Chapter 19: Four

Leaving Zeke’s late on Visiting Day, Four cuts through the Pit, hears a scream, and sprints to the initiate barracks. He finds Christina on the floor with a butter knife lodged in her eye. He keeps her still, directs Lynn to fetch Shauna, tells Will to notify Max, and orders Uriah to hold everyone until leadership is informed. Spotting Peter in the shadows, Four carries Christina out as Shauna stabilizes her head.

At the hospital, an Erudite doctor reports Christina’s eye cannot be saved; an implant is attached and her eyelid is stitched shut. Eric arrives to “offer sympathies,” arguing she can’t continue initiation and will fall below the cut. Four pushes back, but Christina, shaken and exhausted, declares she no longer wants to be Dauntless and asks for help leaving.

Four offers an alternative: a factionless safe house. With Shauna’s illicit ambulance ride and supplies, Four escorts Christina across the abandoned district. Inside the hidden facility, factionless crowd them and a young guard aims a needle gun at Four. He disarms her and defuses the immediate threat.

In the charged silence, Tris appears across the room and recognizes Four. She offers to fetch Evelyn, signaling a fragile path forward for Christina’s refuge and deepening the connection between Dauntless and the factionless through Four and Tris.