Sorry everyone, the internet broke down. I didn't have internet access for one week. But I finished two chapters during this week.
This is where the AU twist is. Well, before I start to begin this fanfiction.
Hope you guys will like it!
Sleepwalking
The fear landscape exhausted our minds, so we all fall asleep the minute we lie on our beds. With the rankings already determined, I can sleep with ease.
I wake to noisy movements. It's quite dark for me to see clearly what's going on, but once my eyes adjust itself, I see everyone in the dorm all move in a slow, synchronized and robotic-like pace. The room is silent. Christina bends over in an unnatural way to tie her shoelaces.
Something is not right.
I quickly get out my bed and dress up the same way as them to prevent any early suspicion. I hear Tris trying to get Christina's attention; I ignore the urge and temptation to tell her to act like she's not awake.
All the initiates form a line in front of the dormitory door, I follow. As we all move forward in unison, Tris grab my arm and tries to pull me back. I grit my teeth to move the same as other, I end up dragging her along with me. She releases my arm and dress up as fast as she can and then caught up behind me. I really hope there's no hint of humanness in my footsteps, because it will make me stand out. I want to walk in my normal pace.
We march into the Pit, where every Dauntless is standing in a circuit. Dauntless leaders each stand in the spaces between each line, observing everyone's movement. My heart throbs and I stare at the head of the person in front of me, not daring to blink. My insides tense up as I pass Max.
His eyes pass me.
There are rows of tables with piles of black long objects on them. Judging by the way the people who are holding it, I found out what they are. Guns.
Everyone was injected yesterday. Therefore the entire faction is going into combat without knowing what they are doing. Ideal soldiers.
The previous line of members stand along one of the rows of tables on their right, picks up a gun, and rests it across their chest.
"They really can't see us? Or hear us?" a female voice asks.
"Oh, they can see and hear. They just aren't processing what they see and hear the same way. They receive commands from our computers in the transmitters we injected them with, and carry them out seamlessly," a familiar voice says. Eric.
We're all under the simulation developed by the Erudite, where every part of our body is controlled by a transmitter.
Then a person walks into the Pit like he just woke up from his sleep. He asks his fellows around him what's going on. He's awake.
"Divergent," I hear Max say. Eric walks up to the person, "Don't worry, everything is going to be fine." And he was shot in the head, he falls on the ground. Dead.
My insides shudder and the hair on my back stands up. I force myself to stare forward and walk in the same rhythm.
The line of people walks into a pitch black hallway, where I can only follow by the sound of marching. We walk up a flight of stairs and climb into the train one by one. So far, all the people who are awake are Dauntless leaders. My eyes burn because I can't blink all I want; I can't rub them either.
Everyone in the car stands neatly in rows, shoulder-to-shoulder. It's kind of a rare and odd sight because Dauntless isn't meticulous, or organized. If we were to be on the trains, they would be all over the place. People sitting down, people standing up, people leaning against the walls, people dangling their feet outside of the train, and people gripping the poles.
This is absolutely abnormal.
The train stops behind a group of buildings, we walk out one by one, robotically. We walk around the buildings and I see dozens of small and square houses. Abnegation dwellings.
My sister helped Jeanine developed a long lasting simulation serum. The thought echoes in my mind. I didn't think the serum is used for this purpose; controlling an entire faction without them noticing. I assume it would be for the Dauntless initiation. Not this.
The street is full of Dauntless, marching at the same rhythm. Excluding the officers that stand ever few hundred yards, watching our every move or gathering for a meeting. Nothing happens as we flood into the neighborhood.
I hear a pop sound, and doors slammed open. Their doors are never locked. I see Abnegation dragged out of their homes, confusion and questions rise from their mouths; demanding for an answer. But we are not awake, we can't respond, we are controlled by computers.
Ahead of me, an Abnegation man is questioning what are we doing and why, the Dauntless soldier that dragged him out of his home shoots him in his skull. I recognize him as a council member, I clench my teeth from shaking as I walk pass his fallen body. Abnegation members and children are gathered in clusters along one of the houses, Dauntless soldiers surround them, guarding.
I want to kill Jeanine so bad right now. I want to kill her because of her greedy actions.
The person in front of me walks into a house beside us; I follow him in and drag the members out from their hiding spots. I really hope the Abnegation members can't recognize my abnormal movements compare to the soldiers that came in.
