INITIATION ENDS
ERIC POV
"How long has he been in there?" Max asks.
We are sitting watching the fear landscapes. I look at my watch. "Almost four hours," I say.
"He has ten more minutes. If he is not out then fail him. This is pathetic," Max says.
Four and I have been trying to find a way to kick Peter out of Dauntless and now it looks like we have. The first two hours we were in here he got through twenty five fears. For the last two hours he has been cowering in a corner crying while I yell and beat the crap out of him. Looks like I will get to kick the little shit out of here. I turn to see a smirk on Four's face.
We sit here for another ten minutes, one of our leaders has actually fallen asleep. I look over to Max and he just nods his head. I walk out of the room and tell Lauren to wake him up.
I walk over to Tris, she is the only initiate who is still to go through her landscape. All her friends are here with her. They are all looking tired and bored. Usually there would be crowds of Dauntless watching as the initiates go through their landscapes but most have moved down into the Pit and are now partying.
"Tris, I'm sorry it has taken so long. We will be ready for you in a few minutes," I say.
"What is going on Eric? Peter has been in there for hours?" Zeke asks.
"He is stuck in his landscape. Lauren in getting him out of it now," I say.
"Has this ever happened before?" Tris asks.
"Not that I'm aware of," I say.
"What does this mean for his rank?" Tris asks.
"He will be factionless," I say.
Just as the group starts to whoop and holler at the news, Peter walks out of the room, he takes one look at me and runs out of the room. Everyone starts to laugh.
"Come on Tris. Let's get this over with," I say.
Tris rises from her seat and starts to walk into the room where she will be injected by Lauren. Four comes over to her. "Are you okay to do this? Because we really need it done now for our plan to work," he says to her.
"Let's get this over with," she says.
I am standing on a table in the dining hall, ready to announce the initiates results. I'm grateful they have given me a microphone for this as the crowd in here is extremely loud and extremely drunk. The banquet should have started an hour ago but because of Peter we have had to push everything back.
I make the microphone squeal to get everyone's attention. "We aren't big on speeches here. Eloquence is for Erudite," I say. I almost cringe at the words. It seems I get all the ridiculous pre made speeches. I will need to change that.
"So I am going to keep this short. It's a new year, and we have a new pack of initiates. And a slightly smaller pack of new members. We offer them our congratulations." The room has erupted with pounding fists on the tabletops.
"We believe in bravery. We believe in taking action. We believe in freedom from fear and in acquiring the skills to force the bad out of our world so the good can prosper and thrive. If you also believe in those we welcome you," I say. All I can think of is that in a few more hours we will be ridding our faction of the people who don't believe in these things anymore. It makes me smile.
"Tomorrow, in their first act as members, our top ten initiates will choose their professions, in the order of how they are ranked. The rankings, I know, are what everyone is really waiting for. They are determined by a combination of three scores – the first, from the combat stage of training; the second, from the simulation stage; and the third, from the final examination, the fear landscape. The rankings will appear on the screen behind me," I say.
As soon as I have finished the rankings are shown. The room has erupted into chaos as people start to celebrate and congratulate the new members. I watch as I see Four move towards Tris and I then realise that I can now go and congratulate Suzy. I don't have to hide my feelings for her anymore.
I take one last look at the screen, reading the names of our newest member in order of their rank. And it looks like this:
Tris
Uriah
Suzy
Lynn
Marlene
Christina
Ash
Will
Blake
Gabe
Eleven and twelve are Molly and Drew. Peter doesn't get a ranking because he didn't complete his fear simulation.
I start to walk towards the group of new members when I see Peter yelling at Tris. I quickly walk over there and say, "if you have something to say, then I think you should be saying it to me."
He looks up and sees me and goes to run. Four grabs him by the arms and motions for the two guards we have stationed at the door to come over. "What are you doing?" Peter asks.
"You are being escorted from Dauntless," Four says.
"What? I thought that initiates had until the morning to leave," Peter says.
"You didn't complete initiation Peter. So you get to leave now. Take him away," I say to the guards.
"You haven't heard the last from me. I will get revenge. I'm going to kill you Tris, you can be guaranteed of that," Peter is yelling as he is dragged forcefully out of the hall.
I turn around to see concern on Tris's face but everyone else is laughing. I walk over and give Suzy a hug. "Congratulations," I say. "You did such a good job."
"Thank you. I am so glad it is over. I never thought I was going to make it. And now I'm third," Suzy says.
"Okay I am sorry I have to do this. But we need to start putting our plan into place. Will, Christina I need you to come with Suzy and I so I can explain what you need to do," I say.
"Don't we get to have the banquet first?" Christina asks.
"No. But when this is all over I will make sure we have a bigger party," I say.
Christina just nods. I know she isn't happy but I need her to go to Erudite now. They need to help Cara get my mum out. What if it doesn't work? I can't lose her. We have been talking about this for so many weeks now. I can't believe that it is finally time to act. I watch as Christina gives Tris a hug and then we go to walk out of the dining hall.
They have set up tables at the doors of the dining hall and they are starting to inject people with the serum before they can leave. We reach the table and I say, "these three are with me. You don't need to inject them." The guards just nod and I walk us out of the room and we go up to my apartment. I need to get these three out of here as quickly as possible because I need to be seen at the banquet.
We walk into my apartment and Fernando is sitting on the couch.
"Did you bring me something to eat?" he says.
"No. There is food in the fridge, make yourself something," I say.
"But you're having a banquet downstairs, couldn't you have brought me something?" he says.
"Fernando you're a smart guy. I'm sure you can fix yourself something to eat," I say.
I turn to Suzy, Christina and Will. "Here take this," I say. I pass them a bag.
"There are clothes in here that you will need to change into on the train. I have also put guns and knives in there as well. You need to make sure you are armed at all times. Do exactly what Cara tells you to do. And make sure you stick together," I say. "Do you understand me?"
They all nod. I walk over and give Suzy a hug. "Be careful," I whisper into her ear. "You should be back here before lunch tomorrow. If anything goes wrong make sure you stay together. Cara knows what to do and how to contact me if there are any problems," I say.
"Come on you need to go now," I say.
I watch as they walk out the door and I pray they all get back here safely.