Six

Chapter 18 - Uprising Initiates and Drunk Numbers

The following morning, I'm woken up by the sound of a fist pounding on my door.

"SIX!" I hear the voice of Max booming through my apartment. I stand up quickly, rushing over to the door, opening it slowly.

"What?" I say, my voice still groggy from sleep.

"You're needed at the infirmary," Max replies.

"Wh-" I begin before Max turns and leaves. I go to leave, but quickly realise I'm still in my night attire - or lack of. A pair of shorts that barely cover my thighs teamed with a strappy top. 

'Shit,' I think to myself as I close the door, jogging back to my room to get changed into something more acceptable, and less revealing.

As soon as I am dresses, I jog out of my apartment to the infirmary. One of the nurses sees me and escorts me to an isolated room. As she opens the door, I begin to wish she hadn't. 

In the single bed lies Edward. One eye is forced shut while the other has a butter knife sticking out. Myra is in the chair next to him, tears running down her already soaked cheeks.

"Do you know who did this?" I ask quietly, as to not disturb the couple. 

"We have no idea. One of the initiates came running down in the middle of the night after us," she begins. "We followed her quickly to see Edward here curled over in pain. The stiff was the only one near him. Everyone else was crying or vomiting around the edges of the dorm." she says in a quiet voice.

Of course Toby would look after Edward.

"Thank you. Will he be fit to return to initiation soon?" I ask, worried for his positioning .

The nurse takes in a deep breath before replying. "I don't think he will," she says apologetically. "We need to remove the knife, he's most likely going to be blind in that eye now," she finishes.

"Thank you," I say again. I take one look at Myra resting her head where her and Edwards hand meet and leave.

I'm not sure who did this, but I am going to be exceptionally suspicious of one initiate during training.

                  *                                           *                                         *

I spent the rest of the day with Zeke, Shauna, Lauren and a couple of other Dauntless members whose names I've already forgotten.

As I walked out of the infirmary, Zeke saw me and sad I had a worried expression on my face. I told him exactly what I had heard from the nurse and his once amused expression disappeared. Zeke then decided that today would be a good day for a drink - which I agreed to.

We went to the shop in the Pit and brought two crates of beer each. We then found Shauna and Lauren and a couple of Zeke's friends, and headed to our normal drinking area - the chasm.

I downed the first bottle of beer the second that Zeke handed it to me, attempting to remove the image of the knife hanging out of Edward's eye. The second bottle lasted lasted longer than the first, but is now long gone. My head started to feel lighter as I started downing the third - which I am yet to finish. 

I start talking to Zeke, who is as light headed as myself it would appear, about nothing in particular. Probably nonsense to the endless flood of footsteps passing by.

I catch Toby entering the Pit with Christina, who is being carried by Al, and Will. He's laughing at something Will said, apparently not affected by the previous night's events.

My drunken conscience decides that it would be a good idea to talk to Toby. So that's what my body does.

"Toby," my mouth calls before my brain registers.

I notice him and Will exchanging looks before Will walks off.

'Yes!' my sub conscience says as I wobble over to where Toby is standing.

"You look good," I say, stumbling on my words.

"So do you," Toby replies. "What are you doing?" Is he concerned about me - I wonder.

"Flirting with death," I say, adding a light chuckle at the end. "Drinking near the chasm. Definitely not a good idea,"

"Definitely not," Toby replies simply.

I take a sip from my bottle, the liquid burning my throat as I swallow.

"I didn't know you had a tattoo?" I ask as I see the end of the ink peeping through the top of his shirt -  my mind not controlling what my mouth says.

"I'd ask you to join us, but you're not supposed to see me this way," I say.

"In what way? Drunk?" Toby questions.

"No... Real I guess?" I say, sounding as confused as I feel.

"I'll pretend I didn't."

"Nice of you." My head moves closer to Toby. I have to tip-toe in order to have my lips reach his ear. "You look good, Toby," I say quietly.

Toby laughs a deep chuckle. "Do me a favour and stay away from the chasm, okay?"

"Of course," I reply, winking slightly at Toby. I walk back to Zeke and Shauna, probably with a massive smile on my face.

That's when I realise that I 'like' Toby.

I may even like him more than alcohol.

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A/N

Hi there!!

Another delayed update, but an update nonetheless.

Please let me know if you're still reading this :)

Thank you all for the continued support on this story!

~Chantelle