We Are Divergent

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Everyone around me seemed to hear my demand, but the other side didn’t. I do the only thing that I can do. I push my way out of the crowd and climb on top of a truck with my one uninjured hand waving in the air, hoping that no one will immediately hurt me.

“HEY!” I screamed even louder. “OVER HERE!” The shooting stopped and the two sides turned to look at me, quiet. I looked over the enormous mass of people. Damaged people, cured people… All just people. “If you try and shoot me they will resume! And trust me, they have much better guns then you do! We planned to come in peace, they accompanied me so that I could get you guys to stop and listen to me!”

It looked like I had their attention. “I’m Tris. Most of you may know me already,” I looked up in the air, hoping that I am currently being broadcasted across America. “But a lot of you may not. I am from this city of Chicago, I was Abnegation and then Dauntless. I left the city to find out what we’ve been kept from for so long.”

The crowd started yelling. “Hey! Quiet down, I have a lot to say! When we reshaped this city, we decided that there would be more free will, right? But all along, Evelyn was making sure that-“ Suddenly Evelyn climbed up onto the truck, her face blank but still full of malevolence.

“SHOOT ME AND I’LL SHOOT HER!” She said, pointing a gun to my head. “Don’t listen to anything she says! She was brainwashed when she left the city!”

I glared at her, aware of our growing, massive audience. “No I wa-“

“Don’t think I won’t shoot you,” She whispered. “I will take a bullet myself if that means that they won’t know. Don’t you understand? We don’t want to know what’s out there! We don’t want to know!”

All of a sudden someone else climbed up onto the truck swiftly, knocking the gun out of Evelyn’s hand. It was Jonah. He tied something around her hands and pushed her body off the truck. Half of the crowd yelled in protest, and started to lift their guns. “Let her speak! It won’t hurt to hear what she has to tell us! She came all the way here, without even a gun! Just listen!”

They lowered their guns and I smiled at Jonah as he hopped down, standing over a whimpering Evelyn.

I took a deep breath and started again. “Evelyn had many people making sure that no one would leave the city. She didn’t want to mess anything up here, and she was scared! And I can understand that fear, we all possess it. Except Evelyn was having anyone who showed any interest in leaving this city murdered! She did nearly the same thing we stopped Jeanine from doing! No matter how fearful I was, I knew it wasn’t right for us to have no choice in whether or not we wanted to leave. So I joined a group called the Allegiant, and they helped me get out of this city! I have so much to tell you guys, and it’s going to be a lot to process, but just hear me out! Everything I have to say is one hundred percent true. I wouldn’t risk my life if I was planning on telling you lies.”

“This city was fenced in by the United States of America. That is the country we live in. It is full of other people, kind of just like you and me. The US is thousands of times larger than this city here, if you can imagine that! Everything was okay in America, until one day, people believed they could solve the problems of humanity by altering their DNA.”