Chapter Six everyone! Thank you all for your support and if you have any ideas or concerns, please tell me. Also, I would appriciate if you would check out my other story, Celestia Paxton and the Slimy Git.
Thanks again and enjoy!
~ BlackNight12
Violet POV
When all the Initiatives stand on solid ground again, Four and the other girl lead us down a hallway. The walls are made of rough stone, and every ten meters or so, a dim lamp illuminates the hallway. Suddenly, the whole group stops. The two stand in front of us with their arms crossed.
"This is where we divide." The girl says. "Dauntless-born initiatives are with me. I assume you don't need a tour of the place." And with that she starts walking away with the Dauntless-born following her. I look around, there are ten initiatives left. There is one Stiff, no Amity transfers and the rest of us are from Erudite and Condor. Peter, Molly, Drew, Albert, Christina and I from Condor, and Will and Edward and another girl from Erudite.
"Most of the time I work in the control room, but for the next few weeks, I am your instructor," The boy tells us. "My name is Four,"
I was just about to ask about his name, but Christina asks for me.
"Four? Like the number?"
"Yes," Four says. "Is there a problem?"
"No,"
"Good. We're going into the Pit, which you will someday learn to love. It—"
Christina snickers. "The Pit?" Clever name,"
Four walks up to her and puts his face right in front of hers.
"What's your name?" He asks in a quiet voice that is supposed to be intimidating, but growing up with Vincent, I would call his voice normal.
"Christina," She whispers.
"Well Christina, if I wanted to put up with Candor smart mouths, I would have joined their faction," He hisses at her. "The first lesson you will learn from me is to keep your mouth shut," Then he turns around and keeps walking. I make a mental note not to get on his bad side.
Four pushes open a set of double doors, and we walk into the Pit. It's a huge underground cavern. I can't see the other side. The rock walls on the side are several stories tall, with places build in fro food, clothing, supplies and things like that. Narrow paths with no barriers connect them. One of the only sources of light are the panes of glass that from the roof of the Pit. Everywhere I look are people dresses in all black. They are laughing, shouting and talking.
"If you follow me," Four continues, "I'll show you the chasm," He waves us towards an area in the Pit that is very dark. Past the barrier is a river a couple of stories down, the water crashing against the rocks.
"The chasm reminds us that there is a fine line between bravery and idiocy!" Four has to shout against the roar from the chasm. "A daredevil jump off this ledge will end your life. It has happened before and will happen again. Consider yourself warned,"
"This is awesome," I say.
"I totally agree," Molly nods. The group moves towards a hole in the wall. Beyond is a well-lit room, so I can see where we are going again; a dinning hall full of people. When they notice us, they stand, pound their fists on the tables and shout. Peter, Molly, Drew and I sit at a table that is mostly empty. On the plate in the middle of the table are hamburgers. I grab one and put ketchup on it, then take a big bite.
The Stiff on the other side of the room is holding the burger in between her fingers, looking confused. I nudge Peter. "Look, the Stiffs' never had a burger before." He starts laughing. Molly and Drew look over their shoulder and start to laugh too.
A hush falls over the room. I turn around and see a young man walking towards the table Four and the Stiff are sitting at. The coldness in his eyes makes him look menacing. He drops into the seat next to Four. They talk for a while and then he leaves again.
After dinner, the same man from the dinning hall leads us down different hallways without saying a word. Everyone else is quiet as well. In front of a door, he stops and crosses his arms. Everyone gathers around him.
"For those of you who don't know, my name is Eric," He tells us. "I am one of the five leaders of the Dauntless. We take the initiation process very seriously here, so I have volunteered to oversee most of your training," He scans everyone gathered around him. "Some ground rules, you have to be in the training room everyday by eight o'clock. Training takes place everyday from eight to six, with a break for lunch. You are free to do whatever you like after six. You will also get some off time between each stage of initiation. You are only permitted to leave the compound when accompanied by a Dauntless member," He looks around again.
The way he analyses everything so carefully before he speaks makes me think that he used to be Erudite.
"Behind this door is the room where you will be sleeping for the next few weeks. You will notice that there are twelve beds and only ten of you. We anticipated that a higher proportion of you would make it this far," He sighs.
"But we started with thirteen," Someone behind me says. I look over my shoulder and see Christina.
"There is always at least one initiate who doesn't make it to the compound," Eric shrugs. "Anyway, in the first stage of initiation, we keep transfers and Dauntless-born initiatives separate, but that doesn't mean you are evaluated separately. At the end of initiation your rankings will be determined in comparison with the Dauntless-bon initiatives. And they are better than you already. So I expect—"
"Rankings?" The Erudite girl cuts him off. "Why are we ranked?"
Eric grins evilly. "Your ranking serves two purposes. The first is that it determines the order in which you will select a job after initiation. There are only a few desirable positions available,"
I have to make sure to rank first or second with Peter so we can become Dauntless leaders in training.
"The second purpose," He continues, "is that only the top ten initiates are made members."
"What?" Christina asks after a moment of complete silence.
"There are eleven Dauntless-borns and ten of you," Eric explains. "Four initiatives will be cut at the end of stage one. The remainder will be cut after the final test."
"What to we do if we're cut?" Peter and I ask at the same time. Twin genes.
"You leave the Dauntless compound, and live factionless."
A few gasps escape the crowd. My eyes snap open. Now I really have to make sure to get first or second, otherwise I'm out. Eleven initiatives will be cut, but not me.
"But that's… not fair!" Molly complains. I nudge her as a sign to be quiet, but she ignores me. "If we had known—"
"Are you saying that if you had known this before the choosing ceremony, you wouldn't have chosen Dauntless? Because if that's the case, you are a coward and can leave now." Eric snaps. The he pushes the door to the dormitory open. "You chose us," He says, "Now we choose you,"
Everyone except the Stiff has changed into the clothes the Dauntless provided for us, and now I lie in my bunk and listen to nine other people breathing. I used to have my own room back in Candor, so I am used to silence. A heavy sob disturbs my thinking, followed by the springs of a bed as a body turns. The sobs are muffled by a pillow, but not enough so I can still hear them.
I lift my head off of my pillow and notice the sobs come from the bunk across from me. Al, I recognize him from Candor. He is the largest initiative, even broader than Peter and I, and is the last person I expected to cry. I thought it would be the Stiff. The Stiff sleeps next to Al, but when I look closer, I notice she is awake and has a look of disgust on her face.
Al sobs again. I am tempted to yell at him to be quiet, but I don't want to wake the rest of the initiatives, although they are probably already awake thanks to his sobbing. I cover my head in my pillow to block out Al's sobs and soon fall asleep.