Black and Blue

Chapter 12

Eric POV

It's the final day of initiation and Jeanine is here. She has to watch over all of the fear simulations. Again, all part of weeding out as many Divergents as possible before the attack tomorrow morning. Tris just finished her test with flying colors. I can only hope Jamie will do the same. Speaking of, she's up next.

As she walks in, she looks Jeanine in the eyes, trying to be confident. Considering the situation she's in, I'd say she's doing pretty well. Having helped Jamie in her fear landscape a lot, I've seen her in fear, and I hate having to watch her suffer. This is one time I don't have to watch it, so as soon as Jamie is in the simulation, I trade out with Four. He comes in and watches, I go out. I know Jeanine took notice of it, I could feel her eyes on me as I walked out, but I don't care. I just want Jamie to be done, I don't want to watch Peter beat her anymore, I don't want to watch her in fear. 

A little while later, she comes out, looking shaken, but happy.

"I think I did pretty good."

I breathe a sigh of relief. I knew she would do well, but I still couldn't help but worry. I want to make sure she's safe, but with Jeanine here, I didn't know that I could ensure that. 

"Wow, looks like you were more stressed about this that I was. I'm fine, you knew I'd be fine. Don't worry so much about me."

I just nod and give her a hug before we head to the dining hall. She looks a little surprised, but we stand there for a second. She doesn't understand, I was afraid she wouldn't come out of that room. I was afraid that Jeanine would take her. She has no idea how good it feels to have her right here, in my arms.  The worst thing is, tomorrow there's an even bigger chance of me losing her. I saw an extra box of serum in Max's office the other day, but I don't think it was for the members. I'm wondering if it's meant for the leadership. If it is, then I can't protect her like I promised. If she does get caught, I won't be able to help her.

"Alright, I'm hungry, I'm going to dinner."

She starts to take off, but realizes that I haven't moved.

"Hey, you good?"

I just look up at her. I know I need to let some of this go for right now, just give it a rest, worry later, but I can't.

"Thinking about tomorrow?"

"Yeah."

"It'll be fine. I talked to Tris and I think we'll make it. I don't know how it'll end, but I think we can make it."

"I hope so. Be careful. I'm not sure I'll be able to protect you out there. I know I said I would, but something new has come up. I don't know, but I think they might be putting the leadership in a sim as well. I guess trying to prevent anyone from protecting the Divergents."

"Okay, so I'll have to tread carefully. Look, we'll worry about this tomorrow. For now, just relax a bit. We'll go eat, celebrate, then tomorrow we'll figure things out. Besides, you know me. I'll think my way out of it."

"Just remember, you are not allowed to die, okay?"

"Yes sir."

She says, playfully, trying to lift me up. I look into her eyes and see her confidence. Confidence that this is all going to work out, that everything will be fine. I wish I could think like she does, but right now, I think I'm more afraid for her life than she is.

Once we get to the dining hall, she sits down with all of the initiates, and I go up to the leadership table. After showing the results, revealing Tris to be first and Jamie to be very close behind in second, someone tapped my shoulder. Max was standing behind me with a serious look. It's time to start the injections.

We go down and prepare everything for when the Dauntless members come back from the celebration. While I'm loading the first syringe, I'm still thinking about how to get Jamie out of this, when I feel a pinch in my neck and hear Max's voice behind me while everything goes black.

"Sorry my friend, but it's for the best."