Chapter 5
"I'm coming!" I snap angrily in response to the insistent knocking on my door. It is in the middle of the night and I have barely slept for more than two hours – thanks to Eric's newest conquest – before whoever is out there so rudely woke me up.
I throw my door open with more force than necessary and glare at my visitor.
It's Eric. He wears sweatpants and a T-shirt, his hair is sleep-mussed and his face is serious, mouth set in a grim line.
"What's wrong?" I ask, suddenly afraid.
"Don't know yet," he answers, his voice husky. He obviously has just woken up as well. "Max told me to get you and come to the conference room immediately."
I look down at the shorts and top I wear.
"Do I have time to change?" I ask, feeling slightly uncomfortable at the thought of going to a meeting dressed in almost nothing.
"Nobody cares what you're wearing, Stiff, let's just go and get this over with."
"I'm not even wearing a bra, Eric!" I yell and instantly flush after my outburst.
Eric lets his gaze travel down my body and smirks. "Yeah, I can see that."
I immediately cross my arms in front of my chest to cover myself.
He rolls his eyes. "Go grab a jacket or something. But hurry."
I nod and then literally run back into my bedroom and grab the first hoody my hands can find before walking back to Eric. I toss him my key and pull the hoody over my head while he locks my door.
"Can you hold on to that?" I ask him on our way to the elevator. "I don't have any pockets."
"Sure," he replies and puts my key into the pocket of his sweatpants.
On the elevator ride up I lean my head against the wall and almost fall asleep again. I startle when Eric nudges my elbow when the elevator doors open.
Arriving at the conference room we find Max, Harrison and Veronika already sitting at the table. Veronika is still in her pajamas and looks like she is having a hard time keeping her eyes open while Harrison drums his fingers nervously against the surface of the table.
"Tris, Eric," Max motions for us to sit down. He is the only one looking even remotely awake.
"What's going on?" Eric asks when we have taken our respective seats.
"Our soldiers at Erudite captured a group of factionless trying to sneak into Erudite's headquarters," Max informs us.
Harrison's fingers stop moving and Veronika's eyes widen.
Eric and I exchange a confused look.
"What could they possibly want in there?" I finally dare to ask.
"Serums, maybe?" Veronika suggests.
"For what?" Max replies.
"Isn't it obvious?" Harrison says. "First guns, now this? They're preparing themselves for a war."
"Against the factions?" Eric asks in disbelief, his pierced eyebrow raised. "They wouldn't stand a chance, they don't have the numbers."
"I have to agree with Eric, it seems rather unlikely," Max says. "But we will mention it tomorrow at the emergency meeting with the other factions."
"What are we going to do about the weapon deliveries?" Harrison asks. "They'll probably try again."
"We outsmart them," I pipe up. Eric turns toward me, his brows furrowed.
"Go on," Max nods at me.
I clear my throat. "We don't use our usual trucks anymore. We transport the weapons for example in the truck that delivers the cleaning supplies. Something like that. No food trucks or clothing trucks, though."
"Good thinking," Veronika acknowledges. "I like it."
"I'll make the necessary arrangements," Max agrees. "Regarding tomorrow – Eric, Tris – I want you to accompany me to the meeting. Veronika, Harrison – you go to Candor and interrogate the prisoners. Try to find out what factionless is up to."
We all nod.
"Do we tell the rest of the faction?" Harrison wants to know.
"We'll have to," Eric answers. "We're Dauntless. It's our job to protect this city so everyone in this faction needs to know what's going on and what we're up against."
"Alright," Max stands up and we do the same. "That's it for now. Try to get some sleep. It's gonna be a long day tomorrow."
Together we make our way toward the elevator and ride down to the leadership apartments.
Eric hands me my key and then goes into his apartment without so much as a goodbye. I shake my head and step into my own home. I will never understand his mood swings.
The next morning I do not eat breakfast with my friends but sit together with the other leaders. It is rather unusual for all five of us to sit together when it's not a special occasion so we get a lot of curious stares.
When everyone is finally in the dining hall Max gets up and informs our people about last night's events.
In Abnegation such news would have caused nervous chatter and fear. But we are Dauntless and we are not afraid.
Max then proceeds to tell Eric and me that we leave in about an hour and since I am pretty exhausted from lack of sleep I decide to go home and lay down for a bit.
I have barely turned the corner at the end of the corridor leading to the elevators when somebody calls after me.
