CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE
TOBIAS POV
All the initiates are sitting outside the fear simulation room. They are loud and rowdy this morning. That will all change for most of them after they have experienced their fear simulations. As the week goes on a small few will become despondent. The rest will most probably have nightmares, or won't be able to sleep. I understand why we do this; I don't really know if it is productive. I'm starting to think that maybe we should just give them their fear landscape and skip stage two altogether. Maybe it's because I don't want to watch Tris go through this.
"Today you will start a week of fear simulations. We will be injecting you with a serum that will let us see your fears. To move out of your fear and have the simulation stop you need to lower your heart rate and control your breathing," I say.
"We will be calling you up one at a time. Christina," I say. "You're first."
Christina and I walk into the room and Eric is standing by the computer. "Take a seat," I say
I inject Christina and move so I can see the screen.
I watch as Christina is being led by Eric across the Pit. Her fellow initiates are following behind. We reach the chasm and Eric is telling her to climb over the railing. I can see Christina's heart rate is going up quicker than I would expect. Once she is holding on to the railing her heart rate starts to get dangerously high.
"Eric, you need to pull her out," I say.
"She'll be fine," he says.
"No," I say. "Pull her out now."
"Four she can handle this," he says.
"Move," I say. Eric stands still blocking me from turning the simulation off. "I won't tell you again. Now move!"
I reach over and turn the simulation off. Christina wakes up and she is crying.
"Christina," I say. I am trying to speak calmly to her but I am extremely pissed at Eric at the moment.
"What I just saw in your simulation, did that really happen?" I ask. I hear Eric scoff.
"Yes," Christina says.
"Christina I want you to leave through this back door. No one will see you and you can go back to the dorms. Okay?" I say.
"Okay," she says. Christina gets up and walks out of the room.
"I can't believe you held an initiate over the chasm," I shout. "What is wrong with you?"
"Don't act so surprised Four. She is a coward. We don't want cowards in this faction," he says.
"That is the answer you are going to give me?" I ask. "You don't see anything wrong with what you did?"
"There is nothing wrong with what I did. She deserved it, end of story," he says.
"Get out," I say. "I don't want to see you back in here. I will take over the simulations and you can go back to IT."
"You just want to protect them," Eric says.
"Protect who?" I ask. I know exactly what he is talking about. He thinks I am trying to protect whoever is divergent and I am. I just act like I have no idea what he is talking about.
"It doesn't matter Four," he says. "This isn't over; you can't just kick me out of my job. You need all five leaders to agree."
"I can suspend you Eric. I don't need to have all five leaders agree on that. So for now we will say you are suspended," I say. He isn't even going to be a part of this faction in a few more days. Once we get the information to Candor he will be looked at as a traitor and he could even be executed for it.
"Fine," Eric says. "But I will fight you on this. I can promise you that."
"You do that Eric," I say to his back as he storms out the door. He slams the door shut.
I walk out of the sim room and address the initiates. "Training has been cancelled for the day. Go and enjoy yourselves."
I walk into Max's office. "I just kicked Eric out of the simulation room," I say.
"What happened?"
"The first initiates fear was of Eric making her hang over the chasm. I had to bring her out of the sim, afterwards she told me it really happened."
There is a knock at the door, we both look up to see Graham standing there.
"Just the person I wanted to see," Graham says. "You can't suspend Eric."
"I can and I have," I say.
"You need all five leaders to agree," he says.
"No he doesn't," Max says. "Only if we are terminating his employment. Which we aren't doing that, yet."
"You have always hated him Four. This is personal. You have no right," Graham says.
"I might not like Eric but I wouldn't let it affect my work. This is about Eric's behaviour. I won't tolerate it any more. Once initiation is over I will show you what he has been doing. I have video evidence. For now, he is suspended and that is that. End of conversation," I say.
"I'm not going to let this go," Graham says and walks out the door.
"You won't have a choice," Max says once Graham is far enough away for him not to hear.
"Did Scott get away alright?" I ask.
"Yeah. He called me when he got there. Which was about an hour ago. I will find you once he is back and we can meet at your place to go over what we need to do," Max says. "Will you be in the fear sims all day?"
"No. I cancelled them and gave the initiates the day off. I need to find Christina and see if she is okay. Then I will go back to my apartment. I will be at home the rest of the day," I say.
