Divergent: Four

Chapter 6

Song recommendation: Take You by Justin Bieber
Note: now I know some of you hate justin, please just leave out ur hatred for him out of this story. Just listen since I think this song fits for Tobias's feelings toward Tris in a more hip hop way. Enjoy the song n story no hate thank you.
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"Four!" Eric shouts behind my back.
I turn around and say, "Yes?"
He catches up to me with a grin and slaps my back. "I need you to regroup the Dauntless borns- we're playing catch the flag today."
I raise an eyebrow. "But its night time, the initiates are in their dorm, sleeping."
"Go wake them up then," Eric scowls.
I heave out a sigh and nod. "Meet me at the dorm in ten minutes."
He nods and jogs away to the chasm. The Pit came into view as I walk in. Everyone is eating and shouting so I clap my hand loudly enough for the chaos to stop and clear my throat.
"Those who want to play catch the flag come with me!" I shout over the noise. The crowd splits up and they start to come toward me. "We're going to have fun today."
++++++++++++++++++
Eric and the rest of the Dauntless borns follow him and me into the dorms. He opens the door and we stream in with flashlights.
"Everyone up!" Eric roars.
The first person that comes into my mind is Tris. I shift my eyes to hers and it stays there. She stares back without getting off her bed. Tris is fully clothed and I feel disappointed because next to her is Christina who is only wearing a T-shirt and her legs were bare.
I mentally slapped myself for being a pervert. Stupid Zeke, I got it from him.
"Are you deaf, Stiff?" demands Eric. I snap out of thoughts and lower my eyes.
"You have five minutes to get dressed and meet us by the tracks," says Eric. "We're going on another field trip."
The group of Dauntless borns starts sprinting to the tracks, with me leading them. We run past the other members, they never took notice of the large group.
The Dauntless borns gets at the track first with the Transfers behind them. Next to the track is a pile of paintball guns. Don't underestimate the guns, they hurt like hell when shot at you.
I grab a gun that is closest to me and a box of paintballs, I shove the box in my pocket and sling the gun across my broad chest.
"Everyone grab a gun!" shouts Eric.
They rush toward the pile like crazy animals trying to get a hold on a gun. I fold my arms waiting for all of them to get a paintball gun.
"Time estimate?" Eric asks.
I hold up my arm and check my watch. "Any minute now." Anger floods in my mind at Eric for not remembering the schedule since he's the leader. "How long is it going to take you to memorize the train schedule?"
"Why should I, when I have you to remind me of it?" replies Eric, shoving me on the shoulder. I scowl but said nothing. I'm not your guinea pig asshole.
The trains passes and I jump in first and heard Tris running after me. I'm pleased that she follows after me, not after her friends.
I turn around as she falls into stride next to the car and I hold out a hand. She grabs my arm and I pull her in. To my disappoint, she lets go quickly without looking at me, and sits down on the other side of the car. Did I do something wrong?
I stay far away from her since she prefers it that way. Once everyone is in, I gave them instructions.
"We'll be dividing into two teams to play capture the flag. Each team will have an even mix of members, Dauntless born initiates, and transfers. One team will get off first and find a place to hide their flag. Then the second team will get off and do the same." The car sways and I grab the side of the doorway for balance. "This is a Dauntless tradition, do I suggest you take it seriously."
"What do we get if we win?" someone from the crowd shouts.
"Sounds like the kind of question someone not from Dauntless would ask," I say, raising my eyebrow. "You get to win of course."
"Four and I will be your team captains," says Eric. He turns and looks at me. "Let's divide up transfers first, shall we?"
I nod and turn away, my eyes wanders to Tris instead. She tilts her head back and I have a feeling Tris thinks she's going to be chosen last.
That won't happen, I have a strategy in mind and that involves Tris and some of her friends.
"You go first," I tell Eric.
Eric shrugs. "Edward."
How predictable. I lean against the door frame and nod. I scan the group of transfer initiates briefly and say, "I want the Stiff."
