"Who wants to go first?" Four ask, standing in front of the door that leads to the simulation room. People look around at each other. No one wants to face their nightmares this early in the morning. It's barely eight o'clock in the morning and a chill is in what seems to be in every corner of the underground Dauntless compound. I want to just cuddle with a warm blanket. The last thing I want to do is go into a simulation.
"I thought I'd let some of you get the simulation over with, but if no one wants to go, I'll just go by the rankings." Everyone is silent. I stand up. Four's right. If I get it over with, I can go back to the dorm before too many people get there. I walk to the Four. "Ready, Tris?" My eyes roll in response. He shuts the door behind him and begins to get the serum set up. I stand by the door and watch him mess with the computer. "Sit down." He orders, without looking at me.
Slowly, I walk over to the metal chair in the center of the room. Just looking at it makes me feel cold. As I lay back, a shiver is sent through my body causing me to jump up. Four turns to look back at me. "It's freezing!" I rub my hands over my bare arms that are covered in goose bumps. He chuckles slightly then turns back to the computer. "Something's interrupting the signal," he mumbles to himself. "I'll be back. I've never had this happen before." Before I get the chance to ask him anything, he hurries out the back door.
Curiosity takes over me. Something's not right. Four's smart. He's monitored these simulations probably hundreds of times. He should know how to fix it. What if it's my fault that the simulations aren't working? Could my Divergence be messing up the computer? Someone could find out. Then what? I slump down in the corner and wait anxiously for Four to return.
I bring my knees to my chest, in an attempt to keep my arms warm. Out of all the clothes Christina made me get, why did I put on this shirt with thin straps today? Wearing an Abnegation robe sounds very nice right now. Maybe I'm just getting sick. That would explain the cold.
Four burst through the door and heads back over to the computer. Eric shortly follows him. "What is she doing in here?" He shoots me a glare before watching Four work on the computer. "She was going to go first." Four responds. After minutes of Four typing quickly on the computer screen he turns back. "Nothing's going to work. The signal comes from Erudite. If that's down, none of the computers in the city will work." He explains to Eric. Eric places his hands on his head and sighs.
"Tris," I jump at my name. "Get out of here. We need to talk." I nod quickly as Eric holds the door open for me to leave. Everyone's eyes turn to me as I walk back to my spot I was originally sitting at. "What happened in there?" Christina whispers urgently. Uriah, Will, Marlene, and Al move closer to me. "Something wasn't working with the computers." I reply. "Why was Eric in there?" Uriah asks. I shrug. "I'm not sure. Four went to find out why it wasn't working, then came back with Eric."
We wait in silence to see what will happen next. The walls are soundproof, so we hear nothing coming from the room at the end of the hall. The door opens and Four walks out first. "Good news and bad news. Bad news is a snow storm blocked the signal out for the simulations. So, we will have to postpone the rest of Stage Two for probably a day, until the snow melts a bit. Good news is, we have made other plans for the day. Go put something warmer on and be back here in three minutes."
"We expect you to be prepared for any type of weather conditions. That's why we are using this opportunity to make sure you are ready. Follow me." Four leads us through a series of hallways I've never been. "The trains are all shut down today." He announces. Four has led us to another exit of the compound.
Cold flakes of snow blow in my face as we walk out. The snow rises above my boots and I need to squint because the reflection of light off the snow is so bright. I walk quickly, leaving foot prints behind in the snow. It rarely snows this hard. The last time I remember it snowing this much was when I was little. We spent the day handing out warm soup and blankets to the factionless. I can almost guarantee my parents are doing the same thing today that we did the last snow.
Suddenly an icy cold chill is sent down my back. Snow drips down my neck. I hit at my neck, trying to get the cold wetness off. Peter and his crew laughs behind me. "Like the cold, Stiff?" Peter smirks. Before I can think of a response, another clump of snow comes and smacks him right in the face.
Molly backs him up and tosses more snow at the person behind me. The snowball whizzes past me and hits Four on the back. He stops in his tracks. All noise stops as Four looks back at Molly who is now standing completely still. He packs a large clump of snow together and sends it flying towards her. She doesn't have time to get out of the way. It hits her directly in the nose. Pieces of the snow burst away from the impact of the throw.
Before I know it, snowballs are flying everywhere from each direction. I run down the snow covered road to escape the snowy fight. Four runs too, laughing. I decide to join the fun and pick up snow. I toss it behind me, not looking at who it hits. Uriah jogs up next to me laughing. "What was that for?" I smile and shrug. "Hey Four! Where are we going anyway?" Uriah shouts out. "Millennium." He responds, still laughing.
The group of initiates jogs in time. Someone occasionally throws a snowball, to continue the fight. By the time we reach Millennium, my hair is wet and cold from the snow.
I haven't really been to Millennium. We tended to stay away from Erudite as much as possible. I can see why the Dauntless would come here though. It's full of sculptures, which were originally meant as art, they may climb on. Is that what we're doing?
We stop in a field that I assume is grass under the snow. Above it is a metal, web like structure. It forms a tent above us. In the front of the field is what looks like a stage. Curved pieces of metal explode out from it. Four stands in front of our group.
"We're going to give you a slight break today. You're allowed to do anything you may like, but you must stay within Millennium. No going inside. The purpose of this is to get adapted to all types of conditions. After initiation, if you find yourself as a guard, you'll be protecting the city no matter what the weather is like." Four turns away and walks to the edge of the field, ignoring us all.
"Snowball fight!" Someone, I think a Dauntless-born initiate, yells out. People around me pack together chunks of snow before the throwing begins. I join them and create as many snowballs as I can. Christina is the first one to throw. Her snowball hits Will in the shoulder. Her throw ignites everyone else. Snow flies everywhere. A cold snowball hits me on the back. I laugh and throw one hard at Peter. My aim isn't perfect, but I manage to hit his leg.
I pick up another one and try to hit a Dauntless-born initiate who is running across the field. The snowball hits someone else who I don't recognize instead. I giggle to myself and run away. While I stand by the front near the stage, through the row of trees I spot something shining. "Christina! Uriah!" I shout to get their attention.
Will, Christina, Al, Marlene, and Uriah come running toward me. The snowball fight still goes on around us. "What is it?" Al asks urgently. "Look! Let's go!" I point towards my discovery. They follow me around the trees and through the thick snow. "Oh, that's just an old sculpture." Uriah explains, clearly uninterested. It's shaped like a large bean. Snow coats the top of it. "Dare you to try and climb it!" Christina urges Will forward. "That's impossible! The angle is too large and it has no friction." He talks Christina's idea away.
"Come on, let's go dump snow on Peter, Molly, and Drew. It will be fun." Al suggests. Suddenly I'm happy I chose Dauntless. I know I made the right chose. This is freedom. I've made friends here. I'm able to have fun here. I will pass initiation. Then this perfect life will be mine permanently.
AN: This was just an idea I got the other day. I was in Chicago for Spring Break and it was snowing. The Bean had snow all over the top of it. Everything looked incredible. Chicago is such an extraordinary city!
I loved the Divergent movie last week! This has been such an amazing month! Towards the beginning of the month I met Christian Madsen (Al) and Ben Lloyd Hughs (Will)! They were both so nice and amazing! I think I'm going to see Divergent again today!
As always, I do not own the characters or Divergent.
Thank you so much for reading! Please leave a review! I love all my readers! They make me so happy!
Have a great day!
-Em