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Chapter VIII. The Ferris Wheel

BEATRICE

I seem to keep having frequent nightmares of Marcus, and it didn't seem to help with seeing him yesterday. Last night, I didn't dream of him killing me, or tormenting me, but him as me. I was out of control and couldn't contain my capacity to kill. I turned into Marcus. I shake my head.

"Initiates! Meet us by the train tracks!" I look up and see Eric, Tobias, the Dauntless born, and other Dauntless members. The groans of my fellow initiates are caused by the Dauntless born flashing their flashlights everywhere and causing havoc. I meet Tobias's gaze, and we stare at each other for a few seconds. "Are you deaf, Stiff?" Eric's voice snaps me out of my trance. I look up to see the others changing. Tobias and the others leave. I exit my bed and grab a pair of training clothes. I change with the help with Christina, who is and I quote, 'Too lazy to get up off my ass and change', so she changes out in the open like the other initiates.

-o0o-

We run to meet up with the Dauntless born, Tobias, and Eric. They stand alongside the train tracks with some Dauntless members that I see hanging out with Tobias from time to time. "Grab a gun." I grab the nearest gun, still haunted by my nightmare. I hold it cautiously. The other initiates follow. Tobias, Eric, the Dauntless born, and the other members seem to already have their equipment.

"Time estimate?" Eric asks Tobias, their backs turned against us.

"Any minute now. How long is it going to take you to memorize the train schedule?" Tobias seems pretty annoyed.

"Why should I, when I have you to remind me of it?" Eric playfully shoves Tobias in the shoulder with his last comment.

We wait in silence until the train pulls up behind Tobias. He pulls his hand out for me to grab. He pulls me up, and I feel a jolt of electricity. Once I am on the train, I instantly let go and don't look at him. I hear him sigh faintly. I stand next to Christina and Will, Al across from us. The train doors close, and once everyone's inside, Tobias opens his mouth to talk, facing us with Eric.

"These guns are not real, but if shot, you will be paralyzed and feel the pain of a real bullet, however it will only last a minute." A bullet? I'm used to being shot. Marcus did it for fun.

"We'll be divided into two teams to play capture the flag. Each team will have an even mix of members, Dauntless born initiates, and transfers. One team will get off first and find a place to hide their flag. Then the second will get off and do the same." The car curves into a turn, and I grab the door for balance; Tobias doing the same.

"This is a Dauntless tradition, so I suggest you take it seriously."

"What do we get if we win?" Drew shouts.

"Sounds like the kind of question someone from not Dauntless would ask." Tobias raises an eyebrow and glances at Eric to his right. "You get to win, of course."

Eric cuts in. "Six and I will be your team captains. Let's divide up transfers first, shall we?" Tobias nods. I am pretty happy; beating Peter I am bound to be in the first few picked. I just want to be with Christina, and not Eric.

"You go first." Tobias says quietly.

Eric shrugs. "Edward."

Tobias leans against the door frame and sighs, eyes scanning us. "I want the Stiff."

I blush.

"Peter." Eric says.

"Christina."

"Molly."

"Will." Tobias bites his thumbnail. I realize his strategy; he's picking the faster initiates. Leaving the bulkier, stronger ones to Eric. However I am stronger and bulkier than Christina, why did he pick me?

"Al."

"Drew."

"Last one left is Myra, so she's with me." Eric sounds annoyed at this, but Edward looks pleased. I can't help but smile.

After Eric and Tobias choose the remaining Dauntless-born and members, we have our teams picked out.

"Your team can get off second." Eric says.

"Don't do me any favors," Tobias replies with a smile. "You know I don't need them to win."

"No, I know that you'll lose no matter when you get off."

He bites down on his lip piercings. I resist the urge to shiver. "Take your scrawny team and get off first then."

We stand and go to Tobias, and follow him out of the train. I feel large hands on my back, and Molly shoves me. I luckily catch my balance and barrel roll out of the train, landing on my feet. I stand and turn around.

