Summary: Chapter 10

When Tris returns from a shower, she finds the word “Stiff” spray painted all over her bed and suspects that Peter is the culprit. Al helps her strip the bed, and as they walk to training, he tells her he doesn’t want to hurt anyone else. Tris learns she’s been assigned to fight Peter, and although Al suggests giving up early, she decides to fight in hopes of placing high in the rankings. But Peter beats her easily, pummeling her until she goes unconscious. Before she passes out, she notices Four leaving the room.

Tris wakes up sore and dizzy in the nurses’ station with Will, Al, and Christina looking over her. After joking with Tris to cheer her up, Will and Christina leave for dinner. Al tells Tris they need to leave early the next morning for a field trip to the fence, and they talk about the day’s fights and each other’s bravery. She suspects Al is attracted to her, but she finds him too sensitive. After he leaves, she prepares herself for the possibility that her parents are too angry with her to attend the upcoming Visiting Day. In the middle of the night, she leaves the hospital and returns to the dorm.

Summary: Chapter 11

Tris awakens to Christina shaking her. She is slow because of her injuries, so she and Christina barely make it to the train in time for the field trip. Al has to help her into the train car after she jumps, and she’s embarrassed that Peter can see she’s hurt. She notices Four standing at the train door and realizes she’s been looking at him frequently. The train stops, and they get out near a fence topped by barbed wire and patrolled by armed guards. Four explains that low-ranked Dauntless initiates usually become fence guards, making Tris worry that she’ll be stuck patrolling the fence or, worse, fail initiation entirely. Four reveals that he was ranked first in his cohort but chose not to take a government job, making Tris wonder why he would choose a lowly task like training initiates.

An apple truck approaches the gate, and Tris sees her friend Robert, an Amity transfer, riding in the back of it. He notices her injuries and tells her she could go home to Abnegation if she wanted, but she refuses. As the truck leaves, Tris notices the gate locks from the inside, making it seem like they’re locked in. After he sees her talk with Robert, Four chastises Tris for making unwise decisions, and implies he left her fight early because he didn’t like seeing her get hurt.

Summary: Chapter 12

Late that night, a group bursts into the dorm and tells the initiates to get dressed and meet at the train tracks. On the train, Eric and Four divide the initiates into two teams to play capture the flag, a Dauntless tradition. Four chooses small, fast trainees like Tris, Christina, and Will, while Eric chooses the bigger initiates, including Al. Four’s group heads across a bridge to Navy Pier, where they find an abandoned Ferris wheel, empty buildings, and an old carousel. As the others argue about whether to split up, Tris decides to climb the wheel so she can see the other team’s location. Four follows her up, and as they climb, she realizes that he’s afraid of heights. She’s impressed that he still climbs to the top, and her budding attraction to him intensifies. From their vantage point, they spot the other team. As they climb down, a bar Tris is holding breaks and she nearly falls. Luckily, Four climbs down quickly and turns the Ferris wheel on to bring her down safely.

When they return to the others, Tris takes charge of planning the attack and divides them into two groups to distract and ambush Eric’s team. Tris and Christina arrive at the flag first, and Tris is taken aback when Christina tells Tris she’s already the hero, so she shouldn’t take the flag. Despite her misgivings, Tris lets Christina take it. The rest of the team is impressed by Tris’ actions, and they playfully squirt each other with paintballs on the ride home.