Welcome back again! Hope you enjoy this next chapter. Please have a look at another story I posted earlier today called Plague of Memory. It's completely separate to this story
Disclaimer: I do not own the Divergent Trilogy. Veronica Roth does.
Chapter 8: Capture the Flag
I stand in the freezing cold of the night along with all the initiates. Finally, the four instructors come out the building followed by some of their friends. They all have duffel bags slung over their shoulder. We rushed into our clothes after they all left our dorm and ran up to the tracks out side the compound as fast as possible. We've been waiting here, shivering in the cold for a good twenty minutes.
"Sorry, to keep you all waiting," Four says though his grin says otherwise.
"Everyone, listen up!" the girl who trains the dauntless-born initiates speaks up. "My name's Lynn for the transfers that don't know me." She glares round at us and we shy away under her gaze. She is even more intimidating than Four. They put their bags down and unzip them, "Everyone take a gun," she tells us. We all crowd around the bags and I pick up one of the paint ball guns.
"We're gonna be playing a little game," Lynn continues once everyone has got their weapon. "Capture the flag." she holds up two flags, one red, the other blue. Some of the dauntless-born initiates nudge each other, grinning.
"Uriah and I will be captains of one team, while Four and Six will be the captains of the other team. Care to pick first?" she says to them grinning.
"No problem," Four replies. "We want Laura first," he says. I am not surprised. She's the best shot out of all the transfers. She walks over to them, looking at her feet. Uriah picks a dauntless-born initiate.
"Kunai," Six chooses. I hear Thomas mutter something under his breath. I'm surprised to be picked when all the other transfers are better shots than me. One by one, our teams are decided until we stand with ten initiates on Lynn and Uriah's team and nine initiates on our team. Rory is still in the infirmary. The instructor's friends even out the teams though, a girl called Marlene joining Uriah while Zeke and Christina join our team.
When a train rounds the corner, Uriah and Lynn's team all jump on first while we wait for the next train. I stand with Simon and Laura, Thomas standing on the edge of our group, shooting glares at Laura.
"Remind me how I got dragged into an initiation game," I hear Zeke talking to Six, Four and Christina.
"We needed you to even out the teams. And maybe, you'll actually be of some use," Four replies.
"Four, my friend, was that a compliment?" Zeke asks, jokingly.
"Okay, everyone, as this is a part of your training, you guys need to decide what you'll do. We will follow you and help out, not lead." Six tells us.
Everyone talks at once, arguing over where we should go. Eventually, one of the dauntless-born initiates called Jay seems to take charge telling us he knows of a good place to hold up fort with the flag.
We all jump onto the next train and wait while it travels through the city. The dauntless-born are discussing tactics, boasting about how many of the opposition there'll hit. I stare at Laura who is watching Thomas like a deer watches a lion, deliberately keeping her distance from me.
Finally, we jump off the train. I'm starting to get used to it now and land flawlessly. We run for a short while until we reach a park. In the centre of the park is a large hill with the remains of some kind of building at the top. When I look around I see how defensible it is. All around the hill is wide open land with nowhere for our enemy to hide. On one side is the remains of a lake, now turned into a muddy swamp meaning we only really have one side to defend. The remains of the building offers perfect cover with half standing walls which we can hide behind.
Jay, who has thoroughly taken leadership of the group assigns two pairs of dauntless-born, one to keep watch at the main entrance of the park and the other to scout for the enemy's flag. Then he walks over to the four of us, "Who's the best shot out of you all?"
"Laura is," Simon replies, pushing her in front of him.
"Here, take this," he hands her his gun which is different to everyone else's, the barrel longer with a scope on the top. He takes her gun for himself.
"Climb up to the roof of this building and stay low. Scan the area for the other team and shout down if you see anything. Shoot as many of them as you can," and with that he walks off.
I nod encouragingly at her and she glances away. I watch as she goes to the outside of the building and climbs up the side before reaching the roof which is two stories high.
The remainder of us gather round Jay, waiting for him to give us a job.
"I think we should leave a group here to defend the flag and send out another one or two groups to attack once we know where their flag is," he looks around, to see if anyone opposes his plan. No one speaks up.
About twenty minutes later, we are all standing around, bored, waiting for something to happen. I watch two dauntless-born who are outside the building talking to each other. Suddenly one of them falls to the ground a splash of paint on the side of his face. The other shouts out and dives behind the wall.
"The swamp!" I hear Laura yell from above us. I look round the crumbling wall in front of me and see figures climbing out of the swamp and running toward the hill, some still crawling through the mud behind them. I see the person at the front go down with paint on the side of his head, followed by the next person behind them; Laura is firing shot after shot from above.
