Self Preservation

Chapter III - Holy Shit

Disclaimer: Ms. Veronica Roth owns all!!

It was a faint prick of my heart that followed the reemerging commotion near the front of the train that made me move. I felt light at the moment, one of my shirt tails flopping out of my pants.

"I'm gonna go check what the commotion is about." I say, earning a few nods before walking up to the large group of dauntless-borns.

The nearest one was about 6 inches taller than me, with dark skin and a blinding white smile. "Hey," I said, tapping him on the shoulder, " what's going on?"

He looked down at me. "We're about to jump. I think..."

I felt my eyes widen. "Jump?" We were nearing the height of a seven story building.

Sure enough, just as we approached a roof, people started to launch themselves out of the open doorways. I didn't have to wave the rest of my group over. The guy turned back to me.

"We should probably go. NOW." I nodded quickly, and barely thought as I backed up with him. There were a number of things that could result in my doing this. But the one certain thing that I could be sure of is that I would not be factionless.

We didn't even count as we took off and ran towards the gaping opening before us. With as much strength as I could muster, I planted my right foot on the very edge of the train and launched myself through the air. My breath flew out of me. I extended my legs to help gain leverage as I sailed over the wall. My feet hit the ground with a painful jolt and I rolled forward to remove some of the pressure, popping back up.

"Dear god. That was-"

"Exhilarating. Simply exhilarating." I turned to look at the boy with whom I had jumped, who was lying on the rough gravel with his hands clenched over his heart, looking like he'd stood in front of a fan for an hour. I laughed, overwhelmed with adrenaline and excitement. In some other part of me, I heard sounds of people jumping behind us, then a blood curdling scream.

He sat up and I whirled, fear shooting through me. What if that was Will? But I soon saw him not too far away from me, frowning at the scene. Someone had not made the stretch. With my mouth set in a thin line, I turned back and extended my hand to the boy.

"I'm Jackie."

He took it, and clapped my back. "I'm Uriah. It's very nice to meet you." His formality was comically exaggerated, and totally sarcastic; we chuckled.

Will soon joined beside me, and I was about to introduce them when a pair of hard brown eyes caught mine.

"We should probably..." I started, walking towards the large group in front of us.

"Yeah." Uriah responded.

The man ahead of everyone cleared his throat. He was definitely Dauntless leadership. "Hello, initiates. I am one of the leaders of Dauntless, Max. As you have seen, Dauntless isn't meant for everyone, and I congratulate you for getting this far." He paused, waving a hand over the side of the roof. "I will let you lead the way to the compound."

I sucked in a breath. They wanted us to jump.

The snobbish Candor boy to my right spoke up. "What, is there water down there or something?"

God, what was with people and stupid questions? Some Dauntless may not be known for their brains, but they were hardly stupid enough to make one of their initiates jump off a building and die to prove some kind of theory.

"I guess you'll have to find that out for yourself." Max replied, looking comfortably smug. "Who's first?"

I had never been particularly scared of heights, but jumping off a building? At the same time, this was obviously a test of bravery. I could not afford to let myself be seen as cowardly, not as a first impression. I forced myself to step forward, just as a quiet "Me." rang out in the crowd. I turned to see Beatrice making her way to the front of the semicircle. Jealousy shot through me like a flaming arrow. Bitch. I quickly shook my head. No, that's not right. What do you expect, for her to read your mind?