Welcome back again! Chapter 7 is here. Hope you enjoy! :D
Disclaimer: I do not own the Divergent Trilogy. Veronica Roth does.
Chapter 7: Lies
That night I wake up to voices in the dormitory.
"Just leave me alone! I've left, and I'm never going to see them again!" Laura's voice is right by me, defiant.
"You think you're safe now just because you've left Amity?" A low voice replies. I slowly turn over to try and see who it is. "You think there's anywhere where you're dad can't reach you? That's why I'm here, you know. To keep an eye on you for him – make sure you don't step out of line," the voice sounds smug, I'm sure it's Thomas.
"Look, nobody knows! I did everything he told me! I took the cheese, saved the girl, all that. What do you want from me?" Laura's voice is suddenly afraid.
"Except you didn't do everything you were told, did you? He did everything to protect you, you know! If he hadn't told you what to do in the test, they would have discovered what you are. You would have been killed. And how do you repay him? By abandoning your own faction! Your own family!" I'm facing them now and I can see that Laura's sitting up in bed while another figure crouches beside her. Thomas – I was right.
"He isn't my family! Not after everything he's done to me. You think I should be thankful?" Laura is glaring at him.
"You made the wrong decision joining Dauntless. They're much more likely to discover you here in the fear simulations. You can consider those broken fingers as punishment for leaving Amity, by the way. Step out of line again and there'll be more where that came from." Thomas leans right up to her. I feel my body tense up.
"What?! You told Rory to do that?" Laura's eyes are wide.
"That's right. So you see, there's nowhere your father can't reach. Just do everything we say in the fear simulations and you won't be found out. We're saving your life you know. Oh, and I'd stop hanging around with him," he nods at my bed. "No need to get him mixed up in all this, is there? If I see you talking to him again, you can expect a lot worse than a couple of broken fingers." He stands up and walks over to his own bed.
I stare at Laura for a while longer my head full of questions. What could they discover about her? Why is Thomas threatening her? And what the heckis a fear simulation? Eventually, Laura lies down and just stares up at the ceiling. I lie there, without any answers to the questions.
P/B
I get up early the next morning and head to the training room to do my, by now routine, exercises.
When everyone has finally arrived I look at Laura but she just glances away, down at the floor. I think about what Thomas told her last night and suddenly feel angry. I didn't even know she was putting up with all this.
The whole of that morning, we continue gun training. When I head to lunch, Laura walks past me, looking straight ahead. I sit on my own in the cafeteria, just like I did back in school.
That afternoon, when we get back to the training room, I walk in to see Four and Six standing next to each other, glaring at Eric who is standing across from them.
"We tell you what to teach, and you teach it. You don't just take it on yourselves to change the programme. Got it? I want to see results and clear rankings the next time I am here." Eric scowls at them for a moment longer then storms out the room. I dodge to the side to get out of his way.
"What was that about?" I ask.
Four looks at me, "He wants us to continue the fighting, despite the injuries." he tells me.
I feel sick. Laura might be able to dodge the odd punch but she still can't really attack back. When everyone has arrived, Six and Four have the board with the fight listings on it ready. I see that they didn't put Laura's name up there, as there are an odd number of us without Rory here, and breathe a sigh of relief. Then I see that I have to fight Simon first.
We both step onto the mats and I try to smile at him encouragingly. He isn't looking at me; I wander if he is thinking about what I did to Rory. I wince. When I stand across from him, I see how tiny he is, his head only just reaching my chest.
When Four tells us to start, he darts right at me and plunges his elbow at my neck, which I only just move out of the way of. He immediately follows it through with a kick at my side and I wince at the pain and try to punch back at him but he has backed off, always bouncing on his feet, ready to move at any moment. I underestimated him, not realizing how quick he would be. When he next moves forward though, I am ready. He tries to punch me in the stomach but I bat his arm to the side and step forward, putting one foot behind him and pushing him back so he falls over it. He rolls to the side and climbs back to his feet. I am there though, and I kick high at his chest, the force throwing him into the air. He lands on his back half off the mat and his head smacks the hard floor. He cries out and tries to get up. He looks dizzy though and falls back down again.
I'm glad Eric is here because Six allows Simon to concede and he heads to the bench with an ice pack held to the back of his head. I follow him there and sit next to him, despite the way he frowns at me and tries to avoid looking at my eyes.
