Chapter Two

First Jumper

I wake up the next morning with a pain in my head.

I groan and roll over, looking around my room. Books line the shelves. Nothing but books and a computer on a table. Will I miss it as a transfer? Will I miss my family? Will I miss Erudite?

I dress in a blue shirt and jeans before going downstairs. I fix up my hair in a braid. My mother has a couple apples ready for me; it is all I can eat today. Mum has already gone, and left a note. It's a simple note to tell me where she is, and that she will see me on visitation day. Of course she assumes that I would be in Erudite. She was always blind to my Dauntless qualities. As I was, I guess. I don't know how I hadn't guessed before. And now I'm choosing between me and her family.

Well, not everyone can be an Abnegation, can they?

I jump off of the bus and land hard on the concrete. After blinking pain away for a few seconds, I glance up at the Hub. The top of the tower disappears into the clouds. I brush a strand of her hair away from my brown eyes, then follow a group of chatty Erudites into the elevator, which escalates up to the twentieth floor. An Abnegation holds open the door for us to enter the Choosing Room. The sixteen-year-olds are on the edges of a circle– one of three in the room. They start to arranged themselves in alphabetical order of the last name. In another circle sit the people who gathered to watch, arranged in factions. In the third are the the five bowls. Each of the five bowls– so large they could hold my entire body– hold a different substance. Gray stones for Abnegation, earth for Amity, glass for Candor, lit coals for Dauntless and water for Erudite. An Abnegation man, Andrew Prior, is the conductor of the ceremony this year. He will hand each student a knife– each one called up in reverse alphabetical order– and they will cut their palm open and sprinkle their blood into the bowl of the faction they choose.

It will decide their lives. And I am terrified.

I'm a lot closer to the front than I expected. I guess that there were few children with a last name below the two letters "Ty".

Andrew Prior gives the opening speech, but I don't listen. He sounds distracted anyway, as he glances at a girl sitting with the Dauntless. I was studying them as well, which is why I noticed. The girl has wild blonde hair and brown eyes. She's holding the hand of a Dauntless boy, with dark brown hair and eyes. I can see the girl's tattoos; the girl is close enough for me to see. She has the Dauntless symbol on her visible shoulder, and three ravens on her collarbone. I don't know if I'd like a tattoo or not. I don't know if I'd like Dauntless or not. Transferring is a high gamble.

A young Candor boy runs up. He takes the knife and cuts open his palm, but hesitates before he picks one. His eyes flit between the glass and the coals. He puts his palm over the coals and his blood trickles out of his palm, and drips onto the glass.

The Dauntless cheer. The Candor mutter. The first child as well as the first transfer.

The boy goes to stand behind the Dauntless seats. I watch after him with a slight longing. Could I take my place behind the Dauntless? Could I do that?

More people go up. Few are transfers. Transfers are traitors, that was what I was taught. Transfers are traitors.

"Tyler, Rose."

I stumble up to the bowls, almost falling. Distractedly, Andrew holds out the knife to me. I look down at it, flashing back to my simulation. My head throbs again. I grab it. Why is it getting blurry? It's getting so blurry. I barely manage to cut my palm. The knife drops to the floor.

"Sorry." I mutter.

Andrew picks it up, gesturing for me to continue. I look at the bowls. I can't tell the water from the glass. The stones fade in with the gray of the bowl. The soil and coals are the only things that stand out, and even then, the soil blends with the gray somewhat. The coals stand out. The coals.

I was never an Abnegation. Glad I wasn't born there. Then again, if i had been born there, maybe I'd feel better about this choice.

Blood sizzles on the coals.

My blood.

The Dauntless cheer again. I smile weakly. Maybe it's nerves, the reason my vision is blurry; I still can't see very well. I stumble off of the platform, then trip over my shoelace. I tumble, landing hard on my head. Someone screams. I black out.

I open my eyes to find a young Dauntless girl with black hair and a green streak leaning over me.

"Come on, then." she says. "Follow me."

The girl helps me to my feet. "You blacked out a few seconds. Don't worry; you won't look bad. Sometimes you inhale the smoke from the coals; they've put something new on it in the last few years." she leads me over to the other Dauntless transfers, who roll their eyes at the chatty girl.

