CHAPTER TEN
TRIS
Tobias and I laugh as we heave Simon through the door. He kicks and screams at us "GERROFFME!"
I take pleasure in pulling him by his strawberry blonde hair to shut him up. When we both release him he slides over to the wall and leans against it.
"What the hell are you doing?" he says.
"Paintball." Answers Toby promptly. He shrugs and walks off.
"I was sleeping!" he says with a frustrated tone.
"Oh shut up you Pansycake." Lynn throws a gun at him and he picks it up roughly and points it at her.
"What did you just call me?"
"Go ahead, motherfucking shoot me I dare you, little bitch." He drops his aim and she pushes him into the wall. They both keep their beady eyes on each other until I tell them 'that's enough'. She releases him.
"We're playing paintball. Didn't you hear Four? Clearly what I just handed to you was a paintball gun." She snickers and walks away. He slings the gun behind his back and patiently waits for the pellets. Zeke rounds the corner to my right, bringing a long line of Dauntless-borns behind him.
"Hey, Tris, these are my prisoners." He waves a hand in front of his initiates. They're all red eyed and sleepy.
"I said WAKE UP!" he shouts. The girl at the front jumps back into the boy behind her, startled. A few further back in the line laugh, somewhere in between consciousness and unconsciousness. I notice one of them as Thom, Uriah and Zeke's younger brother.
"I swear they get lazier every year." He mutters, giving a comically obvious glance at Thom. Four walks up to the Dauntless-borns and hands all of them a gun each, with a packet of pellets.
The fresh air welcomes our sleep-deprived faces, rejuvenating them. I smile as the stars above twinkle upon my face. All of the initiates trudge on behind us, some laughing and talking, some yawning and wrapping their jackets tighter around themselves.
Toby comes up behind me and kisses me on the ear, missing my cheek as I duck. I giggle and he pulls me in by the waist, lightly turning my head with his fingertips so that he can kiss me on the lips.
Halfway through the kissing we both can't help but smile. We pause on the spot, and the initiates walk straight past us. He wraps his fingers around my elbows and kisses me on the forehead. Keeping his lips pressed there, he tells me:
"Remember what we were doing at this moment last year?"
"Yeah?" I ask, staring at his enormous Adam's apple. I like how it slides up and down his throat when he talks. A flash of the Ferris wheel flickers past me.
"That scared the absolute crap out of me, climbing that wheel." He says.
"I know it did." I feel him become warmer, and I close my fingers into a fist and place it on his chest. I move my head ever so slightly forward so that it's resting against his neck.
"I wasn't scared of the height, I was scared of falling."
"I know."
"I was so scared, my lungs kept in rhythm with my heart, I was breathing that fast."
"I know. I felt it, on my neck." I smile as a cool breeze floats over the back of my neck and I realise he's been toying with my hair, pushing it over my shoulder, so that the bare skin is showing.
"But what really frightened me was the fact that you might fall." He presses his lips between my eyebrows and I notice his forehead is sweating profusely as it rests against mine.
"Toby…"
"I love you Tris." I don't even think twice, I reply immediately.
"I love you too, Tobias." He finally lifts my head up so that I can look him in the eyes.
"I like your tattoo" is all he says before He puts his hand over it and pulls me towards him for a kiss. Before any of the initiates start cooing and wolf-whistling he squeezes my hand and catches up with Zeke.
I touch the back of my neck, where tiny droplets of his sweat has lingered. I can almost feel it, I can almost feel the indents of the skin that the tattoo made.
Christina startles me more than Zeke did the prisoner at the front of his line. I take up the rear of the pack while we're walking and she comes up from behind, breathing on my neck, sending chills down my back.
"Christina!" she laughs and pushes me lightly before wrapping an arm around my shoulders.
I think about pushing her back.
But I can't.
"I know what you're thinking, Tris. I'm happier than I have been all week."
"Well, is there a reason why?" I hang on the 'why' note, gesturing her to give me the reason (which I hope to the almighty god is that she told Will).
"I haven't told Will." Is the immediate answer I receive.
I manage an "Oh." But she sees right through me.
