Rampant: A Divergent FanFiction (Book Two) ©

Chapter 12

                After the altercation between Iris and David, nothing else too out of the ordinary happened. I heard Iris apologize to Ally, and I saw that David had exiled himself to the back of the group. That’s how things worked here, people fought, one won, another lost, and then we moved on.

                Banks pointed out some other areas, and everyone listened obediently. It was rather boring, and I was glad when we eventually reached the intersection where the two groups would divide.

                “This is where we split up, so all dauntless-born initiates just follow me,” I said as I took my group down to where they’d be sharing a dorm.

                Altogether, I had seven dauntless-born initiates to look after; two girls, Iris and Shiloh, and five boys, Wayne, Felix, David, Zane, and Tyler. I didn’t have a clue how many Banks had though. Once we reached the room, I waited for them to settle into their chosen beds before I continued my speech.

                “Most of you know me already,” I gave a quick nod to Wayne, Iris and Felix. “But for those of you who don’t, my name is Sage, and most of the time I work–”

                “Wait, Sage? As in, Sage the Monster Stronghold?” One of the initiates interrupted.

                I frowned at the title, but I tried to stay composed. “Yes, the Monster,” I said stiffly. “As I was saying, I normally work as a fighter in the Cage, but for these next few weeks, I’m going to be your instructor.”

                “Dude, why?” The same kid spoke up again; he was getting on my nerves. “Did they fire you or something? Oh! Or did you lose a fight?”

               This last bit he said with a snort, and it was that little action that made me forget my original plan. Suddenly, I didn’t see him as a kid I needed to protect, I saw him as my prey. My face went slack, and I slowly walked towards him. Out of my peripheral vision, I spotted Wayne and Felix nudging the others; alerting them to the scene.

               “What’s your name,” I said slowly, when I was no more than a few inches away from him.

               “Zane,” he answered too-quickly.

               “Well, Zane, since you’re so curious. Do you know just how I got that nickname, Monster?” I asked quietly, letting venom color my words. “Do you know how many people I fucked up? Take a guess, go on, pick a number.”

               He didn’t answer, but as he clenched his jaw and raised his chin up at me, I could see he was trying hard to hide the fact that he was intimidated. My candor eyes, free from the haze of alcohol, easily spotted the tell-tale signs; the vein in his forehead was pulsing fast, the smallest sheen of sweat had appeared on his upper lip, and his breathing had clearly hitched.

               “Don’t want to play?” I asked, pretending to be hurt. “But I thought you were curious?”

               Zane shook his head sharply, but as I saw the fear in his eyes, I couldn’t help but feel bad. I let out a loud breath, and then walked back to the front of the room. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Felix frown, and then hand a folded up bill to Wayne. I wondered who’d bet on what?

               “This isn’t a joke guys, I expect you to take this and me seriously. Now, if you don’t think you can do that, then be prepared for a living hell these next few weeks,” I paused, waiting to see if anyone else wanted to interject with some smart-assed remark. No one did. “You’ve all been raised with dauntless standards, however, this by no means is any sort of guarantee that you’ll be staying here.”