"Everyone get in cover and shoot them down!" Jay yells at us all before peeking his gun through a hole in the wall and firing. I lift my gun to my shoulder and aim at one of the other team who is just climbing out of the mud. I fire, but the paint hits the ground a metre to his right. Damn it. I fire again but hit nowhere near him, instead I hit Uriah in the stomach as he is running along the open ground. I marvel at my luck and shoot one more time at the guy I was initially trying to hit. This time, the paint hits him in the shoulder and my next one hits him in the neck and he falls down.
The fight is over in minutes. They have only taken that first one of us down with the initial surprise of the attack. But they had no chance. A couple of them manage to escape but we have taken down six of their team. After Uriah was hit by my lucky shot, his brother Zeke shot him three times, once in the leg then twice in the chest. He is groaning on the ground when we walk over to him.
"You all right there, little brother?" Zeke asks, grinning.
"It hurts, it hurts," Uriah moans.
"Fancy telling us where you're flag's at?" Six asks him.
He looks up and grins, despite his pain, "Not a chance,"
Him and the others in his team walk over to the edge of the field to sit the rest of the game out.
"Jay!" A voice suddenly calls out and we turn to see one of the dauntless-born scouts that Jay sent out running up to us.
"Heard the shouting," he pants when he catches up to us. "Ran to park... saw them retreating. Followed them to base... Eva got hit by their guards. I ran back as fast as I could,"
"Where are they?" Jay asks him.
"Train station near the Hancock building. They've got a couple of people hidden in the buildings nearby though," he replies.
"Nice work Rob," Jay pats him on the shoulder. Then he turns and sends one of the dauntless-born to get the two others who are at the gate. They all return ten minutes later and we all gather around Jay. There are twelve of us left.
"Okay, we've got to act. We know where they're hiding at but they know where we are too," he begins. "I don't think they'll try another attack, after seeing how well defended we are, so I suggest we leave maybe two or three of us here to defend the flag and the rest of us split into two teams to attack their base."
He chooses Christina and two other dauntless-born to stay and defend the flag. Then he splits the rest of us up, himself, Rob, Four, Thomas and Simon in one group and me, Laura, Six and Zeke in the other team.
"Kunai, you'll lead your group," I look at him surprised but then I see Six and Four grinning at each other. They must have told him something.
"We're going to approach on the ground, hopefully Rob can remember where their guards are hiding. You approach from round the other side of the Hancock building. Zeke can tell you where to go. Hopefully, they'll be too busy with us to realize you are attacking until you're right at the station." he tells me before leading his group out of the park.
"Alright, let's go," I say. "Zeke, where's a train station that can take us to the train station where the other team is hiding?" I ask him.
He frowns. "There's one near the park. Why are we going on the train?" He asks me.
"I've got an idea," I reply.
We run to a train station nearby and soon enough one of the trains comes which we jump on.
"Okay," I tell them. "I'm betting they won't expect us to arrive on the train. We can practically arrive in the middle of their base."
"Yeah, but we'll be surrounded as soon as we get off," Six points out.
"We're not gonna get off at the station," I reply.
Zeke speaks up, "It's not a good idea to get off along the track if that's what you're planning. The train slows down at stations, making it easier to jump on and off,"
"Don't worry," is all I say with a confidence I don't really feel.
We pass one station and then the train starts climbing upwards onto the track which is held over the roads. I grin. I'd hoped this would happen.
"The next station should be the one that they're hiding in," Zeke tells me.
"Okay," I reply. "Try to find somewhere you can shoot from as we go past," Zeke and Six each head to a door on either end of the train car and open it, taking cover to the side of the doors.
"Laura," I turn to her. "Fancy a little climb?"
She frowns but I lead her to the door that Six is standing by. "Once we're past the station, look for a building to jump onto," I tell her. Then I step onto the step outside the door, the air pushing into my face, making it difficult to breathe. I put one foot onto the window next to the door and pull myself up so my other foot is on the handle next to the door, then I pull myself onto the roof. I lean down to see Laura staring up at me, eyes wide.
"Come on!" I shout. She shakes her head, grinning but steps onto the ledge outside the doorway. I reach for her good hand and pull her up onto the roof.
"This is insane!" She yells at me over the noise of the wind.
"Stay low," I reply and we both lie down on the roof of the train as it speeds along. I forget all about Thomas and the threats he made.
Ahead, the station comes into view. I can see Lynn and two others standing near the flag on the platform. The others have either left to deal with Jay's group or are hiding somewhere. I swallow, suddenly feeling nervous.
