Chapter 7: Over

 “Listen up,” Eric’s arm rose to the air as he motioned for his team to huddle in, and the initiates were eager to do so. “We need a solid plan.”

Initiates started blurting out ideas in hushed voices. 

Eric rolled his eyes at most of the ideas.

“No wait, that could work,” Treya interrupted, pointing at a Dauntless born with spiked black hair. Her eyes caught Eric’s, “a moving target. Hide the flag on someone.”

“Who put you in charge?” Michael hissed, making the other initiates quiet down, their eyes darting between him and Treya.

Treya returned Michael’s hard gaze, “do you have a suggestion?”

“Yeah. Split into two groups, offense and defense.”

Treya’s brow furrowed as she thought, “I like it.” She looked around at the others, “I suggest we do both, we split into offense and defense, and hide the flag on one person.”

“It’ll be obvious, if half of us are protecting one person,” Michael argued again.

“So we hide it on someone in offense,” Treya’s eyes darted to Michael. “Someone who’s good, not going to get shot and give it away. Someone who wants to win.”

“You don’t get to make the plan and carry the flag,” Michael hissed, “where’s that Dauntless teamwork?”

Treya’s eyes fell onto Eric’s, “I was actually thinking Eric would carry it.”

Eric’s eyebrows raised in surprise, “you did?” He thought about it for a moment, “ok.”

Treya looked back at Michael, “any objection?”

Michael shrugged, “at least we won’t lose.”

 

They split into two groups. Eric practically demanded Treya be on offense with him, and Michael volunteered himself onto offense with them. The two groups got into position.

A gunshot rang out, signaling the start of the game. 

Eric, Michael, Treya, and the spiky haired Dauntless born Jac, were off; the neon flag tucked safely into Eric’s vest, out of sight. 

“What’s the plan for finding their flag?” Eric growled in a hushed voice.

“Where does he usually hide it?” Jac whispered, hoping Eric would give them a clue.

Eric shook his head, “that’s up to initiates to figure out.”

Treya thought for a moment, her brow furrowing. She looked around at her teammates. They were all strong, big and fearless. What they weren’t was agile. Their big frames slowed them down. 

Her head snapped to her right. There was an old maintenance shaft at the far edge of the city. It was once used for maintaining the underground electrical wires for the city’s now abandoned and dilapidated fairgrounds. It was a tight squeeze, and would be nearly impossible for her teammates to wiggle their way into.

“T?” Eric growled, his head snapping in the opposite direction as he heard rustling nearby.

“The old maintenance shaft.”

He furrowed his brow at her, then back to the rustling, aiming his gun. 

“Follow me,” she darted, and Eric sent a shot into a nearby bush, before following her. 

There was a loud groan from the bush.

The three followed Treya as they darted through the brush and rubble of the city’s edge. She had to keep reminding herself to slow down so they could keep up with her. Eric was able to stay on her heels, but the other two grew winded after a while.

“How much further?” Jac asked, huffing.

“What makes you think it’s even going to be there?” Michael snarled, but huffed just as much at Jac.

She turned, “Look at the three of you. What do you all have in common?”

“The fact that we’re blindly following the stupid theory of a factionless?”

She rolled her eyes at Michael, “You’re all big guys.” She turned and continued without further explanation. 

Shots fired, and Eric and Jac quickly took cover in the brush to the right, and Treya and Michael to the left. Treya grabbed the back of Michael’s vest, and dragged him backwards as a stim dart barely missed him. She looked over at the other two. They were stuck.

“Cover me,” she mouthed to Michael, before slipping around to the left in a wide circle. 

They ducked under the brush again, spotting two members of Four’s team, shooting at Eric and Jac. Treya aimed for the opponents, quickly taking out one then the other. 

Eric and Jac made a run for it, more shots following them. Jac’s body tensed and fell as he was hit; a loud groan escaped his mouth. Eric’s body dropped too, as he tried to grab and drag Jac.

“Cover me!” It was more of a demand this time as she stood and ran directly for Eric and Jac. She heard Michael swear behind her, unhappy about how demanding she was. She aimed past Eric and fired. There had to be multiple shooters, as stim darts seemed to come from multiple directions.

There was yelling. First it was distant, almost completely masked by Jac’s howling as Eric dragged him. Then it grew as Four’s team slowly appeared. Treya continued to fire. “Leave me,” was Jac’s last howl, as he started to fire at the emerging opponents.

Where the hell was Michael? He was supposed to be covering her, but he was nowhere to be found. Treya wasn’t too surprised by his absence. 

Eric dropped Jac, leaving him to fire away at the oncoming forms. He turned and fired a few shots of his own, then turned and ran for Treya. She was far enough away that most initiates wouldn’t be able to accurately hit her, but her own skill allowed her to hit them.

