Someone shakes me awake. I grunt, rolling onto my back in bed and squeezing my bleary eyes open an inch to see Freeman glowering down at me.
"Wake up, initiate!" he yells. "We're taking you lot on a little field trip."
*
The eight of us are bundled into one of two separate trucks. Freeman is driving the second one, which is full of the ten Dauntless-born initiates. Brooklyn gives me a knowing look and points to the man in the driver's seat in my truck. I take it to mean he's her brother, Berkeley.
"Get in," Berkeley calls to the rest of us from where he sits - his voice is rough and scratchy. "No seat belts in the back of the truck, so you'd all jolly well do your best to hold on to something."
He starts the engine and the two trucks take off down the dirt road; Freeman following next to Berkeley.
The bed of the truck jolts and shudders and we are thrown around like sacks of vegetables each time the truck goes over a pothole or a patch of rough terrain. Katrina yelps and falls into Robert's arms, who looks like Christmas came early. Bonnie looks terrified and clutches onto Lisa, who looks greenest of us all and is grabbing the side of the truck tightly, her knuckles turning white.
"Fun ride, huh?" Vincent calls out to all of us over the sound of the trucks moving.
He looks to Robert, who is smiling sheepishly at Katrina, still sitting on top of him. Katrina scowls and swiftly pushes off of Robert, scooting over to Frank.
Vincent turns to look at me and I hear him laugh unkindly. "You alright there, Markus? Looking like you're about to have a fit, is what it is."
I growl at him, trying not to look as carsick as I feel. I may have more experience being driven around than most of the others; my father being the rich influential person in Candor that he is. However, he certainly didn't drive around at these speeds.
"I almost forgot; you don't do well with fast speeds, do you?" Alyssa - who is sitting across from me - asks, looking at me with an expression of cruel glee.
She looks to be the most relaxed of us all. She's undone her hair, and it blows behind her in the wind. With her hair away from her face, and with the light of the dawning morning bathing her in its glow, she looks radiant - she looks free.
"No," I grunt bluntly in response.
She opens her mouth and lets loose a clear, rich laugh. "How very honest of you to admit your fear."
"It takes courage to be honest," I say back. "Shouldn't you be the one who should be afraid? You're returning to your old faction. Not afraid of how those banjo-strumming softies will treat you?"
"Please. You think the Amity are capable of anger?" she spits.
"I know what they are capable of," I say. "Tears. I hope you brought an umbrella to prepare yourself for the waterworks."
She rolls her eyes. "I'll have you know they're not all banjo-strumming softies. I'm sure it'll be fine. You don't need to concern yourself with my affairs."
*
The trucks pull up near the gates leading out of the city. I hop out, nursing my sore back. Planting my feet on solid ground, I exhale slowly, stretching to loosen my aching back muscles.
I see Alyssa get out as well. Noticing me - and Vincent and Robert - watching her intently, she purposefully turns her backs on the Amity farms in the background, careful not to let us catch her looking wistful.
Katrina hops out next to me, looking similarly disgruntled. Her expression lightens considerably when she looks off into the distance, at the Amity farms. A couple trucks just like ours are driving our way, looking like they contain initiates too.
"Amity initiation," Katrina says to me. "It must be."
"What's that like? Will they be tested on how well they pick flowers or whatever it is the Amity do day-to-day?" Miles asks, looking disdainful as he saunters up to us.
"Actually, I hear it involves testing initiates on apple-picking, as well as how well they can keep the peace in their community. Stuff like that," Berkeley says, moving over to Miles. "I wouldn't brush aside the Amity as this namby-pamby, rainbows-and-unicorns faction. They're actually really important. Their main area of work is regarding agriculture. They keep our city fed. And Amity make the best guidance counselors because of their easy-going nature. It's hard to feel nervous about approaching an Amity about a problem."
"So, they're very much like the Stiffs?" Miles asks, casting Katrina a side-long glance.
"Perhaps. Except Stiffs find it hard to be open and chatty like the Amity do." As Katrina says this, she frowns, worried. "I hope Mary can adjust to that life."
"I'm sure your friend's fine," I say breezily. "Once she gains some confidence, I'm sure she'll be very happy there."
"I don't know," she mutters, looking slightly ticked off.
"Hey, you," Berkeley says, glancing at me and beckoning me to follow him to the side, away from Miles and Katrina.
Giving him a confused look, I follow, and he stands near the bed of the truck, waiting.
"What?" I ask.
"You're that Markus kid. The one my kid sister's been telling you about." It's not a question; it's a statement.
I nod. "That's me."
"You're a Candor." Again, another statement.
"Yes. Or, I was."
"It's still a part of you. I don't like my sister associating with those smart-mouths," Berkeley says, narrowing his eyes.
"Too bad you can't control her," I say. "You know it's the truth."
Berkeley nods. "I know. Don't worry. I'm not asking you to back off or anything. I know damn well I can't control who she hangs around with. Still, I just want to let you know that if you ever play with her feelings, I'm going to personally throw you down into the Chasm. Got that?"
He walks away before I can answer. My mind's still trying to work its way around the meaning of his words. "Play with her f- ...wait, surely he doesn't think that I-"
"Initiates! Gather round!"
