Chapter 23

Tobias

"Attention fellow dauntless members. Due to the recent incidents, everyone must proceed to his or her apartment. Guards will be ensuring every door in 15 minutes. If you're not in your apartment, you will be reported as missing. Please be precautious as you walk through the compound. Potential intruders might still be in our headquarters. Thank you."

"How long do you think we're gonna have to stay there?" Tris says as we walk toward our apartments.

"I don't know. Could be to long."

"You really think they would keep us there until tomorrow?"

"It's possible."

"You know we'll have to sneak out right?"

I nod. "If we're not aloud out by the time we need to, then they're probably still searching the compound. We'll have to be careful."

We reach Tris' apartment. Before she opens the door, she turns to me.

"Do we have a plan? If we have to sneak out?"

"I'll come get you. Tomorrow 5 pm, if we're not out until then, I'll get you."

"How are you planning on doing that?"

"I'll figure something out."

She looks at me. I know Tris, and she has different ways of looking into your eyes. This time, it's like she does not trust the words you're giving her.

"And if you get caught?"

"I won't."

Tris

I watch Tobias leave and then I walk into my apartment, closing the door behind me.I have got a strange feeling about his words. Like they weren't real. It is possible he would lie. Maybe he sees this as an opportunity to go to Erudite without me. If that's the case, he's an idiot for thinking that I won't be able to get out of here too. No. I shake my head. I can't think like that.

I flinch when I hear a bashing on the door. Standing outside is a tall dark-skinned man, dressed in a guard uniform. "Tris Prior?" he says while looking down at his electronic device.

"Yes."

"Someone in here with you?"

I find the question strange. Everyone is supposed to be in their apartment. "No."

"Alright good." Still looking at the screen, he keys in a series of letters.

"What are you doing?" I ask.

"Clearing your name."

Before I get a chance to say anything else, he closes the door and I hear a click. When I try to open it, nothing happens. They're going to keep us on lock down.

I must have fallen asleep; cause when I open my eyes again the clock says 4.15 am.

I look around the apartment. It's dark and buried in shadows, shaped by the full moon outside my window. Has the lock down been cancelled? I carefully turn the doorknob. By my surprise, the door opens. As quietly as I can I walk down the hallway, my hand skimming the wall to keep my path straight. Soon I'm not just walking, I'm walking towards something. I hear faint voices at the end of the hallway. I creep closer to them, trusting the dark to keep me hidden.

"I still think we should have kept the lock down going?" Eric.

"Yeah well people we're getting suspicions. It's nighttime now so everyone is probably asleep anyway. No one will see what we're doing." Max.

"You sure about that?"

"You're never sure in Dauntless, but I don't see another solution for this."

They start walking further away, which makes their voices too small to hear.

I take a step forward to see where they're going, but then someone grabs me from behind and a hand claps over my mouth. Quickly he turns me around, up against the wall and puts his finger over my lips.

"Tobias! What are you doing?"

"Shhh!" He takes my wrist and pulls me away from the voices. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," he says and looks over his shoulder.

"What are you doing?" I repeat.

"We need to leave now."

I notice a backpack on his shoulders, and a holster in his belt. "Now?"

"Yeah, before the first shift in the control room starts at 4.30." He starts walking.

"Tobias I heard something. Eric and Max."

He stops. "What'd they say?"

"Something about that people we're getting suspicious about the lock down so they had to end it, and that it was the best solution. Max said that no one would see what they're doing anyway since it's the middle of the night."

"Doing what?"

"I don't know. I lost them when you interrupted me."

"Yeah okay. Well we don't have time to think about that now. We have to go."

I grab his hand. "But we need to find out what they're up to."

"Tris, not now." He pulls back his hand and continues walking.

Tobias

She changes into her combat clothes. Before we leave I hand her a gun. It feels unfamiliar even though I've given her one countless of times during initiation. This time it's different. This time it will not be used for hitting a still target. We walk side by side through the hallways to the glass building doors. Neither of us says anything. I'm guessing there is too much to say, and none of us knows where to start. This could be an operation we won't come back from.

myself into one of the train cars as it passes and pull Tris with me. She falls against me, her cheek against my chest. The train picks up more speed and she grabs my hips to steady herself, and our eyes meet. She quickly lets go and looks away.

"Tris," I say. "We can't be like this right now."

"Like what?" she says and straightens.

"Like we're fighting without really fighting." She sighs. "Look, we're gonna disagree on a lot of things but right now we need to…"

My voice trails off when another figure pulls itself into the car. It's length and shoulders indicate that it's a he. "You weren't thinking of going without me were you?"

The early sunrise lids up the car and I can see his face. "Uriah." Tris says. "You can't be here."
"Well I'm not going anywhere. I won't wait around while you two fight for your lives for something that we all are."

I nod. "Fine, but you answer to us alright? Don't do anything stupid."

"I would never." He sits down. "So, what's the plan? You're just gonna go there by yourself?"

"No," Tris says and sinks to he floor. I sit down a few feet away from her. "Two from Abnegation will come. We'll meet up with a few people from Erudite when we get there. Jeanine has enemies everywhere, even in her own faction."

"Wait?" Uriah raises his hand. "There's only five of us?"

I sigh. "We can't answer all you're questions Uriah, we don't have time for that."

He doesn't say anything else. I look at Tris. She's watching the city passing by outside the train car. I want to know what she's thinking, but I can't ask her and I hate that. I hate that there's this tension between us and that I don't even know how it got there in the first place. Ever since the conversation with Natalie and Marcus, something has been confusing me with the way I should be around her and what I should say to her. Almost like the last few months with her in my life are too blurry to remember.

I close my eyes, trying to stay calm while I still actually can.

See ya'll soon. Be brave! -s