CHAPTER 45
FOUR POV
We get back to Dauntless with Nate. Nate is a seven year old mini me with brown eyes or so Tris tells me. We go straight to dad's apartment. We need to explain all this to Sasha and Charlie has a brother to meet. Only Evelyn could keep making our lives so complicated.
"What's going on?" Sasha asks as soon as we walk in the door.
"Charlotte," dad calls out. Charlie comes downstairs. "Baby this is Nate I need you to take him up to your room and play okay?"
"Okay daddy," Charlie says. She knows not to argue with dad when he calls her Charlotte.
"Max what is going on?" Sasha asks again. We all go and sit in the lounge room and dad starts to explain what has happened.
"How can Evelyn expect Four to look after him? He is just starting his life with Tris. They both have important jobs. How can she do this?" Sasha says.
"I know Sash, I know. But we need to try and work out what we are all going to do about this," dad says.
"Dad this isn't your problem. It's mine," I say.
"No Four we are a family, we work through this together," dad says. "We have extra room here, we could take him in."
"No, no, no," I say. "You have done enough. You raised me when you didn't have too. You shouldn't have to do it again."
"I don't regret one day of it Four. As far as I'm concerned you are my son. Always have been always will be. And Nate is a part of you; he is also a part of Charlie. We have to remember her in all of this. She has another brother and she deserves to get to know him," dad says.
"I don't know dad. This isn't fair to you or mum," I say.
"We have the room," dad says.
"Not for much longer," says mum. We all turn to look at her.
"What are you saying?" dad asks.
"I'm pregnant Max, we are having another baby," she says.
We have all gone silent. This would usually be happy news but I think we are all shocked.
"When did you find out?" dad asks.
"This morning. I was waiting until you got home to tell you," she says. Dad gets off the couch and goes and gives mum a big hug.
"This is great news," dad finally says.
"Congratulations," Tris says as I go and get in the middle of mum and dads' hug and hug them both. I turn to Tris and motion for her to come and join in. She comes over and we all hug together. It is a really cool moment.
Once we have untangled from our family hug mum says, "I think he should stay here for now."
"Are you sure?" dad asks.
"Yeah I am. It is going to be easier if he is here for now. We already have two to look after, what's an extra one. Four and Tris are next door and can help us out. Charlie deserves to be able to get to know her brother. We can work out what to do about bedrooms once the baby is born."
"Okay," dad says.
Tris and I get back to our apartment and we crash onto the couch. It has been a crazy day. The leader meeting has been pushed back to tomorrow. By the time we left mum and dads' place Nate seemed to be fitting in well. I'm sure we are going to all have to adjust, especially Nate but as we always have we will do it as a family.
"Tobias," Tris says. I sit up and look into her eyes. "How are you feeling?"
I start to shake my head. "So much has happened today. I think overwhelmed is the word that comes to mind," I say.
"I think I will go and get us some food from the dining hall and we can eat here," she says.
"That sounds like a great idea. I don't think I could handle other people at the moment," I say.
She comes over and gives me a peck on the lips. "I'll be back in a minute," she says and walks out the door. I lie back on the couch and sigh.
We finally got to have our leaders meeting. It has been decided that we are going to Erudite and we are going to arrest Jeanine and all the names on Cara's list. It is going to be a mammoth effort and Tony has put a great plan together. Dad, Shane, Shauna and I are all going to be leading teams on the mission. It has been decided that along with Dauntless police all initiates from the past two years will be involved. The initiates are the most recently trained so they are going to be better to take with us than say someone who is working in the kitchen. I hate that Tris is going but this is what we signed up for. We are Dauntless, we are here to protect. I asked to have her assigned to dad's team. I know she will only be a distraction if we are together. I also know that Dad will look after her.
It has taken three days to formulate the plan and have everyone ready to go. We are leaving tonight. Marcus was buried in a low key Abnegation funeral. Andrew invited me to attend but I declined. I had no respect to show to that monster and I didn't need to go for closure.
