But Then I Met Her | ✓

Chapter 53

Tris leans heavily on me. I'm glad that she's so light- it makes it easier to help her walk. The barrel of a gun is pressed to her spine, and one is pressed against the back of my neck. Blood trickles down Tris's side and onto my hand, but I'm too worried about her to care about what happens to us next.

They push us through a door guarded by two Dauntless soldiers. It's a plain office, with a desk, a computer, and two empty chairs. Behind the desk sits Jeanine Matthews, a phone pressed to her ear. I briefly consider the likelihood of mine and Tris's survival if I grabbed the computer and smashed it against her head. 

"Well, send some of them back on the train, then." She says into the phone. "It needs to be well guarded, it's the most important part- I'm not talk-I have to go." She snaps the phone shut and focuses her eyes on Tris. I don't tighten my grip on Tris in fear of hurting her more.

"Divergent rebels." Tommy's friend Dan says. His sister is Maria, so she must've gotten him out of being under the simulation.

"Yes, I can see that." She takes off her glasses and sets them on the desk.

"You," she says, pointing at Tris. I wonder what would happen if I broke her finger off? "I expected. All the trouble with your aptitude test results made me suspicious from the beginning. But you..."

She shakes her head and looks at me. I narrow my eyes at her. "You, Tobias- or should I call you Four?- managed to elude me. Everything about you checked out: test results, initiation simulations, everything. But here you are nonetheless." She folds her hands and rests her chin on top of them, gazing at me levelly. "Perhaps you could explain to me how that is?"

I go for sarcasm and irony. "You're the genius." I say. "Why don't you tell me?"

Her mouth curls into a cold smile. "My theory is that you really do belong in Abnegation. That your Divergence is weaker."

Yeah right, bitch. I'm just as Divergent as Tris, but I know how to hide it. And fortunately, Amar was great at manipulation.

"Your powers of deductive reasoning are stunning." I spit out. "Consider me awed." Tris gives me a sideways look, almost surprised at my display of rudeness. Not all of my Abnegation traits have clung to me, I guess. Now we know why I could never be an Amity. "Now that your intelligence has been verified, you might as well get on with killing us." I close my eyes, feeling Tris shift a little beside me. "You have a lot of Abnegation leaders to murder, after all."

My comments don't seem to bother her. Tris slumps against me, and I slide my arm around her waist. Oh God, no. Don't die on me.

"Don't be silly. There is no rush." Her tone is light. "You are both here for an extremely important purpose." Here we go. "You see, it perplexed me that the Divergent were immune to the serum I developed, so I have been working to remedy that. I thought I might have, with the last batch, but as you know, I was wrong. Luckily I have another batch to test."

If they come near Tris with a syringe... I think, They'll regret the day they were born.

"Why bother?" Tris's question earns her a smirk.

"I have had a question since I began the Dauntless project, and it is this." She sidesteps her desk, running her index finger over the surface. "Why are most of the Divergent weak-willed, God-fearing nobodies from Abnegation, of all factions?"

This seems to surprise Tris, but not me. "Weak-willed." I scoff. "It requires a strong will to manipulate a simulation, last time I checked." Which was actually quite recently. "Weak-willed is mind-controlling an army because it's too hard for you to train one yourself."