What am I doing, I thought to myself. I knew if I didn't do this right, I would die I have to kill him, but what can I do? I knew what the only option was, and I took it.
(A few days earlier)
Amity is so boring, I thought to myself as I made my way down to the Hub for my Aptitude Test.
"See you soon," My father said.
Good luck with that, I thought. Do these people even know I don't have friends? I'm a good shot, no doubt about that. When my father takes me out to pick apples, I shoot the stem with an arrow. He never realizes it though, and that's a good thing.
|%|
When I finally got to the Hub, everyone else was there. We walked in.
"Do you know what's happening back there," I asked the person beside me. He was Erudite.
"No," He replies. We don't talk after that.
|%|
I walk into the room. Abnegation, who else? I thought.
"Hello," I say.
"Please sit down."
I suddenly notice a chair in the room. I sit down.
"I am going to put you under the simulation," She said. She handed me a vile filled with a blue liquid.
"What is this," I asked.
"Drink it," She ordered. I did.
|%|
It had to be a dog, I think as the beast gets closer to me. Good thing I picked the knife, I thought. The dog got so close I could feel it's breath.
"Puppy," I heard a little girl say. The dog turned toward her, But I don't let good people die. Ever. I lunged at the dog. "You should DIE," I scream to the dog, my knife plunging into it's throat.
|%|
A bang sounded in the distance. Gunshot, I thought. I got onto the bus that was waiting for me. A man pointed to a picture that looked very familiar.
"Do you recognize this man," He asked me.
"No." I say firmly.
"You cold save me if you do. I'll ask again. Do you recognize this man?"
"No."
|%|
I woke.
"Your results were inconclusive."
"What does that mean," I asked.
"You are Divergent. However, you can't tell anyone, it's dangerous."
I nodded.
|%|
Divergent, I thought as I went back to Amity, the orchards ripe with apples. I had ruled out Amity. My parents should know I wan't peaceful or friendly. I laughed a little. Dauntless would be better. I thought. I had my choice.
|%|
"Sean Ride," The Dauntless leader said. I walked forward. The blue lights above me shined as the knife entered my hand. I glided it across my hand, and positioned it over the coals. I am Dauntless.
|%|
The Dauntless are free. Once we were outside the Hub, the sunlight on my skin, I stopped. I heard the train coming. Time to jump. I thought. I broke into a run, and jumped.
|%|
For a moment all I felt was air. My feet hit the train. I was on. One Candor didn't make it. Sorry you weren't good enough.
"What took you so long Four-Eyes," I ask the Erudite next to me. I pick up Dauntless slang fairly quick.
"You made the strangest transfer, Sean. Amity to Dauntless. Never heard of it."
"It happens. Some Dauntless choose Amity."
"You have a point. Bus statistics show that less then one percent of initiates are from what Erudite call opposite factions."
"Such as?"
"Abnegation and Amity to Dauntless, Dauntless to Abnegation or Amity, Erudite to Candor, And Candor to Erudite."
"So I see," I said.
"We're getting off," One of the initiates shouts.
"See you later, Erudite." I say before jumping off into a free-fall.
|%|
My feet hit the roof below me, and I stumbled out of position, and onto my knees, scratching them. "Curse the roof," I said. The Erudite, Nick, had landed on his feet.
"At least I landed on my feet."
"Shut up."
"Hey! Check this out," I heard an initiate scream.
We all came over the edge of the roof. Below it there was a hole big enough for one person to jump in at a time.
"Who do you think should jump first?"
"Move," Nick said, and he jumped into the hole.
"I'm going next, no questions asked," I said.
The initiates parted. I jumped. What's there to be afraid of?
|%|
"Who are you," A voice says.
"S..." I stop right after the first letter.
"Second jumper-"
"If you dare say anything I'll hurt you. Just because I'm from Amity doesn't means I'm peaceful. In fact, it's quite the opposite," I say before him. The lights went up.
"Welcome to Dauntless."
|%|
"There are three stages to initiation. Stage one is primarily physical. Stage two is primarily emotional, the third is primarily mental," our instructor, Four, says.
"For the first part of stage one, you'll learn to fire a gun."
Sounds like shooting an arrow, I thought. The guns were laid out in front of us. I took one.
"Watch this, Erudite," I say to Nick as I raise the gun. I fire, and the bullet goes straight through the center.
"That should be physically impossible for an Amity transfer to do."
"Well, I just did it. Four," I call. I wanted to show him the shot that I could do.
"What," He asked when he came over.
"Watch. You see that target right there," I asked him. He nodded. I took aim, and fired. The bullet goes through the center.
"Were you some Dauntless that switched to Amity and back? That's incredible!"
I laughed. "No, I'm Amity switched Dauntless. Thank you for the compliment."
"Keep up the work you're doing now, and you'll get in without a problem."
I went back to shooting. There's power in having a good shot. It scares people.
|%|
With training done, I went to get a tattoo.
"I want a wolf." I heard the Erudite transfer, Nick was his name, say.
"Wolves are dauntless," I say. "I like them."
"How wold you know? You were an Amity transfer."
"So?" I sat down in a chair. "Give me a raven. I'd like it on my back, and I want it big."
|%|
"That hurt," I said as me and Nick left the tattoo parlor.
"I bet it did. That raven is huge. Nice flaming wings though.
"My touch. It represents my father. I wanted to burn him sometimes."
We laughed at the statement. "So now what?"
"Shoot at each other?" I said.
