The trip back to the Dauntless compound had been uneventful and, most of all, silent. Eric had guided Lilith to where the Erudite had parked their cars, in front of the houses they had set up their control stations in, and he'd revealed the key he'd swiped earlier with a flourish. It was painfully obvious that he was expecting some sort of reaction from Lilith, but she'd only given him a blank stare as she waited for him to unlock the vehicle. Much to her surprise, none of the soldiers that were awake seemed suspicious of the fact that they were leaving, probably being under the impression that they had specific orders from Jeanine. Even after that, she'd kept her grip on her pistol, staring out the window as they drove through the city.
Her thoughts returned to Siobhan, and the way she'd been killed. She hadn't been the one pulling the trigger, but she still blamed herself for the end of her friend's life. Perhaps if she hadn't tried to talk to her, she would have had enough time to knock her out, or at least restrain her, before Eric found them. The longer she thought of her friend, the more tears threatened to spill out of her eyes. Siobhan had been the first person to try to make her feel at home in a completely new faction, and it was because of her that she'd made so many friends during Initiation. She'd made so many people happy and, just when she'd been able to set her own future in motion, everything had been ripped away from her, like she didn't matter. Like she was disposable.
To Erudite, she probably was.
They all were.
"If it makes any difference, I didn't notice it was her until after I took the shot," Eric finally broke the silence, when they were minutes away from the compound.
Lilith didn't give him any sign that she'd acknowledged his words, simply closing her eyes to stop the tears from rolling down her cheeks. It didn't make any difference. It could have been someone that Lilith had never spoken to before, and she would still feel the same way. It would still be a person giving up their life unwillingly, unknowingly. It would still be someone dying for a cause that they hadn't chosen to support. Worst part was, it wasn't even their war to fight, and they were still the ones getting killed off instead of Erudite. The unfairness of the whole situation made her want to scream.
Eric turned the car into a dark alley, a few blocks away from the compound, and Lilith realized that they'd probably have to go the rest of the way by foot. There was no way the building had been left unprotected, with the simulation controls and Jeanine herself inside, and they had a higher chance of succeeding if the guards didn't see them coming. As soon as the engine stopped rumbling, Lilith pushed the door open and stepped out of the car, taking a breath of fresh air as she walked to entrance of the alley. She glanced around the area, making sure that there weren't any Dauntless soldiers in sight, and Eric soon moved past her without a word.
As they started making their way to the compound, Lilith found herself unable to hold back the questions plaguing her mind, "Why did you agree to all of this? What did Jeanine say she'd give you?"
Eric exhaled through his nose, stopping for a few seconds to allow the brunette to catch up to him. It took him a few seconds to respond, and his voice was uncharacteristically low when he did, "An honorable position in her new government," the words had barely left his mouth and Lilith was already prepared to call bullshit. However, she figured it would be better if she held onto her bitterness, at least for now. After all, they were on a mission. He continued, "She promised us a voice, something that we've never had before, and a future of prosperity and inovation, for everyone."
"Except Abnegation."
He nodded once, "Except Abnegation," he repeated. Silence fell over them as they trudged down the sidewalk, before Eric decided to continue, "It wasn't until we'd allied ourselves with her that Jeanine made her intentions clear. She would give the Dauntless leaders a voice, but the rest of our faction, those who wouldn't comply, were to stay under the effects on the simulation serum permanently. Marching around aimlessly and fighting Jeanine's fights for her," his tone was harsh and bitter, with an undertone of rage for the leader of his birth faction, "Granger and Siobhan would never agree, much less you. I don't care about any of the shit Jeanine says she'll give me, if I can't keep those I care about by my side."
His reasoning for wanting to put an end to Jeanine's skill was, at minimum, selfish. Still, Lilith was glad that there was something strong enough to pull him away from the edge of the precipice, and make him see that this whole situation was wrong. His selfishness was clashing with his hunger for power, and she could see it in the way his knuckles turned white as he gripped the handle of his pistol, trying to reassure himself that this was the right thing to do. After he faced Jeanine, there would be no going back. Erudite would target the both of them, but at least their faction wouldn't be made up of mindless attack dogs any longer.
However, there was still one last thing that she didn't really understand.
