4

I wake up sweaty and warm. My bed feels clammy. I sit up and dress. I slip on my black leggings and black shirt. Black is the dauntless dress code colour. Remembering yesterday's bitter chill, I pull on a black leather jacket and a pair of fingerless gloves. I don't feel like facing the public showers right now, so I'll shower after school. My father turns to look at me.

"See ya!" I say, turning to leave. But he grabs my shoulders. Normally, if someone were to do this I'd kick them in the shin, but this is my dad. I know that, but I still have to remind myself that he's not someone else attacking me.

"Vic," he says.

"Yeah dad?"

"Be brave. You have your aptitude test today, so make me proud." He says.

"I'll try. There's no guarantees dad." I say.

"I know Vic. Just..." His voice trails away.

"Just what?"

"Choose what's right for you."

I leave the room with his words echoing in my head. Choose what's right for you. What is right for me? Vic, stop worrying so much. All you gave to do is pick the faction that the test says suits you. I won't be the one to choose, the test will and that's how it should be.

Several energetic children bolt up the stairs. I run with them, enjoying the feeling of freedom and the adrenaline rush that it brings on. Our footsteps clatter on the dirty stone floors, echoing throughout the complex. We're run together, our feet thudding to the same patter, our hearts beating as one. We are a group. We are family. We are a faction. We belong. I love this feeling, this freedom. I enjoy being a dauntless, but will I choose them? Will I be someone new tommorrow? What will my aptitude test tell me? Who is Vic?

I sprint with the other dauntless children, laughing and smiling with them. After the choosing ceremony I won't be a child anymore. I'll be a part of society. I will be considered grown up. I'll be adult. We run up the stairs and fling open the metal door, running onto the roof. We gather on the roof, chattering as we wait for the next train. The fresh air is cool and welcoming calming me for the moment. The usual clatter of tracks informs us of the incoming train. When the fast train speeds toward us I grab the nearest handle and swing myself aboard. The handle felt colder than usual. One of the downs of the coming winter is the cold. Another is the snow. You can't hide in snow if your wearing black.

I poke my head out the open door of the train compartment, enjoying the rush of flowing air and the spectacular view of the city. My city. I've always wondered what's outside the city, past the walls built to protect us, past the amity farms. Is there really only wasteland and wreckage from the Great War? Or could there be more. Could there be other people living, despite the stories of human extinction? We all were told that we are the last humans, we've all heard the story at some time or another. Weather it was at school or at home among our faction, where we heard it first, we all know the story. We all know our history. We all know why no one leaves the protective walls of our city.

The wind and air becomes to bitter cold for me to stand, so I duck back inside, basking in the warmth of the train. Felix stands nearby. I see his usual sneer on his face. His dark silhouette is not invisible to me and he knows it.

"So Vic, what faction are you choosing? Amity? You going to join the fellow pansycakes or what?" He jeers.

"I thought the rule was faction before blood, Felix."

"Yeah, I know the rule, what does that have to do with this?"

"I didn't think that people could insult their faction like that, pansycake."

"What do you mean?" he asks, bewildered.

"I didn't think that you amitys could make up such insults about themselves." I tease.

"Are you calling me an amity?" He snarls.

"Yes pansycake, I am. What you gonna do about it?" I ask.

he lunges at me, but I duck him. He nearly falls out of the opposite side of the train. Felix is huffing angrily. He turns round panting.

"This should be fun." I yell confidently.

"Don't count on it being fun for you, but it will be fun when you crumple to the ground screaming for me to stop." Felix retorts.

We circle each other. I'm strong, but I know Felix is stronger. Merely attacking him won't be enough. I'm faster than him though. I can use that to my advantage. His fists are raised protectively against his chest. Even so, his defensive stance isn't that good. I know that if he try's to hit me he'll be exposed. Felix seems bored with waiting. He raises his fist and swings it swiftly at me. I duck, faking a lousy left chest punch to give him a false sense of security. He's never fought me before, and I'm going to make him think twice about trying it again. He laughs at what he thinks is my best shot.

"Is that all you got Vic?" He taunts.

"Nope." I admit truthfully, but he thinks that I'm lying.

"Yeah?" He chuckles, grinning like a snake about to kill.

Felix moves forward, but thinks better of it. The hesitation gives me the opportunity to trip him. He tumbles to the floor. I here a loud thud! As his face hits the ground. He looks up at me in shock. His nose is bleeding. The crimson liquid is all over his face. A small pool of blood is on the floor where his nose hit the floor.

"Is that all you got Felix?" I mock. Then I see something in his face, in his eyes. Fear. He's afraid of me. He's hurt. I want to help, I want to make him feel better. I suddenly don't care what he said to me, I just want to make sure he's ok. "Are you ok Felix?" I ask. He nods slightly, cringing in pain. I help him to his feet.

