The Girl Who Cried Dauntless

Chapter Sixteen: Candor or Dauntless

Eric led me to the place of the game and we were smothered by awkward silence as we walked there alone. "Where is it?" I asked confused. He was leading me through the path we used to get in and out of Dauntless Headquarters. A path that was familiar enough to me so I could now avoid anything that usually tripped me. He ignored my question completely and went on like I made no noise.

He took me all the way up to the roof beside the train tracks, and when I didn't hear the blaring sound of the train's horn, I knew we were at our destination.

Off to the far corner of the roof, I could vaguely see a group of several shadows but none of them said a word to verify my assumption. I went to ask Eric if it was them already up here, but when I turned around, he was already gone. I walked up to the shadowy phantoms and I realized it was the other players, they just beat us here. In the group I saw Tris, surprisingly Four, and a tall bronzed-skin boy I previously heard Tris called Uriah. Beside him was a similar looking boy so I figured they were brothers. There was mostly Dauntless members present here, with only a couple of initiates- transfers and Dauntless-born alike. One last initiate that stood out was Peter, who was talking with a couple members of Dauntless.

"The game we're playing is Candor or Dauntless," Lauren announced, coming from behind the crowd. It's clear why I didn't see her before. The Dauntless made sounds of excitement and I saw Peter smirking to himself a bit as well. I guess it's a popular game in Candor too. "How it works is everyone takes a turn asking any person of their choice whether they want Candor or Dauntless. If they choose Candor, you get to ask them any question and they have to answer truthfully. If they say Dauntless," she smirked before continuing on with the rules of the game. "Then they get tasked with a dare, but they have to take a sip of this before preforming the dare." Lauren wiggled a sliver flask in front of everyone that was unquestionably filled with an alcoholic beverage. "And since I'm the keeper of alcohol, it's only fair I go first." Her eyes scanned the group before landing on someone to the far right of me. "How about Four... Candor or Dauntless?" There wasn't a moment of hesitation when Four told her Dauntless. "Okay... I dare you to go to the Erudite library and scream something rude and obscene while they're studying."

A protest was ready to come from me as soon as she suggested the idea. You don't get much more obnoxious than interrupting Erudites while studying. I refrained from voicing my zealous thoughts to evade their thoughts of me being faction traitor.

Four took a swig from the flask and we all headed to the train tracks, waiting for the train to take us to my old faction. The train's horn echoed throughout the night sky and we all started into the opened train doors when it passed. The cheers were never ending, even as we all huddled into the same car. I spotted Tris sitting on the floor in a corner and made my way to her until I spotted another figure beside her. Four was sat beside her and though it seemed no interaction was going on, a bizarre tension was stringed between them. Regardless of that, I continued my journey to Tris. "Mind if I sit?" I asked her, ignoring Four's stare. Tris looked at me in disbelief and smiled. "When have you ever asked permission to sit?"
"True," I said, exhaling a joking sigh. "So why stop now, right?" I sat down and Tris continued to laugh, which contrasted to Four's unimpressed demeanour. The three of us didn't interact with each other. Silence seemed a lot more comfortable.

A dip in the train's tracks had everyone's attention and they all started lining up at the opened doors. Four picked himself up and went to the head of the line without looking back at either of us. We followed.

Despite what we would be doing here, it comforted me knowing I'd be back in the Erudite compound. I walked in comfort along the Erudite pathway, loving the nostalgia of feeling the smooth pavement on the bottom of my feet.

Nothing was ever out of place here and Erudite was easily the cleanest of all the factions. Not a single piece of garbage laid on the sidewalks nor was there any vandalism of any sort on the buildings. Cracked pavement didn't even have a lifespan of a day before it was tarred over. Everything was in pristine condition. I started to lighten my steps, worried that if I stepped to hard in my heels, I'd marred the walkway. No one else seemed to care as they all walked along, some leaving shoe indentations that I knew would be gone the next day.