Chapter 23- Civilization?
A/N Please be aware that there is some M rated scenes in this chapter, but nothing explicit.
His eyes shut close the same time as mine do and we fall asleep, welcoming the beauty and the evil darkness that sleeping with holds.
Tobias POV
A snowflake- a feathery ice crystal with delicate petite symmetry elegantly lands on an old tree next to me. The pure beauty of the simple design and thin figure reminds me of Tris. Tris. Her eyes land on mine once she finishes gazing upon the massive crowd. Her face lights up like lights on a Christmas tree and she rushes towards me. I welcome her gladly and envelope her into a hug, lifting her up into the air. Forcefully, she pushes her mouth to mine, passion streaming through.
Tris's hand glides into mine as we break from the kiss, breathless.
'Come on, let's get out of here.'
Her strong arm tugs me along and soon we are running down the street. Once behind a building in a dark alleyway she turns to me, and forcefully starts unbuckling my trousers and then my shirt.
'Tris wait, I thought,' she kisses me, 'we would wait.'
She pulls away from me. 'Do you not want me?' She screams. Before I can answer she begins screaming at me more and I try to embrace her and calm her down but she pushes me away.
'Get away from me!' She screams and with that I watch her retreating figure sprint down the end of the street. A dark cloud has form from above, the rain lightly dribbles then suddenly pours down endlessly and I watch until I can no longer see Tris' figure. My legs are involuntarily stationary, to the point of no return.
And all I can think about is her scream full of hurt and betray. The scream I created.
I wake with cold sweat on my face. My body abruptly jolts upwards and my head slams into tent roof and I moan. Then I realize it was all a dream. In fact, Tris is staring at me, her face gleaming with concern, curled up in blankets next to me.
'Are you okay Tobias?' she whispers gently.
'I'm sorry I just had a nightmare, I'm fine.'
She sits up now, one arm in front of her to make sure the blanket covers her body.
'Do you want to talk about it?' she whispers kissing my cheek.
'It was just about losing you Tris.'
Her face turns stern. 'Tobias,' she says louder and with more certainty, 'you will never lose me. We have each other. Always.' She grabs my hand and laces her fingers with mine.
'I love you.' She whispers kissing my hand.
'I love you too,' I reply gently kissing her on her forehead. We fall back into gentle sleep.
Dawn.
Although there is a hazy buzz of light from the previous night's fire, around the camp lays haze and mist. The sun has decided to not brighten our day with its light yet. I lean against a weathered rock that is ends around my hips, near the grey charcoal flames of last night's fire. I whip my head around to see the view before me. The trees' around me barely move from the lack of wind and in the distant I can hear a faint sound of running water of the stream, sliding through rocks and pebbles a long way before it finds the mouth of the river. Over time, the small stream with create V shaped valleys from vertical erosion. Yesterday we rode in the car for a couple of hours but after seemingly nothingness we decided to retreat back to camp, today, though we are packing up the camp and leaving to explore more terrain. I turn so my front is facing the rock and pull out a battered map that if I expand it out fully is 2 meters wide. It is a map that Erudite gave me. I smooth the crinkles down on the rock. There isn't much on it, the way to the fence and the factions so we know our way back but they decided to leave the rest to me. I grab a pencil out of my pocket and begin to draw a line from the bottom of the page where it says 'Fence' then to the middle of the part I have folded and annotate it with 'direction we drove' I then shade in the two rectangles opposite of the line and name it 'only land' and then I quickly draw our secluded area near the stream where we camped, rightly naming it 'Camp Site One.' Finally, I place a line in the direction we are going to today.
Zeke, Shauna, Uriah, Marlene, Christina and Will are all asleep. I will wake them up soon, since it's better to get packed up as soon as possible. As I am folding up the map and placing it back into my jacket pocket, when I feel some petite hands around my waist.
'I thought you weren't up Zeke, no need to be affectionate.' I laugh.
'Good to know that I look like Zeke!' Tris laughs quietly so to not wake the others.
I turn around and lean back against the rock and kiss Tris on the lips. My hands wrap around her elbows then slowly drift to her waist. Since I'm in a sitting up/standing position, I pull Tris close to me, pressing her body up against mine while she places her legs on either side of mine.
'Morning,' she whispers.
