Leaving an expressionless Lynn, Tris makes her way back to stand in front of Christina and Will, purposely standing a bit between them so that she was pretty much surrounded, making it hard for Four to reach her if he ever did end up going to her.
Rita is literally shaking now, though she takes small steps forward.
Tris leans a bit forward as she watches Rita. Even through her fear, her steps are calculated with precision and purpose.
"I don't understand what they're supposed to do." Christina whispers, leaning toward Tris's ear so she can hear.
Tris narrows her eyes at the screen, scanning the little rectangular area Uriah and Rita were in.
"You see those randomly scattered holes on the floor?" Tris asks, pointing to the dark areas covering the ground.
"Mhmm."
"Well, those are holes that'll bring them to fall down into... whatever they're supposed to fall into."
Christina frowns. "But you said they had to keep correct positioning, not choose a correct hole."
Tris shakes her head. "All the holes will make you fall. It's just that the holes are wide."
Tris crosses her arms, trying to think of a simple way to explain what she meant. Damn, it'd be way easier if she had a computer or something right now.
"...So for example, let's say you're holding a small ramp in one hand and a water bottle in the other. You have to position the ramp carefully so that the liquid falls into the small hole of the bottle, and make sure that the rest doesn't spill out from the sides. So, similar with the game going on right now, they have to choose a correct side of a hole and jump. Whether they fall into whatever they're supposed to or not, it's pure luck and strategy." Tris says slowly, hoping that makes a good explanation.
Christina lets out a breath. "But what were you talking about when you were near Lynn and Eric?"
Tris turns around. "What?"
"You said Uriah would over-do something." Will interrupts, giving away that he was tuning into the conversation.
She purses her lips together. "I didn't mean..."
She ends up trailing off as someone, Zeke in fact, catches her eye. He was standing near Shauna, face focused and serious. It was odd, not seeing him smile or joke around.
She was so focused into how Uriah might mess up that she completely forgot about how worried Zeke would be. He was watching his own brother try to survive.
Tris shudders, shaking away the thought of Caleb being in Uriah's position. Zeke was keeping himself together, if that was her, she'd be hysterical. Although she could still sense the unease and tense waves coming from him with his jaw clenched.
Someone coughs, and Tris looks back at the screen to see Uriah with a hand over his mouth.
"What do you think is down there?" Rita asks loudly to the dark, hands hugging her arms.
Uriah's head snaps toward the direction of her voice. His eyes squint as he tries to spot where she's standing, but gives up.
"Something that'll catch us." He responds, crouching down onto the floor.
"What the hell, are they helping each other?" Someone says aloud.
She glances at Peter, who's eyes are set into a glare at the screen.
"They're just talking." Zeke speaks up, teeth clenched. "That's why God gave us a mouth."
He turns his head to Zeke. "Yeah? They're using their mouth to cheat."
Zeke exhales a deep breath, slightly irked. "I don't even care what they're doing, as long as they live. But if you insist, Rita spoke first, so I wouldn't try to act all smart and rage for no reason."
Peter opens his mouth, but nothing comes out.
Lynn whistles.
Tris feels her heart settle as Zeke gives a small smile, speaking one last time. "Get rekt, son."
She stifles a laugh. Man, the tension in the room, it made her want to giggle hysterically.
Tris peers at the screen again, just in time to see Uriah rub his face, let out a deep breath, and jump.
Her heart stops, dropping right into the pit of her stomach.
She looks away. It was horrific. She felt like Uriah was her second brother. How could she watch him? What if he died? What if he didn't do it right? What if-
But then there's a whoop. "YES! URIAH HERE AIN'T NO PANSYCAKE!"
Christina grabs Tris's arm tightly. "Holy shit, dude. He landed in a net."
Sure enough, Uriah was crawling to the end of the net, slowly climbing off and standing back onto the ground, doing a small victory dance.
Marlene lets out a nervous laugh, trying to shake away the anxiety in the room. "Oh God, he's actually smart."
Tris takes a shaky breath as Rita closes her eyes and does a trust fall.
