The mall is a decrepit and desolate building. One side of the wall on the ground floor has been blown open. Bricks and plaster lie in pieces on the floor. I take care to step around the debris as I join the rest of my team standing in the middle of the once grand shopping complex. The inside of the building is dark and smells of must. Lisa's face turns even paler when she hears the distant squeaking of rats coming from somewhere within the gloom. She clutches Bonnie and the two Noses hold onto each other for support.

Rafael grimaces, wiping a coat of dust off of a nearby bench with his finger, holding them up to the moonlight streaming in from the crater in the roof. "This place hasn't been visited for...how long again?"

"It was built fourteen years ago. It fell into disrepair six years after its development. The Amity used to run this place. They thought it was a very cute idea, having little gift shops and food courts to get people together. Shopping complexes used to be popular. It didn't work out very well though. Factions are better being...well, on their own. It's best for people of different factions not to mix because clashing is inevitable. This place would have closed down even without the rat infestation, if you ask me," Berkeley sniffs with disdain.

The Dauntless-born girl picks up a lone magazine lying on the ground and flips through it. Tattered pages drop out along with a squashed cockroach. She sticks out her tongue in disgust, throwing it back down to the ground.

"This place is disgusting, bro!" Brooklyn whines, wrinkling her nose.

"That's good. Maybe the dirt and grime will scare the other team off, if the rats and insects don't," Berkeley says nonchalantly. "Now, team, get to formulating a plan."

"Alright, there are ten of us, right? We should have four of us on defense, and have the other six split into two teams and flank the opponent team's base to get the flag," Miles says, propping his gun up on a bone dry fountain.

"That's not a bad idea. Who should we have on which team?" the Dauntless-born boy asks.

"Who's good on defense?" Katrina asks.

"Titus and I can be on that team," the Dauntless-born girl says.

"I volunteer for offense," Lisa says hurriedly. "I'd rather not have to stay here with the rats."

"Where Lisa goes, I follow," Bonnie says loyally.

"I'm a good shot. I'd be better with a paintball gun if you want me to shoot someone," Miles says.

"I'm just as good," Rafael butts in.

"Okay, well, we should have one of you two stay here then," I suggest.

"I don't mind staying," Rafael says.

"I guess that leaves the two Noses and I on offense," Miles says, stretching his hands over his head.

"Rafael, Kathleen and I are going to need one more member on defense," Titus speaks up.

I look from Brooklyn to Katrina. "Uh..."

"I'll stay," Berkeley says. I turn to find him sitting on the edge of the fountain, shaking his leg nonchalantly, one hand clutching our team's flag. "You three join offense. The teams are all good to go, but y'all still have no idea where the other team's flag will be."

I turn to survey the area. Spotting a broken down escalator behind the fountain, I point to it. "Perhaps some of us should climb the escalators and get to the roof of this building. It'll be dangerous, what with the crater in the roof and all, but perhaps by getting to a higher vantage point, we'll be able to find out the other team's location."

I turn back to the rest of the group. "I'll climb. I'm not scared of heights. Some of you should also scour this area - to look for possible weak points in our defense that the opponent team may use to get in here and steal our flag. Check for unguarded exits and entrances to this mall. Look out for areas that are hidden from our line of sight such that we can't see if anyone would hide there."

"Venture out deeper into the mall? No way. I don't want to find more...rats," Lisa says. "I'll come with you."

"Me too," Bonnie says instantly.

Miles gathers the Dauntless-born in a group and begins assigning them areas of the mall to scout out. Katrina kicks a loose piece of rubble on the floor, looking sheepish. "What about me?"

"Go help the others," I say. "I think three people is enough to get up to the roof."

Katrina shrugs and regards me with a curious smile. "Yes, sir."

Before I can respond, Lisa grabs hold of my hand and beckons me to hurry. She, Bonnie and I make our way to the escalators at the other end of the mall and begin to climb.

"It's just too bad these metal staircases don't work anymore," Lisa pants. "I'd use them every day to get here and there."

"Don't be silly," I say. "You think the Dauntless would approve? Can you imagine escalators in the Pit? They'd say you'd need the exercise of climbing stairs on foot."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lisa snaps, looking annoyed.

"I'm just saying it wouldn't hurt for you to hit the gym every now and then," I say, shrugging.

Lisa lets out an angry gasp. "As usual, you Candor smart-mouths are ever the tactical geniuses. Even the Erudite have more charm than the lot of you. It's no wonder no one likes any of you."

"It's nothing to do with me once being Candor. The Dauntless would say the same," I say in my defense. "You've seen how Freeman can get, and Ila can be a bit harsh when it comes to physical training."

"Hark who's talking, Mark. Aren't you close to flunking Stage One anyway? Just fail and go be factionless already. You're as dreadful a Dauntless as you were a Candor," Lisa scowls.

"Shut it. Both of you. You're being idiots," Bonnie butts in. "Look - over there."

She points over to a door in the corner. A dimmed neon sign reading "EXIT TO ROOF" is nailed to the wall above it.

"That's where we need to go."

"Keen eyes," I say to her. I point to her glasses. "Why do you still wear those? That's Erudite eyewear."

"I don't wear them because I'm Erudite. I wear them cause I really can't see without them," Bonnie says.

I ponder this for a moment. "Wear contact lenses. You'd look much better without those things obscuring your face."

