divergent fan fic

pt. 6 - the aptitude test

My eyes flew open almost as soon as I had let them close. There was a high-pitched scream that filled my ears and made my heart pound even faster than it was already. I couldn't make out where I was, but I was surely not in the testing room anymore. I let my feet carry me forward and by listening to the crunch of crisp grass beneath my feet, I could tell I was in a field somewhere. Following the noise, I sprinted towards shadows that I could faintly decipher as a town. As soon as I reached the first dim-lit street, I realized I wasn't the only one running towards the shouting. Looking quickly over my shoulder, I saw a huge animal figure bolting towards me. I only saw an outline of it but it seemed to be falling behind. Stopping now and saving yourself would be easy, I thought as I saw various tools lined up against small shops along the road, but there's no time to waste.

I flew past the shadowed building and saw men running towards a water fountain which appeared to be in the center of the village. As I started to catch up to them, a strong masculine hand grabbed me by the wrist. I spun around to come face to face with a big, intimidating grown man. He looked furious. "Have you seen my daughter?" he scowled.

Carelessly, he jammed his hand in his pocket and pulled out a crumpled picture of a little girl. She looked incredibly familiar. "No, sir. I have no clue who that girl is." He clearly didn't buy it.

"Yes you have! You are lying to me! I can see the recognition in your eyes! Tell me the truth!" The blood wasn't reaching my hand anymore, and I needed to get away from this man.

Yanking my arm away from him, I spoke in a cold voice. "I do not know who that is." I looked him in the eyes and he stepped back hesitantly.

"I am sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to bother you." His words were pure ice and dangerously deadly. I maintained eye contact until eventually the man turned and ran towards another woman. Part of me wanted to warn her, to speak up and stop the stranger from potentially hurting her too. I didn't say anything.

I then continued to venture towards the the town's center. A woman was backed up against the fountain and in front of her stood a snake, poised and ready to lurch forward. The snake was fairly long with a mostly red body patterned with black stripes. There were various shades of yellow bands that stood out along with some traces of musty white.

There are many different species of poisonous snakes. Normally, red and yellow were signs that the snake has deadly venom inside of it. This snake was seriously misleading. I knew from studying snakes in biology that red on yellow were signs of poison, but seeing a snake with red on black meant you were safe. This snake was perfectly fine, but brilliant in its ways of mocking the venomous coral snake. The particular snake only a few feet away from me was none other than the scarlet king snake.

Considering the location of this snake, it was shocking how it was even in sight of humans. I knew by thinking about the circumstances myself, this scarlet snake was more scared of this woman than she was was of the snake. Cautious of my movements I stepped out from the crowd and placed myself in the middle of the woman and the snake. I reached my hand behind me to offer her help standing, but kept my eyes on the snake as she pulled herself to a standing position. I told her to walk away and for everyone to stand on the blind side of the snake.

The crowd started mumbling and disagreeing with me, so I spoke up. "This snake is not harmful to any of us. It only serves as a predator to rats, lizards, and other small creatures. If you don't believe me, take a look at it's head. The red color proves that it's not poisonous. If it were black, that'd be a completely different story." Walking towards the edge of the town's center, I knew that if I could get the attention of the crowd the snake would leave unnoticed and safely as well. I just needed to buy some time, so I continued rambling about the innocent reptile. "If we all walk away, we will have no problem with this snake. It is just a harmless organism that is commonly present but not necessarily seen. It spends most of its days hiding from people, and you are only getting fooled by its most defensive strategy. This hasn't been a problem any other night, so let it be."

Everyone that had assembled began to disappear into the shadows of the night and once I was left alone I walked over to sit on the fountain's ledge. There was no snake, person or any sort of being in sight. Looking around, I saw that the horizon was getting blurry, so I peered into the moon's reflection in the crystal blue water. The light began to intensify and soon enough all I could see was light. White, pure, blinding light.