Nothing Without You | Eric Coulter [2]

ten

There's a ring of metal that undoubtedly belonged to the barrel of the gun pressed up against my lower back. It's still warm as if it had been fired previously and the thought that the very gun that's currently touching me may have been the cause of someone's death sends a shiver down my spine.

Max is silent as he leads me down identical-looking hallways. I'm not quite sure where they've brought Eric, but Max simply handed him off to some of his guards the moment they managed to slap some handcuffs onto his wrists.

A door slides open and Max shoved me through it, leading us down rows of cells- most of which were empty, save for a few I assume held people Erudite considered 'traitors'. Funny how a little bit of perspective could potentially change the labels that these people were given.

My footsteps faltered as my eyes landed on a familiar figure that was being held captive in one of the cells. There, my brother sat with his elbows on his knees and his head hung low.

"Toby?" My voice was no louder than a whisper, but I guess with how silent the halls were, it had the same effect as a shout would have.

Tobias's eyes shot up to meet mine as he shoved to his feet, pressing himself up onto the glass barrier and pounding his fist against it.

"V? V!" He calls out, his voice muffled slightly by the glass.

I begin to struggle against Max's hold, trying to get closer to my brother. I feel my elbow connect with Max's jaw amid my struggle and he curses viciously behind me.

Before I could even react, a pain spreads through the back of my head.

Black spots fill my vision as I crumbled to the ground, looking up through blurry eyes to see Max cleaning off the handle of his gun against the material of his pants.

I faintly hear Tobias's voice as he hurls a bunch of threats Max's way as I try to keep my eyes open.

Eventually, my lids felt so heavy that it felt too taxing to even try and so, I gave into the temptation to let my eyes fall shut.

"Stupid bitch," Max's voice sounds over me, "You're lucky Jeanine wants you alive."

Then, everything goes black.

✧

"Hey, Four. Maybe do that thing that you do?" I hear a voice say...or at least that's what I think they said.

Noises filter through as I blinked my eyes open.

It takes me a minute to remember where I was and when I hear a loud thud as if someone was being thrown against a wall, I shot to my feet despite the protests of my aching head.

"Tobias!" I yelled, desperately trying to catch a glimpse of what was going on outside and hoping that my brother was fine, "Tobias!"

"Would you relax, Nina," The voice says just as Peter comes into view and the glass that separated us slides open.

"It's Nessa," I manage to grit out despite everything.

"Four, come on. That was pretty good right?" Peter ignores me completely, turning to face Tobias as if he was shamelessly waiting for my brother to compliment him.

"First, I swiped the paralytic from the infirmary," He continued when Tobias doesn't comment on it, sounding extremely proud about it, "Then, I shot her up when she was all freaking out about you."

"Her?" I asked, "Who's her?"

The moment my eyes landed on my brother, the answer hits me without him even needing to say a word.

"Tris," I state, "Tris is here, too?"

"Oh, yeah," He waved me off, "But see, I told these guys I was pretty smart. Guess they should've listened to me."

I rolled my eyes at Peter when his words start to drift off and he mutters a disgusted sounding, "Oh."

Raising on my toes, I peered over Peter's shoulder just in time to see him pulling Tris into his arms.

"Guys, let's go," He drawls, "Seriously, we can do this later."

I let out a sigh at Peter's antics and rush past him just as Tobias releases Tris from his hold and turns to me.

"Thank god, you're okay," I mutter into my brother's shoulder as I hugged him before meeting Tris's gaze and adding, "Both of you."

Tris offers me a smile and Tobias says, "You, too, V. Now, let's get out of here before Jeanine realises either one of you is gone."

"No!" Tris yells, "We need to get the box!"

"Are you kidding me?" Peter scoffs, "Now's not the time for a souvenir, Tris."

"Four, you have to listen to me," She tries to make her case with my brother, "It's not what Jeanine thinks it is. I know it's not. My mother would've destroyed it. We have to get it."

My brother stares at her in contemplation before turning to look at Peter, "Peter, is there another way to the lab?"

"Yeah, but-"

"I'm not going with you," I say before any one of them could get carried away with their plans.

Tobias frowns at me, "V, we should stick together. We need all the numbers we can get."

"I'm all for getting this box because it does sound pretty important. But I need to find Eric."

"Eric," Tobias states sounding unimpressed, "There's no way I'm letting you risk your life for Eric, V."

"I didn't know I ever needed your permission, Tobias." I retort, anger rushing through my veins at his tone.

"The last I saw him, he was still working for Jeanine, V. Clearly, despite everything you've been through together, nothing has changed." He argues, "He's still the enemy."

"He protected me!" I yell, "He has always protected me! If we're honest here, he's been there for me more than you have, Tobias. I'm sorry if that hurts your feelings, but it's the truth. I am not leaving him." I seethed, "If this were Tris we were talking about, you wouldn't leave her either."

Without waiting for a reply, I turn on my heel to stomp off.

"V," Tobias calls, stopping me in my tracks before turning to Peter to ask, "Do you know where he's being held?"

"There's only another section with holding cells. If he's not here, that's where he'll be." Peter answers.

"Okay, good." Tobias replies, "Go."

Peter raises a brow at him, "Right now?"

"Yeah, you just chose our side whether you mentioned it or not," Tobias says to him, "If you want to survive, make sure we do."