Convergent

Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

Tris

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George, Christina, and I pull open the giant wooden doors and step in. Inside city hall, it is dark, with few torches for light. We walk down the hallway, footsteps echoing, and weapons drawn.

Evelyn walks behind me, looking around at more sentences painted on the walls.

'We Will Prevail.'

'Be Free.'

'We will rise.'

I shudder at thinking of where they got the red substance to paint it. Christina gasps, and I turn around, knife ready. A body lays on the floor with a bullet wound in his forehead. She starts to walk towards the body, but Evelyn stops her.

"We need to keep moving," she says. Christina nods, and gets back in our three person V formation, with Evelyn protected inside it.

As we approach the doors, I put my knife away in my thigh pocket. "Ready?" I ask. Everyone behind me nods. With that, I open the doors.

As the doors float open, dust flies from the dirty floor. Lanterns and torches line the walls of the major court room. Sitting in the seats, there are at least fifty men, dressed in all black, guns in hand across their chests. In the the Bench, or judge seat, sits a man with messy black hair, and pale skin. His eyes look evilly towards us as the rest of our team enters.

I hope Tobias is watching.

The doors shut swiftly behind us, creating a loud bang. The man grins and opens his arms.

"Welcome, Convergent." He says. His voice is stern and masculine, but sounds almost off. "Welcome to the Cage, home of the Purities."

"Is that what you call yourself? The Purities?" Evelyn asks from behind me. My hand hovers over the knife in my pocket.

"Of course. We don't need our genes to define who we are. We can make our own choices. And we are Pure. But to do so, we must get rid of those who disagree with us and define themselves by their genes." The man smiles. "We also believe that we have the right to expand our newly established empire in the city."

He looks at Evelyn, and he motions us foreword. "But where are my manners? Come forward, take a seat."

Before we have the chance to move, four rebels come from behind us, and grab our arms. They drag us foreword, until we are past the wooden bar of the Gallery.

"Now, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Krey. Please sit down, so we can continue." None of us move. "Very well. Stand if you must." His hands fold on the desk. "Have you come here to agree with our terms?"

"No, Krey," Evelyn spits. "We do not agree with your terms. We will not let your murderous Purities in our city. You have been murdering innocent families. That is Unjust and cruel. We have faced many problems with our citizens the last few years, and we don't want to create another incident," she says firmly. Krey's eyes darken.

"We have, however, have come to make an agreement. And a peace treaty. Our council of the Convergent have come up with some ideas and would like to offer-"

"Enough with your babbling!" Krey yells. His fists slam on the wooden desk, echoing in the silent room.

My eyes flare up towards the ceiling, noticing one giant window in the center. Please be watching.

"You are not here to state your terms. And I am not here to listen to them. You are here to open the gate of the Fringe and let us occupy are city. If you have not come here to do so, may have been stupid enough to jump off a moving train." Krey shouts. I almost laugh. We certainly haven't done that before.

"You do realize that if you and your Purities try to force your way out of the fence, they will be shot, right? The government may have changed but it still doesn't mean that they won't protect what they are fighting to control." Evelyn's words come out as if they stung. Krey looks taken back, but to mask it, he grins.

"We are not as stupid as you think we are. Do you think we would try to force our way out of this city? We have bigger plans than hopping the fence." He laughs. His head turns, and he motions more rebels. "If you do not agree to our terms, you will be executed on the spot." His eyes travel to each of us, then lock on Evelyn.

"Pity of you, such a strong leader, to die. Your little solders don't matter. I'm sure they expected to not leave, or at least, I hope they did." Krey releases his folded hands.

To my side, Christina inhales quickly. George tenses up, and grabs ahold of my hand. This is not the time we die. We will not go down like this.

"Rebels, get rid of them," Krey says, motioning them with a swift sway of his right hand. Four men stand from the Gallery and draw their weapons. They circle us with their guns pointed at our heads.

The four of us step slowly behind, until we are back to back.

"Please Krey! We want no harm! The council wants to build a new city for you, where you can live freely!" Evelyn yells.

"Well, unfortunately, you won't have the chance to tell them I decline." His voice echoes in my head. The men wrap their fingers around the trigger and aim.

Suddenly, the sound of shattering glass startles the rebels. Up above, I barely make out two figures, Tobias and Zach, who fire from the roof. Men scream as glass pours down and stabs them.

"Now!" I yell. Grabbing my gun from my jacket, I fire at the rebel in front of me. His scream is muffled by the sound of bullets raining from above.

Christina shoots to my left, and George to my right. The rebels in the stands are yelling, and trying to load their guns.

Tobias jumps down from above, and lands on one of the men, and I hear his spine snap from twenty feet away. Tobias continues to fire, gunning down five men within a couple of seconds. Zach covers us from above, making sure no one approaches us.

Once my gun runs out of bullets, I run up and smack a rebel in the face with it and kick him to the side. I retrieve the knives from my pocket and throw them at the rebels running away.

Christina and George come towards me, firing towards the main doors, where most are trying to escape through. I throw another knife, and it buries deep in the chest of one trying to attack Tobias from behind. His eyes thank me and he turns back, continuing to shoot.

Glass and blood now cover the carpet and wooden floors within the courtroom. Bodies lay still and bleeding. More rebels come from the side doors, taking cover behind the door mantles. I run and grab the gun of a fallen rebel, and duck beneath a row of chairs. Sticking my head slightly above the chair line, I fire at the rebels in the doorway.

One of my bullets strike a rebel in the arm, and he drops his gun. Tobias is on him, knocking him to the side and shooting his chest. I duck back beneath the chairs again, and look over to my side. Christina shoots at a group of five rebels against the white walls, creating a red splatter against the white. George yells as he jumps in the air and kicks a man, causing him to fall.

I inhale. Three second break. One, for the only person I love. Two, for my best friends who died. Three, for the family that sacrificed their lives for me. With that, I stand up, gun raised to my right eye, closing my left eye, and fire at one of the Purities running towards the judge's desk. He falls onto the steps and lies still.

The sound of bullets and bodies thumping on the floor fill the room. I hear muffled screams and he last of the Purities shouting to retreat.

Something registers in my brain, like a light bulb turning on. Evelyn. We forgot about Evelyn. I turn the aim of my gun to in front of the Bench, expecting to see only Evelyn there, but instead, I see Krey with a bloody grin, holding a knife to Evelyn's neck.