A/N: I do not own Divergent or its characters: that would be Veronica Roth's. I only own my parts of the plots and ideas. Thanks :)

Chapter 3

Tris P.O.V

All time seems to stop as a fall, my fate uncertain and in the hands of four boys I do not even know. I wait for the painful contact of ground to come, focusing on the rush of wind surrounding my body. If they are who they claim to be, then I shouldn't be worried, but if they work for The Eye, then my life will end within the next few seconds. I silently pray the answer is not the latter, although I expect the worst of people. My time cannot yet be done. I have a family to avenge.

When the impact finally comes, it is nothing like I thought it would be. Rather than the hard, cold ground, I hit something soft, yet strangely hard. The world seems to have gone silent. Am I dead? Is this what death is like – painless and peaceful?

I release a breath I didn't know I was holding and pry my eyelids open. As soon as my vision comes into focus and I see the bright blue sky littered with pure-white clouds, I know I am not dead. Wait. "I'm not dead!" I shut my eyes once again and reopen them only to return my gaze to the canopy of azure above me. Closing my eyes one last time, I turn my head to the side and open them, and find myself staring into a pair of midnight blue eyes. They are dark, a dreaming, sleeping, waiting color. I put the pieces of the current situation together.

I jump up and back away until my back is pressed against the stone bluff, quickly retrieving my knife from my shoe. The four men are watching me with wide eyes as their hands are all connected, forming a net-like structure, presumably the one I was caught with. After they release each other, no one moves. For what could have been hours, we stand their watching each other.

Four speaks up first, "Hello."

I do not move or react for a move moments. Then I respond, "Hi."

"Can you tell me what your name is?"

"No," I respond immediately.

"Okay, well, in order for you to answer my question, I'm assuming I need to earn you trust." I respond with a terse nod and flick my eyebrows up as to say "obviously". "Alright, well we will answer any of your questions."

I am about to begin interrogating them, when a voice and footsteps interrupt my train of thought.

"Here you guys are!" a girl's voice rings as she comes towards us followed by a few other girls, "We started following you, but we thought we –" she stops talking when her eyes find me and my knife, and she notices the boys' cautious positions. The girls approach the guys and stop next to them. There are more people here than I thought, which only makes me even more weary.

"Hey there!" a girl with mocha-colored skin exclaims cheerily.

"Chris, not right now," another girl scolds.

"So, what questions do you have?" Four repeats.

"Who are you people?" I ask suspiciously, confidently, aggressively.

"Well, as you know, my name is Four," he begins, "This is Zeke," – a boy with bronze skin and dark hair – "Uriah," – the boy who looks very similar to Zeke – "Will," – a boy with shaggy blonde hair – "Christina," – the girl with mocha skin and dark brown hair – "Marlene," – a girl with light brown hair – "Shauna," – a girl with dark hair – "and Lynn" – a girl with short, brown hair, half of which has been buzzed off.

I nod curtly. "Why are you in the mountains? Why are you in my hidden area? Nobody ever comes out here. Almost ever."

"This is our spring break. We came out here to go camping for the week."

"Then why didn't you follow the trail? You know – where all the other campers go?"

"We like adventure," he gives a small smirk, "The trails are too safe and known and boring."

I listen to their story intently. Although I know they have done nothing to harm me or prove that they even want to hurt me, I cannot find it in myself to trust them. It's been so long since I could trust anyone. Well, other than Tori to be specific, and the odds of this whole situation being a coincidence seem too slim. "What is in your backpacks?"

He takes his bag off from around his shoulders and tosses it towards me. "You can look if you want. You can look in all our bags if you feel like it." The others nod enthusiastically, agreeing with Four.

I narrow my eyes, but take a few steps forward, retrieving the bag before instantly returning to my original spot. Unzipping the bag, I find nothing out of the ordinary: just some clothes, snacks, and other camping necessities. I toss the bag back to him.

"I understand your story. But that is all it may be: a story. I have no idea how to know if you are telling the truth," I say after a moment, receiving a few understanding nods.

"That sounds reasonable." Four replies, "But do we have enough trust to know your name?"

I gaze intently upon their faces, searching for any sign of dishonesty, but find none. Hesitating, I try to think of a name to tell them, since I don't want them to know who I really am, and finally reply, "You can call me Six."

