A New Life

Chapter 3: Free

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THESE CHARACTERS, THEY BELONG TO THE VERY TALENTED VERONICA ROTH.

Every second longer in this dreaded room I could feel my pulse surging harder through my entire body. It was making me nervous and excited, but most of all it made me feel free. As soon as the last drop of blood hit the final bowl the Dauntless began to run from the building. I took one final glance towards Caleb before leaving my old life behind. He made a quick heart with his hands and it was the last thing I saw before being washed into the stairwell by the waves of black surrounding me. The lively group around me were all running down the many flights of stairs, or sliding down the unsteady handrails. Once our feet hit the ground floor they picked up pace and I struggled to keep up. We burst through the doors and ran through the city streets as a group, as a faction. A few older Candor men rolled their eyes and yelled after us but I was too far gone to notice. The energy feeding through this group was electrocuting and bubbling up within me. I haven't ran anywhere in a long time, if ever, and I can feel the fire in my legs with every step, yet it isn't worse than the burning of my chest and lungs. The burning sensation however didn't discourage me, it pushed me, encouraged me to belong among Dauntless, among my new faction The group comes to a sudden halt and I nearly run into the Erudite boy in front of me. I look up and see that we are at the train tracks. A smile spreads across my lips, I have always watched the Dauntless do this but never thought I would get the chance, nor did I believe I'd get the chance to live. I suddenly feel a large hand on my shoulder, it belonging to a boy who looks to be my age. The first thing I, or anyone could notice is his extremely handsome, bleach white smile that almost sparkles against his dark skin. He is tall, around six foot maybe and has deep chocolate eyes.

"If you're out of breath now wait till after what's next." He looks to the side and I can see the tail of an ink snake wrap around his ear. I follow his gaze and as if on cue a train turns the corner to come into view. Everyone takes off running once again and I keep up in the back of the pack. In the midst of running I lose sight of the handsome boy within the group. The Dauntless spread out as they run next to the train and quickly they pull themselves in. Soon everyone is on leaving the small group of transfers, which soon dwindles to leave only myself. I attempt to jump for the handle to pull myself in, but I overestimated my strength and end up hanging on to the handle for dear life while my feet are inches from scraping the tracks below me. Finally an arm cloaked in a black and white jacket reaches out and pulls me safely on the train. I gasp out a thank you stabling my hitching breaths and rub my throbbing arms. I look at her and notice she has dark hair that reaches below her jaw, is tall, has dark skin and is pretty, really pretty.

"You good?" She smiles at me and I nod. "I'm Christina." She holds out her hand for me to shake which I do.

"Beatrice." I state still a little breathless.

"Looks like you made it Stiff." The handsome boy from earlier once again comes up and puts his hand on my shoulder. "Looked like you wouldn't for a second." He laughs a deep, yet sweet chuckle. "So what's your name?" He asks slipping his arm completely around my shoulders causing me to stand a little taller.

"I'm Beatrice, and this is Christina." I introduce nodding towards Christina then turning to look up at him. The wind whips around the train and I wobble a little bit. He steadies me with ease and smiles down at me.

"Uriah." He proudly states. I swear his smile spread to my face as he chuckles a little at my amiturity to the train's movement.

"Where are we going anyways?" Christina asks as we go to sit near the wall of the car.

"The Compound." He says matter of factly while removing his arm from around me and lowering himself to a sitting position. I think about Dauntless, I've never seen where they come from or live. It's kinda like they just appear out of nowhere. Christina and Uriah talk quietly while I watch the city zip by the opposite door. I can't help but wonder what my mother is doing right now. Would she cry over her last child leaving her? Is she angry with me for leaving her with Marcus? Will she accept my new life or disown me as her own daughter following strictly to the faction before blood policy.

After about half an hour people begin to move about the train car. I guess we're nearing the Compound. The Dauntless borns stand as well as move to the other side of the train preparing themselves for their departure.

"How do we got off?" I ask Uriah.

"We jump." He replies not looking away from the door to the car.

"But I don't see it going down to the ground level anytime soon." Says Christina looking out the door.

"Who says we're jumping to the ground?" Uriah says with a smirk, and at that moment people start to jump from the train onto a roof. A roof!!! Uriah laughs again and runs to jump out of the moving car. I turn to Christina and hold out my hand, she quickly takes it then looks back to the door.

"One." I say

"Two." She follows.

"Three!" We both shout then I pull her out the door. For an instant were floating in midair, the feeling of it was almost calming. However it was soon ended when we hit the gravel and rolled. We let go of each other's hands and stood to brushed the dirt and pebbles off ourselves, our skin covered in a few scrapes and scratches. I look for Uriah only to find him in the middle of a group of Dauntless borns.

Cristina and I walk from the edge of the building towards the group of people gathering at the other end. As we walk I let my jacket fall off my shoulders and to the ground. I hear a whistle from one of the Candor boys and I roll my eyes, something new to me due to the fact that it is improper and not acceptable to the Abnegation. I fold my arms over my body and try not to let him know his actions bothered me.

"Ignore him." Christina says to me, "He's always been an ass." I flash a smile at her and turn my attention to the man standing on the ledge opposite to the one we jumped on. He too has dark skin, however has gray hair creeping up the base of his hair. He has wrinkles but not many, and acted as if he was standing on solid ground instead of a two foot ledge several stories from the ground.

"Yo!" He shouted to get our already demanded attention. "I'm Max one of the leaders here at Dauntless, and initiates," He turns his attention to us "If you want to enter your new faction you must jump. If you can't find the courage you mine as well leave now." He stepped down in our direction, back on the roof and stood tall.

"Whats at the bottom of the ledge?" Asks the Erudite boy that was in front of me earlier.

"I guess you'll find out if you jump." Max says crossing his arms over his chest. "So who's first?" The older Dauntless separate making a path for us to walk forward yet no one moves. I look around and everyone looks at something other than Max. I guess it's my time to prove myself and really make this a new life. I look Max straight in the face and begin to walk forward. He lifts an eyebrow at me as I step onto the ledge. I peak over the edge and see a hole in the ground but nothing past that. Nothing but darkness. I look back over my shoulder only to see everyone is looking at me, questioning if the 'stiff' has the guts to be first to jump into an unknown world. I'm to the point of no return now, I swallow the lump in my throat and let my body fall into the air.

AN: Finally Uriah came into the story. The Pedrad brothers will definitely be big characters, mainly because I LOVE Uriah. Never as much as Four though. I hope you liked this week's update, please comment and vote, thank you, and until next week.