"Eric," his name left her lips in a somewhat hesitant tone, that made him look down at her instantly, "Why am I not in the simulation?"
"Oh, right," he mumbled, scratching his neck with one of his hands, "I didn't inject you with the serum. Not all of it, anyways. I extracted the neurotransmitters, after Jeanine shared the process with me."
Lilith wouldn't admit it in a million years, but just the thought that Jeanine placed enough trust in Eric to share the details of her plan with him made her whole chest burn. She'd never been a particularly jealous person, but the notion that they were closer than they appeared pissed her off. The corner of her lips twisted upwards, forming a bitter smirk, "You seem close with her."
"Not the way you're thinking," his tone was disgusted, "And certainly not by choice."
"I don't really care about it," it was a lie, and they were both sure of that as they walked. Lilith could feel that Eric was about to make some sort of comment about the way she'd reacted and, having no patience to deal with anything relating to her love life, at that moment, she raised a hand to make him stop walking, as she pressed herself against the wall. The leader looked quizically at her, and she gestured to the corner they were about to turn, "We're here."
He nodded once, "Right," he muttered, grabbing his pistol and checking his ammunition. Once he was done, his eyes flickered to her again, "There's two guards outside, one pulled from the simulation and the other one still under. If we have any hope of getting into the building, we need to take them out silently. Rhiannon posted four more soldiers on the ground floor, and I have no doubts that they'll come running out if we make too much of a mess."
"Okay. I'll take the unaware one."
"Deal."
They took a few more seconds to prepare themselves, before finally turning the corner and doing their best to sneak up to the two guards standing in front of the building. Eric stuck to the shadows as best as he could, hiding behind pillars that decorated the entrances of other surrounding constructions, while Lilith could afford to conceal herself behind trash bins and bushes that didn't look like they'd been watered in months. As soon as she was close enough to distinguish the faces of the guards, it was painfully clear which one was which. Her target was the one standing closer by, while the other one whistled lowly to himself, his fingers tapping against the side of his leg.
To Lilith's luck, the next bush had planted in the shape of the letter L, which allowed her to get extremely close to the guards without having to reveal her presence. Eric had disappeared from her field of vision during the few seconds she'd been watching the duo of Dauntless soldiers, which made her nervous, but she didn't let that stop her as she rushed to the protection of the shrubbery, remaining in a crouched position the whole time. She'd almost made it to a vantage point when a twig snapped under her boots, her eyes widening as she threw herself flat against the sidewalk. Eric's target stopped whistling, and footsteps started echoing towards her location, making her curse to herself. There was no way out without revealing her presence and ruining the whole plan.
Suddenly, the footsteps stopped, and the sounds of someone struggling to breathe disrupted the silent atmosphere around the compound. Before she could even think about it, Lilith returned to a crouch and looked over the bush, her eyes widening as she saw Eric behind the man, his arm around his neck in a chokehold. The remaining guard was aiming at him already, and the girl wasted no time in harshly pulling him into her hiding spot, the side of hand delivering two quick blows to his neck, right over the place where his artery was situated. The man was instantly unconscious, and Lilith quickly removed his weapons before exiting the safety of the bushes.
"Now what?" she questioned, dusting off her hands.
"Now it's balanced," Eric replied, as he stored the spare ammunition he'd gotten from the soldier in his belt, "Granger is one of the guards inside, and I made sure he wasn't injected either," his voice died out, and Lilith glanced at him to see him with furrowed eyebrows. It didn't take her long to understand why. As much as Siobhan's death had wrecked her, it would be a million times worse for Granger. She wouldn't want to be in Eric's shoes, having to tell his best friend that he'd killed his girfriend of years. The leader exhaled, putting on the stoic mask she was so used to seeing, "We should go find him."
Nodding her head once, Lilith walked past him, her fingers pressing against the glass door that led to the inside of the building as she pushed it open. None of the four guards that Eric had previously mentioned were in the entrance, and the feeling that something was wrong took over as she stepped inside, eyebrows furrowed as she aimed her pistol at the space in front of her. The door closed softly behind the pair, and Lilith felt Eric's presence behind her as they headed to the door that would bring them to the room above the Pit, where the elevator and the paths down to their underground compound were located. It wasn't until she'd almost reached it that a pained groan echoed from the next area, followed by a harsh shush, and Lilith froze in place, glancing at the leader over her shoulder.
