Chapter 56 - Watch and Wait
Tobias
I continue on with my every Saturday morning routine: I sleep as long as Indy will let me, then I get up, feed him, feed me, watch the news, get dressed and take Indy out for a walk around the compound because it's almost always empty on Saturday mornings due to the late nights everyone had the night before.
Just as I walk out the door with Indy on his leash, the loudspeaker over the whole compound comes on. I stop in my tracks and Indy looks up at me.
I thought those didn't work anymore... I guess I was wrong.
"Good morning all Dauntless members!" I recognize through the crackling of the loudspeaker as Josh's uneasy voice. "Sorry for the announcement so early this morning, but this is necessary. First off, we need all people that work in the Main Building to come down as soon as possible to the Main Building. That includes all Leaders, Ambassadors, Control Room people and Fence Guards if you are currently here. Then second, we need all people, Dauntless members to meet in the Pit at eleven this morning for a required meeting. The only people with an excuse are if you are in the Infirmary or have a card from the Infirmary that implies you not able to do so. So, eleven a.m., all Dauntless members in the Pit, and if you usually come to Main Building meetings, then get down here like right now, thank you."
I quickly turn around and unlock my apartment front door again.
"Sorry bud. Can't walk you this morning. Gotta go. Be good now." I guide him into the house and don't even unclip his leash from his collar.
I just close the door and run, more like sprint to the Main Building dodging the few people that are and about through the halls this morning yelling "Excuse me!" or "Sorry!" as I run around them.
On an average morning it usually takes eight minutes to get to the Main Building.
This morning I get there in three.
I run straight through the stone archway which marks the entrance to the Main Building and see that about a dozen people, I recognize them from various jobs are already here. I make my way through the crowd and up toward Josh at the head of the room. It seems like this meeting won't be taking place in the meeting room, or else I would've thought we would been in there already.
I finally get up to him and see that the expression on his face matches the tone of voice he had on the loudspeaker a few minutes ago; nervousness.
"Wha--" he cuts me off before I can speak.
"This is happening. Two weeks from today. We can't waste any more time then we have. Erudite called today and found traces of poisonus chemicals and other things that whoever is in that building have plan on making. They found an order on a computer in that building that is suppose to end up at the Bureau of Genetic Welfare two weeks from today. Erudite investigated and found out that the poison won't kill right away, but it will cause a long and painful death. They also added the poison to certain people's files and too a list and... Beatrice Prior was on that list, Four." He looks toward the ground at the last part. "Infact, she was the only one on that list."
I can't seem to get my lips to speak. I want to scream, but my lips don't move. I want to run but my feet stay put.
It's like I'm in a sim.
But this is no sim.
This is reality.
"We are recruiting a squad of Dauntless today for the rescue. Hopefully we will get a good number, but whatever we get will be sent no matter how big or how small. We have to get them out of there. They may only have her on the list right now, but I'm more than positive that that list will grow if nothing happens except, well, if she makes it. Then they may try something else and the cycle repeats. Erudite has connections now and has an exact area on where this place is. They also can provide a lot of trucks and vans for us for equipment and rescuing people. All that's left is people and planning, but we still need people most."
"I--I'm going." I finally somehow speak.
"Four," he says calmly. "I didn't make these rules, but you know th--" I cut him off. "NO. I am going! I don't care about the rules that were made years ago. I. AM. GOING." I yell.
I squeeze my hands into fists as they shake from the adrenaline that rushed through my veins from anger and fear.
I have to save her.
I can't let anyone else do it.
I have to.
"I understand your stress. Trust me, I understand. I want to go and save my sister personally as well. I'm not against you here. We can let the rules slide, just, don't flip out on me again, okay?"
"Sorry 'bout that." I say kind of embarrassed. "And thanks."
"Okay then. Whoever is here is here. Let's get this started." He says. I go and join the mob of people that has multiplied since I last turned around.
The whole meeting goes on and he basically repeats what he said to me a little while ago.
"The whole faction meeting will be in fourty minutes. I hope to see you all there." Josh says walking off to who knows where.
