AN: just a short chapter to let you all know I'm still here...

As we move through what seems to be a tunnel, dark except for a strip of faint, blue lights running along the floor, I catch up to the pale man.

"Why do you want our guns so much?" I ask him quietly, out of curiosity.

In the dim glow, I can see him glancing at me, brows raised. "Guns are pretty hard to come by in Seattle," he admits. "But you have to know that or you wouldn't have put them on the table."

I decide not to admit to anything. "Don't you have one?" I ask, pointing at the small of his back.

"This?" he says, touching his waistband. "Nah. That's a knife." He pulls it out and it flashes in the faint blue light. "I mean, it's a really good one, but it ain't worth much next to a gun. Especially not one like yours." He narrows his eyes and shoots me a look. "Did you leave the ammunition?"

I nod at him. "Yeah. It's on the table under the map."

"It better be there," he grits, "or I swear, we will hunt you down. And even for tonks, you guys stand out like a sore thumb - you will not be hard to find."

"It's there," I snort, rolling my eyes. I decide not to talk to him anymore and fall back a bit. Laila quickly takes my place at his side and smiles at him. I see him take a good long look at her and smile back. He asks her what her name is. Well, whatever.

"Just let her do her thing," Tris whispers at my elbow.

I make another snorting noise.

"It won't help if he's hostile."

"That guy was born hostile. No wonder they all tried to kill each other."

"Oh," Tris gasps, "I totally forgot about that. Do you think he's dangerous?"

"I'd keep your finger on the trigger."

"What if he's walking us into a trap?"

"We're just going to have to take our chances," I whisper grimly. It's not like we have a better alternative, after all.

Just then, Leila giggles. Giggles!

"Oh, Sid," she exclaims, swatting our tour guide on the arm. I look back over my shoulder, searching for Inez. Even in the dank tunnel, I can tell she's rolling her eyes, and I shake my head back at her.

After walking for what seems like miles, Sid opens a heavy metal door, and we're in a big underground chamber, filled with dozens of cars - more than I've ever seen before. There are flickering pale lights along the walls.

I hear Cara gasp. "Do these all work?"

"What? The cars?" Sid asks, stopping briefly to look at her. "Yeah, of course. Can't usually get fuel for them, but they work." He leads us to a large, white truck, and yanks on a rope on the back, flinging it open. "Now, we modified this one," he nods at Leila. "Runs on waste oil. We get the fuel from a Chinese restaurant."

Leila chuckles and smiles at him, though there's no way she has any idea what he's talking about.

"Get in," he gestures at us. I frown. There are no windows in the back, no way for us to know where he's taking us. Tris jumps right in, and Rat shrugs at me, climbing in after her. Well, we've come this far. I guess we made our choice when we left Chicago. It's too late for regrets now.

Much to my surprise, the trip out of the city is uneventful. We drive for about a half hour, over what feels like broken roads, but Sid takes us exactly where he said he would without any more extortion attempts. When we clamber out, squinting into the dim light, I can see a crumbling cement building, overgrown with vines and trees. The fact that there's a hole in the fence is hidden behind the plants according to Sid.

"Hey," he says, grabbing me by the arm and pulling me aside. "No kidding, you should be careful going out that way. That's private land, and those guys mean business. If they shoot you, no one's going to ask any questions."

"I thought you said no one out here has guns?"

Sid stares at me. "Well, yeah, but that's just us, in the city. Those guys have everything Everyone knows that." He continues looking at me. "Where did you say you guys are from?"

"We're from Chicago," Tris answers, much to my surprise.

"Where?" He asks, narrowing his eyes.

"Northeast of here," Tris answers.

"Like, in Canada?" He asks, eyes wide. Tris shakes her head, and I wonder where Canada is. Sid finally shrugs. "Well, good luck. Hope you find what you're looking for. Now, just hand over those guns and I'll be out of here."

I hold out two of my guns, and he practically snatches them out of my hands, a wide smile breaking out across his face as he turns them over and over in his hands. Then he glances up at Leila.

"You should stay," he says, nodding at her. "We could find work for you in Seattle."

She strolls over to him and kisses him on the cheek, and I feel my face heat up at the unwelcome memory that dredges up. Leila, apparently, will kiss anyone. "Thanks, Sid," she says softly, peering through her eyelashes at him, "but I have to stay with them."

"Well," he's stroking the barrel of the gun now, and I'm ready to punch the guy, it's so suggestive, "you know where to find me if you change your mind."

"Where are we?" I ask him, as he turns to leave.

"I took you on 520, across the bridge. You're just past Yarrow's Point." He stabs a stubby finger out in front of them. "Redmond is that way. But I'm telling you one last time, you don't want to go there. There's no work, and they'll just catch you. There's worse things than getting deported."

"That's not where we're going, anyway," I say calmly.

Sid shrugs. "Whatever." He climbs back into the truck, backs it up, and then roars away, a trail of dust swirling up behind him. We have to close our eyes against the grit.

"Did you really leave the ammunition?" Lou asks me quietly.

I give her a thin smile. "Of course not," I answer.

"He's going to be very angry," she observes.

I shrug. "Yeah, well, at least he won't be angry and armed. Anyway, I don't plan on any of us seeing that guy ever again," I pause, "though I guess I can't speak for Leila."

"Shut up," she grumbles. "You should be thanking me for getting us here safely."

"And where is "here," anyway?" Gordon asks, looking around nervously. "This doesn't feel like a good place to hang out for a chat."

"Right," I agree. "Let's go."

We walk in a little cluster behind the building toward the fence. It takes us a little while to figure out exactly where the hole is - there are a lot of fence is made out of some strange flexible material, but it also feels as strong as metal. The hole, only about three feet tall and two feet wide, looks almost as though ti was made with some kind of flame - the edges are melted, not cut. Tiny filaments wave from the bubbled edges.

"Something synthetic," Cara murmurs, as she runs her finger along the fence. "And it's wires somehow. Not electricity, I think, but maybe information?" She glances around. "No cameras," she mutters.

"I've seen something like that," Gordon comments, and Lou nods. "In the hospital. There are kidney machine that have these cables, and they're full of tiny wires. One broke a few years ago, and we sliced into the cable when we were trying to fix it."

"I remember," Lou agrees.

"Were you able to fix it?" Tris asks. Gordon shakes his head and Lou bites her lip.

"I'm not sure we should go through there," Leo says doubtfully, and I wonder if his broad shoulders will even fit, anyway.

"Well, if the fence is alive, they already know we're here, anyway," Jose points out matter-of-factly. "We might as well get this over with."

Tris reaches out and gives my hand a squeeze, and then darts through the hole. I start muttering curses and head in after her, and I hear Inez burst out laughing behind me.

"Oh, what the hell," I hear her crow, and she's the next one through.

Pretty soon, everyone else is through, too - though we did have to help Leo through, and he is not happy about it at all. He just sort of glowers at Tris.

"Look," he finally says, "I get that this doesn't even feel real anymore. We're in a strange place with strange people, and it's like nothing we've ever seen. But this is real. This is a dangerous place - I can feel it in my bones. And we have our whole city depending on us. We have to be careful, okay?" He glares at Tris again, and then each of us in turn.

"Sorry, Leo," Tris says, patting him on the shoulder. "But honestly, it wasn't like we were going to suddenly figure it out. Obviously, people get in here undetected, or there wouldn't be a hole in the first place. So, what's the big deal?"

"Maybe that was people getting out," he says, staring at her. "Or didn't you learn that lesson yet?" Then he abruptly turns to me. "Which way, Four?"