"Drink this."
I eyed the vial of clear liquid Banks had just handed me, giving it a cautious sniff. Had Dan still been with me, instead of off finding Jade per Banks' request, I might've just gone ahead and done what he'd asked without hesitation. Might've been able to quell the stirrings of suspicion I felt.
But he wasn't here, and I couldn't seem to shake off the premonition of danger I felt in the room. Sitting atop Bank's metal desk, which doubled as a sort of examination table, I tried to tell myself that I was over reacting; being paranoid since the confines of his office were rather small.
"What is this?" I held the glass up to the light and gave the contents a swirl, as if that might somehow give me a clue as to what it held.
Untangling a series of wires, Banks began to press various electrodes onto my forehead and then to his own. Working quickly, he then connected them to the dials of a machine behind him.
"A serum," he answered, not once pausing as he continued to type away at his computer.
"What's it for?" I asked when it seemed he wouldn't say more. "What'll it do?"
With a final click of a few keys, he pushed himself away from his desk and came to stand by me. His forehead was furrowed in thought, and I had a sense that he could somehow perceive my feelings of quiet rebelliousness even though I was working hard to subdue them. After a second it seemed that he'd come to a decision.
"Once you drink that, I am going to re-administer your aptitude test. Not the same one you took before, but this years' most current program."
I was speechless as his words sank in, but once I was really able to wrap my head around what I'd heard, I found myself wanting nothing more than to leave the room. More and more, I kept getting the feeling that I was at risk.
But why? I tried to rationalize. Banks saved me, I shouldn't fear him. Get a grip, Stronghold!
"Why would you want to do that? Wouldn't the results just end up being the same?" I asked when I finally found my voice. "Seems pointless. If I got dauntless results before, won't I just get them again?"
He nodded, accepting the logic in my words, but I could see he had more to say. Stroking his chin thoughtfully, he eventually let out a breath and spoke.
"I will be frank with you. I am someone who values knowledge above all else. With the injuries you sustained, and the bout of amnesia you have yet to overcome, I must admit that I am doing this to satisfy my own intellectual curiosity. I want to see if your results would, not only be the same, but if the actions used to attain such an outcome would also remain unchanged."
There were no signs of deception in his voice, his mannerisms, anything. It was that which had me relaxing ever so slightly. I knew, from what Dan had told me, that Banks had indeed transferred from erudite. Perhaps, much like me, he still had the lingering drive of his old faction guiding him in his everyday decisions.
"Okay, I can accept that. But what if–" I began to say before trailing off, an imperceptible shudder running along my spine. Why am I hesitating? I cleared my throat. "What if, for some weird reason, I do happen to get different results? What would happen?"
"I would not worry if I were you." A slow, calculated smile –just as chilling as his unnaturally cold eyes– spread across his lips. "I am certain the results will be the same. This is merely for... confirmation."
I thought about asking more questions, doing anything to buy time, but instead found myself nodding. In a single movement, I tipped the contents of the vial into my mouth. I only just managed to lay my head down on the table before the world went dark, my eyes shutting involuntarily.
When I opened them again, I was momentarily disoriented. Though I knew only a few seconds had passed, I was somewhere else entirely. I wasn't on the metal table inside Banks' office anymore, but instead standing alone in an empty white room. Before me, in the very center of the area, I saw that there were three pedestals; one with a shovel, another with a length of coiled cable, and the last with a weathered looking coat.
"Choose," the voice of a woman suddenly echoed, briefly startling me.
I looked around the room, wondering if there was some kind of speaker system I couldn't see, and eventually narrowed my eyes when I saw none. Where was the voice coming from? And why did she sound vaguely familiar?
"Who's there?" I called out. "Where are you?"
"Choose," the voice repeated.
"Why?" I demanded, not at all liking the tone being used. "For what purpose?"
"The reason shouldn't matter to you," the voice replied, sounding almost as frustrated as I felt. "Just pick one."
"Yeah, sure, I'll get right on that," I said sarcastically, giving a snort as I shook my head. Crossing my arms over my chest, I absently wondered if the first time I'd taken the test it'd been just as aggravating. "I'm going to need answers before I agree to do anything."