"Come on, don't look at me like that"
"I'm not looking at you I'm looking at my shoes." It's true, but it's also a feeble argument Christina appears to be too bothered to play with.
"Look, Tris, I just want to have some fun tonight, I want to shoot some people, I want to run around like crazy – not that you would know, seeming as you were just getting it on with Four the whole time we were doing all the hard work."
"Oh my god – Ew. No, no, we were not getting it on on that Ferris wheel, I was scouting where the flag was-"
"Where his flagpole was. You know, that large, thick, really, really high flag, bending slightly to the left, with a shimmering purple vein running strong…"
I start to picture the penis Christina describes… as Tobias' penis. I start to picture it in my hands, near my mouth, between my legs, next to my face…
My jaw drops in shock.
"Jesus H Fuck you've seen it haven't you?!"
"What makes you think I've seen it?" She asks with a reasonable rebuttal. My mouth closes and my hands drop and my gaze goes from her to the sky.
"But you gave such an accurate-"
"Yeah, because I have." She winks at me.
"When?!" I want to know every detail. I'm not mad at her at all, because I trust Toby enough to not go get blown off by another woman or to go fuck another woman, but there must've been an awkward situation if she had seen it.
"Okay, this will be hard for you to hear." She starts off.
I can't believe you trusted that bastard for a second of your life, here it comes, here it comes from your best friend, he didn't even tell you, oh my god how could you be so stupid-
And then it comes.
"I walked in on him wanking off in your apartment."
I barely react.
I stay quiet for a bit as we continue walking and then all of a sudden I burst out into laughter.
Christina does too and we both clutch at our stomachs, rolling our heads back and letting it out into the night like wolves, howling at the moon.
Some of the initiates look back at us.
"Oh my g-god, you've walked in on both of us?!"
"Ye-Yeha-HAAA!"
"Quit laughing like hippos, the train's here!" Shouts Lynn. Everyone piles on into the train. When I offer a hand for Christina she declines and jumps in by herself.
We sit against the wall at one end of the cart, away from the transfer initiates on the other end. Christina and I both try to catch our breaths. I feel around my mouth. My lips quiver from being open so much.
"Man it's good to laugh." She tells me. She doesn't shout it out loud, she talks to me in my ear, so that our conversation is private.
"Haven't been doing too much of it?" I ask her.
"Nah. You know what I'm going through." She shakes her head. I look at her.
"I don't."
"What do you mean, you don't know what I'm going through? I told you."
"Christina, I have no idea what you're going through. Teen pregnancy, it's not something that common."
"Don't call it teen pregnancy like it's something that completely ruins your life." I pat her on the shoulder and look down at my lap, feeling bad for offending her.
"Sorry."
"No, no, Tris, I'm sorry. For being such a bitch to you all week. I've been weird. I could reason away with the whole pregnant thing, but I know I've been a total dick."
"I think I can understand that." I say. She smiles. Before we know it the wheels are squealing past the marsh and we're afforded the spectacular view of the Hub, right before everyone jumps off for paintball.
This time I don't try to help Christina. Somewhere deep inside me, I can understand that if she needs me, she'll tell me. I can't treat her like she's fragile glass, she's still Christina.
Only with a mini Christina inside her uterus.
Shake it off, Tris.
The ground squelches beneath my shoes. Christina says goodbye to me and heads over to Peter, of whom she's forced to be on a team with. Maybe next year we can go girls versus boys…
"Alright, bitches" is how Peter starts off his speech.
"Really? Charming." I heckle.
"Shut up, stiff." A small 'oooh' circulates the group. "As I was saying, bitches-"
"Okay, enough with that, you prick." Says Toby from behind me. No one "ooohs" this time, and Peter doesn't snap back. Tobias has complete authority over everyone. Legally, it may say that he has the same amount as Peter, Christina or I, but on a social level, he's the big guy.
I like that about him. Every initiate, whether they're getting trained by him or not, looks up to him and follows him. I like that. I like how he has that about him.
"Two teams." Says Peter "Two captains. Four, and me."
"Four and I," I mutter.
Tobias steps up next to Peter and gestures for him to start.
"Krystal." A girl with broad shoulders and strong legs stands next to Peter.
"Kathryn"
"Lewis."
