Each day of the simulations is the same. Six people being faced by something that truly terrifies them. I'm already quite sure that I know who will be cut. Though Dean was very good in stage one, his stage two performance has not improved at all. And altogether Harriet scored low in stage one her simulation performance has helped her almost secure a place in the final Ten.
There are 9 Dauntless born and 6 transfers at this stage, meaning there will be five people getting cut. I'm glad that I can be certain at least one transfer will make it because the Dauntless borns this year are the best yet.
"Michael." I call, swinging the door open with my foot. He comes in and closes the door behind him. "Take a seat, you know the drill." I tell him. As he relaxes in the chair I notice one of his arms shaking furiously. "Are you alright?" I ask.
"Yeah, Im fine." He replies, his voice sounding steady as usual.
I hand him a cup of water, but I make sure he takes it in his right hand, the one that is shaking. As soon as I let go, water splashes over the edges, not enough to soak him, but forming visibly wet patches on his clothes.
"What's up with your arm?" I casually ask him.
"I might've broken it fighting Ryan last night. It's fine though." He says quickly.
"Can I see?" I say, gently resting my hand on his sleeve. He always wears long sleeves clothes so I wouldn't have noticed anything was up if it wasn't for the shaking.
He winces as I put more pressure into where my hand rests. I take my hand away, allowing him to pull up his sleeve. The whole arm is covered in purple-black bruises with a lump about half way down his forearm.
"We'll do the simulation now then we can go straight to the infirmary, alright?" I say to him. I've seen worse inguries during initiation but I think it's important to get things checked out and fixed before they have a chance to get worse.
"Okay." He nods.
"Let's get this over with then," I say, ingesting the serum. "Ready?"
"Ready." He says before the simulation forms around him.
His simulation starts in abnegation. My father and his stand side by side, they were always close, closer than they were to Andrew. I had met Michael and Matthew before I came here, I could say we were once friends but friends wasn't a work the abnegation used often, it was usually colleague or companion.
Nothing much seems to be happening, he is just standing infont of two people. I skip ahead a bit, wanting to improve his time.
I see a factionless man step through their door, a knife gripped tightly in his left hand and a rope in the other. Michael takes a step backwards and so does Marcus. His dad, Gordon, says still, looking into the murderous eyes of the man with his own friendly, forgiving eyes. The factionless man steps forward and throws the knife, hitting Gordon in the neck, blood flowing everywhere. Marcus flees, running back to his own home. Michael steps forward and removes the knife, tossing it to the side. "Hold on, dad, what ever you do please don't leave."
Tears flow from his cheeks, he remains as calm as he could possibly be at a time like this. "Mum!" He screams, "Mum, Hurry!" His mother stands over him and his dad, a tear falls from her eye and lands on her sons head. Matthew stands in the doorway, then collapses to his knees. His dad was murdered in front of him.
I can't even begin to imagine his pain.
He stands up and punches something with his broken arm, he cries out and punches the wall over and over with his other hand.
"Michael." I say and place my hand on his shoulder.
He spins around and punches me in the chest. I don't think he's in his right mind just now, he's just angry and upset.
"Michael, we need to go to the infirmary. Come on."
This is follow by a punch to my face. I step to the side and ring Tris.
"Hey, I need you to come down here and finish off the simulations, there's probably only two or three to go."
"Alright," she replies, "Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, I'll tell you about it later. Bye." I hang up and slip my phone into my back pocket. I go up behind Michael and quickly lift him onto my shoulder, making sure he can wriggle with out falling off. I speed walk towards the infirmary and set him down when we get there. "Calm down, you're safe." I say and dodge the punch that comes my way.
A nurse comes through to lead him into an X-ray.
"Good luck," I mutter before walking away.