Now or Never

Chapter Twenty

There's a slamming on the door that wakes us both up in an alert. I spring upward, rubbing my eyes and cautiously pull my hair up into a knot to look presentable to whoever's at the door while Tobias stumbles over to see who it is.

"What the...'' he mumbles. I get up, pulling down the shirt I'm wearing to cover my exposed bottom half to see a man stare directly at Tobias without a word before walking away. I join him at the door frame, looking out to see people leaving their apartments with expressionless faces under the ceiling lamps. They all walk at the same pace, in a uniform line.

It clicks in both of us. The serum.

Tobias pushes me back while he closes the door as fast as he can.

"What do we do?" I try not to sound frantic, but my voice is all over the place.

His eyes are wide, pushing his hair back. "We follow them."

"But, Tobias-"

"We'll be alright, Mal," he places a quick kiss against my forehead before pulling his drawers open.

He's right. We can't just sit here, they'll be looking for us if we don't leave now.

We both get dressed and leave the apartment as soon as we're ready to find there's still people leaving their own housing. It's like their bodies are there but not fully comprehending what's happening. Sleepwalking by the look of their faces.

"Just replicate them," Tobias mumbles to me, already falling into line behind someone. I take a spot a few people away from him, keeping my head forward and make it seem like the serum works on me.

We all walk down to the Pit where a few people who weren't injected watches over us; one of them being Max.

I keep my head forward, knowing well enough breaking character wouldn't do me or anyone else any favors.

But when he stops walking to watch Tobias, then me, a few beads of sweat rolls down my neck.

The line takes us through a stairway that leads to a large room with four long tables waiting for us.

It takes my eyes a moment to adjust, but it's clear what the black blobs are: guns.

I try to replicate the movements of the people around me, the ones who have no other choice but to become soldiers. I take a gun, holster and belt at the same pace as the others but a bit more sloppier because I don't know what they're going to do next.

Once I'm armed with the provided materials, I fall back in line and down another dark hallway. Nothing to see but darkness, nothing but the sound of shoes hitting pavement.

We all walk up another set of stairs that lead to the train tracks, the same stairs we once used to go do Dauntless traditions. Now we use them to go attack a mostly innocent faction.

It's a comfort when we walk onto the familiar platform and I'm able to see the back of Tobias's head. He cut his hair again before yesterday, back to the uniform hairstyle all Abnegation men are ordered to keep. Just like how the women must keep their hair up in knots.

Each train car is open for the soldiers to step into, one by one a member is pulled inside by the help of the last member. But right when Tobias is pulled into the car, the person in front of me turns abruptly for the next one- this car must be too full.

I try not to make a face as I turn behind him, walking over to the next train with someone else falling in line behind me.

The Dauntless boy in front of me is pulled into the train then offers me his hand. He doesn't meet my eyes, but I can see now his are completely blank. No feeling at all. So I try to do the same, placing my hand in his to be pulled into the train.