture and furnishing in the house. It's decorated differently to any other house I've ever seen before. The walls have a thick layer of paper over them in some sort of floral print, I know this by the fact half of it is peeling off. In a room to my left, there is a large fireplace with pictures frames sat on the hearth. Above the fireplace, a mirror as big as a single wall in my old bedroom hangs with an expensive looking gold trim.
Even though it looks as if someone put a lot of time, money and effort into making this house look desirable, in its current state it looks anything but. I understand now why I have never seen anything like this house before – it's made of timber. All the floorboards are exposed and where the wallpaper has peeled away, you can see boarding. Window frames have been put through, the door swings halfway of his hinges. So where exactly are we?
Christina lets go of my waist and takes grip of my hand, she squeezes it gently as if to let me know she won't release me. She brings a finger up to her lips as an indicator to be quiet, and presses her foot down on a floorboard which in turn creates a loud creek. I understand she is telling me to step lightly, not to be heard. We round a corner and enter a door into what I assume is the dining room. A large wooden table, quite easily able to seat sixteen, sits in the centre of the room. Like everything else in the house, it is layered in dust and most of the chairs are missing. Paintings are dotted around the walls and most of them are askew. In the corner is an overturned cabinet.
We quietly move towards a door that sits ajar, voices faintly murmuring in the distance. From all the shouting previously, it scares me there is only faint conversation. Backs pressed against the wall, we all stand near the door. Both Christina and Shauna have their weapons ready to fire at any moment.
Christina turns to me and in a faint whisper says, "Tobias told us to get you out of here and meet back at the car. I thought that it would be best for everyone to leave together. I didn't want to face the chance of him being hurt and me not telling you he was here with us." Tears threaten once more as I mouth the words "thank you". We all pause to listen in to the conversation in the kitchen. My heart swells at the sound of Tobias' voice –
"So you were just going to use Tris in this plan you've concocted with this idiot?" He snaps, but doesn't shout, I assume at Evelyn. There is a loud groan from someone inside. Is Evelyn hurt? Is that who they shot when I heard gunfire?
"She's the only person we could use! She's the only one who can still fight back against the serums they're using to control your minds. I know more about that girl than you give me credit for." Her response is so calm and measured that it can't be her who is hurt. Tobias doesn't answer.
"Darius needs to be overthrown Tobias, you know this. It's either Tris does it quietly, or we use force against Dauntless and kill people who fight for him. I know you wouldn't want your friend's deaths on your conscious." Again, there is no response from Tobias. I consider going in there myself. "I know more about what's going on in your faction than you do it seems."
This seems to have riled a response from Tobias, I can tell by his tone that he's trying not to raise his voice. "You didn't know that Dauntless have put a tracker in every Abnegation vehicle when you stole Mr Dawson's, did you? Or that I still have the authority to check things like that, did you Evelyn? No, I didn't think so."
"Did you know that Darius has now taken over the government? Your father, thank God, is no longer in charge. However, I don't believe Darius should be."
"Who do you think should run the government Evelyn, you?" Tobias asks, but there is only silence. Nothing – for a long time. Once again, I consider bursting through the door and grabbing Tobias.
"All you care about is power, you've finally shown your true colours. We will deal with Darius, please just go back into the hole which you crawled out from." The door opens quickly and Tobias bursts through and almost misses us, but quickly springs around, his dark eyes fixated on me. My blood immediately heats at the sight of him. Evelyn had followed him out of the room, and the by the look of horror on her face hadn't realised that Christina and Shauna had tagged along on the mission.
"Eric – NOW!" She shouts.
Suddenly Eric is at the doorway, gun poised into position at one of us. It's difficult to tell who, as his hands are trembling so much. Instinctively, we all duck out of the path of gunfire but Tobias has got there first.
Pop. Pop. Pop.
Eric's body catapults back onto the kitchen tiles and lays lifeless. Evelyn lets out a shrill cry. I grab onto Christina's gun as Evelyn reaches into the back of her trousers for a small pistol, but I anticipated her movement quickly and got into position before she had chance to aim. I shoot her in the leg, not to kill but to injure.
"Nice shooting, initiate." Tobias winks at me. "Come on, we need to get out of here."
He leads the way to the front door with Christina and Shauna close behind. I stop when I reach Evelyn's body, she clutches her thigh with tears streaming down her face.
"That wasn't for me - that was for abandoning him." I run to catch up to everyone. The adrenaline is beginning to wear off and I feel as if I'm about to pass out.
"Tris, you okay back there?" I hear Christina shout faintly in the distance.
It's too late, I sink down onto my knees clutching for air.
"It's okay, I've got her." Tobias' supple hands work their way under me and he swings me close to his body. He carries me through a thick forest of trees, even out in the open I have no idea where we are.
"You feeling okay?" Tobias asks softly, even though he's running at a fast pace. He's so strong, it doesn't even look like I weigh anything more than an apple to him.
"Mmm." Is about all I can manage. He tilts down, brings me up to his face and plants a gentle kiss on my forehead.
"Do both of them know who your parents are now?" I ask tentatively.
"Yes, but I trust them not to tell anyone." He says without looking at me.
"Me too. Where are we?"
"Outside the fence. We need to get back, immediately." He says, his tone urgent.
A large black four-by-four comes into view, Shauna and Christina have already made it and are catching their breathe waiting for us to arrive. Tobias pulls out a key from his trouser pocket, presses a button and a flash of orange appears from the headlights. I'm assuming that opens it because as soon as the orange light disappears, they both clamber inside.
Tobias opens the passenger side door, straps me in and runs around to get behind the wheel.
He starts the ignition and pulls away at speed, it only takes a few minutes before we arrive at a clearing with a road in plain sight. Tobias lets out a long sigh, and my insides lose a bit of tension. If Tobias' now thinks we are in the clear, we should be okay.
"Thought we nearly lost you there, Tris." Christina says gravely from behind me.
"I'll be fine, thanks to all of you." I turn to look at Tobias and he smiles shyly at me.
"I'm never letting you leave my sight ever again." He warns. He gently takes my hand and plants and gentle kiss on it.
"Yuck!" Shauna has begun to mimic throwing up in the back seat. I can't help but chuckle.
"So, what do we do when we get back to Dauntless?" I ask, bringing the conversation back to a seriousness.
"Firstly, we sort out this Darius shit. Then we throw you a huge 'We're Glad You're Okay' party!" Christina's voice turned into a squealing noise at the mention of a party. I had kind of forgotten how Dauntless had parties for almost anything.
Even though I know we have a task ahead of us, I have a blossom of hope that everything will be okay.