"Must you be difficult?" The voice asked stiffly. "The task is simple. Even a child could do it."
"Better dial down that attitude lady," I snapped back. "Because I'm not just going to strap on a pair of meat pants and dance into your little lion's cage without knowing why."
The mystery voice didn't answer, and I couldn't help but chuckle at the idea that I'd pissed her off enough to elicit the use of the silent treatment. I was about to start looking for a door, any kind of way out, when suddenly the scene around me began to waiver and dissipate. The objects vanished, and along with them the walls that had once trapped me.
Instead of the white room, I now found myself somewhere familiar. I wasn't in the dauntless compound anymore, but my old home; I was back in candor.
Tall glass buildings towered over my head, and people dressed in black and white were milling about on the surrounding sidewalks. The babble of ongoing debates, the laughter of unruly children, it was like a blow to my senses. Everything was just as I remembered, but for one thing. The sky, it was tinged a toxic shade of green, though it seemed I was the only one who noticed it.
My head was still craned up, studying my surroundings, when I heard the sound of sniffling. I didn't have to search long, because almost immediately I spotted the source. A few feet away stood a young brown-haired boy, whose age I guessed to be about seven or eight.
Quickly I began to make my way towards him, guessing he'd probably lost sight of his parents in the crowd. I was nearly by his side when he suddenly shifted so that I was able to get a better view of his face. I faltered, a sharp stab of anguish lancing through my heart as recognition hit me.
"Danny?" Brusquely, I cleared a path towards him, ignoring the complaints of the people I had to shove out of my way. One man looked like he wanted to argue, but the look I gave him was so scathing he shrank away before opening his mouth. A wise move. "Danny!"
I'd just reached him when I suddenly realized how crazy I probably appeared. Not wanting to scare him any further, I bent down onto one knee and tried to find the right words to convey a sense of trust. Before I could say what I wanted though, he blinked his big doe-eyes at me and took a shaky step back, looking like he was preparing to run away.
"Hey, little guy, it's okay," I said softly, holding my hands out in front of me as a sign of peace. "I'm not going to hurt you." He looked at me warily, but to my relief stayed where he was.
"I'm not scared," he finally said after some hesitation, sounding comically insulted by what I'd said. When I raised a brow, he grudgingly clarified, "Well, not a lot. Maybe a little, but only like this much," he held out his pointer finger and thumb, then positioned them in a pinching fashion.
Nostalgia had me smiling as I recalled how we'd always used to do that; measure things with our fingers. How tired was I? Just a pinch. Had I listened in school? An even smaller gap. Was I hungry? For the sake of accuracy, we'd both always hold our arms open as wide as we could.
We'd eventually grown out of it, but it was a fond memory nonetheless.
"You shouldn't be," I told him, still staying back to give him space. "I want to help you."
"You do?" His suspicion momentarily forgotten, I watched as a remaining tear slipped down his cheek. "Can you help me find my dad?"
"Of course I can," I said with a nod. "I know my way around."
"Hmm." Again that look of suspicion settled on his features. "How would you?" He pointed at my clothes. "You're dauntless."
"I am, but I used to live here."
"Oh yeah?" He cocked his head, taking a tiny shuffled step closer seemingly out of curiosity. "Why'd you leave? Is it because you like to lie or something?"
"No, that's not why I left," I chuckled, shaking my head at him. "I just didn't belong here. Not completely anyway." When he didn't seem convinced I suddenly had an idea. Holding both of my hands out, palm side up to represent the candor scales, I recited a quick oath. "I vow to be black and white, to tell only the truth. I vow–"
"–to be completely transparent?" As I'd thought, Danny had finished the oath himself. From a young age, it was one of the first things candor children were taught. Over and over, we recited it until it was firmly engrained in our young minds.
When I nodded, the remaining suspicion disappeared from his face, and was instead replaced with a wide grin. He closed the remaining space and placed one if his small hands in mine; now utterly trusting.
Because I didn't see Norman Gallows anywhere, even after walking back and forth along the street various times, I ultimately decided to go directly to the source; the building where I'd also once lived.
