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Deep inside ain nothing I will probably die

Andstill: I don’t really care

"They’ll work their way upward," I say between breaths "So you shouldgo to the third floor Tell the, then?"

"Floor two," I say I shove my shoulder into the second-floor door I knohat to do on the second floor: look for the Divergent

As I walk down the hallway, stepping over unconscious people dressed in black and white, I think of a verse of the song Candor children used to sing when they thought no one could hear them:

Dauntless is the cruelest of the five

They tear each other to pieces

It has never see Dauntless traitors induce a sleeping simulation that is not so different froation not a o

We are the only faction that could divide like this Aation would be so selfish; Candor would argue until they found a co so illogical We really are the cruelest faction

I step over a draped arinning of the next verse of the song under e is a costly thing

I wonder when Jeanine realized that Erudite and Dauntless would ic, it see one and a half factions to sleep

I scan faces and bodies as I walk, searching for irregular breaths, flickering eyelids, anything to suggest that the people lying on the ground are just pretending to be unconscious So far, all the breathing is even and all the eyelids are still Maybe none of the Candor are Divergent

"Eric!" I hear someone shout froht toward me I try not to nize me, I know it I look down, and tense so hard I tremble Don’t look at me don’t look at me don’t look at me

Eric strides past me and down the hallway to my left I should continue es me forward, tohoever called for Eric The shout sounded urgent

When I liftwoman She wears a white blouse and a black skirt, and has her hands behind her head Eric’s sent," he says "Well done Bring her to the elevator bank We’ll decide which ones to kill and which ones to bring back later"

The Dauntless soldier grabs the woing her behind him She shrieks, and then scrambles to her feet, bent over I try to s but it feels like I have a wad of cotton balls in my throat

Eric continues down the hallway, away from me, and I try not to stare as the Candor woman stumbles past me, her hair still trapped in the fist of the Dauntless soldier By now I kno terror works: I let it control me for a few seconds, and then force myself to act

Onetwothree

I start forith a new sense of purpose Watching each person to see if they’re awake is taking too much time The next unconscious person I coer No response, not even a twitch I step over the hard with the toe of my shoe No response there either

I hear someone else shout, "Got one!" from a distant hallway and start to feel frantic I hop over fallen ers and the elderly, stepping on fingers or stons of pain I barely see their faces after a while, but still I get no response I aent, but I’m not the only person who’s "it"

And then it happens I step on a Candor girl’s pinkie, and her face twitches Just a little--an ih to catch my attention

I look over my shoulder to see if anyone is near me, but they’ve all moved on from this central hallway I check for the nearest stairwell--there’s one just ten feet away, down a side hallway to irl’s head

"Hey, kid," I say as quietly as I can "It’s okay I’m not one of them"

Her eyes open, just a little

"There’s a staircase about three yards away," I say "I’ll tell you when no one is watching, and then you have to run, understand?"

She nods

I stand and turn in a slow circle A Dauntless traitor toa limp Dauntless with her foot Two Dauntless traitors behindout in my direction, but then he lifts his head and starts down the hallway again, away froets up and sprints toward the door to the stairwell I watch her until the door clicks shut, and seealone in a hallway of sleeping people, like I thought Eric is standing right behind me

I look at his reflection, and he looks back at ht not have the presence of rab me But I know, even as the idea occurs to me, that I won’t be able to outrun hiun