I turn around and freeze. Sean. It is the first time I have seen him since the incident a couple of nights ago.
"I wanted to apologize," he says when he reaches me. I cross my arms in front of my chest, not sure what how to respond.
"I misinterpreted the situation," he continues. "I heard about your break-up with Four and when you invited me to –"
"I did not invite you to anything or anywhere," I interrupt him. "I may have been drunk but I do remember everything. You asked me, and I quote, 'Do you want me to walk you home?'. In which world does this equal an invitation to have sex?"
"Okay, fine," Sean snaps, his eyes blazing. "You looked hot and I wanted to fuck you."
I feel my cheeks flush at his crass wording.
"Why didn't you stop when I told you no?" I want to know then. "Because that is the real problem here. I said no and you kept touching and kissing me."
"You wanted me to, I could feel it," he continues and takes a step closer to me. I immediately take a step back.
"Stay away from me!" I snarl. "I didn't want anything from you, I even told you so."
I turn around and walk away from him.
"God, you're boring, Tris – no wonder Four fucked someone else!" He yells after me and I cannot help but flinch. In hindsight, Four and I had been growing apart for a while but I did love him and always felt insecure about my problems with intimacy. I was always afraid that it would hurt our relationship and drive him away.
I hold in the tears that threaten to fall and turn around before angrily advancing on Sean.
"You are pathetic," I hiss in his face. "You think I'm boring because I didn't jump right into bed with you? You had to try and force yourself on a drunk girl because you can't find someone who is willing to put up with you sober. What does that say about you?"
The rage on his face reminds me of Peter and I take a step back, putting some distance between us again. He grabs one of my wrists roughly and pulls me against him. I immediately move forward and slam my head against his nose just like Eric and Four taught us during initiation.
Sean screams in pain and lets go of my hand. I can see blood pouring out of his nose.
"You fucking bitch!" he growls and lunges for me. I am prepared to fight him but he never reaches me – Eric is suddenly there and grabs Sean's upper arm, turns him around and punches him straight in the face. He goes down immediately.
"Nice headbutt," Eric says to me, sounding rather unimpressed. "Good to know you at least learned something during those disastrous first fights of yours."
I roll my eyes at him, then look down at Sean's unconscious form.
"What are we going to do with him?"
"Kick him out," Eric answers nonchalantly. "I warned him. Now go and take that nap, I'll take care of him."
I am way too drained, emotionally and physically, to fight him on this so for once I actually follow his orders.
When we arrive in Abnegation, where the meeting between the factions will take place, my stomach is in a tight knot. Until now, I have not realized that accompanying Max also means that I would get to see my father for the first time since I have left the faction I grew up in.
Eric turns around in a circle and checks out our surroundings, his brows furrowed. Then he stops and I see him nod to something Zeke tells him via his earpiece.
"We're clear," he informs us before addressing the soldiers that came with us – among them Four, Christina and Uriah. "Spread out. Report anything that seems suspicious."
When our soldiers get into their positions Max motions for us to follow him into the building used for meetings.
"You okay?" Eric asks next to me and I am surprised by the concern in his eyes.
"Yeah, just nervous," I answer. "I haven't seen my father since Choosing Day."
He nods, a faraway look on his face. Maybe he remembers his own parents.
"You're afraid he's angry with you. Disappointed," he says then and again, I am surprised. Since when is Eric able to read me so well?
"He takes faction before blood pretty seriously," I swallow. Eric glances down at me but before he can reply we arrive at the conference room and we are faced with not only my father but also Marcus Eaton waiting to greet us.
The knot in my stomach tightens.
"Beatrice," my father exclaims in surprise. Of course – he doesn't know I am part of leadership. "What are you doing here?"
"She's our leader in training," Eric answers for me, placing a hand on my shoulder and squeezing it.
"That's – that's great," my father stutters before smiling at me. "Your mother and I are very proud of you."
The knot in my stomach loosens and I feel myself relax a bit. "Thank you. Caleb is a leader in training as well."
A shadow falls on my father's face and I frown.
"It's good to see you again, Beatrice," Marcus, having just finished talking to Max, turns toward me and reaches out his hand. I do not take it.
"It's Tris now," I reply coldly. I cannot help but remember Four's fear landscape and the scars on his back.
"I'm sorry," Marcus says with a forced smile. "So, Tris, how is my son?"
My hands ball into fists.
"Don't pretend you care," I hiss.
