Chapter 14: Comparison
When I finally open my eyes, I am greeted by a scowling Jeanine staring down at me. She purses her lips tightly and walks over to the computer. I can hear people muttering, "Yes, that's exactly the same," and wonder what's going on. A few minutes later, Jeanine walks over to the chair and scowls at me again.
"I ran the same test on your mother, Tris, before you were born," Jeanine says with a snarl, "My students and I were comparing your reactions to hers, and they seem to be about the same." I nod and look to the side at the floor below me.
"When is my next test?" I ask. I'm really starting to hate that question.
"In an hour," she responds, "Evan will take you back to your cell." I nod again, and remain silent as Evan walks with me down to my tiny room. He waves at me as I walk in the door and I wave back. After Evan shuts the door, I walk to the middle of the room and lie down on the floor for another short nap.
My short sleep is dreamless, and I am perfectly ready when I hear Evan softly knocking on my door. We walk to the simulation room, and I get strapped in a chair. On a table next to the chair is a syringe full of black liquid. I shudder at the sight of both the long needle of the syringe and the strange, pure color of the serum.
When another one of Jeanine's students walks over to pick up the syringe and inject me, my body immediately freezes with pure fear. I shiver with fright as the student then proceeds to kneel down next to me and inserts the thin needle of the syringe into my neck. Then the room slowly fades to black.
When I wake up, I find myself in the middle of a room similar to the last one. This time, instead of being trapped in a tank, I am tied to a wooden pole, and there is a large wood pile under my feet. The lights come on, and the same people from the last simulation surround me, all of them carrying lit torches. They all step forward, and light the wood beneath my feet together. The flames immediately leap up from the large wood pile and begin to travel up the pole. Smoke surrounds me, and I cough hard, my lungs scalded by the smoke from the quickly rising flames. The people laugh evilly, and I scream as loud as I can, not caring about my burning lungs.
I need to calm down. I try to steadily breathe in and out as the flames crackle around me. I feel the heat from the rising flames burning the tips of my toes, and I bite back a scream of pain. In, out, I tell myself, willing my heart to stop racing, Breathe in, and out. I close my eyes as the flames rise higher. Nothing happens. The fire still rises, and I begin to panic. There isn't much to do now but hope for rain. Rain! That gives me an idea.
I begin willing it to rain. Come on, clouds. I need you. Rain! When I feel the fire begin to touch my toes, I hear a loud boom that can only be thunder. I smile as the first drop falls to the ground. Then, another drop falls. Then another, and another, and another drop fall. Soon, rain is pouring down around me, and I let out a laugh of pure relief as the flames are put out with a hiss. I feel the ropes that bound me to the pole fall off, and I drop to the floor. I scream with delight as my hair and my clothes become soaked with rain. I laugh and scream and dance in the rain until the simulation fades away.
Then, I open my eyes and greet the faces staring down at me.