I ain't even going to comment xD Enjoy this chapter :)
She stands at the edge of the Candor skyscraper, running a hand across her jawline. Her fingers tremble as she traces her bony face. Back and forth, back and forth. Her hand gets tired of the movement after another relentless couple of strokes.
Her trial has been concluded on a very grim note. Now Christina knows what she did. Scratch that. Now the whole Candor population knows. She has murdered Will and participated in the deaths of her parents. Not intentionally. But she still blames herself.
Four. Four made the trial possible. She warned him. But he pushed and pushed until she had to agree. She would have rather been sent to Erudite. At least then, she would have seen Eric again. Maybe for the last time.
The last two days have been ruthless. How can so many things happen in only 48 hours? So many things she wants so hard to be forgotten.
Caleb has left her. As she expected. She wanted him to detach from the group from the start, but as he has made the choice, and not her, she feels his everlasting absence. And she misses him.
It appears that Evelyn is wanting an alliance with the rest of Dauntless. Her. Her army. And the Dauntless would be unstoppable. They could overtake Jeanine easily. The only problem is that Tobias does not agree with the fact that she and Evelyn decided to play happy families. But Tris doesn't care. She has decided that she would be setting off to Factionless in the morning. Along with the Dauntless volunteers. Where that leaves Tobias, she doesn't know.
Anyway, now that all of the people who once cared for her practically want to push her off this roof, it makes Tris want to jump off herself.
She looks down at the flickering lights at Candor's entrance. Some people are filing in. Some people are walking out. They would not appreciate her splattering onto the pavement next to them.
The thought makes her giggle. She is going insane.
"Where's your scary boyfriend?" a voice says behind her back. She turns sharply, her eyes softening when she sees that it's only Uriah.
He sees the widening of her eyes and his lopsided smile drops instantly.
"He's not my boyfriend," Tris answers, looking back at the ground miles below her. She thinks an awkward silence would follow. But Uriah would never let that happen.
She has been acquainted to him when they got to Candor. He is Zeke's brother. And one of Four's best friends.
"Mind if I join you?" he leans against the railing which is preventing the duo from plummeting to their deaths. He laces his fingers together. One of his legs bounces around as if it has a mind of its own. Tris eyes him suspiciously before smirking slightly. No way could she have hidden her smile even at the slightest interaction with him. Maybe he evicts that from people. Like a personal little ball of sun, "I love heights."
Tris turns to look at him again, her stare demanding elaboration. Maybe she doesn't have to speak.
"From up here, it all just seems so much smaller, you know?"
Should she answer? Was that a question? Tris realizes that she is in the middle of a little panic attack. But then he starts speaking. Saving her, again.
"I know it sounds crazy," he starts, "but sometimes I think I see lights out beyond the wall. I know they say it's all just wasteland out there but," he pauses, shaking his head, "We can't be the only ones left. Can we?"
She feels a smile on her face, and no matter how much she tries, she can't get it off. It might be from all the stress. Or from some kind of muscle spasm. Or maybe it's Uriah. Maybe he is the one making her smile. By simply talking. Not yelling. Or lecturing. Just talking.
Suddenly, the glass behind them shatters. In unison, they turn to watch. All of it shatters into tiny pieces. Soon, the whole roof is covered in glass. But the fragments are so small that it almost looks like snow.
There are a few yells from a nearby roof, but before Tris can turn to look, she notices a grip hook locked into position around a metal pole. Where the glass should have been instead. There are dozens of them. More and more shatter glass. More and more lock around the roof's metallic poles. Her eyes follow the long wires to the inhabited roof and she freezes at the sight.
Soldiers.
All of them flying through the air. Their target is where Tris is standing. Her mouth hangs open in wonder, her mind going insane. But when Uriah nudges her to the side, she realizes that they are not in fact flying. That would be ridiculous. Flying soldiers. How would anybody survive then?
"Let's go!" he shouts, starting to run towards the doorway on the roof.
"Closest weapons?"
"Ground floor!"
Shit.
