Broken, But Brave

Chapter 22: Emotions vs Logic

With phase one of training officially completed, Annabelle was relieved from her position as a supervisor for training. Although she had insisted that she didn't mind helping in phase two as well, Max insisted that he be the one to monitor the fear simulations. Anna wasn't stupid, she knew that Max would take the opportunity to fish for divergents. She thought back to her own fear simulations and just how easily Tobias had noticed her divergence. Part of her hoped it was only because he himself was also divergent, but she had no way of knowing for sure. Anna tried not to think about it as she resumed her duties as security lead full time. Instead, she spent all of her time in the operations hall working on a new approach to catching Evelyn. Merkley was at Anna's side now as they stood over a table full of city schematics.

"This is everything stretching to all walls of the city?"

"Yeah. Every field, every train track, every alley. It's all here."

"And how far do our cameras extend?"

"Only within the city center."

"We don't have anything past those barriers?"

"No ma'am. I tried convincing Laine that we should put some protocols in place, but no one seems to care what happens on the outskirts of town."

"Well, that stops now. No wonder Evelyn's been able to build her forces from right under our noses. I'll talk to Max about funds for more cameras city wide. In the meantime, I want detailed markings of all cameras we currently do have as well as all vacant warehouses across the city. We're going to make it so Evelyn has nowhere to hide."

"And when we find her?"

"We wait. We didn't have enough intel the first time around. I'm not going to make that mistake again." 

"Yes ma'am. Any word on the initiates?"

"Nothing yet. Eric's been on assignment outside of the compound more and more. I've seen him once in the last three days." 

"And your brother?"

"I tried catching him at lunch yesterday, but he was in a mood. He wouldn't talk about anything."

"Well, Eric should be back as of this morning. I doubt he's been running sims on no sleep. You should go check in with him." 

"Since when are you invested in my love life?"

"You know, sometimes I like to think that we are friends. I do keep up with your life outside of work."

"Well, let's not tell Eric that. Sometimes I think he's still oblivious to the fact that just about everyone knows about us." 

"Only everyone with eyes. Go, take a break. I'll call when we've updated the schematics."

"Thanks, Merk. We'll go on patrol checks later this afternoon."

"Leave now." 

Anna chuckled at Merkley's insistence, but made her way down to the living quarters anyway. She had to admit, she was excited to see Eric after so much time apart, but she was also nervous to ask him about phase two of the initiates training. Anna was growing more concerned with each day about the safety of divergents in the city. She needed to get a sense of where Eric truly stood with divergents, not as a member of Dauntless, but as himself. Annabelle walked past her own apartment and straight to Eric's. She walked in and was confused to find that the apartment was completely empty. The furnishings were all in place, but all of Eric's personal affects were missing: his books, his pictures, his training equipment. Annabelle frowned at the sight, not understanding what this could mean, but turned as she heard someone else enter the apartment from behind her.