Losing It All

Chapter Six

“What happened to your face?!” Emily's voice is full of concern as they open the gate to let me through. Until meeting them I hadn't thought that the Dauntless could be kind. I wonder how may other misconceptions we have between factions. I shrug and Sam takes hold of my arm, her expression grave.

“If he's hurting you...” The threat hangs in the air and I smile at her, grateful.

“It's fine, really. I was learning how to fight,” I explain, “I'm not very good at it.”

Emily pouts but Sam lets go of me. “I hope you know what you're doing,” she says.

I nod and flash her a grin. “I'm having fun,” I answer and disappear into the orchard.

***

There are three people by the tracks tonight. I shrink into the shadows, but only one jumps into our meeting car. Eric has a backpack with him and I shoot him a quizzical look. He grins at me, radiating genuine happiness. He crouches down and opens the pack. Inside are two bulky shapes that look like guns. I frown.

“Paintball,” he says, “We're going to play a game.”

His words sink in and I smile. “Okay.”

He rummages in the bag and tosses pieces of fabric at me. “Put these on,” he says. “Lucas and Kate, think you're Dauntless and that you're already waiting for us at Navy Pier.”

My eyes widen as I realized the implications. We could get in a lot of trouble for this. “How did you get these?” I ask, running my fingers over the black clothing.

He shrugs, “I guessed at your size and spent some of my clothing points.”

“Won't people ask questions?” I am pondering on this system. It is so different from Amity where we all share the clothing; owning everything and nothing together.

Eric shakes his head and I see the glint of new piercings in his ears. “The Dauntless don't ask questions,” he replies. “Better hurry, we'll be there soon.”

I blush and order him to turn around, before turning away myself. I slip out of my yellow shorts and pull on the dark jeans; lace up the black sneakers. I pull off my red t-shirt and stumble, dropping the black tank-top to the floor. I reach for it but the train curves and I fall backward. Eric catches me and my face burns, my cheeks so red they must glow in the dark. He presses his lips to my bare shoulder and I bite my lip. We really need to stop doing this, I think suddenly. We'll only get hurt. But then his fingers brush over the skin of my stomach and everything else disappears. The black shirt slides to my feet and I force myself to pull away from him to pick it up and pull it on.

The sleeveless shirt barely covers more skin than my bra, but the fabric over my stomach is enough to sober us. Eric takes my Amity clothing and stuffs it into the backpack. He hands me one of the paintball guns, already loaded and ready; it is heavier than I expected and feels unnatural in my palms. “Time to get off,” Eric says, his voice low in my ears, and we jump off the train.

I feel different; in tight black clothing, a gun in my hands. It feels good.

“So what's the plan?” I ask, as we walk in the dark across swamp land.

“We're playing capture the flag,” Eric says. “The other two assume that I'm meeting you here, so they'll be heading in this direction. Our goal is to take the flag from them.” He takes a small square of fabric out of his pocket. It glows slightly. “Do you want to hold it or should I?”

“You hold it,” I say. “You've done this before.”

He nods. “Oh and it's ten shots before you're out of the game,” he says. “We had to make it more than one because it's only two on two.”

“Okay,” I laugh. “Assuming I an actually hit them.”

“You'll be fine,” he says and I feel pride at his faith in me. “Just remember to hold your breath when you fire. It'll keep your aim steady.”

“So, now what?”

He grins, “Now we wait for them to catch up.”

It doesn't take long. From my vantage point, high in a tree, it is easy for me to spot them as the pair makes their way into the moonlit clearing; a boy and a girl: Lucas and Kate. Whoever they are, they aren't very stealthy. Maybe that was why Eric picked them. I signal to him and Eric nods, then begins to climb out of his tree. We could just destroy them now, but that would be too easy. Eric has reached the ground now, but I stay in my tree. He fires at them and hits the girl in the shoulder. Our opponents stop moving and scan the foliage. Eric moves north a couple hundred yards and shoots again, catching Kate in the thigh this time. They run toward him, firing a couple of blind rounds into the dark. I shoot, but miss. They don't notice me.

I raise the gun again, take a deep breath and fire. I hit the boy between the shoulder blades. He whirls around and runs in my direction. I leap out of the tree and run. Adrenaline courses through my veins like fire and I sprint through the forest like a hunted animal. I can feel him close behind me, raising his weapon. The shot hits me in the back of my left shoulder and I have to bite my tongue to avoid crying out in pain. I hadn't expected it to hurt so much. The metallic taste of blood fills my mouth, but I don't stop running. I weave among the shrubbery so that he can't fix a lock on my and hide behind a tree when I'm sure he's lost track of me. He approaches my hiding spot slowly and it is so quiet that I'm surprised that he can't hear the thundering of my heart.

“Come out, come out, wherever you are.” He chants the words like a song. I pull my arms tighter to my body, trying to be as small as possible. He passes me and I can see the glow of his team's flag in his back pocket. I raise my gun, hoping to get in all nine shots before he can respond. I manage four.

He whirls around and I'm sure that he's going to shoot me, but instead he runs at me, pinning me between the tree and his body. “My, my,” he says with a grin, “you're a pretty one, aren't you?”

I struggle against him but his grip tightens and now I can't move at all. The barrel of his gun rests against my forehead. I know that the weapon won't kill me, but the pain if he pulls the trigger will likely knock me out. Fear pulses through me.

Using his weight to keep me still, Lucas runs his free hand through my hair, tugging painfully when his fingers reach the tips. I don't give him the satisfaction of crying out.

“This isn't how you play this game,” I say through gritted teeth.

He smiles at me, “Who said we're still playing the same game? Plenty of time to do other things before your flag makes its way to me.”

He's doing this to lure Eric in! A part of me recognizes how smart that is; the rest of me is still afraid. He didn't seem to be lying about wanting other things.

“You're not Dauntless, are you?” he asks, hot breath in my ear. I tense up. How could he possibly know that?! “I've made a point of getting to know all of the initiates by name and face,” he explains, seeing my shock. “And you are definitely not one of them.”

I scowl. This is something Eric should have known before inviting him along.

“So what's your name?” Lucas asks.

I decide to answer in the hopes that I can distract him long enough for Eric to find us. “Belle.”

“Belle, huh?” He smiles. “Pretty name for a pretty girl.” He leans in closer like he's gonna kiss me and I tighten my lips into a line. He whispers into my ear again instead. “You factionless, Belle?” I glare at him, refusing to answer and he sighs. “Fine, then. Be that way.”

His expression changes from almost pleasant to borderline feral. He leans in close. “Any last words, pretty girl?”

I grin at him. “Just two,” I answer and his eyebrows pull together in confusion. “I win,” I whisper.

He pulls back and realizes that while he was talking I'd managed to free my hands and slip the flag out of his pocket.

I hold it up with a satisfied grin.

Game over, Lucas.