After dinner is when we're supposed to meet up. When everyone is still working on dinner or working off dinner and training in the Pit or even just relaxing before bed. I'm sitting next to Tobias in the cafeteria, his hand is holding mine under the table...I wonder if he can feel how fast my heart is racing. I'm pretty sure every part of my body is pulsing with nerves right about now. Since the time all of us spoke in the Pit, there hadn't been any surprises. At least, none that I had heard about. Granted, I had been a little more than preoccupied with training today than I had been since we started. I mean, they were handling guns now and I didn't really feel like getting shot again. We barely had any time to stop for lunch before we started up again. I thought they looked promising, but Tobias thinks that they definitely need more work before capture the flag. I wished that we could go sooner rather than later, because I was anxious to get him back on the Ferris Wheel. But I can wait until the group is ready to go. We don't need anyone falling so far behind in training because they got injured at the fairground. I wonder if anyone has shown up. I wonder if anyone will realize the significance of Lynn and Uriah being here. No one knows but those of us who have come back. It's strange, being one of the few that knows what's going on. Just because I know what's going on, doesn't mean I have all the answers. I wish I did though. I wish I had a way to explain things to everyone. To explain things to myself.
I jump in my seat when Tobias squeezes my hand, and I feel embarrassed when I look at him. "Yeah?" I say, knowing there's red on my cheeks.
He smiles at me. "You kind of spaced out there for a bit," he tells me. "What's on your mind?"
"Sorry," I answer, biting my lower lip. "I was just thinking about tonight and also capture the flag."
"That game seems to have meaning..." he says. "Are you going to tell me what it is?"
I shake my head. "No," I grin. "It's not really something I can explain. It has to be experienced."
"Oh yeah?" he asks me raising his eyebrows teasingly as he leans in to kiss me.
I kiss him back and when I pull away I see Peter and Christina staring at us. I would originally be surprised seeing them sitting together, but I'm not now. Especially not after they've both been "spurned" in the last few days. I don't know what they could be planning together in terms of revenge, but I'm not looking forward to having to deal with it. I shake my head and look at Tobias who turns his head to see what I was looking at before scoffing and looking back at me.
"Don't mind them," he says. "If they give you any trouble, I'm always going to be around."
I nod. "I know," I say. "You're kind of perfect that way."
"I'm far from perfect," He says, wrinkling his nose at me
"Whatever you say," I say shaking my head at him. "But I know the truth."
He smirks at me and looks up at the clock and clears his throat. "Should we go?" he asks me, his voice quiet. I follow his gaze to the clock and feel my heart pick up speed again. I barely ate anything due to the fact that I was so nervous about the meeting. What if they all expect me to have all the answers? I mean...I am the last person to have died. If that's even what happened. I nod at his question before we get up and leave the cafeteria. Uriah and Lynn follow shortly after, as to not draw any attention. The last thing we needed was people showing up at the meeting and figuring out things that they just didn't need to know.
We meet up at the top of the stairs before heading down the hall toward the Tattoo Parlor and I feel the butterflies start up again. I take a breath and lick my lips and Tobias squeezes my hand, reassuring me. "It's gonna be fine," he whispers to me.
He opens the door and the first thing I see if Tori standing talking to a familiar girl and my heart picks up speed again.
"Marlene?"
Lynn is the one who speaks and before any of us have time to react, she is sprinting toward her and enveloping her in a hug. Things are beginning to make sense now. First it was me. I woke up in the infirmary with wounds from my last encounter. From when David shot me. And then it was Uriah with the pounding headache. And then Tori. We're coming back in the opposite order we fell. I can't feel my legs so my grip on Tobias tightens because I feel like I'm going to fall over.
"Tris?" Tobias turns and his grips both of my arms and holds me against him. "Baby, are you okay?"
I hold onto his arms and rest against his chest, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath.
"Tris?" Tori asks.
I nod against his chest. "I'm fine," I say. I take a few more seconds before letting go of him and moving over to one of the chairs. Everyone is already sitting down so Tobias takes the chair next to me. He's not letting go of my hand, and I'm grateful about it.
"Are you okay?" Uriah asks, from my other side.
I look up around the circle of chairs and nod. "Yeah," I say. "I think I figured something out."
"Please share it," Tori says.
Her voice is soft and her eyes are on mine. Tobias squeezes my hand and I take a breath.
"I don't know how right I am about this...it's just a theory," I say. I take a breath and lick my lips. "But we're coming back in the opposite order that we died."
"So who's next?" Lynn asks from her spot next to Marlene on the other side of Uriah.
I look at her, though I'm not really seeing her. I close my eyes to try to remember back to when I lost everyone. It hurt. The way that it felt watching all of my friends die. Watching the way that they hurt losing the people that they love. Remembering back to how everything went down, especially after the simulation that cost so many people their lives. I replay everything that's happened, every moment, every fight, every word. And I gasp as my eyes snap open. They find Tori and everyone is staring at her. Everyone except Tobias, who has no idea...he doesn't remember.
Tori takes a breath and nods. "It's Jeanine," she says, her voice quiet, but full of strength. She had killed Jeanine because she blamed her for the death of her brother. And now that she knows that George is alive? What will happen now? "And I'm the one who killed her."
