Innocence Lost

Chapter 86

Eric's POV (Part 1)

Present Day. . .

"What's the urgency, Jeanine?" I say as I storm into her office clearly annoyed.

"Nice to see you too Eric. This matter couldn't wait. Follow me" she orders sternly.

I sigh before following her into one of her private labs, the one containing the large metal machine and the box that was found in Abnegation.

"I've seen all this before" I say bored.

She steps closer to the machine "But you haven't seen it opened"

I fold my arms, waiting for her to get to the fucking point.

"Bring her in" she orders.

Just then Max and Henry walk into the room dragging a hooded figure. I could tell from their built that it was a woman. Jeanine nods at Max and he takes the black hood off of the person. It was Kate.

"Eric?" Kate mumbles, slightly out of it "What's going on?"

"Jeanine, why the fuck is she here?" I bark angrily.

Jeanine smiles and motions to the machine "This is why she's here"

"What is that?" Kate asks as she looks at the contraption.

"We aren't quite sure what it is. But rest assured we do know what it does" Jeanine answers her with a sour grin "It works directly with this. We call it the Box. It came to us from a friend. I believe that inside it holds the key to your kind. More distinctly, the key to destroying your kind"

"My kind?" Kate asked.

"Divergents" Jeanine says the word with distain.

"Your delusional. Kate can't open that fucking thing, she's not divergent" I snarl.

"Tell him Katelyn. There's no point hiding it, we already know" Jeanine sneers.

"Kate, what the fuck is she talking about?" I shout.

"Are you going to continue to lie? You lied for long enough" Henry hisses in her face.

"Fuck you, Henry!" I snarl.

Stupidly, Henry attempts to attack me but Max holds him back.

"Big mistake" I step in front of Henry and punch his face.

"Please, stop. Enough! I can't do this anymore. Eric. . . I. . .I'm so sorry, it's true" Kate cries.

"There's your answer Eric" Jeanine says.

Was this really happening? I've always had my suspicions but never any concrete proof.

"How does it work?" I ask with a sour taste in my mouth.

"Once connected, Katelyn will go through a series of trials. Simulations. As she progresses through each one a section of the Box is unlocked. Once each portion is unlocked the Box will open"

"And you know this how?" I ask.

"From our test subjects. In the simulations you see one of each Faction. If you pass the simulation you move on to the next one. If you fail.. you die" Jeanine said with a bright grin.

Her words reeled through my head. Kate was going to die today and I couldn't do a fucking thing to stop it.

Or could I?

"Eric, please help me" Kate continues to cry.

"He can't help you. You see, Eric has been hunting your kind for years. He won't risk everything he has accomplished for you" Jeanine sneers down at me.