It was when I saw the bus barreling down the street that I picked up Danny and made a run to catch it, producing a fit of giggles as he bounced in my arms. I grinned back at him, and felt somewhat relieved since the weather only continued to worsen. In fact, it wasn't just bad, but downright menacing.
"Hey mister?" Danny asked when the bus again started to move forward. "How'd you know my name? Before I mean, when you were shouting and stuff."
"Because I know you. Actually, I've known you for a long time," I said, deciding to keep being honest with him. He furrowed his brow, looking amusingly pensive as he nodded to himself. "What's going through your head there, kid?"
The sky was growing darker, thick with clouds that smothered the sun's rays. Then came this little –tink, tink, tink, sound as it began to rain. I tried to ignore it.
"I'm just hoping you aren't crazy," he replied. I wasn't troubled by his words though, because he'd chuckled when he'd said that, and I could tell he was trying not to laugh. "So, you gonna' tell me your name?"
The tink sounds were getting progressively louder; not just rain anymore.
"Sage," I replied, sidetracked when a loud thunk echoed so loudly it made an erudite man across from us jump up in alarm. Had the roof actually shuddered with that impact, or was I imagining things?
"Hah!" Danny actually laughed then, throwing me a curious look. "That's so weird! My best friend, he has the same name as you." He squinted his eyes, about to say more, when a sharp crack and the shriek of a woman cut him off.
"Holy shit!" The driver suddenly cried out as the roof began to dent.
Bang, bang, bang!
A spider-web of splintered glass began to spread over the front windshield and side windows. And with each new impact the cracks only continued to grow longer and wider. I protectively pulled Danny to my side, away from the glass which had the potential of shattering at any moment, and tried to shield him with my body.
"What's happening?" he cried out, clinging to my arm as the bus began to swerve.
I looked out the side window and could see that giant chunks of hail were pelting, not just the bus, but the entire city around us. It ranged from golf-ball size to 'Is-that-a-fucking-bowling-ball?'
"I don't know!" I shouted, trying to he heard over the chaos.
Cars were swerving, pedestrians screaming as they ran for cover; it was complete and utter turmoil. Sheets of ice and gore were mixing in the streets, and second by second the dead were outnumbering the living that attempted to flee.
"Shit!" The driver cursed as he suddenly lost control of the wheel. I held Danny tighter, my grip protective and vice-like as I waited for what I knew was about to come.
Everything seemed to slow down and speed up all at once.
We veered once, twice, and then collided with a car that had been driving in the opposite direction. The force of the impact sent us swerving into an uncontrollable spin, and various people were violently ejected out of their seats. I only just managed to brace myself in time to avoid serious damage.
I was thrown to the side, my head giving a sharp crack as it collided with the window. I felt something warm running down the side of my face, and I didn't have to touch it to know it was blood. My blood.
My pulse thundered, momentarily leaving me deafened to the cacophony around me, but then I heard the smallest whimper. I looked down and let out a shaky sigh of relief. Though a fat tear was running down his cheek, Danny appeared otherwise unharmed.
The bus driver hadn't been so lucky. Without anything to hold him in place, he'd been thrown forward and out the already weakened windshield. In horror, I watched as his mangled body jerked with fleeting signs of life and then ultimately fell still.
Relatively still; I mentally corrected, because his body continued to twitch around grotesquely every time a new chunk of ice smacked into his flesh.
"Don't look," I tried to tell Danny, pulling his chin away from the scene.
But I was too late. The look of complete horror that washed over his features told me he'd seen enough. Told me that, though he was young, he understood that the man was forever gone.
"Hey, look at me!" I gave him a shake, trying to bring him out of his stupor. "Danny, look at me!"
"That man. He's d-dead!" He choked, visible shudders running through his small body. "We're all gonna' die!"
"Not if I can help it."
He nodded, but around us people only continued to wail and sob; their fears feeding one another in a vicious cycle. Though they'd survived the impact, they were blind to reason and only continued to sit there; helplessly frozen as they awaited a rescue that might never come.
"Everyone, shut up!" I bellowed as I shot to my feet, suddenly utterly incensed by what was going on around me. If they could just calm down and think things through, make a plan, they could easily save themselves. "Stop crying and listen to me!"
Surprisingly, most of them did, only a small handful continued to weep and moan.
