Several more bags fall though they are much lighter and land with a muffled thump before rolling over the ground, one lands at my feet.
As soon as the skidding of metal sounds out while the jaws close, I move. The flashlight once again shining a pool of light on the black material of body bags.
Every part of my body is tense, pulled together and hardened. I barely breathe the air now filed with disturbed ash, I can feel the spores float and drift around me in the dark spaces.
I pull my mask up over my head under my hood and bite the handle of the flashlight to grip the frayed edges of one bag and haul it off the others, spreading them out along the ground.
Then I step over one, pinching the end of the bag and gripping the zipper to open it.
The sight of her chokes the air in my throat and my body shudders like I hadn't just seen her earlier today. Her eyes are closed with a purple hue around them. Her lips, the same color.
Her black and wiry hair, and even as I see how this girl could never be me: her limbs too long and gangly, and her features softer and plumper than my own.
Only for a moment, for the heartbeat before my mind is able to discern these differences, I'm lost in the idea of how such a vast difference in the circumstances of our existences would place her in this bag and I, standing over it.
I realize that I still don't quite understand the sort of devotion that could overpower someone to the point where they would throw everything in life away for a single person.
Especially a Divergent.
What could cause such overwhelming desire to join another in the afterlife? Even love seems too small a concept to explain such a vast waste.
I remind myself that I'd done something of it. I may yet be capable. I've weighed the consequences and what the waste would amount to and I'd embraced it.
My life, does not seem to tip the scales on what I would weigh it against, now, divergent or not. Maybe it is not the same if I don't consider there to be value in the cost.
I shine the light around the room again and unzip the other two. Both male. Garrett had said the paralytic could last an upwards of 10 hours, if given the amount that you would normally administer of the death serum.
My mind tries to calculate the time they should awaken while my hands search the linings of the bag around their bodies. Coming up empty, I focus on the other bags, the first contains trash, the second, more trash.
The third contains clothing and shoes but nothing more, I wasn't sure what else to expect.
Something to tell me their names at least?
I wait, expectantly for a twitch. A signal that they could come-to. My eyes constantly check the time on my watch and every time I do I can feel the change drag on as if every minute is burrowing it's way behind my eyes.
My next thought is how impossibly dark it is. They will wake up to it, but it will seem as if their eyes are still closed. Would they mistake this for a dream?
Then they will see me. A nightmare more like.
I remove the mask completely and toss it onto the ground, using my boot to shuffle ash over it.
A thought comes to me that one day my body may also be reduced to ash in this very spot. An Erudite death.
Soft breaths that become groans sound out and I snap my flashlight to the face of one of the males as he stirs and pushes himself to sitting position. He raises a hand over his eyes to shield from the light and I lower it immediately.
"Are you hurt?" I ask, language feeling strange in my mouth, my voice sounding even stranger to my ears. It soft and low.
"I-I don't think so, where am I-Why is it so dark?" He sounds hesitant at first and then demanding. "Who are you?" He becomes too loud.
"Right now you are under Erudite." I answer his first two questions.
The other two begin to stir and I pull the bag of clothing between them.
"Hello?" The other asks with an audible whimper. I hear nothing from the female.
"Underground? What do you mean I'm under Erudite? What is going on?" The edge in his voice indicates panic. "Who's there? How many are there?"
"You are faction-less now, there are three of you." I reply. Is it possible that they do not even know of their own affliction? "I'll be handing you each clothing to change into-"
"Faction-less?!" My hand clamps over his mouth instantly, and my other wraps around his head. The flashlight dropped, rolling to shine it's light in an empty corner.
This far underground I would not know if sound could be heard but I couldn't possibly know and I wouldn't dare risk finding out.
"The rest of you will not follow in his example." My voice is lower, threatening. "You will accept that you are faction-less, as your only other alternative is death, in which case I will leave you here. I don't have the answers to your questions so you will stop asking them, understood?"
He nods vigorously in my grasp.
"You're going to help us?" The female, quieter.
"It would appear so." I say, and though I cannot see the eyes of the male I hold, I stare straight at where they ought to be, a warning to keep his voice down.
His hands grip my jacket tightly and I feel his breath on my fingers. "I cannot say beyond-"
The flashlight is picked up and it's ray sweeps over me. "You're just a girl." It is the female that has it. My brow twitches and I release him. "Dauntless?"
"I was." I answer, getting back to the bag. Saying I am seemed inappropriate. She approaches and shines the light over my work as I distribute the clothing.
"I'm Wendy." She offers up as she returns the flashlight and I turn to allow them the opportunity to change out of the hospital gowns.