This makes Tris hold her breath. Thankfully, Rita lands in a net safely... But what if that was her?
What if Tris had done that? After all, she was having disturbing thoughts of suicide. So would she not even care about the games and just trust fall like Rita?
Yet her mind wanders back over to the screen, earlier when it had said, 'don't think, just do'.
Was Rita just going through it?
She shakes these grim and confusing thoughts away. No, she had told herself that she'd risk her life for her group, not just die in a game and leave their victory in the hands of another group.
Uriah crouches again, making his way cautiously yet blindly to a new hole.
Then Tris looks over at Rita, who's on the opposite side of the room from Uriah. Unlike him, she was no longer shaking with fear, but walking.
She trips suddenly. Tris winces. She shouldn't be feeling anything but hate towards the other group, but Rita seemed different. Just an innocent girl like them that's trying to survive and escape.
Rita gasps as she crouches. Her hands feel around her until they settle on a cube shaped box.
Her fingers worked skillfully as she unfastened the container.
She runs her fingers against the object in her hand, then gives out a cry of relief.
"Holy mother of God, thank the heavens." She whimpers.
"What is it?" Shauna asks.
Her question is answered when Rita stands, and a click sounds.
"She got a fucking flashlight!?" Lynn exclaims. "How the hell will Uri compete with that?!"
There's a set of victorious laughter from across the room, but Tris tunes them out and looks back at Uriah who's climbing out of another net.
"Why did she get that anyway?" Al asks.
Tris nibbles at her lower lip. "If you were paying attention, the screen had said that throughout, they'd get power-ups."
He snorts. "More like immediate victory."
There's a loud curse and everyone looks back up at the screen, just in time to see Uriah land half-way into the net, nearly missing it, then bouncing right off onto the cement ground.
His hiss of pain is loud and clear, as if he'd hissed into a microphone.
Tris grimaces as he pushes himself off and swears. "That wasn't supposed to hurt that much!"
He rubs a hand over his arm and blood comes spilling lightly. His eyes widen. "Wait, what?"
Then he's crouched onto the floor, patting the ground until his hands close around a box.
"Damn you, sharp corners." He states before unfastening the plastic around.
"If he doesn't get a flashlight, I swear to God I'll pinch myself so fucking hard that-" Lynn trails off when Uriah stands again, holding a round object with both hands delicately.
"That's... That's a bouncy ball." Zeke says, voice bitter.
Everyone turns toward Lynn, almost expectantly, and she gathers the skin from her arm between her thumb and index finger before squeezing hard.
When she lets go, her eyes shine and the marks that have been left are incredibly white.
"Fuck the world." She whispers, voice unstable.
Tris stares back at the screen, watching as Rita makes her next calculated jump, falling directly in the middle of the next net. Of course, it wasn't even a surprise anymore. Like Al had said, it was an immediate advantage- So great that Rita could see through the dark and easily interpret where she'd have to stand to jump and land perfectly.
As time passes, slowly but surely, they've jumped at least 8 times. In total so far, Rita has her flashlight, gloves, goggles, and a syringe. Uriah has a small bouncy ball, some type of clothespin, a small knife, and about 6 feet of rope.
It was very clear, that Uriah had no flashlight, and that he wouldn't end up getting one anytime soon.
While Rita had jumped with ease throughout the whole game, always ahead, Uriah had either almost missed a net or landed wrongly.
Each little 'floor', you could say, was getting harder and harder to get through. The holes would be hidden around the room, and while Rita found them without difficulty, Uriah took forever.
He needed a light to win.
Which gets Tris thinking.
She maneuvers her way to the back again. "Hey, Marlene?" She calls quietly, "quick question."
Marlene raises her head to look at her. "Yeah?"
She purses her lips momentarily before speaking. "Has... Uriah set a certain ringtone or something on his phone for whenever I message or call? Because he's always replying rather quickly."
Marlene shrugs. "We have nothing to do here, of course he'd reply early."
