fearless

Chapter 14: Fighting the Erudite Through a Person.

Chapter 14:

I walk down the Pit paths, looking down at my nails. As I'm crossing one of the narrow paths on the walls of the pit, someone bumps into me.

"Hey!" I shout, shoving them. "Watch Where You're going!" The black hoodie clad person stands with their head hanging low, as if they're ashamed. "You idiot!" I shout, tugging the black hood off of their head, revealing the Candor Smarts himself.

Daniel.

I gasp when I see him.

I never really liked Daniel, but his image almost petrifies me. His veins bulge out of his head, and I spot a small, circle shaped, blue chip imbedded into the side of his neck. That could only mean one thing.

He's either working with the Erudite, or being hunted by the Erudite.

He grabs me by the arms, and shoves me into the rock wall behind me. I gulp, and kick him in the knee, making his knee buckle, and making Daniel fall to the ground ungracefully.

I kick him repeatedly, but he gets back up. He should have been knocked out by now. I furrow my eyebrows as I look at him, then at the chip, which is a shiny blue against his olive skin. I lick my lips. The chip must be emitting a serum into his neck that can keep him conscious longer. I need to get the chip out of his neck to stop the simulation that he's under.

The Erudite are probably seeing what he sees through his vision, meaning that they can see me. I kick his shin, making him collapse. I then crawl on top of him and try to pull the chip out of his neck, but it is secured to his neck. I can't get it off.

Maybe if I can lure him to the training room, I could get some knives, I could pry the chip out of his neck, and then break it so that the signal would be gone.

As I am surrounded deep in my thought, Daniel gets back up, and throws me off of him, making me roll off the edge of the path on the side of the pit. We're on one of the highest levels of the pit, so if I fall, my survival chances are very slim.

I grab the edge of the rocky, cliff like path, and hold tight. I scream, hoping someone will hear me, but the music that booms throughout the dark pit and the yelling of people trying to communicate with each other kind of makes it seemingly impossible.

I try to climb back up, as my foot has caught a rock to give me support, but when I put my weight on the small, pebble like rock, it falls, and my fingers slip. My grip slips. I look up and don't see him. I frown, then swing against the rock, trying to find another way to get my feet back up on the ledge.

I finally gain enough will power to climb back up. I push myself up, mentally thanking my father and Zeke for making us do so many push ups when we were young, and I land on the cold, hard path.

I get up, and, before Daniel can catch me, run in the direction of the training room. I nearly slide downhill, inching myself closer to the training room, where I will load myself down with weapons, and hide from Daniel so I can sneak attack him.

I make it to the training room, Daniel nowhere in sight, and walk in. I shut the door, and walk over to the door that I've always seen my father and Zeke opening. I pull at it and it opens.

I'm actually really surprised at the fact that it didn't have a lock, and grab a knife and a small handgun. In case this all goes down and he gets the knife from me, I still need something that I can use to keep him away from me.

I quickly shut the door just as I sight Daniel's silhouette through the frosty glass of the door, which makes it hard to see through it.

I hide behind the long row of targets, next to an escape door, in case I get trapped. The door opens, and a light turns on. Daniel searches all around the room, looking for me.