"Shut up, Kee." one of the boys says. "You're embarrassing the Dauntless-Borns."

Kee Yao. Yes, I remember her now, Rose thinks. She was one of the first people called up. Chose Dauntless without thinking.

"Welcome to Dauntless." Kee says.

I nod. "I'm Rose."

"My name's Kee. Hope you survive initiation."

"We have to jump on the train?" I ask. "A moving train?"

The Choosing is over; the Dauntless are waiting for the train. I couldn't bear to even glance at the Erudite on the way out, to catch my mother's disappointed eyes.

"Yep!" Kee grins.

"But we're new! We've never done this before!" I protest. I've watched the Dauntless jump off the train to get to school every day since I was a kid, but I never expected to jump on with them.

"Didn't you choose Dauntless?" a disapproving Dauntless-born glares at me. I nod. "Then keep up!"

"See if we can get the first boxcar!" Kee says. "Ready? Three! Two! One!"

Kee jumps, gripping my hand. I land in the compartment, but fall flat on my face.

"Sorry!" Kee yells as she helps me up. I look around to see there is only one other occupant of the boxcar– the Candor boy who went up first.

"Bobby." the boy introduces himself. I watch his face as he shakes hands with Kee– his eyes spark with recognition. They've seen each other before.

"I'm Rose." I say, brushing off my jeans. I don't shake Bobby's hand. "How long till we get to the headquarters?"

"I like your accent." Bobby tells me. "And…" he checks his watch. "A half hour. Hope you don't have problems being bored."

"This is going to be a long ride." I groan.

The rooftop seems to come hours later.

"Finally! We're free!" I yell, before I see what Kee is pointing to. "Wait. We have to jump?"

"Yep." Kee grabs my hand. "Do it together again?"

"If it makes you feel better." I tease. Instead of feeling nervous, like I did the first time, I feel exhilarated. This must be what it feels like to be Dauntless.

We jump.

I land on the rooftop and fall over, just like I did when I jumped on the train. How embarrassing. Kee lands on her feet. Bobby is right behind us. The others come after. Miraculously, they all make it, except for one girl who chooses not to. I guess she chose factionless over dead– something I don't think I could do. A Dauntless leader is standing on the rooftop.

"Listen up, initiates!" he calls. "I am Max, one of the leaders of your new faction!" He has dark skin and gray hair. He stands on the ledge as if he does this every day. "Several stories below is how to get to our headquarters. If you can't jump off, you aren't a Dauntless. Our initiates can go first."

"Jump off?" Bobby asks. "Off the roof?"

Max nods.

"I'll go!" I shout before anybody else can volunteer, so full of adrenaline.

They stare at me. I flip her braid over my shoulder and go to the ledge, then step back. It's a lot higher than I thought it would be, and below is a gaping black hole. I turn around. They're all watching me, analizing me; trying to decide if I belong. I take a deep breath. If I'm going to be Dauntless, I'm going to start now.

I jump.

I fall, and the ground seems to plow toward me. I can't close my eyes, I won't. I don't even scream; I laugh.

I hit something in the hole, something that catches me. Slipping into blurry vision again, I struggle to breathe as the thing holding me gives way and I hit the ground. I look around. I had landed on a net, but what confuses me is that there is only one person here. From what I can tell, he is tall and fit, with a long neck and big ears.

He holds out a hand to help me to her feet. Funny how I keep falling over on the day that matters most. I think.

I stand up by myself. "I… I thought there would be more people." I say as the blurs fade away.

"Sorry to disappoint you." the man says. "I'm the Doctor, by the way. What's your name?"

In the dim light I can tell who he is. I've seen him before. He's the man from the simulation, the man in the papers. The murderer. But why would they put a real person in the simulation? Everyone else has a forgettable face, or none at all, or the simulation makes you forget. Not this time.

He still smiles that eccentric, friendly smile as I stare. I shake my head and say, "Rose. Rose Tyler."

"Nice to meet you, Rose." The Doctor says before pressing a button on the wall. Metal doors close over the hole above our heads. He then grabs my hand and says one simple phrase. "Run for your life!"'