Chapter 7

ZEKE

"I've missed you too," Shauna replied softly.

"We should hang out more often again," I said and mentally hit myself. Sounded too much like a friend. Well that was what we were. I was seeing another woman, Vanessa. Vanessa grew up in the Fringe and for the first time finally felt like she had found a place she belonged when she moved into the city and became a political assistant same as Four. She was a very attractive little fiery brunette who loved hot debates and always spoke her mind.

But Shauna and I had always just been friends. We had grown up together as Dauntless born and gone through our initiation together to become Dauntless. We had always been close, good friends. And we would never be anything else.

"Yeah definitely Zeke, you're a good friend," she replied and I began wondering if she was seeing anyone. I didn't know if she was but didn't think she was. But good friend… that was definitely telling me that we were only friends. I looked away.

"Great. I'm working tomorrow, but how about the next day? We will do something," I suggested and looked back at her.

"Sounds perfect," she said and we both sat there in awkward silence for a minute or two. Though it felt like much longer than that.

"Anything in particular you want to do?" I asked her, breaking the silence.

"No, I don't mind. Surprise me," she said and grinned and I couldn't help grinning back though I had absolutely no idea what to surprise her with. Perhaps something from the Fringe? Between the Fringe, the Bureau and Milwaukee, a lot of new "entertainment" had come in. There were more bands playing instruments and live music, there was a 'cinema' which showed movies that came from some other colony, there were even new card games, board games and the like.

That's what we'd do. She could come over and we could play a variety of games, getting out her fierce competitive streak then walk down to the park for lunch followed by a zip line through the city then completed with a home cooked meal for dinner. Sounds like a nice day actually.

"Come over to mine anytime after nine," I said still grinning, thinking how much she would enjoy the day. We hadn't done something like this in a while and I had some great new games that I knew she would love. Plus it wasn't anything too physical like train jumping or climbing or anything like that which I knew still gave her some grief and probably always would.

Then my mother and Four re-entered the room and Four said he was leaving. I still had the serum and we had agreed on the walk to Cara's that I should hang on to it because he thought he was being watched.

"I'll walk you out," I said and he nodded.

"Thank you again for the excellent food Hana, Shauna," he said and hugged each one saying goodbye.

"See you Four," they both said and went back to talking about clothes or something just as girly which surprised me. Shauna had never been much of a girly girl. But I didn't take too much notice. I needed to talk to Four.

"So I need to use tomorrow to look more into the People's Revolutionists and work out how we are going to calm the Fringe and probably groups in Chicago and Milwaukee. And I will try and find out more about the Protectors whoever they are," I said, telling him my plan for work the following day. He nodded, his mind ticking over.

"Good. I will see what I can find out through other channels and see if there's been any chatter about Johanna being a target though if we are right about the purpose of it all I don't think there's going to be a Public Service Announcement. If their aim is the downfall of the newly developed order then they aren't going to publicise that they are using the Fringe to achieve it," he replied and it made sense.

If the Fringe found out they were being used to achieve a hidden agenda, that would revolt and it would potentially end up more disastrous than the Faction war. There had already been too many casualties and we had been fighting too hard for too long to get this place into some kind of semblance of order where people felt safe again.

"Ok keep me posted. I will hang onto the serum. Your place tomorrow night?" I said and he nodded. Then I remembered I was supposed to be having dinner with Vanessa. "Actually can we make it late tomorrow? I have a date," I added and he laughed.

"With Shauna?" he asked.

"What?! No!" I replied a little too hastily. Four just raised an eyebrow at me and chuckled. "Vanessa and I are having dinner," I added to clarify.

"If you say so. See you later tomorrow night then. Don't leave it too late. I am already chomping at the bit. By the way, did the others say anything else after Tris and I left?" I thought back to it. Four had chucked a hissy fit, Tris had chased after him. "Will asked me about Christina, Tori about her brother. Then Uriah and Marlene were busy making out and then we were back in your loungeroom."

"Ok no worries. Right see you tomorrow," Four said and left. Uriah had also said it was about time I had settled down, as he had. But Four didn't need to know that. It surprised me because I always thought Uri would continue to be a party boy long after me. But he said "The heart wants what the heart wants."

I went back inside and started saying goodbye to Shauna and my mother.

"Walk me home?" Shauna asked and my mother tried to hide her smile though she wasn't very successful. I rolled my eyes at her but nodded at Shauna.

"Sure, you ready?" I asked and she smiled her shy smile. I wasn't used to seeing this side of her. Shauna said goodbye to my mother and we started out. I knew Shauna wasn't up to catching trains the Dauntless way so we started walking to the bus instead. It wasn't really that far to the Hancock building where we lived (in separate apartments) but I think Shauna still tired easily when she used her braces all day. When she realised we were heading to the bus she said,

"I'd rather walk. If that's ok?"

"Sure, we'll walk." Along the way she held my hand as if was a natural thing to do. I'd never noticed how small her hands were. She walked slowly so I knew her legs must be beginning to ache but I just altered my pace to suit her rather than point out any weakness. She chattered away at how much she missed wearing dresses with her legs like this and about how Caleb was still working closely with her create a new serum that will perhaps even convince her nerves they aren't damaged so she will be able to walk again.

