Duplicity [p.h]

chapter one || i look like a tomato

Unless they're me. I'm Divergent, even though I really only got one result on the Aptitude Test. I'm a special case. Like Four.

Anyways, I had accidentally shot a surveillance camera while on guard duty when Tris and her entourage came along and demanded answers. When they didn't get what they wanted, Tris inflicted physical harm upon both me and Peter; she ruthlessly shot him in the arm, and me in the hand (which had previously been impaled by a throwing knife) for no good reason. Long story short, I had shut the simulation down, and needed to get out before anyone figured out it was my doing. Shortly after I found Peter in the mess of dazed Dauntless, the tattoo artist, Tori, found me and offered me an opportunity.

In a week, more or less, a group of Erudite-alleigant Dauntless will be looking for me (a hostage needing to be rescued)at Amity. I will be taken and brought back to "safety" at Erudite, my home faction, and stay there to retrieve information. Eventually everyone on the mission will return to the rest of the Dauntless, but that's all Tori explained to me so far. Now, that may not seem too bad.

But wait, there's more!

I'm not allowed to tell anybody that they're in danger.

Not Peter, nor Four, nor Tris, nor Caleb, nor even Marcus. I have to lie to all of them and pretend I'm on the other side. I'm a double agent, basically. I've agreed to a life of deception, deceit, duplicity, for the next chapter of my life.

Thank goodness I'm not a Candor.

I watch as we get closer and closer the the spot where we need to jump. Four is persuading Tris to get up and jump, even after what just happened, while the rest of us stand by the door.

"We need to go in ten seconds," I say to everyone. I count down in my head.

10, 9, 8. I haven't spoken to Peter much during the entire ride.

7, 6, 5. He knows something is wrong.

4, 3. He'll understand.

2, 1. Right?

"Now," I say, before I jump off the train and land on grassy terrain. Peter, Caleb, and Marcus follow after and land near me, whereas Four and Tris take a while to get off. They land several feet away from the rest of us, almost hitting a tree on the way down. "They should have jumped when I told 'em to," I mumble to myself. Now that I'm safe, I can pay full attention to the excruciating pain my hand is in.

I look down at my own palm, expecting a clean hole and the metal of a bullet, but instead I'm greeting with a pool of my own blood. My shirt is stained with crimson, even though it's black and ripped, and the grass around me is now contaminated with red amongst the previously pristine green. Oh. That's why I'm feeling lightheaded. Blood loss. I hiss and apply a bit of pressure, but know I need to get to Amity as quickly as I can to get that treated. Peter too. His arm is bloodier than The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I push myself off the ground despite having a bullet in my hand so I can help him up. Marcus, like the Abnegation he is, places a hand on each of our shoulders and guides us forward. We follow Tris, Four, and a crying Caleb until we reach the edge of the fence, just blocking the trail towards Amity.

"There are supposed to be Dauntless guards here," Marcus says from just behind me. "Where are they?"

"They were probably under the simulation," Four says dryly, "and are now... who knows where, doing who knows what." My ex-instructor advances towards a small metal box with a keypad. It makes sense that he'd know the code to unlock the door. After all, he used to work in the control room. "Let's hope the Erudite didn't think to change this combination." He punches in a series of numbers I make sure to pay attention to.