The flare has destroyed my family. My name's Beatrice Reytol, and I'm 8 years old.
I woke up to freezing hands on my shoulder, and I jump off the bed and land in a defensive position.
"Jak!" I screamed, socking him in the shoulder.
"Sorry, Tris! I just wanted to tell you that-", and I roll my eyes and sit down on my bed, crossing my legs. I look out the window, and see the sun so bright that you can see the dust particles outside!
"Wait a second..." I get up closer to the window, and peek through the small gaps between the wooden boards. My eyes widen, my jaw drops. Snow!
"I knew you would want to be up for this." Jak says, smirking. That's when I hear yelling, and screaming coming from across the streets. My brother and I both instinctively dive for the gun hidden under the dresser, and we clunk heads.
"Stay hidden", Jak hisses in my ear as he wins the gun. Jak's my older brother, and the only person keeping me alive. He's four years older than me, but acts like the man of the house. House? I should really be saying basement. It's just an old abandoned underground bedroom. The government started bulldozing homes, neighborhoods even, in flare infected areas. They just drove straight through them, once in a while leaving remains. We live in what used to be an apartment, Or some sort of building complex. There's cranks everywhere, near the sewers, in specific buildings, ext. Mom and dad protect me from the world up there but eventually, both fell to the flare, leaving just Jak and I.
We know of a few other people that had the same idea as us. One time, Jak and I went scavenging for food and I saw a girl a few years younger than me. We made eye contact and she bolted to an underground house.
"Lizzy, get the bloody hell back here!" I heard right before that happened, assuming she had an older brother too. I've seen quick glances of this Strawberry blonde girl, being uncareful. But I've never seen what I assume is her brother, he always knows how to be sneaky. Wait, did that scream come their direction! Hopefully not, I just wish that little girl is okay.
Thud Thud, Thud Thud, Thud Thud. People walk over our house, then I hear a car whirl by. The yelling stopped, but that means that something even worse happened.
"You don't think they were.." I say slowly, popping my head out from the spot where I was hiding. Jak just shakes his head, staring down at the ground.
The week following, we heard whirling cars go by almost everyday! There were only screams once, which I can only hope is a good sign. Jak has been too protective lately to let me go outside and grab food. Therefore, we've just been eating what we have in supply. Beans, rice, soup, pasta. That night when he takes off his shirt, I see how skinny and pale he's gotten. Some of his veins have gotten darker, denser, and just gross. I try to ignore it, knowing he'll just brush it off if I say something. So I close my eyes, and listen. I used to be able to hear crickets and birds, but they've all since gone extinct from the flares. Loud thumping, things being shifted around.
"Jak?" I ask, hoping it's him.
"WHY THE HELL ARE YOU STILL HERE? MOMS DEAD. DADS DEAD. NEITHER OF US HAVE A POINT IN LIVING. THERE WILL NEVER BE A CURE TO THIS MADNESS!"
"What's gotten into to you!" I whisper shout, hoping the people from before don't hear us.
"Tris, I got the flare! Can't you see that? I love you too much to let you see this part of me. Just leave me alone, let me die! I rather die than know I'd be hurting you."
"I'll never leave. I love you, I don't care if I get the flare or not!" Tears fill my eyes, as I hear what Jak really has to say,
"Aren't you scared that I'll hurt you when I get mad?"
"No?"
"The world is filled with demons! That wicked company we've heard rumors about. The cranks who try to eat our faces! The lack of food, water, and half liveable climate conditions! There is no possible way that I'd leave you just for survival." I don't care if the bad men hear us or not, I want Jak to here me. To understand me. He's my brother, the only family I have left.
"You don't understand, do you? I am becoming one of the Cranks that want to eat off your face!". That's when I hear thumping thumping above me, footsteps!
"DOWN HERE!" He yells, giving them direction to where we are. I dove under the bed right as they kicked down the door, knowing he's going to get us both killed.
"There's a kid."
"Crud, it's already a crank." Says a lady's voice. Boom! Jak's body falls lifelessly to the floor, with blood running down his head. She takes out some scanner, and runs it over his body about a foot above. That's when the weird machine starts talking back.
"100% Divergent. 25% immune."
"D-Divergent!?" She yells.
"Ouch! Whatcha do that for?" The man who busted open the door yelps, stepping backwards toward the bed I'm under. All I see are their feet.
"We just killed a divergent kid! He's not only a little divergent, he's 100% Divergent, you son of a gun!" She rages.
My chest starts to hurt, and I feel like it's closing In on me! I just realized I'd been holding my breath the whole time. If I breathe now, they'll know exactly where I am! They start headlining out the gap where the door once was, and I gasp. I can here them outside, and the woman's voice is still enraged. God dang it, Mike! We had one job.
I crawl out from under the bed and reach for under a dresser where the guns left, and I hear voices again. I forgot my taser, go back and get it Mike!
The large bulky man and I make eye contact and I go paralyzed. He quickly grabs the taser and I can here a click.
I can't move! My entire body is buzzing, yet it fell asleep instantly! He takes out the scanner he used on Jak;
"100% Divergent. 100% Immune. Good tribute candidate." Says the automated voice.
"Get back here, Lisa! She's a three in one."
Three in one? I have no clue what that meant, but I couldnt remember much when I woke up. I was laying in a bed? It wasn't my own. It wasn't Jak's. Where am I? .
That's when a boy a little smaller than me peeks his head in through the door. That's when I remember where I am; a hospital room! All I hear is beeping, and it starts to get loud and increase. The boys eyes gape, and he disappears without a second notice. A doctor walks in and types in something on a computer, laptop, tablet thingy that she holds like a clipboard. I'm about to ask a question, but then she presses something on my I.V. and I fall back asleep.