Dauntless

Part 11

“Why so moody?” I asked, propping myself beside Four as he looked over some new paperwork. That’s what he got for ignoring leadership and wanting to be in intelligence. “You look even more sour then your usual self.”

“And you’re incredibly more chipper.” he commented back, still flipping through the papers with a furrowed expression. “You know they’re sending us out tonight to deal with the factionless?”
“Why do you think I’m so chipper? I love the sweeps.”
Four frowned, finally looking up at me. “You know those people hardly have anything, you enjoy stealing what few possessions they’ve managed to scrounge up?”
“Keep talking like that and you’ll sound like a sympathizer. Or Abnegation.” I added, amused when his jaw clenched. “And you know the hard rap those guys are getting these days. But no, I don’t enjoy taking from them. I enjoy getting out of this hole for a while.”
Four shook his head, looking back down at his papers.
“So how are…. Things?”
“Things?”
“You know what I mean,” he muttered, glancing around to see if anyone could hear us.
Oh, right.
That.
I really shouldn’t be saying anything about it, I wasn’t even sure I was getting the full story myself. Why Eric had thought involving me was a good idea, I wasn’t sure; I couldn’t imagine what my purpose was for their diabolical plan to overthrow Abnegation. 
Which Four was from.
Eh.
“Four…”
“Camille,” he half turned to face me, the papers now forgotten in his hands as he looked at me seriously. “What’s going on?”
“I’m not supposed to say —.”
“And since when do you follow orders like that?”
I huffed, propping my chin on my hand as I looked at him unhappily.
Touche.
“I don’t know much, just that Erudite thinks Abnegation is harboring the Divergents.”
“What?” Four stared at me, his entire body going stiff. “But that’s — it’s how people are born, they don’t have a choice in the matter!”
I raised a brow at him. “And how do you know that?”
“I’m not ignorant, Camille. I’m in intelligence —.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know where you are. You never let any of us forget it.” I waved my hand dismissively. “Blah blah.”
He looked frustrated; I seemed to have that effect on men.
“Welp, I’ll see you tonight,” I sighed, pushing away from the table we’d been sitting at. Eric was glaring at me from across the room, and although I did like torturing him and making him wonder why I was talking to Four, I also had some initiates to torment.
I wonder if Four knew Eric was coming tonight as well
~~~~
“Is everyone ready?” Eric called from the front of the train compartment. “We’re doing the sweep in five minutes! Check your guns, make sure the safetys off. These factionless are not gonna like us taking their shit again.”
Mhmhmm.
I glanced up at Four where he stood beside me, all of us doing our best to balance as the train compartment rocked heavily on the beaten rails, carrying us towards the warehouse district again. I’m not sure why we were suddenly raiding the factionless so often, taking their contraband and the like; we usually only did this every couple months.
And the warehouses again?
What the hell were the factionless up too? 
“Everyone is to stay with their partner, no splitting up! Everyone in pairs at all times! You’ll need each other, so stay close when we get off. We all remember the last sweep, don’t we?” 
Four looked down.
I’d heard it was a rough one.
But surely this one wouldn’t be so bad! They probably hardly had anything stored back up yet. 
“Lavender, you and Marcus are together. Terone, you and Isaac. Four, you’re going with Memphis.” Fours head jerked up in surprise; but we usually went together! I liked sweeping with Four!
“Paris, you and Naomi. Camille, you’re with me. Everyone clear on that?”
Ugh.
Of course.
I wrinkled my nose unhappily as we all shuffled, getting into our pairs.
“Why do I have to go with you?” I grumbled, tightening my hold on my gun as we neared the warehouses. 
“Because I said so, now shut the fuck up.” he grunted; yeesh, he was still a little miffed I’d told him he grunted a lot during sex.
Men.
So lame.
I rolled my eyes, preparing myself to jump off the train, the open doors of our compartment allowing the wind in. I could feel it bite against my skin, throwing my hair everywhere around my shoulders as I neared the edge.
“Aaaand, go!” Eric bellowed.
We all leapt from the train, landing hard on the concrete but quickly getting to our feet, guns raised immediately. I could hear the shouts as the factionless realized we were there, the lights of the warehouse bright and spilling out into the night as we advanced, maneuvering around broken crates and other unmentionables. Generally we just scared all the factionless off and then went through whatever they left behind, no one really got hurt.
