A/N: Hey! I'm so sorry it's taken me a whole month to update this - this chapter rained hell on me. The CWB was major. After all, there's only so many ways I can describe fear before it becomes repetitive. Anyhow, small life update: I'm waiting for the results of my third exam - I think it went okay, but not great.
By the way, THANK YOU ALL for 3k reads! Marching season has started for a while now, and I've been spending close to 8 hours a week marching in the heat. It's completely exhausting, so this major milestone was a wonderful surprise to come home to. Thank you so much, all of you, for reading my story. I really hope that you've enjoyed reading about Cammi's adventures in Dauntless as much as I've enjoyed writing about it!
So, in the Divergent book, Tris seemed to get through her fear simulation relatively easily, but Tobias seemed to somewhat struggle with his fears when he took Tris through them, despite having done it multiple times. I tried to strike a nice balance between those for Cammi - she got through some of them easily enough, but she really struggled on others.
Well, I hope you enjoy the chapter! It probably isn't the best, but it's here, at least.
As I step into the simulation room, my heart begins to pound in my ears. But it's not with fear, but adrenaline.
You know how to do this.
The first fear takes only a second to appear. Grass abruptly rises from where there was only cold, gray concrete before. The exposed pipes hanging above my head morph into an orange sky.
The first sign of them comes in the form of shrill whines that send shivers down my spine.
And then, they begin crawling out of the grass, all around me; bugs. Cicadas, grasshoppers, crickets, ants, beetles, a few arachnids, and so many more that I can't identify. All I know is that they are all coming for me.
My breathing picks up at the sight, and I try to back away, only to find my feet stuck to the ground.
Ba-bump. Ba-bump. Ba-bump. I can feel my heart start to race, my stomach start to coil at the thought of all these bugs crawling all over me.
This is a simulation. This isn't real. There are no bugs, there is no grass field, there is no setting sun.
When I got this fear in stage 2, I tried slapping all the bugs off, until I got it into my head that it was a simulation. But I had to keep up pretenses, continuing my slapping until I found a pool of water to submerge myself in.
I have no pretenses to keep up here.
Just breathe, and everything will be okay.
I take a deep breath, interrupting my rapid breathing pattern, and think, trying to ignore the sounds of the bugs as they inch closer.
I am not afraid.
I crouch down and rummage around in the grass, keeping the image of the two things I need in my mind. The first bugs reach my shoes, and I can feel a lump rise in my throat.
Not real. Not real.
After what feels like forever, but is probably only a few seconds, my left hand hits something wooden. Yes!
I lift the tree branch out of the grass, hurriedly brushing off the few stray bugs that have found their way onto my hand, and keep rummaging for the other thing I need with my right hand. After another second, I find a small box.
I shoot up out of my crouch like a rocket. The bugs are up to my knees, now, and I swallow my scream as hundreds of their tiny legs crawl over me.
I raise the branch over my head, and, in one motion, bring it down so it brushes my insect-ridden legs, knocking many of the insects off.
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The Fourth Eaton
Fanfiction*Book 1 of the Eaton Tetralogy* Camilla Eaton made a promise. And she has no intention of breaking it. A year after the transfer of her older brother, Tobias Eaton, Camilla follows him out of Abnegation and into Dauntless, leaving everything she's...