"What are you gonna' do?" Danny asked when I picked him up and began to stride over to the driver's seat.
"I'm getting us out of here." I told him, and then louder to the crowd said, "Everyone get back in your seats! And carry the wounded who can't help themselves!"
After several failed attempts to start the bus, my perseverance was rewarded when the engine finally turned over. Clunky, labored sounds came from beneath the hood, and I knew I'd have to act quickly. Thankfully, I already had a plan in mind.
After backing up a few feet, I turned the wheel and then stomped my foot down, hurtling the bus through an intersection and towards the entrance of the Merciless Mart that that I knew was nearby.
"Oh god!" Someone shrieked behind me.
"What are you doing?" Another added, sounding close by.
"He's going to drive right into the building!"
And I was; the front was made up of several large planes of glass, so it'd be easy. I couldn't be bothered to worry about the structural damage I'd cause, because when lives were at stake, what were a couple of broken windows in the big picture?
As we neared, I saw that there were several bodies sprawled around the outer lot. They'd clearly attempted to reach the safety of our faction's headquarters, but hadn't been able to outrun the ice storm.
I won't let that happen to us.
The entrance loomed closer, closer, and–
There was an explosion of glass as I smashed the bus right through the doors of the Merciless Mart. A couple of shards flew through what was left of the windshield, but mercifully none of them caused injury. There were screams and shouts, and when I pulled the lever to open the doors, everyone flooded out in a frenzied mass. I was just going down the steps myself, with Danny in tow, when I heard a shout.
I turned, and several yards away, trapped in his upturned car, was none other than Norman Gallows. I could hear his muffled pleas for help, see the gas slowly leaking out of his car, and knew that if I left him out there much longer he'd be a goner.
Even though I'd never been exactly fond of the guy's parenting ways, or rather the lack there of, I couldn't let Danny lose the only family he had left. Without thinking about it twice, I found a woman who actually looked composed and handed her Danny.
"Take care of him," I warned her. "Take care of him with your life."
"Where are you going?" Danny asked.
Instead of answering his question, I took a second to ruffle his hair; that action cementing my intentions. I'd do anything for the kid.
I swiveled and dashed back into the driver's seat, ignoring his cries behind me. Luckily, I hadn't turned off the engine when I'd gotten off, and so all I had to do was shift the bus into reverse; I didn't have time to make a wide turn. The front of the bus was caved in from where it'd hit the car, and the engine was beginning to stall.
With a crunch of metal and glass, I backed out and raced towards Norman's car.
"Help!" He screamed when I was close enough to hear. "The seatbelt, it's tangled!"
I'd tried to pull up as close as I could, but still there was an open plane of space where I'd be unsheltered from the storm. Disregarding the ice, I darted out and tried to pry his door open.
"It's jammed!" I shouted, grunting and cussing when two fist-sized chunks of ice caught my shoulder. "Cover your eyes!"
I pulled my foot back and kicked out the remains of the window, then bent down and tried to yank him out. The actual buckle was what'd been crushed, and no matter how much I pulled it didn't loosen in the slightest.
Another piece of hail, this one sharper and bigger than the last caught me squarely in the back. I fell forward, my hands hitting the pavement. It was then, at ground level, that I noticed a piece of metal with jagged edges that'd been ripped from the car.
I was about to stand when pain lanced through my leg, again making me crumple to my knees. A heavy slab had actually cut into my leg, and blood was starting to trickle out. Ignore it, ignore it, ignore it; I mentally chanted as I began to saw with my makeshift knife.
I'd just finished cutting through the belt when a block of hail, so big I had nothing to compare it to, came crashing down. I was pinned; all of my left arm and part of my torso trapped under the ice.
But I freed him; I thought feebly. Norman grunted and moaned, but in seconds he was out of his car and into the bus. He didn't glance back; not when he shut the doors, turned the key, and especially not when he drove off.
But I didn't regret it.
The storm continued to rage, the ice to fall, and the gas to leak around me. A nearby spark birthed a wave of flames, and even as they inched closer, I knew I'd still do the same.
The last thing I felt rather than heard, was the echoing boom of the car exploding beside me; a perdition made of both ice and fire.