When he grew close enough, he yelled, “where’s Michael?”

“Covering—“ was all she could get out before her breath caught in her throat and her body tensed. A sharp, white hot pain seared up and down her spine, radiating through her. She was hit in the back.

Eric’s eyes widened as he realized what happened, “Treya!” He thought she would fall to the ground in pain, but she managed to stay upright.

It took every ounce of effort she had to raise her gun and continue firing. Her body screamed at her and she wanted nothing more than to fall to her knees and cradle herself until the pain subsided. She kept firing. 

Eric grabbed her and pulled her after him. When they managed to make it to the brush to hide, Michael was nowhere to be found. “He shot you,” Eric growled.

“You can’t prove it,” her voice was shaky.

“He shot you!”

“I know, but you can’t prove it.” She was panting now, as the pain continued radiating through her. “Come on, we’re close,” she stood, wincing as her body tensed and screamed to be still. She glanced at Eric, seeing concern in his eyes, then she turned and ran.

They almost ran past it, and Treya came to a sliding halt. It was a hole in the ground, with a large metal covering. She grabbed the edge of the cover and pulled with all her strength. The pain seared through her, and she let out a whimper as her muscles tensed too much to pry the cover off.

Eric was quick to replace her hands with his own. He seemed to move the cover with ease, but Treya noticed he gritted his teeth slightly. When the cover was out of the way, the two looked down into the dark maintenance shaft. It was a dark, ominous pit, and just as Treya remembered, it was a tight squeeze. 

She swung her legs into the hole, but Eric grabbed her arm to stop her. 

“You’re not going to fit,” she retorted his silent protest. She slid herself further into the hole, repositioning her arms before squeezing her shoulders in. “Stay safe,” she growled at him, and he lowered himself to hide behind the brush.

“Be quick.”

She let herself slide freely into the hole, and it was only a moment before she used her elbows to stop herself as the bright neon flag slid into reach. She grabbed the flag in her teeth, knowing she would need her hands to climb back out. 

The pain from the stim dart was still persistent, but it seemed to be slowly dulling. She slowly inched her way up the maintenance shaft, her body groaned in protest, but she continued. Treya could hear gunshots from above, and it urged her further. Her own gun was wedged between her back and the cement side of the shaft, pressing the stim dart deeper into her flesh.

Two hands reached in above her and pulled her up and out of the darkness. Eric growled as he ripped her free from the hole, his eyes sparking in excitement as the glow of the flag lit up his face. 

There were shouts of excitement and groans as the other initiates quickly realized what had happened and which team had won. 

Four jogged toward Eric and Treya and the small crowd that was forming around them, “nice work Treya. Where was your flag?”

Eric reached into his vest and tugged the hidden flag free.

“Ah, a moving target. Smart,” Four nodded in approval.

“That’s not fair,” someone mumbled.

“Now don’t be sore,” Four snapped, “It is fair, you just didn’t figure it out.”

“Head back to the training room to see your final scores for the first half of initiation,” Eric’s voice boomed over the initiates, and they were quick to scurry back towards Dauntless headquarters. 

——

Treya hadn’t rushed back the way the other initiates had. She had no real concern for her score. She had continued to rank first, with the other initiates nowhere near her score. Now she was on the winning war games team. There was no reason to be concerned.

Besides, what’s the worst that could happen? She fails initiation and becomes factionless? She was factionless.

The training room was empty when she got there. The glow of the scoreboard lit the room, and Treya could see it from across the room. Still, she moved closer to it, reading each score; not just her own. She was first, just as she thought, then the Dauntless-born Jac, then Michael. Most of the other transfers ranked towards the middle or lower. 

Treya turned and headed out of the room. She decided to take the long way back to the initiate barracks, and past the edge of the chasm. 

She could hear the roar of the water as she neared. The stone floor beneath her grew wet and slippery, the closer she got. There was an edge where there was no guardrail, and the ledge was starting to crumble into the roaring water below. She frequently visited this area as she wandered through the Dauntless compound. It was one of the few spots that seemed constantly vacant, and Treya enjoyed the solitude. From here she could see across the chasm. There was a maintenance door on the other side, with a small ledge that ran up the side of the chasm to other maintenance doors. Treya had never seen anyone come or go from them, and she deducted that they were no longer used.

Treya was looking down into the dark abyss of the chasm when she heard the pounding of footsteps approaching quickly. She looked up just in time to see the blur of an initiate she recognized only as a Dauntless-born, hurl himself at her. She braced herself, and their bodies crashed together. Treya twisted, putting her back to the wall and away from the ledge. 

He shoved his weight into her, slamming the back of her head into the stone wall behind her. Searing pain shot through her head and her vision blurred for a moment. She tried to grab the man, to stop his assault, but hands grabbed her wrists and pulled them away. 