"Wendy?" The male asks. "It's me, John." He sounds relieved. I await the third but he does not offer a name, nor is there movement from his end and I shine the flashlight over him.
He has curled himself into a ball with his hands over his head protectively and his knees brought up to his chest, shielding his face from view.
My skin tingles all over and my insides shrivel and tighten into a painful fist. We do not have time for this.
"The sooner you get dressed the sooner you can be out of here." I say and my voice comes harsh. I cannot stop the chill that overtakes my body and I swallow as the emptiness fills me like a solid thing.
He doesn't respond and the others go quiet. The sound of their breathing and the drips of water and echo could be heard, as if they come from the desolate tunnels inside myself.
The one called Wendy kneels in front of him and he flinches away from her hand when she tries to tap his shoulder. My fist tightens around the flashlight.
I step over to him and wretch his hand away from his head, my grip closing around his bony wrist.
"Stand." I demand while squeezing until his fingers open, shoving the flashlight into them.
I feel his violent trembling and it rattles my bones.
"In less than 30 minutes the contents of this room will be reduced to ash and dust by heat reaching temperatures up to and above 2000C." I state. "If your fear of death is greater than your fear of the dark-"
"That isn't helping." Wendy interrupts.
I release him and bite back a scoff of disbelief. I am here, in the bowels of the city, in the sewers, treading through the ash of dead Divergent and Erudite alike.
"What more would you ask of me?" The vast space expands and I feel manic, like I am not asking her or them but demanding an answer from somewhere. "I am here."
"Because someone asked you to be, right?" She argues. "Garrett told me he would find someone to help us. What did he have to offer you? What are you getting in return?"
One of the only few reasons anyone does anything.
I don't reply and I swallow thickly.
He'd offered me nothing at the time, but, had I not weighed the advantage of a favor owed? He said he would do anything, would I not hold him to his word?
Had I not also weighed this as an opportunity to align myself with my enemy?
"You could care less if we lived." She spat.
"That's true." I say without inflection, before shoving her to kneel in front of him. She curses at me and recovers on the ground to lunge at me, her nails dig into my jacket sleeve.
The flashlight glints off the blade of my knife, she sucks a sharp breath in through her teeth. "What are you-"
"Silence." I hiss. "You." I say to John. "Get over there, next to her." I hear him shuffle and then they stand shoulder to shoulder.
I kneel back down, with them in the corner of my peripherals and grab a fistful of the boys hair, pulling his head up, his eyes are screwed shut, to him I say.
"Open your eyes." I see his jaw shaking and I can almost hear the chattering of his teeth. All around me their breathing is heavy and rapid as if they are directly at my ears, breathing down my neck.
"I-I'm sorry." He says, his eyes still closed. "I just-I can't help it."
"I said, open your eyes." I repeat and he does. I see the terror closing in around his pupils and hear the way the air enters and leaves his lungs, as if it is an effort for him to breathe.
I slide the knife back into my boot and release my hold on his hair, he swallows thickly and I see the tears in the corners of his eyes, as if they are only watering at the sheer strain of holding them open.
"You want someone to help you." I say. "You want someone to comfort you, console you, tell you it's going to be alright, that you have nothing to fear- But for you, there -"
Wendy moves. "Do not move again ." I warn through my teeth, without taking my eyes off of him. She stills obediently, their eyes burn into my skin. "Now, he asked me to save his sister. He didn't say anything about the two of you."
I hold up my hand, indicating that I am not giving permission to speak, and I hear the sound of their mouths clamping shut, almost the grinding of their teeth.
"But." I pause, shaking his wrist still held with my other hand. "You have the only light source down here." I shake it so the light stripes across the walls, the fear in his body causing his fingers to clutch it with ferocity.
I keep my other hand up because I don't want them to talk and I try not to glance at the watch but the itch in the back of my neck forces me to. We've been here too long.
He takes a long moment before nodding.
"Michael." He says his name. He trembles.
"I fear the dark as well." I lie. "I am reminded, every time I close my eyes. You'll find no light behind them in darkness. Your eyes must be open to see any."
I hold my hand up once more when I sense their movement. They really are unmanageable.
With my eyes closed, with the dark pressing in from every direction, I welcome the blackness. I feel it like it could be soft blonde curls between my fingers, or sound almost like a breath of soft laughter on a pillow next to mine.
It has been with me my entire life, something I've never feared. Or maybe I was just smart enough to conquer the causes of fear, mind over matter, explain it away using logic like Eric said.
