All that land is filled with people, every one of them different, and the things they do to each other matter.

Too bad you didn't just take Max up on his offer, Four. Well, too bad for you, anyway," says Eric quietly as he clicks the bullet into its chamber. My lungs burn; I haven't breathed in almost a minute. I see Tobias's hand twitch in the corner of my eye, but my hand is already on my gun. I press the barrel to Eric's forehead. His eyes widen, and his face goes slack, and for a second he looks like another sleeping Dauntless soldier. My index finger hovers over the trigger. "Get your gun away from his head," I say. "You won't shoot me," Eric replies. "Interesting theory. " I say.

I tell myself, as sternly as possible, that is how things work here. We do dangerous things and people die. People die, and we move on to the next dangerous thing. The sooner that lesson sinks in, the better chance I have at surviving initiation.

Candor does not provide us with protection, sustenance, or technological innovation. Therefore you are expendable to us.

Well, half of half our faction.' 'In some circles they call that a quarter, Mar,' Lynn says.

Not writing is as important as writing - go out into the world and remember how interesting it, and the people in it, are.

Noise and activity are the refuges of the bereaved and the guilty.