The Transfer (A Divergent backstory to Eric)

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

  I walk into the fear landscape room and am instantly taken back to my own initiation.  I shake the feeling and address the remaining transfers that made the cut.  Peter, Will, Christina, Molly, and Tris.  "Alright, stage two is mental, you'll be facing your worst fears.  You will each go into your fear landscape and you must calm yourseld and slow your heart rate."  Four takes over from there.  They each take their turn, Tris goes last.  She's only in there for about eight minutes, way faster than everyone else.  This makes me suspicious.  Later that day I decide to review their landscapes, Tris's is missing.  I start to get angry.  I walk out to go find Four.  I find him in the control room, "so!"  He jumps a little at the sound of my voice.  He turns around "so what?"  I glare at him "what happened to Tris's landscape? She wasn't in there very long, I was going to review it."  He looks sort of nervous, then finally says "water damage."  I stare at him "water damage...?  Are you sure about that?  Are you sure it wasn't deleted so I wouldn't see something?"  I get closer to him.  "Yeah, you know it leaks in there all the time."  "And how convienently it happened all over your little girlfriends landscape."  I start to leave, then turn back "if I find out you're lying to me, you're both dead."  He nods and I leave the room. 

  The next few weeks go by and I don't notice anything else.  Their final test is tomorrow and the attack is tomorrow night.  I head down with Max to prepare the "tracking device" syringes.  Lauren is helping also, she's with her friends laughing about something.  She looks over at me and winks, I smile.  When we're finished I walk with Lauren back up to my apartment.  She sighs "I'm so tired, all that screaming from the landscapes wears me out."  I lean in to kiss her "well at least it's over now."  She kisses back, her lips are soft, I wrap my arms around her.  She tilts her head back to look up at me "yeah, now we just have to go to war against Abnegation, will you cuddle with me?"  I sort of laugh at the word cuddle, I smile and lay down with her.  She lays her head on my chest and interlaces her fingers with mine.  I lay there holding her until I drift off to sleep.  When I wake up, she's already up and getting ready.  "Hey sleepy head, get up! We have twenty tests to get through today."  She smiles and kisses me.  "Ugh! Don't remind me" I grab her and pull her back into bed and kiss her, she laughs.  "Eric! Stop, seriously"  She laughs some more.  "It's hard to take you seriously when your laughing." I kiss her some more.  "Eric.  Come on, get up!" She grabs my arm and pulls me up, she's pretty strong.  I moan as I get up and we head down to the pit.

  It's been transformed, there's giant screens on the wall and a chair in the middle of the room.  Lauren and I take our places alongside Max, Four and the other Dauntless leaders.  Jeanine Matthews is also there to evaluate.  One by one we watch as the remaining Dauntless borns and transfers take their tests.  By the time they're finished it's almost 9 PM.  We did take a short break for lunch, but the tests took all day.  I go to find Peter after his test, Lauren told me about their conversation, so we had to find something for him to do.  I pull him to the side so that he won't be injected.  I walk him over to Lauren and then go back to the others.  I see Tris and congradulate he sarcastically.  "You should be first in line."  "What is going on?  What is this?" she asks.  "It's a tracking device, just a precaution.  I'll make it easy for you."  I motion to Matt and he injects her from behind.  "Hurts like a bitch right?"  I smile and move on to the others.  After they are all injected, Lauren, Peter, and I go to find Max to get our orders.  Peter is stationed as a gaurd, Lauren and I are to go to Abnegation with the others for the attack.  Lauren takes my hand, she's sort of shaking.  I look at her.  "Are you okay?"  She looks up at me "yeah, I'm fine, I don't know why I'm shaking, I'm not scared, I guess I'm just nervous."  She stops suddenly and hugs me, I wrap my arms around her and pull her in tight.  I kiss her head and then we continue down to get our weapons.   It's nearly morning when packs of simulated Dauntless start coming down.  They line up and get their weapons.  Max comes up "they can see and hear us, they just don't process it the same way. The orders come in through the transmitter."  We see one trickle in late, he's trying to ask what's going on.  "Divergent" Max says.  I walk up to him "everythings okay"  I take my gin to his head and pull the trigger.

  We load the train for Abnegation.  Lauren, Max and I board a different car than the rest.  We get to Abnegation and unload, we march up to the houses as the sun starts to rise.  I run into Four.  I stop him, "legendary Four, you were first in our class, now you're...nothing.  A mindless drone."  I sence something in him.  Max looks at me "what?  You think he might be Divergent?"  "There's only one way to find out." I put my gun to his head "say goodbye asshole."  Tris comes up from behind me "goodbye."  She puts her gun to my head, Four has his on Max, Max has his on Tris.  I laugh "the stiff, two stiffs, two dead stiffs."  Max grins "we can't let a single divergent slip through."  I look at Tris "she's not gonna shoot me." "I think you might be overestimating my character."  I go to grab her gun, she shoots me in the foot, Max goes down beside me.  Lauren shoots Tris in the arm as she and Four take off."  Lauren helps Max and I up and we find Four and Tris have been captured by other Dauntless soldiers.  We go with them as they take them to Jeanine.  "Tobias Eaton, and you, Beatrice, I thought it was intellect I was sencing in you."  Max orders Lauren and I to go back out in the field.  Some of the Abnegation have began to fight back.  Lauren and I are firing as some try to run away.  Lauren goes down, I think she's just tripped or something, I go to help her and that's when I see the blood on her side.  I drop my weapon and rip the sleeve of my jacket.  "Eric..."  She says my name so weak, her eyes fighting to stay open. "Lauren, just look at me, I'm right here, you're going to be okay."  I wrap my sleeve tighly around her wound.  Nothing else matters but to save her.  I pick her up gently and walk her over to where Max is, "she's been hit!"  Max's face goes pale as her rushes over to her.  "Get me a medic!" he yells.  A woman rushes forward, "take her back to Dauntless, Eric go with her.  The medic injects her with something and we get in a car back to Dauntless. 

  I sit next to her in the hospital holding her hand, sobbing.  I've never felt sad for anyone in my life, that if I cried I would look cowardice.  I stare at her weakless body and can't believe she's still alive.