More. || Eric Coulter

Twenty.

Eric's silence persisted after Max went quiet. He still had a hard time grasping everything. He had questions and doubts. Somehow, it gave him a feeling in his gut that he couldn't quiet categorize.
In- and exhaling several times, Eric rubbed his face and tried to organize his questions as far as his chaotic mind would allow it. His mouth opened and closed, attempting again and again but it took one more deep breath for his nerves to relax.

"Please don't feel offended, Max, but there are so many things that just don't add up. There are so many holes in the story, so many mistakes have been made and I desperately need to know how this became such a disaster.
There's a letter, Max. Are you aware of that? From Vinnie and there's no way that you don't know about this. I think you know more about this than you show, more about her assassination and even the fact that she's not only Dauntless."

The leader stayed silent, startled by Eric's candor.

"I think you knew very well that she was in danger yet you failed at protecting her, someone who was essential to this faction. Or maybe you planned it all along to eliminate one more Divergent.
You know, it hurt me, too, to find out about who she really was and it is against everything I stand for, yet I couldn't find myself wanting her gone."

Max's facial expression changed into something more irritated but Eric didn't stop.

"And can you explain how no one was able to find her? It absolutely does not make sense because I know that we are smarter than that. How could her equipment be found but not her?..."

"Eric..."

"Or at least her dog tags? Not even a limb? If she's dead, her body wouldn't be able to move from the spot and if she were still alive she would have returned to the faction or at least appeared somewhere in Chicago..."

"Eric."

"Who killed her? And what's going on? You claim that no one has heard from her nor seen her apart from the last radio call yet Helen..."

"Eric! Silence!" Max burst out.

Both fell silent but disturbed it with their agitated breathing, Eric's heart beating so fast, he could feel it in his throat.
Despite being upset, Max spoke with such calmness, it completely contradicted his anger. "I understand why you might feel lost, sad and mad... but how dare you come here and be so blunt about the accusations? You've spent over ten years in this faction and accuse us of not being capable of doing basic research, of not caring about one of our most valuable members. Have you ever thought, that maybe - just maybe - there are things that are simply not in my control?"
Max paused to let everything settle but continued one moment later.
But what was all of that supposed to mean, Eric thought.
"You are in a very high position that allows you access to almost all information. Unfortunately this is something, you cannot know at this moment, something that even I wasn't allowed to know up until a few days ago. And let me tell you something. It's the best for you to be in the blue because I'm afraid some things might be beyond devastating."

"Wha- what do you mean? I'm one of your advisors. How can you not tell me more? I wouldn't be here if I wasn't capable of handling sensitive information."

"Eric, I'm sorry but right now it is confidential and I need you to focus on more important tasks. It is for your own good."

Eric was baffled. His mind was racing, wanting to ask more questions. It was his inner Erudite shining through and he felt damned for still having those old traits.

"Please, Eric - I'm talking to you as friend right now - do your job for now and get your mind off of her. I couldn't ignore your past and connection with her but it will destroy you if you don't stop. Go through the folder, get accquainted with the new mission and meet me at our car park in two days at 0900 in the morning. I'm couting on you!"

The younger Dauntless nodded silently and said goodbye in a hurry to spare Max from witnessing Eric letting out his frustrations on his way home.
Once at home, his nerves were calmer now, he went through the folder and the information, a new wave of excitement rushing through him when he found out it was about finding a special box that went missing hundreds of years ago and was now rumored to have been burried in the Prior's home as well as finding Four and Tris. He felt like a hunter who had his prey in sight, already thinking about ways to lure them into an ambush.
He still held grudges against Tris for shooting him in the leg during the first attack. He was also disappointed in himself for underestimating her like that. Her fragile and good-girl exterior mislead a lot of leaders from Dauntless, it was hard to believe that she had any backbone. Especially in the beginning stages of initiation, it was hard to believe that she would even make it into the faction considering her below mediocre skills. No one could ignore, that sleeping with one of the trainers helped her get this far.

During his shower that evening, he couldn't prevent his mind from drifting to Vinnie. One question after the other raced through his brain. Who the killer would have been, if there was anyone acting suspiciously in the weeks leading to the mission. The erudite in him nagged at his insides, wanting to know what happened to her body, what went down while hen was at Abnegation hunting down Tris and Four.

He would find out, Eric thought to himself. One way or another he would find a way to get as many details as possible about the one responsible.

I'm going to find out what happened, he thought, even if it kills me.
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Hello fellow readers!
A new part is here and let me tell you... I have never felt this rusty while writing. Hopefully, reading this is not as rocky. After such a long time away I had to re-read the story myself and noticed a couple of things and details that didn't add up or didn't match the original story and I appologize if you go through the story and find parts that youz didn't memorize that way. It is kind of ironic that I rewrote the cause of Eric's hopitalization in chapter 16 yet there is going to be a major deviation from the original series... anyways I'll keep on writing and hope you are happy about being able to continue the story. Please let me know if there is anything that doesn't seem right. Thank you!

PS.: I'm listening to classical music while writing and it really has me typing like a hacker in movies. If you're interested what exactly I'm listening to: the playlist is called "prod. Psycho" on Spotify (by me: grimmigjr).