When I walk out of the house, I hear a commotion behind the building I was in. A few Dauntless soldiers run to the commotion and point their guns at two people in my peripheral vision.
"Divergent rebels. Surrender your weapons," I hear Eric say. Divergent rebels? They're not wiped out back in the compound? If not why did they show themselves?
Tris and Four are dragged into one of the houses by Dauntless soldiers. I follow them pretending to stand guard. There are no Dauntless leaders here, so I stand outside the doors, guarding. I shift myself a little closer to the doors so I can hear the conversation inside.
"Divergent rebels," a person say.
"Yes, I can see that," a female voice say, it's cold and emotionless. Jeanine Matthews. My hands shake from refraining to slam the door open and shoot her in the head. "You, I expected. All the trouble with your aptitude test results made me suspicious from the beginning. But you…" She pauses.
"You, Tobias –or should I call you Four? – managed to elude me," she speaks quietly. Four's real name is Tobias? Tris was a big target since the beginning? "Everything about you checked out: test results, initiation simulations, everything. But here you are nonetheless. Perhaps you could explain to me how that is?"
"You're the genius. Why don't you tell me?" says Four, calmly.
"My theory is that you really do belong in Abnegation. That your Divergence is weaker."
"Your powers of deductive reasoning are stunning. Consider me awed. Now that your intelligence has been verified, you might want to get on with killing us. You have a lot of Abnegation leaders to murder, after all."
"Don't be silly. There is no rush. You are both here for an extremely important purpose. You see, it perplexed me that the Divergent were immune to the serum that I developed, so I have been working to remedy that. I thought I might have, with the last batch, but as you know, I was wrong. Luckily I have another batch to test."
"Why bother?" Tris asks.
"I have a question since I began the Dauntless project, it is this. Why are most of the Divergent weak-willed, God-fearing nobodies from the Abnegation, of all factions?" Jeanine says.
Weak-willed, sure. Selfless people aren't weak-willed. They value everyone around them and they would do anything to help others; even if it means to fight. In one of the documents on Divergents, most of them came from Abnegation, but there's no clear answer to why is that.
"Weak-willed," scoffs Four. "It requires a strong will to manipulate a simulation, last time I checked. Weak-willed is mind-controlling an army because it's too hard for you to train one yourself. "
"I am not a fool. A faction of intellectuals is no army. We are tired of being dominated by a bunch of self-righteous idiots who reject wealth and advancement, but we couldn't do this on our own. And your Dauntless leaders were all too happy to oblige me if I guaranteed them a place in our new, improved government."
You cannot make a choice where only one faction is mentioned in it. Now you're the rebel of the government, Jeanine. If you make the factionless suffer in poverty, it's possible that there are no new members in the factions later in the future. How about letting the children of the factionless attend school and give them a choice to choose their own faction? That seems a reasonable choice to make rather than treating the factionless like a bunch of wild animals, searching the ground for food.
"Improved," Four scoffs.
"Yes, improved. Improved, and working toward a world in which people will live in wealth, comfort, and prosperity."
"At whose expense? All that wealth … doesn't come from nowhere." Tris ask.
"Currently, the factionless are a drain on our resources. As is Abnegation. I am sure that once the remains of your old faction are absorbed into the Dauntless army, Candor will cooperate and we will finally be able to get on with things."
Factionless are a drain on our resources if we don't have them as a part of the society. What happens when there are no custodians or bus drivers in the society? And when everyone is controlled under a simulation, doing whatever you tell them to do. How that is improved, Jeanine?
"Get on with things. Make no mistake. You will be dead before the day is out, you –" Four raises his voice, but Jeanine interrupts.
"Perhaps if you could control your temper, you would not be in this situation to begin with, Tobias."
"I'm in this situation because you put me here. The second you orchestrated an attack against innocent people," Four snaps.
"Innocent people." She laughs. "I find that a little funny, coming from you. I would expect Marcus's son to understand that not all those people innocent. Can you tell me honestly that you wouldn't be happy to discover that your father was killed in the attack? "
I find myself shocked even though I do not care about my instructor's personal relationships. Especially the fact that Marcus is the representative of Abnegation and Four is his son.
