Now or Never

Chapter Twenty Two

Natalie hands back the gun that was taken from me while I'm trying to wrap my head around the information Tris is trying to give me; I hear it, I'm nodding along, but it still sounds insane.

"They injected him with a serum that works on Divergents?" I ask again, jogging along the two of them as fast as I can manage. I didn't know a head injury could slow a person down this much, or this much loss of blood.

"Yes," Tris looks back at me, "it makes him see people he knows as enemies. I think they brought him back to Dauntless to manage the cameras, to be in charge of security."

"If he's with the computers, he must have access to the simulation program." We run down another hallway, hiding behind walls while Natalie takes the lead in shooting whoever is waiting. From here, with the once worn jacket she had on to be used as a sling for Tris, I can see tattoos on her arms. She was Dauntless.

"Exactly. We need to get over there," Tris nods to me, I replicate slowly. The blood may have stopped, but everything stings. I don't even want to think about the wind we're about to encounter.

"First we get to the basement where your father and brother and the few Abnegation who listened are waiting," Natalie nods to us. We agree, reluctantly. I could stray from their plan, but in my condition; I don't stand a chance.

The quicker we get to the basement, the faster we can get to Dauntless to stop the killings. And to see Tobias; the last person I truly can't live without.

We run through a few dark hallways of the Abnegation basement I've only been to a handful of times, up a staircase and into daylight without being interrupted again.

Strange, I think to myself.

"How did you know to find me?" Tris asks.

"I've been watching the trains since the attacks started," Natalie looks over her shoulder, "I didn't know what I would do when I found you. But it was always my intention to save you." She looks at me. "I saw a few guards standing in front of another door and assumed someone else needed our help."

I nod, "Thank you."

"But I betrayed you. I left you," Tris mumbles over the wind.

"You're my daughter. I don't care about the factions." Natalie shakes her head. "Look where that got us. Human beings as a whole cannot be good for long before the bad creeps back in and poisons us again."

We come to another stop before the alleyway splits into two other directions. We'll be exposed, any amount of soldiers who come will be capable of taking us all down with a good aim.

"Mom, how do you know about Divergence?" Tris asks abruptly, as if she couldn't hold the question down any longer. "What is it? Why..."

Natalie begins to reload her gun, looking just as Dauntless as the rest of us. Badass. She looks at Tris with a grin. "I know about them because I am one. I was only safe because my mother was a Dauntless leader. On Choosing Day, she told me to leave my faction and find a safer one. I chose Abnegation," she stashes the extra bullet into her pocket. "But I wanted you to make the choice on your own."

I know this is a meaningful conversation, but there's another pull in me that needs to keep going. That we're wasting time standing here when Tobias needs us to save him. I need to save him.

I try to tune them out because it seems like a more personal conversation, like I'm not meant to be here listening in. After a minute or two, we hear a group of people running on the other side of the wall.

"Here they come," Natalie peaks over the wall, Tris looking passed the gap. All I do is raise my gun just as I was taught, two hands and elbows up. I will not miss again.

It doesn't take long for another group to start running towards us, we can hear gravel being pushed not far from where we came from.

Natalie turns and holds Tris's hands. It doesn't take a second thought to know she's about to sacrifice herself for us.

"Go to your father and brother. The alley on the right down to the basement. Knock twice, then three times, then six times." She cups Tris's cheeks, I feel my heart beating in unison with the stomping getting closer and closer. "I'm going to distract them. You both have to run as fast as you can."

"No," Tris shakes her head. "I'm not going anywhere without you."

Natalie smiles, placing a kiss against her head. "Be brave, Beatrice. I love you."

She stands back up with the gun in midair, looking at me with a nod. "You'll fulfill your promise?"

I feel my eyes sting again, nodding. "I will," I take a breath. She smiles and nods, giving Tris one last look before running into the street; firing three times into the air.

"Let's go," I start into a sprint, she fighting to keep up as distracted as she is. As we run, we look back at the same time; the guards are too distracted by Natalie to notice us. But it doesn't last for long, her body stiffens and falls to the ground.

Three now. I've seen three people die today from only a few feet away.

Tris screams over her hand, tears falling against her red cheeks. I try my best to pull her into the direction we need to go in, but she barely budges.

"Tris, I'm so sorry," I look at the guards who are starting towards us, "but we have to go."

When she notices and gains back some sense, she begins to run in the direction we needed to head into. I run after her, starting to shoot aimlessly behind us.

...

We both fall to the ground as more bullets are fired at us. Three of the sleepwalking guards are behind us, getting closer and closer as we grow slower.

"Come on," I pant, raising myself from the ground and starting to run again. She does the same, shooting behind her the best she can without looking. She must feel what I feel; wanting revenge.

But a new feeling rushes through me when a bullet is shot and I have no clue where it went. A burning sensation spreads in my thigh, blood stains my pants. I groan when I'm forced into a kneel, scooting myself as fast as I can to the side behind some boxes.

There's only one set of footsteps now, I look over as tears stream down my cheeks to see a familiar boy that I can't detect right now. There's a bullet in my leg.

When Tris stands a foot away from me as a shield, holding out her gun, the boy does the same. It takes me a moment, but I come to realize it's Will.

His lifeless eyes are staring right at Tris; not realizing that his gun is raised at his friend. I have half the mind to shoot him myself, in the leg or side, but that could make things worse.

Just as I start to raise my gun again, there's a bang close to my ear. Will's body falls to the ground.