All rights to Veronica Roth…I own nothing.
" Do I know you?" I step forward. I scan her face over twice and realize I have never seen this girl in my life.
" No!" She said, " but I know YOU!"
I touch Zeke's shoulder and he releases her. She takes a second and catches her breath, grabbing her knees. After a moment she stands up straight. Her face is flushed.
" It was ME!" she says, " I sent you the letters!"
I stop and look at her. Who the hell is this girl? How does she know Beatrice and me?
" How do you know me as Four?" I ask sternly.
" My name is Mary Cline. I was originally assigned at the old bureau building. I was assigned to you. They kept tabs on anyone of importance and you being the son of Marcus Eaton and all, you became important. I had watched you for nearly 7 years. I even named my own son Tobias. You became important to me. And then you started to fall for Beatrice and I knew, I knew I had to keep her safe!"
What she is saying is something out of another world to me. It's been two years since the great awakening of Chicago, but it still stings.
" Yeah that's great, and sort of creepy!" Christina says, " But why are you trying to help? Why would you risk your life?" She pushes her little gun in Mary's direction.
She tenses up but answers, " I want to get Tris out of here! She doesn't deserve this. All they are doing to her. She deserves to be happy, to be with you!" She looks right at me.
" I was there for everything!" She says, stepping towards me, speaking quietly. "The time she held your hand. When you saved her life. That night in the chasm! Even your fear landscape! I saw it all."
" So what do you want out of this? What is your end of the bargin?" Zeke interrupts.
I can't help but relive those moments. Moments I was begging myself not to forget. What keeps me going is the idea that we'll have new memories to make. Suddenly my body aches in such a way that it hasn't in a long time. I need to hold her close again. I need to feel her skin against mine again.
" I just want to help! I want nothing!" Mary says.
" So help!" Christina yelps at her.
" You want to get out of here? You probably aren't in this to hurt anyone, at least not anyone here. We're mostly unimportant techs. Scientists, good people, who were forced into this program! Pull the fire alarm!"
" So everyone runs!" I say, realizing she's right. " The alarm will cause havoc. That still doesn't take care of the guards though."
" No." She responds, looking down. " They won't move unless moved. But at least most of the innocents will be gone. "
Before I can ask she says, " She's passed the guards, to the left. Room 8."
We head back towards the door but before I can make it a hand touches my arm. I turn to see Mary grasping me.
" Be safe!" she says, " Take good care of her!"
" I still don't understand, " I tell her, " I don't know why you are doing this! Why are you showing empathy and sympathy towards people you've never met?"
" Four and Six." She says quietly, " You gave me something to believe in."
I touch her hand in gratitude and I head for the door.
It's a quick breath between the time that we leave Mary behind and I'm watching as Christina is pulling the lever on the fire alarm. In an instant I feel like I've been crashed into as the wail of the alarm goes off. I see people running in every direction. I watch as some try to save experiments, and some are just saving themselves. I peek around the corner and sure enough, the guards stand strong.
" Alright lover boy!" Christina turns to me, " We're are going to get them running after us. Meanwhile you go get her."
" That easy?" I ask, my eyebrow up.
" That easy! You're Dauntless remember, don't over think it!" She says smirking.
" I'll find you afterwards!" Zeke tells me, clamping a hand to my shoulder. I nod back to him.
Zeke and Christina exchange looks. They rise together. Christina fires a single shot into the air and runs out into view of the guards.
" What's up, Fuckers?" She yells in a cocky tone, Zeke clamoring in next to her.
I watch as they take off running down the hall to the right and out of sight, smiling and laughing as they do. A moment later I see the gaggle of guards chasing after them yelling for them to halt and to lower their weapons.
" I guess it WAS that easy!" I say to myself. I close my eyes, " Be brave!"
I jump up and run down the hall to the left, just as Mary had said.
" Hold it!" I hear from behind me. There is a single guard standing there holding a gun at eye level. She yells again, "Hold it right there! Drop your weapon!"
I don't give her a moment to think about it, I raise my gun and fire. I don't intend on hitting her, just getting her out of the way.
She ducks but fires wildly in my direction. Thankfully she is a shit shot and completely misses me. I pass room 7 when I hear her firing again. I throw myself to the ground and pull my gun up. I tap my trigger twice. I watch as one bullet strikes her knee and drops her, and the other her shoulder. She raises her gun and tries to fire but can't and it shoots into the wall.
I hear the final shot and I push myself through a door. This is a swish and the door closes in front of me. The room is cold and dark, except for a blue glow. I hear an odd noise. It's a gurgling noise. Then a beep. And another And...
A shiver goes up my spine and I start shaking.
Writer's note: I want to take a second and thank of you who are still reading my story. It makes me ecstatic to know there are those out there who certainly not only like my capability of writing, but enjoy my imagination.
I also want to add….some of you have questioned characters and how they are different than Roth's versions. What i'd like to say to that is in a fan fiction, you can make things into what you want. In my story all of these characters have now spent two years as a fraction less society and they are attempting life as normal human beings. Imagine losing your identity and rediscovering who you are, not only as a singular person, but as a whole society. It's going to take it's toll.
PS. Mary is basically the ultimate fangirl.