Cowardly Kindness

Life's Name

~Authors Note~

Hey guys! Thanks so much for reading this far into my story! I love writing, but a huge part of creating stories and even fanfiction has to do with motivation. I would really love it if you guys could leave comments on my story, giving me either constructive criticism or telling me what you like. Thank you so much!

The trucks pulled past the city walls. James, who had been chatting with Taylor about what they knew about Amity initiation, fell to a hush. In fact, all the transfers did. This was their first time leaving the city walls. They had left the downtown section of the city a while back but as they drove past the walls, all the transfers looked around in silent amazement. The farms stretched further than the eye could see, rows and rows of corn stalks and bean plants and countless other vegetables. Amity adults and older teenagers sat in apple trees, chatting and harvesting. They all waved to the truck's passengers as they passed.

"It's amazing," muttered Taylor, mostly to herself. She looked around, a wide grin on her face. "This is real?"

A voice answered from across them. "I know, right? I've only seen these in maps, but it's even better in person!"

James looked up to see Mikayla looking around, the same bewildered but amazed look in her eyes. Jen sat a few inches away from her, gazing around as well.

The truck came to a complete halt. All the transfers fell, almost face first, onto the floor in front of them. Taylor started laughing, rolling onto her back and looking up at the sky. Soon James was holding back giggles before bursting out in hysterical laughter. Mikayla and Jen joined in and soon all the transfers were laying on the back of the cargo bed, looking up at the clouds and laughing their hearts out.

The door of the cargo bed was pushed down. A dark-skinned Amity-Born initiate boy was smiling, holding back laughter at the sight ahead of him. "C'mon, guys," he said as if they had known each other all their lives. "We have to go pick out our names,"

A hush fell over the group of initiates at the thought of changing their name. Taylor slowly stood up first, holding her hand to her side in pain from laughing. James stood up by her, and soon the joyful atmosphere was gone and replaced by a newer, more somber one. The Amity boy was gone, following the line of the Amity-born initiates down past the farms towards the door to the amity compound - a large, two story building, so wide it spanned nearly the size of the farm on its own. In front of the double doors was a man wearing a red sweater and brown cargo shorts. He smiled as the initiates - both amity born and transfers - clumped into a pile in front of him.

"Welcome to Amity!" he exclaimed. "Before we show you to your living spaces, theres a few things we need to take care of first. If you'll please follow me?"

He gave the teenagers another grin then started jogging to his left, taking a sharp turn around the building. All the initiates followed him at a quick but steady pace. James soon found himself at the head of the pack of running teenagers, having been used to running with the Dauntless. As he followed the man who was a few paces ahead of him, he saw another teen catching up to him then slowing down and matching his pace. "You... must be used to... running, huh?" gasped Marius, throwing the words in between each breath. James laughed softly and turned to face him. His eyes made contact with Marius' sparkling blue diamonds, a blur of green and yellow behind them as they jogged past the farms. A year passed while he looked at Marius before he turned back to look ahead of him again, focusing on his arms movements - back and forth, back and forth.

"Yeah. We ran a lot," he said. He turned his head for another second to look back at the boy, but he had already fallen behind. James saw him a few feet behind him, jogging lightly and conversing with a Erudite transfer who looked remotely different from James. James realized he was scowling at the boy and turned around to see where they were running too. The Amity man had stopped a few meters ahead of James so he slowed his pace, coming to a full stop facing him. The group of teenagers piled around him, chatting and laughing. James found Taylor at her side, gasping for breath and holding her side again.

"How do you run so fast?" she said. James chuckled, shrugging and running a hand through his hair.

Jen ran up behind Taylor, her fire red hair frizzy from the wind. She grabbed her left elbow with her right hand, shyly looking around. Mikayla ran up behind her, casually coming to a stop about an inch away from Jen. The redhead girl looked up at Mikayla, who was taller, smiled and looked back down, her cheeks turning the color of her hair. Mikayla didn't seem to notice.

"Alright, folks," said the man at the front. "This is what's going to happen. We're going to start by getting your names down, then we'll play some team-building exercises. Afterwards, we'll take you back to headquarters to get dressed up and ready for dinner. We don't usually do anything formal as Amity people, but we have a few special occasions, such as initiate's first dinner. You'll find an arrangement of suits and dresses to try on back at the compound.

The amity born formed a line, as if they had been ready for this for their whole lives. On second thought, James realized, maybe they had. He watched with close attention as each initiate walked up to the man and gave them their chosen name. When they were finished, the man studied the group of transfers. They all fidgeted until Taylor laughed. She walked up to the man and said simply, "Taylor,"

The man smiled at her and nodded, writing her name down on the clipboard he held in his hand. "Who's next?"

James felt a transfer push past him - it was Mikayla. She gave him an apologetic smile, then walked up to the man. She didn't change her name.

Jen looked at Mikayla, who was standing next to Taylor now, for reassurance. Mikayla nodded and Jennifer walked up to the man. Rather than saying Jennifer, she simply said, "Jen,"

The other transfers looked at each other nervously. James stood a few feet away from the rest of the group, sticking out with his dark dauntless attire. He sighed, giving the remaining transfers a glance before walking up to the man. He opened his mouth to say James, but something stopped him. "Pick carefully," said the main kindly. "You don't get to pick again."

James looked back up at the man, more confident this time. "Jay," he said slowly. "I pick Jay,"