No Pens, Just Knives

Friends or Foes?

//ANDY POV///

I followed the rest of the Dauntless crowd down the street as a train passed by. It seemed like everyone was jumping on the train. Idiots. they could hurt themselves. I would think to myself and then realizing: This is Dauntless, not Abnegation. Abnegation no longer exists in your life, Andy. You belong to Dauntless now.

It was really fast, so I chased it so I could jump in. Geez, it was difficult to find how to jump on without falling off. I finally grabbed the handlebar on the train and jumped on.

Suddenly I felt nothing but air under me. As I looked down, I wished I didn't bother to. There was no ground under me, which meant the train was riding on a bridge. If I let go, I'd fall to my death. My palms began feeling sweaty as I gripped on for dear life when suddenly, a hand grabbed my arm and pulled me in, causing me to land on my butt. As I turned to my left to see who grabbed me, I saw a muscular guy who seemed to be my age chuckle.

"Didn't expect you to land on your ass." He smiled. Seeing his white jacket, I could tell he was a Candor.

There were three other guys standing to the left of him. Two were as well Candor, the other was wearing orange. Only Amity wear Orange.

"Do you really have to make comments like that?" The Amity asked.

"It was a joke, calm down." The Candor replied as he turned back to me. "I'm Ashley." He turned to point at the two Candor. "These are two good friends of mine: Jake and Christian."

"CC." Christian (now known as CC) interrupted. "New faction, new start, new name."

"You can change your name?" I asked.

"Yeah." Jake replied. "You can change it to whatever you like. Just know that the name you introduce yourself as here will be what you're acknowledged as for the rest of your life."

"Then I'm Jinxx." The Amity spoke. CC and Jake seemed interested by the name change as Ashley turned back to me.

"What about you? You haven't introduced yourself yet."

I paused. I didn't want to be called Andrew. It didn't sound right. I honestly couldn't think of anything, so I just said:

"Andy."

A loud cackle was heard. Neither Ashley, CC, Jake, nor Jinxx were laughing.

I looked to my right to see a guy with dark hair. He seemed pretty muscular, like Ashley but more pale. I could tell he was a Candor.

"Not surprising a stiff would have that name, but it is surprising to see a bunch of fellow Candors even speak to a stiff like him." The candor smirked.

"And who are you?" I asked, letting the snarky comment roll off my back.

"Peter Hayes." He replied with a smirk.

"Not like your name makes you a god of some sort."

"I think you're going to need to change that name of yours or everyone's going to be laughing at you next." CC said with a chuckle, which I tried not to laugh.

"You better watch it, Christian." Peter said angrily.

"Or what?" CC replied.

Our conversation was interrupted as we saw people jumping off the train onto a ledge. Peter was the first of our train cart to jump.

"Looks like this conversation is over." Ashley said as we stood up.

We stood at the edge of the train. I turned to Ashley and he nodded giving a signal for us to jump.

As we jumped out of the train (right before CC, Jinxx, and Jake) I landed on my feet as Ashley landed on his butt, which we both started laughing.

"So I'm not the only one, huh?" I chuckled as I helped him up.

"Oh, shutup." Ashley replied in the middle of his laughter as Jake, CC, and Jinxx caught up to us.

We walked towards a crowd, where there was a middle-aged man. perhaps in his 40's beginning to speak.

"My name is Tom Neville assisting the Dauntless initiation that will last for the next ten weeks. There are thirty of you here that I have counted. Only fifteen of you will pass and become a true Dauntless."

"And the others?" Jinxx asked.

"Factionless." Tom replied. "Now, the first stage will be to jump off this ledge behind me."

We could all see behind him how far of a fall it would be. There was nothing but darkness, so it was unknown what would be down there.

"Is there a body of water down there?" Jinxx asked. "That fall seems like a really far fall."

"How about you find out." Tom smirked.

Jinxx gulped "I-I'm not sure if-"

"A true Dauntless will obey orders without questioning." Tom interrupted.

"Or you can quit and join the factionless and not waste his time being a wuss." Peter snarkily interrupted.

Jinxx slowly walked through the group as Tom asked, "What is your name, Amity?"

"Jinxx." He responded nervously. "Jinxx Ferguson"

"Well good luck, Mr. Ferguson." Tom said smugly.

Jinxx stood at the edge. I heard a deep breath and he jumped.

There was no sign where he landed, no sound, no grunt, no yell. Just silence.

"Any volunteers?" Tom asked.

"Me." Ashley replied as he quickly walked up.

"You seem very brave. What's your name?" Tom asked, seeming impressed.

"Ashley Purdy. He replied.

"Well for a Candor you are very brave to volunteer first. Good luck." Tom nodded.

Ashley walked to the edge and looked down. Without any hesitation he jumped.

Still silence.

"Who's next?"

There was silence. people muttering. Wondering if they should go next.

I was afraid of what would be down there, but I wanted to impress Tom so I could stay in a higher rank in the initiation.

"Me, sir." I spoke.

Everyone gasped, probably surprised an Abnegation was going to volunteer. I walked up to the edge when Tom said surprisingly:

"And you are?"

"Andy Biersack." I replied with a gulp.

"I never thought an Abnegation would volunteer this early. Good luck, Mr. Biersack." Tom replied.

"Alright, stiff! Woo!" I heard Peter yell sarcastically behind me, hearing some laughter from the others.

I took a few deep breaths. This is it. Show them how brave you are. I thought.

I closed my eyes.

I took one last breath and...

I jumped.