'Morning,' I smile. 'How did you sleep?'
'I slept fine thank you, although I must say the ground isn't particular comfortable.' She starts rubbing her back as she speaks but I beat her to it. She smiles in response.
'And how about you? I got awfully worried about your dream.' She asks as I rub her back gently.
'It was just a dream, you're here that's all that matters.' I whisper as I pull her lips to mine.
'Always,' she mumbles as she kisses the crook of my neck.
'I'm dying for a shower, I smell awful.' She says.
'No you don't, but I get what you mean,' I look around quickly, 'do you want to follow that stream for a little bit? See if we find a deeper part that we could wash in? I'm sure no one will be up for hours.'
'Why not? That would be good.' She responds. 'We should leave a note just in case everyone else wakes up and realize we are not here.' I nod and kiss her cheek.
'You go get towels and stuff, I'll write the note.' She nods.
She meanders towards the tent while I pick up my pencil and tear off a bit of the maps paper. In mostly neat handwriting I write:
Guys,
Gone with Tris to find deeper water to see if we can wash. Don't worry about us.
-Four.
Tris climbs out of the tent with a bag which presumably has towels and soap in.
'I wrote the note.' I say as I clasp her hand and grab her bag so I can hold it, she is about to protest but I beat her to it.
'I'm fine with holding it.' I say. She smiles and we start walking towards the stream and then we follow it down river. Our feet brush past the grass and occasional weeds, while we duck under some trees around us.
Still following the stream which has now turned into a small river, our camp is becoming a blur and I notice now that the water is considerably deeper, not by a lot, it still only reaches Tris's knee.
Time is slowly dripping by. Zooming past the few trees around us, we come to a much bigger terrain of trees. Tris and I investigate, following the river, towards this explosion of green. What I see shocks me. The woodland is breath-taking. As I lead the way closer to the river, which we can now hear crashing against some bigger boulders, I step on a few leaves and a twig, bending down so I don't knock my head on a tree and it cracks in half with a loud snap! There are thousands of fallen wet leaves, mostly turned brown on the floor and to my sides are hundreds of years old trees. The height is insurmountable, they almost reach the sky, well from my point of view it looks like they do. On the dark brown bark of the trees are lichens of yellow and green, and below are symmetrical ferns and shrubs. We walk forward, careful where we step and bending over a few trees that have slanted naturally and almost tripping over roots that stick out of the ground. When we reach a clearing, small pebbles are below our feet, no doubt from attrition, and a form of river erosion. I realize it is a small meander bend. We must be in the middle course of the river now as it is deeper as a result of being joined by a number of tributaries. Across from us is a deeper section of the river and over hangs a small river cliff and on the cliff grows trees and shrubs that dangle over the side.
As if reading each other's mind we place the things we are holding down on the ground. Tris looks around.
'Are you sure no one will see us?'
'Out here? Positive.' I reply.
'Should we go in with our underwear?' She asks quietly, putting her hair behind her ears.
'Unless you want to skinny dip,' I smirk.
She blushes immensely. 'I…' she stutters.
'I was kidding,' I laugh. She laughs as well although it's not a very convincing chuckle. She starts to undress, undoing her buttons of her shirt. Being the gentleman I am, I turn around and get out soap which won't harm the organisms in the river. I also place our towels on top of the bag so they don't get dirty. Then I lift up my shirt and unbuckle my jeans, leaving me in my tight black boxers. Which maybe isn't quite a good idea, considering Tris is going to be half naked. Wouldn't want to explain that reaction.
I turn around after I am undressed and when I see Tris, my heart skips a beat. She is wearing a black lace bra and boy shorts. I smile and try not to stare at her amazing figure, even without me saying anything she blushes.
'Ready?' I ask. She nods.
I take her hand and lace it with mine, grabbing the soap, as we walk into the water. At first the water wraps around my toes and the temperature feels okay, not freezing but not hot either, lukewarm. Soon, we move in deeper, feeling the smooth pebbles on our feet, our movement makes the river dance. Using my advantage of the current, I use my hand forcefully to splash Tris right in the face. She laughs then grins mysteriously as she splashes me back twice the force, soaking my completely. The water is now up to her waist. The velocity of the river isn't very fast, luckily, so I make sure I have Tris' hand firmly in mine, to make sure she doesn't slip and we bounce closer towards the outside of the meander bend as it is deeper because this is where the greatest erosion takes places. The erosion has formed a small river cliff above our heads. There are trees and all sorts of rock debris around us.
