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Writer's note: Hope everyone had a great weekend. Here is a double update! As always I appreciate all of you! Don't forget to follow, favorite and review.
Bella wasn't looking forward to the expedition outside the wall. Tris was the weak link in the group and she had told her as much and now Tris was pissed that Bella called her out on being weak. Tris hated that Bella was better at being Dauntless. And hated it even more now that Bella was in Dauntless leadership.
Bella looked at her watch. It was four in the morning. Will and Christina were a little groggy and so was Jasper, but none of them complained about the mission. "We don't know what's on the other side of the wall, so we stay close together and we gather the information and make it back at the end of the week." She said as she watched Lukas snap on his own gear.
"Are we gathering soil samples?" Jasper asked as he looked over the items that he would be carrying in his bag.
"Yeah, and we'll be capturing images as well with the camera I gave Chris. Will and Lukas, you'll be on defense detail. We don't know if there are creatures beyond the wall. So be ready for anything."
"It's hard to believe that this is the first time beyond the wall." Tris muttered. "What am I doing?"
"Trying not to die." Bella said and watched Tris roll her eyes. "I'll address it right here, right now. If it was up to me, you wouldn't be coming on this mission. You're only here because Max ordered it. Otherwise, you would be in the pit working to prove you belong here in Dauntless."
Tris's brows furrowed together in anger. "Fuck you."
"Careful Tris, you're debasing yourself." Bella snipped back. "Shut up." She said before Tris could say anything else. "You do what I fucking tell you to do. There will be no questions. If I tell you to propel down a cliffside, you will do it. If I tell you to stand on one foot and touch your nose a thousand times, you fucking do it. Am I clear?" She said a little more venom in her voice than she intended.
Tris glared. "Crystal."
Bella's blue-green eyes swept back across and looked at Lukas. "Ready?"
"Ready when you are leader." Lukas said with a nod.
Bella just nodded back and the six of them traveled towards the West part of the wall. Eric was waiting at the top after they climbed up the side of the wall using the grappling hooks.
"You got all your supplies?" Eric asked when he saw Bella.
"Yeah."
"Alright. Listen up. This is an important mission. It's also Bella's first mission as a leader so you will do well if you follow her lead. Outside this wall there will be no communication within the wall. We have no way of projecting our signals outside the confines of the wall, so you're on your own once out there. If someone is hurt or if someone dies… there is no one coming to help. No reinforcements."
"If it's so dangerous, why don't they send someone more experienced outside the wall? Why are they letting Bella lead the charge?" Tris asked, her tone still snippy.
Eric raised a pierced brow. "New rule. Don't ask stupid fucking questions. You're given an order you follow it without question. That is your job as a grunt. Remember you are still being graded out there. Bella is grading your skill in completing this mission. If I were you Tris, I would be real careful how I talk to her and how you perform. Because if you make it back and you don't do well on the mission, you are dangerously close to being dropped in to the red and booted from Dauntless. So watch your mouth." He said, a little more irritated than normal. He also questioned why Max would wait for Bella to come along to send a group beyond the wall, but he didn't ask questions or disobey an order. That's why he's second in command now.
"Alright. Let's move." Bella said and they all repositioned their hooks on the wall edge on the other side and looked down. It was a pretty far drop. Eric had the electricity shut off on the fence part so they could move freely to the other side.
Eric paused and put a hand on Bella's shoulder and turned her to face him. "You got this. You are strong enough for this mission. I trust you and have faith in you." He said calmly and then put a hand on her cheek. "Come back in one piece. That's an order."
Bella nodded and waited a moment before Eric pulled her into his arms, which wasn't normal for him and he hugged her. She hugged him back. "I promise I'll come back in one piece." She whispered in his ear and then he released her and gave her a nod.
Tris narrowed her eyes a little at the display between Bella and Eric. She understood now how Bella got to leadership. Fucking her way to the top. She kept quiet with her inner thought and then followed the rest of the team over the side of the wall, gripping her rope tight as they walked down the side of the wall.
Bella wiped the sweat from her brow as she paused to look at the terrain. The sun was hot overhead and the landscape was a rolling desert with some thick trees scattered in between. She pulled out the palm pilot and hit a couple things and a hologram appeared of a 3D map that detailed the landscape of Seattle before the nuclear fallout.
Jasper looked at it too. Growing up in Erudite he looked at maps a lot and had an affinity for it. "So, prior to the nuclear fallout, much of this was a forest. It rained a lot in Seattle and it wasn't nearly as hot as it is now. When the nuclear bomb went off near here, it wiped out every living thing within a 200 mile radius initially. The radiation that spun from that, reached farther areas of Seattle and our city how it is now, went through rapid changes after about 100 years because our founding fathers settled in Seattle after traveling from elsewhere. From our history documents we know that the buildings left standing in Seattle were all that is left because Seattle was much larger than it is now. Our wall only contains a fraction of what Seattle used to be." He explained.