Evelyn was executed for her crime. I wasn't surprised that this was the decision of the courts. She was already factionless and she showed no remorse for what she had done. Who could blame her; Marcus had put her through hell. It did have Erudite in a spin. They as usual have brought up the topic of whether Tobias Eaton is alive or not. Luckily no one is taking any notice. With everything that has happened with Marcus and Evelyn the attention was on them and not me. Thankfully.
Nate is adjusting to Dauntless. He reminds me of me when I first got here. He seems to love to explore just like I did. He and Charlie have had some great fights; they are already acting like brother and sister. Jed is loving having another brother to play with. Dad and mum seem happy having Nate. I think they just love having kids around the house. It is completely crazy over there.
TRIS POV
I am sitting on the bench in the training room. We have just finished a training session before tonight's raid on Erudite. I am sitting with Christina and Will, being back in the training room has been fun. Although everything is very serious, it has been nice to spend time with my friends. I haven't had much time for them since initiation finished.
"Let's go and get some lunch," Uriah says.
"Always food Uriah," says Marlene.
"Come on it's not like you don't all want food too," Uriah says.
We get up and make our way to the dining hall.
"Do you think there will be much resistance from Erudite?" Christina asks.
"Doubt it. They have the knowledge behind them but not the experience. I don't think there will be many who could even shoot a gun," Will says.
"They have limited guards with experience," Cara says. "Plus you are going to arrest people not to kill anyone."
I get back to our apartment and I find Tobias asleep on the couch. I walk over to him and I brush my hair over his face. He starts to stir so I kiss him on his lips. "Hey," he says.
"You didn't come to lunch with us, I was worried," I say.
"I just couldn't be bothered," he says.
"Are you sure you are okay? You haven't wanted to talk about Marcus or Evelyn. And now you are avoiding our friends," I say.
"I know Tris. I just. . . I."
"Tobias you are allowed to be sad about all of this. You don't have to act like it doesn't mean anything to you because I know it does," I say.
"That's it Tris. I'm not sad. I'm glad they are dead. What sought of person does that make me that I'm glad they are dead?" he says.
"It makes you human. That's what it makes you. Don't ever let those two make you doubt the person you are. They don't deserve to be able to do that to you Tobias. So you are glad they are dead, that isn't a bad thing," I say.
"But doesn't it make me just as bad as them?" he asks.
"Tobias look at me," I say as I move his chin so he is looking at me. "Tobias you are brave, and selfless, and smart, and kind and honest. You are everything that they could never be. The way they treated you. I don't understand how they could have ever done that to you. So if you are glad they are dead then that is good. I know I am glad they are dead. They have caused you enough pain and I know you are always going to have problems with that. But now they can't cause you any more pain. And I promise I will do everything I can to help you with all of this. I love you Tobias."
Tobias sits up and wraps his arms around me. "Thank you. I love you too," he whispers into my ear. And as usual it sends shivers down my spine.
We have reached the top floors of the Erudite building that houses Jeanine Matthews' office and laboratories. I am with Max and Uriah. Christina was with us but she was shot in the leg by an Erudite guard and we left her with Will three floors below. Will knows his way around Erudite from growing up here and will be able to get her out of the building. Or at least to the medical floor for treatment.
We have just reached the door to Jeanine's office. Max opens the door and before I can even look into the room I hear a gun shot. I don't even think I just shoot. It is like everything is in slow motion. I can see Max falling towards the floor and I can see who is holding the gun that has shot him. I know I should probably have tried to reason with him but at this moment I don't care. I am so angry with the person he has become. As I watched the bullet hit him straight between the eyes I hear another gun shot. My eyes have not left him as he starts to fall and out of the corner of my eye I can see that the last shot has hit Uriah and he is falling. It isn't until I hear his body hit the ground that everything starts to move in real time again. That is when I realise I haven't just shot someone, I have just killed my own brother. Caleb is dead.
I quickly look around me and I can see that Max has been shot in the chest. I get down on the floor next to him and I place my hands onto his chest to try to stem the bleeding from his bullet wound. I turn and look at Uriah.
"Uri are you okay?" I ask.
"Yeah it's only my shoulder. I'll be fine," he says.
