Dare

23

Taylor's POV

Eric is... interesting. He holds and demands power. I like that about him. He doesn't even treat me like I'm a little girl! I've always felt like "Mother's little princess", and now, I don't need to feel that way. Eric and I have been chatting while we wait for the train.

"I've only ever seen people jump on and off it. What does it feel like?" I ask him.

"I could describe it, but you'd learn more from figuring out yourself." He replies.

Once he says that, I hear a horn. Then see the train. It coming in too fast for me to just jump in. Before I can notice, everyone is running in the same direction as the train. As if they could out run it. But I follow their lead, they could be on to something. Then it hits me. I can't just jump in from the side, I have to almost slide in. Once the train is close enough, I let my strides become larger, let my feet move faster. Next thing I know, I'm in the air reaching for the side of the train. There's a little ledge on the side of the train that I can stay on for a few seconds just to even out my balance. I'm one the ledge one second and now sitting with my back against the wall of the train. I take a deep breath. That felt so amazing, to be under that pressure. The difference between Factionless and Dauntless. But also, to be brutally honest, that was the most tiring thing I've ever done. I've worked in the hair dye factory, and that just gets hot and humid, this is lungs screaming from running.

"How was that?" Tobias asks, grinning like crazy.

"Pretty amazing. Uh, I'm also tired and hope that we are in here for another 10 minutes at the least." I say laughing a little bit. He laughs with me. It's nice to have a brother. Tris plops in his lap and just sits there.

"Hey, you know there's a floor right?" He asks. She nods with a smirk.

"But the floor is hard. Your legs are cushions." We all laugh and Tobias tickles her. They get caught up in their own thing so I get up and walk over to Eric.

"Now I know how it's like. You were right, too. It was better that you didn't tell me."

"See? I'm always right." He says and I grin.

I take a seat again and put my head between my knees, resting. I doubt I'll get a lot of rest in Dauntless. I hear that they're up all night and then wake up early do start with their day again. Making sure that they live their lives to the fullest. Seems pretty good, other than the little sleep part. I like my sleep a lot.

Once I'm about to drift off to sleep, Bonnie shakes my shoulder and I'm guessing that the train is almost at Dauntless. I see that people are starting to jump off of the train. But I've seen the map of the city, there's a building right there. Either you hit the floor, the ground, or you're lucky enough to to reach the roof. I highly doubt that I'll reach the roof but better to try than stay here and wait for the train to pass Factionless. I can't go back, we don't have enough of anything. I only have hair dye because of the factory that I work in. I get all the scraps i can get my hands on. We rotate so when we work in the food packaging, I even steal some of the foods. Usually only fruits and a couple vegetables. But when I'm lucky enough I can get my hands on some beef. We'll stuff it into a metal, cylindrical container and hand the food to Abnegation to distribute to the different factions and with themselves. We only got 10% and Factionless is way too big for just 10% of the food. Abnegation has been trying to get us more food, but the other factions complain enough about not getting enough food. Screw the asses that say that they don't get enough food. At least the ones who aren't from Factionless.

It's now or never. Jump or don't. It's my choice and I have to take this opportunity. They're allowing me to join. I need to jump. I step back as far as I can, run off the train, and when I reach the very edge, I push myself forward and higher. I trip on the ledge but still make it. injured but still make it.