𝙸𝚗𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚊𝚝𝚎 | Divergent

Chapter 16

I rose from the simulation with the metallic taste of blood in my mouth, Eric pressed a button and turned to face me. A grim look twisted his features, I purposefully didn't meet his eyes. When I chose Dauntless, I chose to never live in fear of my father again, though it seemed that was not quite the case.

"Are you okay?" Eric asked.

I felt angry and embarrassed, and the first thing I wanted to do was lash out, but I knew that my anger wasn't rightfully aimed nor would yelling at Eric help me feel better.

I closed my eyes before nodding. "I'm good."

"Go and have that nap you were talking about." Eric glanced at his watch "fear landscapes start at six pm."

Yesterday, every initiate went through one of Lauren's fear landscapes, I had been struck by a train.

I took the less used walkways up to Eric's apartment, initiation day seemed to be a chaotic affair in Dauntless, the Pit was a swell of laughter and noise and bodies which I was glad to avoid. In front of me, two men were balancing on one of the tightropes suspended from the platform above me, playing a game of gladiator, I watched for a moment as they struck and parried blows with their large foam jousts.

I punched in the code and let myself back into the apartment, kicking off my boots at the door. I make a beeline to the large bookcase, it had been crammed with pre-war books that had somehow survived, I hadn't quite worked out how Eric had organised them, but I found the fiction easily enough.

Curling up on the sofa, I thumbed through the worn pages until I found my spot, and settled into read.

.:.

I woke to the book being eased from my hands, Eric folded the corner of the page before moving quietly to set it down on the coffee table, he noticed me watching from my space in the corner and raised an eyebrow.

"You don't look happy." I mumbled.

Normally, Eric looked nothing short of irritated in any interaction, the only time I noticed him act any different was in the apartment, I could hear him humming as he made coffee in the mornings or cooked dinner in the evenings, he didn't seem to mind my company if we read together when he didn't work late.

"Max has decided." He rubbed his eyes and the bridge of his nose like a headache was erupting in his skull. "All of leadership needs to be in the Pit."

Nick.

I slung the blanket over the back of the sofa and slid around to the overflowing shoe rack, I found my boots off to the side. "I'm coming with you."

"Are you sure?" Eric asked, grabbing a jacket from the coat stand. "If he is deemed guilty there's a high chance he will be executed."

"I'll be fine." I reassured him, Eric muttered something under his breath and yanked the door open.

The Pit was full by the time we got there, Eric left immediately to find Max, I spotted my brother's tall frame near the front, it took some time to weave my way through the crowd, but I was small enough to tuck myself in beside him.

"I didn't think you'd be here." Tobias stated, in front of us was a slightly raised platform, I could see Max and Eric, alongside two other leaders that I wasn't sure of the name of.