Eric seemed puzzled by the situation, an eyebrow raised in question as he moved past her, gesturing at her to stick close to him. The girl exhaled through her nose, placing her index finger just over the trigger of her pistol as she followed after the leader. A whisper came from the room in front of them but, as much as she had tried, Lilith wasn't able to understand what was being said. Eric pressed himself on the side of the door, nodding towards it as he looked at her, and Lilith understood what she was supposed to do. Her heart thumped against her ribs, quickened by the anxiety she felt, but she didn't let it overwhelm her as she stepped into the open doorway, instantly aiming her pistol at the four people grouped by the elevator. The different colored clothing of two of them made her inspect them with more attention.
After a few seconds, she lowered her weapon, "Granger?"
The blond's head whipped in her direction, his pistol aimed at where she was standing, before he realized who had spoken. His light eyebrows shot up to his forehead, "Lilith?" he didn't sound surprised as he advanced in her direction, immediately pulling her into a hug.
The brunette returned it, her eyes analyzing the remaining members of the group. Marcus Eaton was the older man, standing right next to a boy donning Erudite blue, who seemed to have somewhat familiar features. Crumpled in the floor was Peter, with beads of sweat forming in his forehead as he put pressure on a bullet wound in his shoulder. It wasn't until Granger released her to greet Eric that she noticed the bodies of the three other guards, blood pooling below them, and she found herself wondering if these four men had been responsible for taking them down.
"Where's Siobhan?" Granger questioned, looking between the newcomers with hope in his eyes. Lilith clenched her free hand into a fist as the memory of her friend collapsing on top of her flashed in her mind once again, a last ragged breath leaving her lips as blood dripped down her face. Eric fidgeted on his spot next to her, and she glanced at him, noticing how he didn't seem to be able to explain what had happened, an hour before. His eyes flickered to her for help, and though Siobhan was the last thing she wanted to discuss, Granger deserved to know.
A heavy sigh left her lips, "She... she didn't make it," tears brimmed her eyes as soon as the words left her lips, and her teeth caught hold of her bottom lip as she tried not to cry. There was a time for everything and, at that moment, they had to kill Jeanine and stop the attack. Mourning would come later. Lilith squared her shoulders, "I'm sorry, Granger. But we're here to make sure no one else has to... die because of Erudite."
Granger was as still as a statue, his eyes fixated on her like he didn't want to believe what he'd just heard. He seemed to have become a few shades paler after the revelation, and the pistol in his hand made a rattling noise as he started to shake. Lilith held his gaze for a few seconds, noticing how rage flashed in his eyes when he finally looked at Eric, before turning his back on them and heading to the other three men. She followed him, silently wondering if Eric had promised his best friend that Siobhan would make it out safely, or if Granger was simply mad because he'd gone along with Erudite's schemes and risked the safety of everyone in the faction, like she was.
He held out a pistol to the Erudite boy, his voice harsher than Lilith had ever heard it, "The three of you stay down here," his eyes flickered to Peter, "Keep pressure on that wound, we'll get it looked after when we come back," after receiving a nod from him, Granger looked back at them as he pressed the button to call the elevator, "Tris is up there trying to stop the simulation, with her father. They might need backup."
"Got it," she replied, nodding at him.
The doors opened, and Lilith and Eric followed their friend to the inside of the elevator, standing shoulder to shoulder as Granger pressed the button next to the number eight. The atmosphere was tense, and the girl resorted to making sure that she had enough ammunitions for a fight, if it came to that. While she would rather not harm anyone under the effects of the simulation, she wasn't sure it could be done if they became outnumbered. This was what her training had been all about, but Lilith had never pictured that the people she would use her combat skills against would be those who belonged to her faction, and that they wouldn't even know what they were doing.
Perhaps she was overthinking it.