"Bea- Tris," he is still smiling but I can see the anger in his eyes. "Hopefully you don't believe what these horrendous rumors-"
"They are not rumors when they are true," I interrupt him.
"Beatrice!" my father scolds but I ignore him.
"I saw the scars. I saw Tobias' fear landscape," I stare straight into Marcus' eyes, challenging him to show his true nature.
His jaw tightens and he takes a step forward – and then Eric is between us, a hand on Marcus's chest.
"We should go inside, gentlemen, don't you think?" he says as if nothing has happened.
I can't see Marcus's face but I hear him starting to protest before thinking better of it and stalking off.
"I'm sorry," I immediately say when Eric turns around to look at me. "I shouldn't have-"
"It's fine," he sighs. "He deserves worse."
I gape at him.
"What?" he snorts. "Just because I don't like Four doesn't mean what happened to him is okay."
I nod, not sure what else to say.
"Come on," Eric jerks his head toward the conference room and we make our way to our seats. I end up between Johanna from Amity and Eric, who sits next to Max.
The meeting starts with Jeanine explaining to everyone why they have been summoned and what happened in Erudite last night. Needless to say that said information causes a lot of unease.
When Jeanine is done Max takes the stage and reports the incident regarding the weapons truck and then proceeds to carefully mention Harrison's theory that factionless might be preparing for a war against the factions.
Max has barely finished when the faction leaders begin to shout all over one another. Abnegation says the factionless are harmless, just looking for some food and shelter. Candor and Amity want more proof, they want to be absolutely certain that factionless really want to harm the rest of us before starting a war of our own. Erudite protests and points out that the factionless should all be eliminated anyway.
Max still stands at the speaker's desk and just shakes his head.
I let my gaze travel across the individual faction representatives. With the exception of Veronika, Harrison and Caleb every single leader is present.
I freeze.
"Oh my god," I murmur when realization hits me and I grab Eric's arm to my right.
"What?" he asks immediately upon seeing my wide eyes. "What's wrong?"
My eyes meet his, my heartbeat speeding up. I tighten the grip on his arm.
"You said factionless would never attempt a war with the factions because they don't have the numbers, right?"
He nods, furrowing his brows.
"What if they don't need the numbers?" I continue. "Look around us, Eric. All the leaders are here – if factionless strikes now-"
"They'd take down the entire government," Eric interrupts before slamming his fist on the table. "Fuck! I need to get a hold of Four and talk to Zeke – I'll be right back."
He gets up and hurries toward the door of the conference room.
I see him reach for the door knob when all hell breaks loose.
There's an enormously loud bang and I am suddenly thrown out of my seat and hurled across the room. It all happens so fast I don't even scream.
My back hits something hard and I fall down, my head banging against the floor. Searing pain shoots through my still healing ribs. Rubble falls from the ceiling and I cross my arms protectively over my head and face. This time I do scream.
When I feel no more debris crashing down on me I slowly let my arms sink and blink. My head spins, I feel dizzy and my ribcage hurts like hell with every breath I take. My ears are ringing and almost deaf, everything sounds so far away, like I am under water.
I slowly sit up. The world is turning upside down around me and one of my hands goes up to my head where I feel a throbbing pain. When I look at my hand afterward I realize my vision is blurry. I can clearly recognize the blood on it, however.
"Tris!"
A hand grabs my upper arm and Eric's gray eyes appear in front of me. Blood is trickling down his face from a wound on his forehead, just above his pierced eyebrow.
"You okay?" he asks worriedly before also grabbing my other arm and pulling me to me feet. I sway slightly.
"Shit, you're bleeding," he curses.
"So are you," I murmur. I blink a couple of times and slowly my vision begins to sharpen, my ears can finally detect the noises around me. There is screaming and when I let my eyes travel across the room my breathing quickens; my ribs feel like they are on fire.
There's not much left of the conference room but a pile of rubble. There are people running back and forth, yelling at one another. There are people lying on the floor, no longer moving.
"Why – what-"
"Bomb," Eric answers grimly before raising his arm and wiping the blood from his face with his uniform.
"Oh my god," I exclaim in panic. "Dad!"
I'm about to stumble blindly into the piles of debris but Eric tightens his grip on me.
"He's fine," he says. "He's helping the wounded getting out of here."
I nod, letting my eyes travel across the scene in front of me again.
"Max-" I croak, my gaze flying toward where the speaker's desk has been only moments ago.
