With Dauntless Abandon

Chapter 24

 "Baby,it's... it's Smarty Pants—I mean, Caleb. Something happened. Willwould like us to meet him at the hospital. He's being transferred totheir prison ward."

~~~

CalebPrior had been minding his own business. Since the bigger half of hisnew 'circle' was literally dead or gone, it'd just been him and Gabe,keeping to themselves, each hoping to reduce their time with goodbehavior. The only time they fought was in the pathetic little weightroom they had, since Gabe had taken it upon himself to keep teachinghim how to fight. He was grateful. Four was still a legend aroundhere, although he thought that was stupid. Four was gone. Hewasn't in there anymore. But being Four's friend made himautomatically one of the cool kids, and he supposed he was gratefulfor that. He'd been so worried about how the older man would affecthis sister, but he'd never considered the long term benefits.

Calebhad decided, though, to become fearsome in his own right. He quicklythe source of information in the prison that everyone wanted to befriends with; anything from where to get cigarettes to who had it outfor whom, Caleb knew. Strangely, it was impossible to find out how heknew all of those things, but he'd gotten started with that when Fourwas around, telling him anything and everything he found to beimportant. And Four, for a guy that barely graduated high school, hada sharp tactical and analytical mind that made him that much morefrightening.

Thefight had broken out suddenly. Some asshole yanked Gabe out of hisseat and another started wailing on him. Immediately, whoever had itin for those two jumped in to pound on them, and soon, he wasin the middle of a brawl, punching and shoving his way through thecrowd to find Gabe and get him out of there before the guards showedup. He made a mistake though... he hadn't been watching his six.

Thepain that tore into his side was sudden and searing, and it made hisvision blur. He instinctively prepared to disarm whoever had juststabbed him, but there was nothing but fists and screaming. Thesearing pain tore into his shoulder next, and he groaned audibly inpain. He fell to his knees just as the guards came in with the crowdcontrol gear, ordering them all to the ground.

~~~

Makingtheir way through the traffic isn't terrible—or, it wouldn't beunder different circumstances.

Trishad visited Caleb as often as she could, sometimes bringing Fouralong to see Gabe. Four visited Caleb on his own once, but most ofthe time, he only went when she did. They got along the same... Calebstill seemed somewhere between intimidated and irked about him datingTris, but they still had the common bond of the hell hole calledprison they both found themselves in, and talking to each other waseasy.

Onher last visit, he'd asked about Four and had smiled as she told himall about Four's 'conversations' with the baby. He'd smiled with her,happy to see her doing so well. He squeezed her hand when the guardturned around.

Sheremembers when she told him they name they chose, and the memorydispels some of her anxiety.

"We'realmost there, baby. Hang in there, okay?"

"Okay,"she whispers in response. Four lets go of the steering wheel andplaces his hand on her knee. She hadn't noticed its nervous bouncinguntil then, and made an effort to sit still.

Whenthey arrive, Four has to hold her seatbelt in place so she doesn'tjump out of the car before he's brought it to a stop. "Hey, calmdown."

"I—"

"Tris."

Shestared at him, surprised. He'd never spoken to her like that before.It was a tone that left no room for discussion or argument. Even whenthey'd argued, he'd never sounded so... well, like that. Her startledlook was enough to make him relent.