Nothing Without You | Eric Coulter [2]

twenty-four

    The gate bursts open and everything becomes a blur. Both the Factionless and the Allegiant both seem to blend into a big mess of sweat and blood.

I've tried to get used to the violence during my time in Dauntless, but it never was my strong suit.

As I took in the chaos, my fist clenched around the handle of my gun and I reminded myself that there was no backing out now. I couldn't leave my friends to fight for me, I refused to.

Squaring my shoulders, I raised my gun, immediately spotting a Factionless member who was trying to ambush Uriah as he was engaged in what looked like a brutal fight with another one of them.

The bang of my gun rang through my ears as the guy jerked back just as Uriah barely managed to throw the man he was fighting off of him.

He looks back at the fallen man and then meets my eyes and instead of feeling guilt, I simply feel relief that my friend was safe.

Just as the relief sets in, my stomach drops again as Uriah's eyes widen, then he raises his gun and it almost feels as if everything is moving in slow motion as he yells at me to get down.

I move to drop to my knees, but before I even get the chance to, a heavy body slams into my side and tackles me to the ground.

Rough hands come up to shield my head as we collide violently with the ground and Eric drapes his body over mine.

I can't see much with Eric covering me, but I can hear the sound of bullets raining down on us and my stomach flips with worry for Eric.

The sound of gunfire stops momentarily and I hear a grunt in pain followed by a body falling to the ground with a thud.

"Are you okay?" Eric pulls back to check me for injuries, "Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine," I place a hand on his cheek, "Are you?"

"I'm alright," He reassures.

He's pulling me to my feet just as Uriah rushes over, "Everyone okay?"

"Yeah," Eric answers, "Thanks for covering us."

Eric's compliment has Uriah flustered like a schoolgirl talking to their crush and I can't help but laugh despite the situation.

We split up again before Uriah could come up with a reply, with Zeke dragging him away to help some of our people who looked overwhelmed.

Eric clutches my hand in one hand and his gun in another, "Stay close to me."

I nod and we rush to take cover behind a large metal container from the rain of bullets that were pelting down on us like some kind of fucked-up hail storm, only rising occasionally to take shots at our enemies.

One after another, Eric- whose aim was much better than mine- takes each one of the Factionless members firing at us down until there is none left.

We take the slight reprieve and make a run towards a more sheltered area that would shield us better from the attack.

I was running as fast as my feet could carry me with Eric close behind, refusing to move ahead of me and leave my back exposed even though he was much faster than I was.