She catches Tris's look and frowns. "Well, yeah. He has a habit of keeping the volume down, for some reason he doesn't like to keep the ringer tone up. So he likes to set his phone face-down and whenever someone messages or calls, it'll vibrate, making a loud sound from the drawer or counter."
"But that doesn't really answer my question." Tris sets forth.
Marlene looks a bit awkward and troublesome. "Um. for you specifically, he's set a light onto his phone. So if anyone calls, his phone will vibrate, but if you call or message him, it'll flash a light on and off, getting his attention."
Tris feels the smile creep onto her face, and she almost cries out in relief like Rita had done.
"It has a light? Only when I do anything from my phone?"
"Yeah..." Marlene answers.
Tris immediately reaches inside her pocket to grab her phone, when her fingers suddenly get nothing.
Her eyes widen. "Holy shit. No way."
She frantically pats her pockets, turning them inside out, the only thing producing was her room key.
"What're you-"
"My phone!" Tris gasps, not wanting to draw attention or be loud. "I must have left it in my room before I went to the training room!"
"But why do-"
Tris cuts her off. "Look, Marlene. Uriah can't win this game unless he has a light. And you said that when I call a light flashes. He can use that for the game, but I need to go back and get it, don't tell anyone what I'm doing."
With that, Tris slips out of the door, barely feeling the strain she's putting on her leg from her frantic running.
When she's a quarter way to go, Tris slows into a light jog, trying to give her leg some time to stop aching. She could barely feel it though. The sudden adrenaline was pumping through her veins, making it hard to feel.
The moment she sees her door she unlocks the room and runs straight over to the counter. Except it wasn't there.
"Not now, not now." Tris gasps as she frantically pats down the counter, hoping her phone will magically appear. It doesn't.
She runs toward the bathroom and checks the sink, hadn't she taken a shower? Must be there. Except after looking around and practically throwing all the folded towels onto the floor, there still is no phone.
Tris wipes at her forehead, getting stray hairs away from her eyes before running back over to the kitchen cabinets, where she might have misplaced it with the first aid kit. She opens the box and fiddles with the supplies, searching for a black rectangular object but there is still nothing.
"What the fuck!?" Tris screams, starting to feel the panic and urgency seep in. She couldn't waste anymore time! She had to find it now!
Tris quickly walks over to Four's bed, snatching his blanket from his made-bed, and even tossing the pillow, but all she finds is his earphones.
Adrenaline gone, just pure fear, Tris makes her way over to her own bed and throws the pillow. Nothing. Frustrated, she snatches her blanket and with all her might, throws it across the whole room...
And hears a loud horrifying thud.
Staying still for 5 whole seconds, Tris finally dashes toward the blanket she'd thrown, remembering when she had come out of the shower and tossed it on her bed, but it had fallen onto the floor and nearly gave her a heart attack.
She slowly removes the blanket and almost drops dead. Her phone was facing down. Had her screen...?
Slowly and gingerly grabbing the phone, she turns it over to reveal a perfectly fine quality screen.
"Oh God, thank you." She whispers, letting out a huge sigh of relief, then runs out, not caring about how she'd messed up the whole entire room.
Her leg was seriously starting to burn, as if she'd taken a hot pot from the stove and placed it over her ankle. But nonetheless, Tris scrolls through her contacts and calls Uriah.
Of course he doesn't pick up, why would he? But it still makes her weary because the possibility of him even noticing the phone flashing was rare.
She had to keep calling though, because whenever he did manage to notice the phone, he'd need a constant light flashing for him to see in the dark.
So again and again, she calls.
When the cafeteria door appears in view, she slows into a walk, trying to catch her breath and ignore the strain in her leg. She felt like she'd been running for miles and miles nonstop.
Shoving the door open, she glances at the screen where it shows Uriah and Rita's names. In a few minutes, that would be gone, replaced with a black screen all over again. And when the time came, there would be a new set of words and a new set of people competing.
Slowly, Tris opens the door to the Observation room and almost bumps into Marlene who's blocking the entrance for whenever Tris came.
