Inextricable: A Divergent FanFiction (Book Three) ©

Chapter 1

I died.

How or why I didn't know; there wasn't a specific memory for me to call upon. All I had was a nebulous and vestigial knowledge that I was no longer tethered to the earth by any means. I couldn't feel my body anymore. There were no legs to tread with, fingers to flex, lungs to expand, not even a heart to beat; I was gone.

No, but that wasn't completely right, because my thoughts were still present. I could think, but only in a present sense; no memories. It was as if all my previous history had been erased. I was just here. Regretfully so, I couldn't remember how I'd passed away. I mourned to find that even my name seemed to evade me.

All around me everything was pitch black, and I felt like I'd been tossed into a completely dark room that didn't have any doors for me to escape through. I was confined; trapped in my own personal hell. Loneliness and sorrow began to leech into my being. Panic rising, I felt myself grow frantic until I sensed it; it wasn't a physical touch, or even a spoken work, but something deeper that resonated in my soul.

Warm and comforting like a mother's hug, I suddenly felt myself enveloped in an invisible sort of miasma. Then, right before me, I saw a bright pinprick of light suddenly cut through the gloom. It promised peace, calm, and so many other wonderful things. It promised the end, and I wanted it; to move on.

Like a moth drawn to light, I headed towards it single-mindedly. The closer I got, the more my spirit seemed to hum and buzz with peaceful electricity. Once I reached it, I'd be everything and nothing all at once. Yet, beyond the promise of an eternal sleep, I felt the nagging suspicion that I should be fighting this ultimate end.

As that thought occurred to me, I felt myself slow, then eventually come to a complete stop. The light, it wasn't bad, but I knew it wasn't where I should be. Not yet.

I was in the midst of wondering where exactly I ought to be heading, when an ache appeared out of nowhere. As seconds ticked by, it only continued to grow; soon what had begun as a dull throbbing had steadily developed into something excruciating. If I'd been able to cry out, I would have.

The pain was disconcerting, because along with it, I also sensed a different sort of pull. While the white light had beckoned a soft come hither, coaxing and gentle in its nature, the foreign presence that had suddenly appeared demanded I obey; its emblematic claws grasping and clawing. The more I struggled against it, the more wicked its lashes grew.

The agony, which had originally felt all-enveloping, suddenly became acute; it was radiating from the center of my chest, coming in artificial waves of electric currents. It was then that a memory came; I remembered how I'd died. Who had killed me. I'd been stabbed, and not by anyone, but by Ally. All at once, my thoughts were pulled together into a completely focused ball of intention.

I remembered.

Rather than feel anger, betrayal, or even sorrow, I found myself brimming with determination. I knew Ally hadn't attacked me of her own free will. Even if I hadn't seen her eyes, which had been glazed and hazy, I'd have known Banks was behind it all; he'd subjected her to the RAGE serum.

A strangely hollow thud echoed all around me, but then fell silent again. I had a sneaking suspicion I knew what it was, but couldn't be completely certain. It wasn't until another current of singeing energy flowed through me, followed by that same strange thump, that I knew I'd just heard the coughing sputter of my heart trying to start back up. Like a machine, someone was trying to jump start it back into action.

In that instant, I thought of all the people I'd leave behind if I didn't fight to survive; those I loved would be left, not only wrecked emotionally, but also with their lives in danger. Who'd protect them from my silent enemy? I couldn't go, refused to.