Infallible

Chapter 32

"If you think you got lucky, you're wrong." Eric said to Tris, his eyes blank as he led her out of Candor. Tris had scored highest of all the Divergents that they had rounded up. "You're gonna wish I killed you."
"Drop your weapons!"
  The shout rang across the room and the sound of guns being drawn could be heard on all sides.
  Four was there. Entering the room with a large group of both faithful Dauntless and Factionless, his gun was pointed directly at Eric. Obviously outnumbered, Eric and his team lowered their weapons. Tris ran to Four.
"Thank you." She breathed.
Eric rolled his eyes, but took a deep breath. He knew it was his time and he welcomed it. Rae was gone, it was all his fault and he would be lost soon as well.
"It's lucky you've got that gun, Four." Eric taunted the man, wishing to speed things along. He was ready. "We both know you're not much without one."
  Eric's smirk was maddening to Four. It was time. He passed his gun off to the nearest person, and walked toward Eric. As he dropped into a defensive crouch, Eric smiled.
  The scuffle was brief. Eric didn't fight back, only leaned in to the blows Four delivered to his face. It helped distract him from the pain tearing at him beneath the surface. Knocked to the ground, he conceded with a groan. Four dragged him to the center of the room and Eric knelt as someone came up and cuffed his hands behind his back. He didn't fight it.
"You think she's safe now? You're wrong. Jeanine's never gonna stop searching for you." He looked over at Tris.
  Four grabbed his gun, emptying all the bullets from the chamber and placing them in his pocket. He walked quickly toward Eric again.
"Why? What does she want with her? Tell me!"
  Eric didn't need to be handcuffed. He wouldn't have run. And he answered Four's question honestly.
"Look. All I know is that she's exactly what Jeanine needs. So was Rae. The Perfect Subject."
  Four's eyes narrowed a bit at the word 'was'. He wondered if Rae was dead already. It would make sense as to why Eric gave in so easily. All the pieces fit in to place suddenly in his mind. Sam had been at Rae's side. Sam would have tried to save Rae. They had spoken many times in the days leading up to all of this. There was a chance, small, almost impossible. Yet a chance nonetheless that she was alive. Four looked from Eric to Tris a moment before he made a decision. Pulling a bullet out of his pocket, he loaded into the gun he held and cocked it.
"What is that supposed to scare me?" Eric challenged, not backing down.
"You're responsible for the death of hundreds of people. You know the punishment for that." Four said, his chest rising and falling heavily.
"Listen." Eric said, taking a few steadying breaths. He prepared himself... for what, he was unsure. "I've found a way to live with the blood on my hands. But can you?"
  Four looked at him for a few seconds that stretched on for an eternity. Taking one last breath, he looked Eric deep in his eyes and raised the gun to his chest.
***