Bella nodded, remembering the history taught to them in school. "Looking at this, where do you think we should head from here? We're pointed West, but looking at this, we'll hit an ocean before long if one still exists. If we swing down more South…"
Jasper shrugged. "Depends on what you're wanting to accomplish. Do we want to see if the ocean exists?"
Bella thought about it, her eyes looking West. "The old maps say that the Pacific ocean is about 100 miles from here. We're looking at a day and a half hike there and that's if we don't run into trouble. Let's save that for a different expedition. One that isn't quite as dangerous since I don't have the team I want for that." She said.
"I'm standing right here." Tris snapped.
Bella turned and looked at Tris. "Yes, you're not strong enough to trek 100 miles on a journey that is unknown. I'm not going to carry dead weight the entire time." She said and looked to Lukas. "Let's keep a thirty mile radius outside the city walls. Gather some samples ten miles out, twenty and then thirty. It looks like there are some more trees clustered headed North, so let's head North. We'll stand a better chance using the trees as cover for camping tonight."
"Aye aye captain." Jasper said and Bella minimized the map on the palm pilot and the group started North.
[12 Hours Later]
The sun was starting to part ways with the sky as they came close to the trees and brush. The orange glow of the sun hitting the surface was beautiful. Bella decided this was her favorite part of the day, just seeing the sun set. "Will, get some firewood gathered. You still remember survival basics?"
Will nodded. "Sure do." He said and wandered off, not far to gather wood for a campfire.
"Jasper did you get all the samples?" Bella asked as he walked up towards her.
"Yeah, I got a few different things gathered. Chris got some pictures." Jasper said and set his pack down.
Bella blew out a breath. "Okay. Lukas, with me, I want to scope a perimeter, look for signs of animals."
"Let me guess, stay here with the camp?" Tris asked. She had been snippy this entire mission so far and it was just the first day.
"Yeah, get the space clear for a fire." Bella said back her tone neutral. She looked at Lukas and nodded before they walked off to do a perimeter sweep.
They were silent for the first part. "You okay?" Lukas asked now that they were alone. The last several hours, he hadn't talked much, just following her lead.
"I'm okay." Bella said and crouched down close to the earth. The shadows of the dark made it harder to see, so she flipped on her light that was attached to her chest. "What kind of animal makes this kind of print?" She murmured.
Lukas crouched down too, going through the roledex in his head of different animal species. "Large canine." He said. "Maybe a wolf or some sort of mutation of that." He said and stood and looked around. "The brush gets thicker the farther you go in." He said, flipping his own light on. "Means we're on something's territory. This was fresh."
Bella nodded in agreement. "Okay, let's get back to camp. Make sure we set up a watch schedule so someone is awake at all times."She said and the pair went back towards the camp. As they got closer, they heard a gunshot, which made them sprint back. There were two beasts attacking the camp. Will was on the ground on his back, his leg caught in the mouth of one of the beast. Jasper shot one of them and the yipping sound it made and fell over was not a deterrent to the other one. Bella aimed and fired, hitting the beast in face and it yipped and ran off into the dark woods. Bella went to Will's side on the ground, and looked over his wounds on his leg. It was nasty looking, his flesh shredded in places. Blood oozed out of the bite dripped onto the dirt.
"It came out of nowhere. Snatched me and drug me back to camp." Will explained through clenched teeth, he was shaking a little with pain.
"Tris, open your pack I need the first aid." Bella commanded and for once Tris didn't give her any lip about being ordered to do something. Bella started the process fast, cleaning the area well enough to pack it and wrap it.
Christina studied the beast, taking her knife from her belt and slicing it across the beast's throat to be sure it was really dead. She ran a hand over the thick fur and felt how strangely soft it was. It was large, bigger than they were. It had no ears, but it had a long snout and it had six eyes on it's face. There were three tails coming off the back and the dark fur seemed mottled in certain areas, like a mixture of red, brown and black tufts. "If I had to guess, this is a wolf." She said. "Doesn't look like the books, but I'm certain."
Bella got Will situated and gave him a shot of some pain medicine that would make him comfortable until morning. "Yeah, that's what we gathered. We found some prints East of the camp and was coming back to tell everyone."
"Yeah, I'm sure you were out there scoping out the area." Tris muttered.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Chris questioned Tris now instead of Bella. "Are you serious right now?"
Tris glared at Chris. "You're taking her side?"
"She's my leader." Chris said. "She's doing a damn good job and you're fighting her because you're pissed off about your position on the board. Newsflash Tris, the world doesn't revolve around you. Instead of fucking complaining all the time and trying to pull the pity card all the time, try to actually do something. You stood there while Will was being shredded."
"I didn't see you taking a shot!" Tris spouted back.
"Because I don't have the rifle, you do!" Chris yelled.
Bella whistled. "Stop. It does not good to argue about what ifs. Will is going to be fine. We're going to stay alert. I'll take the first set of watches. Everyone else calm the fuck down and get rest. Jasper get the fire started."
