Divergent FBI

Chapter Seventy-Four

"Tris!" My mother says, her face falling for moment. I squeeze my eyes shut. What the hell is she doing here? Am I hallucinating?

I can feel the serum spread through my bloodstream, as it does every time, but the pain seems to last longer, like I'm getting more of it.

"Mom?" I yell, somehow finding my voice.

"I'm here baby, I'm here." I open my eyes to see her stalking towards me, her gun raised and aimed at Jeanine, who's wielding another vial of the serum. My mother sweeps the aim of the gun across the room and the four people occupying it duck down except for Jeanine.

"Don't take one more step, Natalie." She commands, her voice low and cackling with authority. "I can give her an overdose before you even pull your trigger." My limbs strain against the metal cuffs holding me to the table as my mind runs wild. How is my mom alive? How did she survive?

"Jeanine, don't do this." My mother pleads, her voice music to my ears. I've missed her so much...if she's alive, does that mean Caleb and my father are too?

As if to answer my question, my father's voice suddenly comes over the intercom.

"Jeanine, we're sorry, but what you're doing is wrong. We had to stop it. Give it up, it's over." Jeannine's face screws into itself as she realizes this herself. Even her control room has been taken over. I groan as the ripping pain in my head multiplies and my body writhes atop the exam table.

"Who's to say I shouldn't do it anyway?" She questions them, moving closer to me. She positions the needle above my vein. "You caused me so much pain, maybe it's my turn." I feel the needle slide into my skin, but the liquid doesn't enter because just as the sharp tip of the instrument enters my skin, the metal restraints release.

With a scream, I swing my leg over my body and nail her in the side of the head. The syringe is dropped to the floor and it shatters, leaving glass shards and sticky blue fluid to cover the white tile. My brain loses control of my muscles once again and I collapse on the floor, the glass cutting through some of my exposed skin and the serum soaks into the white undergarments, sticking them to my skin. My mother jumps to me, and she hauls my body off the floor.

"Come on, Beatrice. We need to leave." My feet drag behind me as she practically carries me to the doorway. Outside of the lab, I'm met with the sight of Caleb, Uriah, Zeke, Christina, and a couple other agents that I don't know standing anxiously as they wait.

"Beatrice." Caleb sighs proudly, gathering my immobile body into his arms. I don't return the gesture. "What's wrong?" He questions, noticing my lack of enthusiasm. The pain in my body has finally faded to a dull throb, making me wonder what's wrong myself.

"She's had a long couple days Caleb, we can talk and everything later. Right now, we need to get out." She turns to me, her expression fierce. "Can you run?" I nod, not recognizing the woman in front of me. She's strong and impassive, but my mother was always caring and selfless. I don't understand how she's the same woman. "Good, cause we have to leave."

Tobias.

"Wait, what about Tobias?" I inquire, tilting my head to the side.

"Who's Tobias?" Chris asks. Zeke-who knows that Four's real name is Tobias-just shakes his head at her, silently conveying that now's not the time.

"Tobias is here?" My mother gasps; the crestfallen look on her face doesn't look like any kind of facial expression my mother would ever wear.

"Yes," I reply monotonously, studying my nails. "They beat him earlier this morning and left him to die. I begged them not to, but they didn't listen." Why do I suddenly not feel desperate to get to him? That's all I could think about for the past hours.

"Tris, where is he?" Zeke grits out urgently, probably curious as to why I'm not flipping out.

"I don't know, I didn't pay attention to the hallways we took."

"I can take you to him." I hear a familiar voice say behind us. Normally, I'd want to kill the person who the voice belongs to, but right now I don't for some reason.

"Great, thank you Peter." Natalie replies, following him as he jogs away.

"Wait, how do you know he's going to help us?" Uriah yells, grabbing Natalie's arm.

"Because," Natalie replies over her shoulder. "he's been working for me." I nod and begin to follow them, but I feel a large hand clamp down on my forearm.

Uriah looks down at me, worry painted across his face. "Are you okay?"

I shrug, sticking my lower lip out in a pout. "Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

"Are you being serious? Tris they have security cameras- very hackable security cameras. I've seen everything." I think back across the last several days: Al betraying me, waking up on the exam table, being burned while Tobias watched, having The Miracle injected, watching Marcus whip Tobias...

I don't feel anything. I don't feel anything at all.

"Uriah, I'm fine." His face freezes and I sprint after Peter and the group of agents following him. We traverse through the lengthy hallways before coming to a room where Peter places his hand on a scanner to unlock the door. Natalie rushes into the room, and everyone clears a way for me next. I follow in a bit slower, knowing that I'll find Tobias in there brutally beaten.

When I see him though, lying in a pool of his own blood, I can't even try to shed a tear. I can't feel a thing. Even when he wakes and reaches for me, his dark eyes pleading with me, I can't feel anything.

"We need to leave." I tell the both of them before walking out of the room.

~*~

Zeke and Uriah are carrying an unconscious Tobias between them and Peter leads the group of ten people. Natalie tells me that my father and the couple other agents he has with them have already made it out and are now waiting in several parked suburbans above ground.

We're maybe fifty yards from the exit of the extensive building when catastrophe strikes.

A gun goes off, and Natalie lets out a cry next to me as she falls to the ground.

"Mom?" I question, crouching next to her. "Were you shot?" It's obvious that she was though, the growing pool of blood beneath her stomach reveals it.

"You need to leave me." She grunts, attempting to sit up. I shake my head as another shot goes off. Some of the drywall next to me blows off into the air, coating us in white powder.

"No." I insist, grabbing her arm. Peter sees the predicament and lifts her into his arms easily, glancing nervously behind us at a livid Jeanine. Her arm is up as she cocks the pistol in her hand, ready to take the next shot. I don't even think as I extract a knife from Natalie's thigh holster and whip the dangerous blade over my shoulder, hitting Jeanine in the stomach. She drops the gun and falls to the ground.

"No!" She shrieks, gripping her stomach and stretching a hand towards us. "I will finish what I started!"

She opens her mouth to speak again, but we're already out the door.