Lisa - still looking mad at me - storms ahead, leading the way to the door marked EXIT. She grabs the handle and grunts, tugging on it, before the door finally swings open with a screech as it scrapes the floor. A plume of dust billows out at us as it squeaks on its hinges. Beyond the door are a set of stairs leading up into the gloom.

"Men first," Lisa says scathingly, mockingly pointing a finger for me to venture forward.

"Don't worry, I'm sure there aren't any rats in here," I snort as I walk in.

*

Lisa, Bonnie and I soon emerge out onto the roof. The crater is about the size of my apartment in Candor. The hole is right in the middle of the roof. One misstep and I'd go tumbling down five storeys to my death. The moon shines bright, directly overhead. Bonnie shivers as she steps up to the edge of the large crater, peering down, clutching onto her glasses with her free hand to keep them from slipping off. "It's an awfully long way down."

"Not scared of heights, are you?" I ask.

"If I was, I wouldn't have volunteered to follow you up here. Mind you, if not for us two Noses, I bet you'd be coming up here alone. No one seems to like you very much," Bonnie says to me irritably.

I think of Brooklyn - being bossed around by Miles downstairs, of Katrina - who'd looked so forlorn at being made to stay with the others, of Frank - who'd looked so upset to be with the other team. "I wouldn't exactly say that."

Bonnie sighs. "Markus, I'm sure you're a nice guy. You're much better than those other two Candor smart-mouths who came to Dauntless with you. Still, you have a tendency of voicing your thoughts out loud, even when they hurt others."

She points to the tattoo of the balanced scales on the back of my right hand. "I heard you talk about your tattoo to the Stiffs earlier. You said you wanted to balance between truth and lies. Well, try harder, would you?"

She turns to look at her friend Lisa, who is standing a distance away from us, peering away from the mall, squinting across the area to look for signs of the opponent's team. "You really hurt her feelings just now, you know?"

"I just...I mean, the Dauntless are careless with their words too. I can't imagine it's the first time she's been insulted about stuff like her weight," I protest.

"It isn't the first time. Which is exactly why it hurts her. She's always been hurt by things like that. She came to Dauntless to prove that she could be strong," Bonnie said, looking cross.

I bite back a retort and shrug. "Well, I'm sorry. Okay? It's not easy to forget my past faction."

Bonnie looks away. "It's not easy for any of us."

"Guys, come here," Lisa calls over. "I think I see something. Watch your step."

Carefully, Bonnie and I walk over to stand by Lisa.

"What is it?" I ask her.

Lisa points. Directly ahead of us, I can see a few buildings dotting the nighttime skyline in the distance. A few lights flicker near one of the large structures. I see the unmistakable outlines of human figures silhouetted in the moonlight, walking back and forth.

"That must be it," she says. "I think that's a museum, not far from here. It could be where they've hidden the flag."

I nod. Then, remembering what Bonnie said, I add. "You have keen eyes too, Lisa."

She looks at me, her auburn eyes wide with surprise. "Excuse me?"

I shrug. "Don't get used to compliments like that. Now, let's go tell the others."

*

When it comes down to assigning teams, Miles offers to take charge of the team with himself, Brooklyn and Katrina, claiming that he thought the two girls were the best fighters out of all six of us in the offense team.

"No," I say.

"Why not?" he asks, looking disgruntled.

"We should mix the teams up. You take Lisa and Bonnie. I'll go with Brooklyn and Katrina," I tell him.

"Why? You want to get in a threesome with the two hot chicks, is that it? You're going to leave me with the nerd girls?" he asks, crossing his arms.

"On the contrary, you said so yourself: Brooklyn and Katrina are the two better fighters among us six. And you claim to be a good shot yourself. Therefore, if all three of you good fighters are on one team, and you leave me and the two Noses on the other, that means we're unbalanced," I explain. "One team of good fighters and another team of less...well, less...less skilled ones. If the two teams flank the opponent's group, they'll have an easy time dispatching us. We need to have teams with equal skill. If you're really as good as you claim to be, I'm sure you're worth both Brooklyn and Katrina. So, you can take the two Noses, and I'll take Brooklyn and Katrina. Don't worry - Lisa and Bonnie aren't half bad themselves. One of them knocked me out; why don't you try guessing which?"

I don't mention to Miles my second reason of not wanting to be on the same team as Lisa and Bonnie - Lisa's still mad at me about what happened earlier and I don't want to still be near her while her anger hasn't subsided.

Miles bites the inside of his cheek. "Fine. Deal's a deal, Markus." He holds out a hand to shake. "Just don't think I don't know what you're really trying to do."

I shake his hand. "And what do you think I'm really trying to do?"

He winks at me. "Trying to hit on Brooklyn."

I pull my hand from his grip. "Why does everyone keep saying that? Is it that obvious that I like her?"

"She's hot. Who wouldn't like her?" Miles says. "Also, you're an ex-Candor. You're probably not very good at hiding things. The way you look at Brooklyn...you might as well have a sign telling everyone that you're attracted to her. I don't blame you, though. It's Brett you've got to watch out for."

I frown. "Him? What's he got to do with-"

"Take it from me, alright? I've grown up with Brett for my whole life. He's one of my friends. And he's had a crush on Brooklyn for as long as I can remember. He's the kind of guy who plays dirty. So watch your back." With that, Miles turns back to face the others, who have been milling around the fountain. "Lisa! Bonnie! Come with me."

Brooklyn and Katrina walk up to me.

"So we're with you then?" Katrina asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Delightful," Brooklyn says, flashing me a smile.

I force a laugh. "Come on. Let's go get that flag."