"So what was life like in Candor?" Hayley asks in a whisper, while we glance around. We've been defending the flag for around twenty minutes now, with every fifteen minutes measured by a beep on Callum's watch. Callum and Phoebe have been relatively quiet, and the four of us having taken turns sitting down and standing up. 

"Boring," I whisper back. 

Hayley scoffs, "Yeah. Dauntless is the only faction with any excitement. I don't get why anyone would even want to go to another faction."

"Cos they're cowards," I reply. 

Hayley grins, their white teeth visible in the dark, "True."

There's a sound and we suddenly fall silent. We raise our guns almost in unison. A Dauntless steps out of the shadows, gun levelled. Phoebe and Callum scramble to their feet. 

"It's Diallo," Hayley hisses, "Just like him to abandon his team and go on ahead."

"So there's one of me and four of you," Diallo announces grinning, "How many do you reckon I can take out?"

"You're always a show off Diallo. I'm amazed that Violet can even put up with you let alone be your girlfriend," taunts Hayley, "And you won't hit anyone. I'm going to hit you first."

He smirks, "Sure about that?" Both he and Hayley step towards each other.

"Leave him to me," Hayley says over their shoulder to us. 

"You're the boss," I say, taking a step back, but still holding my gun at the ready in case he attacks. 

The pair of them begin to shoot at one another, bullets flying everywhere, until finally a splodge of paint lands on both of them. 

"Who won?" Hayley demands. 

Diallo begins to laugh, "I don't believe it! We shot each other at exactly the same time! We're both out!" 

I grin and am about to turn back to the others, when a bullet whistles past me and lands on the floor. And April and a red-haired Dauntless girl step out of the shadows. 

"Surprise!" the girl grins, and the pair of them begin to open fire. I begin to fire back, and out of the corner of my eye, I see Phoebe and Callum raise their guns to retaliate. 

"You two focus on the Dauntless-born!" I yell back at them, and try to aim my fire at April, but she's moving about so much that it's hard to get a good shot. Eventually though, one of my bullets hit her on the leg, red paint smearing her clothes. She glares at me and lowers her gun. 

The Dauntless-girl, however, still hasn't been hit, and before I can begin my fire on her, one of her bullets hits me on the shoulder. 

April smirks at me, and then shouts, "Come on Lyra! Get the flag!" 

Lyra, the Dauntless girl, hears and makes a sprint for the flag, with both Callum and Phoebe firing at her furiously. Her fingers are just about to grasp the fabric when she's shot twice in the leg and she goes down. There's a stunned silence, with Callum and Phoebe, the only two around who are actually left in the game, not sure what to do next. 

There's a shout and we see Amar running up to us, "Calida's team have got the flag!" he cries, "They've won!" 

"Yes!" shouts Hayley, and hi-fives me so hard that my hand goes red "We did it!" they yell in my ear and pull me into a Dauntless hug. We stand there for a moment, before they let me go, and I see April glaring at me, and Callum and Phoebe smiling awkwardly. 

"Come on, you lot," says Amar, picking up the flag, "We need to get back on the train. We've got a day of training to do."

"What?" asks Hayley in disbelief. 

"This is Dauntless," Amar smiles, "You didn't think we'd let you off training just because we had a night-time excursion, did you?" 

We all board the train and I sit myself in between, Isaac, Edgar, both of whom looking thoroughly exhausted as the caffeine must have worn off, some Dauntless girls they're talking to, and April's group of friends. 

"After the two transfers shot you, and we shot them, it was me, Isaac and Siobhan who got their flag," one of the girls brags to Edgar, who just nods drowsily. 

"Can't believe they won," I hear April mutter to her friends beside me. 

"Hey! I deserved to win! Though, to be fair, I did get shot by that Dauntless girl," Jo protests. 

"Oh you mean Violet?" Sam says, "Yeah, she's good."

"And that boy who was with her!" Jo continues excitedly, "Get this right-three of us against the two of them. He took out both Ethan and Makena, the two people I was with."

"Diallo? Yeah, he almost got to the flag," April says. 

I listen sleepily to the babble of chatter all around me, the adrenaline I felt earlier wearing off. By the time, we get to the Dauntless compound, I'm exhausted, but we're only given a few hours to sleep before Amar wakes us up to begin a training day. 

Thankfully though, he takes pity on us, and decides to teach us something new rather than do a normal day of training-throwing knives. 