"Thom."
"Ruth."
"Dakota."
"Simon."
"Bea."
Put that girl's name together with mine and you get my abnegation name.
"I want Evan."
"Tim."
"Addie."
"Eve."
"Elle."
"Rob."
"Tate."
"Bill."
"Guess we've got you, cunt." Says Peter to Declan. He certainly looks displeased about getting someone so athletically incapable.
"Oh, you are just repugnant." I tell him. He gives me the finger.
All I want to do is settle things before the game. All I want is to show Peter what a 'cunt' he is.
So I do so.
I walk up to him very coolly, keeping my eyes on his, locking them there, and ignoring the onlookers of initiates.
I raise my fist.
And I let it fly.
I hit his nose… at first. The second punch is a clear shot to his pudgy left eye. It's already swelling.
Surprisingly instead of cowering away he decides to soothe the pain by smothering it with anger. A strangled gurgling sound comes out of his mouth.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" he slaps me hard across the face. I flip 180 degrees and land on my feet, but I stumble. He tries to sucker punch me in the stomach but I grab his foot in the last second.
I twist it and he yells out in pain, loses balance, and falls to the soil at my mercy.
"Say I'm a stiff, call any of your initiates bitches, call any of my initiates cunts… Do it, andI promise you I will shove my foot so far up your ass you won't be sitting for weeks."
"Stiff."
I draw my foot backwards with great glee before Tobias takes me by the shoulders and pulls me back.
"TRIS! PETER! This. Is. Bull. Shit. I do not need to be babying your idiotic fights. Peter, don't degrade your students, it makes you look like a total fuckwit when you were them only six months ago. And Tris, there is no need to beat up someone's superior in front of them. It makes them feel higher than they already are, and they get cocky and stupid, and they end up either factionless or dead."
He turns to all of the initiates.
"Do you understand what I'm saying as well?"
They all nod and I can see it in their eyes that they know that what Four is saying is what they need to be following and accepting.
I would be swooning over how he's such a natural leader, but right now I'm pissed off at him despite the adorable moment we just had. He's got that tone and anger and authoritative attitude that I despise soooooo much.
I huff and wipe sweat off my forehead. Peter gets up.
"Alright, then. Let's play." He says.
I notice Tobias has used the same technique as last year by recruiting Kathryn, Thom, Dakota, Bea, Tim, Eve, Rob and Bill. Each and every one of them is quick and agile. They're all either small or slender as well, so as not to be too big of a target.
Thom, Bea and Tim stick together in a small group, laughing and chatting with one another. Eve and Dakota walk together, with excited looks on their faces. Rob and Bill discuss something I can't understand, but they seem to be distressed. They stay away from Dakota and Eve.
I think about how that's lucky. Inside our group we've got three smaller groups ready to split and cooperate with each other.
"Oi, Tris, have you got a plan?"
"Yeah, come on, Tris, are we gonna scout this time? Or are you gonna just let us go for it?"
The Dauntless-borns were clearly told about last year. Only, I remember Christina being the star of the show, not me. I thought that what I did was forgotten.
But who patted you on the back in appreciation, who didn't forget about you?
Tobias.
Shut up you're supposed to be mad at him.
"Okay, first thing's first, where're we gonna put the flag?" says Bea.
"What flag?" says Bill.
"This." Tobias pulls a small silver bar out of his pocket. He clicks a button on the bottom of it and immediately a flame bursts out. Everyone jumps back and shields their faces. He laughs, stroking the fire, like it's a soft puppy you'd want to cuddle.
Dakota walks up to it and tentatively reaches out a hand to touch it. When she does she flinches and Tobias chuckles. He hands her the silver rod part of the flag and she takes it.
"So where are we going to put it?" she asks everyone.
"We should-" Thom speaks up, but all of a sudden he's interrupted - oh so rudely - by a shout.
Except it isn't just a shout. It's a screaming "HE-EYY!" that seems to be amplified ten times louder than it should be.
It reverberates in all of our chests. Eve literally drops to her knees and covers her ears. Dakota drops the flag and does the same. It looks like she's set fire to the grass.