Tris runs by his side, starting to feel a familiar burn in her legs. She was hoping she wouldn't have to do this again. Always on the run. Always afraid.
In the dark, she sees armed silhouettes running down another building, jumping onto the Candor roof like there is no gravity. When they unlatch their hooks, they start looking human again. Just an average soldier. With a gun. And Erudite insignia on his forearm.
Uriah launches himself at the closest intruder, disarming him and knocking him out with the weapon. Tris stands still, looking up as even more soldiers slide down buildings. She wants to help. She wants to knock them out before they even reach the floor she is standing on. But even if she had a gun, she would not be able to shoot. She could not bring herself to shoot ever again.
She gasps when one of the men spots her and raises his gun. Her initial thought is to help Uriah. But she turns around and starts running towards the fire exit. Bullets slice through the air behind her, threatening to penetrate her skin. She never feels the slightest sting.
Once she has rounded the corner, she stops, taking a deep breath. It will be fine. Just don't leave Uriah.
She peeks around the cement on the wall, watching him fire again and again at the approaching soldiers. They start falling down like dominos. One after the other. Tris furrows her eyebrows, finding that her hands are starting to shake with adrenaline.
But everything slows down at once when Uriah's body hits the floor.
She gasps again, pressing her back against the wall, hoping that somehow nobody spotted her. She thinks for a moment. She tries to think. She searches her brain for the most logical explanation as to why the people around her are dying.
Her head starts spinning as she runs towards the door with the red light flashing above it. Her legs are so heavy. They drag behind her as she runs. They want her to turn around. They want her to surrender herself. Her heart stops momentarily when gunfire starts again. This time, it is meant for her.
Miraculously, she reaches the door, barging through it like a mad woman. It slams behind her, the automatic lock sealing it shut again. It will not last for very long. They are going to break it down somehow.
The cold stairs are her next challenge. All she has to do is run down them without tripping and breaking her neck. But with her overdose of adrenaline making her head spin, it seems impossible. She almost doesn't notice the flashing alarm lights, colouring the walls red. Red. It looks like blood.
Her heart skips a beat when a group of shrieking women run at her, pushing her back to where she came from.
"No!" she manages weakly, forcing her way through the tangled limbs, "Go back!"
The gunshots send her a mile up the air. She yells when an electric current sparks below her shoulder. All the energy seems to be coming from the little sting. All the energy engulfs her body in nothingness. She shuts her eyes, perplexed by the feeling. It feels like she is going to sleep. But she is wide awake. She doesn't get it.
Her head hits a soft cushion, ricochets against it and lands onto a hard stair. Her vision goes black.
But then it returns. It returns so fast that all of the previous events feel like a dream to her. What the hell happened? Was she shot? Why is she still alive?
Her body feels heavy as she tries to stand. A stabbing pain sears through her. Automatically, her hand flies to her back. As it does, the corners of the stairs rub against her side. She hisses in pain, getting up quickly. It still feels sore once she is up. Everything feel sore. The impact of her fall will certainly leave bruises.
But that pain below her shoulder is a mystery. She groans as she twists her neck to see better. It cracks loudly, but she ignores it. The grey ball plastered to her skin makes her feel sick. She thought it was a mole at first. But she never had a mole there. This is new.
They have merged my body with metal.
An unconscious woman sprawled across the stairs catches her attention. But she isn't the only one. There are lots of women here. All of them are unconscious. All of them look dead. But Tris is awake. If these balls made everyone go to sleep, why is she awake?
Knowing the answer already, she sighs.
Her hand reaches out to touch the metallic thing on the woman's foot. It feels exactly like Tris' does. It looks the same too.
She turns her head and sees another one of those. On another woman's body. On her neck.
That's when she hears it. The eerie and rare and calming and unnerving. The silence.
"Mommy?" a young voice cries at the top of the staircase. She narrows her eyes. It didn't last long, did it?
She turns, seeing a little girl, picking at her own bullet. She is teary eyed. She doesn't look like she ever reached adolescence. She is so small.
"Mommy?!"
