When Districts Collide
Chapter 4: Wren
I woke up the next morning in a bed unfamiliar to my own. Not surprising, since I did spend a lot of time with Four. But this was a stranger bed, with a man lying next to me. A man with such features that made him look so young when he slept. I hadn't grasped at the toll the Games took on us, on our aging, until looking at his face now. He looked calmer, happy even, and as the sun poured in from the window, it highlighted his cheekbones and made his brown-black hair shine. I wished he would open his eyes, if only for a second, so I could catch a glimpse of the chocolate brown his eyes held. I wondered if he thought the same of me when I slept.
I saw his eyelids flutter and one of them opened, looking at me. His side rose once in a great motion, and fell slowly, deflating through his nose, so that I felt his breath on my face.
"I wish you would come closer." he whispered to me.
"Did anything...happen last night?" I wasn't too sure myself. I didn't feel like I blacked out, but I knew that that didn't mean anything at all when it came to me being buzzed.
"No." his mouth sealed into a line.
"Alright, good, I guess."
"Wren, we never said what we were?" he stretched his arms, slightly grazing my hip with his finger tips.
"I don't know. I guess for right now we could just see where anything leads."
"So still friends? We can start from the beginning. I'll wait. For you, I'll wait."
"Thank you." I started getting up, but he pulled me back down until our noses almost touched.
"I'll try not to be so romantic, but around you, it's hard not to be, how am I going to impress you now?"
"Oh your devilishly good looks and charm will do nicely." I smirked and went to the bathroom to shower. I assumed some of my clothes were still here so I didn't bother going back to my room. Tobias said he would meet me in front of his room at nine to head down to the Pit, and it was eight thirty now.
Getting into the shower, any shower, was never a problem for me. It was always getting out that was the problem. But I also found that I didn't feel awful like I normally did in the mornings. I didn't feel like there was a huge stone in my stomach, and I could actually walk without feeling dizzy. Four was right. Theo was what I needed. But we had to go slowly, though I wish we didn't. I just couldn't handle so much at a time right now. I wasn't sure if that made me less Dauntless, but I had just won the Hunger Games. If I wasn't being Dauntless enough for anyone, they would have to deal with it.
When I finally got out, I had about ten minutes to get dressed and ready. I ended up putting my hair in a bun, something I rarely did, and put on a short skirt and a black long sleeved shirt. I stepped out of the bathroom and found him sitting on the bed, waiting for me.
"I don't have to go until ten. So have fun with your early job." he boasted jokingly.
"Thanks, thanks so much for your encouragement. Have fun lying around for another thirty minutes." I smiled. He looked at me with an intense stare, looking me over to make sure nothing was really wrong. There wasn't. For the first time in a while I finally felt normal.
"No panic?"
"Nothing yet."
"Not even a little?"
"The anxiety is normal, I just deal with it." I shrugged and looked around. "No nightmares either, which is a first."
"Yeah, same here. Maybe we should have slept with each other a long time ago." we chuckled and I stood, rolling on the balls of my feet. There was too much history to be just friends, but that was the only thing I could think of until things got relatively normal. That might take a while.
He got up and wrapped his arms around me, not saying anything for a little while. I was a bit stiff in his arms at first, but gradually loosened up and wrapped my arms around his waist. I sighed against him, happy to be back in his arms. It had been too long.
"Have a good day at work. I'll see you soon." and I left to meet Tobias.
When I went out of the room, the hallway suddenly seemed cold. I still didn't feel too awful, like I could still stomach something, but that sense of comfort went away as soon as he was gone. I was also feeling strange with Tobias waiting for me to do something reckless. As long as he wasn't betraying Tris, I still wanted us close, but if he was going to try to win me over like Tris, that wouldn't work out so well. He was one of my best friends because he had such a fierce loyalty to her, not because he had a loyalty to me.
"Morning, Wren." The voice came from behind me and I spun around to see Tobias smiling. I smiled back and we started walking to the Pit. "How did everything go last night?"
"We've decided to take it easy, just friends."
"So after everything, you're not getting back together?" his face fell a bit.
"For now. When we feel that it's right to, we're going to escalate the situation."
"Is he not coming back to leadership then?"
"He said he talked to you about that."
"He did," he seemed almost worried. "I just wanted to make sure he told you instead of having it be me the bearer of bad news. I just want to make sure you're okay."
"I am. And as long as he keeps an eye on Peter, things will be fine."
"Right." We walked to the table together and everyone said hello. Mels and Adam seemed sort of secluded at the end, but they were still part of the group. Really, it was two groups. Me, Isaac, Theo, Tobias, Bri and Em, and the other group held Mels, Adam, Payton, Erin and Nate. We were still all integrated at the same table, but we just tended to stick by certain people. I sat in my usual seat in between Isaac and Tobias, and grabbed more food than I usually did, which rose some questions from Isaac.
"You're feeling better today?"
"I am. This food still has a better taste than the Capitol, too. It's...warmer. But not like hotter or anything, just...warm. It doesn't feel artificial, like the Capitol food. Everything is a show there. Here, food is made for energy and eating." I grabbed some eggs in front of me and ate as the rest of them talked. Today was the day before school started, meaning the students that still went would be getting their schedules, meaning we had to get them from Erudite. I had never been to Erudite, nor had I planned to, but as a leader now, I had to. But only for a few minutes, I hoped.
Bri was discussing her job as a guard by the gate. She worked an eight hour shift while the rest of us worked a ten hour shift, working until seven instead of five. Being a leader never really ended, but we were only on the clock for our scheduled time. We also got paid more, so it added up. Her job was to make sure no trespassers from other cities came in the gates without a permit, but Tobias said the gate work wasn't always like that. He said they used to be protection for things outside the gate.
