Kill Em With Kindness

leaders in the center of the Earth

After burning the clothes of our old factions we made our way further down the hall which opened up into a long dining hall filled with people and boisterous chatter it had an upper level with a walkway that outlined the entire cafeteria

Most of the dauntless ignored our presence only a few even glanced at us it was easy to tell we were fresh meat by the matching uniforms and average appearances most of the dauntless we're covered in piercings and tattoos as well as sporting dyed hair

Nervously looking around at the nearly full tables I took a deep breath and put on a cool disinterested attitude before walking forward and out of the group of initiates.

Some scattered off to people that they had known from there past others took up space with random people

I was about to take a seat when I was waved over by my friend tore rushing over to him I quickly sat down and gave him a hug " long time to see right?" I jokeingly asked

He laughed and clapped a hand on my shoulder "girl you're a dork " smiling at him I noticed two initiates sit down in front of us it was Peter and Christina

Peter teasingly said, "I brought a friend, hope you don't mind." Turning his attention towards Tore "Hi I'm Peter." He said reaching out to shake tores hand

"Tore, nice to meet you. So, whos your lovely friend here." He said facing Christina with a full smile

"I'm Christina," she said quickly "and don't try anything smooth." She said cracking a smirk.

Thats when I cut in "Ok so now that we all know each other let's dig in." I say picking out the largest burger I can

"Whoa, there amity might wanna slow down." Peter said sarcastically "little thing like you might not be able to finish all that." I wanted to punch him.

I shot back " I'm not amity, I'm dauntless. And trust me I can pack it in.'' We all laughed and continued to eat when tore piped up "so Imma take a wild guess and say you're a candor kid. Am I right?"

Peter swallowed his bite and responded with "yeah it's shocking I know, also I've been meaning to ask why does your skin look like that?" Then Christina joined in saying "yeah I've never seen anyone like you."

Tore tried to play off what they had said but I could tell it really bothered him. "Well, when I was a baby my parents took me to the erudite they said it was a genetic mutation that causes my pigment-producing cells to die or stop working."

I punched his shoulder lightly "well it looks badass." This cheered him up a bit and we went back to eating until the talk of past factions came up again I was getting really sick of it, to be honest and I guess so was the guy next to me

"Enough, I don't want to hear about your past factions. Your short friend here has the right mindset, you're dauntless now, so act like it." He then took a sip from the iron cup clenched in his hand.

Looking over it was Eric that I saw. Seriously was this guy stalking me he seemed to be everywhere. Then again he is the leader maybe I should try to befriend him.

Trying to spark a conversation I say the first thing that pops into my head " so how many tattoos do you have?"

Eric sat his cup on the table while looking me up and down then squinted "What makes you think I want to talk to you?"

I'm not gonna lie that stung a little bit but I think that's what he was trying to do but unfortunately for him, I wasn't going to give him that satisfaction of a reaction, however, I was going to tease him

" well, I guess it's 'cause you're so warm and cuddly." Tore chuckled but Christina looked like she was about to see my funeral.

Eric went to take another drink but not before slipping out a "watch it." I smiled turning to tore who had an impressed look on his face.

That's when a man with dark skin came over to speak with Eric whatever it was it was important enough for eric to leave

Tore playfully said, " you have a death wish girl." I laughed him off at first until he told me "he was second in his class only to four, I'd be more careful." I nodded keeping that in mind.

Suddenly an alarm went off and all the dauntless began to clang there cups against the tables above us on the walkway there stood The man from before with Eric

"Initiates Stand." He commanded the entire dining hall "you have chosen to join the warrior faction. Tasked with the defense of this city and all its inhabitants. We believe in ordinary acts of bravery and the courage that drives one person to stand up for another. Respect that, do us proud."

With that, cheers And applause began and filled my ears before I knew it I was being lifted off the ground and passed along an ocean of hands floating aimlessly around the room

All I could feel was euphoria this was where I'm meant to be I could just tell and nothing, NOTHING. was going to keep me from living out my life here.

After a few minutes, us initiates were sat down and left to finish our dinner before being ushered off to bed not that I had any intention of sleeping this night.

I laid there awake in my bed waiting to make sure everyone was asleep once I was a hundred percent convinced that I was the only person left awake I dressed myself and snuck out of the bedroom

Quietly and quickly I made my way through hallways and upstairs to the roof out in the farming lands of Amity you can see every Star I was hoping that one thing would stay the same

Unfortunately, when I made it to the roof I wasn't alone quickly I ducked behind the wall surrounding the staircase I could hear a conversation between two men

It was mainly idle chatter about how they were going to train us and what they had in store for tomorrow I knew there was a good reason to stay awake I'm glad I did, however, I was now faced with a task retaine as much information from their conversation as I could without being detected and then somehow escaped before they realize I'm here

"The rankings will be a challenge this year." The first man said this caught my attention what we're they talking about?

"It'll be easy to spot the weakest, the ones that won't make the cut."

Wont make the cut?

"It'll be harder to sort out the ones who are just average." The second man said
I couldn't believe what I was hearing they were going to rank us and boot us out.

I actually might become factionless

No I couldn't think like that I had to be better than average and I knew just what to do sneaking away down the stairs and through the darkened halls, I found my way back to the bedroom

Immediately I woke up Peter and Christina both were more than displeased that I had woken them

"Fuck Zora what is it?" Peter whispered in an agitated tone and Christina agreed"yeah it's the middle of the night."

I hushed them and began to search for the right words "listen I overheard some men talking there going to be ranking us and cutting out the weakest. We need to work together to stay in the top three got it?"

They were baffled but awake now Christina was the first to speak "thats insane they should have told us, but I'm with you." I sighed with relief at least I wouldn't be alone we both looked at Peter who seemed to be unbothered by the news "well I guess were all in this together now get some sleep." And with that he rolled over pulling the covers up.

Christina nodded whispering "good night." I said it back and got into my pajamas tucking myself under the blanket I could feel sleep tugging me further into a dream of our leaders in the center of the pit.