She looks pissed, and I glare at her. We begin walking in some kind of formation.

"When your team won, where did you put the flag?" I see a Dauntless born talking to Tobias.

She bats her eyebrows at a terrible flirtatious act, and the way Tobias is reacting, makes me laugh. I look at Christina who seems to also notice this, and we stifle a laugh together.

"Telling you wouldn't really be in the spirit of the exercise." We seem to be walking in the direction of a…Ferris wheel? I shiver.

I hate heights.

"Come on, Six," The girl whines and throws him a flirtatious smile. She rubs her hand on Tobias's biceps—I can't be jealous because of how pathetic this is, wait did I just say I was jealous—I start to snicker with Christina, who walks next to me, at her pathetic flirting act. Tobias brushes her hand off and I can't help but feel happy. I smile.

"Navy Pier." We turn to the voice; the first jumper who failed, Uriah. "My brother was on the winning team. They kept the flag at the carousel."

"Let's go there, then." We follow Tobias who breaks out into a sprint, making us run as well. We walk across a bridge and arrive at an old rusty carousel next to a Ferris wheel.

I gulp when I notice how tall it is. Tobias sits on one of the horses and looks up. I zone out while Will grabs the flag from him and everyone starts arguing. This is getting annoying. I look at Tobias, and he shares the same look. He whistles, getting everyone's attention.

"Here's the plan, you will stay here while I climb the Ferris wheel,"

Ferris wheel?

My heart drops to my feet and I gulp.

"I will search for their flag, and when I come down, four will charge forward, while three will flank around and get the flag." We nod.

Tobias runs off toward the Ferris wheel, and I can't help but follow him.

He starts climbing the ladder and I say, "Tobias."

He looks over his shoulder. "Yes?" His voice sounds strained from hanging onto the rungs. I secure my gun strap over my shoulder to keep it from falling; I see Tobias has done the same.

"I came to find out what you are doing." I say, keeping my voice calm.

"I'm seeking higher ground, but I thought you already knew that when I was explaining." He says playfully. I smile.

"I'm coming."

"I'll be fine, I've done this before."

"Undoubtedly." The word escapes my lips without a trace of sarcasm.

He smiles, dropping his 'tough Six' act.

I climb after him. I start to slow down and my breath picks up when we descend higher and higher. "So tell me, what do you think the purpose of this exercise is? The game, I mean, not the climbing." He asks.

"Teamwork." I reply. The panic in me is growing by the second. I hope he doesn't hear the fear in my voice.

Heights give me too many bad memories.

He laughs. "Maybe not." I say quietly, as my breath hitching in my throat lowers my voice.

"Teamwork doesn't seem to be a Dauntless priority." I struggle to hold on as the wind sways my bruised, thinner, yet muscular built body around.

"It's supposed to be a priority. It used to be." I suddenly realize how close I am to Tobias. I feel safer, calmer with him here, as if we aren't climbing a hundred foot Ferris wheel.

I notice him almost miss the next rung and I realize I'm distracting him too.

"Now tell me, what do you think learning strategy has to do with…bravery?"

I take in another nervous breath. "It prepares you to act. You learn strategy so you can use it," I start to breath heavily as I look down, seeing that the other initiates look like ants.

Big mistake.

I start to breath even heavier.

"Are you all right?" I look up and see that Tobias is looking down at me with a concerned look.

I gulp. "Are you human, Tobias? Being up this high…It doesn't scare you at all?"

He looks over his shoulder, but he looks confident.

A huge gust of wind pushes my body down, and I grab Tobias's arm before I fall. My heartbeat is picking up, knowing I just nearly died. I feel the electricity I feel whenever he touches me, and he carefully places me back securely onto the ladder.

"You okay?" He asks me. I am short of breath.

"Yes." I say, my voice sounds strained.

"You're afraid of heights. How will you survive in the Dauntless compound?" I sigh. I knew he'd figure it out eventually.

"I'll try to ignore it, pretend it doesn't exist."