* * *
Noting that I don't know already is told at the group faction meeting.
"We won't be taking volunteers to go yet, but later at the whole faction meeting, we will take anyone as volunteers; rules aside. We need as many people as we can for this, and we can't let some silly rules get in the way of that." He looks toward me, then back out at the crowd. "The only thing we ask is that only go if you are in good health; meaning no broken or sprained bones, any disorders that will get in the way, illness etc." he pauses for a second if thinking about what he is going to say next. "I will say, though I would also like to go myself for the rescue of these people, when I signed papers to be head leader I had agreed to not to go on any dangerous mission trips. I did not make up the papers, and I will not go against them. I believe that we will do just fine with the people we get for the trip that we will just need people to stay back and hold down base here."
I can tell that no matter what Josh says, it is still obvious that he is upset about not going on the rescue.
"I'm going to ask everyone that would like to go on the mission to come up to the front of the room after I finish. Even if you're on the fence about going in for the rescue I'd ask that you come up anyway. This isn't written in stone, it's just for us to get a general number."
"This is now the end of the meeting. Thank you for you all being able to make it on such short notice. Have a good rest of the day." Josh concludes as people begin to part in their own directions. I make my way toward the front of the room with a pretty big pack of other people.
This is good. I think to myself. The more people, the easier it should be.
I spot Zeke across the pack of people and I begin to work my way toward him.
"Zeke!" I call out to see if he'll hear me. Sure enough, he turns his head I'm my direction and waves. I finally make it up next to him.
"This is great, all the people that want to go. It's, great!" He says chuckling when he clearly runs out of words other than 'great'.
I chuckle back, "Yeah, totally."
A bunch of people at the front of the room are typing down names into computers and then those people leave. It's kind of like an unofficial line sort of thing.
"I'm going to go and visit Shauna after this, you wanna stop by later with your crazy puppy there? That's seriously the only thing she has been talking about for the past, who knows how long! I swear she is going to start cheating on me with that dog, but hey, I guess that a dog is pretty exciting when all you can do is sit in a hospital bed for three plus months." Zeke says laughing.
"I was walking him before this whole surprise meeting thing popped up, but yeah sure! I'll walk him down that way and stop by. How is she doing? Any progress?"
"Sadly, no. They aren't sure if she will somehow pull herself out this time. The Erudite medication that they gave her last time that basically got her back to normal isn't working, so that means she'll most likely be in a wheelchair for, possibly the rest of her life." The energy leaves his voice as he looks in the other direction. "I mean, it's probably better than spending the rest of your life in a hospital bed, but still. It's just not the same for her."
Sometimes this serious, gloomy side of Zeke scares me. I forget that he has that kind of side until it is shown, then you know that the situation is bad.
"Yeah." I nod even though he isn't looking to tell.
We eventually get up to the people on the computers and they get Zeke and my names in the computer. Then we leave the now smaller group.
"I'll see you later then!" I say happily trying to cheer him up at least a little.
"I guess so. Bye." He says still partially lifeless as he walks down the hall toward the Infirmary while I kind of stand there for a second as he kicks a rock as he walks.
I wish I could say I knew how he felt, but I don't, but I do, but I don't.
I know what it's like to have the person you love taken away from you.
But don't know what it's like to have the one you love in so much trouble and will never be the same.
At the same time I do.
Tris is from the looks of it is half alive in that building, and there's nothing I can do about it for the moment.
All I can do is watch and wait.
A/N-
Hi humans.
I know and I'm so so so sorry that this chap is WAY overdue, but please hear me out.
I know a lot of you are already, if not, almost out of school for your summer break.
I don't get out of school until June 26 and am currently being bombarded with end of the year tests, finals and homework.
I really need to focus on all of that right now, so updates may be like this for the next few weeks, or at least until I'm out of school. After that....
Well, I don't think there's much of a fanfic left in this to tell...
That is going to be determined over the summer.
Anyways...
25.2k reads!!! <4 <4
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