Though logic cannot conqure maddness, and I feel that too in the darkness, a newer presence within it.
There is a long pause, and the drip, drip of water. A shift of an uncomfortable foot in the ash, and I can feel my pulse, steady in my fingertips.
"I don't mean to interrupt your moment." Wendy says. "But you did mention something about 2000C."
I move my hands to both his wrists. "I'm going to force you to stand."
After I feel his exhale I stand and tug, he stands on his own. "Get him dressed." I command the other two and they rush to help him. "I am taking you to faction-less territory."
"That's it?" John asks incredulously.
"Thats it." I answer, pulling my gloves on.
I walk to the door and Michael follows wordlessly shining the light over the ground at his feet. They crowd around me as I push the door closed, John assists me as the task is still strenuous though he is not much stronger than I.
I remove the key and hand it to Wendy who pockets it, her voice is low when she says "Aren't you afraid that we'll tell someone ab-"
"If any of you speak, then Garrett will die." I answer, I take a breather and press a palm to my abdomen. If they are a part of Falen's scheme then he knows where I am without my watch.
"Oh well that's reassuring, has anyone told you that you are a very intense, ominous, passive aggressive bit-"
"In simpler words, yes." I answer, taking the lead.
They follow behind closely and the light shines between my feet at every step.
Instead of the way I came, I circle around to the other end of the large rectangular pool in the middle of the cavernous room and lower myself to the ledge above the water, ducking into a tunnel.
I press my hands to the stone above and at my side as I crouch. "We will follow this tunnel and exit at the canal south of Erudite." I say over my shoulder.
"You mentioned that you 'were' a Dauntless, are you faction-less?" John asks.
"Then you'll be staying with us?" Wendy asks from way in back without waiting for my answer.
"It depends." I don't elaborate.
"You don't sound like a Dauntless though." He says, and it sounds accusing. "I've never seen you in Erudite and you seem to know a lot about the underground, I didn't even know about this."
I press my lips into a hard line.
"Why does our faction. . .Jeanine want us dead?" Michael asks, his voice is hardly above a whisper.
"Because she is a psychotic bitch." Wendy hisses.
Again I wonder if they even know that they are Divergent.
"She has my brother wrapped around her finger, everyone else eating from the palm of her hand. She can do whatever she wants."
We continue in silence and I believe they are contemplating what awaits them or possibly what they are being forced to leave behind.
The air grows colder and dank as the ground begins to stray at a slight incline, I move slower, sliding my boots along the uneven stone floor.
I hear a slip of a boot and the splash of water followed by a disgusted groan. "My legs are cramping." John complains. I can feel a similar burn in my legs and a tight ache in my stomach.
My body is covered in a thin sheen of sweat and my layers feel constricting. We come to an intersection and I pause, Michael bumps into me and mumbles and apology.
I turn right after listening for a solid minute to the sounds of running water and the flow break. Its become much easier to see now.
Within a mile the roar of falling water fills the tunnel, deafening to me as we near it's end.
Exiting first into the cold, I straighten and stretch as I sidestep along the lightly snow covered ledge, the steep fall into the canal, similar to the chasm, and where the water flows there is a break in the thin layer of ice far below.
Michael appears after me and I feel his fingers wrap around my arm. They create a rope, John clutching Michael and Wendy with her hand intwined with John's.
I head in the opposite direction of where the canal will take us to Candor and we reach a ladder. I move past it and have them wait while I check the cameras around the canal on my tablet. They watch me put it back into my pocket and move to climb first when I nod for them to.
At the top they wait on the street glancing in all directions. I pull my scarf over my nose and mouth.
"Stay close to the buildings. Dauntless patrol the area."
The wind begins to blow now, the slurry of melted snow obscuring our footprints. The moon disappears as clouds creep in heavy and low.
I check my watch often and though I know Eric would not possibly follow me himself I begin to wonder at the possibility that he would send someone else.
Part of me wonders if he would even bother.
The hairs at the back of my neck raise and I scan often. John and Michael start dragging behind and as Wendy and I round the corner of a building I have to jerk her back around.
At the end of the road is a truck. Wendy's eyes go wide and she covers her mouth with a hand. My first thought is that they could not have seen us but a loud voice indicates I am wrong.
"We know you're out there. Come out with your hands up." It is a voice I do not recognize. I look around Wendy pressed against the building, at John and Michael who look between each other frantically and I gesture for them to head back. "Circle the building, find a way inside, stay quiet and wait for me." I tell them.
She nods and they disappear around the corner.
