Pit

Chapter 5

TRIS POV

"Ready?"

Tobias's sharp voice makes me jump. We haven't spoken much during the train ride, aside from sporadic input on how to further improve our plan. If I'm being honest, we don't have much of a plan, just the hope that if we exchange valuable information then I will be offered asylum instead of being turned in.

Which is foolish in and of itself.

But this is my only chance of returning home, and I am not going to squander the opportunity because of how foolish our only idea is. I would rather take it and be thrown out on the streets than not risk anything at all.

"Yeah," I say softly.

I meet his worried eyes. We didn't discuss our argument on the way over here, and I don't think we have to. For now we will have to agree to disagree because our trivial fights aren't our main concern.

And I don't want to fight with him. All the millions of ways that this could go wrong flash through my head, and I cross the train car to press my trembling lips against his. It is short since our destination is approaching quickly, but the way his hand curls around the back of my neck to keep me there gives me all the strength I need to face this dangerous situation.

"I don't see any reason why this shouldn't work," he says with a shake of his head as I let go of his jacket.

I can. Starting with the obstinate, untrustworthy leader that is Hunter.

"Are you sure you'll be fine jumping out with your leg?" I ask. He has mentioned that it is nearly fully healed but that the pain tends to come back to shock him at times.

"Yes," he stresses. "It's one jump. I have to get off this train somehow."

I cock an eyebrow at him. "Jumping a foot off the ground and sticking the landing is much different from leaping a few feet through the air and onto a rooftop."

The prospect fully settles upon me, and now I have a new wave of fears that I didn't have before. But I let the clicking of the train lull me. If Tobias ever dies, it will be because of bullets, not something as stupid as missing a jump; he is far too agile for that.

Yeah, let's not think about that.

"I'll be fine," he reassures me, nodding up ahead. "Time to jump."

We pass the glass of the Pire in a flash. To get a head start, we back up to the wall of the train car and watch the buildings to time the jump.

He counts down, "On three. One, two, three—"

Running a few steps, we jump out at the edge of the train and safely land on the gravel. I groan as I roll onto my back, only to have a gun pointed at my head.

"Hey," Tobias growls. "She's with me."

Hoping it is safe to move, I maneuver myself into a sitting position and face the Dauntless guards upright. There are four of them, each armed with a rifle and watching me warily.

"You have access in and out of the compound," one of the men says. "She does not. And quite frankly, she is a criminal and there is no reason why we shouldn't take her into custody right now."

"That's part of the reason why we're here," Tobias fires back. "We need to speak with Hunter."

The guards exchange looks as they silently debate how to handle this. Eventually they come to the conclusion that it isn't in their job description to decide who can and can't talk to their main leader, so they offer assenting nods.

"Fine, you can come with us. But we have to search her first."

Tobias doesn't object, and neither do I. However, I do gasp out in shock when two of them wrench me to my feet with unnecessary force, almost ripping my arms from their sockets as they shove my backpack from my shoulders. Their fingers dig into my upper arms so hard that I know I will be sore for a while.