"Uriah you have to go and find Four," I say. "It's urgent; you need to find him now. Then you need to go and get us some medical help." Max is losing a lot of blood and I don't know how long he can last. I'm not a doctor but this doesn't look good.
Just as Uriah is getting up Shane comes through the door. "Have you found her?" Shane asks.
"No we got ambushed here," I say.
"Okay we will keep looking," he says and he rushes off down the hall.
"Max," I call to him. "Max. Max you have to stay awake. Come on Max I need you to stay awake."
There is blood everywhere, it is pooling around his body. His shirt and my hands are covered in the warm liquid. I don't know how much longer he is going to be able to last if we don't have help here soon.
The seconds feel like minutes and the minutes are feeling like hours. I'm not sure how long we have been here I know it mustn't be more than I few minutes when Tobias enters the room. He stops dead in his tracks. It is like he can't move, can't process what it in front of him. "Tobias," I say. This seems to bring him back and now he is kneeling down next to his dad.
"Dad," he says.
"Four," Max whispers. I know he is weak from the blood loss. "Four, I need to tell you."
"No dad, save your energy. You are going to be okay. You can fight this. Just hang in there. Uriah has gone for help. Just hang in there," Tobias says. There are tears in his eyes and my heart is breaking for him as he is sitting here watching his dad fade away. I can't move; frightened if I take my hand away from his chest then he will lose what little blood he has left.
Finally help has arrived. Uriah must have brought half the hospital with him. They tell me to move and next thing they have Max on a gurney and they are rushing hopefully towards a hospital. Tobias stands up and looks at his dad being rushed away and me. "Go be with your dad," I say.
"Are you sure? Are you okay?" he asks.
"I'll be fine, it's not my blood. I will meet you down there in a minute. Take Uriah with you he was shot too. He will probably need some help," I say.
I think with everything going on Uriah forgot he had been shot. I'm sure it is going to really hurt once the adrenaline wares off. I watch as they walk out of the room and then I collapse onto the floor. I crawl over to where my brother now lays. I lean my back up against the wall and just sit there. I feel like I can't leave him alone right now. Like I should be here for him, that he shouldn't be alone. Even if he is dead and has no idea of what is now going on in this world, I feel he shouldn't be alone.
I know I have been sitting here for hours. I also know I should get up and go and find out how Max and my friends are. I should be with Tobias. But I can't seem to move. I know I have been here a while because Max's blood has dried on my arms. I am up to my elbows in his blood but I don't care. I am resting my arms on my knees as I am sitting on the floor. I have my head resting on my arms. I probably have blood all over me but still I don't care.
"Tris," he says. I don't look up. I know it is Tobias. He walks over to me and he stops suddenly just before he gets to me. I know he must have just seen Caleb's body. He wouldn't have seen it when he was here before. It was hidden behind a desk and with everything that had been happening with his dad he wouldn't have had time to take anything else in.
He moves towards me again and he comes and sits down next to me. He puts an arm around my shoulder. I don't think I've ever needed his touch the way I do right now. I lift my head and look at him. I have tears in my eyes as does he.
"How is Max?" I ask. He shakes his head.
"He is in surgery. They say the longer the surgery takes the better the chance he has. But it isn't looking good," he says.
"You should be with him," I say.
"I can't do anything there and I was worried about you. No one had seen you, so I thought I better try and find you," he says.
"I killed him, I killed Caleb. I knew it was him and I didn't hesitate I just shot him," I say. That is when the tears start to flow. Tobias pulls me to him and holds me tight. He doesn't say anything he just lets me sob. I'm not drying for the person I shot I am crying for the brother I lost the minute he dropped his blood into the water.
Once I stop crying Tobias says, "We need to get out of here Tris. You need to get cleaned up. I need to get back to the hospital."
Tobias stands and pulls me up with him and we walk out of the door. I am suddenly feeling extremely exhausted.
It's nearly all finished guys.
Is Max going to survive?
Will Natalie and Andrew forgive Tris?
Will Tris forgive herself?
Can Tobias and Tris' relationship survive?
All will be answered soon! Enjoy;)