A faint undercurrent of laughter fills the car. I raise an eyebrow and cross my arms.
"Got something to prove?" ask Eric, with his trademark smirk. "Or are you just picking the weak ones do that if you lose, you'll have someone to blame it on?"
I shrug. "Something like that."
"Your turn," I remind him.
"Peter."
"Christina." She isn't exactly weak and I knew her running is as fast as her talking.
"Molly."
"Will," I say, biting my thumbnail.
"Al."
Oh damn it. I was about to choose Al, he might be slow but he can be the person who guards the flag.
"Drew."
"Last one left is Myra. So she's with me," says Eric. "Dauntless born initiates next."
"You can have the pleasures of going next Four," says Eric with a slight smirk.
"Uriah."
"Mark."
I look around again to do a double check. I sigh and let my arm fall to my sides, "Marlene."
"Joseph."
"Pete."
"Lynn," I say, nodding to the shaved haired girl. Lynn is her older sister, they look nothing alike really.
The list goes on until everyone is chosen. I chose the people I did because of one reason, they were smart and fast. Eric chose the people he did was because they were stronger and bigger. This is a game of speed, not brute force but Eric is too ruthless to figure it out.
Eric turns and smirks at me. "Your team can get off first."
"Don't do me any favors," I reply, smiling slyly. "You know I don't need them to win."
"No, I know that you'll lose no matter when you get off," says Eric, biting down briefly on one of the rings in his lips. "Take your scrawny team and get off first, then."
Let's see who will lose Eric. It's on.
The train is about to dip to the ground and I jump. I did a complicated roll and stand up, waiting for my other team mates.
Marlene comes up behind me and touches my shoulder and asks, "When your team won, where did you put the flag?"
Irrigation floods into my stiffen body. "Telling you wouldn't really be in the spirit of the exercise, Marlene," I say coolly.
"Come on, Four," she whines. She gives me a flirtatious smile and I snort in disgust. I regret choosing her now. I brush her hand off my arm and move away.
"Navy Pier," says a familiar voice. I turn over my shoulder and see Pete running over. He is tall, dark skinned with dark eyes. "My brother was on the winning team. They kept the flag at the carousel."
"Let's go there, then," suggests Will. I let the group choose what they want to do, let's see if they can win without me leading them.
No one objects, so they walk east, me in front if them, toward the marsh that was once a lake. We walk across the bridge, the mud beneath it is too wet to walk on.
Once we cross the bridge, the city changes. Behind us, most of the buildings were in use, but in front, is a sea of crumbling concrete and broken glass. It's dark outside since it's after midnight.
Marlene takes out a flash light and shines it at street in front of me.
"Scared of the dark, Mar?" Uriah teases.
"If you want to step on broken glass, Uriah, be my guest," she snaps and turns off the flash light.
I smile a little in the darkness and made a mental reminder to thank Uriah later.
The buildings end just before the marsh. A strip of land juts out into the marsh, and rising from it is a giant white wheel with dozens of red passenger cars also known as the Ferris Wheel, my worst nightmare.
My group walks down the side of the pier. All the buildings were empty, their signs torn down and their signs torn down and windows closed. It is like a ghost town but with no ghost in it.
"Dare you to jump into the marsh," says Christina behind me.
"You first," Will says.
We reach the carousel. Some of the horses are scratched and weathered, their tails broken out and their legs chipped. I take the flag out of my pocket.
"In ten minutes, the other team will pick their location," I say. "I suggest you take this time to formulate a strategy. We may not be Erudite, but mental preparedness is one aspect of your Dauntless training. Arguably, it is the most important aspect."
Will takes the flag out of my hand. "Some people should stay here and guard, and some people should go out and scout the other team's location," he suggests.
"Yeah? You think?" Marlene plucks the flag from Will's finger. "Who put you in charge, transfer?"
I step back and lean on one of the broken down horses.
"No one," says Will. "But someone's got to do it."
"Maybe we should develop a more defensive strategy. Wait for them to come to us, then take them out," suggests Christina.