Eric lets go of my arms and instead frames my face with both of his large hands, forcing me to look at him.
"He's injured but it's not severe. Your father has already helped carrying him out. Now slow your breathing. Breathe with me, Stiff."
It's then that I realize I am hyperventilating. I force myself to hold Eric's gaze and focus on my breathing. In and out. In and out. In and out.
"Good girl," Eric whispers and I could have sworn I felt his thumb move across my cheek for a moment. "You ready for us to do our job and check the perimeter?"
I nod and Eric lets go of my face, his right hand full of blood. My blood, I realize. Again, I bring my hand up to the wound on my head. Wincing, I press the sleeve of my uniform onto it.
"We'll take a look at that later, we have to get moving now," Eric says. "We don't know what's going on, there could be more bombs or factionless waiting for us."
We turn, ready to my make our way toward what earlier has been the door, when someone grabs my arm.
"Beatrice!"
For the first time since I have been a little girl my father throws his arms around me and hugs me.
"Dad," I breathe and return the hug, ignoring the pain in my upper body. When he draws back to give me a once-over I realize he is covered in dirt and ashes but otherwise seems to be fine.
"You're bleeding," he says. "We have to get you checked-"
"With all due respect, sir," Eric interrupts. "We have to make sure there are no more threats out there. Her wound will be checked on later."
"No, she needs-"
"She's a soldier," Eric barks, his eyes blazing. "What she needs is to do her job which means keeping you and everyone else safe."
"I don't give a damn!" My father yells and I am completely taken aback. I have never heard my father curse or raise his voice before. "She's my daughter and –"
"Faction before blood," Eric interrupts him again. "First and foremost she's a solider and you are keeping her from doing her duty."
"You don't have any children, you don't understand," my father replies but I can hear his voice softening. He knows he is not going to win this fight. "I just want to make sure she's safe as well."
"She will be," Eric says. "She will be with me the entire time. I won't let her out of my sight."
My father clenches his jaw. "I don't like her being around you. I know your reputation, Coulter. I know what you're capable of."
Eric's eyes are a steely gray when he straightens up to his full height. "Then you also know what it means when I tell you that I won't let anything happen to her. That anybody wanting to hurt her has to go through me."
I can only stare at Eric. What the hell?
To my utter surprise my father nods his head. "Thank you." Then he turns to me and gives me small smile. "Stay safe. Do what he tells you. And come find me later, if possible."
He is gone before I can even react.
"Let's go," Eric nudges my elbow and then leads us outside.
"Did Zeke see anything on the cameras?" I ask when we slowly make our way around the destroyed building, our handguns drawn.
Eric shakes his head. "No. That is what worries me."
"You think there might be more bombs?"
He just nods before glancing around the corner and into a street leading into a small back alley.
"How did they even know we would all be here?" I say when I follow him around the corner.
"Multiple possibilities," he sighs. "They could have had an inside man or access to the cameras or maybe the bomb was placed there for our next monthly meeting and had some kind of trigger."
We turn into a slightly larger street that will lead us back to the former conference building. The closer we get, the more rubble and debris litters the ground and crunches under our boots.
Eric suddenly stops and holds his hand up and I immediately freeze.
"What is it, Preston?" he asks, obviously talking to someone via his earpiece and I relax again.
I keep my eyes on our surroundings but notice nothing out of the ordinary.
"Erudite's leaders are all dead," Eric addresses me. "Jeanine is the only one who survived."
I have to school my features in order to not show him how I really feel about Jeanine being the lone survivor.
Then I feel a slight sting in my heart. Caleb. If he had been present today, he probably would have been killed as well.
I run a hand through my hair and realize that it's completely knotted thanks to the dried blood and dirt in it.
"Let's head back to the others," Eric sighs. He turns around and walks ahead but I just can't bring myself to move. I don't want to go back there. I don't want to see the dead and wounded and all the destruction that happened here in my childhood faction.
"Today, trainee," Eric barks from a couple of feet away where he has obviously stopped once he realized I am not following him.
I force myself to move, keeping my gaze on Eric's back in front me. I have almost caught up with him when something comes flying out of a narrow alley between two buildings to our right and lands not too far away from Eric's feet.
My heart stops.
"Eric!" I shriek and run toward him at full speed, throwing my gun away in the process.