The river cliff has made the water seem more secluded and I pull Tris towards me gently and place my lips on hers. We are now completely submerged in the clear water; it runs to Tris' shoulders and my belly button. Her whole body is pressed up against me and I love the feeling. The way her half naked body touches mine makes my body jolt with electricity.
'Let me wash you,' I whisper seductively, twisting her body so her back is firmly pressed upon my chest and my lips are pressed against her ear. She grins and gives me the biodegradable soap bar. I clutch it in my large hand and I begin by sliding up her arm slowly, and even with that contact she closes her eyes in paradise. I switch the soap bar in my other hand and let my hand without soap, draped down her arm, water seeping through. I do the same to her other arm. Her back is still pressed up towards my chest and as I switch arms, I place my face on the other side of her neck and kiss it. Now she opens up her arms and I put the soap in my right hand and slide it under water to reach her knee, and ever so painstakingly slowly I raise my arm, it grazes the side of her pants and then I leisurely rise towards her belly button then up past her bra where I slow down even more. My lips are still a centimetre from her neck. Then I raise the bar past the bulge of her breast, grazing her breast, I can hear her hold in a breath. I glide the soap up towards her neck where I massage her shoulders gently. Her hands are up in her hair, giving me all access to her neck.
When I am done, she brings her hair down then from behind wraps her arms around my neck. She kisses me passionately, desire seeking through.
I didn't realize how much this is turning me on. I really should pull my body away from her or she will notice that and become nervous. But she doesn't let me.
'Time to return the favour Tobias,' she whispers seductively. She licks her lips without knowing and I smash my lips to hers. She is making me crazy. She turns around now so that she is facing me.
Her small hands softly grab the soap bar and paint a masterpiece on my chest. She starts by slowly moving her hands along my bare muscular chest while the water drips down my chest. And then she moves down towards the hem of my boxers. She switches the soap so it's in her left hand and to my surprise she does something I never thought she would do. She places her right hand down the back of my boxers and squeezes my gluteus maximus through the water. She clutches it and my eyes go wide. I'm so turned on right now that I am sure she has noticed it. She kisses me, her hand still placed on my butt. She smirks slightly as I look at her with wide eyes and then she releases her hand from my back side, but through the water she quickly moves her hand to my front and purposefully glazes over my manhood and it twitches.
She quickly retreats back to my chest and places her lips firmly on mine, slightly blushing, but still pressing her body to mine. My hands wrap around her waist.
'I love you,' she whispers.
'You know you are making me crazy right?' I joke.
She blushes and tilts her head down.
'I want to make love to you,' I whisper boldly, extremely quiet against her ear so badly I think, she holds in her breath, 'but I want it to be right, I want to have a comfortable bed and candles.' I say.
She smiles and looks up at me. 'Who knew you could be so romantic?' she asks grinning.
'I'm an incredibly romantic guy!' I exclaim, she scoffs, 'just don't tell the others.' She chuckles.
'We better clear up and get going, I think we have been out for two hours,' I say.
She nods and cleans her hair fairly quickly, pulling away from me, while I do mine and put my face in the water. The water is so fresh on my face. I could stay in this forever.
Breaking my thoughts, Tris calls out my name and places her hand in mine as we walk back out of the deeper end of the water, towards the flatter surface. Soon the only water is on us. I grab our towels and place one around her as there is a fairly chilly wind since we just got out of the water.
'You know what would have been easier?' Tris says, pulling some jeans on.
'What?'
'Wearing our swimming costumes,' I mentally face palm, why didn't I think of that? She laughs. 'But they were packed in the car; I wasn't expecting to need them. But I was certainly wrong,' she grins.
'Yeah, you were.' I grin as well, while slipping on my t-shirt and zipping up my trousers. Drying my hair with my towel quickly, I gather the soap and plop it into the bag. I begin to roll up my now wet towel and pushing it in the bag as well. Tris hands me hers and I roll it up quickly and put it in the bag and sling it over my shoulder. Now fully dressed, and leaving behind nothing except the memories of that spot, we hike past the old trees with lichens, ferns and shrubs and back towards the smaller stream and our camp which now should be buzzing with life.