"Get ready!" I yell. I notice that Laura has swapped back to her previous weapon. As we come near to the station I lift my gun to my shoulder and shoot at one of the dauntless-born standing near the flag. Amazingly, the paint slams into the side of their face knocking them down. Lynn yells something, pointing at us on the train before diving behind an old ticket machine. The other dauntless-born is too slow and Laura's shot hits her square in the chest. But then Marlene and two others come up the stairs and start firing at us. Six and Zeke fire as we go past the platform and hit Marlene in the leg and the stomach. Then we have passed the station and rounded a bend. I see a building ahead at a suitable height to the rail to jump onto. Although, it is pretty far for Laura and me.
"Get ready to jump!" I yell.
"You sure about this?" Laura asks me. The train is picking up speed again.
"Absolutely," I grin. Adrenaline is surging through my body, making me feel invincible.
Six and Zeke jump out the train and land on the building first. I take Laura's hand and we both leap of the top of the train. We are in the air a good two seconds before landing and rolling on the roof of the building.
I look at Laura who's hair is messed up from the night's activities, but she is grinning at me, the same adrenaline pumping through her veins. I can't help it; I just laugh.
"That was nuts!" Six yells at us. "You could have killed yourself with a jump like that. Never do that again," though she is grinning too.
"Guys," Zeke speaks up. We turn to him and he has two paint stains on his chest. He must have been hit when we went past the station. "Sorry, I'm out. You can win this though!"
I nod and say, "There are only three of them left now."
Six, Laura and me climb down the side of the building before heading toward the stairs that lead up to the platform.
"Do you think they saw us jump?" Laura asks.
"We have to assume they did," I reply.
"I'll go up first," Six says.
We reach the stairs and walk up them as quietly as possible, Six at the front.
She pokes her head round the corner when we get to the top and paint balls whiz past her head. She quickly ducks back.
"I think they know," she says, grinning.
"Six, stay here. Laura and I will go to the other side." I tell her.
We go back down the stairs and run to the stairs on the other side of the road. Again, we ascend them as quietly as we can.
I peek my head round the corner and see Lynn and the two dauntless-born initiates slowly walking to the other staircase where Six is, their guns raised.
"Okay, they're distracted," I whisper to Laura. "You ready?"
"Let's do it," she says and we both step out onto the platform shooting at the three on the other side of the track. Laura hits one of the dauntless-born on the head and they go down. My shots are all missing and I curse my aiming.
Lynn and the remaining dauntless-born whip around to fire back at us and we both dive behind an old vending machine. I peek around the side to see Six step out on the other side of the track and shoot the other dauntless-born in the back of their head and they fall down. I step out, my gun aimed at Lynn and Laura does the same while Six on the other side is also aiming at her.
"Damn it!" she yells but she is grinning.
She fires at Six and hits her straight in the chest but Laura and I both fire, covering Lynn in paint.
We jump down onto the track and climb up the other side and grab the flag together.
"We did it!" Laura shouts, joy etched in every feature of her face. "We won!"
I shout, whooping into the air and wrap my arms around Laura. She reaches up and kisses my cheek and I grin back at her before leaning down and kissing her on the lips. All thought of Thomas and the danger that she is in floats out of my mind when my lips touch hers.
When we break apart, I look down at her to see she is biting her lip and looking me straight in the eyes. I don't feel awkward and I don't feel embarrassed. There is no childish voice in my head. I smile down at her and she leans her head against my chest. I feel happier than I ever have.
About fifteen minutes later, Jay and his group arrive. Four and Rob come up the opposite stairs and Jay and Simon walk up the stairs on our side. They all charge out yelling but stop when they see that we are there, sitting with our feet dangling over the edge of the platform.
"Where'd you lot get to?" I ask grinning. They all cheer and surround us, reaching for the flag or patting our shoulders.
P/B
Later, when we have all got back to the compound, we sit in the cafeteria eating cake we woke up the cooks for. It's four in the morning. Jay told us how there was only one guard in one of the buildings near the station but he only hit Thomas before they all shot him. I grin when I hear this news.
When we tell them that we got on the train and jumped off the roof onto a building, they laugh. "Seriously? I don't believe it!" Jay says to us.
"It's true," Zeke says and Six nods.
His eyes go wide, "That's crazy. You guys are definitely Dauntless!" he shouts and everyone cheers.
I look at Laura, remembering the kiss we shared after getting the flag and feel my cheeks colouring but she just grins at me. Her grin has become infectious for me and I grin back knowing I'd do anything to see her smile. I look around the table and see Thomas staring right at me, his face completely expressionless. My body goes cold under his stare but I glare back at him. I don't care what he thinks about me being near Laura. If he comes near us, I'm willing to fight him and I'm certain I could beat him.
If he fights fair.
Okay, so, I don't know why, but this chapter feels kind of weak to me. I keep reading it back but I can't figure out what it is. I apologize for this, hopefully the next one will be better. I'll see you next time!
~Crysics~