It wasn't long before they reached the eighth floor, and Lilith was the first one to notice the fallen soldiers at their feet, with several bullet wounds riddling their torsos. She followed the bodies until her eyes landed on a grey cladded figure, belonging to a man with salt and pepper hair, a gun in his hands. Granger's words returned to her, and she quickly came to the conclusion that it was Tris' father. Lilith wondered how there could be such nasty rumors about a man who had given his life to most likely protect his daughter. The thought made her look around the dark hallway for a corpse that resembled her friend but, thankfully, Tris seemed to have made it out alive.
Now, she just had to find her, and hope that they could stop the attack.
"Where's Tris?" Lilith looked back at both of her companions, her fingers wrapped tightly around the handle of her pistol.
Granger nodded towards the hallway to their left, "Control room is that way. If she really went to stop the simulation, she'll be there."
"And Jeanine?" Eric spoke for the first time since they'd reunited, and Granger looked at him with raised eyebrows. The leader met his best friend's eyes, having managed to regain his stoic facade once more, and cleared his throat, "If she lives, she'll find a way to do this again. We can't let her leave this building, Granger. You know that."
The blond raised a hand to scratch his beard, letting out a sigh, "Yeah," his eyes moved to the opposite direction to the control room, "They've taken one of the old offices on this floor to experiment with their serum," he paused, "We kill her, and we destroy their work. Two birds, one stone."
"We?"
"There's no way you're going alone, Eric," Granger replied.
The two males nodded at eachother, and Lilith watched them closely, realizing once again that they viewed eachother as family, even in the middle of a crisis like this. She didn't know if Eric was particularly deserving of Granger's kindness then, but there was something moving about the fact that he still worried, even after Eric had contributed to the mess that they found themselves in. She wondered if things would have played out the same way if Granger knew about the circumstances of Siobhan's death, or if Eric would even ever tell him. He deserved to know.
"Well, see you guys soon, then," she broke the silence after a few seconds, her lips pressed into a thin line as she turned around and started to walk towards the control room.
She hadn't taken more than three steps when Eric caught up to her, his hand latching onto her forearm as he pulled her to face him. Before she could ask him what he was doing, he placed his free hand on her cheek and pulled her into a kiss. In the few seconds that their lips were pressed together, Lilith could feel all of the regret and all of the anxiety flowing through his body and, even if she hadn't forgiven him for all of his actions, she couldn't find it in herself to pull away. His eyes were closed when they stopped kissing, and he gently placed his forehead against hers.
"Be careful," he mumbled.
"Yeah," she nodded, as she took a step backwards, "Don't die, I guess."
Lilith didn't stick around for much longer, turning back to the hallway that would take her to the control room, her finger hovering above the trigger of her pistol as she silently moved forwards. The corridor was oddly empty, though she quickly came to the realization that most of the guards had probably gone down when Tris and her father had arrived, a few minutes before them. Shaky breaths left her lips as she reached a fork at the end of the corridor, and her eyes flickered between the two possible directions as she pondered where the control room could be.
Sounds of struggle reached her ears, and Lilith's eyes narrowed as she turned right, fixating on the door in front of her, that was slightly ajar. Approaching it carefully, she peered inside the room, instantly spotting Tris laying on her back on the floor, with a seemingly unaware Four on top of her, his hands wrapped around her neck. Breathless pleads left the blonde girl's lips as she tried to remain conscious, but it seemed like Four had no intention of releasing her. Lilith aimed her gun in the direction of his leg, not hesitating as she pulled the trigger.
Her hands must have been shakier than she thought, for the bullet hit the cement floor near the pair instead, then ricocheting and grazing Four's jaw. A pained groan left his lips as he lost his balance, collapsing to the side with both hands over his wound. Tris rushed to make sure he was alright, and Lilith diverted her eyes from them to the various screens on the wall. Most of them showed different parts of the city, but there was one with series of letters and numbers that caught her attention. When she got close enough to it, Lilith realized that, even with no one near the computer to control it, it still seemed to be working.
"Was I running the simulation?" Four questioned, after a few seconds, his voice hoarse.
Lilith shook her head, looking back at him to see him sitting against the wall, "I don't think so. It's working on its own, from what I can see."
"Guys," Tris' eyes were wide as she stared at one of the screens, and Lilith looked at it, only to see a group of soldiers surrounding the three men they'd left behind on the ground floor. If they didn't stop the attack, all of them would die, and while she didn't particularly care about Peter, she wasn't going to allow the other two to be slaughtered.