"No. But at least his evil didn't involve the widespread manipulation of an entire faction and the systematic murder of every political leader we have."
She didn't respond. The silence is long enough to make me tempted to say, "Are you out of words, Jeanine?" Then she clears her throat.
"What I was going to say is that soon, dozens of the Abnegation and their young children will be my responsibility to jeep in order, and it does not bode well for me that a large number of them may be Divergent like yourselves, incapable of being controlled by the simulations."
I hear her walk a few steps. "Therefore, it was necessary that I develop a new form of simulation to which they are not immune. I have been forced to reassess my own assumptions. That is where you come in." She walks a set of steps. "You are correct to say that you are strong-willed. I cannot control your will. But there are a few things I can control."
That doesn't sound good. It's possible that she already created a new type of simulation serum. One that I can't resist either.
"I can control what you see and hear, so I created a new serum that will adjust your surroundings to manipulate your will. Those who refuse to accept our leadership must be closely monitored," she says.
Yup, thought so. But if she wants the Divergent completely wiped out, she possibly has to kill every Abnegation children there is. Before she has that chance, she will have to deal with other consequences. She will need to search other factions as well, including her own faction.
"You will be the first test subject, Tobias. Beatrice, however… " I hear a groan. Tris. "You are too injured to be of much use to me, so your execution will occur at the conclusion of this meeting."
"No," Four's voice trembles. "I would rather die."
"I'm afraid you don't have much of a choice in the matter," Jeanine replies lightly.
There's no way I'm going to let everything her way. That's like handling a weapon to the wrong person. I want to storm in, but I will be the next victim. Thinking of it, there are about four guards in there, and she will know my Divergence the second I go in there. And I have no reasonable plan.
I hear shuffling, movement, and sounds of the fight. Jeanine coughs like she got strangled by someone. Then it stops, a cry escapes from Tris.
"Let him up," Jeanine says with a scratchy voice.
"Tobias. Tobias!" says Tris.
"He doesn't know you."
Then there was movement, and this time Tris is choking. She coughs.
"The simulation manipulates him. By altering what he sees – making him confuse enemy with friend," Jeanine explains. Tris wheezes. "The advantage to this version of the simulation is that he can act independently, and is therefore far more effective than a mindless soldier."
The door opens, and they walk out. Two guards guide Four to Jeanine's car, the other two guides Tris somewhere else. Instead of guiding her, it's like they're dragging her like a rag doll against the pavement.
"Send him to the control room. We'll start a sentient being there to monitor things and, as I understand it, he used to work there," Jeanine says to the guards before she sets off.
I try to follow the guards that are dragging Tris to her execution, but I cannot catch up with my robotic pace. Soon after, I was standing in the middle of the area where no one is around and I'm walking independently. I search for a group of people to blend in.
There's a group of 7 tall sleepwalkers. I walk the same pace as them and then they start to run towards the streets. Even their running is robotic and I couldn't copy the same as them. I desperately hope their height and number will hide me.
The group breaks into half and I follow the group of 3 to make it even. They start shooting and one of them got shot in the chest. They still run, I still follow them.
I have no idea what we are targeting till I noticed someone in black running independently. She's drenched. Her hair is dirty blonde, pulled back into a ponytail. From far away, her right arm is dyed red by blood.
Tris.
My hand squeezes the gun tightly, but it shakes violently. I can't kill her; I have no point of killing her. I cannot kill her. I have to let her live. I can't sacrifice my identity either. I can't.
She throws herself around the corner, using the brick wall protect herself. She fires blindly, it hits the other two people. I can't shoot her.
There's only me now.
She sits up, holding the gun out with both hands, and aims at me. Her eyes widen. She didn't pull the trigger. I walk as robotically as I can, and keep my face in the same expressionless and blank look.
"Will!" she shouts.
Shoot me.
I stop, lift the gun like a robot and aim at her. I slide the bullet into the chamber. I shoot at the brick wall beside her. She dodges. I grip my gun so hard my knuckles turn white. She aims the gun at me again.
"Will! Will! Please stop!" she shouts again.
Pull the trigger already. Just shoot me! I would rather die!
She hesitates.
Just do it! I can't take it anymore.
She closes her eyes shut.
I hear a bang.
I will post the next chapter tomorrow. =D Please follow!