But the factionless were getting a little more violent these days.
“Stay close,” Eric grunted, using a crate as a shield when the factionless began firing at us.
“Why the hell do they have guns?” I hissed, keeping low to the ground. “Or even ammo!?”
“The cities changing, I told you that before.”
Like hell he did.
I frowned, feeling the grip on the gun become slippery as I started to sweat, realizing even more now why we’d been required to wear thick combat vests and had extra clips of ammo.
This was not the fun sweep I imagined.
My eyes flicked around worriedly for Four, only to see him kneeling a few crates down, shielding Memphis as she clutched at her leg.
Fuck!
I didn’t have time to speak, I just whirled, raising my gun and firing. Four jerked, kneeling immediately when he realized factionless had been crawling up behind him.
This so wasn’t good.
Why was there so many of them?
All I could hear was the constant popping of the gunshots, the cracking sound as they hit flesh or crate. It was suddenly very warm, and my heart was beginning to thunder in my chest as I rose, firing into the warehouse and hoping everyone was out of the way.
I didn’t want to kill anyone, but I wasn’t about to die myself — and getting shot twice barely a few weeks ago made me really not want to get shot again!
I ducked for cover, my hair falling into my eyes as I fumbled for another clip, mine quickly running dry. We hadn’t even made it to the warehouse doors yet!
This was way too dangerous for the little amount of people we had!
“Eric, we need to fall back!” I gasped, pressing my back against the crate, my heels digging into the hard concrete below. “There’s too many!”
“We’re not falling back,” he growled, his jaw clenching when I dared a glance at him. “We need to get in that warehouse!”
“Not at the cost of our lives! We don’t have enough people, and Memphis is already hurt —!”
“Don’t have time for this! Don’t be a coward!” he tossed over his shoulder at me, and I scowled, a little hurt.
“I’m not a coward for not wanting to watch my friends die!” I snapped at him as I stood, squaring my shoulders as I fired, seeing several factionless fall. “Or myself, for that matter! Call it off!”
“No, goddammit!” 
And he took off.
I stared at him in horror as he made a mad sprint for the next row of crates, throwing himself for cover. So much for don’t leave your partner, the Motherfucker! 
I cursed him under my breath as I did my best to cover him, making it possible for him to get closer to the large warehouse doors. I would quickly be out of ammo at this rate!
“Camille! Camille!”
Hmm?
I dared a glance, seeing Four suddenly running toward me, completely ignoring the fact bullets were pinging off the concrete inches from his feet. I whirled, and my barrel jammed into the chest of the factionless who’d come up behind me. He froze, the jagged knife he’d raised at me inches from my skin.
Click.
Uh oh.
Click click click.
I was out of bullets.
The factionless grinned, and I jerked, using my gun to help fight him, catching his wrist as it swept down. I twisted, bringing my foot up and catching him in the ribs, throwing him off balance enough where I could disarm him and land a nice kick to his chest that sent him staggering back into a few crates and crashing into the rotten wood.
“Are you alright?” Four demanded as he reached me, and I nodded, brushing my hair out of my eyes.
“Fine, thanks.”
“Where’s Eric!?”
“Hell if I know, he just took off!” And left me to fend for myself after he did that bullshit speel about staying with your partner. “Where’s Memphis?”
“With Terone. We need to get out of here.”
I agreed. I glanced around, seeing we were making a little headway into the warehouse entrance, it was just slow, and that meant our ammo wouldn’t last much longer. Funny how the factionless knew they could just wait us out and everything would be fine.
“Let’s go,” Four muttered, keeping low behind the crates. He cast s furtive glance before he took a step, only to jerk back when a bullet pinged off the concrete in front of him. He cursed, leaning back against the crate.
“Do you have any bullets left?”
“Nope.”
“Me either.”
“Leave it to Eric go put us in this kind if situation,” I grumbled. I froze as something crunched behind me, and shifted last minute. I hissed as the metal rod rammed into the crates where my head had been, staggering a few steps and crashing into Four, nearly sending the two of us falling. I managed to rebound, using Four to shove myself back at the attacking factionless, my hands closing around the metal rod.
Like what the hell!?
Why were the factionless suddenly so territorial? It had never been like this before!
The man whirled, thrashing with the rod and sending me several steps backward, out of the safety of the crates and into the side of the brick warehouse. My back barely hit the wall before I ducked, the rod pinging off the brick with a spark before the man lunged at me.
