Haunt

Ch. 2- A Fatal Encounter

Three months later...

In the blink of an eye, Amity is encompassed with Dauntless. Leaders, soldiers, initiates...everyone possible. They take over within seconds upon their arrival. It all starts with a low buzz, early, the sun is barely up.

The buzzing sound becomes louder and louder and as I peer out my window, I see large trucks arriving. They tear through the gates, leaving deep tire tracks behind in the perfectly cut green grass. My heart pounds in my chest as I watch their aggressive arrival.

They will destroy everything...

Obviously, that could be an exaggerated statement but it seems correct at the moment. They couldn't actually destroy everything. Right?

Just when I thought all of Dauntless was here, more trucks pile in.

Is there anyone left at Dauntless itself?

"Lianna! Come down stairs!" My mother yells in a panic. I scurry down the stairs, only to see that my father and Kayla have already left, leaving my mother in a frenzied state. She is hurriedly putting the breakfast dishes away and cleaning the table off. At only seven in the morning, she looks completely exhausted.

"We need to leave. Your father will be waiting on us." She turns towards me, swiping a few stray hairs away from her face. I walk in her direction, grabbing her hand. She squeezes my fingers tightly within her own and we make our way outside.

From upstairs in my window, it looked like a lot of people. On level ground, it looks like millions. My pulse accelerates immediately and I tighten my grip on mom's hand. She gives me a quick glance before pulling me through the large crowd of people.

Screaming came off in the distance, making me almost jump out of my skin. Anxiety was already getting the best of me. Someone grabs my free hand, making me jump back. I look to my right to see Ebony, smiling with glee at our new visitors.

"This is so exciting." She whispers in my ear. I shoot her a quick smile, trying to hide my frightened emotions. Ebony doesn't seem to notice. Her eyes are fixated on all the black clothing surrounding us. I would be lying if I said I wasn't completely dazed by it myself. The black mixing with the orange and red fascinate me more than it should.

Mom tugs on my hand, leading all three of us in another direction. I see Kayla off in the distance and my nerves suddenly calm. As if I thought something bad had happened to her.

"We're going this way." Ebony pulls me away from my mother. She doesn't seem to notice, too focused on getting to my sister's side.

Ebony and I walk back the way we just came. I look over my shoulder but mom and Kayla are both already out of sight, tons of people blocking the view.

"Where are we going?" I ask, worried of what Ebony has in mind. We have been friends for as long as I can remember. Best friends to be exact. We've done everything together and while we enjoy each others company, we are two very different people. I have always been shy and reserved, not wanting to draw attention to myself. I do everything with caution, paranoid that anything could go wrong at any minute. Mother says it's a terrible habit of mine and that stress will lead me to live a shorter life.

My mother. Former Erudite.

Ebony has been the cliche wild child since forever. Nothing frightens her and I always wondered why she didn't transfer to Dauntless. It seems very fitting to her style. When I asked her about it, she said that she couldn't make that big of a change without me and that leaving her family would bring her too much pain. Understandable. I would never be able to leave my parents.