DAUNTLESS (Divergent sequil, no war)

chapter 22

"Tris," I hear someone say, or I don't, I'm dreaming I think. I roll over and pull the blankets closer. "Tris!" No, I definitely hear someone, they sound angry, I sit up and shake off sleeps steady grip.

"What?" I mumble, blinking into the dark.

"We need to get to the meeting room." Eric says. Eric.

"What are you doing here?" I demand "Get out!" I launch a pillow at his face, it does nothing but it was the first thing I could get hold of.

"I'm sorry, but you didn't answer your phone, there has been a break out. A large group have left the city, were holding a meeting now to decide what to do. Some of Erudite will be there too so you may want to get dressed."

"Caleb?" I hear him shrug more than I see it, but I jump out of bed. I haven't seen Caleb in about 8 months. I still haven't found a way to make it up to him. "I'll meet you there okay?" he leaves. I pull on some jeans and a large hoody and run down to the meeting room next to the fear landscape.

When I open the door I find Tobias and Eric sat with Caleb and two other Erudite. After Caleb's life saving work and actions he was made a key member of there society, working with the brightest and the best. I don't know how their leadership really works but I know that he is up there with the ones who now run their faction. It's strange that a just over year after we both left our old faction we find ourselves sat as leaders of our new faction trying to solve a crisis that I am presuming very few people know about.

I give Caleb a sheepish smile as I take the seat opposite him and to the right of Tobias.

"good to see you Tris." Caleb says as I nervously push my fingers through my hair, wishing it to be longer.

"And you," I reply, trying to hide my excitement at seeing him. Then Tobias begins to speak.

"So, I believe you know why we are here, but I would like to show you this." He points at the screen on the far wall and presses the controller in his hand. The screen lights up. It looks dark, but I can make out the outline of the fence on the dark blue sky. I sit watching and nothing changes for some time but then I notice a movement in the bottom corner of the screen, Tobias begins to talk. "It's not very clear to see, but I believe that they have cut through the fence some how. A team have been sent to check it out and see what damage has been done. We need to decide what to do about the people that have left, there could be more to follow. If we want to send out a search group to bring them back we need to do it now, this footage is from approximately 45 minutes ago, and they may have stolen a vehicle, some of them are kept outside the fence and as we have not yet identified the individuals we do not know what they are capable of. We need to act fast." As he talks I watch, I see dark shapes pass through the fence, it's hard to make out but I guess that there are at least 10 or 12 people.

"We need to send out a search." I say, everyone turns to me. "If they leave they could bring the dangers from outside to us, I want to help them, but we can't do that yet, premature contact could cause us problems," Caleb narrows his eyes and I try to act natural. He doesn't know what I know. only myself and Tobias know what is really out there and so does mom. She knew that it was too early for us to go outside the fence. That's a good enough reason for me.

"That sounds good to me. Does anyone object?" Tobias asks. No one does. "Right, I'll make the call." Tobias gets up out of his seat, he brushes a hand across my arm as he leaves. I hope we're okay. When he leaves Caleb starts to talk.

"So how much do you know about this?" he asks, looking at me but Eric answers.

"As much as you do brain box." He leans back and half covers a yuan. He looks at Caleb again and I see recognition flash across his face. "Do I know you?" I expect Caleb to look away shyly, but he doesn't, he straightens up and puts a smug smile across his lips.