Brave Or Weak
After everyone had jumped from the train, Eric lead everyone away from Four's team and towards an abandoned building. It was now completely dark outside and the only light was from the working street lights above. The place we were in didn't really seem like an arena like I first imagined, it was just an abandoned part of our city - once full of life, now a training ground. Blake walked by my side, looking down at me every so often as if he was about to speak. However, for the whole of the short walk, neither of us spoke. When Eric stopped, we all gathered around him and he glanced over each of us.
" There's a reason why I picked you all," Eric said seriously. " Now get thinking, what's the plan?"
" Why do we need a plan? We're stronger than them all anyway, it's an easy fight," Peter smirked and looked around for agreement. A few others nodded with him, but I just glared at him.
" So when you finally get your head out of your ass, I think it's time we came up with a better plan," I snapped, gaining a small chuckle from Blake next to me.
" What do you suggest then, ditzy?" Peter asked, rolling his eyes.
" Ditzy? That's what they call you?" Blake said that a little too loudly as there was no other conversation going on around us.
" Enough," Eric growled. " I didn't pick you all to sit around and talk. I picked you out to fight, now what is the plan?"
" I think we should find high ground so we can see them coming. We should hide the flag in a place where we can protect it from above, that way we can see them coming and it won't allow them to use a surprise attack against us," I voiced my thoughts, keeping my eyes on Eric. " Then we split into two teams; one goes to find the flag, the others protect our own."
" And you're our leader now?" Peter scoffed.
" Do you have a better idea?" I snapped back.
" We all split up. We leave the two strongest to defend the flag, then we attack the others from different angles." Peter gained a few nods and I gritted my teeth, quickly looking around to explain my point more.
" There," I pointed to the large, rusty ferris wheel that stood tall over everything else. " We hide it at the top, one or two of us can go up there, the rest staying to defend, would stay at the bottom. It would be much harder to shoot the people at the top,"
" And you expect two of us to go up that rusty old thing and risk our lives for a stupid game? Think again, ditzy."
" What? Are you scared, Peter?" I watched as his eyes hardened in anger. " I volunteer myself to do it. If I'm on my own, then fine."
" I guess it's my turn to volunteer too. It's a great idea," Blake smiled down at me, winking.
" It's too dangerous." Eric snapped, glaring at Blake for a moment before his face became wiped of emotion again. His eyes turned to me. " That thing's been there for years, it could break any minute. But if you're foolish enough to go up by yourself, then feel free. Meanwhile, we'll all find a high vantage point. The bell tower is the perfect place."
" What are we waiting for then?" An angry looking girl glared at me, crossing her arms over her chest. " Let's stop listening to the amity and get up there!"
Eric took a final look at me before leading us all in the direction towards the bell tower. Rolling my eyes, I followed silently, ignoring the glares the Dauntless girl was still giving me. She was what you could call the complete opposite of an amity; more piercings than I could count, short, choppy black hair with part of it shaved off at the left side. She fit the Dauntless part perfectly. The only thing missing was lots of tattoos, but I guessed that she just had ones that I couldn't see.
" Good to know I'm making Dauntless-born friends," I said quietly to Blake beside me. He chuckled at me and smiled at the girl.
" Who, Flare?" Blake asked and I nodded. " Nah, she's like that with all the transfer initiates. She hates that guy Peter too, even though they seem pretty similar."
" A girl version of Peter?" I didn't like the sound of that.
" An angrier, less talkative one," Blake explained. " She's cool once you get to know her. She hasn't always been like this. She changed after her mother died a few years ago." I suddenly felt a wave of sympathy for the girl who quite obviously hated me. We had nothing in common but that - we'd both lost a family member, and it had changed our lives forever.
" That I can relate too,"
" I'm sorry," Was all Blake said, his eyes furrowing slightly. I was about to say something else before I realised we were directly outside the bell tower. It was a large building with a visible bell at the top of it. The structure was strong but a little too plain in sight for my liking.
" This is where we'll hide the flag. What next?" Eric demanded, looking around all of us again. His angry gaze stayed on Blake longer than the rest of us.