"That's the sissy way out," Uriah says.
I chuckle slightly, he and his brothers are the same in so many ways.
"I vote we go all out. Hide the flag well enough that they can't find it."
Everyone bursts into conversations at once and I stand up to go sit down on the edge of the carousel, leaning against a plastic horse's foot. I look up at the sky, no stars to my disappointment, only a round moon. My hands finds its way on the back on my neck, I found it relaxing to sit out here. Under the sky and not in an underground cramp house.
I glance around to make sure there weren't any fights and my eyes lands on Tris like always. She was looking at me a second ago, now she is heading to the Ferris wheel.
I follow silently like a ghost behind her, the Ferris wheel in front of me was big as a monster. It was so tall that even with my height, I can't even see the swinging seats on the top.
I start to get sweaty and nervous of how tall it was. I gulp and turn to Tris, she's getting ready to climb on the ladder that leads up to the top. This girl is crazy! I admire her for that, she isn't afraid of anything.
Then it hit me in the head hard, this is like my dream I had two years ago. The same girl with the same outfit, the same Ferris wheel. The same longing feeling of wanting to get close to her snakes into my mind.
Tris grabs a rusty ring and starts to put her weight on it. I get worried and call out to her.
"Tris," I say in my low voice.
She looks back over her shoulder. "Yes?"
"I came to find out what you think you're doing."
"I'm seeking high ground," she responds, grabbing another rung. "I don't think I'm doing anything."
I smile in the dark and an idea comes over to my head. "All right. I'm coming." I am crazy and mental right now, I am afraid of heights. Just thinking about falling down a six story building scares the shit out of me. The way my body will be crushed, and my arms all tangle and broken at angles.
I shiver in the dark night.
Tris pauses and says, "I'll be fine."
"Undoubtedly," I say truthfully. She is a strong girl, even with her small figures.
Tris starts to climb and when she is a few feet off ground, I come after her. I move faster than her and pretty soon, my hand is on rungs that her feet leaves.
"So tell me," I say quietly, my heart pounding so hard due to being so close to Tris or I'm climbing higher and higher. I don't know. "What do you think the purpose of this exercise is? The game, I mean, not the climbing."
She stares down at the pavement. "Learning about strategy," Tris answers. "Teamwork, maybe."
"Teamwork," I repeat. A laugh hitch in my throat. Dauntless is anything but teamwork. I start to panic when I look down at the ground and my laugh turns into a panicked breath. The breeze presses against side. The higher we went, the stronger it will get.
"Maybe not," Tris says. "Teamwork doesn't seem to be a Dauntless priority."
Hearing her voice smoothes me a bit. The wind grows stronger and I grip the rung harder to make sure I won't fall and plummet to my death. I look back and the carousel below me is small. I can barely see our team, some of them are missing, probably looking for the flag.
My head jerks forward and I say, "It's supposed to be a priority. It used to be."
Ever since Eric became leader, Dauntless is getting ruthless the following minute.
We climb higher and my hand turns into jello. I panic being so high up the ground.
"Now tell me...," I say through my heavy breathing, "what do you think learning strategy has to do with... bravery?"
I enjoy asking Tris questions just to annoy her.
"It... it prepares you to act," she says finally. "You learn strategy so you can use it."
I half listen to her response because we were so high up the ground. My heart pounded roughly in my chest I was afraid it'll pop out of my body. My breathing is fast and loud. Sweat pours down from my forehead and into my heads, making it hard to grip the rungs.
Tris pauses and turns around, "Are you all right Four?"
Another heart attack passes me. "Are you human, Tris?" I gulp for air. "It doesn't scare you at all?"
She looks over her shoulder at the ground with full confidence written on her face. Tris is a brave woman.
A gust of air presses against her left side, throwing her off balance. My instinct of protecting her breaks through, my hand clamps around one of her hips, one of my fingers finding a strip of bare skin. My eyes grows larger and my heart beats like crazy. I squeeze and push her gently to the left to regain her balance.