I gasped as my back hit the ground, the man straddling me.
Shit!
I squirmed, trying to roll him off, my hands curled around his wrists to keep them away from me.
Where was Four!?
“Get. Off!” I snarled, bringing my knees up. He grunted, pressing down against my grip, probably twice my size. I gritted my teeth, my grasp on his wrists growing harder to keep as he pressed down on me. 
Fuck!
This so wasn’t okay! I shouldn’t even be in this position!
I sucked in a deep breath, and then rolled with all the force I could muster, catching the man off guard and finally managing to get him off of me. He hit the side of the wall just as I managed to get to my feet, stumbling a little —.
“Look out!”
I half turned, and my heart stuttered for several seconds, seeing the knife heading toward me but knowing I didn’t have time to deflect it — my eyes went to the factionless face, finding eyes filled with hatred.
Well it wasn’t my fault he was factionless! 
I heard a pop seconds before the man crumpled in an agonized yell, falling to the ground and clutching his stomach. I felt a hand close over my arm, and my eyes roved, only minorly relieved it was Eric grabbing me.
“You fucking left me!” I snarled, but he ignored me, dragging me back to the cover of the crates. “Eric!”
“I knew you could take care of yourself, stop bitching,” he grunted, his hand now resting on my shoulder, forcing me to keep low to the ground. “You’re not Incompetent.”
I scowled at him.
My eyes flicked him over, spying the object he had tucked beneath his other arm. What was that?
“Get down!” Eric suddenly hissed, and before I could move he was shoving me to the ground, knocking the breath out of me when he landed in top of me seconds before I heard a hailstorm of bullets.
What the fuck!?
“Hold still,” Eric hissed in my ear when I squirmed. “It’s not like you don’t like being on the bottom anyway.”
Uh!
“Don’t be an ass,” I snapped, earning a light snort from him before he was lifting himself off me and I was getting to my knees. “Where did all the —?”
“I called in reinforcements,” Eric helped me to my feet, his eyes flicking me over. “The factionless shouldn’t be a problem now. Besides, we have what we need.”
“And what’s that?” I asked, brushing the dirt off my clothes, my eyes searching for other Dauntless. I could see Four now, knocking a factionless out with the butt of his gun before swooping down to help Memphis to her feet, her arms curling around his neck as he lifted her into his arms.
See, look how nice Four was. Helping his partner, defending her and his teammates — not running off and being an asshole.
I glared at Eric; I couldn’t believe he’d just left me there! He could have gotten me killed! And although I did intend on going out in a battle of glory, I wasn’t ready for it just yet.
“Will you stop looking at me like that?” he grumbled, his hand rising to brush something from my cheek, looking irritated. “You had Four with you, it’s not like you died. And I wasn’t that far away —.”
“You fucking left me!”
“You’re fine!”
“I could have been killed!”
“But you weren’t!”
“But I could have been!”
Eric looked at me in frustration before turning away, apparently deciding arguing with me was pointless, and it was. I wasn’t going to let it go.
“C'mon, let’s get back to the train.” he muttered, his hand clamping on my arm, tugging me after him. I could basically tell most of the fighting was over, especially with new Dauntless spilling out of the darkness and into the warehouse, the factionless starting to scatter like mice. I relented, for the moment, letting him drag me forward a few steps, then —.
“Eric!” I jerked, trying to pull him back as I saw the glint, but he saw it as well, twisting. The factionless went for him with a yell, and Eric scowled, easily smacking the weapon from the factionless and twisting him around like a pretzel. The factionless staggered, tripping onto the ground with a yelp, landing hard on his hands and knees. Eric raised his gun with a huff, and my hand closed over his as he aimed it at the man’s head.
“There’s no point, Eric,” I muttered, shaking my head. “Let’s just go. They’re done.”
No one else needed to be hurt.
“We got what we came for, remember?” I added, feeling his hand flex under mine. He scowled, but I felt his grip lax, and slowly he lowered the gun, begrudgingly letting me have my way. He was way too quick to kill, it didn’t have to be that way; only when it was necessary should a life be taken.
“Let’s go,” I urged, pressing on his shoulders, intent on getting on the train and examining what bruises and cuts I probably had. I didn’t want to be here anymore, I wanted to go home and rest. This wasn’t the sweep I imagined it to be.