"ATTENTION!" whoever spoke, his voice is deep, and snarly. It's not very sharp, but it sounds rough. Like someone punched him in the throat repeatedly until half his voice box was dead.
"What the FUCK?!" shouts Tobias.
"Heard it, Four. Shut up for a couple seconds while we entertain you."
The person speaking must be close, but I have no idea where they are. The volume of their voice could only be coming through speakers, through a microphone.
"You may find it interesting where we are, Four. You and Tris." Now he's speaking directly to me.
"Who the hell is that?!" I shout. The initiates desperately look around, from me, to four, to the ground, to the sky, but Toby has found the source.
His eyes stay glued to a spot directly behind myself. To the spot where we were headed. To the spot I was hanging from by my sweaty hands last year.
There's no mistaking three figures standing atop the Ferris wheel. Just as I look, as if for my benefit, the lights of the Ferris wheel flicker on.
Eric.
"It's Eric, here everybody, how're we all doing today?" He talks like he's warming up a crowd at a concert, or a stand-up comedy night.
Through the high grass and bushes behind us comes a bunch of initiates, Simon among them, with a grin from ear to ear on his face.
"What the hell are you so happy about?" questions Dakota.
"He's got someone up there."
"Yeah no shit." I turn to him.
"No, the guy in the middle is James."
Shock hits me like a lightning bolt. I don't move. I don't breathe. I can't help but let it take over.
"N-no it's not." I deny.
"Look." He says.
I turn and almost faint, like an idiot, as I suddenly recognise the middle man as James. I can see that his hands are behind his back, and he has some scrunched up black fabric in his mouth.
The Ferris wheel carts slowly whine around, making horrible rusty sounds of effort. I can see Eric's taken a microphone from the box where someone would have sold tickets, and he's using the speaker system that would have played carnival music.
More people rustle out from shrubs behind me, gasping and whispering. Lynn, among them, shouts "Eric, what in God's name do you think you're doing up there?"
"Well, baldy, I'll tell you. As I was saying, this cute little love spot where Four and Tris had their first date…"
My teeth grit and my knuckles grow white as I clench my fingers.
"…is where the council has decided that young James here, should receive his punishment."
I didn't notice Christina creep up next to me.
"Oh, shit." She whispers. I can see out of the corner of my eye she turns her head to look at me, and then she looks back at Eric. She puts a firm hand to my shoulder.
"In front of all of you." Eric continues, "This is a lesson. A lesson that should teach you…" his voice begins to tremble. "To never… fuck. With. Me."
"HELP!" shouts James, managing to spit out the black fabric.
A few of the girls, including me, gasp. The third man, a man with dark skin and long black hair, who I don't recognise, punches James in the face.
"shutup." I can hear him say.
"James, has chosen to die, rather than join the factionless." As soon as it comes out of his wickedly thin mouth, I know that he's lying. Even if James would rather die, Eric certainly didn't ask him about it.
"And we're gonna let him do it, in front of all of you!" I flinch at the word 'it' knowing it means 'die'.
It happens so slowly, I live in the moment for what seems like an eternity.
"NO!" James yells. My muscles tense as the rusty metal pole screeches and he slips. He's yanked up by Eric. Eric hits him in the side of the head with his microphone. There's a horrible clunking sound, and then…
A pop.
A popping sound.
Like something that would come out of a gun.
It's not even a real bullet, but a paint pellet. And a paint pellet can really do something. It hits him in the chest, a splotch of blue explodes over the space that would have protected his heart if he had one. The microphone drops from his hand, hits the metal beneath his feet, rolls and falls, hitting the soil with a soft thud through the speakers.
My eyes stay on the microphone, on the small patch of yellowed grass, lit up by the lights of the Ferris wheel.
And then the patch is interrupted by a shadow.
I know what's coming, and I can't close my eyes, nothing can stop me from looking, no matter how much I want to turn and cower. Limbs stick out at awkward angles. His back is bent at an impossible angle. His eyes don't blink. Blood pools out from his head slowly.
Eric is dead.
Hey! So I hope you don't hate me for leaving you with yet another cliff hanger! I'll try to write the next one as soon as possible and I promise to not leave you hanging! Please leave reviews on what you think about the story, I'm always open to suggestions!