The Consuming Fear-A Divergent Story: Chapter 19

We try evading their shots, but it’s extremely difficult.

Somehow we manage to find cover with only a few hits taken. Barely peeking over the barrier I return fire. After a moment I hear somebody curse, so I assume that I hit someone.

The joy of hitting a target is short lived since we're pinned down and it’s only a matter of time before we get swarmed. I blind-fire over the top of our cover and a triumphant feeling flows through me when I hear several more profanities come from the crowd.

"What should we do?" I ask turning to Ben.

His eyes are wide. "I-I don't know. Run for it?"

I shake my head. "That would never work; they'd just shoot us as we run." I pause and think and then lower my voice. "But maybe we should stay and fight. If there are this many of them here than the rest of our team can get their flag and defend ours easier."

He nods in understanding. "Should we split up and separate their fire?"

Before I can respond he answers his own question by sprinting out of cover and diving behind another barricade.

"Sure, let's do that then," I mutter.

Peaking around the corner, gun ready, I hear a shout and the pop of a paintball gun being fired. The projectile whizzes past my cheek, ruffling my hair slightly in the process. I quickly slam myself back into hiding.

I can't keep blind firing like this; I'll run out of ammo. I need something to make a distraction.

But what?

My free hand gropes along the ground as I keep my eyes trained over the top of my cover, just barely peeking over. Maybe if I can find a large stone, I can throw it to get their attention away from Ben and I. Even though I doubt that it will work, I can't help but feel triumphant when my hand finds something.

It’s a shoe.

A shoe? Maybe Ben lost it? Or it could be a factionless person's shoe? I suppress a shudder as my hand lightly glides along it to find a pant leg. Glancing over I find Four beside me.

I try to stifle a gasp and it comes out as a small cough.

"Four," I hiss. "When did you get here?" He opens his mouth to respond, but I cut him off. "Never mind, it doesn't matter. What should we do?"

"Hey, I can't help you with everything. But nice job on getting yourselves in a hopeless firefight." He comments.

"What? You, helping me? With everything? I've done a lot for myself, you know." I reply indignantly.

Even in the dark, I suspect he rolled his eyes.

"Fine. Whatever," I say. "Anyway, the reason we are in this firefight is to distract this part of their team, so then we'll have an advantage. Just because I'm no Erudite, doesn't mean I'm dumb."

"I never thought you were."

At that I crack a small smile.

Out the corner of my eye I see a lone person on the enemy team running towards our flag-our real flag.

Nodding towards them I tell Four to cover me and I sprint out of cover towards the attacker. Paint balls hit my lower back and high up on the back of my leg but I keep running. The person isn't a very fast runner-I can hear them breathing heavily-and I catch up to them quickly. Diving at them, I tackle them to the ground and we tumble along for a few seconds.

They groan as I end up sitting on top of his back. I know it’s a him now because of his high boy-ish voice, but who it is, I'm not sure because the sound was muffled. He lifts his head up out of the gravel and mumbles something unintelligible.

This time though, I hear his voice more clearly.

It’s Jacob.

He says something that sounds like 'get off of me', but I'm not sure because his voice is still garbled.

I don't think he knows it’s me, so I don't say anything. He tries pushing himself up-but even without my weight I don't think he could do it because of how hard he landed-and I'm right as his arms quake and fail him. I slowly remove my weight from him and he still can't get up.

A voice speaks up from the back of my mind. He may be trying to fool you, it says.

For good measure I aim my rifle at the back of his knee and fire. The sound of the paintball exploding sings in my ears as I take another shot right above his heel on the same leg. It sounds like he's trying not to cry out, but I can tell it’s not really working.

Satisfied, I run back to the firefight. There are no lights in the area, but my eyes are already adjusted so I sneak up behind the group on the opposing team. They are just wandering around the small area and most of them have their guard down. There's about five of them.

Using the skills I obtained at a young age, I quickly and deftly wander around the perimeter until I'm directly behind them.

