Dangerous Love

Chapter 33: The Gunshot

"You snuck out into a different faction?" my father hisses at me once the information finally sets in.
"I snuck out to see Eric, he never did anything to me. You're the ones that ruined me."

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The morning comes cold and frosty, ice coats the ground as a promise for winter appears, a promise for destruction. Throwing on my jots and a long sleeved shirt I prepare for what's to come, my family wouldn't listen to me no matter how much I try to convince them they are in danger. They thought Eric was manipulating and that he just wanted me to go back to Dauntless even my mother agreed with my father. The thing was that when I told my mother the whole story I left out the whole, oh yeah it's Eric the scary leader part, yeah that's the small detail I failed to mention. She just assumed it was  a random Dauntless soldier that tagged along with the leaders to Amity.

Walking outside my boots crunch against the frozen grass and nervous looks are shot my way from my neighbors, no doubt they heard every word that was shouted from our house last night and the fact that this is the first time they've seen me in 3 days plays a part in the fear in their eyes. I know today I can't ride across the Opening because I trust that the Dauntless will show up at any time of day, guns up and ready to take over what they must.

Ryley stays a few feet behind me as we go to do our Saturday chores, she's been so scared of me lately that I'm starting to think our relationship will never be the same. She flinches when I turn around and won't meet my eyes, her limited choice of words to me warns me to leave her out of whatever it is that made our father snap last night.

The morning chores are long and tiresome not to mention cold and bitter. Never in my life has my little sister ever given me the cold shoulder, and the anxious feeling inside my chest for the unknown keeps eating away at me as I wait for what's to come next.

I know it's starting when I hear the engines roar, but not of motorcycles of large monstrous trucks that rampage everywhere destroying anything they touch. People's screams echo throughout the meadows as guns point at their packs, rounding them like a flock of sheep into the Dome. My eyes fall on a tattooed figure, sprinting like a bullet in the direction of my house. Eric.

I turn back to see my sister staring in shock before her eyes travel up to mine, "You were right," the words escape her mouth and my hand snatches her wrist as we run home. We were only ten feet away, ten feet away from where Eric most likely is when a gun was pressed to my sister's head yelling at us to freeze.
"HEY!" I scream and yank the gun out of the Dauntless's arms pointing it back at him.
"RUN RYLEY!" the words escape my mouth as I turn to her, that's when sheering pain spreads across my back as the butt of the gun digs into my spine causing me to collapse to the iced over ground and watch her figure grow smaller and smaller as she makes her quick escape.

Something cold wraps around my wrists as I'm harshly yanked back to my feet and dragged towards the Dome with the handcuffs digging into my wrists. I quickly see how fast the Dauntless rounded up all of the Amity in the Dome, some of the Dauntless even look reluctant while others, like the one holding me, are infuriated.

I look up to see all the Dauntless leaders on the stage, including Eric who's eyes scan the crowd viciously. They stop once my footsteps are heard on the stage approaching him quickly, his eyes scan me to see if I'm injured before sneering at the guard holding me.
"Let her go," he growls so low it sounds like an animal.
"But the orders were to get anyone who resists..."
"I know what the damn orders are, now I'm giving you new ones..." a hand is put on Eric's shoulder and I follow it to come in contact with shallow green eyes, Asher.

"Now Eric he's just following his orders, give me the girl," Asher orders extending his hand and Eric snaps, "What the hell are you talking about? My orders go over yours!" he shouts.
"The orders of a drunk demon, do not go over the orders of a sober experienced commander," Asher's light tone and small smile sends smoke out of my ears, how dare he talk to Eric that way. I expected Eric to pound him, to punish him for saying that to him. Yet instead he just tightens his jaw and looks forward emotionless as I'm handed to Asher.

Soon I see Bailey being dragged onto the stage by another soldier, blood seeps through her nose and a scowl lays on her face, no doubt she fought back and her small figure couldn't of matched the much taller broader Dauntless dragging her on stage. Our eyes meet and her face drops in pain while shaking her head slightly, we're so screwed.

Asher steps forward and hands me back to the soldier, raising his arm to silence the scared crowd who'd been rounded up like cattle by wild dogs. I look over at the other leaders who all seem to be completely fine with letting Asher lead, all except Eric who's eyes are wide with anger and nostrils flaring like a raging bull and for a moment I fear for Asher's life.

"As you all know you got your transfers back," the wide demonic smile on Asher's face is sarcastic and infuriated, "Well you see I don't think you Amity understand who calls the shots here. You will do what we say, when we say it, we own you." A startled silence falls over the crowd and even some of the Dauntless shift uncomfortably at what their 'leader' is saying.
"We will never bend to your will," Bailey's voice cuts through the air like a knife as Asher's head snaps towards her. His eyes travel to the soldier who holds her and nods his head for him to bring her to the center of the stage.

"Let this be an example to anyone who thinks otherwise," I see the gun in his right hand and before I can move or scream his arm moves across his body, pointing the gun at her head and the thundering sound echoes throughout the Dome and screams erupt as Bailey's body goes limp in the Dauntless's arms. I look straight into her dead pale brown eyes, they remind me of the time I fought her in training and thought I had killed her on accident. This was so much more different, her chest didn't rise and fall this time, and I know without checking that her pulse is gone. Her last words to me echo in my head, 'You really loved him didn't you?' I didn't even respond to her, I didn't even tell her thank you. A scream might've come from my mouth, but whatever comes out of my mouth causes Asher to turn around and face me once more.

The same faded green eyes that sentenced Bailey to death move upwards to meet with my guard's eyes. The next thing I know I'm center stage looking out at the crowds as crying screaming and fear seeps off of them. My eyes fall onto my father's mortified expression, my mother's tear soaked face, and the fear and devastation in my sister's eyes as they bore into mine.

"We do not except rebels!" Asher booms and to my surprise instead of pointing a gun at my head he walks away for a moment. I'm to frightened to look in his direction so instead I keep my eyes trained through the enormous window of the large Dome, staring at the woods and wondering how different my fate would've been if I would've taken a morning ride like I do every morning. If I do die then I'm be glad that the forest would be the last thing my eyes see, I'm glad I'll die as a martyr for what I believe in. I believe in freedom and I'd rather die free than live under someone else's thumb.

"If you're one of us, then you'll pull the trigger," Asher's voice confirms and that's enough to make my head turn behind me. A gun is placed into Eric's hands, Asher's gun the same gun that fired a bullet into Bailey's innocent body. Eric takes it with his eyes boring into Asher's and walks towards me, his eyes locked in mine like a prison. The ice in his eyes slowly fades as he gets closer and soon I'm looking into the spring sky again instead of the icy winter. He lifts the gun so it's straight onto my heart, the exact thing he stole, and now he's going to stop it. I guess my heart is his and he can do what he wants with it, even if it is killing me. If he pulls that trigger I know I've already forgiven him, I could never hate him for killing me I don't know why but I couldn't.

Looking forward once more my eyes zoom in on the forest and the freedom it promises, I guess once I die I'll meet my old horse again, my old horse named Mercer. The tension in my body seems to fade away as I imagine heaven and getting out of this cruel world. Maybe death isn't such a bad thing.

That's when the gunshot meets my ears before the bullet does.