I Was Amity...

11

Olivia is perched on one of the horses, her long legs crossed and her hand around the pole holding the plastic animal upright. Our flag is behind her, a glowing triangle in the dark. Three Dauntless-born initiates stand among the other worn and dirty animals. One of them has his hand on a horse's head, and a scratched horse's eye stares at me between his fingers. Sitting on the edge of the carousel is an older Dauntless, scratching her quadruple-pierced eyebrow with her thumb.

"Where'd the others go?" asks Four. He looks as excited as I feel, his eyes wide with energy.

"Did you guys turn on the wheel?" the older girl says. "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?"

That sucks. I would probably quit after the second loss. Heck if we lose this year and I pass initiation I wouldn't even play again next year.

"The wheel doesn't matter," says Four.

"We know where they are," Four beams, proud of what he and I had just done.

"We?" says Olivia, looking from Four to me.

"Yes, while the rest of you were twiddling your thumbs, Em climbed the Ferris wheel to look for the other team," he says.

"What do we do now, then?" asks one of the Dauntless-born initiates through a yawn.

Four looks at me. Slowly the eyes of the other initiates, including Olivia, migrate from him to me.

"Split in half," I say. "Four of us go to the right side of the pier, three to the left. The other team is in 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."

Olivia looks at me like she no longer recognizes me.

"Sounds good," says the older girl, clapping her hands together. "Let's get this night over with, shall we?"

Olivia joins me in the group going to the right, along with Uriah, whose smile looks white against his bronze skin. I didn't notice before, but he has a tattoo of a snake behind his ear. I think I want another tattoo, maybe even more than one. I stare at its tail curling around his earlobe for a moment, but then Olivia starts running and I have to follow her. As I run, I realize that only one of us will get to touch the flag, and it won't matter that it was my plan and my information that got us to it if I'm not the one who grabs it. I have to show Eric I can be a leader. I run faster on Olivia's heels. I pull my gun around my body, holding my finger over the trigger.

We reach the end of the pier. We slow down so our footsteps aren't as loud, and I look for the blinking light again. Now that I'm on the ground, it's bigger and easier to see. I point, and Olivia nods, leading the way toward it. Then I hear a chorus of yells. I hear puffs of air as paintballs go flying and splats as they find their targets. Our team has charged, the other team runs to meet us, and the flag is almost unguarded. Uriah takes aim and shoots the last guard in the thigh. The guard, a short girl with purple hair, throws her gun to the ground in a tantrum. I sprint to catch up to Olivia. The flag hangs from a tree branch, high above my head. I reach for it, and so does Olivia.

"Come on, Em," she says. "You're already the hero of the day. And you know you can't reach it anyway." She gives me a patronizing look.

"I need to be the one to reach the flag. I need to show everyone that I am a leader," I say to her. I need to get the flag. I give Olivia a quick shove, and jump as high as I can to reach the flag.

I give Olivia an apologetic look before turning and giving a whoop of victory. Uriah's voice joins mine and then I hear a chorus of yells in the distance. Uriah claps Olivia's shoulder, and I can see the faintest look of disappointment on her face. The shouts of triumph become infectious, and Olivia lifts her voice to join in, running toward me and our teammates. I hold the flag up high and hand it over to Olivia. She gives me a nod and a smile, as if to say she understands why I did what I did. Everyone clusters around her, grabbing her arm to lift the flag even higher.I walk off to the side, grinning. A hand touches my shoulder.