Daring to be Dauntless (A Divergent Fanfiction)

Chapter 27- Asylum

“I told you not to disrupt the process!” Jeanine shouts as Caine struggles with the leather bonds.
Once they’re off I wrap my arms around myself. I’m shaking as Caine helps me up.
“I’m a monster!” I cry. My tears blur my vision and I end up depending on Caine to get me to wherever he plans on taking me. I could care less where he took me.
“Yeah, and turn her into a psychopath!” He shouts back.
I can hear my heart pounding in my chest, like fists banging against a door.
“She would have been fine!” Jeanine yells after him.
He stops short and pulls me with him back to Jeanine. He grabs the back of my shirt and shoves me towards her. He pushes the hair away from my face, but leaves a couple strands that stick to my cheeks.
I’m to the point of hyperventilating so hard that I was ready to throw up. Why would I do that to him?
“Does she look fine Jeanine? Huh! If you think this is fine I may have to speak with my father about your position on the council, because from what I’ve heard, he’s still above you!”
Pulling me back, Caine wraps his arms around my waist and pulls me along.
I’m still a hysterical mess as we stumble out into the adjoining central building. Many of our records are kept there. Caine slams the door loudly behind us, drawing the attention of everyone in that room, including my father and Ben.
“Help me,” Caine mouths.
Ben is the first one to collect me in his arms. I collapse; I’m too tired to do anything more than lying down and hoping someone catches me.
“What happened now?” My father says wiping my tears.
“Jeanine put her through a fear landscape and, and things just didn’t go well.”
“There isn’t any time for this,” my father hisses looking around at the staring eyes.
“Get her to her apartment boys, I’ll be going to talk to Jeanine,” my father says straightening the new tie he put on.
Ben and Caine both half carried, half dragged me out of the building.
I heard Caine say something about it being good that most people were working now and not around.
“He promised.”
When we get to my apartment Ben carries me to my bed and lays me down. I curl into a ball, hiding my face between my knees. Ben strokes the hair out of my face before kissing my forehead and closing the bedroom door behind him.
“What happened exactly?” Ben asks on the other side of the door.
“It was a new fear,” Caine whispers. “The guy who gave her that necklace she’s always wearing now committed suicide.”
There’s silence.
“Do you think she’ll get better?”
“I’d never seen anything like that before,” Caine says.
“Well do you think your dad will take care of Jeanine?”
Caine sighs. “I don’t know. I highly anticipate some rebuke though I doubt anything permanent will hold. I mean she’s basically the flipping Queen of Erudite.”
I squeeze my eyes shut trying to block out the image of Eric releasing the trigger.
“She can’t do this tonight,” Caine says. My eyes fly open. “Jeanine won’t let her anyway, not after that.”
“I’d stay with her but I’m needed in helping the distribution of soldiers,” Ben says.
The door creaks as someone leans against it.
“I have to keep an eye on things too,” he says. “I think she’ll be alright if she’s asleep.”
“Alright,” Ben says softly.
I close my eyes, too tired to care anymore that they’re talking about me. I begin to drift off when the door opens again and someone gently touches my face.
“We’ll be back,” Ben whispers and kisses my cheek. Another hand touches my forehead. It’s not as gentle which makes me think of Caine.
“Don’t go away,” he says louder. Obviously he didn’t care if he woke me up.
They shut the door behind them. I manage to stay awake to count the minutes till Jeanine hits the big red button, unleashing Dauntless on Abnegation.
A soft buzz comes from my phone. The alarm went off.
I close my eyes.
Somewhere in the distance a clap of thunder wakes up the city. Another strike comes seconds later followed by a third. I open my eyes again; this time though they stay open as a fourth clap erupts. That’s when I realize it. That’s not thunder; it’s gun shots.

I fall asleep to the deaths of my family. I’m not sure how I could but the day had just drained me. My mind sways like the tall grass in the field. Somewhere a door shuts. I stand in the middle of the field, lifting my head to the sky with my eyes closed. Things are overturned and dishes are broken.
Grey clouds roll in as thunder erupts; real thunder this time. The bedroom door is opened and a series of boots creak on the wood floor. A cold drip of liquid hits my cheek. I touch where I’d been hit by the rain and glance at my fingers. My eyes sting with pain. Soon my tears are mingling with the rain.
I’m lifted into thick arms. My feet are kept together and so are my hands, held by invisible restraints, dangling.
“You promised,” I whisper.
No one answers back.
A soft pin prick in my neck takes me out of my pain. I float on a cloud in a painless landscape. Eric is alive and with me. His necklace is still tied around my neck. I’m still alive.
“Is she under?” A voice whispers.
No.
“Yes,” someone replies.
I’m Divergent.
“Is she stable?” That voice asks again.
“Yes,” the person whose arms I’m in says.
Your serum doesn’t work on me.
“Good, let’s get out of here.”
Don’t take me. I’m not allowed to leave.
“You take her on ahead and we’ll let Eric know she’s taken care,” the first voice says again.
Eric is kidnapping me? Why?
The arms begin jostling me around. I’m still too tired to move, even though I’m being carried off by a stranger. Eric better have a good reason for kidnapping me. My head falls out of the crook of his arm and lulls back and forth. My mind sails away like a ship on the sea; slow at first but eventually gaining speed, until I’ve finally disappeared into the great blue.

***

My room is grey. Cinder block walls form a perfect square around where I sit in the middle. I stare at the ceiling where one lonely light bulb hands. A cot with musty blankets sits in the corner of the room. A tray of food lays untouched in the corner, along with three other trays alike.
I no longer had on my clothes I had been wearing on the day of the attack. Instead I wore a too large, jumpsuit that went past my hands and provided no warmth.
I had socks on but no shoes. I’d been completely stripped down.
Eric hadn’t shown himself yet.
I have no idea how long it’s been since the attack on Abnegation. I can only guess maybe a day or so, but I’m still unsure. Heck, I don’t even know where I am.
In the ceiling a small camera maneuvers around the room. It zeroes in on me.
“Where am I?” I shout at it.
It stays still.
“I know you people can hear me!”
Nothing.
Growling, I walk over to the plate of food. Reaching down I pick up a hand of mashed potatoes. Taking aim, I hit the camera right on the lens, covering it with potatoes.
A static sound comes from the other corner of the room. I stop and listen.
“That is enough,” a voice says.
“Who are you? Why did you take me? Where am I?” I ask running under the small speaker.
“That will all be revealed in due time,” the voice says.
I scoff.
“At least tell me where you are keeping me.”
“So you can run away,” they say, “I don’t think so.”
“If you haven’t noticed…you sort of have the upper hand.”
Silence and then a sigh comes from the speaker.
“Ms. Aria welcome to Asylum.”

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