"You did a good job," I tell him. "You're really fast."
"Thanks," he says and he smiles up at me, making me feel a bit better about having beaten him. "You're pretty fast too, but you're too tall. I couldn't have avoided that kick if I tried," he says jokingly.
We sit and watch as Thomas and Georgina fight. It becomes apparent that Georgina's not very good. After failing to dodge several of his punches, he finally gets her in a choke hold, squeezing his arm around her neck. Four walks towards Thomas but he lets go and she falls to the floor gasping.
When we leave later on, we get to see our rankings so far. I am at the top despite how badly I shoot. Thomas is next, followed by Simon, Laura then Georgina and Rory is at the bottom.
P/B
At dinner, Laura is still ignoring me and I shoot a glare at Thomas but he isn't looking. I follow her after she leaves the cafeteria and she walks over to the chasm. I glance around but Thomas is nowhere in sight.
"Hey," I say, as I approach her. She sees me and tries to walk away but I grab her arm.
"Let go," she whipers to me. I let go, surprised by the threatening tone of her voice.
"You can't be here," she says. "I'm not talking to you again. I don't think we really get on."
I frown at her choice of words before I realize she doesn't know that I heard Thomas last night. She is trying to force me away and pretend she just doesn't like me.
I look at her, and see that she is expecting me to say something like "What did I do wrong?" but instead I say quietly, "I don't care. I heard Thomas and you last night,"
Her eyes widen but she says, "So you know that I can't be around you. They'll find some way to hurt you if they find out."
"Who is they?" I ask.
She hesitates before answering, "My father and his buddies,"
"Why would your father do this to you?" I ask, persistently.
"He thinks he is protecting me. That's probably the excuse he tells himself anyway," she looks down at her feet.
"Protecting you from what? Because you are in danger of being found out? Something to do with fear simulations?" I am confused. I have to know some answers.
"Because I'm..." she bites her lip and looks around nervously. "I can't say. I'm sorry." and with that, she turns around and runs off, leaving me alone.
P/B
I walk back into the cafeteria and see that Four and Six are still sitting at their table with a few others their age.
"Hey, can I talk to you for a second?" I ask them.
They look at each other briefly, before nodding and following me to a space in the cafeteria where no one can hear us.
"What's the problem?" Four asks me.
I breathe, part of me telling me that I shouldn't be telling them this but I ignore it and ask, "What is a fear simulation?"
They frown for a second before Four asks, "How did you hear about that?"
I hesitate. Laura's worried about being found out for something during the fear simulations. Six and Four could be the very people she has to hide it from. "It doesn't matter," I say. "I overheard some Dauntless members talking about it," I lie.
Six speaks up, "The fear simulations are the second stage of your initiation," Four raises an eyebrow at her. "What?" She asks him, "he'll find out eventually anyway,"
Four shrugs and says, "The fear simulation is similar to your aptitude test. Instead of facing dogs and little girls and men on buses though, the simulation stimulates the part of your brain that produces fears, meaning that you will live some of your worst fears."
I swallow, "Could the simulation be dangerous to anyone?" I ask.
"Not unless that person were-" Six begins to reply then stops short and shares a look with Four whose eyes narrow.
"What was your aptitude test result?" Four suddenly asks me.
"Dauntless, why?" I ask, feeling interrogated.
"Nothing strange happened after your test?" Six asks me. I shake my head. "Did the person administrating your test act strangely or leave the room?"
"What? No!" I reply hotly. "I'm Dauntless. What the hell is this all about?"
"It doesn't matter," Four tells me, dismissively. Then he and Six walk back to their table muttering to each other.
I walk back to the dorm, dumbfounded. I don't go to the training room that evening, knowing that Laura probably won't go anyway. When I go to sleep later on, I am still no closer to figuring out what is going on and why I am suddenly being lied to.
I haven't been asleep for more than a couple of hours when the lights flicker on, blinding me. I look around trying to see the people who have marched into our dorm. Then I hear Four's voice.
"Everyone get up now!" he roars. "You have five minutes to meet us by the train tracks, fully dressed." He looks around at our bleary faces and grins. "We're going on another field trip."
Thanks very much for reading! See you in the next one :)
~Crysics~