Good excuse, Beatrice! I'm not Beatrice anymore though, I don't know what I am.

Abnegation, Dauntless, or Divergent. He stares at me. And I stare back.

"What?" I notice my voice has gone eerily quiet, because of the lack of oxygen.

"Nothing. We're not high enough."

I gape at him.

"For God's sake, Tobias."

"You don't have to follow me."

"Yes I do." Crap.

I just had to say that. I hear him sigh and smile. I look down again and gasp in fear. He puts his hand out for me to grab and pulls me onto the ledge he's sitting at. I back away as far as I can from the ledge crouching, while he sits with his legs hanging off the ledge.

IS HE CRAZY?!

"See that?" Tobias is pointing at a faint, distinctive green light on a balcony.

I notice how close we are. My face is so close to his, that if I'd lean any further, my nose would be in his hair. I calmly breathe.

"Yeah." I smile. Without Tobias, I would have never climbed this contraption, or even go NEAR it.

"It's coming from the park at the end of the pier. At the top of that building, on the balcony. There's bound to be several people guarding inside." He says and looks at me for a second, then remembers what we're doing.

"Okay. Um," He clears his throat. "Start climbing down. I'll follow you." We climb down slowly in silence.

I hear a bar cling and I look up to see Tobias hanging by one hand. "Help!" He gasps.

I start to panic. "Hold on! Just hold on! I have an idea." I try to keep my voice steady and calm for his sake, but I know he can hear the panic rising in my throat.

I climb down the ladder as quickly but as carefully as I can. I run towards the control panel at the bottom of the Ferris wheel and I try to open the hatchet; locked. I kick and kick the lock, still locked. I pretend its Marcus, and I slam into the lock, breaking it. I open the panel and find loose wires everywhere. "Uh…" School would've been in handy by now. I pick up a red and blue wire and connect them.

Lights overhead turn on, and I hear gears rotating. I run back to see Tobias rolling out of the way before being nearly crushed by a car. He stands up and whoops.

"That was AWESOME!" I mentally face palm. I take his hands in mine.

"Are you okay?!" He nods. I immediately blush when I notice that we're holding hands. I let go and he blushes.

"You could have told me that the Ferris wheel still worked. We wouldn't have had to climb it in the first place." I say. He shrugs.

"Well I couldn't just let you hang there. Come on, we got a game to win." I point out.

He wraps his arm around mine and we walk towards Christina and three others. I notice the absence of Will and two other teammates. "Where'd the others go?" I ask.

A Dauntless member looks behind us, in the direction of the Ferris wheel, and her eyes widen.

"Did you guys turn on the wheel? What the hell are you thinking?! You might as well have just shouted 'Here we are! Come and get us!'" She shakes her head. "If I lose again this year, the shame will be unbearable. Three years in a row?!" I smile.

"The wheel doesn't matter. We know where they are." I say. My breathing has gone back to normal.

"We? I thought only Six was going to climb the wheel." Christina looks from me to Tobias.

I shrug.

"What do we do now?" Another Dauntless member asks.

"Follow my original strategy." Tobias says. Will and the others come back in time for Tobias to explain his plan again. They nod.

"Sounds good," the Dauntless born girl says, clapping her hands. "Let's get this night over with, shall we?"

Christina, the first jumper, and I flank around while Tobias charges the front with the other Dauntless born and Will.

Christina and I run behind Eric and his team, who seem unaware of us. I look up and the flag is at the top of another building. I run inside with Christina watching my back. We run up the stairs and I shoot Peter while Christina shoots Molly.

We run out to the balcony, and I raise the bright green, illuminating flag. Christina and I hold it together. We look at each other and smile. We reach over the balcony, showing our team that we are victorious. Eric and his team are scowling.

We run down the stairs and are greeted with our team cheering and clapping me on the back. I try not to wince. Christina and I hold the flag high, earning louder whoops. Tobias comes up to me.

"Well done." I smile. He smiles back.


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~TrissyPoo