She turned back to the screen with the sequences running through them, "Four, if you have any idea of how to stop this, you better start telling me what to do."
Four quickly started listing several instructions, and Lilith followed as quickly as she could, not allowing herself to look at the other screens and become distracted by what was going on in them. Her fingers moved quicker than they ever had before, and her heart thumped loudly against her ribcage as she pressed sequences of letters and numbers on the screen in front of her. She'd just pressed the enter button one last time when all of the soldiers surrounding the trio on the first floor stopped what they were doing, instantly dropping their weapons, and Lilith's heart ached as some of them started to cry.
"Get the hard drive, too," he pointed at the computer, "Or she'll be able to start this again."
Lilith nodded as she crouched down next to the computer, finding the hard drive in a matter of seconds. She quickly pulled it from its place and handed it to Tris, who shoved it in one of her pockets as she looked through the screens on the wall. The brunette got back to her feet, her eyes drifting to Four as he put his hand on the wound on his jaw. A grimace was etched across her face as she realized that it would most likely leave a scar, and she was about to apologize when Tris spoke again.
"We have to leave," she said, pointing at one of the screens. It seemed to depict the Pit, and a group of soldiers led by Rhiannon was currently running towards the paths that led up to the building.
"Yes, we do," Four agreed, pushing himself up to his feet, "Come on."
They left the room together, Lilith in front of the other two with her pistol at the ready, in case anyone was waiting to surprise them. Thankfully, the hallways were still as deserted as when she'd arrived, and they made it to the elevator without any issues. The brunette allowed Four and Tris to enter first, and she was about to press the button to the ground floor when a familiar voice yelled for her to wait. Furrowing her eyebrows, she stepped out of the elevator once more, spotting Granger as he ran towards her, the sleeve of his jacket ripped near his shoulder and a gash on his skin. He was out of breath when he made it to her, collapsing against the back wall of the elevator as everyone looked at him.
"Jeanine?" Lilith was the first one to talk.
Granger shook his head, "We couldn't do it. There were too many guards," a cough left his lips, "There was an opening when you stopped the simulation, but we were still outnumbered by those who decided that they were with her. There was absolutely no way we could take her out."
"And Eric?"
She could feel the confusion emanating from Four and Tris as they looked between Granger and her, and it wasn't like she could blame them. Eric had been playing for both sides in the shadows most of the time, but they'd only seen the part of him that was on board with the attack, and that was power hungry and ruthless. But there was no time to explain to them what had actually happened, so Lilith kept her eyes focused on Granger as he glanced up at her. The look in his eyes told her that the news weren't good.
"He was shot trying to cover me," his gaze turned to the floor, "He's dead."
Just like that, Lilith's world crumbled under her feet.
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AUTHOR'S NOTE
Hi, this author's note will contain some info about some changes coming to this book, so don't skip it, if you're interested!
I'm really curious to know everyone's opinion about this chapter and to hear possible theories about what's gonna happen next! The ending of this part of Lilith's journey was vastly different in earlier versions, but this is the one that fits her arc the best, so here we are.
Before I forget, I'll let you know about the changes coming to this book. I don't know if most of you are aware, but Bullets was originally the first book in a trilogy that followed Veronica Roth's whole Divergent trilogy. While I still plan to write Lilith's journey during all the books, I will do it all in this book, instead of splitting it into three. The reasoning for that is that I've noticed that the Allegiant portion is a lot shorter than the other two, and I don't feel like it makes sense to have a whole book dedicated to it. So, I've decided that, when I start posting the next part of the story, the title will be changed to the title of the trilogy, which is Lethal Weapons.
Some other minor changes that will happen because of that will be the chapters separating the different parts of the book, all of which will contain cast lists with characters introduced specifically in those parts and that don't show up in the whole trilogy as main or even secondary characters. I'll also add a proper way to access this book's Spotify playlist in the intro chapter, when these other changes are made.
I've started working on the next part of this book already, but it might be a while until I can post. I'm about to start my third year of uni and I'll do my best to update somewhat regularly, but no promises.
I think that's basically it! Don't forget to leave your feedback, and I'll see you soon!
Thank you for reading this far!