We rest at the Amity compound for nearly a week. Earlier, they held a trial to see if we could stay. I'm fascinated by the method of decision at Amity. We were allowed to stay as long as there was to be no conflict involving any of us, and we had to help work. I did my part to help the Amity without conflict. It's a miracle that neither Nix nor Amber got into anything. We need to get going. Staying here is doing nothing.
We're all in the cafeteria. My conversation with Serenity got interrupted by a banging on the doors. My heart races. There's someone here, and they're definitely not Amity. Phoenix and I exchange glances. We need to get out. There are a variety of doors that lead from the cafeteria to the outside, but who knows when our unwanted guests will come through those main doors.
The doors burst open. Dauntless guards come through the doors, followed by an Erudite secretary. There was something off about the Dauntless. They had a strip of blue fabric on their jackets, probably to show their alliance with Erudite. We look like Amity, so we just have to hope that they believe that we are. This shouldn't be too hard for Delilah and I, but I'm worried about Nix, Amber, and possibly Peter. They don't exactly fit the description of peace and happiness. I try to look frightened. A different kind of frightened, though. I tried to be frightened by the large figures and guns, and not the chance that the Dauntless might find us and take us back, or the chance of the Erudite finding and killing me. One of the guards speaks. "We must inform you that six Dauntless prisoners have escaped. They are in an altered mental state and are extremely hostile. If any of you have seen them, please let us know." a soft murmur goes through the room. All six of us exchange looks. They're telling complete lies. The only slight truth might be the part about us being prisoners. Since we came here at such a bizarre time, not many people knew that we were Dauntless. I hope the few people who knew wouldn't give us away. I hear yelling in the hallway.
"Hey, I got something!" yelled another guard. The guards flee into the hallway. One lingers for a moment.
"All of you are to remain here while we deal with this isolated problem," he said. The Erudite secretary is the only one left. Now's our chance. I motion to the others. They pick up on it. I slowly start to get up. I'm followed by Serenity and Phoenix. I pick up my bag, which I had placed under the table for just this sort of occasion.
"Who told you you could get up?" she said. She seems inexperienced at combat and looks like she would not be able to handle the situation if it were to escalate. Phoenix stepped forward.
"Ok, first of all, you have no authority over me," said Phoenix. "Second of all, if you want your throat to remain intact, then you tell no one about this." Everyone gives Nix disturbed expressions, including us. We slowly back towards the doors. We are unarmed, but we act like we could draw our weapons at any moment. Delilah hesitates.
"C'mon, Lila, we can't stay here," I whisper to her. We exit the doors. As soon as they close, we run. I don't dare look back. Thank goodness I'm not wearing a dress today. I'm wearing a pair of light denim jeggings with a dark red shirt. We know that there is definitely no turning back now. We reach the cornfield. It could provide good cover for us. I can hear distant yelling behind us. I ignore the burning pain in my lungs and aching of my tired legs and keep running. I notice that I can no longer see the others. My panic intensifies. For a moment, I stop. I hear the sound of the corn stalks rustling in the wind. If I stay here, I'll be found and caught. I see motion ahead. I hope that it's one of the others. I ran towards it. I ran out of the cornfield, running into Amber. We reached the end of the cornfield. There's a clearing ahead of us. There's a set of train tracks. As luck might have it, a train was coming towards us. The Dauntless guards are catching up to us. That train's our only hope. We don't even need to say anything. We all know what needs to happen. Now's not the time to be scared of trains.
We all run to the train. It's moving a lot faster than the previous ones we've jumped on. As soon as Nix makes it to the train, she opens the doors. We only have one chance. We jump into the train car. I collapse onto the floor inside. We're all so relieved that we're alive, that we didn't notice that we weren't alone in the train car.
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