Stay Away | Eric Coulter [1]

forty-five

    I never thought I'll be walking along these rows of houses again. The last time I did, I'd promised myself that I would never come back here again.

Keeping pace with the group of Dauntless I've been sticking to since we've got here, I try to catch glimpses of the chaos that was ensuing around here when a man steps in front of us.

"Hold," He orders.

At his word, the group comes to a halt and I stop with them.

"Watch them," He says, gesturing to an Abnegation member kneeling to the side in fear, "If anyone tries anything, shoot them."

"Please, don't do this!" A woman wails, shooting forward to clutch at the material of the man's pants. "Please, just spare my boy!"

The lady's movements reveal a little boy that was crouched down behind her, sobbing into his fist.

"Lady, back in line!" The man yells, kicking his leg out to shove her back.

"No, mommy!" The boy yells, scrambling to his feet and rushing to his mother's side.

The man raises his gun as if he was going to hit the boy with it and I just...snapped.

Before my mind could even comprehend what I was doing, I dart forward, pushing the boy behind me and raising my gun at the man.

Survival instincts taking over, I aim the gun at his thigh and fired. He falls to the ground with a yell and I quickly grab onto the woman's hand and pull her to her feet along with her son.

"Hurry!" I yell, pushing them in front of me as we ran.

"Divergent! Get her!" A voice yells from behind us and gunfire chases me, barely missing my feet as we ran.

"This way!" I lead them through the familiar route to the wall, knowing that the field beyond the wall would probably be their best bet in escaping.

Halfway through, the boy trips, falling onto the ground. Hearing the footfalls of soldiers after us, I quickly return to pick him up, hoisting him up against my waist.

"Go!" I call out to his mother, who was watching us worriedly.

She takes off and I keep up behind her until we finally reach the wall.

"Keep running, go!" I urge, handing her son over to her.

Once I've made sure they're doing as I've told, I turn, aiming my gun at the men gaining on me and firing.

I manage to take down two of the man, switching my aim to the next and I falter at the sight of the familiar face when I do.

"Don't kill her!" Eric's voice orders as he approaches me.

Walking up to me, Eric's expression gives away nothing, reminding me of the ruthless leader he's known to be.

His stormy gaze meets mine and I suppress a shudder that shoots down my spine at how cold they are.

He roughly snatches the gun out of my hand and snarls, "Jeanine will want to speak to this one."

Betrayal cuts through my chest as he snatches me by my elbow.

"Eric, what-"

"Keep your mouth shut and move," He shoves me forward, pressing the barrel of his gun against my back. "Go on," He nudges.

I do as I'm told, following the guards that surround me, ready to open fire as soon as I make one wrong move.

They lead me to one of the houses at the end of the street, all step up with tech inside.

"Looks like you were right to want to keep an eye on this one," Eric says as we enter.

"Vanessa," Jeanine says as she sees me, disappointment marring her tone. "I was hoping you weren't one of them. But after what happened with your test, I had my suspicions."

I glare at her, " Fuck you."

"Now, Vanessa." She tuts patronisingly, "There's no need for such animosity,"

"Such animosity?" I scoff, "That was nothing compared to the kind of havoc you're wrecking here."

"Some things, no matter how cruel, are necessary." She replies, "Like how cancers have to be cut out so it doesn't spread. The same logic applies here."

"Have you ever thought that maybe the problem lies with you trying to force people into boxes that are impossible to fit into?" I retort.

"Not everyone has the vision to see the truth. But in the end, someone has to step up to the plate and get the job done." She says sadly, "Eric, I'll let you decide what we should do with this one. I trust your better judgment."

Eric stalks towards me, his eyes trained intently on me, giving away nothing.

He stops in front of me, eyeing me indifferently. "Get rid of her."

My heart plummets to my stomach, and I struggle as the guards start to drag me out of the room.

"No. Eric, don't do this!" I plead, but he stares at me, unmoving as I'm forced out of the room.

The men haul me, kicking and screaming, to an open field outside, where they force me to my knees.

Once I'm situated, everyone steps back. Though their weapons are trained on me, no one opens fire.

Then, I spot Eric rounding the houses towards us with a gun held in his hand. Bile rises in my throat and for a moment, it feels like I'm about to throw up on someone's shoes.

"I hope you don't mind," He says as he draws closer, "I wanted to do the honours myself."

Tears stung at the back of my eyes and I glare at him through blurry vision.

"I trusted you!" I wanted to scream, but held my tongue, refusing to give him the satisfaction of seeing me upset.

My chest aches, feeling like someone had just taken a hot dagger to it as Eric steps forward and raises his gun, training it on my forehead.

"Well, it was fun while it lasted." He drawls.

I squeeze my eyes shut bracing myself for what's to come.

A second passes.

Then, another.

Finally, a loud bang echos through the field.