"Shh," Tris jumps slightly, hurrying to the little girl's side. Her eyes widen in fear, but then relax. And then they widen again.
"They hurt my mommy?"
Tris sees the red marks circling the metal ball on the girl's skin. She frowns slightly, but then forces herself to smile. She can't do this to a child. She has to stay positive.
"Look, I got one too," she hushes, turning slightly so that the girl can see. When she does, her lip falls back into her mouth and she bites on it, "See? It's okay. It's just the thing that made everybody go to sleep-"
"I want my mommy," the girl whimpers.
"I need you to do me a favour," Tris cuts her off, her eyes darting to the nearest staircase, "I need you to go to the top of those stairs up there," the girl turns to look, "Don't come down until your mommy comes to get you."
"Don't come down?"
"Don't come down," Tris repeats, the corner of her lips twitching up, "Can you do that?"
The girl nods, sniffing. Tris exhales in relief. Thank God.
"Be brave, okay?" she searches the girl's eyes for fear and she finds plenty. She finds a lot actually. It's no surprise, "Go."
The girl disappears quickly, her white dress flowing in the breeze which whooshes out of the open fire exit that was left open.
SHSHSHSHSHSH
Tris reaches the ground floor five minutes later. Every step that she took made her cringe. They were too loud. They made her afraid that somebody would hear her. And if they did, she would be dead. She is what they are after, right? She is Divergent.
She turns around in the secluded hallway, making sure that nobody followed her. The red lights are still flashing. They cast a disturbing appearance on the white and black clothes on the floor. In those clothes are people. Unconscious people. Non-Divergent people.
The big guns gleam at her from inside the black gates. She sees them through the little squares. She slams her hands on them once she is close enough. But the gates do not budge. What was she thinking? Why is she even here? To hold a gun without shooting?
Still, her instinct pushes her forward. It darts around her body until she can hear her heartbeat. Here is a lock on these gates. She does not have the key.
Running footsteps startle her and she spins around, pressing her back against the nearest solid object she finds. It's only Uriah. His eyes scan her over. Checking for injuries? That is the only valid explanation.
He was not killed. He was put to sleep. Just like her.
"Hey," she pants, mentally kicking herself at the casual greeting she was dumb enough to muster.
"Why are we the only ones awake?"
"Because we're Divergents," she answers, raising an eyebrow. His face overflows with shock. As if he only just found out. What if he has? She bites her lip to hold onto her laughter.
What is the matter with her?
"Come on," she coughs out, "I need your help. We have to open this."
She turns back to the gates, slamming her hands against them, listening to the clanging sound. He doesn't come. He stands in the doorway, paralyzed.
"Uriah, I need your help!" she yells. This time he listens. But instead of uselessly slamming his hands against the door like she is doing, he picks up the nearest fire hydrant, banging it against the lock.
The plan seems good. But all plans have their limitations. This plan has a limitation of being too fucking loud. Tris jolts every time he hits the lock. She tries to pull the gates towards her, checking if they have become any looser. They have.
"Hey!" a deep voice yells behind them. They turn around simultaneously. And when Tris sees him, she nearly cries with relief. A small smile slides across her face as Eric points the gun at her. He is smiling too. But his eyes are hard. He is warning her. He is telling her something.
"Look who decided to show up," Max slurs, raising his gun as well. Behind them are three more soldiers. Their faces are blank. They have no idea what they missed out on when the attack on Abnegation happened.
But Eric and Max did not miss out on anything. They were there when Tris and Four were held at gunpoint. That was the day they really knew. They knew it all.
Eric moves closer to her, lowering his gun at once. His smile disappears when Tris feels his breath on her forehead. Now only she can see his face. She watches him. He looks confused. What are you doing here? He would ask. Why did you have to be here?
"Won't be hard for you to shoot her this time," Max chuckles, boiling Tris' blood. Eric mocks a laugh, sounding completely allegiant to Max.
What he says is: "It's really good to see you again."
What he means is: "Please, play along."
Review and tell me what you think ;) That is if you are not speechless. Which you should be.
Joking, joking xD