Rampant: A Divergent FanFiction (Book Two) ©

Chapter 40

                Just as the attacking girl raised a bloodied hand to swipe along my face, I threw my hands out and shoved her. Hard. She flew backwards, but in an almost inhuman manner, she seemed to twist in mid-air so that when she landed she was on all fours. I frowned; she was dressed in tattered, grey abnegation pants, and a threadbare, blue erudite shirt.

                I didn’t have time to get to my feet before she’d lunged back towards me. I was ready this time though. The moment her flying body was close enough, I thrust my feet out; connecting solidly with her abdomen. I heard the air whoosh out of her lungs in a rush, and as I managed to stand, I saw that I’d succeeded in tossing her farther away and momentarily stunning her. At my feet, the dart I’d been shot with had been crushed from the scuffle.

                Who shot? Who else is here with– The figure, the girl, my attacker; she rose and turned in a lurching manner that was both stiff, yet somehow predatorily fluid.

                “Carla?” I gaped when the gentle light of a nearby lamp helped illuminate her features.

                So much time had passed since we’d last been initiates together. Since she’d last been cast out to live with the factionless. Yet still, I recognized her; even with her face contorted into a strange mix of rage, terror, and blood lust. Her glassy eyes seemed to be focused solely on me, and in them I read murder.

                “You,” she snarled, pointing a grisly finger at me. “K-kill you.”

                “Carla, what are you doing here?” I demanded, dodging out of the way when she shot towards my face again, her hands reaching. “Why are you doing this? Stop!”

                “Must– end you,” she rasped as she quickly swiveled and latched her hands around my shirt collar. “The pain, all y-your doing. Kill you!”

                I seized her wrists, managing to pull her away from me. She bared her teeth, and when it became apparent that she wouldn’t be able to claw me, she actually attempted to rip into my hands with her teeth. Her strength, it was shocking. It didn’t feel like I was fending off a girl that barely cleared five feet in height, but that I was up against a man of my own build.

                Just as I managed to toss her to the side, having to use more force than I really wanted to, I saw the shadow of someone watching us. The shooter, the one who’d nailed me with the dart. I turned, about to stride forward, when out of nowhere yet another body plowed into me.

                This one was a male; with red, dingy amity pants, and a shabby candor sweatshirt. I grappled with him, but he’d managed to land on top of me so that both of his knees were digging into my shoulders; successfully pinning me to the ground. Practically foaming at the mouth, the boy mercilessly began to pummel his calloused fists into my face. I strained against him, managing to evade some of his blows.

                “Take your life!” the boy hissed through his teeth as he wrapped his hands around my throat. He began to squeeze, his body shaking with exertion. I couldn’t budge him; Carla’s unnatural strength was nothing next to his. “In my head. Kill you, make you pay!” The shaft of light caught him at just the right angle.

                “Billy?” I gasped thickly through a mouthful of blood. How was it possible that he was here too? “Stop!”

                I heard skittering, quick footsteps, and suddenly Carla had joined Billy. Her ghastly hands, soaked with blood, reached for me.  I didn’t want to hurt them, because clearly they weren’t in their right minds, but I couldn’t let this go on. With a spurt of adrenaline, I shot an arm out and wrapped my fist around Carla’s hair. Without letting go, I used her own head to slam into Billy’s.