She pauses and stares at her hands, did I do something wrong? Maybe she doesn't like me, maybe she hates me. I've always been mean to her best friend Christina. I hate myself for being so cold to people, but I just can't help it. I had a bad childhood and it doesn't help with being a nice person.
"You okay?" I ask quietly, taking up all of my courage to ask her that question.
"Yes," she replies, her voice strained. I let out of a breath of relief. At least she isn't ignoring me.
She keeps climbing, but silent this time, until she reaches the platform. It used to have railings but some idiots from our faction broke it. Tris sits down and scoots to the end of it so I can have somewhere to sit. But instead, I crouch and press my back to the metal supporter, breathing heavily.
I have never been this high up before, I stare down to the small carousel and think of how my body will look when I fall down.
"You're afraid of heights," Tris says. "How do you survive in the Dauntless compound?"
Magic, was I wanted to say, but it was a bit childish and Tris won't take me seriously after the word leaves my mouth.
"I ignore my fear," I say instead. "When I make decisions, I pretend it doesn't exist."
But I can't ignore it this time because of being alone with Tris and be so close to her. I can't pretend Tris isn't here, she makes everything more alive when I'm around her.
Tris stares at me for a long time. A nerve racking feeling bursts inside my frozen body.
"What?" I say quietly.
"Nothing."
She looks away from me and toward the city. I follow suit but see nothing, the city is pitch black and buildings were standing in my way.
Then Ms. Crazy says the words that I dreaded. "We're not high enough."
Crap.
She looks up and starts climbing. "I'm going to climb."
I groan and shake my head. "For God's sake, Stiff."
"You don't have to follow me," she snaps at me, staring at the maze of bars above her head. She shoves her foot onto the place where two bars cross and pushes herself up, grabbing another bar in the process. She sways dangerously and I worry about her safety more than my life.
"Yes, I do," I say determinedly. She starts to move and I follow suit. Tris turns around, looking past me and straight to the ground.
I grab a bar with each hand and pull myself up easily, but don't think this is comfortable or natural here. Being in the Training Room is more of my thing than being up high in the sky. . . where I can walk to my death.
My muscles in my arm tenses up, from all the stress and emotions I was going through. Tris grabs another bar and finds a place to wedge her foot on.
She stops and addresses me. "See that?" Tris points.
I stop climbing when I'm right behind her and look over her shoulder, my chin next to her head. I let out of some breath, I was so close to her.
"Yeah," I say, a smile spreading over my face. Beneath the buildings, The street looks like tunnels. It was dark at first, then I see a tiny pulsing light on the ground.
"It's coming from the park at the end of the pier," I say. "Figures. It's surrounded by open space, but the trees provide some camouflage. Obviously not enough."
Eric's team might have the muscles and strengths, but their brains are like the size of peas.
"Okay," Tris says, looking over her shoulder at me. I look back at her, we were so close that I could just pull her in for a kiss.
"Um," she says. Tris clears her throat. "Start climbing down. I'll follow you."
I snap out of the thought of kissing her and nod. I step down each bar easily since my legs are freakishly long.
Going down the ladder is a whole other story. Climbing up was bad enough, but going down is granting yourself a falling death wish. Gravity pulls you down, and my hands get shaky and red, thinking about what my body will look like smash down there.
I hear a crank and clattering from metals falling down into the ground. I snap my head over my shoulder and Tris is dangling in midair. My heart stops beating right at that moment.
"Four!" Tris cries.
I thought of something, something to get her to safety then an idea comes to mind.
"Hold on!" I shout. "Just hold on, I have an idea."
I keep climbing down faster than ever without a care in the world if I fall down. It's Tris I'm worried about. I jump down when there was three more rungs left. I run like a mad woman to the control room of the Ferris wheel.
Oh God please let Tris be safe. This shit better work or my life is over.
"Four!" I hear Tris scream again, her voice distant.
Hold on for a few more seconds.
I click on the "Begin" button in front of me and I hear the Ferris wheel creak forward slowly, I sigh with relief and run back to check on Tris.
