Divergent - Chapter 4
A piercing wail from the car horn suddenly washed over the scene, providing a steady stream on which time floated. Even without Andy’s special powers, events like these frequently play out in movie montage slow motion.
Cheerleaders, in their pleated skirts and school color ribbons tying off their ponytails, prepared to cheer, even if this turned into a blood sport.
Cut to the car’s interior with a close up of the elderly man slumped over the wheel of the now guideless missile, his limbs dangling like a marionette without a handler.
A shot of a hand-painted banner at the end of the field that says “We’ve got spirt.” Banners didn’t have spellcheck like the countless mobile phones and cameras at the ready to record the fight.
Another close up. Chad’s face fills the image with nostrils flared as he builds up steam. His eyes show how he savors the idea of squashing the little bug known as Pete. Pan and pull out to a longer shot of Andy as he makes it to the forefront of the crowd, trying desperately to steady his breath and focus.
Throughout, the crowd noise provides the background soundtrack. The teenage cacophonous squeals and jeers were stretched and flattened by the time distortion into a drone.
Andy knew no one would notice the brief flash of orange in his eyes as he misdirected Chad’s punch enough to set him slightly off balance. Pete said a silent thank you to Andy as he felt the knuckles merely graze his shoulder. Pete’s quick thrust with the heel of his hand connected with Chad’s nose. He’d seen this maneuver on a TV show one day when he’d stayed home from school with a fever. He had watched intently as a man dressed in a padded suit that made him look like a giant duct-taped marshmallow creature taught women basic self defense tactics.
The show was right. Chad’s nose was a vulnerable spot. The show’s instructor had pointed out that the crotch was another spot to target, but Pete couldn’t bring himself to knee another guy. If he’d had any idea of what was coming next, he might have reconsidered. His well laid nose shot had started a trickle of blood that sent the bull-like Chad charging full speed at Pete. As the frenzied mob’s attention remained solely on the combatants, Andy’s went elsewhere.
Andy winced as the pitch of the car horn sent a spike of pain through his brain. Looking back past the blur of other students Andy saw the car’s front lights staring directly down at him. Unobstructed on its current path, it was careening down the embankment that provided a naturally sloped wall behind the row of metal bleachers. This was the vantage point from which the students normally watched sporting events.
Even in this slowed dream-like pace everything was happening too quickly for Andy. From the din of chaos he heard Pete’s voice telling him “size matters not.”
“Watch out!” he shouted as much a warning about what he was trying to do as about the car itself. Rather than try push back through the crowd Andy stood his ground and focused on the car. His entire body was tingling. For anyone else it would have signaled an electrical storm was rolling in.
Again Pete’s previous dictate resonated in Andy’s head. “Close your eyes and give it all you’ve got.”
The car didn’t slow but the steering wheel shifted, turning the front wheels too sharply and sending the car into a corkscrew roll. The crash of the car first flip snapped some of the mob away from the gladiators. Panic. Kids running in every direction. A few intrepid ones turned their cameras to try catch the new main event.
Andy could hardly stand but kept trying to will the car to adjust the path. Unsure if he had any control of it or it was just physics, Andy found that with the car flipped over onto the roof side he could spin the car a bit and sent it skidding into the back supports of the bleachers.
“Somebody call for help” Andy implored. “See if Coach is still here.” “Stop with the pictures. Are you all insane?” “We need help out here.” The painful spike in his head had subsided but now his whole body ached.
The corner of the bleachers had collapsed onto the car leaving it pinned much as Pete was still pinned beneath Chad’s continued onslaught of punches about his head and chest. Throughout the chaos Chad had blocked out everything except his rage. After rushing Pete, he had landed a shoulder in Pete’s midsection, driving him hard into the ground. Achieving the high ground he took full advantage, assaulting Pete with both fist and venom. Pete had tried to cover his face with his hands and squirm away but Chad outweighed, outmuscled and outfought him.
Pete never saw this coming. He had been absolutely confident that Andy would save him. Andy was always there for him. How could this happen? Pain seared through his head as another blow connected with his jaw. He tasted his own blood as he tried to swallow and clear his throat for another gasp of breath.
Grabbing blindly at a couple of the guys who were still transfixed by the fight, Andy screamed “Help me break this up. He’s gonna kill Pete.” They knew Andy was right but they hesitated ever so slightly, knowing that they might pay later for crossing Chad. Several acquiesced because no one deserved what Pete was getting, even if he had been the moron who challenged Chad to begin with.
“Let go of me. I’m not done burying that jerk.” Chad struggled as he was pulled away from Pete’s bloodied body. Someone hollered that an ambulance was on the way and another voice announced that Coach was coming.
Andy collapsed to his knees next to Pete. His bloodied face had already started to swell and the blood was darkening and drying around the countless cuts. “Pete, you’re gonna be OK. Help is coming.” Tears were welling up in his eyes as he said words he knew he should say even if he wasn’t really sure if they were true. Pete looked really bad and Andy felt like even the weight of his stare would add to his agony.
Pete was barely breathing but managed to whisper “You were supposed to protect me.”
“I tried to stop you. And then there was …” but Pete gathered enough breath to spit out at Andy “I’ll never forgive you and I’ll never let you forget this” before succumbing to oblivion.
