Dauntless are the first to exit. I don't dare look for my mom on the way out. I couldn't stand to see the look of hurt I know is on her face. I can't bear to see her on the verge of tears knowing she had just lost everything. Knowing I'm the reason she's crying.
I'm pushed forward by the crowd of Dauntless. We run down the stairs towards the front doors and the rest of my life. I nearly stumble and fall after tripping over my own two feet, but an arm reaches out to me and steadies me. I turn to see a girl a few inches taller than me with blonde hair and green eyes. She is wearing black and white, meaning she is a Candor transfer.
I look at her and thank her, "Thanks for catching me."
She answered, "No problem, I didn't want to see another transfer get trampled. I'm Olivia by the way."
"Emmeline Rose", I tell her my own name.
We keep running out of the building into the city streets. I keep towards the middle of the pack, Olivia right next to me. I spent my free time in Amity running through the fields and the trees. After Owen died I had a lot of time to myself and running let me escape from my thoughts and emotions for a few hours at a time.
Everyone is screaming and shouting as we run. Without missing a step I pull my long hair out of my face and use my hair tie to pull it into a messy bun, finally able to fully see where we are running to. We run towards the train platform. The people in front of me start scaling the support beams. It reminds me of my childhood spent climbing trees with the other kids my age. I think everyone from Amity has climbed a tree at least once in their life. When it's my turn it isn't hard for me to scale the metal structure. I get to the top to see people standing next to and even some crazy Dauntless standing on the tracks. I laugh at the sight. These people must have a death wish.
Olivia makes her way up to the tracks and stands next to me slightly out of breath but still smiling at me as if to say she was proud she had made it this far. I smile as I feel the whole structure start to tremble. I know this means the train is coming. I spent most of my days at school watching them jump off the train in the morning and on it in the afternoon. I look at Olivia and can tell she has no idea that the train will not stop for us to get on. I take her arm and start running hoping she will get the idea. We catch up to the closest open door on the train. I reach to grab onto the handle struggling to pull myself into the car. An Erudite transfer, judging by his blue sleeve, takes my hand and pulls me in.
I quickly say, "Thanks."
I focused my attention on Olivia and don't bother looking at the boy for too long. I quickly grab onto Olivia's arm and try to help her into the train car. The boy grabs her arm too and we help her in. Olivia and I fall back onto the floor trying to catch our breath.
I turn around to thank the boy again and I finally get a good look at him. He is very tall, over six foot and has a large frame. He has brown hair and brown eyes, he is pretty good looking.
Olivia and I get up and introduce ourselves, "I'm Emmeline Rose and this is Olivia", I say pointing to the girl next to me.
He answers back, "I'm Calum, Erudite," he says pointing to his blue and white clothes and smiling at both of us.
I can tell already he is nicer than most Erudites I've met before.
I'm pulled from my thoughts when I hear a girl yell, "Just grab my hand and pull yourself up."
I turn to see an Erudite transfer trying to pull themselves into the car but failing miserably. The train is moving too fast and he can't pull himself up. In seconds we're at the end of the platform and the boy is left behind. He's factionless.
I turn back to Olivia and Calum.
"Do either of you know where we're going?" Calum asks.
Both Olivia and I shake our heads no. I can only guess we are going to Dauntless headquarters to start our initiation and the rest of our lives.
I say only part of my thought, "If I had to guess Dauntless headquarters."
Olivia and Calum nod.
Olivia adding, "But who really knows where that is anyway."
I take this time to sit down far from the door, terrified of falling out.
Calum notices and says, "A fast train means wind and wind means falling out. Get down." Directing the last part at Olivia who was still standing.
It is not too long, maybe half an hour, before we hear a voice shout, "They're jumping."
The three of us stand up to see for ourselves. The Dauntless in the first few train cars are jumping out of them and onto a rooftop. I feel uneasy seeing the gap between the train tracks and the roof. Anyone of us could jump short and fall to our death. Olivia and I look at one another and hold hands, neither of us wanting to jump alone. We back up to the far side of the train knowing we will need a running start.
Before we can jump however we hear an Amity boy, who I recognize as Logan Sanders, say, "Well, I'm not doing it."
It takes me a second to realize that he is also crying, knowing the weight of the situation. If he does not jump he is factionless.
"You've got to Logan," I say, "or you fail. Come on, it'll be alright."
