Rampant: A Divergent FanFiction (Book Two) ©

Chapter 11

                Chaos erupted from all around us just as another initiate dropped into the net, the sound of laughter following her down. The crowd roared with approval, cheering louder with each passing second and stomping their feet raucously.

                "Welcome to dauntless," I told the girl -Ally- then I gave her a parting smile and turned to help the next jumper.

                It was a blonde girl, dressed in the familiar black and white of my old faction. As I helped her out I noticed that she was studying me, her eyes shrewd and perceptive. She gave me a flirtatious grin, and then told me her name was Jade.

                "You probably don't remember me, but I'm best-friends with Vera. Remember? Your neighbor."

                As if on cue, the next girl to jump was none other than my old neighbor Vera. I was shocked, and when I managed to get her out I was even more surprised; she'd changed drastically in just a year. I was just about to hug her and ask about Annie, when I realized just how stupid that would be. Banks was right behind me, analyzing each of the initiates with a clinical-eye, it would only hurt Vera if treated her differently than the others.

                "Sage," Vera breathed with a shy smile.

                "It's great to see you," I said quickly. "We'll have to catch up later though."

                As I turned and announced their names to the crowd, I couldn't help but notice that Jade had given Vera a very peculiar look. I ignored my curiosity, there wasn't time for that, and then continued to present each of the transfers that had jumped.

                When it came time for the dauntless-born, it was a different situation. They didn't wait to go one by one; chaos was the way they lived. Technically, the first dauntless-born jumper would've been Wayne, if not for the fact that as he was about to jump he turned and reached behind him, yanking two others with him.

                The dauntless members laughed at this, and I couldn't help but grin. When the three bodies stopped bouncing around, I reached in and helped Wayne, Iris and Felix out. Then when they'd cleared the platform and joined the crowd, I helped the remaining jumpers.

                When it seemed that there weren't any more initiates left on the roof, I strode over to where Banks stood. He'd said he'd do most of the talking, and I had no problem with that.

                "Alright initiates, listen up!" Banks barked in a menacing tone. They immediately quieted down without having to be asked twice; obviously intimidated. "I'm Banks, and I will be training the transfers. This here," he jerked his head in my direction, "is Sage. He will be training the dauntless-born."

                I nodded, and then remembered what Banks had told me to say the day before.

                "Now, normally we have the transfers go with Banks for a tour and the dauntless-born come with me, but this year, we'll be giving the dauntless-born a tour as well," I said.

                When I'd asked Banks why it was necessary for the dauntless-born to participate in the trip, he'd simply stated that he was curious about how the two groups would interact. I thought it was dumb, but I figured there had to be more to it; Banks never did anything without a purpose in mind. A part of me suspected that what he wanted was to create conflict amongst the two groups.

                Apparently the dauntless-born didn't think the tour should be required for them either, because as soon as I'd finished speaking they began to protest. However, after receiving an ominous look from Banks, they instantly quieted down.