"Did he notice?" Tris asks as she taps the call button again, thumb starting to feel a little sore.
Marlene whips around and puts a hand to her heart. "Oh God! You're back! I don't think so, but there's about 2 more floors to go, and Rita is in a helluva lead. Uriah used up his useful power-ups already. the knife and the rope. the clothespin is useless. And what the hell would he do with a small bouncy ball?!"
Tris looks back at the screen to see that Marlene is right with the lead, there's 2 floors. Uriah is on the 2nd floor, Rita is on the 1st, and beneath her is the button to victory.
"Each floor was getting even harder and harder. Uriah almost died like, five times." Marlene continues to explain, trying to appear calm. "And Zeke is refusing to not not look. He is just stubbornly glued to the damned screen, and he won't listen to anyone, not even his roommate, Shauna, who keeps insisting that he doesn't watch."
She can practically feel the heavy breaths Uriah is taking as she watches his chest rise and fall. He's preparing for the last and final jump before finally catching up with Rita, who is still trying to search for a correct hole, despite the glorious light she holds in her grasp. Tris stiffens as she follows Uriah's estimated jump to the bottom, right where there is nothing to catch him.
Tris closes her eyes momentarily and takes a deep breath, putting all her hopes and energy into her thumb, as she lightly taps the screen of her phone once again, and possibly for the last time of her life... and his.
Then Uriah freezes, in a crouched position.
"What the hell...?" He mumbles as he reaches into his back pocket.
Marlene turns to Tris with wide eyes, voice small. "No way."
Uriah stands again as he flips his phone over to look at his screen. "Who is...? Tr-"
Tris feels her heart beating in the back of her throat, except he stops himself from speaking anymore. He'd almost revealed her name to everyone. Tris lets out a breath, thinking of the chaos everyone would cause if they knew.
Uriah glances around as if he wanted to thank her right then as realization suddenly hits him straight across the face.
Tris hits the call button again and he slowly yet unsure, turns his phone toward the hole he was about to jump through.
Marlene shares a nervous yet relieved look with Tris as he stiffens, then changes his direction toward the other side of the room.
And as if breaking him from some type of possessed spell, Zeke turns around and looks directly at them.
"What's going on?"
Marlene gestures for him to come near as Tris continues to call Uriah.
When he's within earshot his eyes narrow. "What the fuck?"
Tris shows him the phone. "We're calling him through my phone so he can use the light to navigate. He almost killed himself, calm down."
At that, his face softens for a moment. "I am calm. Grateful actually. But Tris, what the hell is wrong with you? That's a huge risk you're taking!"
She places a finger over her lips. "It's a risk, I'm willing to take. Can't argue with volunteering."
He crosses his arms over his chest, voice quiet. "I don't want you risking your life for my brother, okay? If you get 'disqualified' then I'm stepping in. I'll lock you in a room and hide the key if it means that I'll take your place. You're an important person here. Don't throw your life away like that."
Though deeply taken aback, she straightens. "No way, I care for everyone here like a family. My little sacrifice wouldn't affect anyone."
Zeke's eyes widen, and he opens his mouth to speak when there's a sudden scream.
"Get away! Go!" Rita yells, trying to block the hole she's standing near.
Uriah jumps back a bit, surprised at her reaction. "What is your problem? I'm going through this hole, Goddamn!"
Rita shoves Uriah and he topples backward slightly. "Whoa! Calm down! You'll kill me!"
Rita's eyes narrow. "I will win. And you cannot go through this hole."
Tris feels shocked, and there's a feeling of dread deep in her stomach. The innocent girl she'd known wasn't that feeble little darling anymore.
"Rita, chill. Oh my God, CHILL!" He yells again, trying to swat her hands away.
"Get lost, I'm going through here, not you." She growls, kicking his shin. His sharp intake of breath causes Zeke to stiffen. Tris moves forward slightly and presses a shaky hand onto his shoulder, giving it a squeeze. When Zeke glances at her she purses her lips together, gives him a reassuring smile, then looks back at the screen.