"Are you helping me?" He asks.

"Yeah," I admit, "I guess I am."

"Your actually pretty good." Felix says looking embarrassed. Coming from Felix, that's a lot.

"Thanks. Your ok. But you need to improve your beginning fight stance. Hold your arms a bit higher. Then your chest won't be as exposed." I advise.

"Umm... Ok."

I find it funny that we're talking like friends instead of enemies. I guess dauntless get worked up easily, but we forgive just as easily.

"Hey Vic! We're near school!" Felix says. And we are.

"So, can we be friends now?" I ask.

"We can be acquaintances for now." Felix says, leaping from the train. I think that's a yes. I jump onto the train track next to the one this train is on. I skid to a halt beside Felix. I nearly go over the side, but his hand grabs my jacket before I can fall. I want to thank him, but before I can say anything he says, "Don't mention it Vic." We climb down the train supports together. I love the daily climbs on the supports, but I don't really notice it today. Today I'm nervous. Is this what fear is? Or is this anxiousness? I'm almost never scared. I'm dauntless, I'm brave, I'm fearless. Why should I be afraid? Maybe I have fear in me all the time really, but I just don't notice it. Maybe I don't understand what fear is.

Felix and I enter the school and part ways. We have to clear out our lockers and then head to the cafeteria and wait to have our aptitude test. My locker is a mess of books and crumpled paper, but I eventually I clear it out. I head to the cafeteria wondering what the test will be like.

A man stands in front of the cafeteria door. His grey clothes suggest that he's in abnegation. Everyone calls the abnegations stiffs because of the way they dress and act. The abnegation members have this weird thing with mirrors that I never understand. Aparently, they can only look at a mirror when they cut their hair. They believe that people that stare at their reflections too long become self absorbed and addicted. Abnegations always try to help others and draw their attention away from themselves. Abnegation often help out with things because they always vouleenteer. 

"Name?" He inquires.

"Vic." We barely use last names unless someone else has your first name. Apparently no one else is called Vic, because he doesn't ask for my last name.

"Ok Vic. Take a seat with your fellow dauntless, I'll inform your tester that your ready for testing." He says, "Have a good day!"

I join the other black clad dauntless at one of the tables. Everyone is doing something to occupy themselves. The erudite read thick books and chat. The candor debate loudly. The amity play an odd hand game. The abnegation sit still and stare at the wall. The other dauntless horse around and shout. I chew on the inside of my lip, wondering when it will be my turn. I watch people leave the room slowly to be tested.

A abnegation woman calls my name. I walk up to her slowly. Each step feels more difficult  then the last. Approaching the woman is difficult, I'm anxious about the test, that much I know. When I'm next to her she says, "Come with me please Vic." I follow her, wondering what this emotion is. Is this fear? After all that I've done in my lifetime, I'm afraid of a test? An aptitude test? Or is it something about me that makes me feel this way? Am I scared that I will fail? That's not possible. You can't fail an aptitude test. I will get the faction that I can succeed in. I will follow my aptitude test.

The lady leads me into a room full of mirrors. She glances away, trying not to look at any of them. I don't want her to have to feel unerved during my test. I like to make people feel calm. She closes the door behind us staring at it instead of the mirrored walls. I pity her, so I decide to help.

"Here, which mirror is in the direction that you'll need to look in the most?" I ask. She points her finger past me, to the mirror behind the chair that I'll be sitting in. I take off my dark jacket and use it to cover the mirror. I know that the female abnegation members use hair pins to pin their hair up. "Do you have a hairpin that I can borrow?" I inquire. I know she does, but it seems nicer to ask. She nods and hands me the pin. I pin one courner of my jacket on the frame of the mirror. "Can I have one more?" She hands me the hairpin that I asked for. When you need something you can always trust the abnegation to give it to you. I pin up the other courner of the jacket. I feel like it could do with one more pin on the middle, but it seems selfish to ask for another. I know what I'm doing for her is selfless, but I don't want to achieve it with selfish means. The bottom half of the large mirror remains exposed but that doesn't matter. Her view of it is blocked by the chair.

"Thank you. I admire your inner abnegation." She says smiling. It's not often that the other factions help the abnegation. The abnegation are the selfless ones. I don't know how to respond, so I sit when she tells me to. She prepares a cup of clear liquid.

"What is it?" I ask.

"I didn't think dauntless were that curious at all. That's an erudite trait." I blush feeling awkward. "No matter," She says, "just trust me you need to drink it. This liquid has some sort of transmitter, I really don't know how it works, but it works." She says.

"Ok." I say grinning as I drink the clear liquid. My vision spins slightly, it feels like the time I went unconscious when cal was teaching me how to fight. Black dots dance out of the corners of my view. I feel dizzy. Then I black out.