DAUNTLESS (Divergent sequil, no war)

chapter 14

(Tris' point of view)

We jump to our feet. I see a flash of pink. They have a flag.

"Nice to see you Eric, you've got something on you..." I point at a large splodge of paint on his jacket.

"you're one to talk." He laughs. Strangely so do I. "So are you three gonna jump off and get the next train?"

"And why would we do that?" Uriah snaps, sounding too defensive.

"We outnumber you." His face and tone show his attitude towards pointing out the obvious.

"Yeah, but you have a flag, we don't. you've got more to lose."

"What are you saying Stiff?" my lips curl at the edges, in more of a snarl than a smile.

"If you get off we will let you keep the flag, if not we will shoot." He stands still, thinking about what I've said so I try a technique my mother used to make me hurry up and do what she wanted. I start to count down.

"Five, Four..." some of them start to laugh but Eric sets his jaw. "Three..." We load our guns and hitch them in to position."Two..." We take aim, some of them do the same.

"Everyone off." He is met with grumbles and complaints. some jump straight away. The boy with the flag hesitates and holds back with a few others. including Eric. "I will get you back for this Tris." I feel threatened despite his smile. He jumps. I shoot the boy with the flag in the legand he hesitates.

"DROP IT" Zeke demands. He lets go of the flag and I lunge for it, out of the carriage door. I grab it and Uriah grabs me, pulling me back in. We drop to our fronts as the paint balls come flying and I place the flag underneath me. We are soon out of shooting range and then we start laughing.

"Nice thinking there Tris." Zeke says once he has stopped laughing. "I'm starting to see why you placed higher than this muppet." I nudged Uriah in the ribs.

"Ow. Bruises!" He calls.

"Yeah, like I said, I'm defiantly starting to see it." I smile but feel bad about it, I still don't feel comfortable mocking people, well not when they have done nothing wrong.

"Can we stop picking on me and start thinking about how on Earth we are going to get that back to Dauntless?" Uriah asks. He has a good point.

"We need more people."

I hand the flag to Zeke and stand up. This is risky and I know it but I can't think of any other way of getting people's attention. We know that Tobias is using the Walkie Talkies so using them would be dangerous. I hold onto the handle and hang myself out of the flag.

"TEAM ONE! TEAM ONE! CALLING TEAM ONE. GET HERE NOW!"

I don't have to call for too long before people start to gather. They run along and jump into the train. Soon there are 14 of us in the carriage and I explain my plan. I will jump onto the roof first, followed buy everyone apart from Uriah and two others who will wait as long as they dare before jumping onto the roof. We will distract everyone as they make a run for the net. If the one with the flag is shot the others will be on either side to pick it up. It should work.

I wipe my hands on dress as the train pulls in. I pluck at some of the paint that has dried on it. I hitch up my gun and jump followed by the others. I see no one. I run to the middle of the roof and that's when the shooting starts. We're surrounded.

"BACK TO BACK!" I yell. I'm going to loose my voice at this rate. Everyone listens and we stand facing out "PROTECT THE FLAG!" Zeke runs to the centre of the circle, clutching his chest and punching over, pretending to hold the flag. We close the circle in around him and move along as a unit. "LINK UP GUYS!" everyone places their right arm through the left arm of the person on their left. People climb up the side of the building, Tori sands on the roof opposite with a large group of people they all shoot. I'm so distracted I don't even notice that Uriah has made it to the edge until he jumps off followed closely by the other two. "BREAK IT UP GUYS! WERE DONE!" I stop running.