Chapter 13

Tris POINT OF VIEW:

"Tris, I'm not going to let you do this." Four reaches for the gun.

"Thats not your choice" I press the gun to my forehead.

Four is stopped in his tracks. I finally found some leverage to hold over him. Behind him Christina has her hand over he mouth, holding in a gasp. Caleb shares the same shock and bewilderment as Four, they both are looking at me motionless. Waiting for my next move. I have all the power.

The silence is broken when Four mutters out "Please". He has played his last card and this is the only move he has left.

"I'm sorry" I whisper the words out at first as they get caught in my throat. They become louder and stronger each time Four asks "please" once again and I respond.

"Why are you doing this?" Christina interjects, "You are the last person I would of thought who would of given up".

"I'm not giving up" I tell her, not in a screaming voice but one harsh enough to convey my message, "either you guys drive away and then I have somewhat of a chance against Eric, or you don't and I die right here".

"Do you think that this is what Mom would of wanted?" Caleb says while the same look of disappointment creeps back over his face they haunted me so often of when we were kids. He continued on by saying "She didn't die for you just so you could turn right back around and kill yourself".

"I guess I'll be following in her footsteps" I let out a small chuckle in an attempt to lighten the mood. It did not go over well. "I've reached the ultimate level of selflessness, I want to die so others wont have to, Mom and Dad would be proud and after all that time of you drilling abnegation into my head I thought you would be too, Caleb".

"You actually thought that I would applaud you for this". He ruffles his hands thorough his hair. "For gods sake Beatrice—-"

A faint rumble of an engine and the squealing of tires interrupts Caleb as Eric's car can now be seen on the horizon line. Right now it's just a spot in my vision but within thirty-ish seconds he will be within shooting range. Another thirty seconds after that and he will be close enough to pluck me off from the ground and toss me into the back of his trunk.

"LEAVE! NOW!" My voice rings out loud, clear and commanding. With quick feet Four lunges towards me but it still gives me enough time to cock the gun and have it ready to shoot. Realizing what has to be done Christina and Caleb run up to him and start to pull him back towards the car. Four is strong but he was weakened from when we were in the woods, along with the bullet wound in his arm, so there is a struggle which eventually ends with Four getting launched into the back of the car. There is no time for last words or goodbyes or even to look back. As soon as they start to move so do I. Running towards Eric the only reassurance that they are still moving is the pounding of Four's fists against the steel back door of the car.

With my feet pounding into the grass and the stabbing feeling in the side of my ribs as I run, I am taken back to after the choosing ceremony. Still dressed in my abnegation clothes, but not an abnegation any more. Waiting with the dauntless by the train tracks, but still not a dauntless. The trees and grass are now the city and I have gone from flat ground to teetering over the edge of the train tracks. A blast of the horn signals the train and then they all start running and form into a mass of black fabric and bobbing heads as they try to catch up ahead of the train. I run with them, but then my movements become sluggish and slow. Everyone else is continuing on down the tracks and then proceed to jump into the train, while I am moving as if I was drowning in quick sand. The concrete of the city suddenly becomes grass and the big tall buildings are transformed into trees. Back into the clearing betweens the train tracks and the forest Eric is still barreling towards me while the rest of them cant still be seen from where I am. My rib cramps now become shooting pains that make it impossible to breathe as the earth begins to rock back and forth like a poorly made ship. The rocking over takes me and I am thrown to the ground as I am trying to run. Grabbing my stomach as I go down, I pull back my hand and they are covered in blood. I check my stitches quickly, as if it will matter soon. None of them have popped but the small scratches are now bleeding so much that it is soaking through my shirt. Darkness encircles my eyes again. Shit I'm about to pass out. Again. My legs have gone numb, making standing impossible, and scooting along the grass harder. Four, Caleb and Christina are no where to be seen. Distracting Eric for longer would make it almost impossible for him to track or catch up with them. I grab fistfuls of grass and use it to pull myself forward, making me closer to Eric and allowing them more time to escape. Running for only seconds and trying to crawl my way for a little more Eric is still in the distance but he will be in shooting range soon. He now decides if he wants to kill me fast or entertain himself a little. The numbness has traveled up my body and through my fingers. Screaming as I try to pull myself forward even one more time. Screaming and screaming, but nothing happens, I don't move.

