Divergence: Choices

Chapter 7

I try to sleep for the better part of an hour, twisting under the covers to find a comfortable position. Or maybe it's that my mind constantly wonders to the thought of an impending war. A war I can't prove will happen, that I haven't shared my thoughts on, but something tells me it's coming.

Eventually I give up, getting up to put clothes on and start walking through the Pit, the way I do every time I can't sleep. I arrive at the control room, where Gus greets me with a grunt and the other two on staff don't even notice me come in.

I don't try to go through Max's files again-I feel like it will do no good. I have searched every file and still cannot prove his plan.

I need to tell someone, I need someone to share in this with me, to tell me what to do. But there's no one that I would trust with something like this. Even my friends here were born and raised Dauntless; how can I know that they wouldn't trust their leaders simplicity? I can't know.

For some reason, Tris' face comes to mind. Her gesture that presented herself as open but an expression that said she has boundaries and secrets.

"Go to bed, Four," Gus says from across the room. I jerk and nod. If I'm not actually going to look at footage, it's not a good idea for me to be in the control room. I log out of my account and walk down the hallway to the elevator, blinking myself awake.

As I walk across the lobby, I hear a scream coming from below, coming from the Chasm. It's not a good-natured Dauntless shout, or the shriek of someone who is scared by delighted, or anything but the particular tone, the particular pitch of terror.

Small rocks scatter behind me as I run down to the bottom of the Pit, my breathing fast and heavy, but even. Three tall, dark-clothed people stand near the railing below. They are crowded around a fourth, smaller target, and even though I can't see much about them, I know a fight when I see one. Or, I would call it a fight, if it wasn't three against one.

One of the attackers wheels around, sees me, and sprints in the other direction. When I get closer I see one of the remaining attackers holding the target up, over the chasm. I see her hair, blond, and it is all I can focus on now, it's her, it's Tris. And then, he drops her. My heart stops, in an instant the life has left my body.

I collide with one of the attackers-Drew. I can tell by the color of his hair, orange or red and slam him into the chasm barrier. I hit him once, twice, three times in the face before I lose count and he collapses to the ground. I'm kicking him and I can't think, can't reason, all I feel is rage.

"Four." Her voice is quite, ragged, and it's the only thing that could possibly reach me in this place. She's hanging from the railing, dangling over the chasm like a piece of bait. I run toward her, grabbing her under her shoulders, and pull her over the edge of the railing. I hold her against me, tighter than I should. She presses her face into my shoulder, twisting her fingers into my shirt.

I glance over her broken body that is slumped in my arms, considering my options. I carry her away-not to the infirmary where the other who went after her would think to look for her, but to my apartment, where I can keep her safe. As long as she isn't severely injured, I should be able to care for her.

I shove my way through the apartment door and lay her down on my bed. I run my fingers over her nose to check for breaks, then I feel for her pulse, and lean in close to check her breathing. Everything seems normal. I hesitate for a moment before lifting her shirt just enough to examine her ribs for breaks. I know she wouldn't appreciate me gazing at her so I advert my eyes to her side that is beginning to turn purple. I skim my fingers across, slightly trembling at the touch of her skin. It appears to be just a nasty bruise, it'll certainly be sore tomorrow.