Devious | Eric Coulter

28

UNEDITED

I took a deep breath as I followed Eric into the room where I was going to perform my final fear simulation. There were a bunch of people wearing blue suits scattered near the large monitor on the other side of the room, and I can see a head of bright, short blonde hair.

Jeanine Matthews.

Gulping, I tugged on Eric's clothes, "Why is she here?"

He turned to me and whispered, "She's overseeing the simulations to pick out Divergents."

His sentence made my nerves grow even more. "What? Why wasn't anyone informed?"

"Element of surprise, Lottie." He answered shortly, "And Erudite is the reason why we're cutting stage three of initiation. Dauntless made an agreement with them, and part of the agreement is to help destroy Divergence. Jeanine believes that Divergents are a threat to the system."

"We're not a 'threat to the system'," I quoted, "We're just normal people, but with a different way of thinking."

He rolled his eyes, "Exactly. You think differently, and that's what makes you a threat."

"You don't think I'm a threat, do you?" I asked softly.

"I don't." I felt him hold my hand, but he quickly let go as if it burned him, "Just make sure you do your simulation like we practiced. Do it the way a Dauntless would, alright?"

I nodded, "Yeah."

"Let's go," He turned and walked briskly towards the center of the room where a chair was located.

He gestured for me to sit as he prepared the syringe he was going to inject me with. Leaning back on the Nightmare Chair, I took big intakes of breath to calm down my nerves. My hands were sweating so badly that I could feel  something drip down from my hand to the floor.

Talk about disgusting.

"Aah, Eric. And this is the promising initiate you've been talking about?" My eyes snapped up and met cold blue ones.

When I recognized who she was, I averted my eyes and let Eric do the talking. "Yes, this is Charlotte Eaton--"

"Daughter of Marcus Eaton and sibling of Tobias Eaton. My, how beautiful you have grown, dear."

I tried to cover my cringe. The way she talked about my family, it seemed like she was disgusted.

Jeanine clapped her hands, "Alright, Eric. Ready her and we shall start the simulation soon. I can't wait to welcome Charlotte to the role of leadership." She strutted gracefully next to the other Erudite men and made herself busy.

When she was out of earshot, I turned to Eric with a glare, "What was she talking about? Leadership role? I didn't do anything that involved being a leader."

"It's the only way to keep you safe." He replied, "If I didn't kiss up to Max's ass, I wouldn't be able to suggest you for the new spot in leadership. He agreed to let you take the spot, and that no matter your rank, you would still have the position."

"But I don't want to be a leader!" I argued, but kept my voice in a whisper, "I just wanted to be safe, along with the other Divergents."

"There will be an attack against Abnegation, Charlotte." He hissed, "And I can't keep you safe if you're not by my side. Divergents are popping up everywhere, and most of them are from Abnegation. That's why Jeanine is planning to eliminate the entire Abnegation with the help of Dauntless."

"They're attacking Abnegation?" I asked, my mouth agape, "Why didn't you tell me any of these? Damn it, Eric. Why--"

"We'll talk later," He interrupted and quickly pushed the syringe into my neck, "For now, you'll have to perform your simulation. Be brave."

"Damn you," I muttered before falling into darkness.

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"That was quite an interesting fear landscape," The moment I resurfaced, Jeanine appeared in my vision, "And why didn't you tell me about your... special relationship with Charlotte, Eric?"

I coughed, embarrassed, while Eric just stood there with a blank look, "With all due respect, we don't have any 'special relationship', Jeanine."

"Oh, hush, "Jeanine laughed, but it sounded fake, "There is no need to hide it, Eric. I shall not be in the way of young love."

My face was burning, why did Eric have to appear in my simulation? And out of all the scenes, it had to be the scene where he was dying and I was crying my eyes out, shouting for him to 'wake up'.

"Anyway, welcome to Leadership, Charlotte. I'm sure that Eric had told you about our plans for Abnegation. I'm sorry that I have to annihilate your previous faction, but Divegrents are becoming a huge problem in our society. You understand my concept, don't you?"

I wanted to strangle her as she spoke, her voice was sickly sweet and fake. Hiding my sneer, I forged my mouth into a smile. "Of course. I completely understand."

"Good," She nodded, "Now, let's get going to the Pit. We shall ready the serums to be used--"

"I still have to discuss important matters with Charlotte. We won't be long, " Eric pulled me up from the chair without waiting for Jeanine's answer and dragged me to yet another dark corridor. I let him drag me without asking any questions, because I knew that if I did, he would either shush me or ignore me completely.

When we stopped, he looked down at me and said, "I'm sorry for not telling you, but I knew that if I did, you wouldn't agree to my plans."

"Of course I won't agree! They're going to kill an entire faction, you psycho!"

"Keep your fucking voice down," He snapped, "And do you want me to explain or not?"

I nodded for him to continue speaking. He crossed his arms against his chest before saying, "Alright, so you already know the reason for Jeanine's plan to attack Abnegation. Apparently, she's been planning this for years, and she's positive now's the right time to do it. She spoke with me and the rest of the Dauntless leaders, and we agreed to let Erudite create a serum to control the entire Dauntless faction. She said that it would be better if they were mindless drones, as to avoid any resistance."

"This is fúcking ridiculous!" I exclaimed, "Can't you see what she's doing? She's controlling you! Abnegation is the governing faction, and she's planning to attack them to make Erudite be the governing faction! How can you not--"

"She's not 'controlling' us," He interrupted, "She's right. Divergents are dangerous, they're unpredicted. They need to be wiped out."

"So you're telling me that I'm dangerous?" I hissed, "I'm unpredictable? I need to be wiped out?"

"Not you, Lottie." He sighed, "Trust me in this, please."

"I can't and I never will, Eric. You're one of the reasons why an entire faction would be wiped out of existence, and I don't want any part of it. I'll--"

"I'm sorry, Lottie, but I need you safe." 

"Eric, what are you--" A needle was plunged into my arm.

Darkness consumed my sight, and I felt myself collapse to the floor. I gritted my teeth and said before I blacked out, "This is wrong, Eric. You know it is."

"I'm sorry, Lottie. I'm so fúcking sorry. I just need you safe."  

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Dedicated to honeyking, thank you for the votes, love! 😊