There were hushed grumbles of “get her,” and “hold her” and “just throw her.”

Her vision cleared and she realized it was Nick and Stephen who were holding her wrists while the Dauntless-born punched at her ribs and stomach. Everything in her body tensed as she braced her back against the wall and lifted her legs. She shoved both feet into the Dauntless-born, and thrust with all she could. 

He stumbled backwards, and his footing slipped on the wet stone ledge and he slid right over the edge, into the dark abyss below.

——

The maintenance tunnels on the west side of the chasm had been closed for years. An electrical fire long ago had caused their closure, and only recently were efforts placed in cleaning them up to be reopened. Dauntless was growing, and would continue to do so. The compound was going to need to expand. 

Eric and Max had put it into motion, and Eric frequented the tunnels to check on the progress. The faint shouting had caught his attention, and he shoved his shoulder into the heavy metal door, to investigate. His eyes darted across the chasm, and his brow furrowed as he tried to make out the unfolding scene.

Five initiates seemed to be fighting, four against one. Eric recognized Ashton Blake instantly, with his neon green hair. His father had died during the uprising. The others, Eric couldn’t make out. At least, not until Ashton’s body doubled over from a blow to the stomach, and then slipped off the edge and down into the dark chasm below. His screams and cry for help were quickly silenced by the rushing water.

It took Eric a second for his brain to comprehend what he just witnessed, but the moment his eyes darted back up to the struggling initiates, his body kicked into gear. 

The other three initiates were struggling to drag her to the edge, no doubt in hopes she would follow Ashton to his watery grave. Treya was fighting with all that she could, but the three were slowly creeping her closer.

“Treya!” Eric knew his voice would never reach her over the rushing chasm water, and so he ran up the stone ledge. There was a bridge to the other side; above him. He wasn’t sure if he could make it in time. There was no time to question it. He ran.

Up the slippery stone stairs, around a corner, up more stairs, and again more stairs. Finally the bridge. The bridge was the same one he had once threatened to drop initiates from. The difference was that he never really would have, he just needed initiates to understand that Dauntless never give up; they keep fighting.

Treya was fighting; she wasn’t giving up, but she was outnumbered.

Across the bridge, to the other side, down the stairs, more stairs, around a corner, down more stairs.

There were three initiates now, and they were still, looking over the chasm. They heard his boots thudding as he ran, and they were quick to scatter like cockroaches. He was close enough now that he could make out Michael, Nick, and Stephen, as they slipped around a corner and safely away from him.

Eric came to a stop on the stone ledge. “Treya?” His voice boomed, but there was a subtle concern in it. He looked across the chasm. She wasn’t with the other three. She couldn’t have escaped, they would have followed her. Did she fall? Eric didn’t want to think about it, but it seemed to be the only explanation for her disappearance. No one comes back from the chasm. The chasm takes all.

A hand reached over the edge of the wet stone ledge and grabbed Eric’s boot, and he nearly jumped in surprise. “Treya!” Eric reached down and grabbed her hand, helping her climb her way back up onto the ledge.

Her face was flushed, and her breathing was labored as she pulled herself to the safety of the ledge. She stayed on her hands and knees, not ready to stand after almost falling to her death.

Eric pulled her further away from the chasm edge, like a rag doll. He looked her over quickly. Her shirt was ripped, showing red bruises on her sides. Her hands had matching red bruises, and were covered in dirt. Her fingers were bleeding from clawing her way up the side of the chasm. She was shaking. He put a finger under her chin and raised her head to look at him, “look at me.”

She obliged, panting and shaking.

Her lip was busted open, and Eric ran his thumb gently over it, wiping away the blood. A bruise was forming under her left eye, over a bloody cut on her cheekbone.

“How?”

She pulled her face from his hand, “I caught the ledge,” she managed between gasps. He stayed quiet, letting her continue when she was ready, “I just reached out and grabbed the ledge.”

Eric looked her over again, noticing the long red scrape down her forearm. She must have gained it when she stopped her fall. “Those three will be punished,” he growled as a surge of anger coursed through him.

“Why,” Treya almost seemed annoyed as she rolled herself over to sit with her back against the stone wall. 

“They pushed you,” he growled, the anger showing in his eyes.

“You don’t know that,” Treya winced as she leaned her head against the wall, “you didn’t see it.”

“I don’t need to,” he snapped at her, and she glared at him.

Her eyes closed slowly as her breathing steadied, “you can’t prove it.”

He growled, but dropped the conversation when Treya finally pulled herself to her feet with a wince.

Treya took a step and winced again.

Eric wrapped an arm around her gently, “come one, let’s get you cleaned up.”

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