Jasper gave a nod and used his knife to shear off parts of the wolf's fur and some of the sticks that Will had brought back to the camp spot and started a fire with ease.
Daybreak brought with it a mesmerizing amount of strange sounds. Bella wasn't sure what the sounds were, but it was like chirping or singing in the trees. She saw some strange animals with feathers flying overhead and she wondered why she never saw anything flying in the air back inside the wall. Chris took some pictures of the animals and they decided they were probably birds.
Will was able to stand, but putting too much pressure on the foot was troublesome, but still, the mission still had to continue on.
"Let's head more East, cut out thirty miles, keep our radius and gather our samples." Bella said as she looked at the 3D map.
Lukas stretched a little before he settled his pack on his back. He bent down and picked up what looked like a crutch made out of a branch. "Here Will." He handed it to Will and Will tucked it under his armpit and leaned against it. "Work okay?"
Will nodded with a smile, his dark hair was a little stuck to his face from sweating throughout the night because even though the sun was down, the temperature remained the same. "Works great. Thanks man."
Chris took pictures of the campsite with it being daylight and then took many pictures of the dead wolf to document the wildlife beyond the wall. She was worried about Will's leg being infected but Bella forced Will to take antibiotics this morning to help prevent any infection and so far, Will didn't have a fever, so that was promising. But she was still worried.
The six set off going East of their location, their pace slowed to accommodate Will, which was fine since Bella wanted to get more information of the landscape.
After a few hours of hiking straight, Bella forced the group to stop, even though Will said he was okay.
"I want to rest here. We have a week Will, keep pressing yourself like that and you might not make it back." Bella said and took Will's temperature and saw that he had a small fever. "Okay, more antibiotics." She said and snapped to Tris and Tris sighed and shouldered her pack to one side and dug in the pack and grabbed the antibiotics and tossed them to Bella. Bella caught them and she took two pills out and handed them to Will to take along with his water canteen.
Will swallowed the pills and sighed. "I am okay. Seriously captain." He said.
"You have a little fever. I want to scout this spot for a bit, camp here in the open, have more visibility." Bella said and looked at her palm pilot again. They were far enough away from the wall that it wasn't visible anymore. The terrain wasn't exactly flat and there were more rocks than anything out here. The terrain had a reddish tint and there were some areas that Jasper picked up as being more radioactive on the meter than other spots and they labeled those as hot spots.
Bella went to climb up on a rock formation and used the binoculars to look at the neverending landscape. She saw the glint of something, like it was a mirror reflecting an image back. It was a small glint and she almost thought she imagined it. But when it glinted again she frowned. "Jasper." She called out.
Jasper walked over to the base of the rock formation and shielded his eyes as he looked up at her. "Yeah?"
"Me and you… we're gonna scope out out what's North." Bella said and then looked down at Jasper. "Make sure you have a rifle." She said.
"Copy." Jasper said and went and grabbed the rifle from Tris and waited for Bella to come down off the rock.
Lukas frowned, looking at Bella. "What's wrong?"
"Not sure. Stay here, you're in charge now." Bella said and nodded to Jasper and he followed her off towards where she saw the glint. When they got a bit away from the camp Jasper spoke again.
"You gonna tell me what's happening?" Jasper ventured to say.
"I saw something… strange." Bella said as they kept walking. They weren't that far off from where the were camping.
As they got closer, Bella saw the glimmer this time like a cascade of colors refracting off a surface. Bella reached a hand out and placed it against the glimmering reflection of the terrain and felt a strange vibrating sensation. She pulled her hand back.
"Something is here." Bella murmured.
Jasper placed a hand on the surface too and pulled his hand back and stepped at the same time. "What is that?"
Bella didn't get a chance to answer because suddenly the earth quaked a little at their feet, forcing Jasper and Bella to move back. Jasper readied his rifle and so did Bella. The terrain parted, like there were massive doors opening and it wasn't quiet either. She waited, the doors coming to a stop and she watched as a man, slender and tall, walked out. He had dark hair with grey streaks at his temple. He was wearing black and grey, a weapon strapped to his hip. He had a mustache that was equally as dark and his eyes were dark brown from what Bella could gather. Then the memory of her landscape came to her. This was Charles Swan. The legendary Dauntless leader that died, several years ago.
"Dad." Bella said the word and even though it felt foreign to speak it out loud, Charles Swan recognized her immediately.
"Took you long enough." Charles spoke. His voice wasn't overly deep, but there was a simple, smooth velvet affect that layered his tone.
"Dad?" Jasper looked at Bella confused. "What?"
"We'll explain inside. First let's get first aid for Will. Gather your team Bella, I'll be waiting." Charles said and walked back inside the doors and they closed.
Bella was stunned speechless. She blinked a few times before shaking her head. She looked at Jasper. "Let's get the others." She said and started trotting back towards the camp.