"When Scott gets back we will come straight to your place then," Max says.
I walk into the transfers dormitory. Tris isn't here so she is either with Caleb or Lynn. I see Christina lying on her bed. Will is with her but they aren't touching like they normally would be.
"Christina" I say. "I came to see how you are."
"I'm okay," she says. But she doesn't sound like she is okay.
"Why didn't you tell me what he did?" I ask.
"I don't know. So much happened that day and I just wanted to forget about it," she says.
"Eric has been suspended. So he won't be in the sim room anymore. I don't know if that will help you to get through your fears but I'm hoping it will."
"Thanks," she says.
"Look, if you need anything let me know. If you can't find me then go up to the leader's offices. There is a guy named Josh who will know where to find me," I say. I am actually feeling sorry for her at this moment. She pushed her friends away and now she really needs someone. Will doesn't seem to be helping her, what is up with that?
"Training will start again at eight tomorrow morning. Just rest for the day Christina," I say. "I'll see you tomorrow."
I walk out of the dorm feeling bad. I don't know if I should tell Tris what is happening. Christina could use a friend right now. I just don't know. Tris would help her no matter what. She wouldn't be able to help herself. But do I want to put Tris in that situation?
Caleb, Tris and I are all sitting on the lounges laughing. We have been reminiscing about our childhood. It's nice to have us all back together. I am about to say something when I hear a knock at the door.
"Come in," I say to Max and Scott after I have opened the door.
"We have a lot to discuss," Scott says.
We walk into the lounge room and Scott puts a lot of documents on the coffee table.
"So I talked to Jack and he wants us to handle the arrests of any Dauntless members that we think are involved. He wants them to be brought to Candor as soon as possible," Scott says. "He has written up the arrest warrants for all that we gave him names of. On each one is the charges that they are going to be facing."
"What about Jeanine and Erudite?" I ask.
"That is a little trickier. I agreed to let Candor use our special forces team to go into Erudite. Along with Candor and Dauntless security teams. There are over fifty names on that list for Erudite members. It could take days to find all of them. Once we get inside the building it is going to be easy for members who are guilty to run."
"No that won't be a problem," Max says. "I am able to lock down Erudite. A few years ago it was agreed that all factions have a lock down procedure in place. The factionless were getting out of hand and people started to worry that they would try to overthrow one of the factions for themselves. So Erudite, Candor and Dauntless can lock down their buildings. Amity refused and it would have been impossible to lock them down anyway. Abnegation would only allow their main building to be locked down."
"So when does this all happen?" I ask.
"Tonight at eight," Scott says.
"I will go to Erudite," Max says. "Once we are in the building I will lock it down."
"Four and I will coordinate the Dauntless arrests," Scott says. "We will need to arrest Graham and Vera as close to eight o'clock as we can. We don't want them getting wind of what is happening."
"Should we lock down Dauntless?" I ask.
"I think we should," Max says. "It won't be for long. We have thirteen people to arrest. Most members won't even realise what we have done. We won't announce it; you can move in on your targets quickly. Most people are going to either be at home or in the Pit."
"Four I think you should be in the control room. Have someone you trust working with you and you can search the crowds in the Pit. It will still be early by Dauntless standards, so you can tell the arresting officers where people are," Scott says. "You will need to escort them all to Candor once the arrests are made. There is going to be a mountain of paperwork to fill out."
"Where do you want to be Scott?" Max asks.
"I want to be the one to arrest both Graham and Vera. I will arrest Graham first. I have hated every minute working with that bastard," Scott says. "I'm still shocked at Vera but she has always been unpredictable. I will be interested to see what she says under truth serum."
"I am going to give the initiates the next two days off," I say.
"I can have Lauren do the simulations Four," Max says.
"No, I think it would be better if I did them," I say. I don't know who I can trust and I need Tris and Uriah to be safe. Who knows what Erudite will be like without Jeanine. "With everything that is going on I think it would better if I do them. I want to make sure it all runs smoothly."
"If that's what you want," Max says. "The sooner we can get initiation finished the better. One less problem we are going to have."
"We need to talk about leadership too," Scott says.
"Well for now there is an odd number. I would rather wait on making a decision, it is important that we think seriously about this. Let's all think about it and we can have a conversation about it before job choosing," I say.
Scott nods his head and Max says, "I agree. Let's just get all this other shit out of the way."