Agents of the Forgotten Faction

|Chapter 8|

The next morning, I don't hear the alarm, shuffling feet, or conversations as the other initiates get ready. I wake to Christina shaking my shoulder with one hand and tapping my cheek with the other. I want more sleep my body protests. Wow this place is making me weak...

She already wears a black jacket zipped up to her throat. If she has bruises from yesterday's fight, her dark skin makes them difficult to see. Lucky her. I'm fairly sure that my bruises are on display doing the hook poki on my face...

"Come on," she says. "Up and at 'em."

My body aches so badly it hurts to breathe. Christina offers me her hand. The clock reads eight. We're supposed to be at the tracks by eight fifteen. "I'll run and get us some breakfast. You just...get ready. Looks like it might take you a while," she says.

I grunt. Trying not to bend at the waist, I fumble in the drawer under my bed for a clean shirt. Luckily Peter isn't here to see me struggle. If he was I would have no hesitations to beat his ass up.

Once Christina leaves, the dormitory is empty. I unbutton my shirt and stare at my bare side, which is patched with bruises. For a second the colors mesmerize me, bright green and deep blue and brown. While I change, Hill's instructions come to be via the com hidden in my ear.

"Okay Tris, we hacked into Dauntless and Four is taking you guys on a field trip to the fence. That is where Amity Farms are. You are to meet Kate Summers there. She will hand you another flash drive which is to go to Zeke when you get back to the compound. Make it subtle, don't draw attention and especially don't draw Four's attention towards you. You know how perceptive he is of these things especially when you are involved," Hill says.

"Hill cool it. I'm not interested in Four," I say to her softly.

"Your body readings state otherwise," Hill teases.

I don't have time to reply because Christina comes back, a muffin in each hand, I'm sitting on the edge of my bed, staring at my untied shoes. I will have to bend over to tie them. It will hurt when I bend over. But Christina just passes me a muffin and crouches in front of me to tie my shoes. Gratitude surges in my chest, warm and a little like an ache. Maybe there is some Abnegation in everyone, even if they don't know it. Well, in everyone but Peter.

"Thank you," I say.

"Well, we would never get there on time if you had to tie them yourself," she says. "Come on. You can eat and walk at the same time, right?"

We walk fast toward the Pit. The muffin is banana-flavored, with walnuts. My mother baked bread like this once just as a treat after one long day of training.

I was too old for coddling at that point. We climb the steps from the Pit to the glass building above it and run to the exit. Every thump of my feet sends pain through my ribs, but I ignore it. We make it to the tracks just as the train arrives, its horn blaring.

"What took you so long?" Will shouts over the horn.

"Stumpy Legs over here turned into an old lady overnight," says Christina.

"Oh, shut up." I'm only half kidding.

Four stands at the front of the pack, so close to the tracks that if he shifted even an inch forward, the train would take his nose with it. He steps back to let some of the others get on first. Will hoists himself into the car with some difficulty, landing first on his stomach and then dragging his legs in behind him.

Four grabs the handle on the side of the car and pulls himself in smoothly, like he doesn't have more than six feet of body to work with. I jog next to the car, wincing, then grit my teeth and grab the handle on the side. This is going to hurt but I suck it up and do it anyway. All grabs me under each arm and lifts me easily into the car. Pain shoots through my side, but it only lasts for a second. I see Peter behind him, and my cheeks get warm. Al was trying to be nice, so I smile at him, but I wish people didn't want to be so nice. As if Peter didn't have enough ammunition already.