"What is outside the gate? You never do talk about that." I asked.
"Nothing now, nothing important. They've shut down. It's just an old abandoned airport now." he shoved more food in his mouth, avoiding the subject. I don't think he knew that I didn't know what an airport was, except for reading about it in books. I had never been to one.
After breakfast, we said goodbye and hopped the train, waiting for thirty minutes until we got by the Hub, and jumped off. We were only ten minutes walking distance from Erudite now. As a leader, we were supposed to take care of the faction, making sure that everyone was safe. This meant patrols, staying in contact with other leaders, checking up on any jobs, and helping with people who voiced their concerns. Just as well, being the police faction of the city, we were supposed to check up on everyone, making sure the entire city was safe and there were no concerns. We were more ambassadors than leaders, but I liked it. It gave me something to do. We were also responsible for training the initiates, or, two of us were, and the other one was still a leader. Tobias and I would be training this year, that was already decided.
As Tobias and Isaac talked, I kept my thoughts to myself. I wasn't too concerned with their conversation, which was about Capitol tourist marks. I wouldn't know. I had only been there to die. We walked on, loudly, to Erudite, which was way too sophisticated for my taste. I had almost turned my nose up at it.
"How do you think?" Issac asked. He knew it was my first time there.
"I don't like it." I automatically said.
"No, it's not too Dauntless, is it?" Tobias had been here before, he knew his way around.
We went to the front desk, and were given instant recognition. Tobias and I were, at least. People cloaked in blue from head to toe looked at me and nodded, almost bowed, in respect. They were a quiet, studious bunch. I sneered at them when they looked at me. I didn't need attention, especially from a bunch of Noses.
After Tobias told them what we were here for, they led us to a glass elevator on the side, pressed the third floor button, and we went up. It was sort of strange, riding in an elevator, seeing as the only time we ever did was the ziplining elevator. This one was smoother and we were there in about ten seconds. When the doors opened, we were escorted into a computer room with secure files on it. They went to the files for the Dauntless and opened up the class schedules. I noticed a change on the classes, that they were learning about genetics now, but only on a few student's schedules.
"We added the class so that people could see where their own factions fit into the scale of psychology. It's not so much a gene study class as much as it is a psychological study class. Most students who're going to be taking this are Erudite, but I guess some of yours are as well, it seems." he said while the papers were printing. "Erudite wanted their knowledge to come out to the world, so we're imprinting it in the school systems first." it was almost like he was stating a fact. A fat that was utterly wrong to everyone else but the Erudite. I looked at Tobias and he looked back at me, our looks the same from what I saw on his face.
I went to the other side of the room to grab the papers, but out the window I saw a glass ceiling on the other side, that led into a test room with a fear landscape. What could the Erudite need with a fear landscape? That wasn't Erudite technology, that was purely Dauntless. The only thing that came from the Noses was the serum we used. I stared for a little while until the blue cloaked man ushered me away.
"We're trying to improve the simulations, so that it's more efficient."
"It already is." I stated.
"Well, there are a few bugs. We're trying to make it so that there's more than one way to face fears."
"Shouldn't that be a Dauntless job?" There were already a couple ways to get through a landscape.
"One of your leaders, Peter, told us to start working on it." Peter. That explained it. He was up to something and it didn't seem like it was going to be more efficient.
I spun around with the papers and darted out of the room. Tobias and Isaac followed, not really catching up to my thought process. I forgot, Tobias didn't really have an Erudite frame of mind and Isaac wasn't Divergent at all. We walked out of the headquarters and to Millennium Park. I took a seat under the great metal bean statue, where no one else would think to find us. They sat next to me, one on either side.
"Did you see what they were doing?" Isaac asked me.
"They were testing other Erudite on a fear landscape. Except...they hadn't hooked wires to anyone with a serum. So what were they doing and how were they doing it?"
"Wait, there weren't any wires?" Tobias asked.
"None. It was a free range landscape."
"Like the one in Dauntless?" Isaac asked.
"No. Different. Even the free range still needs a computer to run. This didn't need anything. The control panel must be in a different room."
"Why would they want to do that?"
"To make it more efficient." I said facetiously.
"Peter has something to do with it." Tobias reiterated.
"Yeah. But what, why, and when?"
"No how?" Isaac tried to find light in the situation. Tobias nudged him in the ribs.
"I don't really give a damn how they're doing it until I find out the purpose."
"They're also making a psychology class. I have a feeling that something big is going to happen."
"Yeah but you see, Theo said Peter wasn't doing anything, and Bri hasn't found anything on his computers. He's clean. He's giving the risk to Erudite so he won't get in trouble. So we'll attack them instead. He's not going to do anything now. It'll be later, after school ends. They'll want informed students, and Erudite wants more followers, that's why they're introducing the class." I concluded.
"He can't be doing this alone."
"He's not, he's got the Erudite." Isaac told Tobias as I thought it through.
"He knows a simulation on the factions won't work, we've been through it before. And he knows we're Divergent." Four's hand gestures were almost frantic now.
"Maybe it's not about factions anymore?" Isaac suggested.
"Then what? Peter may be cruel, but he doesn't want to take over the world." Tobias bickered back.
"No, but I know someone who does. Theo talked to him once. He said he knew you." I looked at Tobias.
"Xavier?"
"The head Gamemaker doesn't like us. We're victors. I killed Capitol kids. I have enemies, Tobias. He doesn't want us dead, he wants us tortured. I don't know how they're getting the simulations done, but it could be another memory serum in the making, but not for the factions. No, he's going for the whole country."