Once back at the camp, we are greeted with smiles and intriguing faces. Everyone is up now since its 8 o clock. We have been gone for 3 hours.
'Both of your hair is wet! Oh my gosh! You got to wash! Can we go?' Christina asks hurriedly.
'The deeper river is an hour away Christina,' Tris explains, 'we don't have time for all of us to go. I'm sorry.'
Christina pouts. I notice the rest of the squad feels a bit down.
'I'm sorry guys, but I assure you will be able to shower later on today.' I say. Christina's eyes light up.
'So you were there for a whole hour? That's a long time to wash.' She smirks and wiggles her eyebrows. Tris and I both blush. Damn Abnegation side!
'We were enjoying the view of the scenery.' I say emotionless.
'Or the view of each other,' Zeke mumbles.
'Ha!' Uriah exclaims, 'did you skinny dip?' he asks with a smirk. 'Did you christen that spot?'
'No!' Tris and I shout at the same time, her blushing red and my Four mask coming on.
'Leave them alone Uri,' Marlene says. Thank you Marlene! After a few moments, the situation dies down.
'Anyway, guys. Today's plan, everyone grab a seat.' I instruct.
They all sit on a rock of some sort around the dead fire and all turn their heads towards me.
'Okay, in at most an hour, after breakfast or so we are going to set off from this camp. It's time we explore more of the ground and set up camp elsewhere, further onwards. I have a map so I will drive again. What we need to do, is work together and pack up all tents. Zeke, Shauna can you look after the fire.'
Everyone nods.
The girls except Tris pour out bowls and add some ingredients to it and then hand them around to everyone with equal portions. When I receive mine I realize it cereal without milk since it would go off. It's sugary and feels a bit odd and it doesn't fill me up but it will suffice. I shove mine down like I haven't eaten in a week. After I finish I notice Tris is staring at me with an amusing face.
'Hungry?' she asks.
'Well,' I lean closer to her so only she can hear, 'after this morning's activities.' I whisper. She blushes and continues to stare at me. We are lost in a staring contest and I am taken back to the first time those strong eyes looked in mine during the first day I met her, in the cafeteria.
Suddenly, I get hit in the head by a piece of cereal. And the thrower? None other than Zeke.
'Stop staring at each other, it's scary.' Zeke complains smirking.
'Oh yeah?' I question laughing. 'At least I am looking at Tris' eyes Zeke, unlike you who looks at Shauna's other things.' I laugh and so does the others while both Zeke and Shauna blush.
'Alright, alright.' Zeke mumbles and I laugh.
'You know,' Uriah says breaking the tension, 'you just wasted a perfect good piece of food brother.' Every laughs at him and soon I'm grinning.
Camp Site One is no longer Came Site one. The green and orange tents are packed. The fire is no longer in use, the kitchen utilities are packed away in the boot of the Range Rover. All we need now is the passengers in the car. Camp Site One now looks exactly how it did a couple of days ago.
Everyone files into the expensive car. Tris and I are in the front, Zeke and Shauna are in the front middle section while Christina and Will are in the back middle section and then Uriah and Marlene are in the fold up seats in the back near the boot of the car. The luxurious spacious car is ideal for what we need. I look towards the fuel indicator and notice we are 3/4 full; however I do not panic as we have brought extra fuel with us, along with rope and some other things.
I turn the engine on and the car roars with life. The beautiful tires begin to turn and soon we are speeding down the empty fields of short grass towards the horizon.
At exactly midday, four hours after our departure, I begin to slow down as we hit a problem. Instead of flat land below the tires now we are faced with one small slim deserted path, etching with green shrubs all around and large boulders that stick out of the ground. To cause even more havoc to the problem, to my left and right are deep mangroves areas filled with water that run for miles. My face drops as I notice the only way through is forward. As if a spark of hope has come to enlighten us during our problem, Tris notices something.
'Look!' She shouts pointing. I follow her finger, and so do the rest of the passengers. A large amount of gasps follows.
I might be dreaming. But surely if Tris can see it, it must be real. In the faint horizon, is an outline of a small village.
Is that really civilization?
And then all too fast, I feel the car start to shift and sink.
And panic starting to let loose in the car.