"Not going to happen, Ace."
"Ace," I ask, confused.
"You're a good shot. It fits."
|%|
When I woke up for training, I rushed to the room.
"Why are you so happy?" Nick asked me.
"Four told us we were playing capture the flag!"
"With what?"
"Paintball guns," I say.
|%|
I jumped onto the train. This was going to be fun.
"It had to be paintball guns," I here an initiate say. He had a silver and green snake on his arm. Note to self. Don't go near him.
"Everyone off," Four said. I jumped.
|%|
"I want Sean," Four said.
"Call me Ace," I say as reach him.
After the teams are set, I try to talk strategy.
"I have an idea. Let's hide in the trees."
"What," The initiate with the snake said. "That's crazy!"
"It's not that crazy. It's been noted that people don't look up to much," Nick said.
"I'm with Ace," Four said.
"What about the other team's flag," An initiate asks.
"Got it covered," I say.
"What are you going to do, climb the Ferris Wheel right there?"
"That was my plan."
"You're crazy."
"No, I'm Dauntless."
|%|
"I got the location," I scream down.
"Well, get down here and tell us," Nick said.
"Everyone get ready to catch me!" The Dauntless huddled together, and I jumped.
|%|
"Everyone ready," Four asked.
"Yep," Some Dauntless said.
"All right. Ace, you go first."
I walked silently through the marsh. This is going to be fun, I thought.
|%|
"Well, maybe you should go," Eric screamed.
"All right, I will!"Snake screamed.
Snake and I had never been friends. Not since we met. Now I got to shoot him with paintballs. I laughed at the thought of seeing him covered in paint.
"Hey Sean," I shot a paintball in the direction of the voice.
"Nice shot," Nick said as he caught up to me.
"Just so we all know this, our flag is in the open," I scream into the air. The other Dauntless came running. Just like I thought you idiots would. Nick and I ran back to our flag, then turned outwards and ran back up. Nick would guard the flag, and I would take it.
"Three."
"Two."
"One."
"NOW!" The flag was in my grasp. I took it.
"Nice job, Ace."
"Thanks. Though It was you who blocked the others."
"Hey Ace," Four said.
"What? Did my rank go up, or am I still in first?"
"I'm not allowed to say. I was going to congratulate you."
"On what," I ask.
"Your strategy. We blasted the other team until they decided to look up. Which was about ten minutes or so after we started shooting."
I laughed. "I told you it would work."
|%|
Once we were back in the compound, it was past six.
"You want to shoot some more," Nick asked me.
"I think I've shot enough people with paint, Nick."
"Okay. I'm getting another tattoo."
"Of what?"
"How about you and I get aimers?"
"What?"
"Have you seen a gun scope?"
"Those things that help you aim at the other person's head?"
Nick laughed. "Yeah, something like that. What's in them."
"I get it. Wait, for what?"
"To show we're friends, what else?"
"Let's do it."
|%|
After the tattoo, I decided that I should get some sleep.
"Save me, Sean."
"Huh? Who are you?"
"You don't remember me, do you," The voice asked.
"Tell me!"
The figure turned.
"Luke."
"You never cared. You always tried to lie and fight."
"I wasn't Amity! I never could be!"
"You and I were born in Amity, Sean. You betrayed me, and your family."
"Stop."
"You betrayed me, and you didn't think about it!"
"Stop it!"
"You should die."
"STOP!"
|%|
I woke. It was the middle of the night. Beads of sweat dropped from my hair. Nightmare. That's all it was.
|%|
"Hey Ace," Nick said.
"What," I asked. I was still shaking.
"What's wrong with you?"
"Nightmare," I said.
"Oh. I had a nightmare when I got here."
"Mine was probably worse. My brother was in it."
"That's never good."
"It might show up in stage two or three."
"Let's go."
|%|
"All right. Stage two works by letting you see you fears. Most of you will have between ten to fifteen fears."
"What's the lowest number of fears someone has had," Nick asked.
"In recent years, four."
Four? Oh my-
"Let's go ahead then," Four said. "Ace, would you care to go first?"
I nodded.
|%|
I was in a grey room with a table. It was barely lit. A figure stood a few feet away from me.
This isn't Abnegation, I thought.
"Save me, Sean."
"Luke."
"You and I were born in Amity, Sean. You betrayed me, and your family. Now you have to kill me."
"No. I won't do it." Dauntless may have made me brave, but I couldn't shut my emotions off.
"You have too." A knife was on the table. I piked it up. It felt sticky, like it was covered in a hard glue.
"Do it," Luke said. I threw the knife.
|%|
"What was that," Four asked me.
"What was what?"
"You threw the knife. You shouldn't have been able too. Maybe if you can hide you Divergence, you won't get killed! I'll delete this footage, but nothing else. Got it?"
"I guess."
"Go. I'll see you tomorrow."
|%|
Stage three. Four had told me I only had one fear: Killing my brother, up close. I took a breath. If this was anything like the simulations, I might as well be dead.
"Save me."
I didn't hesitate. With Nick gone, I had to prove I couldn't get attached to anything. Or anyone. I picked up the knife and put it in my pocket.
"You and I were born in Amity, Sean. You betrayed me, and your family."
"Sometimes, you need betrayal."
"You betrayed me, and you didn't think about it!"
"I did think about it. I had no choice."
"You should die."
"That's for me to decide." I came up to him.
"You were never Amity."
I drew the knife. "I am Dauntless."