He screams at me, "No, it won't! I'd rather be factionless than dead!"
I know I can't change his mind. I look back to Olivia and I begin to count, "One... two...three!"
We launch ourselves out of the train car. We slam onto the rooftop hard. I feel the gravel dig into my palms and on my shins where my pants had risen up slightly at the bottom. I hear laughing and look up to see Calum, he must have jumped when I was trying to persuade Logan. Olivia and I let go of each other's hand and stand up. We look at each other and laugh.
"We just jumped out of a moving train within the first hour of being Dauntless," she says.
"I think it was kind of fun, an adrenaline rush," I confess.
Our happiness is interrupted when we hear a scream. A Dauntless born initiate is standing at the edge of the roof looking over the side. She is screaming while a Dauntless born boy runs to her calling her name, "Rita," he continues, "Calm down."
However this has no effect on her as she keeps wailing. Olivia, Calum, and I slowly make our way over to the edge. There is a body smashed on the pavement. A girl in Dauntless clothes is lying with her limbs bent at odd angles. It scares me knowing three initiates didn't make it. Even a Dauntless born couldn't escape falling to her death. For a second I question my decision on transferring. Maybe I was meant for Erudite. I'm sure they don't face life threatening situations in their initiation.
Walking away from the edge the initiates gather on the other end of the roof. A man shouts for our attention, "Listen up! My name is Max! I am one of the leaders of your new faction!"
Looking at him you can easily tell he is older than the others. He has deep creases on his face and his hair is starting to gray. He is standing on the edge of the building like it's just another day being Dauntless, like he has no care that the building is seven stories up from the ground.
Max continues, "Several stories below us is the members' entrance to our compound. If you can't muster the will to jump off, you don't belong here. Our initiates have the privilege of going first. So who is gonna jump first?"
People start to protest and Candor boy asks, "You want us to jump off a ledge?" He is shorter than the other male initiates but still a good four inches taller than me. He has a look of concern on his face as if he doesn't believe what he was just told.
"Yes," Max says. He looks amused.
"Is there water at the bottom or something?" an Erudite transfer asks.
"Who knows?" Max answers.
Still no one volunteers, not even a Dauntless born. Taking this chance to make a good impression I step forward. "I will."
I walk slowly towards the ledge, everyone's eyes on me. Max steps out of my way letting me walk up and onto the ledge. I don't allow myself to turn around and look at the other initiates. I don't allow myself any time to think. I simply get up on the ledge, put one foot forward and feel myself starting to fall.
I feel the air flowing all around me. I can feel my heart pounding in my chest. I can see myself falling through a hole in the ground. I hit something and feel it start to sink under me. I feel the air leave my lungs as I land hard. I move my arms and realize I landed in a large net. I begin to laugh a little, in relief. I'm not dead, I'm not the fourth initiate today to not make it to Dauntless. It starts to sink in that I just jumped off a roof into the unknown and survived.
A hand reaches out to me and I grab it. I begin to pull myself towards the body the hand belongs to. I go to get off the net and fall forward, my foot stuck in the net. I crash forward into a hard body inches taller than my own. I look up to see the face of whoever caught me and I'm not disappointed. He is a young guy with tan skin and a muscular build. His eyes are a deep brown color. He is absolutely gorgeous. I can just barely see a tattoo of some kind peeking out from his shirt. I stare at him for a second too long as I feel my cheeks heat up as I look away. He lets go of me and places me right side up on the floor next to him.
"What's your name?" he asks me. For a second I falter, unsure of myself for some reason. He continues, "Think about it." A faint smile curling his lips. "You don't get to pick again."
I can only think about the other initiates making fun of my obviously Amity name. If I don't change it I won't earn anyones respect. "Em," I tell him.
A dark-haired girl with three silver rings through her right eyebrow interrupts, "Make the announcement, Four."
Four that's a weird name. He must have changed it when he started his initiation. I'm curious about the guy standing in front of me. Maybe a little too curious. I want to know why he picked his name, where he came from, everything about him.
The boy, Four, looks over his shoulder and shouts, "First jumper Em!"
The crowd we are surrounded by starts cheering. As they continue another person falls into the net I just got out of. Her screams could be heard from a mile away. I smile turning to see Olivia lying in the net laughing like I had.
My attention is torn from Olivia as Four sets his hand on my back and says, "Welcome to Dauntless."