I follow the others as we get together in a small crowd around Freeman. Freeman points to a few patrolling guards by the fence. "Those there are Dauntless guards. Their job is to patrol the gate leading in and out of the city. Only the Amity are allowed in and out, to do their agricultural business. Those who don't get above Rank 5 at the end of Stage Three will most likely end up with jobs here."
He folds his arms. "Let that be a little incentive to you guys that you ought to fight harder for a higher ranking. High rankings let you choose which jobs you can get, and if you're first to choose, you get a lot more options. Working in the government as a Dauntless leader is easily one of the most attractive choices."
His eyes light up with a bit of a sadistic gleam. "As Dauntless leaders, we get to carry out executions."
"Executions?" one of the Dauntless-born repeats.
"Yes. Three Dauntless leaders will each have one gun. One of those three guns is loaded with a bullet. The others are empty. None of them know which gun is loaded and which isn't. They each take turns to pull the trigger at the person about to be executed. It's always entertaining to try and guess who ends up being the one to fire," Freeman says.
"I ever mention how much of a sicko this guy is?" Berkeley asks, jabbing a thumb at Freeman good-naturedly.
Freeman snorts. "Whatever."
The group breaks up. Freeman goes to speak with Berkeley and I find Katrina standing with Frank by the side of the road, near one of the Amity trucks, which has just arrived.
I head over just in time to see someone climb out of the bed of the Amity truck to give Katrina a big hug. I recognize Mary, Katrina's friend - now dressed in red and yellow and looking considerably better the last time I saw her as a Stiff.
"Katrina. It's so good to see you again," I hear Mary say in a formal manner, releasing Katrina from her bear hug.
Katrina smiles awkwardly. "Good to see you too, Mary. I'd hug you back, but..."
"I know. The Dauntless aren't the hugging type. I understand," Mary says.
"How are you doing? Is Amity suiting you?" Katrina asks.
Mary's smiles flickers for the slightest moment before she replies. "It's great! It's going really, really great!"
"I'm glad to see you're happy," Katrina says, looking relieved. "I was afraid you'd have trouble adjusting...because-"
"Oh, Katrina, you're too sweet! Don't worry. The other Amity people are really, really, really nice to me! Mealtimes are a blast!" Mary says, smiling warmly.
She notices me and Frank standing at Katrina's shoulder. "Aren't you going to introduce me to your Dauntless friends?"
"This is Frank. He was a Stiff too, though I guess he didn't really hang out much with either of us back when we were still in Abnegation," Katrina introduces.
"I'm the kind of guy whose face is easily forgettable," Frank says sheepishly.
"This is Markus. He's a Candor, but he's stressing with utmost emphasis that he's not the usual snappy Candor smart-mouth he used to be," Katrina says airily.
"And I'm not!" I exclaim.
Katrina laughs. "Still got a long way to go, Markus."
"Regardless, you two seem to have dropped your Stiff ways fairly quickly," I say, indicating Katrina and Mary.
"Yeah, well, I never enjoyed being a Stiff anyway. It feels a lot more natural to not be restricted. I spent a good fifteen minutes in the girls' room on our first night here, just admiring my reflection," Katrina says.
"I was really homesick on my first night here," Mary pouts. "But the other Amity transfers were really nice! They comforted me when I cried."
"Frank here's still pretty Stiff though," Katrina muses, grinning.
"Hey! I've dropped the grey clothes!" Frank protested, sticking out his upper lip.
"You took one look at two Dauntless kissing on our first night and were absolutely scandalized!" Katrina exclaims.
"W-well, who in their right mind wouldn't be scandalized? It's so public! Stuff like that should be done in private," Frank splutters, blushing beet red.
"I should probably be going off now, Katrina," Mary says. "I don't want to keep the rest of my team waiting. They only stopped so I could talk to you."
"Good point. Besides, I don't think Freeman's too happy to see us associating with people outside our faction," Frank mutters in a low whisper.
Me and Katrina look over Frank's shoulder to where Freeman stands, watching us with narrowed eyes and a disapproving glare.
"Yeah, good point. Nice catching up with you, Mary. You...take care," Katrina says hurriedly.
Mary gives Katrina one last bear hug, to which Katrina does not hug her back. Then Mary pulls away and rushes back to the Amity truck.
*
"Today, we begin the first matches of Stage One!" Ila calls out.
Us eight initiates are gathered in the Training Center. A large blackboard is put up behind Ila, and on it are our names, written out in chalk. Each of our names is paired up with another.
"This is the list of the first few fights. You'll each be paired up against one opponent and both of you must fight until one of you cannot go on or if one of you concedes. Though I must warn you...Freeman will not be too pleased if he hears someone gave up in the middle of a fight," Ila warns.
She moves aside and lets us read from the blackboard.
VINCENT .VS. FRANK
LISA .VS. ALYSSA
KATRINA .VS. ROBERT
MARKUS .VS. BONNIE
"You said you thought you could take tough guy over there, right?" Ila says to Bonnie, who is looking smug. "Why don't you prove it?"
Bonnie turns to regard me and she bites her lip when she considers how much taller I am compared to her. Her eyes roam up and down, scrutinizing me. "I guess we'll see."