Divergent (Fanfic)

Chapter 17

The room around me was grey and empty of heat or furniture. The walls and floor were plain. in front of me stood eight people.

Leigh, Jade, Kristen, Amy, Alison, Nathan, Ross and Chelsea.

I felt something cold press into the back of my head. 'Choose one.' Said a cold, male voice from behind me.

'Why?' I said.

'I said, choose one!'

I realised that I was kneeling down, so I stood up and turned around. The gun moved with me, so that it was now trained on my forehead. There stood the same man from Alison's scenario - the one who had been running away. But that was an insignificant detail - it was just the face the simulation created.

'Why should I choose one of them?' I pushed stubbornly.

'Choose one of them for me to save. The rest, I shoot.'

'Then why is the gun on me?' I said.

The cold metal lifted from my forehead, and the man aimed it towards the group. Not at a specific person - he was waiting for me to choose.

'Choose one, or I will shoot you, too.' He said.

'Shoot me instead,' I replied.

'I will shoot seven people. You have to choose who they are.'

That was when I remembered that this wasn't a Dauntless test. This was a Candor test. And I remembered the thing I had to tell myself to make it stop.

This isn't real.

'You're bluffing.' I said, crossing my arms defiantly.

'Are you prepared to take that risk?' He challenged me.

'It's not a risk. You're bluffing. That's not a real gun. Go on, shoot any one of these people. You won't hurt them. It's not real.'

The man looked me up and down. 'What makes you so sure?'

'I know that you're lying,' I said. 'Either you don't have the balls to shoot any of them, or that's a fake gun. Go on. Shoot at me. You won't hurt me.'

'That's awfully brave and selfless of you,' he mocked.

'It's not bravery. I'm saying that I won't choose, because you won't shoot, or you won't hurt them, because you can't.'

'Then, that's a smart idea, isn't it?'

That remark is what made me realise something.

At the back of my mind, I was worrying about the people watching my simulation finding out about my Divergence. They weren't in control of their simulations - they wouldn't be able to tell a simulation from reality, when they were inside the simulation, at least. But, as I was thinking that, the man was hinting that I have aptitude for the other factions.

I just needed to deny it. I wouldn't be lying - he wasn't asking what faction I belonged to. And I wouldn't be telling a half truth - because the words that poured from my mouth were completely true.

'It's not smart, or brave, or kind, or selfless. It's honest. I honestly believe that that gun is fake, because I can see that you're lying. And that isn't something I learnt in Erudite, that's what I've been learning here. In Candor.'

'If you're so convinced that I'm lying,' said the man, a mischievous glint in his eye, 'then shoot yourself.'

He handed me the gun.

I took it, the coldness and hardness of it spreading up my arm and straight through my body. It felt so real.

This isn't real.

I pushed the muzzle into my temple. 'You lied, and I honestly believe that this will not hurt me one bit.'

This isn't real.

I pulled the trigger.