Disremembered (Fourtris story)

Chapter 39: Stranded

Chapter 39: Stranded

*Tobias POV*

I am so worried about Tris. I don't know her well, but this is the second time in one week that she was experiencing a panic attack of sorts. My body has an actual physical response when this girl is in pain, I can barely see straight. I find myself putting her ahead of anything and anyone else. I don't know if this is normal. Was I like this before I lost my memories?

What is also interesting, it is like I instinctively know how to calm her. As if I am able to be her tether and pull her back in. This is not the time to worry about that, as we are still in terrible danger.

We are walking through the Dauntless hallways, Tris is quiet again but she seems calm. I make it a point to hold her hand, she uses her hands to motion in the way we need to walk. Nothing about this facility or hallway feels familiar to me. We are suddenly standing in front of an apartment door, I try the handle but it is locked.

"We might be in luck, the last time we were here you hid a key in the storage closet that is right around the corner, I will go check." Tris says as she turns on her heel to go.

I follow her closely, I am not letting her out of my sight. My mind wanders for a moment to what the Rebels have planned for her. I had just arrived to Dauntless when the video recording started. As I was entering, swarms or people were running out. Very few stopping to watch the screens. I knew the moment I read the intercepted transmission, they were going to not only kill her – but also make it as horrific as possible. Bastards.

"Tobias? Did you hear me? I have the key, we can head back." Tris repeats. I nod my head and gently place my hand on the small of her back to guide her to the door we just came from.

I notice her hands are badly shaking as she attempts to unlock the door, it is now visible that her hands and lower arms are completely covered John's blood. I think Tris notices too, as she turns away from her hands she takes a deep breath in order to calm herself. Once the door is open I raise my gun and I enter first in order to clear the space.

My first walk through is literally a search for any sign of a threat or any sign that someone may be living here. Once clear I turn and see Tris has stepped into the doorway and is leaning against the wall right at the entrance.

"Does this look at all familiar?" Tris asks. When I nod my head side to side as a no, I see her shrug her shoulders and look away from me. I step towards the door and lock it. From what I could hear and see, this hallway of apartments seems to be empty. And also without power thanks to the Rebels.

I walk around again, happy when I find some candles and matches. As I begin to light them I suddenly hear her weeping. She is now sitting on the floor at the entrance, leaning her head back against the wall.

"Tris?" I say as I slowly get closer to her.

"They are all dead. All of them, because they were trying to save me. I tried to save them. I tried..." she whimpers.

And then her weeping turns into sobbing, her shoulders shake as she puts her head on her knees and tightly wraps her arms around herself.

I sit quietly beside her, this time unsure what to do. Unsure of what she needs from me. So I wait.

After a few minutes she says, "John. Did you know he wasn't even supposed to come with me on this trip? Luke was going to come. And even when Luke was so mad at me and ended things, he told me that he would send his best man in his place." A sob escapes her lips, "And that was John. John, with a wife and a baby on the way."

"John is dead. He is dead. And somehow I am still here." She begins rocking back and forth while holding herself. "I am still here." She whispers one more time.