" We'll split into-" I began.
" Just stop talking, amity." Flare snarled, glaring at me. Other Dauntless born's around her smirked and so did Peter and Molly. Surprisingly, Edward was keeping quiet. For some reason he looked a little out of place with us all. I figured it was because Myra was on the other team. " Me, Blake, Gabe and Molly will go and try and find the flag. The rest of you will guard it. Ditzy can be the one who can go up into the bell tower since she clearly isn't the best shooter here,"
" Looks are a deception. I can always prove my shooting skills by using them on you if you wish," I smirked at her, but she kept her stance firm and face expressionless. " But fine. If you want me up there, then I'll go." Walking towards Eric, who had his eyes on me again, I snatched the flag from his hands and stormed into the building. Nobody filled me into the building. It was hard to see but my eyes soon adjusted and I soon managed to clamber my way up the stairs.
Within minutes I was at the top and I climbed onto the railing around the bell. Taking a deep breath, I steadied my balance and reached out to the top of the bell. My breathing picked up as I began to feel more and more helpless, but I soon had the flag wrapped around and tied to the top of the bell. This way it would be much harder for the other team to get it when they managed to defeat us; it was something that was bound to happen because our hiding place was too out in the open.
I pushed myself away from the bell and steadied myself on the railing again. Bending down, I grasped the railing with my left hand and lowered my left foot to the ground. As I was doing so, I felt familiar hands on my waist. A gasp escaped my lips as the person lifted me off of the railing and lowered me down to the ground.
" Careful, you're a walking disaster." I recognised Eric's voice immediately and quickly hid the smile that played on my lips. For some reason I was happy that he was up here with me.
" Gee, thanks." I rolled my eyes at him and tried to ignore the fact that his hands lingered on my waist longer than they should have done. It was only now that I realised that he was standing closer to me than what would be classed as a 'normal' distance.
" I see you're making friends well," Eric said, studying me careful. I found it strange how I didn't cower from his gaze like other's did.
" Flare isn't exactly someone I'd like to be friends with. She obviously thinks I'm just a weak amity like you do," I hid the disappointment from my voice.
" If I still thought you were an amity then I wouldn't have picked you. I only pick the best." I frowned while Eric kept a straight expression. Was that a compliment? The only compliment Eric had ever given me was when he'd told me my tattoos and piercing were nice, but I thought then that he was joking. This couldn't be a joke...
" Why did you pick me? I would have fit in much better with the other team. For starters they wouldn't hate me there," I responded.
" Clearly not everyone hates you here." Eric's voice sounded slightly bitter as he said this. He looked away from a moment as a flash of anger passed over him. When he made eye contact with me again, he continued," You're a good shooter. I taught you, so you must be."
" I'd say thanks, but isn't that slightly vain?" I was surprised as a small chuckle escaped my lips.
" Just keeping up my reputation," Eric replied.
" And what is this reputation of yours?" I couldn't help but expression my curiosity. The feeling of wanting to know someone more was foreign to me. Making friends was a new concept to me, but I had never really been truly bothered about discovering everything about Christina or Tris. Eric, however, was a different story.
Eric scoffed." Like you don't know." I smirked at his comment, but then instantly cringed as a screeching noise sounded. My head snapped towards the source of the noise and I saw the Ferris Wheel moving. Like Eric had explained earlier, it hadn't worked in years which is why it would make such a noise.
I turned to Eric and smiled as I shook my head. " I guess it doesn't work after all, right?"
" They've seen us." Eric looked shocked, but it was soon hidden. Suddenly he pulled me by my arm towards a wall in the left corner. This corner and the right one would hide us from any onlookers from below.
" A warning would be nice," I snapped in a whisper, trying to ignore the feeling of Eric's body pressed against my side.
" Get your gun ready. We'll shoot people from the top to help the others. If you see anyone shoot at you, move behind here as quick as you can." I nodded as Eric told me this in a stern yet careful tone. Once he'd seen my agreement, he moved away from me and darted towards the opposite corner.