Their shock is easy to see as I begin shooting at them. Some of them whip around and return fire, while others scatter and hide. Good thing that these guns only fire paint balls because if those were real guns I probably would be dead or dying by now as I get hit in the stomach, and collar bone. I grit my teeth and dive around the corner of a nearby building.

Peering around the corner I have no time to react as a paintball grazes my neck to explode a second later, covering my dark hair in bright neon paint and triggers a stinging sensation that burns my neck.

Who knew paint balls could hurt that much.

I hear a yell of pain, it sounds familiar but I'm not sure who it is. Darting around the corner I shoot as I run, it’s not very accurate but I get a couple a good hits.

I'm not really paying attention to where I'm going but I skid to a stop as I see a figure shrouded in shadow come closer. I know they aren't with us, so I point my gun at them and back away. That's when I notice that I'm a good couple of meters away from our small battle zone. I quickly turn and run as fear starts to creep into my find, my eyes widening and my senses going wild.

As I get closer I slow to a jog and have my weapon raised. I don't see anything, but there should be something, someone. Did I go the wrong way? Am I lost?

The material on the back of the collar of my shirt is roughly grabbed and I'm yanked backwards. I give a yell and try to struggle as I'm lifted into the air. The person, whoever it is, puts me in a headlock like the way Henry did on that first day of training.

I continue to struggle as my brain goes into a panic.

"Let go," I gravel out. Their arm is slowly starting to cut off my air supply. "Let go of me!"

The person is large and I believe is a male. All I can smell is paint and sweat. There is no way for me to tell who they are. I feel a barrel pressed to my skull.

"W-who are you?" I splutter as their grip on me tightens and I receive no answer.

All I can think is: Not again. Not again. Not again!

If I could hyperventilate, I probably would be. But instead I continue to wriggle about in their grasp, kicking and flailing. My heel connects with their shin once or twice. In response a menacing growl sounds from their throat like a feral animal.

I begin to wheeze as I bark at them to let go. And to my surprise they do. I tumble onto the cement and feel scrapes on my arms as patches of skin are torn away. There is no time for me to react as they kick my bullet wound and for the first time I really feel the extent of the injury.

All I can feel is pain as stabs of a horrible electric-like feeling travel through my nerves causing me to convulse on the ground. A large breath escapes my lungs and is quickly inhaled back as the person stomps on my ankle.

Whoever it is knows where all of my injuries are.

I try pushing myself up only for them to kick me back down. No one is here to help me. Maybe I should just let them beat me to death, at least then I wouldn't have to suffer through any more of these.

Weak! The voice in my head screams at me. Get up! Fight back!

I try to follow the simple commands but my attacker has the advantage, he had it as soon as he grabbed me.

My eyes dart around the area to see that we are behind what appears to be an abandoned building. And that's when I see it.

My paintball gun.

It’s not very far away from me; I can easily reach that distance from here. I lunge for it and scrape my entire being on the rough cement. Snatching the gun I flip onto my back and fire. Rolling over, I get up and sprint away from him, not caring where I hit him because I know I did. It should buy me at least a few seconds.

My heart pounds in my ears, but that's not the only thing. I hear him gaining on me and I will my legs to go faster.

Pain in the back of my neck; that is my warning. Even though I have not stopped running I can feel his large footsteps vibrating through the earth. A warm substance dribbles down from where something struck and I know that it’s not paint.

Before I can even worry about that, my attacker's body collides with mine and I now know how Jacob felt.

We roll over the ground a couple of feet and unfortunately his crushing weight ends up on top of my more lithe frame. I get a slight glimpse of him and I think I recognize him. But then he punches me in the throat causing me to choke and now I'm not sure. Black crowds most of my vision, I feel dazed and my body goes limp.

I want to fight back. I feel as though I could, that I should. But my body won't respond, as though it’s telling me that it’s had enough for now.

Out of the black fog and the darkness I think I see a smirk as he gets up. He surprises me as he picks me up and slings me over his shoulder. I thought he was going to leave me there for dead, for sure. But now I'm not just dazed, but I'm confused too.

