Aberrant

Twenty-Four: Brooke

"So what was life like in Candor?" Hayley asks in a whisper, while we glance around. We've been defending the flag for around twenty minutes now, with every fifteen minutes measured by a beep on Callum's watch. Callum and Phoebe have been relatively quiet, and the four of us having taken turns sitting down and standing up. 

"Boring," I whisper back. 

Hayley scoffs, "Yeah. Dauntless is the only faction with any excitement. I don't get why anyone would even want to go to another faction."

"Cos they're cowards," I reply. 

Hayley grins, their white teeth visible in the dark, "True."

There's a sound and we suddenly fall silent. We raise our guns almost in unison. A Dauntless steps out of the shadows, gun levelled. Phoebe and Callum scramble to their feet. 

"It's Diallo," Hayley hisses, "Just like him to abandon his team and go on ahead."

"So there's one of me and four of you," Diallo announces grinning, "How many do you reckon I can take out?"

"You're always a show off Diallo. I'm amazed that Violet can even put up with you let alone be your girlfriend," taunts Hayley, "And you won't hit anyone. I'm going to hit you first."

He smirks, "Sure about that?" Both he and Hayley step towards each other.

"Leave him to me," Hayley says over their shoulder to us. 

"You're the boss," I say, taking a step back, but still holding my gun at the ready in case he attacks. 

The pair of them begin to shoot at one another, bullets flying everywhere, until finally a splodge of paint lands on both of them. 

"Who won?" Hayley demands. 

Diallo begins to laugh, "I don't believe it! We shot each other at exactly the same time! We're both out!" 

I grin and am about to turn back to the others, when a bullet whistles past me and lands on the floor. And April and a red-haired Dauntless girl step out of the shadows. 

"Surprise!" the girl grins, and the pair of them begin to open fire. I begin to fire back, and out of the corner of my eye, I see Phoebe and Callum raise their guns to retaliate. 

"You two focus on the Dauntless-born!" I yell back at them, and try to aim my fire at April, but she's moving about so much that it's hard to get a good shot. Eventually though, one of my bullets hit her on the leg, red paint smearing her clothes. She glares at me and lowers her gun. 

The Dauntless-girl, however, still hasn't been hit, and before I can begin my fire on her, one of her bullets hits me on the shoulder. 

April smirks at me, and then shouts, "Come on Lyra! Get the flag!" 

Lyra, the Dauntless girl, hears and makes a sprint for the flag, with both Callum and Phoebe firing at her furiously. Her fingers are just about to grasp the fabric when she's shot twice in the leg and she goes down. There's a stunned silence, with Callum and Phoebe, the only two around who are actually left in the game, not sure what to do next. 

There's a shout and we see Amar running up to us, "Calida's team have got the flag!" he cries, "They've won!" 

"Yes!" shouts Hayley, and hi-fives me so hard that my hand goes red "We did it!" they yell in my ear and pull me into a Dauntless hug. We stand there for a moment, before they let me go, and I see April glaring at me, and Callum and Phoebe smiling awkwardly. 

"Come on, you lot," says Amar, picking up the flag, "We need to get back on the train. We've got a day of training to do."

"What?" asks Hayley in disbelief.