The Other Prior: Candice Prior || Divergent Fanfiction

Chapter 4: First Jumper!

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I'm in a nearly empty open carriage of a train. Me and some other Erudite boy. We travel fast away from the Hub. My head is sticking out of the carriage, so I can feel the wind on my face.

"Hi stiff. You're supposed to keep your head inside the carriage." He says. Amazing introduction.

I glare at him, and the effect is desirable. He takes a few steps back, almost tumbling off the train. I smile.

"Hi! Nice to meet you too!" I say, sticking my hand forward for a shake of hands that I've seen other people do. Unnecessary touch is not encouraged in Abnegation, so it feels abnormal to me.

"Huh. Maybe you aren't that stiff. Giving your hand voluntarily to be shaken?" He says loftily.

I eye him but am soon distracted by black streaks jumping off the train and onto the gravel rooftops in front of us. They are two or three stories high, and a missed jump would definitely kill me. So obviously, I jump.

I leap forward as the rooftop comes closer, pushing myself towards it with the force of my legs. I land, scraping my hand, my back, and my calf against the gravel. My shirt is almost torn, but it doesn't matter, because I can't wear these colours anymore. Each faction has their own colours. And Dauntless is black.

The blue-clad Erudite boy follows me, landing not as harshly as I did. I walk towards the edge of the roof slowly, seeing that I'm one of the first to have jumped, others landing more towards the edge of the roof. An instructor calls for our attention:

"Okay! My name is Amar! We've reached the dauntless compound. All you need to do now, is jump."

There is a ledge that marks the ending of the roof that we are standing on, and a gap to the next building. I peer over the edge, seeing a wooden panel at floor level, and a hole in it that carries on downwards. Nobody can see what's under it. Nobody can see if this instructor is leading us to our death or not. The crowd of black Dauntless-born initiates whispers to each other. This makes me even more apprehensive. Surely, if they grew up at Dauntless, they would know about this? The sensible thing would be to wait for someone else to jump and see if they fall to their death.

But I have never been good at making sensible decisions.

"I will" I say, loud enough for Amar to hear me.

"Okay come on up-" He starts, but his eyes settle on me. He sees my gray clothes. He doesn't think an Abnegation would be brave enough to volunteer.

I highly doubt that it is bravery. More like an inability to make sensible decisions. Stupidity.

Still, his doubt only makes me surer that I must do this. I step to the front of the crowd.

"The stiff has a death wish!" The Erudite boy I met in my train compartment yells from the back of the crowd, but a glare from Amar successfully silences him. I step up on to the ledge and look down.

"Well, see you on the other side." I say, more to myself than everyone else, but Amar smiles. I step off the ledge and fall.

I pass the wooden platform at lightning speed, going deeper and deeper underground.

I feel a large net against my back, my body bounces up slightly, before settling to a rest on the net. My hands are shaking slightly, but I'm delighted! A net! And the rush that filled me before hitting it!

An army of hands reach into the net to help me out. I grab one and it pulls me out of the net just as another initiate hits the net behind me, this time, a Dauntless born.