Becoming Determinant - Tobias' Story

Original Chapter - Uriah

That's how he needs to exit the simulation, and I pause again, waiting for some indication that he gets what I'm saying. Unfortunately, I can't tell if he does. He's too nervous to read well – and possibly too nervous to be listening.

But I don't know what else to do. I've just told him all the pitfalls he needs to avoid; the more I add now, the more suspicious it will seem to anyone who hears it. I have to leave the rest up to Uriah.

So, I give him the injection, watching as it begins to take effect. At the last moment, when his mind is half here and half gone, I lean close to get his attention.

"Be brave, Uriah," I remind him firmly. I can only hope he carries that advice into his fear.

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"Divergent!" Eric shouts, pointing at Uriah, and I cringe despite myself. Obviously, I was right about him.

Uriah is standing by the chasm, with a crowd gathering around him. At Eric's cry, they all join in, echoing the word in fear and revulsion as they close in.

"Divergent!"

"Your kind isn't welcome here," Max booms as he points a gun straight at Uriah's head.

"You know what we do to you," Maria chimes in, suddenly appearing. She's standing over Amar's body, resting her foot in the center of his back as thick, red blood congeals around her shoe.

"We'll kill you just like him," she adds, her voice little more than a hiss.

Somewhat to my surprise, I see myself emerge from the crowd.

"Help me!" Uriah calls, locking his eyes with mine, but my alternate self laughs.

"You had your chance," my voice taunts him. "You should have left this faction when I told you to." As I watch, throwing knives suddenly appear in my doppelganger's hands, and he begins flinging them mercilessly, each one driving hard into Uriah's flesh. For an odd moment, I wonder if that's how I looked to Tris when I threw the knives at her.

Uriah drops to the floor, sobbing as he curls up in an attempt to protect himself – or maybe to staunch the bleeding from the wounds I inflicted.

"I always knew I couldn't trust you," Shauna says as she emerges from the crowd, leaning over him. A long dagger flashes in her hand, and she smiles as she thrusts it into his side, slipping it between his ribs and through his organs until nothing but the hilt can be seen. He groans, a long, deep sound of pain that is beyond enduring.

His eyes close, and suddenly the simulation ends. It's far too abrupt, and I know that he must have manipulated it to stop. But I can't say I blame him. He's already revealed his secret thoroughly, so there's no point in continuing.

Before he can move at all, before the computer can register that the simulation has ended and can save it for the administrators to see, my fingers find the interceptor. I press it, effectively disconnecting the hard drive long enough for the automatic save to fail. I breathe an imperceptible sigh of relief as an error displays on the monitor, indicating that nothing was written to the drive at all. My invention worked.

"Damn it!" I say in my best imitation of annoyance as I stare at the screen. "The stupid computer glitched!" I look up at Uriah, meeting his wide, terrified eyes. "It didn't save your simulation."

I keep all traces of what I just saw and did out of my expression as I continue. "That means this simulation won't count toward your final score." He's staring at me in confusion and continued fear, but I ignore that and add, "That's too bad – your time was excellent."