The early morning silence was cracked in two by an eruption of strangled cries.
Sleeping bodies immediately stirred and woke from where they were crowded inside the advena sleeping quarters, and Tris barely had time to wipe the sleep from his eyes before he was watching four guards enter through the front door and make a terrible ruckus.
He lifted himself up onto his elbows, reaching over to shake Seb awake from where he was sleeping soundly next to him. The guards stepped on stray feet and hands as they cut through the swarm of advena, tipping over baskets, scanning the room's occupants with eyes hidden behind golden helmets.
"What... what's going on?" Seb mumbled through a sleepy daze.
Tris gulped. "I don't know. I think they're coming to cleanse someone."
Seb groaned, rolled over onto his side and buried his face into the crook of his elbow. The bedspread bunched up from under him. "Nothing new, then. Let's just go back to sleep."
"Yeah, alright."
A guard reached down and pulled someone to their feet by their wrist, inspecting the hard lines of their face, outlined in pale moonlight. When they didn't find what they were looking for, the guard tossed the advena aside and continued their search. Tris couldn't help but tense up as the small group advanced towards them, rounding like beasts. He watched advena scramble away across the hard floor, taking their blankets with them.
He thought he'd been so good as of late, all the toiling away in the fields, following orders without question. It couldn't be him they were searching for, could it? And yet his heart wouldn't stop pounding against his chest, and his palms were slick with sweat. Gods, what if they were here for him?
A week had gone by since the Lady last called for him, and he suspected that she might not call for him again. Tris didn't know how to feel – heartbroken, maybe. Upset. Bored.
A guard got dangerously close to where he sat, and he shuffled back against the bedspread, pressing up against Seb's side. Seb reached out a hand and caught him by the wrist, giving him a tight, reassuring squeeze.
They're after me.
A voice inside him said.
They'll take me in and erase all my progress.
Tris couldn't tell where the guard was looking from where their eyes were hidden beneath their helmet, but he could feel the weight of their stare whenever their head turned in his direction. He tried not to squirm when the guard got closer. Seb's grip got tighter, and he wasn't sure whether it was just for his sake anymore.
He swallowed back a surprised yell as the guard reached down, knocked him aside and pulled Seb up by his arm. Seb cried out and wrestled himself free, and Tris could do nothing but keep from being stepped on.
It happened too quickly.
With the hilt of their sword, the guard hit Seb square in the head. The advena around them cried and shuffled back. Tris felt paralysed, pressed up against the wall where Seb had been sleeping just moments before, watching as the guard wrapped a leather-clad hand around the back of his neck and pushed him forward.
They hadn't come for him – they were here for Seb, and they'd got him.
A square of orange light slipped in through the open doorway and hit the dusty floor. Tris could see the outline of Seb's shadow as he was pushed through it, stumbling and shivering, casting one last glance over his shoulder before the door was closed behind him.
YOU ARE READING
WE BECOME THOUGHTLESS
FantasyA boy whose home was taken from him seeks freedom. A mindrenderer with dangerous hands hopes to undergo his own redemption arc. When Cole was younger, his mother told him about the men who played at being gods. Self-righteous, arrogant fools who st...