I hear the boots stomping in synchronization over the snow and the slow creep of a vehicle. In less than a minute two Dauntless round the corner their guns up and I move away from the building with my hands up.
The first one, skittish, jumps and I drop flat on the ground as his gun goes off and a shot is fired.
I stay flat and listen to their frantic voices, my cheek, bitten by the wet slush of the melting snow and I feel the wetness seeping into my clothes down the front of my body and legs.
"Fuck, fuck, did I hit em?" A voice asks. "Oh man, oh man, it just-It just went off."
"Calm down, who cares? It's after curfew and it was probably faction-less."
I faintly recognize this second voice and I hear them come closer. I deliberate the odds of disarming one, or possibly getting back up and feigning an excuse.
I slide my gloves off and tuck them into my jacket slowly. "Hey, are you alright?" One of them pokes the back of my hood with the barrel of their gun. He kneels and his knee touches my arm, I feel hands grip my other shoulder and pull as if to roll me over.
The gun falls to his side slung with a strap and brushes the ground. When I'm on my back he leans in and I can smell alcohol on his breath, he tugs my scarf down.
"Oh my god I think it's-" He starts to say, I open my eyes and grab his gun the sling still around his back, shoving the barrel under his chin.
My hand gripping him by the back of the neck. His friend jumps back and aims his gun at us but then lowers it.
"What the fuck-Genesis? You scared the shit out of us!"
It's Paul, I didn't realize he still had to work his patrols while being a leader.
I remove my finger from the trigger and release his friend, who falls back seemingly dazed.
"What the fuck are you doing out here? It's way past curfew." Paul says and I sit up looking over my shoulder to the truck to identify the driver.
His friend breathes heavily. "I almost shit my pants man." He says on his hands and knees, his head near the ground.
I tell myself I would not have shot him. Any of them.
"I was playing dare." I answer and Paul slides a hand under my arm to haul me off the ground. I dust the slush off me.
"Dare? Who the fuck dared you to come all the way out here? The train isn't even running." Paul ignores his friend, the truck inches closer. "Are you hurt? Did he hit you?"
"I'm fine." I say. "But, I need your clothes." His expression warps into amused but bewildered smirk as if he thinks I'm joking but is unsure. "My dare-"
"You must be totally drunk." He laughs, a loud throaty noise. "Alright, Gav, strip." He commands waving his hand in the air.
"Are you serious?" He asks. "It's freezing out! Tell fucking Merc to strip."
"Don't be a wuss." I hear from the truck. "Strip tease for the girl." A clap and hoot.
Paul, Gav and Merc on Erudite south patrol. I should have memorized the individuals on routes.
But something doesn't quite sit right.
"You've got to be kidding me." Gav complains, rising off the ground but I hear a zipper and I turn back to Paul, he tilts his head and scrutinizes me, his hands on his hips.
He scans the area and buildings.
"You almost shot her, numb nuts. Plus I'm a leader now." Paul says, his gaze locks with mine. "We'll give you a ride back to Dauntless…" He trails off before putting an arm around my shoulders.
I let him lead me a few steps away from the others and I look to the ground, using my peripherals to scan the buildings for movement. None.
"Does Max or Falen know you're out here?" He asks lowly. I shake my head no. "Does Eric?" I answer with a shrug, I don't belive he isn't here to check on me at Eric's behest. "Do you… Need anything else?"
I raise my brow at him. Maybe I'm just paranoid.
"No, but I would appreciate if you and the rest of your squad didn't mention this to anyone. I intend to take the first train back to Dauntless."
He looks thoughtful and then nods slowly. "I take it you need the clothes because you smell like-" He scrunches his nose but smiles warmly and squeezes my arm. "No worries, I've got you covered."
I watch his eyes flick behind me and squint. "Does her majesty need my boxers too?" Gav calls and Paul turns us back around with barking laugh that shakes me.
"Naw, keep those on, no one wants to see that, but switch with Merc." He orders. "Before your balls drop off."
Paul grabs the bundle of clothing, and Gav sprints to the truck door thats being opened for him by Merc.
"You be careful out here, not everyone is… friendly-" He pushes them into my arms. "Alright guys, we'll circle up and cover east, then check-in with Derek."
"She's not coming with us?" Merc asks as he stands on the step up of the truck with his arm linked around the bars on the roof.
"She's got a dare to finish." Paul answers with a shrug before jogging. I step off the road as the truck moves down it and he jumps onto the other side.
They all wave.
I wait until the truck is out of sight before circling the block with my eyes to the windows. A light flicks on and off, at the end of the road through a broken window and I break into a jog.
