Divergent Short Stories (Eric & Tris Fanfics)

Chapter One-Eric

I lead my team on a routine inspection through the Factionless sector. The squads patrol daily but the other leaders and I switch our rotations by joining in at least once a week. Today is my turn on our five week long cycle rotation.
Factionless has been attacking the majority of their bordering factions—including Candor, Erudite, and shockingly Abnegation. They've been causing all sorts of trouble along the boarders and even making their way into the interior of the factions—fighting with citizens, causing bodily harm, theft, harassment, and even arson. Thankfully there has been no casualties or even serious injuries as of yet. Factionless have even been known to attack Amity trucks lately bringing in fresh food shipments around the fence interior. All food distribution now has a Dauntless armed escort. They don't mess with Dauntless, though. They don't stand a chance against us. As they've become more hostile and a threat to the citizens, Abnegation leadership has granted Dauntless our former abilities to patrol the district. We've been at it for several months now and the instigations have lessened as of late.
I love doing this—getting out of the office, working with a skilled team, the fresh air and the sunshine. I give an order and I watch as my second in command—Jax—distributes my instructions to our soldiers. They respond quickly and methodically. I admire how they inspect each street, each building.
We spend the entire day out here going from street to street checking the area. We run into few groups. The ones we do just let us pass in peace—no problems whatsoever. Toward the end of our patrol, we come across some people gathered together around a fire in a metal trash barrel. They're attempting to keep warm on this exceptionally cool early fall day as the sun nears setting. They're all wearing tattered clothes of varied colors. It's obvious they're Factionless. I see them sharing canned food with spoons eating straight out of the cans and passing them around.
"No wonder they all get the same sickness," I mutter to myself.
I've heard several complaints from our infirmary staff and the hospital that colds and diseases spread through Factionless like brush fires. That must be why. I inform Jax to keep the soldiers away from them just in case. One is coughing. He nods and relays my message. They're not doing anything anyway.
We surpass the street block with the Factionless eating their dinner and turn a corner back onto the main street. We walk a ways down but I notice something in the distance. As we near it, I see that there's part of a brick building that's fallen across the road and is obstructing our path. I grab a radio and call it in. We'll have to have a crew move this soon. This is a main road used for transportation.
Jax and I approach the wreckage and examine it.
"Are you coming back soon?" Chris—the surveillance department supervisor—questions through the radio.
"Yeah, after we check this out," I reply.
"Sir, it's about time to head back," he reminds me.
"Roger, that," I respond.
I bend down and inspect the debris. I see burn marks on some of the bricks in the pile. I mention it to Jax and he looks it over. I survey the building where this came from.
"It looks like an explosion," Jax mentions.
"My thoughts exactly," I concur nodding.
"Do you think...?" he asks just as we hear a detonation in the distance about a block away.
I see fragments flying across the road and I cover my head as it sprinkles over us even at this distance. I notice a few cuts along my gear from the spattering and I wipe the debris away—metal shards? This looks like rusty nails, broken pieces of glass, and metal. I look up to see that part of the building this debris came from a block away collapses impeding our exit from this area.
I start shouting out orders and we all take cover. We've got an armed vehicle we gather around but I hear gunshots and I've yet to give an order to shoot, so I absolutely know it's not my team. I haven't even seen who's responsible—so clearly we're under attack. We call in for backup and attempt to defend our position.
"How the heck did Factionless get firearms?" Jax mutters beside me.
"I don't know, but I'm going to find out," I say determined trying to look to see where the shots are coming from. I know explosives can be homemade with the proper ingredients—basic ones at that—but the firearms are clearly stolen from Dauntless.
I see shots coming from a window two stories up in a nearby building. I point him out to the soldiers with a better angle than me and they take the shot. The man falls from the window along with a sniper rifle. That has to be one of ours. They have no method to be able to reproduce something like that.
We wait to see if anyone else takes a shot. I noticed he was shooting wildly—no real practice and poor aim. His building is in the direction we most likely want to head in since there's no escaping this street with our vehicle and several others look to be beyond condemned. I don't want to abandon it, though.
A soldier rises and asks if it's clear. We're immediately bombarded with more gunfire covering the area—originating from an unknown location. I hear him wince and grab his shoulder crouching down.
"Crap," I mumble. An injured soldier changes things.
"He's losing blood," another soldier calls out putting pressure on the wound. Our riot gear can handle quite a beating but not gunshots.
I tell the team to use their shields to cover themselves—those are bulletproof. I direct them to pull out the battery pack and other essential parts to the armored truck since there's no fleeing in it with both ends of the road blocked. They do so and I lead them through another nearby building where no shots seem to have originated—all of us using our shields to cover what we can as we move on. Two soldiers help the injured to walk while the one continues to put pressure on the wound. Jax and a soldier cover our path with gunfire toward the two buildings the onslaught was coming from. Once we arrive, we return the favor and they make it inside. The floor to this building is unstable but we do our best to make it through hoping there's a back door or a window to exit from. I thankfully find an exit and carefully open it. It leads to a narrow alleyway but we should be able to get through here. There's nothing blocking the street. I give the order and go first. It's clear and I lead my team out. We get to another alleyway that directs us just past the most recent explosion. I cross it and peer out at the street to see if it's safe. I see our backup pulling in further down the main street with several armored vehicles. I call in our location over the radio. They tell us to stay put until their arrival. We wait until they're just in front of us and they cover us with gunfire as we exit the alley.
Nevertheless, gunfire starts to rip through our group even with the shields blocking a portion of us. My shield gets bombarded but I hold it still even with the push and pull of gunfire. I feel a sharp, stabbing pain in my leg like a punch or a puncture with a knife. I turn slightly to see blood dripping from a hole in the pant leg of my right thigh. I feel another stabbing-like strike to my chest. The next thing I know, I'm falling to the ground in what feels like slow motion as if in a dream. Everything is blurry and this doesn't feel real. I hear Jax frantically calling out to me but it's muffled and distorted. My eyes close without my permission and I feel as if I'm floating.