Adrenaline still pumps through me, I barely feel any pain. But I do feel a few of my fingers twitch.

What is he going to do with me? Kill me? Because he could have done it already if he wanted too. Thoughts fly through my head, but one sticks in my mind.

He's going to use me to bargain with. With who or for what, I rack my brain for answers I will not find. The only logical answer I can think of, is to win capture the flag. But that feels like a really low way to get the flag.

My body feels like its full of lead and I can hardly see a thing except darkness. The only thing I have are my thoughts and I don't want to be left alone with them again.

Only things I can do are blink and slightly move a few of my fingers. My captor continues walking for a few minutes and then I hear a collective of gasps.

"Kat!" Someone says, but I can't recognize the voice since I'm still in a daze.

I try to reply to let them know that I'm okay, but I can only manage a groan.

"What did you do to her?" Another voice says, and I recognize him. It’s Four. "Let her go now."

I don't want them negotiating over me!

The person imprisoning me laughs, his whole body shakes and it rattles my teeth. His laugh sounds worse than fingernails on a chalkboard.

I have to do something, or at least try.

As he replies to Four, I slowly regain feeling throughout more of my body. But I feel groggy as my adrenaline drains out of me like gasoline being siphoned from a truck.  I blink my eyes a few times to try to push the threatening blackness back from my vision. I cannot black out.

I curl my right hand into a fist and carefully lift it. He doesn't seem to notice until I smash it down to one of his kidneys.

He doesn't holler in pain or anything of the sort, like I had hoped. Instead he swings me down like a large ax and my head cracks against the pavement.

Luckily or unluckily-I'm not sure-I'm still conscious. Pain courses through me from my head all the way to my toes and I wonder if it’s going to end. I stare upwards and see my captor pull out a second rifle.

My gun.

And he points it at my face. I stare at him, unblinking, but I still can't figure out who it is. And I doubt that it’s Henry.

A burning fills me, but it’s not pain, a new found source of energy pumps through my veins. And I feel angry.

I try pushing myself up and I can feel all eyes on me. But everyone is too stunned to help me. That's alright though. I can handle this, but that seems more like a lie right now.

Pushing myself up to my feet, he still has my gun trained on my forehead. If I can get my rifle back and actually fight back, maybe just maybe, I can get him. But my posture is slumped and I must look weak and defeated.

Taking no time to think anything through I dive at him, and for the third time tonight I tumble to the ground grappling with someone else. My fingers close around my gun and I yank with all my strength to free my weapon. He doesn't budge.

I don't let it discourage me though as I drive my elbow into his stomach and pull again. His grip had loosened and I roll backwards in a jumble of my own limbs. Without hesitation I leap back at him and slam the butt of my gun into his jaw. I repeat the action until I'm pulled away and there's a metallic taste in my mouth. Blood.

My blood.

I finally notice who is with me. There is Martin-who I'm leaning on-and Ben, they both look at me worriedly as I stare at Four as he checks out the body lying on the ground. And I realize that I just knocked my attacker out.

Breathing heavily I let Marin take most of my weight, but he doesn't seem to mind.

Thoughts swim and drown in the sea that is my boggled mind. But one thought strikes me in particular.

"The flag!" I burst out and am about to start running when I'm surrounded by the three guys. Through the renewed adrenaline panic bubbles up and I retain it.

"We lost," Ben says. "A few minutes ago the game ended because they got our flag. Somebody told the other team where our flag was hidden. I think it was the kid with the skull on his head."

At the mention of Skully's betrayal I can't help but scowl.

The three boys laugh.

"Well if you're scowling," Four says. "Then you must be okay, right?"

I nod slightly, and I feel a pinch of pain, but ignore it.

***

On the train the other team couldn't stop gloating and I saw Skully sitting with them smiling. Rage filled me and I wanted to punch that smile off his face.

Some people gave me sidelong glances, or sympathetic looks and others were talking about either what happened to me or the game. I notice Eric smirking contently and I scowl at him.

I'm not sure what to think, but I decide to let it slip my mind and try to enjoy the train ride.