Reawakening

Chapter Thirty-Two

I hear a faint, steady beeping sound, and it gradually gets louder and clearer. I force my eyelids open, but the light is too bright. Finally I realize that a hand is holding mine, so I squeeze it. It takes a few tries to get a response, but when I finally do, I hear a gasp, followed by Marlene's sweet, musical voice. "Uriah? Are you awake, baby?"

"Mmhh," I groan. "Turn the lights off please, my head hurts and it's too bright."

Marlene laughs and removes her hand from mine. A moment later, she says, "it's safe to open your eyes now, Uri, I turned off the lights."

And when I open my eyes, the first thing I see is the beautiful girl that I love so much. "I missed you, Marlene," I tell her, reaching my hand up to touch her cheek, and she leans in and kisses me tenderly. "What happened? Are we back at Dauntless? The last thing I remember was fighting Eric and I'm pretty sure I was losing."

Marlene laughs slightly. "Well... yes. You're in the Dauntless infirmary, and you were indeed losing." Marlene fills me in on what happened-- the mission to rescue me, the condition I was in when they found me, taking Eric, Jeanine and Caleb prisoner. She tells me that a team was organized by Jack Kang to arrest the other Dauntless leaders, too, and since they were taken away, the rumor mills have been going wild. Marlene is one of the few who have any idea what actually happened.

"Four, Zeke and Edward took Jeanine, Eric and Caleb to Candor, along with that hard drive you took out of that computer," Marlene tells me. "And ah... Tris and I stole Jeanine's car to bring you back here." I can't believe we did it. We stopped Jeanine and Eric. Marlene won't throw herself off a building, my faction will not be forced to murder innocent people, we won't have to go to the Bureau...

But then I notice the way Marlene is chewing on her fingernails and avoiding my gaze. Something is wrong. There's something she didn't tell me. I know it. She said she and Tris stole a car to bring me back but... "Marlene," I say cautiously, "is Tris here?"

And that's when Marlene's eyes fill with tears, and my stomach drops like a rock. They had a car, what could have happened? "Marlene?" I swallow past the lump in my throat. "Marlene, what happened to Tris?"

She bites her lip and takes a deep breath, about to answer me, when the door opens. "Hey, you're alright!" Zeke says happily, though I detect a hint of sadness in his eyes. "What did the doctors say?" he asks Marlene.

"Surgery on his leg, had to insert a metal rod. Moderate concussion and a slight skull fracture but he'll be fine. The chemicals didn't cause permanent damage to his eye, either." Wow, we hadn't even gotten to that yet and I had been too worried about everything else to ask. "Did you find her?"

"We did," Zeke smiles. "Do you know what happened Uriah?" I shake my head no, and Marlene and Zeke explain about Tris's kidnapping and how Al helped Mar get me back here. If I didn't know they'd found Tris I would be freaking out right now. Zeke tells me about how they rescued Tris, and about Evelyn and Christina's deaths. Good riddance when it comes to Evelyn, but Christina's death hits me hard. We were pretty close at the Bureau, after she lost Will and I lost Marlene; this time, it's Will losing Chris. I just wish we could have saved everyone.

I ask if I can have a minute to talk with Tris, and Zeke leaves to get her. "I'll give you two a few minutes, too," Marlene says. I start to protest, but she puts a finger to my lips. "I know there's nothing for me to worry about between you two, and you have a bond that no one else can quite understand. I think you both need this." I nod and thank her for understanding, and as she leaves, Tris passes her on the way in.

Tris rushes in and wraps her arms around me as best she can with me laying in this bed. I kiss her on the cheek, and laugh at the blush on her cheeks when she pulls away from me. She grins, lightly punching me in the arm. "Shut up, Uri."