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I lick my lips, sprint the last few steps, and thrust the heel of my hand up The blow connects with his nose, and he shouts, bringing both hands up to cover his face My body jolts with nervous energy and as his eyes squint, I kick hi to the ground I grab it and press the barrel to the top of his head

"How are you awake?" I demand

He lifts his head, and I click the bullet into its cha an eyebrow at him

"The Dauntless leaders…they evaluated my records and removed me froured out that you already havea few hundred people while conscious," I say "Makes sense"

"I’m not…murderous!"

"I never knew a Candor as such a liar" I tap the gun against his skull "Where are the computers that control the simulation, Peter?"

"You won’t shoot me"

"People tend to overestimate my character," I say quietly "They think that because I’irl, or a Stiff, I can’t possibly be cruel But they’re wrong"

I shift the gun three inches to the left and fire at his arm

His screams fill the hallway Blood spurts fro his forehead to the ground I shift the gun back to his head, ignoring the pang of guilt in my chest

"Now that you realize your ive you another chance to tell me what I need to know before I shoot you so I can count on: Peter is not selfless

He turns his head and focuses a bright eye on me His teeth close over his lower lip, and his breaths shake on the way out And on the way in And on the way out again

"They’re listening," he spits "If you don’t kill et me out of here"

"What?"

"Take

"You want me to take you," I say, "the person who tried to kill roans "If you expect to find out what you need to know"

It feels like a choice, but it isn’t Everyabout how he haunts ation members die at the hands of the brain-dead Dauntless ar on the word "Fine"

I hear footsteps behind un steady, I look over my shoulder My father and the others walk toward us

My father takes off his long-sleeved shirt He wears a gray T-shirt beneath it He crouches next to Peter and loops the fabric around his arhtly As he presses the fabric to the blood running down Peter’s arm, he looks up at me and says, "Was it really necessary to shoot him?"

I don’t answer

"Soood," says Marcus cal before Tobias with a belt in hand and hear his voice echo This is for your own good I look at him for a few seconds Does he really believe that? It sounds like soo," I say "Get up, Peter"

"You want him to walk?" Caleb demands "Are you insane?"

"Did I shoot hio, Peter?"

Caleb helps Peter to his feet

"The glass building," he says, wincing "Eighth floor"

He leads the way through the door

I walk into the roar of the river and the blue glow of the Pit, which is emptier now than I have ever seen it before I scan the walls, searching for signs of life, but I see no un in hand and start toward the path that leads to the glass ceiling The emptiness makes htht to shoot someone?" my father says as he follows me up the path We pass the tattoo place Where is Tori now? And Christina?

"Now isn’t the time for debates about ethics," I say

"Now is the perfect tiet the opportunity to shoot soain, and if you don’t realize--"

"Realize what?" I say without turning around "That every second I waste ation dead and another Dauntless made into a murderer? I’ve realized that Now it’s your turn"

"There is a right way to do things"

"What makes you so sure that you knohat it is?" I say

"Please stop fighting," Caleb interrupts, his voice chiding "We have ht now"

I keep clio I would not have dared to snap at ht not have done it either But soed when they shot my mother When they took Tobias

I hearwater I forgot that he is older than I aht of his body

Before I ascend the , I wait in darkness and watch the light cast on the Pit walls by the sun I watch until a shadow shifts over the sunlit wall and count until the next shadow appears The guards make their rounds every minute and a half, stand for twenty seconds, and then uns up there When they see me, they will kill me, if they can," I tell my father quietly I search his eyes "Should I let them?"

He stares at me for a few seconds

"Go," he says, "and God help you"

I clies I wait, watching the shadows un, and shoot