Escape to Dauntless
Summary: On the orders of his parents, Eric Coulter transfers to Dauntless to escape Jeanine's plot to kill Divergents after his older sister was killed. He falls in love with Tris Pedrad, Max's daughter and must deal with her three brothers. What Eric didn't realize is that the Divergent hunt is more widespread than he thought. Story will be mostly in Eric's POV.
Edited for typos and grammar.
Chapter 1
It's Choosing Day and this year, it's Dauntless's turn to host it. Max Pedrad, Dauntless's leader, gave the usual Choosing Day speech, followed by our motto, "faction before blood," which I don't agree with because I believe that our factions caused more division than unity in our society. It's so bad that even children will not even play with children from other factions.
Yesterday, I found out that I'm Divergent with aptitudes for Erudite, my birth faction, Dauntless and Amity, the same as my older sister Erika. Erika worked in the agriculture laboratory to help Amity to grow better crops. Two years ago, when she was 20, while driving on the way to Amity, she was killed in a car accident. Officially, it was ruled an accident, but my parents believed that she was murdered because of her Divergence.
Ever since Erika's death, my parents told me that when it is time for me to choose, that if my results are Divergent, that I should choose Dauntless. As for why they told me to choose Dauntless, they said that Dauntless gives me a better chance of defending myself against those that wanted to kill Divergents.
So, like any good Erudite dependent, I started studying more about Dauntless. My best friend Edward Myers and I learned hand to hand combat, knife throwing and marksmanship in secret. In my studies, I learned more about Dauntless. I learned about their customs, their manifesto, even the food that they are known for.
I watched the Choosing Ceremony go on before it was my turn. I saw that Max was pleased as both of his twins choose Dauntless. It was no surprised that Edward picked Dauntless, but I was a little surprised that Myra Matthews, Jeanine's daughter picked Dauntless. Traditionally, leaders' children choose their birth factions, not transfer to another faction.
A few more names were called, three Dauntless girls picked Dauntless. I saw Will Jackson, another friend of mine, picked Dauntless. Four Candor, a girl and three boys, picked Dauntless. Caleb Eaton, Evelyn Eaton's son, picked Dauntless. Six years ago, Marcus Eaton died of a heart attack and Evelyn took over Abnegation leadership.
Then it is my turn. I went up to the stage, where Max handed me the knife. I made the cut on my left hand, raised my hand over the Dauntless bowl and let my blood drop on the lit coals. I heard the Dauntless cheered as I sat down to join my new faction.
I watched as more names are called. A Candor girl picked Dauntless. When the last girl made her choice, Amity, it's time to leave.
"Listen up, my name is Max, and I am one of the leaders of your new faction. If you want to enter Dauntless, this is the way in."
"Is there water at the bottom?" Myra asked.
"You'll find out, or not," Max said. "Whose first?"
"Me, Dad," I heard a Dauntless girl said. I looked around and saw Tris Pedrad approaching the edge of the building. Gosh, she is so beautiful with her long blond hair with red streaks and three tattoos of ravens on her collarbone.
I watched as Tris went over by her father and climbed over the ledge. With one motion, she jumped without a scream and disappeared into the hole.
"My baby girl volunteered to go first, you pansycakes. Who's next or I'm calling for volunteers?" Max said.
"I'll go," I said.
I went towards the ledge, when I climbed over the ledge and jump. I screamed on my way down and heard a thud when I hit the net.
"Name?" a young Dauntless man asked as he helped me get out of the net.
"Eric," I said.
"Second jumper Eric," the young Dauntless man announced. "Welcome to Dauntless."
The rest of the initiates jumped. The Dauntless born are Uriah, Lynn, Marlene and Nita. Candor transfers are Christina, Al, Peter, Drew and Molly. Other than me, the other Erudite transfers are Edward, Will and Myra. The only Abnegation transfer is Caleb and there are no Amity.
"Dauntless born, go with Lauren. Transfers follow me," the young Dauntless man said.
