Allegiant - alternate ending

NEW CHAPTER 57, TOBIAS

We open the first map. It is named D serum. In this moment a loud "Hey!" interrupts us. Christina stands at the door, breathing heavily, her eyes full of excitement. My heart begins to pound so fast that I can feel it all over my body. "What?" I ask, my minds full of fear for Tris.

"Uriah!" she says, her eyes wide. "They noticed his brain waves!"

What? Is this possible? Is there still some hope for him? We run toward Uriah's room. I come there first, but I slow down when I notice Zeke and Hana before his door. But Zeke's eyes are not angry and he doesn't need us to ask anything. "They said that it seems like his brain were actually active all the time. They discovered that electrodes recording brain activity were destroyed and they suspect that he was artificially paralyzed."

We exchange a look, shocked and relieved at the same time. Christina's eyes are full of happiness, anger and questions at the same time.

Everything Amar told me is getting meaningful. The Bureau wanted to get rid of us. And then I remember Tris, when Peter paralyzed her in the Erudite compound. Were experiments in Erudite compound actually a plan of the Bureau to get rid of her?

Doctor's voice brings me to reality again. "We will need some time to safely normalize all vital functions. I suggest you to get some rest, I am sure that there will be nothing new in another hour."

We spend some time before his door, taking and exchanging information and wishes. I know I should say something to Zeke, but I don't know what to say. Suddenly he approaches me and says: "Hey, Four. I think it is time that you get rid if your guilty feelings. You were not the one who harmed him!"

"I didn't do what I should," I say, with my face down. "I hope you know I never wanted it."

"Come on!" He says and he squeezes my shoulder. "Keep your fingers crossed! And now please have a look at Tris for me, OK!"

"Thank you!" is all I can say. A warm feeling of gratitude for all good friends mixes with painful fear for Tris, as I approach her room. As I reach my small window, my chest is again like a stone. She is so small, so bruised and swollen, dependent on all these machines to keep her alive. I am so worn out that I have to lean toward the wall. I barely recognize that a nurse came to check her. I try to understand everything that Amar told me and a new anger toward the leaders of the Bureau grows inside me. Suddenly doors open and a doctor comes to me. I straighten, but a new hope rises inside me when I see his relatively peaceful expression. My eyes are questioning instead of me.

"It seems much more optimistic than some hours ago," he says. "Before her heart was stopping increasingly often and we had to revive her over and over again. Since the inoculation it did not happen again and all vital functions are now stable. Her lungs are of course still not operational, but her overall situation is not so hopeless as it was."

I feel a wave of relief and it helps me to get enough strength for a question, "Does this mean that her prospects improved?"

He thoughtfully looks at me. "I believe that you are strong enough so that I can be totally honest with you. If you would ask me some hours ago, I would say that there is no hope. Now I have some percentages of hope, as she showed incredible strength. The wounds themselves are serious: broken arm, two holes in lungs, one in the stomach. Luckily no other organs were seriously injured. The largest uncertainty is how the lungs and skin will recover."

I feel numb and all my body aches from the wish to touch her, to embrace her. "When it will be possible to go to her?" I ask quietly.

He shakes his head. "Not yet. I will inform you as soon as it will be possible." And he disappears again.

I wish I would lie there instead of her. I feel like I wont' be able to bear this anguish very long, but I know I don't have choice.

After some minutes Matthew appears and he beckons me to come with him. As soon as I enter David's office I hear Caleb's hesitant question, "How is she?"

They are all silent, staring into me.

"It seems that the inoculation did stop the spreading of the death serum." I say. "But her situation is still very uncertain."

I feel that the whole room is in anticipation. They must have discovered important information.

"We have plenty of news." Matthew says. "The documents revealed many facts. It is still worse than we expected. There is evidence that thirty years ago GP/GD tests were significantly changed. The goal was to hide the data on the rate of divergents – and to hide their own gene deficiencies. They hide many genetic tests, they get rid of many divergents, they were developing serums to control people in the fringe and they planned to overthrow the government. We found your and Tris's genetic data and her results from the Erudite compound. They were planning to get rid of both of you – and of Uriah, Cara and Christina. Besides, there are several documents about Tris's mother."

"And lastly - the message from Edith Prior was correct," adds Cara. "We were really asked to come here and Tris should be the leader of the development of a new social system."

When she pauses I interrupt her, "Anything new about death serum?"

Caleb sadly answers, "Nothing that could help Tris." Obviously he was the most concerned about her too.

Moments of silence follow, everybody thinking about news and about further steps.

Then Matthew looks at us and he would be blind if he wouldn't notice that we are all exhausted. We were all working the whole night and now the next day is coming to its end. "I think that we should get some rest now. Now we went through the most important documents and tomorrow we have to prepare notifications for the compound, for other citizens and for the government. Get some sleep and we continue tomorrow morning, OK?"

"Just one more question!" I demand. "How do you know that Tris should be a leader?"

Cara points the computer to indicate that she is referring to the data, which are stored there, "She is obviously without markers for genetic changes, she is resistant to all four serums and she passed all five simulations. She proved her fairness, bravery, peacefulness, selflessness and intelligence. None came even close to her results till now."

"Do you think that these tests in Erudite compound were actually planned by the Bureau?" I ask.

Matthew nods.

A pain and anger try to occupy my body again. She is the only one, and she is dangling between life and death... She has to survive. Not only because of me, but also because of all these people, who are waiting for her.