Bang.
  Rae froze. Her stomach lurched and she stumbled to a stop. A gunshot had come from somewhere to her right. For some irrational reason, her eyes filled with tears.
No. No no no.
She began to run down the hallway toward the noise. She rounded a corner and then heard voices. Drawing back in to an archway, she hid just in time as a large group of people rushed by. Once they had passed, Rae peaked her head out to look after them. She didn't see Eric's tall figure among the group who were tattooed and dressed in mostly black.
  Once they rounded the corner, Rae tentatively made her way toward the room they had come from. Taking a deep breath against her pounding heart, she pushed the door open.
  She found herself in a large room with equally large windows, bodies strewn about here and there. Her tear filled eyes scanned them as she slowly walked. Some of the faces were familiar to her, most were not. Yet none were the one she searched for.
  She slowly reached the center of the room and looked out the big windows. There were tall buildings showcased beyond the glass panes and the occasional light that was left on. A large stretch of the city lay beautifully before her and she felt empty.
Her eyes dropped to the floor and that's when her heart stopped. A large figure lay crumpled on the floor, hands cuffed behind a muscular back.
"No." She gasped out loud, her faltering feet rushing forward.
Kneeling, she sobbed. The tattoos across the angled neck were painfully familiar. Slowly, agonizingly, she knelt beside him. He still smelled the same, an intoxicating scent that reminded her of all the times she got lost in a pair of strong arms and blue eyes. He tears fell harder, landing on the floor and the arm of the man she loved.
Reaching out, she carefully but firmly pulled him toward her. His head rolled unpleasantly and her stomach churned. She shut her eyes a moment, wanting desperately to wake up from this nightmare. For the first time, she wished that she was in a simulation, that this was all just a chemically induced reality that she could just manipulate her way out of.
"Fuck." She heard a familiar growl near her face.
Snapping her eyes open, she was greeted with the most mesmerizing blue gaze that she could ever remember seeing.
Eric lay in her arms, limp, but alive.
Alive.
Rae choked on a sob that erupted from her throat as she looked down at him in disbelief. His expression matched hers as he blinked rapidly, trying to put his thoughts together.
"Are you real?" He asked breathlessly, his hands jerking agains the cuffs that still bound his hands behind him.
Rae laughed, even though the situation at hand was not funny in the slightest.
"Yeah, Eric. I think this is real."
He struggled again, and rose to a sitting position. Rae kept her hands on him as he looked around briefly, not wanting to put any space between them again. His eyes settled back on her and she felt the air leave her lungs. Those eyes will never cease to amaze her.
"How? How am I alive?" He asked, the vulnerability he wore made her melt as he leaned close to her.
  Curious as well, she ran her hand across his chest. Yanking a black cylinder from the left side of his chest, she held it up to examine it. Smiling as realization dawned over her, she answered,
"Neuro-Stim Dart. Simulates the pain of a real gunshot wound." She smiled up at his bewildered face before studying the dart further. It was smaller than the ones used for the Dauntless war games, and there was an extra chamber inside the bullet that contained a trace of liquid.
"Looks like this one is infused with a hint of Paralytic Serum." She offered him a weak smile, talking about the serum as if it were an aged wine.
  They both exchanged a knowing glance after a few moments, as they each put the pieces together.
Four.
  He had replaced the real bullet with the Stim-Dart. He had spared Eric's life.
"Eric. We have to leave." She rested her forehead on his, and breathed him in. "We have to leave this place." Her eyes met his and he nodded.
"Where will we go?" His voice was quiet, as if a loud sound would wake them from the dream they were in.
"Out there." She sighed heavily against his lips. "We're dead. We only need to get up and leave."
  Her breath was warm against his face and he leaned in to her for a long moment. Finally, his lips met hers. Although it had only been days, to them it felt as though it had been an eternity.
"Okay." He murmured, straightening his back.
"Eric..." She said hesitantly, removing the serum Sam had given her from her pocket. "I have to do something."
  He drew back and eyed the serum wearily, and Rae realized that he must be just as traumatized by these substances as he was. Slowly, she reached her free hand up to the collar of her hoodie and pulled it down.
  Eric inhaled sharply at the sight of her neck, bruised black, purple and blue with red marks dotting it like constellations in the night sky.
"I know you're afraid." She said gently. "But if there's any active serum in your system, Jeanine could use it. This right here will deactivate whatever she has pumped you full of. I promise."
  He looked in to her eyes for a moment, trying to decide if this was real or just another simulation. As Rae placed her small hand comfortingly on his broad chest, he sighed.
"Okay."
  Lifting his chin up and away from her, he left his tattooed neck exposed. She wasted no time injecting the needle, and when it's contents were spilled into her husbands bloodstream she tossed it to the side. Taking his face in to her hands, she kissed him hard.
"I love you, Eric."
"No matter what?"
"No matter what." She reassured.
  They sat like that for only a few seconds before Rae pulled away.
"We have to go." She said, wiping her eyes.
"Lead the way, Mrs. Coulter." He responded, bringing himself heavily to a stand. His hands were still cuffed behind him.
  Rae eyed his handcuffs, knowing that she had to find a way to release him.
"Come on." She offered a hand on his arm and he walked close to her.
  They began to make their their way toward the exit when Rae heard Eric's foot kick something metallic. Looking down, she saw the lights reflecting off of something metal.  Rushing forward, she reached her hand down and clasped her fingers over a small set of keys.
"Turn around." She instructed Eric, who obeyed.
  She brought the key to the lock and it clicked over instantly. He was free.
  Eric turned to his wife and grabbed her around the middle, lifting her up so that her lips met his in a deep kiss that seemed to wrap around her soul.
"Let's go find our heaven." He breathed, and she nodded. He set her down and they smiled at each other for a moment before he looked around. Scanning the room, he found what he was looking for.
  Walking over to a fallen Dauntless traitor, he retrieved the gun lying next to the lifeless body. He checked to see if it was loaded, then felt around for the extra ammo from the man's pockets.
"You ready?" He asked Rae, cocking his newly acquired weapon. He wore a smile on his face as he walked back toward his wife.
"Absolutely." She said confidently, cocking her own weapon as they walked side by side out of Candor headquarters.