Faction before blood?

Chapter 31

Abnegation was still as dull as I remembered it to be. Mark, the guy that was usually responsible for keeping the inter-faction relationship's intact, managed to break his leg in three different places, as he tried to jump onto a roof and missed it. He was lucky that the roof wasn't that high that he landed on a bush, otherwise he could have died.

Therefore, the leaders asked me to go to abnegation.

Knowing there was no one else capable enough to do so, I agreed. I actually liked to work with the council since Andrew Prior took over. Under his gentle, but firm thumb, the city was thriving. The factions all seemed to be more in flow with each other, all except for erudite.

Jeanine Matthews managed to seal the whole faction off, not satisfied that the power of the government wasn't handed over to her, she held a grudge against all of us.

This resulted in none of us really knowing what was happening there behind closed doors, but since they still supplied us with everything necessary, no one really cared.

And the speculations, that they were experimenting on people was only labeled as that.

A rumor.

Why should they test attitudes and reaction of certain individuals to the serums?

It wasn't often that people had more than one aptitude for a faction, but it wasn't unheard of, either.

I, myself was one of them, just like my brother and Tris and I would guess, my children.

If contemplated, Eric's way of thinking everything through, paired his sometimes unpredictable behavior, could indicate an aptitude for dauntless and erudite. But as I asked him, he just told me that was 'classified information'.

Yes, he could be an ass.

After twelve years of marriage and three children, I knew that too well.

And I still loved him, even if I wanted to kill him sometimes.

Alexis, or Lexi, how Sam called her lovingly, had been in school for a little less than a month. On her first day of school, Eric had to go out on a patrol of the factionless sector, since the control room monitored suspicious activity. But as they arrived, there was nothing there. It was close to the old factionless compound of the rebels, but no one could have been there, since it was destroyed in a controlled bombing of the dauntless, to ensure there would be no place to hide in the future.

I didn't have much to do that day. Like Harper, Alexis wanted to stay with me, but she was never one to make a scene. And as Sam came, he just took her hand and they left together. The only thing I could do, was stand there and longingly watch my youngest child concur a huge huddle of her life. But I knew Sam would watch out for her.

He always did.

Shivering, I pulled my coat closer, looking around the abnegation sector. For early October the air was frigid and the wind biting could. Sensing someone's gaze on me, I looked over my shoulder, scanning the area like I'd been taught to.

As a soldier you are always alerted and I placed my hand on the gun, that was resting in a holster on my side, making sure it was still there and ready.

The numbers of factionless attacks had dwindled down, after we banned the rebels, but there had been a few in the last years. So Eric decided, that every time I was out without a guard by my side, I would have to carry a gun with me.

I didn't object because I felt safer, knowing I could defend myself and others.

Reaching the doors to the abnegation headquarter, I paused and looked around one last time, only seeing a blur of grey disappear behind a house.