Rediscovered Love

Chapter 3

*I love screencaps! (especially of scenery) ^_^

Karen's POV

The crunch of crushed gravel interrupts the morning silence hanging over the area. Michael approaches us--Jake and I. He holds his own breakfast. "Hi Jake!" He waves. Mike glares at me. "Jordan." He sits down beside Jake and wolfs down his meal. I'm only half done with my own can of cold peas. I don't want to eat any more though; they feel like slugs as they slither down my throat.

Michael is new. He tried to pass Candor initiation but failed one of their tests. Poor guy. He's so young, or too young to live a life like this. Then again, most of the factionless were cut when they were sixteen.

His face is red, much like a tomato. Is Michael blushing? Why? "Jake... I was wondering if you would like to come with me later tonight. I'm going with a few others to Amity. We're gonna steal a few apples," Michael mentions once finishing his meal. He talks like the Amity-- or like country folk back before the war. His eyes are large and shiny with hope. He gives Jake a crooked smile, something my friend ignores.

"Are you sure you're telling the truth?" Jake asks, gazing down at the ground.

"Jake!" I gasp! How could he be so rude?

"I am!" Michael exclaims. He disregards his can of green slugs. He jumps up, arms flying into the air. A few of his peas spill and splat onto the hard pavement like dead birds. Mike storms away. Whatever he had in his eyes seconds ago, is now gone by merely a few words. I think that's how the love between Jeanine and I somehow died. It was only a few words which passed through the silence on the day I was arrested, but it made everything we had shatter and collapse. I only wonder now whose fault it really was. I could have never told Jeanine I was divergent. Then again, Jeanine could have chosen to never tell the guard.

"Hey! Wake up... Earth to Jordan!"

I blink. Jake's hand is a fluttering finch, trying to fly before my eyes. I shove him away, hard. Some of his breakfast joins Mike's--on the ground. Maybe he should be more like his breakfast, and not so rude. His reaction was completely uncalled for.

"Go with Mike," I whisper to him.

"No way! W-why should I?"

"Mike likes you... you know."

Jake's eyebrows pop up. "But I don't like him," He says pointing to himself. And he's perfectly justified in that response. He doesn't have to like him back.

"I still think that you should do it, just to make up for what you said. Who knows, maybe he even hates you now, so you won't have to worry? Just go and try. I wouldn't mind some fresh fruit myself."

Jake stares into my eyes like a moody child. "Fine," he grumbles.

"Come on," I say finally standing. My ass feels like bricks. Tip: never sit on something cold for a long amount of time. I extend a hand to Jake. "Let's go find Mike."

~~~

Amity fields expand in front of us, but they aren't their usual golden hue. Winter is coming, and the wheat seems to finally be harvested for the season. Ahead, lie the heads of hundreds of apple trees. The huge Amity dome sparkles nearby. A few people mill around. It must be lunch time. At first, it's difficult to see that someone might not be out in the orchards. But someone is. A figure in blue runs about. Two others weave past the trees with it.

"Should we go?" I ask.

"Yeah... Let's go."

I keep my eye trained on the dome. Hopefully, no one will spot us. There isn't grass to give us cover.

"Now!" I say, and sprint to join the figures ahead. More of the Amity are leaving the dome. Soon they'll get back to work, and our chance will be lost. My lungs burn as I stumble over the uneven terrain. Jake speeds past me, eager to hide within the forest of apple trees. I can't outrun the Amity who spill out of their main building like water. They begin to point--at us or Mike's group-- I can't tell. Shouting can be heard in their direction. Some of the men try running to us, the women urging their children not to do the same, and scolding them for it.

Then a deep rumbling echoes throughout the area.

An engine roars louder than anyone else here, and then a dauntless truck storms past the sea of people in red and yellow, and skids to a halt before it can touch the crop-less pasture. The doors swing open, I blink and the dauntless guards have already crossed half of the meadow. I'm only a few meters away from the trees, but it's no use. Already, Jake has disappeared, and black-clad figures have replaced the bodies of my friends.

They have me surrounded.

Shadows circle around me. A force collides into me. I feel like I'm flying before I fall to the ground. The small sticks of wheat scratch my arms and legs. They puncture my hands and knees like large needles. Hands swarm around me, grasping any piece of clothing they can, and I'm hauled up on my knees. A metal handcuff joins my bloody hands together. Red wetness oozes from all of my abrasions. I'm covered in my own blood. Pain sears through my limbs. Every move releases a sharp pain. More than that, my heart aches. I lost my friends, the only family I had left, and now I know I will never see them again.

"Bring this one back!" One of the guards shouts to another. They hoist me up like a cargo crate, before dragging me along to their metal truck of doom. My footsteps falter every few minutes. They're doing this on purpose. I trip and faceplant onto the ground once or twice. The guards hold me to make sure I don't escape, not to keep me safe. Now the twigs sting my face. My lip burns and a metallic saltiness fills my mouth.

The Amity part for us. Their mouths hang open. The children point at me and ask their parents, "Who is that? Why are they taking her?" The mothers and fathers simply don't respond. I'm shoved onto a cold leather seat. Jake sits, captured, in the seat next to me. Mike is nowhere to be found. I hope he escaped.

"This is what we get for following your dumbass idea!" Jake whispers to me. "Now we're going to die!"

I turn to him. His brows are furrowed. Sweat and blood dot his face, droplets climbing down his forehead and cheeks.

"I hate you!" He adds like he wouldn't have already if he knew who I really was.

"Thanks, Jake," I say, squinting my eyes at him before looking out the window at all of the awe-struck Amity. As upset as I am, he's right; this is all my fault. Now we're doomed, and I've lost everyone I've ever cared about in my life.

My eyes burn, like tears are begging to come out, but they can't. They just can't. I know what will happen now, and I'd rather be dead here than there.

The engine roars, and the car swings backward. My head hits the back of the seat like a baseball. Now every part of me hurts. The car drives on and we lose the shocked faces, along with ourselves as the car jumbles us around following the dirt driveway. We merge onto the flat pavement, and soon the fallen skyscrapers look down on us with disdain. Three factionless figures tread along in front of us, each hauling a filled plastic bag. We pass by them almost too quickly to notice, but it's Michael along with two others I don't know. They're safe. Good. Mike spots me though, and rushes after the truck he'll never catch. He opens his mouth wildly, like a barking, frenzied dog. I think he's screaming something, but I can't hear him. The car swings left and I lose sight of him and his frantic face.

Erudite headquarters looms ahead.

*Sorry for the delay! I just had a philosophy paper due last week and it seemed so surreal until the last moment! Need to work on time management haha...