By the time Eric turns around and catches sight of the grenade I already barrel into him. We both fall down to the ground, me landing on top of him. I stare into his wide eyes, my heart beating wildly in my burning chest, before he suddenly flips us and pins me down, his arms going protectively around my head, his entire body covering mine.
The ground vibrates beneath me when the grenade finally explodes with a loud blast and I scream against Eric's chest, my hands gripping his jacket tightly.
When the ground stops shaking all I can here is my own panting and Eric's breathing next to my ear. All I can feel is his body pressed against mine.
Eric moves slightly, raising his head to look into my eyes.
"You okay?" he asks, scanning my face.
I nod my head, still breathing heavily.
"We need to get out of this area, think you can get up?" he asks then, his eyes full of concern, like he thinks I might freak out at any moment.
Again, I can only nod.
Eric tries to get off me but then grunts in pain and falls back down against me. "Fuck!"
"What?" I ask in alarm. "Are you hurt?"
"My leg," Eric answers through gritted teeth, leaning his forehead against my shoulder.
"Okay," I take a deep breath, suppressing a wince. "Try to roll on your side. I'll take a look at it."
He nods his head, then slowly moves to the side and off me. A strange coldness washes through me. I shake my head and sit up.
Eric, too, is sitting now, his legs bent. On his right leg his uniform is soaked with blood.
"Give me your earpiece," I tell him and he hands it over without protesting. I put the device into my ear.
"Zeke? Four?" I say. "Can anybody hear me?"
"Tris?" It's Four that answers. "What's wrong? Where's Eric?"
"We're on the north side of the conference building. We've been attacked, Eric's injured. I need a medical team, fast."
"We're on our way. Zeke has already sent Will and his team, they should arrive any minute now."
I nod, then turn off the transmitter and address Eric again.
"Turn on your side."
He does as I tell him and I finally get a clear look at his leg. A large piece of glass is lodged into his calf.
"How bad is it?" Eric sighs.
"There's something stuck in your calf," I swallow before looking away from all the blood, meeting his gaze over his shoulder. "What do I do, Eric?"
"Don't take it out," he replies immediately. "We need something to wrap around my leg, stop the bleeding."
"Okay," I look around for anything that could be used as a bandage before coming to the only conclusion. I shrug off my uniform jacket and grip the hem of my shirt when Eric suddenly shoots into a sitting position again and grabs my wrist, stopping me.
"No," he says darkly. "We'll take mine."
I furrow my brows in confusion and watch as he takes of his own jacket and then his shirt before tearing it into several bandage-like pieces.
"Think you can do it?" he asks skeptically.
"Yeah," I answer. He rolls onto his side again and I start bandaging his leg, being careful to wrap the cloth around the piece of glass without touching it.
"Can you stand?" I ask when I'm done. Eric does not answer but instead tries to get up. He struggles and I immediately grab his arms and help him into a standing position.
He tries to put his weight onto his injured leg.
"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" he yells furiously, his hands balling into fists. Shaking his head, he turns toward me. "I can't walk. Go. Tell the others to come pick me up when it's safe."
"I'm not leaving you here," I say, rolling my eyes at him.
Before I can even blink he buries a hand in my hair at the back of my head and roughly pulls me against him, his face contorted with rage.
I gasp in shock.
"Someone just tried to blow us up – twice," Eric growls, his eyes boring into mine, making me shiver. His face is inches from mine, his breath hot against my lips, our noses almost touching. "It's not safe here. I'm your leader and I command you to go."
I return his gaze without blinking.
"No."
He looks like he is about to yell at me but then, all of a sudden, the rage vanishes from his eyes and he lets go of my hair.
"Fine," he sighs. "But you have to let me lean on you."
He wraps his left arm around my shoulders and I wrap my right arm around his waist. With me supporting Eric's weight we slowly start moving forward and I have to bite my lip when my ribs protest heavily, the pain making me feel more and more dizzy with every step I take.
It feels like ages before I can hear voices screaming my name. We turn around a corner and see my friends and the medical team running toward us. I'm too light-headed to understand what they are saying.
Eric's arm leaves my shoulders and I start to sway.
"No," I hear him say, his tone all authoritative. "Her first. She has a wound on her head and her ribs are probably fractured again."
Then Will is standing in front of me, smiling. I'm too exhausted to return it.
"This is oddly familiar, isn't it?" he sighs. "How are you feeling?"
I can't answer him. I'm too tired and the world around me is spinning.
"Tris?" Christina is suddenly next to me and reaches for my hand.
Then everything goes black.