Encased in my body once again, barley able to move a finger. A weight has been dropped on me and it continues to drag me further and further down as I struggle to keep my eyes open in the battle of unending sleep that is trying to drown me. Looking up, I am able to make out Eric's face peering out the passenger side of the car. His gun is drawn but he still hasn't shot. He's going to want to make it close range. An internal scream rips through me. Being helpless and waiting for my death is not an option. I don't know why maternal instincts started to kick in now, but I know what the last thing I want to do is. Still unable to grab onto anything, I try thrusting my self so that I roll from side to side. I conquer it on the third try and now I am lying on my back, facing towards the sky. Now when Eric shoots me, he will do it in my stomach because even his version of killing me fast will be sure to take some time, and then my baby will die first. Even though it cant actually process pain I would rather have it die quick than suffocate because it wont be getting oxygen after my heart stops.

"I'm sorry baby" I push out of my mouth in a slurred speech as the effects from blood loss start to consume me even more rapidly. It's not the babies fault that I had to die. It could of been happy and could of done amazing things, but it was cursed with me as a mother. The hum from the engine is getting closer and closer. I need my last words to be something else besides a reminder of how much of a crappy mom I already am.

I struggle out the words "I love you baby" because somehow I already do "and I love you Four" hoping somehow that he knows that I said it and that all of this is for him and everyone else.

One breathe in and then one more out. I try to focus on my breathing and to absorb everything around me. Still looking up at the sky, the color is the same of the paintings that were used to depict perfect days. A light blue with hints of dark blue towards the bottom yet the sun is still shining through as a few wisps of perfect white clouds streak across the sky. That kind of natural beauty isn't seen in the city. This is a nice place to die, it's a good day to die. I am looking at one of the taller trees, with only ten seconds till Eric comes. A black streak is being thrown off one of the middle branches. I push it off to be more blurring of my vision but then a figure appears. The figure then beings to slide down what I believe now to be a rope, since it landed only a few feet away from my head. Halfway down the rope I recognize the figure. It was Four! And Eric was only seconds from being able to shoot. Gracefully, yet with speed he slides down the rope, he lands with a thud next to my head. Smiling, he scoops me up into his arms but then looses his smile when my blood continues to pour into his hands. It seeps from every tiny scratch and cut, with the only exceptions being the four that are stitched up. Now fading in and out of consciousness, I see Four take aim at Eric's car but he doesn't move. The bullet grazes the top of the windshield but does seem to slow them down. Shots are soon to come from Eric but Four still doesn't move. Getting closer and closer but Four still doesn't move. What is he doing! Unable to do anything but blink, there's no way I could doge a bullet and from this close of range any good shot would be deadly. Firing twice more, with still no major hits Four drops his gun to the ground. Presumably out of bullets.

Eric leans out of his car and takes aim, which lines up directly with Four's head. Looking down at me, Four slightly tugs on the rope twice. "You ready?" He asks. For what? To die? I think to myself since I now have any ability for discernible speech. A shoot rings out but by then we have been whisked quickly out of the air and now are flying ten feet above the ground. We are getting pulled up higher and higher. Branches start to get thicker around us and soon you can no longer see the ground below. Shots are still being fired and they are still landing close but have not been a hit yet. Quickly, we reach the branch that the rope was originally draped over and looking down I see Caleb and Christina down on the ground hosting the other end of the rope. Four pulls up the other end of the rope till it is all up in the tree. He ties one of the ends tightly around my waist. He double knots it and then triples and then goes in for one more knot until Caleb and Christina call up to him. Wrapping his hand around the rope he tries to reassure himself by reassuring me "You did a free fall from a three story building, you can do this right?". He doesn't look for a response and I cant give one. He brings me in again for a kiss but then looks at my hands. They have become pale and lifeless, and it is beginning to spread to my entire body. "Okay, I'm going to lower you out of the tree" he tells me while loosening some of the rope from his hand. "Okay one, two, thr—-". I'm in a free fall. The air making a sound so loud as I pass through it that it's painful. There is a blur of a tree to my right, Four to my left and a branch with a bullet hole in the middle of us.