"Well, Six," the girl, Christina, smiles, "it's nice to meet you."

I nod in response before lifting my gaze to the sky, watching the clouds and sun and listening to the wind.

"Did you all say you came out to stay here for a week? This week?" I question.

They nod.

I let out a sarcastic laugh, "Are you stupid?" Are they really dumb enough to camp out during this time of year?

Zeke speaks up, "Well, my brother, Uriah, here is, but I'm not, so I think you're mistaken."

Uriah slaps him on the back of the head. "Hey! You lowered my ego," he complains with mock hurt.

"Yeah," Marlene replies, "only to about the size of Asia."

I snort and let out a small chuckle, actions and sounds that feel foreign. "But seriously, why did you chose to come out here this week of all weeks?"

"I guess just because it's spring break," Four answers, "Why?"

"Did any of you bother checking the weather?"

Silence.

"Well that explains it. This week is what I call the Tantrum."

"The Tantrum?"

"Yeah. It's a huge storm that visits these mountains every spring, with hard rains and strong winds."

"Well, shit," Lynn mumbles.

I raise my eyebrows and wait. For what exactly, I'm not sure.

Shauna is the first to speak up, "Where do you go during the storm?"

I hesitate, a reply I find myself using a lot. "I stay in the cave, but sometimes I stay with Tori."

"Tori?" Crap. I feel my face visibly pale. I shouldn't have said that. "It's okay, you don't have to answer that."

I relax. "Thanks,"

"Six, could you show us wear your camping site is? So we can camp with you?" Uriah asks.

My eyes harden and I scoff. "Camping site? I don't 'go camping'. I live here. This is my home," I gesture to the surrounding forest. "This isn't a game for me. I don't have the luxury of 'games'."

"Oh," he replies, regret written all over his face, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that."

I sigh. "I know. I'm used to it, anyways. I mean, I've been out here for so long."

"Six, I know this is a lot to ask, but we answered your questions. Could you answer some of ours? No pressure," Four inquires.

I take a few steps forward and sit down in the dirt, making sure my knife is held firmly between my hand, just is case of emergency. I nod curtly again. "I guess. But sit – we're probably going to be here for a while."

They all drop to the ground quickly, like children being told they will be read a bedtime story.

"Alright," Four begins, "How long have you been living out here?"

"Six years," I respond without emotion.

They all raise their eyebrows and their eyes widen in shock, a few girls letting out a gasp. I remind myself to show no emotion. "They won't figure out my story if I show them no emotion," I think to myself.

"How old are you?" Four continues.

"Sixteen."

"Same as Christina, Uriah, Marlene, Will, and Lynn," he informs, "Is Six a nickname?"

"Is Four a nickname?" I retort.

"Touche," he smiles.

I reciprocate by giving a small smile.

"Why do you live is the forest?"
I contemplate the many different ways to answer that question. I obvious won't tell him the whole story, but after I accused him of being part of The Eye, I sort of gave him a glimpse of what I am going through, so I decide on giving him part of the truth. "I am safe here."

He pauses for a moment before continuing, "Why are you not safe in the city?"

Again I pause before answering, "They will find me if I go back."

There are a few minutes of uncomfortable silence before Will speaks up, "What is The Eye?"

My eyes harden and become cold and distant. My heart clenches as memories from six years ago come and go in snip-its: being beaten, being tested on, getting treated like an object. Other innocent people who are – were – like me being murdered. My parents and brother being murdered. Before I can let my thoughts escalate any further, I respond so low, it is almost a whisper, "They are the ones who ruined everything." They will pay.

"How so?" Will persists.

After a moment, I rise and say, "That is enough questions for today. If you want a good place to camp and especially if you want to survive the Tantrum, I recommend following me."

They quickly follow suit and follow me as I begin to walk away. Thoughts of The Eye still wrack my mind. The anger and sadness that fills me to the brim is overwhelming, and only one clear opinion is formed: They Eye took everything important to me away. And I will not stop until the favor has been returned.

A/N: Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed! If you did please follow and favorite to be notified when the next chapter comes out! Also, comments and criticism are pretty useful, so please leave me a comment!

I also wanted to apologize for not posting in a little while– I have been so busy applying to high schools and recovering from being in an accident, so I haven't had much of a chance to update.

I promise I'll try my hardest to update more frequently !

Thanks Babes :3

~Jillian