The only sounds I hear are the five of us breathing and our footsteps slamming into the concrete as we continue our run outward. I try to convince myself that the silence is a good thing, but what if the gunfire stopped because there was nobody left to shoot? I shrug off the thought and replace it with something that grounds me. Pain. All of my muscles ache, from the tops of my arms to the pads of my feet. The bullet wound in the back of my shoulder, along with the graze on my arm, blend into the burning of my muscles. I should be uncomfortable and spent, but the stinging makes me feel awake. The burning makes me feel alive.
I was close to death just hours ago, inches from it. I need to focus. My mind can't wander like this.
We have spent our time navigating alleyways and getting as far from Erudite headquarters as possible. We haven't had time to discuss any plans for survival, but I get the feeling that this discussion was had when I was passed out. Zeke, Cara, Uriah, and Tobias are moving with a sense of purpose. I am out of the loop and hating every second of it, but there is no time to fill me in. Not yet. If Tobias had a part in this plan, I can trust it for now.
A few more minutes pass until the guilt overtakes me. "Christina. What happened to her?" I manage to break the silence. The words come out staggered between my gasping breaths as we run down another dark gangway.
At first I think that the others are ignoring me, that they are afraid to deliver the bad news. It feels as if my stomach is doing back flips, preparing to heighten the body count. Zeke's step falters and I could swear I saw him wipe away a tear. We slow down to a jog and Cara speaks first.
"She was with us in the beginning. We found her by an exit, but she couldn't run. Her leg..."
I swallow hard, fighting back tears.
"I couldn't either if I remember correctly." I say as cold as ice.
Zeke's turn.
"She told us to leave her. She told us that she'd go out like a Dauntless-"
"But-Christina-might-still-be-alive!" Uriah interrupts Zeke and blurts out the words I have been waiting to hear. I jolt at the word "alive" and grab Uriah's arm. We all stop moving for a moment.
"Explain." I manage to mutter in my exhaustion and relief.
"Peter." My blood ran cold as Tobias uttered his name. No matter the small deeds Peter had done to save me, he was still more enemy than friend.
Uriah elaborated. "Cara and I were trying to coax Christina into leaving with us one last time before we were forced to make a run for it after the three of you. Peter showed up out of nowhere and threw Christina over his shoulder. She kicked him hard in the side of the head, but he started for the exit anyway."
Cara now. "We lost them a few blocks from the headquarters. There were others with us too. Some innocent Candor and Dauntless...Shauna... We were being tailed. The Factionless had all the weapons. We couldn't afford to stop..."
Shauna. They left her. First Christina and now this. I glance at Zeke and he's biting his lip, hard.
Cowards.
I have nothing to say to any of them. They left them behind. They left Christina behind, and with Peter.
"We have to go back..We have to find her...We have to..." I stop wasting my breath. We are too far from wherever they were last seen now to risk turning around. I swallow bile and give myself five seconds of weakness. Five. I should have been awake. I could have done something. Four. Peter better be taking care of Christina or else he's dead. Three. Unless he already is dead. Christina might be dead too. Two. Christina, I'm sorry. One.
"Where to now?" I need to focus on being filled in on the plan while we are stopped.
Tobias looks at me with a worried expression, trying to tread carefully. "We're leaving, Tris. Getting out of the city."
There was a time when that statement would have alarmed me. There was a time where I never even considered there being anything in this world except the people within these chain-linked walls. I now see them as restricting, as a prison more than a safety net.
Edith Prior. If there was still even the slightest chance of finding the truth out about my mother, about my family, it was far, far away from here.
"I figured." What choice do we have? We were leaving our city behind, just like we left Christina, wounded in the middle of a war.
Tobias continues, "Cara has a small gadget with her that can cut wire with a laser. We just need to get to an area of the fence that isn't utilized as often. We can't go toward Amity. That would be too expected."
Cara picks up as soon as Tobias finishes talking. "When you woke up in that alley we were just finishing up our raid of some old Factionless buildings. We found a few cans of food, but nothing that can hold us over for too long. We'll have to hope that there is something out there for us after all."
I look over my shoulder and see that we are far south of the Hub, which is now just the smallest glimmering shape against the night sky. It would blend perfectly into the darkness if it weren't for the light of the moon.