Chapter One
Shhh
The only thing I can hear is the sound of the blood dripping through my fingers and sizzling on the live coals.
Shhh
It is truly amazing that a room full of people can be so completely silent.
Shhh
It must come as an enormous shock to them all. I am the stereotypical Erudite girl. My brother was initiated into Erudite five years ago, and my parents before him, and my grandparents before them, and so on. There have been no transfers in my family for many generations. I can see the disappointment scrawled across their faces from where I stand, and the seething anger masked just below it.
Shhh
Finally, the blood flow slows. I didn't mean to, but I must have cut my hand deeper than I thought. I clutch my red fingers to my chest and hurry back to my seat. As they call out the names of the other initiates to choose their factions, I can't help but think: I am not Chole Larson, the Erudite. Not anymore. I am Chole, the Dauntless initiate, and there is no going back.
Before I know it, I have joined a group of Dauntless and, following the example of the other initiates, begin running. I have no idea where we are going, or what we are doing, but one thing is sure: I am going to die. Why did I join Dauntless again? I have to keep reminding myself. I must get over my fears. I must get over my fears. I try to stop thinking, to just go with the flow and run, but for an Erudite who's done nothing but think her whole life, that proves to be quite the difficult task.
By the time we reach the train tracks, I am breathless from running and my feet already hurt. I hope we won't have to do this too often.
Then I hear it. The sound of the train rushing towards us. And now I know what we're doing here. They expect us to jump on this train, while it's moving. I glance around at the other initiates. The Dauntless-born seem confident. That is to be expected, they have probably been hopping trains since the time they could walk. Some of the other transfers look nervous, but I'm sure none are as terror-stricken as myself.
But then there is no more time to think. The other initiates have rushed by me to get on the train. The panic is like nails in my feet. What if I don't make it? I force myself to move by telling myself that the probability of me making it onto the train is greatly increased by actually trying. I run beside the metal beast, breathing labored, and stretch out my hand. I grasp the handle on the side of the open car, but I can already feel the tugging in my feet. I won't make it. The other initiates look down at me from the car, some calling out to me, encouraging me, others stare in scornful silence. When I have given up hope and am accepting the fact that the last thing I will see will be the wheels of the train as they run me over, a hand stretches out a clasps tightly on my forearm. I am wrenched, inch by inch, into the car.
As I lay on the floor of the train, breathing heavily, I feel a throbbing in my arm where the person pulled me in. Though I know I will be bruised, I am nothing but grateful. I open my eyes slowly and see a hand stretched out in front of me. I take the offered assistance and stand, looking at the person who saved my life.
She is an Amity girl (which explains why she was so quick to help me), tall and strong-looking, with chin-length brown hair falling into her eyes. She quickly brushes the hair out of her eyes and gives me a wide smile. "You alright? I thought for sure you'd be toast." She laughs a little, and I can't help but like her immediately. While everyone else in Dauntless is intimidating, she seems nice enough.
I give a sheepish smile. "Yes, thanks for helping me. My name's Chole."
She laughs some more, the sound bubbling from her lips easily. "Geez, you don't have to be so formal. I'm Reese." She sits down and I slide into place next to her. I look down at my hands and see that they are bright red and some of the skin was ripped from the palms from trying to hold onto the moving train. I rub them together to try and make them stop stinging. Reese glances at me and gives a sad smile. "It's none of my business, but you should try to toughen up a little in the next couple of days. Initiation is dangerous. I heard that not everyone makes it out."
"Yes, well, thank you for your vote of confidence." It is clear that she doesn't think I'll last must longer. "I thought the Amity were supposed to be nice," I joke.
She laughs and turns to face me. "Yeah, well why do you think I switched out?" She pauses then, and looks more serious. "I didn't mean to scare you or anything you know. I just meant, us transfers, we need to stick together, right? I hear it's pretty stiff competition."
I become more concerned at this. Competition? What competition? "Where did you hear that?"
"Oh, from my brother. He transferred to Dauntless last year. He didn't pass initiation." She waves her hand like it's nothing, but I can tell that she wants to change the subject. Luckily, there is a commotion coming from the other initiates to distract us. I hear worried murmurs coming from the transfers especially.
"We have to jump...?"
"To a building..."
"We're so high up..."
Before I have time to fully process the meaning of their words, some of the Dauntless-born initiates have already begun to jump. Now the pieces of the puzzle are starting to click together. They aren't going to stop the train. Trying to jump onto a moving train is difficult enough, but getting off is a whole different story. I have done the math, and it's considerably more dangerous. Before I have time to freak myself out further, Reese grabs my hand. "Stick together, right?" I give her a small smile and am about to say 'on three?' when she jumps, pulling me with her.
I am almost certain that I will drag her down, that the unexpected dead weight will throw her off. She lands on the edge of the roof, but I continue to swing. The concrete wall rushes to meet my face, but I instinctually throw my legs out in front of me, stopping myself. I now hang by only my arm from the side of a building. I don't know exact dimensions of this building, but I know that it's high, higher than I have ever been without being safely enclosed within walls. I feel the deathly hand of panic gripping my chest, and I know that it's only a matter of time before I completely lose it. I start up a mantra, repeating to myself: Don't look down. Don't look down. Over and over again, I say it in my head. I can't resist one tiny peek, though. I glance down for merely a second, and am overcome with a sense of nausea. Oh, please, God, don't let me throw up now. It's bad enough that I was the only initiate who didn't make it onto the roof. I feel like I am a million stories up in the air, and I'll never get back down.
Then, the same steady hand that pulled me onto the train starts hauling me over the edge of the roof. My feet immediately scrabble at the wall and with our combined efforts, I make it to safety. I suck in shallow breaths and try to calm myself while Reese laughs. "Scared of heights, are we?"
I turn to glare at her. "No! A fear a heights is illogical," I snap. In a quieter voice, I mumble, "A fear of falling from said heights, however, is completely rational." Apparently, my death stare is not very intimidating, as Reese chuckles on. I stand and push my glasses up my nose. "Why did you do that? You could have... warned me at least!" She must have known I would drag her down, she let me dangle from the side of a building like that on purpose. I didn't know Amity girls could be so cruel.
"Please," she says rolling her eyes. "If you had it your way, we would still be on that train. I knew if we waited any longer, we'd never get off, so I jumped. Sue me." She sounds sarcastic, but I know the malice isn't genuine. We smile at each other and turn to find out what we're going to be doing next. I pray that it will be easier than this, but I don't think it will. I get the feeling that it's going to be an uphill battle from here.