More Than Divergent

38. Achieved

I lurched forward falling out of the chair, my knees hit the hard concrete. My eyes struggled against the blinding bright lights of the simulation room.

I shot Eric.

I shot Eric.

I began breathing erratically. I had to force myself to manually breathe.

I shot Eric.

"Congratulations" I could hear Max's voice. "It's been years since I've seen such an impressive fear landscape." I looked up at him but hand was offered to me. I took it and Tobias pulled me up on my two feet. My body felt like I just endured all of my training within the span of a few hours. I was exhausted. "I hope you do consider joining Eric's task force." Max looked at me. "If not we could always use you in a leadership position"

"Or in intelligence" One of the older Dauntless leaders mentioned.

"Thank you" I said now having caught my breath.

"Four, Eric, good work on these initiates." Another leader said and one by one each of the leaders left except Eric and Tobias.

"One last thing Theo" Eric motioned to a blue haired woman holding a black case. He opened it revealing another syringe.

"What's that?" I looked cautiously to Tobias.

"It's a tracking device that will be activated only if you get reported missing" Eric met my eyes. "Trust me, it's just a precaution" something in his tone had changed. Like he tried to tell me something. As much as my mind screamed at me not to, my gut said differently. My gut or my heart said to trust him. I nodded and he moved the hair from my neck and injected me with the tracker. "You did good, Theo" Eric gave me a nod and left. I turned to Tobias who looked just as puzzled as I did.

"A tracker?" I questioned.

"It's new" Tobias grumbled. Once we were alone he held me in a bear hug. "You were amazing" Tobias said proudly. "I knew you could do it."

"What happens now?" he released me.

"Now you celebrate" We walked into the chaos that is the end of initiation. We found Uriah, Tris, Zeke, and Lynn in a group. Uriah and Zeke both crushed me between them. We found a small corner in the pit and celebrated. It wasn't long before Tobias and Tris had disappeared. I wasn't the only one to notice. Zeke wiggled his eyebrows when Christina eventually found us and couldn't find Tris. For hours we talked and laughed as more and more of my friends found us.

"How does it feel?" Zeke asked me.

"It hasn't hit me yet" I admitted.

"I can hit you" Lynn offered "make it feel real" she smiled.

"Careful Lynn" Shauna warned. "Remember what happened to the last girl to hit our Theo"

"I can take her" Lynn shrugged and elbowed Uriah.

"That's a fight I'd place money on" Uriah crossed his arms and laughed.

Eventually Tris and Tobias found their way back to our group and together we went into the dining hall. They arrived just in time to hear the rankings. Eric stood in front of what seemed all of Dauntless.

"We aren't big on speeches here. Eloquence is for Erudite" I couldn't help but smirk at that comment. It made sense why he was good at giving speeches. "So I'm 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 exploded in sound. Fists pounded on the table tops, so hard I could feel the air vibrating in my chest. "We believe in bravery." Eric continued silencing the crowd, but his gaze found me. "We believe in taking action" It felt as if he only spoke to me at that sentence and then continued to speak to the crowd. "We believe in freedom from fear and in acquiring the skills to force the bad out of our world so that good can prosper and thrive. If you also believe in those things, we welcome you." The room erupted once more before Eric continued. "Tomorrow, in their first acts as members, our top ten initiates will choose their professions, in the order of how they are ranked." Eric found me in the crowd. "Now the rankings... What everyone is really waiting for. They are determined by a combination of three scores, the first from combat stage, the second from the simulation stage and the third from the final examination, the fear landscape. Now this year is special. It has been quite a few years since one initiate has finished at the top of all three stages. And I think we all recognize who the fuck she is." Eric said proudly while laughs and cheers surrounded me. "The rankings!" Eric gestured to the screen behind him.

1. Theo

2. Tris

3. Uriah

4. Lynn

5. Marlene

6. Peter

7. Will

8. Christina

We made it. We all made it. I could feel my body finally relax. Since I jumped on to the train I held this stress, this overall sense of anxiety over these trials. I had hoped we were all safe and now I knew it. Now the weight of the trials and initiation lifted off of me.

"Yes!" Zeke crushed me in his arms. "Whoa" Zeke spun me around just as Tris and my brother kissed.

"About time" I laughed and Zeke joined me. Then Tris stiffened. Her eyes widened and then whispered to Tobias. I couldn't help but shoot them a questioning glance.

Now that the rankings were announced the crowd swarming us offering congratulations. Several leaders approached me and Tris about positions available. With every congratulation and praise I became separated from my friends. I found myself in one of the far corners of the dinning hall opposite to where I started.

"So I guess congratulations are in order" I didn't even see her approach.

"Thanks" I told Ila as she swept her long hair over her shoulder. It fell like a curtain covering her arm sling. "I'm sorry about the arm" I offered.

"No you're not" she scoffed.

"You're right, I'm not" I shrugged.

"So... you figure out who's offer you're going to take?" Ila stood next to me and watched the crowd.

"No yet." I admitted.

"Can I offer some advise?" she tilted her head toward me.

"Sure" I sighed. I figured whatever she said I could just do the opposite.

"Don't pick Eric." Ila narrowed her eyes at me. Unbelievable. Did she want him that much? Is she trying to threaten me. I crossed my arms and looked at her.

"Why?" I spat and Ila looked at me. Really looked at me.

"Because he cares about you." She said low but so bluntly. "and that will be his and your downfall." Ila adjusted her arm and lowered her voice even more. "He's already made too many mistakes because of you and I'm not the only one to notice." She glanced around the room marking certain members of Dauntless leadership.

"You're lying" I had heard a rumor after our fight, that Ila was a transfer too. A Candor transfer.

"I have no reason to lie." I tried to read her expression and couldn't find a tell, an inkling of a lie. "Look Theo." Ila her voice still lowered. "He's not much of one but he's a friend and I don't want him to ruin his career, his life over you."

"Fine" I looked away and could see Uriah starting making his way toward me.

"We didn't have sex." she admitted.

"What?" I turned toward her once again.

"That night you saw us in the hallway, I know what it looked like and I'm telling you nothing happened" once again I searched for any sign of a lie and found nothing.

"Why are you even telling me this" what was the point? If she wanted me to stay away from him, then why even say anything? Why not just let me think they had sex. That it was all true. That Eric didn't really care for me. He just wanted to use me to further his career.

"Like I said he's a friend, and I'm not as big a bitch as everyone thinks" Ila shrugged one last time. "See you around Theo" I watched as she walked away and Uriah reached me.

"What was that about?" Uriah stayed watch Ila until she disappeared into the crowd.

"Nothing"

"Come on let's get out of here" Uriah led the way out of the dining hall. I said goodnight and made my way back to the dormitory. Tris was already asleep before I could ask about what happened earlier. I slid into bed for what felt like a few seconds when I started to hear the squeaking of mattresses and scuffling of feet.