"I'm going to demonstrate, and then I'm going to let you all have a go," Amar says, looking at us all. It's clear that all of us are exhausted from last night, some of us more than others. Edgar, still suffering from his hangover, looks like a walking zombie. The caffeine wore off hours ago, and Isaac isn't looking much better, swaying slightly from side to side. April looks sour, still apparently holding a grudge at losing the game, and out of the corner of my eye, I see her shooting evil looks in my direction. 

Amar throws the knife at the target. It twirls gracefully though the air until it lands in the dead centre. Sam starts to clap, but then stops when he's realises that no one else is, either because they're too tired or just don't care. 

"Everyone grab a set of knives," Amar orders, "and start throwing them at a target. I'll be walking around and will assist you if you want." We each obediently take some knives. 

I glance at my target, the smaller red circle in the centre seeming to taunt me. Fingering the slim knife in my hand, I grip the handle with my right, and throw it towards the target. It, surprisingly, flies straight over. I grimace and try again, only this time it falls just short. 

It takes me a good few attempts until I finally hit the target. I smile, and look around to see how everyone else is doing. Most people have also hit the target, with the notable exception of both Edgar and Cassie. Edgar just seems to be annoyed, but Cassie, on the other hand, is crying. She snatches each knife up with her hands and throws them clumsily towards the target. 

I sigh and return to my target. Balancing the knife in my hand, I hold my hand back to throw, when a sudden high-pitched screech almost makes me drop it in shock. It's Cassie; she's run out of knives. Cassie looks round at all us, her eyes red, seeming to feel everyone's eyes on her. She gives us a glare and storms out the door. 

I glance at Amar, who's just staring after her impassively, and doesn't seem surprised. Maybe this happened when he had initiation too. 

Plato puts down his knives and begins to move towards the door. I resist the urge to groan. Him helping Cassie is such an Abnegation gesture. He's making his Divergence too obvious. 

Thankfully though, Amar quickly stops him. 

"You stay here Initiate," he barks, "I'm going to retrieve Cassie." Plato nods and returns to his place. I breathe a sigh of relief. Amar reacted fast, but one look at Isaac tells me that it wasn't fast enough and that Plato's action was noticed. 

Amar heads out the door, and the rest of us continue throwing knives. But, of course, Amar should not have expected us to just obey his orders. Tiredness has made us irritated and snappy, and the first to defy Amar's command is Edgar. 

"So," he attempts to drawl, but the effect is ruined as he speaks through a mid-yawn, "I guess losing the game last night was too much for your girlfriend," he says to Plato. Plato doesn't reply, but his friends do it for him. 

"Oh just shut up Edgar," Sam retorts, "I shot you last night. If you hadn't had Isaac, Brooke, Jo and Dauntless-borns on your team, you would have lost." 

"Yeah," April joins in, unable to resist, "You're the group's weakest link."

Edgar flushes, "The three of us," he gestures to me and Isaac, "could take you two down easily."

"Sure," Sam agrees, "But how would you feel about a one-to-one though? I'm sure I could beat you in one punch." Edgar flushes, and I see him muscles taunt as he grips the knife he's holding angrily. 

Plato seems to have noticed too, and pulls Sam to the side to whisper something to him. Sam tilts his head to the side, confused, as if he hasn't heard him, and, unfortunately, April decides to repeat what Plato said really loudly, "Yeah, Sam. Just ignore the coward."

Edgar goes beetroot. "I'll show you who's a coward," he snarls, and still swaying, grips the handle of his knife in his hand and pulls it back."

"Ed-" I begin, but before I can tell him not to throw it, the knife has already left his hand. April and Sam flinch, but they haven't factored in Edgar's poor aim, and it lands on the floor beside them. 

April laughs, somewhat shakily, and taunts, "Is that the best you can do?"

Edgar scowls angrily and throws another knife. 

It's clear he's aiming for April; she's the one who called him a coward. But as the knife whistles through the air, everything seems to move in slow motion. As it rotates slowly, the light reflecting on one side of the blade and then the other, I know that it's not going to hit April. It's going to hit Sam. 

Sam stands there, motionless, still looking at Edgar, as the knife makes its' way towards him. And then, I see hands on his shoulders. I see Plato staring at the knife and shoving Sam to the side in slow-motion. 

And then time seems to speed up. The knife enters Plato's body, sinking deep into his chest.