Bang bang bang. A burst of energy flows through me. My mom is finally here. She likes to visit me during Abnegation initiation. I go down the hallway of my house.
Since no new initiates chose Abnegation except me, I have the whole dorm place to myself. I know, sad. I don't have any friends, or my brother. But I realized my
brother and I weren't close anyways. After he left for Erudite, I haven't had any problem getting over him. Like they say, faction before blood. I have been doing
great with Abnegation initiation, and tomorrow I "graduate". That's why my mom is bringing dinner for us. To celebrate. Although she doesn't call it a celebration
because that's selfish of me. It would mean that I am celebrating myself. My dad is home drunk again. He's been doing that lately ever since my brother chose
erudite. My mom visits me often because she wants to stay away from him. I've noticed the bruises on her face. I ask to help but she tells me to not get involved. It's
frustrating.
"I'm coming!" I yell to the door. I open it and see an unfamiliar face. He is wearing black clothes and has deep blue eyes. He's quite built for his age,
maybe 17 or 18, and his hair is cut like an Abnegation man would cut his.
"Hello, do I know you?" I ask, trying to be polite. I hear a loud bang from outside and a scream. My heart sinks and I feel myself go pale.
"Oh my gosh, I need to go help them!" I stress, pushing him out of the doorway. I see 're dead, two Abnegation are dead. "Do you know anyone else around here
that I could help?" He asks in a serious tone. I can barely hear him. All I can think is if he's going to shoot me or not. How selfish I am. "Who are you?" I ask in a
more demanding tone. "No time. I'm trying to help just tell me where I could find people I could help." He says, annoyed. I point to my parent's house. He tells me to
keep close and stay down. He has a big gun in his hand, and two other ones in his belt. We walk into my parents house.
"Mom! Dad! Are you here?" I yell, begging for an answer.
"Honey?" comes a scratchy voice from upstairs. I run up there leaving the strange man behind. Mom. The scene is awful. She's hovering over my dad's dead body,
covered in his blood. No, in her blood.
"Mom, you're hurt!" I cry, assisting her wound. She has a gunshot in her side. She's lost most of her blood. The boy comes upstairs. When he sees us, he scratches
the back of his neck. It looks like he's about to deliver some bad news.
"We need to go. Dauntless soldiers are right behind us." I look at my mom.
"Leave. I'm not. Not without my mom." I say.
My mom smiles and whispers, "Be brave Beatrice. I believe in you." Those were the last words out of my mom's mouth. I try to hold back tears. I bite my tongue and
sniff. After a deep breath, I know we need to go.
"We need to go." The boy repeats and starts heading down stairs. I follow, and soon we are out of the house. Adrenaline is running through me like electricity. We run
to the train tracks. I hesitate. The train is slowing down and the boy hurls himself in. I don't do the same. Instead he grabs my hand and pulls me on. I look at all the
grey houses go by, like a grey blur, and soon I'm looking at the marsh.
"What's going on?" I ask the boy, thirsty for answers. Answers on why my parents are dead, and why I'm on a train with some strange boy.
"Erudite. They have been planning on overthrowing the government, and that means ruling out Abnegation. They didn't have a strong army, so they injected all the
Dauntless with a simulation, to kill Abnegation people." He said, so quick I had to go over it again in my head to process what he said.
"Wait, then why aren't you affected?" I ask, curious. "I used to be afraid to say this, but not anymore. I'm not necessarily Divergent, but I don't react to the serums. I
tend to manipulate them." He answers. Interesting. He's Divergent, just like me. It was silent for a long time, until he broke it. "So, your name is Beatrice? Mine is Four, uh- Tobias." He says, with a smile.
"That's my name. Except, you could call me Tris. Wait so, your name is Four, or Tobias?" I raise an eyebrow, confused on what to call him. "People call me Four, but
you can call me Tobias." he looks out the train door intensely, as if searching for something.
"So, Tobias, where are we getting off?" I ask, because we have been on
this train quite a while.
"Whenever it's safe." He says.
PAGE BREAK *****************
I try to match everyone's movements. If I don't, Eric will find out and kill me. There's no sugar coating it. I knew something was weird when
Eric started injecting us with a serum. Ever since Erudite began regularly showing up to Dauntless, I began to worry. Now, it seems like
they have injected everyone with the serum, and are using us. The Dauntless leaders are using their own faction to kill. Not to protect. It's
madness. We come to a stop. Zeke is in front of me, and he's picking up a gun. I pick up a gun too, trying to keep from shooting Eric in the
head and stopping this. I know that's too good to be true, so I withhold myself from doing it. My face is usually serious, so I have no trouble
doing that. It's my low eyebrows and wide eyes, I look serious 24/7. Suddenly light hits my face, and I realize we are walking towards the
train. Everyone hops on robotically, so I do the same. We are heading towards Abnegation. I finally figured it out. This is what Erudite was
planning. To overthrow the government. To overthrow Abnegation. My heart sinks down, making me feel like I'm about to throw up. We are
getting off the train. Abnegation's are walking around, completely unaware that Dauntless are about to kill them. I want to yell and warn them,
but I know I can't. I have to resist the urge. I close my eyes when the gunshots go off. When the Abnegations fall to the ground. I quickly get
off the train and conduct a plan. The initiates, I think. They have to be saved. Then they will show me where to go after that. Since I'm a
former Abnegation I know exactly where it is. I am in front of the pack, and I yell to the people to find a safe place to hide. Hopefully that
helps. I knock on the door, loudly and rapidly. I hear footsteps and a voice, but I'm drowning. That's what my ears feel like right now. As if
I'm under water. A girl opens the door, and suddenly I'm not under water anymore. She got me to focus, I don't know how. She's beautiful
though. I mean in her own way. She has a petite body and long, brown hair. Her nose slopes down so it looks like a hook, just like mine.
She has beautiful green eyes. Her body is small and thin, but it suited her.
"Hello, who are you?" She asks, her face looking a bit alarmed. A gunshot went off outside and then another.
"Oh my gosh, I need to help them!" She yells, shoving me out of her way. She's not very strong,but I let her through. The Dauntless soldiers had already left. Her
face goes pale when she sees them dead. I want to go comfort her, but I resist the temptation. Instead, I ask,
"Do you know anyone else around here that I could help?" Her eyes become wide, like she remembered something. She points to a house across the street. I tell her
to stay close and stay down. She gets the hang of it. We open the door and she immediately screams,
"Mom, dad! Are you here?" A soft, scratchy voice comes from upstairs. She runs up there. This is her parents home. I decide to stay downstairs and guard. Give them
the space they need. I spot Dauntless soldiers coming our way, and I know we need to get out of there. I go upstairs to warn the girl and her parents. When I come
upstairs, it's an uncomfortable moment. I don't know how to comfort people, so I just scratched the back of my neck and told them we need to go. "Leave. I'm not.
Not without my mom."
She says, like there's no changing her mind. Like she's made her decision and nobody can persuade her to do anything else. Why does
she have to be so Then her mom, with a gunshot in her side, tells her, "Be brave Beatrice. I believe in you." I can tell the girl, Beatrice, is
trying not to cry. She's trying hard to stay strong, and to be honest I think it's a good idea. Weakness is not something you want to show at this moment. I remind
her we need to go. She nods and follows me downstairs. We head toward the train. I have taken on a mission to protect this girl and I am determined to fulfill it.