My Allegiant Life-- A Divergent Fanfiction

Chapter 11 Stella

We walk for a long time. And I mean a long time. We had to have been walking for at least 5 hours.

We have picked up a few clues to Alice's location, if she really hadn't wanted to be followed, she wasn't very good at making that clear. The sticky note that has been placed on the back of every communication device was left just outside the gate, caught in the grass, I picked it up and noticed Alice's name on it. She writes her name on almost everything that's hers, I'm surprised Anthony doesn't have Alice written on his forehead yet. I slipped the sticky note into my pocket alongside my communication device that I had decided to bring with us.

Next, we found the lip gloss she refused to ever leave behind. She got it at Dauntless, to replace the markers, the day she and Anthony first kissed. She got it because Anthony liked it. She's told us the story so many times, I can remember every detail. They kissed at the tattoo parlor, while Anthony was getting the Dauntless symbol tattooed on his chest, right over his heart, as if trying to make it a piece of him. I have the lip gloss in my pocket now as well.

Now, we are about 2/5ths of the way back to my house in Candor, according to Lamar.

"We should probably start running if we're going to catch up to her," he says. "Ready?" I nod. "Let's go."

And we start running, I am almost sprinting, using up my breath so quickly, I'm already gasping for air, never getting enough to fill my lungs.

We run like this for another 2 hours.

***

We are back at Candor. Not at my house, we passed that, we are almost in Amity territory. We found Alice's hair brush, she never went anywhere without that either.

Suddenly, I notice something in the dirt. "Stop," I say, just loud enough for Lamar to hear.

"What?" He asks. "What is it?"

"It's footprints," I say. "Look." I study the prints in the dirt, it looks as though she had just recently been here. I follow the prints, they get cleaner as I go, clearer. She has definitely just been here. I hear a sob, from a familiar voice-- Alice.

"Alice!" I call. I run towards the sound. She lays miserably against a tree.

"Why are you here?" She asks. "I told you not to follow me."

"Actually," Lamar says. "You told us to make sure no one followed you. Nothing in that sentence said that we couldn't."

She sighs. "I bet you found my stuff," she says. "I dropped it and thought someone was already following me so I just kept going."

"Alice," I say. "I need to tell you something." I pause, studying her expression for just a moment. Then I tell her everything about the situation.

***

"So Anthony never cheated?" She asks. "Are you sure?"

"He pleaded for me to tell Stella so she could make something of the situation," Lamar says. "He pleaded to not lose you, Alice. He really cares about you." He glances up at the sky. "If we leave now we'll make it back before dawn."

Alice nods and pushes herself to her feet. "I'M COMING, ANTHONY!!!" She yells, knowing he can't hear her, but it's an act of the Dauntless.

We run. For a long time, until all three of us are gasping desperately for air. Until it has been an hour of that and the sun has gone down. We keep running.

When we finally reach the gate, I pull out the communication device and click the button on the top, it is almost midnight. I shine the light over the small box as Lamar types in the code. 28040255.