"Rita! Rita STOP! Have you gone mad?!" He yells as she slowly grabs something from the back of her pocket. Tris squints her eyes at the shiny object. Then her eyes widen.
A power-up.
The syringe.
Rita takes off the little cap from the needle and gives it a little flick, watching a drop of liquid fly off against the light of Uriah's phone.
"Rita." Uriah says, starting to come closer, hands in front of him. "Cut it out."
She slowly aims it at him. He shakes his head, suddenly realizing that she's not kidding.
"Are you insane?! You've got to be kidding me!" He shouts as Rita pulls her arm back.
Then in a flash, she's injecting it into his neck, and Uriah's eyes slowly come out of focus.
"Let me through, go to hell for all I care." She hisses. Rita quickly takes a step back, waiting for Uriah to drop unconscious, when he forces his eyes to remain open.
"Whadda... Whadda hell wha in dat...?" Uriah tries to speak, but it comes out as if his tongue has swollen up. Irritation and effort flashes in his eyes as he tries to stay upright. He reaches into his pocket, grabbing for something. Then for a split second, his eyes return with life.
"I'm not some psychotic freak like you, I don't want to fight like some lunatic who-"
But Rita lunges at him, and then he's falling down the hole. Whatever was in his pocket comes flying out as he flails his arms, trying to catch himself.
Then he lands right into the net, his frame seeming extra heavy as the syringe that Rita had shoved into his neck begins to take him over.
"HOLY FUCKING-!" However Uriah's attempt to save Rita is extremely delayed with the drug inside of him. Right after her body hits the ground with a thud, a small object bounces from the top of the floor.
A bouncy ball, as a matter of fact.
Despite the crazy chaos going on, Tris feels an odd urge to laugh. Looks like that useless little ball did something after all.
Tris taps the call button again as she realizes there's no light for him to use.
Uriah shoves himself off the net and topples to the ground, rolling a few times. His eyes are wide as he takes in Rita's body using his light from the phone. Tris winces at the sight of blood, a large puddle gathering near her body, then splatters of it everywhere from the fall, like a paint bomb had exploded. Her hair is fanned out, and her arms are in awkward angles. Her legs seem like they're backwards, and Tris actually has to turn away as she dry heaves near the entrance of the Observation room, though nothing comes out.
Flashes of her dad's raw and pink arm come and slap her across the face. Again, she gags, coughing uncontrollably.
From the sighs of relief, she can tell that Uriah has pressed the button. But again, it doesn't feel like a victory at all.
She groans softly as she curls into a ball, willing for herself not to vomit. A hand rests against her shoulder, and it takes her a moment to realize it's Zeke.
"Tris. Tris, are you okay?" He asks, concerned, while trying to see her face.
She forces herself to sit, yet her body is still leaning forward like a permanent pain in her stomach is preventing her from staying straight. When she brushes a strand of hair from her face, her hands are shaking.
"I'm fine, your brother needs the attention." She forces out, pushing herself up with great effort.
As if someone had just reminded him that he was supposed to clean the house before his mother arrived, he gives Tris one last look of concern before taking off for Uriah.
She wishes so dearly that she could run toward Uriah and engulf him into a hug, comfort him, but her head was spinning. She needed to get out.
She felt guilty as hell alright.
With one last look behind her, she coughs hard with great effort to not spew right then, and takes off.
She could only hope no one follows her.
Tris was still retching when Four walked through the door.
"Whoa, are you okay?" He asks while jogging toward her and gently holding the hair from her face.
Tris doesn't answer, she uses the cold water from the sink to wipe her lips and gargle, trying to get the foul taste out of her mouth.
When she finally closes the tap, her hands are slightly shaking, and her face is pale.
"Tris, what happened?" He asks as she slowly makes her way out the door.
She walks over to the counter and grabs the first aid kit, then back to her bed where she tiredly flops down.
"Tris?"
She closes her eyes, then opens then again. "Can you just be quiet?"
Her voice comes out tired and a bit raspy, but Four seems to hear it loud and clear.