Tris jumps just in time before the rung hits the edge of the ferris wheel. She falls down, her face pressed against her palm and she didn't get up.
I wrap my hands around her small waist and pry her eyes open from her hands. I sigh with relief and enclose one of her hands perfectly between of mine.
She's safe. She's safe.
"You all right?" I ask with concern in my voice. I press our hands close together, wanting to feel her warm hands.
"Yeah."
I start to laugh, realizing she just had her close to death experience and survived. There will be plenty of more of those to come in our way, but I will make sure she stays safe, no matter what the cost is. Even my life.
Tris joins in after a few seconds and her twinkling laughter fills the area. She hoist herself up into a sitting position and there was little space between us. I feel a spark lit up in my heart, but this isn't the time to do anything silly.
I stand up and pull her along with me. The wind from the moving wheel tosses her lovely hair back.
"You could have told me that the Ferris wheel still worked," Tris says, trying to sound casual like nothing happened between us, but is failing miserably. "We wouldn't have had to climb in the first place."
"I would have, if I had known," I say. "Couldn't just let you hang there, so I took a risk. Come on, time to get their flag."
I hesitate for a moment, and then take her arm, my fingertips pressing to the inside of her elbow. I would have letted her rest but we're in Dauntless. Instead I smile encouragingly and start toward the carousel.
I feel alive with energy and excitement, I know where Eric hid his flag. My team will beat his and he'll get angry. I smirk mischievously in the dark.
Christina is perched on one of the horses, her legs crossed and her hand around the pole. Our team flag is glowing behind her is shaped like a pizza. Uriah, Jake and Krista stand among the dirty and worn down horses.
"Where'd the others go?" I say with a hint of excitement in my voice.
"Did you guys turn on the wheel?" Krista says. She's an older Dauntless member. "What the hell are you thinking? You might as well have just shouted 'Here we are! Come and get us!'" She shakes her head. "If I lose again this year, the shame will be unbearable. Three years in a row?"

"The wheel doesn't matter," I reassure her. "We know where they are."

"We?" questions Christina, looking back from me to Tris.
"Yes, while the rest of you were twiddling your thumbs, Tris climbed the Ferris wheel to look for the other team," I say.
"What do we do now, then?" asks Jake through a yawn.
I say nothing, instead I look at Tris. Slowly the other initiates migrates from me to her.
"Split in half," she says. "Four of us go to the right side if the pier, three to the left. The other team is I the park at the end of the pier, so the group of four will charge as the group of three sneaks behind the other team to get the flag."
Proudness and admiration swells my heart and I smile widely at her in pitch darkness.
"Sounds good," says Krista, clapping her hands together. "Let's get this night over with, shall we?"
I join with the group that is attacking with Krista, Jake and another Dauntless born. Tris leaves with Christina and Uriah in fast running speed.
"Come on," I say, indicating my small group to come.
We race along the marshes and into the pier. Eric comes into sight, he's pacing around in circles with a gun in hand.
I motion my group with my hand to ready their guns and run into the opening.
"THE OTHER GROUP IS HERE!!!" screams Peter as he quickly grab his gun and aims it at me. I dodge the paintball and grab the handle and shoots it at Peter ten zillion times.
He falls down and satisfaction pours through my body. My other team mates were making a racket and pretty soon everywhere was covered with paintballs. A chorus of yells from both team fills the silence that was here a second ago. I hide in a couple of steel boxes and look around for Eric.
I see him standing and shooting my other team mates. I aim my gun at him and pull the trigger. It hits him in the back and he falls a few step back. Eric glares around and spots me.
"You fucking bitch!!!" he yells. Eric charges at me with his gun aimed at my head.
I smirk and shoot him a couple of more times in the leg and chest until he falls down.
I hear a whoop of victory, someone got the flag. I yell along with everyone and fist pump the air. I was expecting Tris to have snatch the flag but it was Christina instead, Tris looks disappointed, but she stills smiles and cheers for her friend.
I touch Tris's shoulder. "Well done," I say quietly.