Emergent (Divergent: Book Four)

Chapter 11-Tris

I saw Cara and Caleb kiss. I knew they would make a perfect couple. I saw the happiness in their eyes.

But right now I could care less. Tobias was hurt. He lost too much blood. I looked to Cara with pleading eyes. "Can you help him?" I asked her desperately. She looked determined and took control of the situation. She pulled her hair back as quickly as she could to get it out of her face. The result was a really messy bun.

She looked to Caleb. "Caleb, help Tris. I need to get the bullet out of Tobias, and she needs to have her arm bandaged. Take your lab coat off; we'll rip it apart for bandages. Also, welcome back Tris." She said this last part with a flash of a smile before she got to work. I admired that she didn't even care that I was back, just that we were hurt. She didn't even ask what had happened. Yet. I approve.

Caleb took off his lab coat and ripped a large strip off the bottom. I sat down next to Tobias and gripped his hand. He was drifting in and out of consciousness. With confidence, Cara plunged her hand into his wound. Tobias flinched, but didn't say a word. His face was twisted in pain as she pulled the bullet out of his abdomen. "It didn't damage any major organs," she announced, givng me the bullet. "All we have to worry about is blood loss and... well, we need to get out of here as fast as we can. Authorities will be here soon. And I'm guessing that you don't want anyone to see you." She directed the last sentence at me. I nodded in agreement. I hadn't thought about that.

I was still uneasy about Tobias, and I guess Cara somehow sensed that. "He'll be alright," she reassured me. "He hasn't lost that much blood; as long as we bandage him he'll be fine." And that's just what she did. She ripped off a large part of the lab coat and wrapped it around his wound. What she said made me feel better, worry less. That's when the pain hit. I shut my eyes tight as Caleb bandaged my arm. "Tris," he said, seeing that my adrenaline had worn off. "I'm almost done."

I bit my lip to keep from crying out as he tied it off. When he did so, I started to focus more on Tobias again. Cara was applyng pressure to his wound. "He's bandaged?" I asked. Cara nodded her head in reply, still concentrated on what she was doing. "Then we need to go. Now." Caleb voiced my thoughts exactly. He looked as anxious as I felt. If the authorities, or anybody for that matter, found us here, they would most likely accuse us for starting the fire, which was still consuming the building. The flames licked up the the side of the building and up the roof.

Cara looked to Caleb. "You have to help me carry Tobias; where do we go?" Caleb looked distressed at this question. He obviously hadn't thought about it either. "My place. I live alone and shouldn't recieve many visitors." This made me depressed that Caleb hadn't made many friends since I've been gone. But no time to worry about it now.

I tried to stand up and fell back onto Caleb. He looked at me with concern etched on his face. "I'm okay, I just... um.... lost my balance." I got back up and managed to stay standing. Caleb cast me one last wary glance before helping Cara get Tobias up. Cara and Caleb were under each of his arms; half-dragging, half-carrying him with me following behind. We ducked behind a building just as the authorities showed up and began putting out the fire.