"Why?" He asks, confused. "Did I do something?"
She slowly reaches for her leg and bites the inside of her cheek as she unwraps the bandage roll. No wonder her ankle had been burning like crazy, it had begun to bleed again.
Four inhales a sharp breath before walking to the foot of her bed. "Wait, let me do it."
She was too worn out to object, so she lies on her back while he begins to gingerly wrap her ankle again.
But just because she was worn out didn't mean she'd forgotten what he'd said earlier about her to Eric. She was beyond angry at him, but after he finished with her leg would she confront him.
She was almost falling asleep when he finally finished. Her eyes shoot open and she forces herself to sit upright.
"How's Uriah?" She asks, feeling the guilt in her stomach all over again.
He shakes his head. "He was fine, just a scratch on his arm. He was unconscious for about five minutes before waking up.
"But mentally, he's a wreck. He thinks he could've caught Rita, and he blames himself for it. He's mad at himself for letting the bouncy ball smack into her and make her lose her balance.
Tris snaps her head toward him. "That's absurd. She was trying to kill him. And he won the game."
"But did he really? Pressing a button doesn't always feel victorious."
Tris suddenly feels her hands tighten into small fists, before opening again. "Yeah, I know what you mean. And sometimes it appears that people aren't what they always seem like. You might think you're their friend one minute, then they go against you the next."
He looks at her weirdly. "What?"
Then realization hits him right as Tris begins to stand and practically sprint toward the door.
"Wait, Eric? You're talking about Eric? Tris, you've got to be crazy if you think I actually-"
"Yeah, well thanks for filling me in on what I actually seem like to you." She states bitterly before opening the door and running out in the hall.
She'd barely made 20 steps before a strong pair of arms wrap around her waist and slowly push her body against the wall. Four's breathing was slightly fast, but so was Tris's.
They were close, she could feel Four's chest rise and fall against hers. If she wasn't mad at him, she'd actually enjoy the fact that she was pressed against the wall with Four's arms around her tightly, faces few inches apart.
"Tris, I didn't mean what I said back there."
She snorts. "Sure. I guess you're right. No one would ever look twice at me. And no matter how hard I try, I'm just a vulnerable-"
He cuts her off. "You're not any of those things. You'd never be found in a freak show, you're the strongest person I've ever met, and you're beautiful. What I said back there meant nothing."
Tris stares into his eyes. "Bull."
He holds her tighter, fingers firmly gripping her waist. "I'm serious. I said it to protect you."
He waits for her eyes to fix on his. When they do, he lets out a breath, and she feels it graze against her cheek lightly. "You have to belive me."
Tris looks away, then gazes up into his eyes. Slowly, she enunciates every word, voice hard.
"Let go of me."
And he does. He steps backs, dropping his fingers from her and spreading them apart, raising his arms slightly.
"I don't need your fucking protection. I'm capable of taking care of myself." She sourly hisses before taking off again.
This time, he doesn't follow her. He stands still as she runs away and around the corner, diappearing.
She knocks on the door of the room quickly before someone opens it. Marlene.
Marlene lets her step in and without even speaking, Tris flies into Uriah's arms.
"Hey, thanks for thinking of that light thing. It really helped." He says while firmly pressing her body to his.
But she could barely understand what he was saying. The words were jumbled and unintelligible.
Not being able to hold it in, she imagines Uriah as her older brother, Caleb. And that causes even more distress.
The tears that slip down her face next are filled with a deep ache and pain that nobody would be able to understand.
When Uriah notices, he holds her tighter. "Well, guess that makes the two of us with horrible moods."
A/N- Hey guys! Thought I'd stop here for this chapter, don't kill meh!
Thank you guys SO much for your amazing reviews, it's so heartwarming to know that a load of you are supporting this story, totally brings a giddy smile to my face whenever I read em. (Not creepy)
If I made any mistakes, or grammatical errors, I'm sorry! I wanted to get the next chapter out, I hate making you all wait. (-_-)
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See ya guys next chapter, BYE! LOVE YOU!