The Unlucky Ones

[21] - The Flag

[Tobias]

I'M STILL HOLDING ONTO TRIS. I should've let her go a while ago, but I didn't. In other factions, I would give her time to recover, but we are in Dauntless, so I smile at her and start towards the carousel, where our team members guard our flag. I release her hand, grabbing her elbow instead. She half runs, half limps beside me, trying to keep up as we jog to the carousel. Christina is perched on one of the horses, her long legs crossed and her hand around the pole holding the plastic animal upright. Our flag is behind her, a glowing triangle in the dark. Three Dauntless-born initiates stand among the other worn and dirty animals. One of them has his hand on a horse’s head, and a scratched horse eye stares at me between his fingers. Sitting on the edge of the carousel is Lauren, scratching her quadruple-pierced eyebrow with her thumb.

" Where’d the others go? " I ask.

I feel like a transformer has filled my veins with electricity.

" Did you guys turn on the wheel? " Lauren asks. " What the hell are you thinking? You might as well have just shouted ‘Here we are! Come and get us!’ If I lose again this year, the shame will be unbearable. Three years in a row? "

I shake my head.

" The wheel doesn’t matter, " I say. " We know where they are. "

Christina cocks an eyebrow.

" We? " She asks.

Her eyes land on me, shifting to Tris with a sense of loss and confusion.

" Yes, while the rest of you were twiddling your thumbs, Tris climbed the Ferris wheel, nearly dying in the process, to look for the other team. " I say.

Tris smiles slightly, looking away. As an Abnegation, she isn't used to this much selfishness. But it isn't selfishness, it's self-accomplishment. She has the right to be proud of herself like she is.

" What do we do now, then? " One of the Dauntless-born initiates asks through a yawn.

I look down at her. Slowly, the eyes of the other initiates, including Christina, migrate from me to Tris. I watch as she raises her shoulders, nearly shrugging. She raises her eyebrows, looking up at me with her mouth open. I nod.

" We'll split in half, " She says. " Four of us will go to the right side of the pier, three to the left. Eric's team is in the park at the end of the pier. The group of four will charge as the group of three sneaks behind the other team to get the flag. "

Christina looks at me with narrowed eyes. She glares at Tris as if she doesn't even recognize her. I don’t blame her. Tris is remaking herself.

" Sounds good, " Lauren claps her hands loudly. " Let’s get this night over with, shall we? "

Christina joins Tris in the group going to the right, along with Uriah. They run in the opposite direction, Christina taking the lead. She is clearly trying to beat Tris. She has to run twice as fast to match her shorter strides to Christina's long ones. As they run, I realize that only one of them will get to touch the flag. It won’t matter that it was her plan and her information that got us to it if she's not the one who grabs it. Tris runs faster, and she's on Christina’s heels.

A chorus of yells rises into the air, so loud they make me jump. I hear puffs of air as paintballs go flying and splats as they find their targets. Our team has charged, the other team runs to meet us, and the flag is almost unguarded. Uriah takes aim and shoots the last guard in the thigh. The guard, a short girl with purple hair, throws her gun to the ground in a tantrum. Tris sprints to catch up to Christina. The flag hangs from a tree branch, high above her head.

They both reach for the flag. Christina looks over and says something that causes Tris to back down. Christina jumps, snatching the flag from the branch. Without looking at Tris, she turns and gives a whoop of victory. Uriah’s voice joins hers and then I hear a chorus of yells in the distance. Uriah claps her shoulder. The shouts of triumph become infectious, and I lift my voice to join in, running toward my teammates. Christina holds the flag up high, and everyone clusters around her, grabbing her arm to lift the flag even higher. Tris can’t reach her, so she stands off to the side, grinning. I touch a hand to her shoulder.

" Well done, Tris. " I say, quietly.

Her eyes fix on me, and she smiles.

" Thanks. " She says.

I nod.

" You did a good job. But I have one question--why didn't you grab the flag? " I ask.

She shrugs.

" I’ve already proved myself today. I do not want to be greedy; I do not want to be like Eric, terrified of other people’s strength. " She says.

I nod, smiling.

" Christina said something to you. What did she say? " I ask.

She looks over her shoulder at Christina who is too pre-occupied bragging of how she grabbed the flag to look our way.

" She told me that I was already the hero of the day. And that I would never be able to reach it. " She says.

I sigh, a smile tugging at my lips.

" You are the one who helped us win today, not Christina. " I say. " If it weren't for you... We wouldn't have known where to look. "

She smiles.

" Thanks, Four. " She says.