"This way," a young Dauntless woman, who I assumed is Lauren motioned the Dauntless born to follow her, which they did.
"Normally, I am the head of Dauntless Investigative Services and one of your leaders, but for the next 10 weeks, I will be your instructor. My name is Tobias Pedrad."
"Tobias Pedrad, as in Max Pedrad's son?" a Candor girl asked.
"Yes, Max is my dad," Tobias said.
"So where are your brothers and sister?" the same Candor girl asked.
Tobias approached the Candor girl that won't shut up.
"What's your name?"
"Christina."
"Well, Christina, if I wanted to put up with Candor smart mouths, I would have joined their faction. The first thing that you should learn is to keep your mouth shut," Tobias said.
"Yes," Christina whispers quietly.
Tobias gave us a tour of the Dauntless compound, where he showed us the chasm and the Pit. The Pit is the center of life at Dauntless with a tattoo and piercing parlor, stores and restaurants. The chasm has a beautiful waterfall, just like Tris. I sure hope that she will go out with me. The last place that he took us is the transfer dorm.
"This is where you'll be staying for the next 10 weeks," Tobias said.
"Girls or boys?" the Candor boy named Al asked.
"Both," Tobias said.
The dorm has twelve cots and the toilets and showers are out in the open, which is not like in Erudite.
When I think about Erudite, I think about my parents and my little sister Emily. I hope that they will come to visit during Visiting Day, I really miss them.
"Get changed," Tobias said before he left the dorm. "Take your old factions clothing to the fire, where they will be burned. You're Dauntless now."
All of us changed out of our old factions clothing and put on our new Dauntless clothing. Then we took our old factions clothing and put them into the fire.
Will, Edward and I quickly befriended Christina and Al. Christina told us that Peter, Drew and Molly were practically together since birth and believed that they transferred to Dauntless together. Myra was observing our behavior and Caleb wanted to be left alone.
Dinner in the Dauntless mess hall is loud with people talking among themselves. Caleb, Edward, Will, Christina, Al and I were looking for a spot to sit when I saw a Dauntless born girl waved her hand to motion us to come sit by her, which we followed and sat down. Dinner was hamburgers, fries and chocolate cake.
"Name's Marlene," the Dauntless girl that waved her hand at us. "That's Lynn, Tris, Uriah and the bitch with the broken nose is Nita. What are your names and where you're from?"
"Christiana and this is Al, we're from Candor," Christina said.
"Eric, this is Edward and Will, we're from Erudite," I said.
"Caleb and I'm from Abnegation," Caleb said.
'What happened to her nose?" Christina asked.
"My sister Lauren punched Nita in the nose, breaking it, because she won't stop flirting with Tobias. Lauren even told her that if she catches Nita trying to flirt with Tobias again that she would toss her ass in the chasm," Marlene said.
"But Tobias needed a real woman, not your stupid sister Lauren, Marlene," Nita whined.
"When are you going to get through your thick skull that MY BROTHER is happily married to Lauren and if you keep flirting with MY BROTHER again, I'll be very happy to help Lauren toss your sorry ass in the chasm," Tris said.
"Is that true?" I asked.
"Yeah, ever since we were 14, Nita always been trying to flirt with Tobias. He even went to Candor to get a restraining order against her, but she could not even get the hint. Just before the Choosing Ceremony, Tobias been praying that she will choose another faction, but guess not," Tris said.
"Well, how does initiation works here?" Will asked.
"Well, during the 10 weeks, we spend time training in how to defend ourselves with hand to hand combat, marksmanship and knife throwing. You don't get cut due to a lower rank, but you will be sent to the fence. You do, however, join the factionless if Max believes that you're not holding up to Dauntless standards, Dauntless born or not," Lynn said.
"Initiates, stand," Max's voice boomed from the cat walk.
All the initiates, Dauntless born and transfer, stood.
"You have decided to join the warrior faction in the protection of this city. We believe in ordinary acts of bravery. Respect that, do us proud," Max said.