Rediscovered Love

Chapter 4

*Beautiful ^ 

Karen's POV

The truck slows to a halt. Correction: the driver stomps on the brakes, the truck freezes, and we fly forward thanks to physics and gravity. The doors open with a pop, and before I see the guard's face, blackness encloses me. A hand grasps my clothes and tears me out of the seat. I stumble out of the car, keeping my balance as best as I can. Jake shouts at the guards, "Watch it! Stop!" He hollers. A sharp slap echoes throughout the garage. I can image Jake's puffy pink cheek, filled with miniature purple dots and growing redder by the minute.

The doors are slammed shut, and we're trudged on in an unknown direction, though I'm sure I'll find myself where I was five years ago. We turn quite a few times. The warm air outside suddenly turns cold. It grows increasingly chilly inside of Erudite. I want to rub my goosebump-filled arms, or cuddle with Jeanine under soft, steamy sheets. I smile to myself underneath the dark bag, shielding me from knowing where I really am.

We turn again and then stop. Something metallic screeches shut. "We have to test them for divergence, right?" A thick voice says.

"Yeah," A lighter voice replies with nervousness. A force pushes me down onto my knees again. I wince at the pressure put on my wounds as pain shoots up my leg and my knees ache. The bag is torn up from my head, and a blinding light burns my eyes. We're in Erudite. Not so surprised, but Jake is. The guards check him first. They attach a few wires all over his head and neck. I look to where they connect and it's a screen and heart monitor. The green line moves up and down like hundreds of protruding mountains.

Then the guards inject him with a blue liquid and Jake's hard face with furrowed brows and a frown finally relaxes and his eyes glaze over. The guards prop him against the wall, then turn to me. In minutes they work together to make a second set of wires course over and under my arms and limbs, wrapping around me like rope.

As they work, a wild thought occurs to me. I mean, wild. What if I fought them? There are only two of them here, and if they find I'm divergent they'll either kill me on the spot or give me to some amateur researcher to be meddled with. No way is that happening. I also have to make it up to Jake. I owe him because this is truly my fault and only my own. He's right about one thing, and it's that.

I force myself to stand up, dragging the heart monitor and screen I'm attached to, to the floor. The glass shatters into a million deadly diamonds and buries itself in my legs. Maroon blots grow on my dirt-covered pants. I swing my head back and hit the guard holding me. My capturer knocked back, I start towards the second guard and head him too. Something wet trickles down my face but I don't care. I grab the guard's gun, holding it behind myself and point it at the other.

"What's the combination?" I scream at him.

He cowers in the closest corner, not even considering the fact that he has a weapon too. What a disgrace. "Two, three, zero," He says with a shaky voice. My fingers twist to open the lock, but I accidently pull the trigger and a bang bursts within the room. The guard's face reflects the horror I see behind me. Bullseye; right in between the other guard's closed eyelids. I loosen by handcuffs and shake them off, then put them on the dastardly guard who happened to live and change the combination. Then, just to be absolutely sure in my false safety, I search him for any weapons and do the same to the deceased Dauntless.

Jeanine's POV

It is half past noon. My meeting begins in four minutes and I will not be late for it. I make my way past the glimmering, white hallways. Walking in heels has never been easier and I glide past my bustling faction members. Elizabeth doesn't match my pace anymore. It seems she's finally listening to me on the chance that I give her what she wants, which has only ever happened once.

Through the glass windows, I see the rest of my team settled in their seats and prepared with their papers. Elizabeth opens the door for me and I sit at one end of the table, my tablet poised in front of me.

Kyla clears her throat. "Um- Ms. Matthews, I have called for this meeting today to discuss with you, along with the rest of my team, the details of the experiment we did not review last time," She says more confidently than before. Good. she actually improved. "We have no more test subjects and were also wondering who will work with the tests once we acquire them."

"I will, Kyla," I answer. "And we will have new subjects by the end of today. I was notified of two captured factionless just an hour ago. Any other questions?"

Silence suddenly fills the space around us like it did before. It seems this team is more timid than I originally thought. For a minute only the shuffling of papers can be heard, along with the seeping outside conversations and footsteps of passing faction members. 'Write add sound-proof walls and glass on our agenda', I type to Elizabeth from my tablet.

'Will do'.

Dr. Cruse, the oldest in this team speaks up. "If you're in charge of running the experiment, then what will our roles entail?"

"You will be in charge of designing the experiment, drawing conclusions, and data analysis. Does that answer your question?"

"Yes."

A faint knock sounds on the door. I turn. It's one of the security officers--the same one I threatened to fire five years ago actually- and he doesn't look unnerved, rather the opposite. Sweat pours down his red face. He probably ran here, so the matter must be of importance. I flick my hand, motioning him in. He opens the door and in a matter of seconds is by my ear whispering, "There's an escape."

Karen's POV

I swing open the door, dragging Jake's body and taking note of the room number. I know exactly where I am, and where I need to go. Jeanine's office is only a few rooms away too. Part of me longs to go there and finally see her. Another part knows I have to get out of here. I remember what Jeanine told me before I became factionless.

'If you get caught by my guards, I won't save your divergent ass.'

I shouldn't try and see her. Then I'll have more guards to fight if I can at all. Squeaks emerge from Jake's boots as I drag his body throughout the hallway. He looks scrawny but probably weighs more than a doe. I never cared for the camera in the cell, but I should have. Out of nowhere alarms scream into the air drowning out Jake's boots. Flashing lights make the walls and floor around me glow a light blue. Craptastic. The boots of a dozen guards drum from behind me. I hear heels and their relentless tapping. It's a choir of chaos in a faction valuing serenity.

Black-clad figures soon surround me, like a wave of doom and misfortune. This is it. My escape was fruitless, and now I have a good chance of dying unless I can get on Jeanine's good side. I wonder how that would turn out? The alarm is shut off, and only the tapping remains. The black ocean parts for a blue beauty, who will also guarantee my ruination. Jeanine.

"Jeanine," I whisper with my gravelly voice. "Jeanine!" But she doesn't want to hear it. My love ignores me, turning to the guard and murmuring a few words I can't hear because my broken heart is beating too fast. How does it feel to see the person you adore most, only to be cast aside by them? Every bit of me breaks like that stupid heart monitor. I drop Jake to the floor. I don't care anymore. Letting my tears finally fall like the water in a cracked tank, I can't hold it in any longer. I feel like I could sob for decades; just on and on and on; tear after tear after tear. Through blurry eyes, I stare at Jeanine. She glances at me, deep thought reflected in her eyes. Jeanine also looks at me like I'm a crazy person.

I imagine myself as I must be: Reddened, blotchy face. Eyes that match the color of my cheeks like foundation. Slimey, wet mucus dripping and running endlessly from my congested nose. Fits of coughing and choking on my own cries (and misery). Gross. And all of it out of seemingly nowhere. Jeanine doesn't know who I am. She can't tell that I'm her ex-everything. I no longer look like Karen Matthews. Just some random poorly kept factionless freak.

My arms are taken and bound together once more in handcuffs. Slowly I'm taken away from Jake and led down a different hallway. I blink and I'm on the floor, probably thrown onto it by the impatient guards. I close my eyes in utter exhaustion. The door croons shut.