When I reach the building I check the door. Nailed shut. I round the side and check each window. All nailed and boarded shut. I walk to the back down an alley and my feet halt.
The hairs on my body raise and a ripple crawls down my spine. I didn't hear him approach but I can smell him now, the scent of cigarettes, and something of aftershave.
I don't bother to turn, I just know that he is moving behind me.
"I'm being tracked." I say throwing my hood off of my head. I pull the scarf away from my neck and throat to expose it the way animals do to submit. I'd read it in one of Eric's books.
He doesnt need me to tell him that the patrol nearby could be alerted and be back within minutes.
"We know." Falen answers, his voice gravelly. I hear more boots, less silent than his.
And then a hand clamps down on my shoulder, I grab it and twist, pulling it towards me, I drive my boot into the back of his knee and curl my hand around his neck.
Only it's not Falen. He leans against the building at the mouth of the alley. I release the faction-less and shove him forward away from me.
Falen waves two fingers and suddenly I am grabbed from the sides. A hand grips my hair tilting my head forward so my chin snaps to my chest and I'm driven to my knees.
"Gentle." He hisses acrimoniously. My hair is being lifted in a tight fist away from the back of my neck.
I hear a click and an electrical hum, it buzzes near my ear and I loosen every muscle in my body, closing my eyes, breathing out slowly. I'd only seen a taser once.
The shock rails through my spine and I convulse as electricity shears through every nerve in my body, contracting with needle bursts from my veins through my skin.
My vision went from bursts of colorful sparklers and fireworks, to a grainy whiteout. I fall forward but I don't hit the ground.
I pry my eyes open, my head rolling to the side. I feel arms around my waist, and my own arms around shoulders. The tip of my boots catch and run over notches in the ground. Wood. Floorboards.
They creak under their shoes like they could splinter under our weight.
"I got her." A male. "We need to get her awake though, can you get me the-"
"I'm awake." I mumble, my mouth unable to form the words. I adjust my feet to plant the bottom of my boots to the ground. A hand moves to my stomach as I fall forward.
A short laugh. "Perfect." A hand pinches my cheeks between two fingers. "Go get the others."
I'm lowered onto a makeshift sofa and I hear a door slam. My body tilts sideways until hands grip my shoulder and straighten me.
"Drink." My chin is tilted up and a cup is brought to my lips. Liquid drenches my thick tongue and flows down my throat, I swallow and sputter as a cough rises.
I lick my dry lips and push the mans hand away. I blink several times to dispel the spots swimming in my vision until I can focus.
"How many fingers am I holding up?" He asks, his voice is deep. He holds a middle finger up, pointed at me, not 2 inches from my face.
"One." I answer through gritted teeth, flexing my fingers by curling them into fists.
He laughs loud and uncontrollably. "If looks could kill."
The man I predict is in his twenties, he has a short scraggly beard covering the lower half of his face and the same disheveled hair, shaven on one side.
A large scar stretching from the corner of his eye along his head. His eyes a deep brown. He looks Dauntless, but I've never met him. Still oddly familair.
"My name is Kirk." He says holding a hand out for me to shake. He frowns a bit and let's his hand drop. "I'm pretty sure I don't need to tell you that you're in a no-mans land."
I press the back of my hand to my overheated forehead, my fingers still tingly and numb but cold. I'm unsure how long after he leaves the room that I notice I am alone.
The room is spacious, and for the most part wooden. The ceiling is high with beams across them and for light there are lanterns, only 2 but they are spread to cast flickering candle light across everything.
I lay my head back and then sit up, but then I rest back again. Impatience grates at me. My boot tapping rapidly until my leg bounces. I shrug out of my jacket, noticing my scarf and gloves are gone.
Then I hear voices. Rising and falling through the walls. They draw closer until I could make out several distinct speakers involved in a heated discussion, a female and male, though I couldn't quite make out the words.
Whatever the voices were talking about, someone had the final word and the conversation ended. The shuffling sound of several pairs of feet replaced the talking and trundled down the hallway, nearer and nearer.
I sit straight, as if prepared to be called upon and the door opens. A middle-aged woman walks in. She has curly black hair and olive skin. Her features are stern, angular, but something about her is unsettling.
I stare at her nose, a little too big on her face, her strong jaw, distinct chin, and her spare upper lip as it curls up in a terse smile.
Falen walks in behind her and my eyes are drawn to him until the woman speaks.
"Welcome to faction-less, Genesis." She says and I realize who she resembles. "I am Evelyn Johnson-Eaton, and I have heard a lot about you."