Venus Eaton is desperate to escape the abuse of her previous faction although she is unaware and unprepared of the ordeals of Dauntless initiation. She is a stranger to her own brother until he accuses her of murdering their mother, and finds out th...
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TRIS
I WATCH in relief as the machine shuts down. The Dauntless on the cameras drop their guns and the Abnegation stumble backward, feeling the same relief (and possibly more) as I am.
"We've done it!" Tris breathes, and a smile takes over her face. "We've actually done it!"
"What about Venus?" The urgency in my voice is clear. Tris's eyes widen and she murmurs, "Oh shit," before sprinting over to the door she had last seen Venus enter.
I follow her, my mind reeling. Why did she go in here for? My memory of being under the simulation is quite hazy. The only reason that comes to mind has something to do with Eric.
Why doesn't she listen to me when I tell her to do something?
Tris opens the door and steps inside, and I hear her gasp along with a stifled sob. She's glancing across at the floor, many meters away from us. I follow where she's looking to find a dark puddle of something, and my body goes numb to the fingertips.
It's blood.
"It can't be!" Tris's voice is something in between a cry and a scream, but she also sounds outraged. I don't notice how hard my nails are digging into my palms until I feel wet blood between my fingers. All I want to do is find Venus because right now, hoping that she is okay is not enough.
And then I want to find Eric and beat him to death.
"Tobias, calm down." Tris tries to reassure me but she's no more scared than I am. I realize I was thinking out loud. "Venus might not be hurt. We don't know that yet."
"But it's more than likely that she is hurt, right?" My voice is filled with hatred. "Because Eric has always been violent, I can't dare to believe how much worse he could be under a simulation!"
Tris roughly swipes tears away from her eyes and forces her eyes away from the ominous puddle. I begin pacing, and I suddenly want to break something. I want to break everything.
And then a door swings open and I find my perfect opportunity.
Eric stands in the doorway that we previously entered from, and he looks as dumbfounded as we first were.
As soon as I see him I lunge towards him, yelling in anger. Tris grabs my arm and tries to pull me back, but it is only when I hear her soft voice telling me to stop that I do as I'm told. Eric staggers back and stares at me, but he doesn't look intimidating anymore.
Is he haunted by what he had done in the simulation? Or is his memories of the simulation as hazy as mine are?
"You better start explaining, starting with where my sister is!" My voice raises an octave with every word. I'm fuming, and I'm scared. And Eric, finally for once, looks scared too.
"She's gone?"
"You bastard, you know what you did!" I roar, and tear myself away from Tris's grip at him again.
"That's enough!" Tris shrieks as I attempt to punch him in the jaw. He swerves, then retaliates backwards. I can't stand him.
"What did I do, Four?" Eric tries to keep his voice steady. "What have I done?"
I step closer to him. "You shot Venus, Eric." My voice is deadly quiet. I don't mean for it to be intimidating, I just want it to sink in. And then I want Tris to let go of me so I can shoot him just as much. "You killed her."
Shock spread across Eric's face, but he quickly covered it and scowled at Tobias accusingly. "You think I killed her? Just because I was with her?"
"Are you serious?" Tobias rose his voice, trembling in anger. "Can't you remember!?"
"You think she got up and left after I shot her?"
He admitted it. I brush Tobias's arm lightly. The scary part is, Eric wasn't wrong. Venus was already hurt. To be shot again, she surely wouldn't have had the strength to get up and escape.
And knowing Venus, she wouldn't have ran.
Which meant, the question I believed from the start: is Venus still alive?