Erics hand curled through mine, both of our hands sweaty and covered in dirt from the ground. He pulled, forcing me to follow as he started walking. I glanced behind me at the fallen factionless, seeing the defeat on his face.
Poor guy.
~~~~~
“He could have gotten all of us killed!”
“But none of us died!”
“Memphis was injured, and so were several others! That was a suicide mission!” Four ranted, pacing back and forth in front of me. “He left you, Camille! By yourself! You could have died, or gotten shot again!”
I rolled my eyes.
“But obviously I didn’t, so it’s fine. Everything is fine, Four, you know that. Stop freaking out —.”
“everything is not fine !” he snapped, looking annoyed at how flippant I was being. His fists were clenched, and there was an angry blaze to his eyes you didn’t often see. He was genuinely mad over this, that Eric had endangered all of us needlessly.
Four was such a good guy.
Why couldn’t I be fucking someone like him instead?
I frowned at the thought. Why was I even sleeping with Eric? He was a total fuckboy, he didn’t care about anyone but himself, especially not me. I mean, sure he was good in bed, and the time we spent together that way was almost inhuman.
But that was where it kind of stopped.
I sighed, propping my feet up on the table in front of me.
Eric was the total definition of bad boy, but most men in Dauntless were. I wasn’t sure why I was attracted to him when really we hated each other otherwise. I just know he made me cum almost constantly and it was one of his few redeeming qualities.
“… Bad is happening.”
“Huh?” I blinked, realizing I’d zoned out and missed half of what Four was saying.
He was still pacing, completely unrelaxed and looking ready to jump into a fight at any moment. We were supposed to be enjoying the lovely time we had together babysitting the initiates below running the track, but he was too angry to properly train them and I figured running some more laps while I lounged around would be appropriate. 
“You know something bad is happening. Something has to be done! Abnegation has done nothing wrong and neither have these people they’re hunting down!” 
“Four —.”
“They’re murdering innocents!”
“Four —!”
“They’re going to destroy the city with an war!”
I sighed, letting my feet drop to the floor, shuffling in my chair.
“Four, we can’t do anything,” I insisted, hoping to talk some sense into him. “It’s not our fight! And it’s more dangerous then any mission Eric could send us on! Just leave it alone — you’re not even supposed to know about it!”
“How could I sit by and do nothing while innocent people are murdered?” he demanded, his eyes blazing when he turned them on me. “It’s not right, it’s not Why were here. We have to stop them, or —!”
“You’ll get yourself and anyone who you involve killed,” I said firmly, dropping my voice so we wouldn’t be overheard. “You know that as well as I. Don’t risk your life for people who won’t even appreciate it!”
He scoffed at me, his features contorting. “You’re hanging around with Eric too much, you sound just like him..”
I recoiled, and then shoved myself to my feet. “I’m nothing like him!”
“You’re exactly alike,” Four snapped, halfway turning his back to me. “No wonder you’re perfect for each other.”
“We’re —.”
“None of us are stupid, Camille, it’s obvious you’re either in love with him or sleeping with him,” Fours voice was biting, full of anger and apparently prepared to take it out on me. “Despite knowing how evil of a person he is! He’d let all of us be killed if it was for his own benefit, even you! We’re all expendable!”
Ugh!
I crossed my arms tightly, feeling my heart start to beat quicker.
“He might be a miserable, horrible person, Four, but he has his good qualities too, none of us are perfect!” Don’t ask me what his good qualities are. “You can’t blame him for everything that goes wrong!”
“I can’t believe you’re defending him after what he did last night.”
I bristled, clenching my jaw.
I was going to say something harsh and that I would regret if he kept spitting in my face. Four was a great guy, I completely saw his point of view and why he was pissed. I couldn’t even explain why I felt the need to protect Eric when he really was a bad person. 
Maybe I was just an idiot, that was the only reasonIng I could come up with.
Because all other explanations didn’t make sense.
I stared at Four for a few seconds, mulling my words over in my head before deciding not to say them at all. I sighed, and merely turned away from him, looking down at the recruits. Four was right, and I knew that, lots of innocents were going to die for no reason.
I didn’t even believe in the divergent bullshit, I was starting to wonder if that wasn’t more some kind of excuse for Erudite to usurp Abnegation and take control, they’d always felt like they should be the leading faction. So if that was the case, they needed to be stopped.
I just had no idea how.
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