Chapter 1

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Chapter One

Tris

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David points the gun at my head. I can't believe what he is saying. He loves my mother. He loved her. Yet, he says she was foolish.

"My mother wasn't a fool," I say. "She just understood something you didn't. That it's not sacrifice if it's someone else's life you're giving away, it's just evil."

I back up another step and say, "She taught me all about real sacrifice. That it should be

done from love, not misplaced disgust for another person's genetics. That it should be done from necessity, not without exhausting all other options. That it should be done for people who need your strength because they don't have enough of their own. That's why I need to stop you from 'sacrificing' all those people and their memories. Why I need to rid the world of you once and for all."

I need to make a move. Now. He is going to soon realize I am stalling, and letting the Death Serum spread into the halls. I glance over at the button. The green button, Caleb's voice echoes through my head. I don't have a gun. I don't have a knife. I have nothing to defend myself with.

"Tris- you know I can't let you leave; not with you knowing all this information." David snickers. His gun is still pointed at me, and it's gaze travels from my head, to my chest.

I have to do something. I have to live. I turn my head, and look behind me. Guards have masks covering their faces and guns raised towards me. I return my gaze to David and smile.

"You see, David. I didn't come here to leave." I twist and lunge toward the device. The gun goes off and pain races through my body. I don't even know where the bullet hit me. My hand presses the button and I type in the code that Caleb had me memorize. I turn onto my back, pain racing through my body. David rolls up in his wheel chair, as I lay bleeding on the floor. A bullet hole in my side pours blood onto the floor.

"I'm not sorry Tris," David says as his finger wraps around the trigger.

I close my eyes and wait for the gunshot.

Can I be forgiven for all I've done to get here?

I want to be.

I can.

I believe it.

A gunshot echoes in the room. Blood splatters from David's forehead and dots my cheek. David slumps down into his chair, with a hole seeping blood in the center of his forehead.

I suddenly feel like I can breathe again. I look behind David and see Caleb pointing the gun at David. His eyes fail, blood trickles from his mouth, and he collapses to the floor. The Death Serum. I try to say something, but the words never leave my mouth. I collapse into my pool of blood, with my hands covering my wound. My vision fades. All I hear is shouting and footsteps echoing far away.

Out of the corner of my eye, I can barely make out a tall, slender woman with dark hair and dressed in Abnegation clothes, with red streaks stained in them. My mother.

No. It's not time. It's not time for me to die. With all my remaining strength, I push myself up and drag myself to the nearest wall, leaving a trail of blood behind me. Black spots cover my vision and after time, they start to grow. I bite my lip, trying to push through the pain. I don't realize my lip is bleeding.

My mother steps from behind the corpse of David in his wheel chair and smiles. She walks towards me and bends over, putting her lips to my forehead. "Be brave Tris," she whispers before I fall into darkness.

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