" Eric why are you up here with me?" I asked in the quietest voice I could that still allowed him to hear me. Once he was in his position, he looked up at me and stared for a few moments - it was like he was contemplating whether to answer. He opened his mouth to speak before turning away again.
" Now is not the time to have a nice little chat. Stay quiet," Eric snapped, not looking at me again.
The only sound I could now hear was the sound of my own breathing. It was quite unnerving and I found myself fidgeting to stop the tension building up in me. Holding what looked to be a real gun in my hands made the whole situation feel oddly real. My brain kept reminding me that I was now capable of hurting someone for no reason at all - that I had to hurt someone for no reason. While I stood waiting in my hidden place, I found myself wondering whether this was the right thing to do. How was this just a game when any shot could actually hurt someone?
Bang. A gun shot interrupted my thoughts. One was followed by lots more and I heard shouting from down below. My thoughts were broken away and I hid them at the back of my mind, realising that I was thinking too amity-like again. I was Dauntless now. Dauntless. No. A part of my thoughts reminded me that I wasn't. Divergent. However, now was not the time to doubt myself.
I held my gun up ready and launched myself from my hiding place, shooting at the first person that came in sight. After my eyes had adjusted to the darkness again, I realised that I'd just shot Will in the arm. Horror spread across my face before I hid again, deeply breathing. That was the first time I'd ever shot someone before. It hadn't been as awful as I'd first believed it would be. The thrill of it frightened me.
" Stop hesitating. You're better than that," Eric's deep tone reminded me as, he too, hid again behind the wall. I looked at him for a second, not really realizing that fear was covering my expression. Taking a deep breath, I nodded at him. At the same time, we launched back into action.
This time I stayed out of cover longer and shot at things that moved. I paid no attention to their faces as I shot at people coming out of cover. What shocked me most, however, was the first dart that came shooting towards me. It had come close to hitting me and I hid quickly. Eric took a quick glance at me as this happened before concentrating on shooting again. Quickly, he aimed at the source that the dart had come from.
" Careful," Eric warned me as he hid again. After I nodded, I went again.
The shooting seemed to go on for longer than I'd wanting and it had now began to dawn on me that we were losing. More darts had come closer to hitting me and I now knew they were coming from Four and Tris, who were hiding well. All but one of our defenders down below had fallen because of the continuous darts had hit them. What didn't surprise me, was that Four and Eric were aiming for each other a lot and it was obvious they were both determined to hit each other with a dart.
I jumped as a groan of pain came from Eric and he fell to the floor. Frowning, I hid behind the wall again and watched as Eric clamped his mouth shut to stop himself from making more noise. Two darts had hit him in the chest and stomach and his face contorted in anger. It was obvious by the anger on his face that it had been Four who'd hit him. I'd been too occupied with Eric to realise that someone was heading up.
" They're coming, take my gun." Eric threw his gun to me and I looked over the railing again, my eyes scanning below. My eyes soon caught onto a hiding Four and I shot at him with both guns, missing him only because he'd hidden himself. I huffed in anger as I shot the one in my left hand again and nothing came out of it. Throwing it away from me, I turned to the noise behind me.
Surprisingly, Tris emerged from the stairs and quickly shot at me. Trying to repress the feeling of how wrong it felt to shoot my own friend, I turned away from the shot and shot at her. Unlike before, it didn't frustrate me that I missed. Repeatedly, we shot at each other for a few moments, both avoiding each others shots. Strangely, at the same time, both of our guns ran out of darts and we both stared at each other for a single second. Tris dived towards the flag and I pushed myself forwards towards her, preparing myself for a fight that I didn't want to happen. It didn't take long for me to convince myself, but before I knew it I was falling to the ground and crying out in pain. I'd been shot twice by none other than Four.
" Damn it." I heard Eric growl in annoyance as Tris grabbed the flag and started cheering in celebration, waving it to show the others below. " This is on you, amity."
Disappointment swam through me as Eric said this. He was blaming me for our loss - a loss that he hated because of his over competitiveness. I was back to being a weak girl from amity and it hurt me that he thought this yet again. I wouldn't be surprised if he lowered my rankings more than the others because of this...