Chapter 27

Tobias

A shrilling noise keeps vibrating in my rib cage. Confused I look around to see where it's coming from. No one else seems to be paying attention to it. How can they not? It's highly disturbing. I look at Tris. Her eyes are closed, but I can tell she's not sleeping. How can she rest when there's such an unpleasant noise filling the library?

"You alright, Four?" John says and taps my shoulder. The ringing, I then realize, is in my ears.

"Um…" He's smiling, but he's looking at me in a pitying way, his eyebrows slightly pulled together in the middle and his head tilted. "I'm fine," I say irritably. I don't need his pity. I am fine.

"It's okay if you're not, you know."

"Well I am."

He shrugs. "Alright."

A speaker squeaks loudly above my head. "Thank you my fellow faction members. You can now return to your work space." That's Jeanine's voice.

John nods at me and we get up. The crowd shatters in different directions.

"We need to be fast," John says next to me. "The lab workers won't be back for a while but someone has probably booked one."

"I saw the list for booked labs," Tris says. "The next one is in 30 minutes so we have time."

John seems impressed when he looks at her. "Okay good." He tries to sound casual but I can tell that she stunned him. Tris usually has the ability to think a step ahead. I look over my shoulder to see if the rest of us are moving towards the stairs. The moving crowd makes it hard to find their faces. Just then I catch Zeke's eyes from across the room and he gestures me to continue forward. Then someone forcibly shoulder me aside and he disappears in the cluster. I turn around and trust that everyone will reach the stair on their own. A moving Erudite swarm in a hurry is not easy to wrestle through.

As smoothly as we can we sneak up the stair. When we pass the second corner, we wait for the others. It doesn't take very long. Adrian and Benji are half walking half running up the stair. Behind them are Christina, Will, Zeke and Shauna.

"Where's Uriah? And Marlene, and Lynn?" I ask Zeke.

"I don't know. I didn't see them down there."

I look at Benji. "They were with you."

He shrugs. "I sort of lost them after Jeanine's message. I thought they were behind me."

"We can't wait for them," Adrian says. "Hopefully they're smart enough to realize they were to slow and that it's too late now to come with us."

"That's my little sister you're talking about," Shauna says and lowers at Adrian.

"I'm sorry," he says. "But that's just the way it has to be. They'll be alright as long as they act as Erudites."

"We have to move," John says. He loads his gun and gestures us to follow him. I roll my eyes. For some reason I feel like he's enjoying this, like it's some kind of a thrilling mission we're about to do. Some people would call that being inventive. I would call it being reckless.

Tris walks next to me, and John in front us. We all walk quietly with our guns ready.

Eventually we reach a door that says: "Labs."

"Okay," John says. "Behind this wall is a corridor. They're about seven doors leading into different labs. To get to Jeanine's office you have to go to the very end of it and take a left. To the right is a storage room. There will be guards outside her door, and probably inside as well. As I said to Four and Tris before, we'll have to take them down if they act against us, which they will."

I clear my throat. "I think someone from Dauntless should take the lead from here, you know, for safety reasons."

"I agree," Zeke says.

John looks at the others. No one objects. "Okay fine. Who?" Without hesitation everyone turns to me. In this moment, I can feel the pressure. They're relying on me now. "Okay," I say. "Here's what we're gonna do."

Tris

John disables the alarm on the lab door. I walk in first, Tobias close behind me. John holds up the door for Shauna and Zeke, and then he shuts it behind himself. There are five of us now. The others will stand guard outside and make sure no one gets in here.

"Okay, let's go," John says and slowly starts walking down the corridor.

Tobias leans in to me. "You ready?" he says quietly.

"I think so."

He smiles, takes my hand and kisses my temple. I close my eyes and count to three.

One, his scent fills my lungs. Two, his lips sends a deep ache through my body. Three, I love you. Then he lets me go.

See ya'll soon. Be brave! -s