Finding The Courage

Part 36

My legs gave out from under me but Christina held me up, helping me to save face in front of the rest of Dauntless. She walked with me until we reached the Dauntless room. She went inside and I made my way to the roof once again. When I stepped out onto the roof it was silent. I made my way to the edge and pulled myself up to sit on it. I dangled my feet over the edge looking out across the city. I stayed there for a while, waiting for the tears that I thought I would spill for Eric but they never came. I finally opened the small bag he had given me. In my hand sat a small silver charm, it was a bird that looked like it had been caught mid flight. Along with it was a note. For the one who jumps with no hesitation.

I quickly took off my necklace and added the charm next to the ring. I touched it once before I smiled. The charm made perfect sense to me, a Wren was a small bird. I laughed once at the thought of him comparing me to a small bird the day I jumped into Dauntless. I heard the roof door open behind me and I turned to face whoever had decided to join me. To my surprise it was Four.

"We need to talk." He called across the roof to me.

"So talk."

"We took a vote, while you were trying to get information out of Eric. We're heading back to Dauntless. Tori, Harrison, and I are now leaders. People nominated Tris and you as well." I nodded along as he talked. " Jack had announced that he was agreeing to the terms of Jeanine's deal and we had to act fast. I guess you had an idea that this was coming. We are leaving now, Jack is not pleased with us. Get changed and get ready to go." I nodded once and followed him into the building.

All around us people were scrambling to get what they needed packed up. I found an empty bag and began packing up my things. The idea was that we would take our stuff to a certain point and leave it stashed away while we reclaimed the headquarters. I changed into a black tank top that had criss-crosses along the top and was very low cut. I threw on a jacket to keep me warm. Once my boots we tied again I made my way to pick up my guns, every able bodied member was armed. Many of the kids stayed behind with Zeke and Shauna.

We made our way into the night, we moved slowly as the city glittered around us in the moonlight. By the time we reached the compound it was dawn. A few Dauntless moved ahead of the group painting over the security cameras to try and keep our arrival a surprise. We charged into the building guns drawn and ready for a fight, this time we were not met with one. The few members that were in the building were not loyal to Erudite, they had remained neutral, many of them had come back from guarding the fence and found a half empty compound. The rest were older members and children whose parents had gone to Erudite. We did a sweep of the compound and found no members to put up a fight. Four set to work getting security up and running again. That night we ate in the cafeteria for the first time in days, things finally settling into a sense of normalcy at least in the way the world was working now.

After dinner Four pulled Tris and I aside, having us follow him away from the others.

"Tonight I am going to meet with the factionless and I want you two there." Tris and I both nodded and I made my way towards the trains as Four and Tris whispered about his knuckles being banged up. I didn't want to hear about the change in his fear landscape. We made it on a train and headed towards the factionless. When we arrived we were greeted by Edward and Evelyn. To my displeasure Evelyn was excited to see me.

"So what is this meeting for?"

"I want an alliance with the factionless, being a Dauntless leader I have the ability to bargain for such a thing." Four announced.

" All we want is a place in the new government after Erudite falls. We also want complete control over the Erudite data."

"For what?" I interrupted Evelyn, something about what she said gave me a bad feeling.

"To destroy it of course." She responded in a condescending manner. Four nodded his agreement.

"Good. We'll meet in a week." With that we ran to catch the next train back to Dauntless.

"Something about that meeting wasn't right." I stated as soon as we were all on the train.

"Wren, we need their help if we are going to overthrow Jeanine." He started. "If we try to do this alone we will fail."

"She's right, something about her wanting the data just doesn't make sense." Tris backed me up.

"Enough, we can worry about that later, right now we need to agree to this." Four dismissed us. The rest of the train ride was quiet and once we were back in Dauntless I made my way back to my dorm. I huffed down on to my old bed as many of the other initiates and children made their way into the room for the night. As I lay awake thinking about how I should have gone to Wayne's I began to hear shuffling. I rolled over to see three figures moving, one that looked like Marlene.

"Marlene." I hissed in the dark and I got no answer. Others around me began waking up as well, hearing the movement. My heart dropped and I made my way out of the room following after the three. I ran to Four's room pounding on the door as others began to wake up to the loud banging.

"We have a problem." I screamed as I took off back down to find out who was under the simulation and where they were headed. Everyone gathered outside, Christina had woken Tris up and we made our way to the roof. There we found Hector, Marlene and a little girl, they stared at us blankly.

"Give us the divergent" Marlene began to speak. "Or every two days there will be deaths until the divergent are brought to Erudite." As Marlene stepped closer to the edge. All in one motion Tris, Chirstina, and I lunged forward to grab them, I reached Hector first pulling his small body into my own, Christina reached the little girl but Tris missed Marlene. All I could hear were the screams of those below us and of Tris and myself. Eric had been right, Jeanine had been able to make a long range simulation.