She told me how the exercises were becoming easier but she missed her how legs used to look and said that showering was difficult with the braces off and annoying with them on. I tried not to picture her in the shower but it was a difficult thought to keep out of my mind. "You still have knockout legs Shauna, don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise. You're beautiful," I said gruffly and she looked up at me through her lashes again. I didn't like it when she doubted herself but I hated it when she looked at me like that. It made me want to kiss her. But we were just friends.

I looked away again and we walked in silence for a bit. "What did you think about Christina tonight?" she suddenly asked.

"What do you mean?" I asked, side-stepping her question and playing dumb.

"Do you think she has something to do with the Revolutionist group or perhaps she's just a sympathiser? She seems to agree with a lot of what they are saying, and the action they are calling her," Shauna said, clearly on team Chicago.

"Yeah I got that vibe too. I think Four may have as well. It's weird. After everything she did to help Tris get the message out and then with the Bureau I would have never thought she would shift alliances."

"I don't think she has shifted alliances. I think that's a bit harshly put. But perhaps she's more bitter about what she had to do under the serum than she let on. It was no picnic I know but that was dealt with and we all moved on," Shauna said seriously as we approached our building and started heading inside.

"That's possible. But I thought she had moved on as well. I've heard she has been pretty serious with someone for a while. Jacob or something?"

"Yeah she was telling me today that her and Jacob are looking at moving in together in a few weeks," Shauna said. That was news. I wondered if I should say something about Will coming back. I had heard they were very close when Will died and that she had taken a long time before even looking at someone again. I hoped it wasn't going to torment her too much, nice guy that I am.

We got into the lift and for the life of me, all I wanted to do was kiss Shauna. I'd never felt like this about her before. I was staring at her as we climbed each floor then she looked up at me, saw me looking and looked straight back down, leaning further away from me against the wall of the lift. I knew it. She didn't like me like that. Well no way was I going to bark up the wrong tree. Besides, I was dating Vanessa. There were a lot of things I liked about Ness.

I walked Shauna to her door, hastily said goodnight and left, heading to my apartment a few doors down. She seemed a little stunned at how abrupt I was but I was a little hurt she didn't seem even the slightest bit receptive. I left myself in and shut the door behind me, leaning back against it. I took a deep breath. Hopefully I hadn't made things too awkward. It would be alright, surely?

Then there was a slightly timid knock. It had to be Shauna. I opened the door and was surprised at who I saw. "Hector?! What are you doing here?" I asked. He was Shauna and Lynn's little brother. I wonder if Lynn is coming back too actually.

"Look I'm sorry for coming over so late and I know we don't really talk or anything but Shauna always said I could trust you with anything," he said as I lead him into the lounge room.

"I take it you can't go to Shauna about it?" I asked. He shook his head.

"I don't know what to do Zeke, I'm in bad trouble," he said and his lower lip began trembling. He seemed like he was a little kid again.

"Start at the beginning and tell me everything," I said, trying to calm the kid down. He's almost sixteen now and very tall and lean but really he is still a kid. Well I will always think of him as Shauna's kid brother.

"Well ok this guy approached me, told me he was working for a newspaper in Milwaukee and thought I would be a good person to make some enquiries for him given I was around during the Faction war and saw the effects of the serums then. And experienced the effects of the serum and had lived through it. And that he had heard they were in the process of developing something that would help Shauna walk again," Hector said, talking fast. Then he took a big breath. I had a feeling I could see where this was going. I just nodded for him to continue.

"So he asked me to start asking some questions about the serums and stuff. So I started talking to Cara about it. She was always nice to me after everything with Shauna and Lynn and the Allegiants. She told me she was working on a few different serums but if I went back to see her in a few days she would sit down with me and tell me what's currently being worked on and the progress they were making," he continued, then paused for breath again.

"Go on," I said, trying to keep my voice light. I wondered if this was where the Revolutionists were getting their information although if that's the case they were definitely hyping to up and making it far more sensaltionalised than it actually was. And I wondered if that was why Cara was taken and what they were looking for.

"So I reported this back to the guy who contacted me. Said he was making an information leaflet for people who wanted to come here from different colonies and saying that it was going to highlight the important work of the researchers of the former Erudite campaign. He said it was going to help educate people that not all new technology and developments were bad. So after I reported back, I heard about Cara go missing and I looked more into this guy and he never worked for any newspaper in Milwaukee or anywhere. No one had heard of him. It's my fault Cara is missing!" he said and buried his face in his hands.

I could relax slightly here, as I knew Cara wasn't in danger, but unfortunately I couldn't tell Hector. But I tried to reassure him. "Hector, don't blame yourself. It sounds plausible and there is much more going on than you realise. I am fairly certain that Cara is going to be ok. We are working on locating her. In the meantime, I want you to go down and see George tomorrow and ask him to organise a sketch of the man who contacted you. Don't give them any more information, just that I want this sketch. Ok?" I asked.

"Ok Zeke," he said, his voice wobbling slightly. "Am I in trouble?" he asked and I shook my head. The kid hadn't done anything wrong and could give us a nice lead into the Revolutionists with any luck.

"No Zeke, you may have even done us a favour," I replied and he sniffed then stood up.

"Will you be there tomorrow as well?" he asked and I nodded.

"Ok, I will see you then. Keep my sister safe ok? She's the only one I have left," he said and I shook his hand.

"Of course, you know I would never let anything happen to Shauna," I replied and he nodded. I saw him out then sat down again. I needed to tell Four, but it could wait until tomorrow. Right now I just needed a shower and some sleep.