1.
) In twenty campaigns, on a hundred battlefields, around a thousand campfires, I have witnessed that enduring fortitude, that patriotic self-abnegation and that invincible determination which have carved his statue in the hearts of his people
2.
My odds, as the smallest initiate, as the only Abnegation transfer, are not good
3.
Everyone else changed into the clothes the Dauntless provided for us, but I sleep in my Abnegation clothes, which still smell like soap and fresh air, like home
4.
Candor and Abnegation don’t hate each other the way Erudite and Abnegation do, but they avoid each other
5.
“Your Abnegation is showing,” says Christina
6.
“Abnegation is a strange faction, I have to tell you
7.
Abnegation sees art as impractical, and its appreciation as time that could be spent serving others, so though I have seen works of art in textbooks, I have never been in a decorated room before
8.
I thought he was reassuring her, because that’s what selfless people do, but now I wonder if he was repeating something he had studied; if all his Abnegation tendencies were just Erudite traits in disguise
9.
In less than a week, the Abnegation initiates will be able to visit their families for the first time since the Choosing Ceremony
10.
It’s one of the many things Erudite gives as evidence of Abnegation’s incompetence
11.
Who else transferred? Did Susan? Are there any Abnegation initiates this year? If Abnegation is fizzling, it’s our fault—Robert’s and Caleb’s and mine
12.
“I wish I could,” she says, “but the Erudite have prohibited Abnegation visitors from entering their compound
13.
“I don’t make a habit of associating with the Abnegation
14.
Of course she isn’t curious—she’s Abnegation
15.
I should tell her that my result was Abnegation, because that’s what Tori recorded in the system
16.
Tori reported my result as Abnegation, so that is what is in the system
17.
“He was here asking for opinions about the Abnegation leadership, and Christina told him there were more important things for him to be doing
18.
“The mass exodus of the children of Abnegation leaders cannot be ignored or attributed to coincidence,” he reads
19.
“The recent transfer of Beatrice and Caleb Prior, the children of Andrew Prior, calls into question the soundness of Abnegation’s values and teachings
20.
They just want more say, that’s all, and they resent Abnegation for refusing to listen to them
21.
I undo the buttons of my gray Abnegation shirt, exposing my arms, revealing more of my body than anyone else has ever seen
22.
“So now we all know,” says Four, quietly, “that you are afraid of a short, skinny girl from Abnegation
23.
In Abnegation no one has committed suicide in recent memory, but the faction’s stance on it is clear: Suicide, to them, is an act of selfishness
24.
“This would never have happened in Abnegation!” I almost shout
25.
“Because you’re from Abnegation,” he says, “and it’s when you’re acting selflessly that you are at your bravest
26.
“You’re acting how they want you to now,” he says, “but what happens when your Abnegation-wired brain tells you to do something else, something they don’t want?”
27.
“I just think that comfort and prosperity are not a priority for Abnegation, and maybe they would be if the other factions were involved in our decision making
28.
And he wears the gray clothes of the Abnegation
29.
And technically, I also got an Abnegation result—according to the system
30.
I could belong in Abnegation just as easily
31.
Abnegation uses it to describe self-indulgence
32.
“The Erudite don’t let the Abnegation into their compound anymore
33.
Abnegation prepared me for that aspect of Dauntless life
34.
The Abnegation aren’t manipulative, but they aren’t forthright, either
35.
“All those reports are supposed to stir up dissension against Abnegation,” he says, his eyes focused on the city beyond the train car
36.
I HAVE ATTENDED Abnegation’s initiation ceremony every year except this one
37.
One of the older members reads the Abnegation manifesto, which is a short paragraph about forgetting the self and the dangers of self-involvement
38.
Abnegation is what I am
39.
I smooth my shirt down, and when I look up, I stand in my bedroom in the Abnegation sector of the city
40.
His eyes roam over the symbol of Abnegation, and he smiles
41.
I can’t wage war against Abnegation, against my family
42.
I will pretend long enough to get to the Abnegation sector of the city
43.
All the Abnegation will die if this continues
44.
Some adult members of Abnegation are herded toward one of the nearby buildings, along with the Abnegation children
45.
The only people I do not see are the Abnegation leaders
46.
“My theory is that you really do belong in Abnegation
47.
“Why are most of the Divergent weak-willed, God-fearing nobodies from Abnegation, of all factions?”
48.
Abnegation stood in the way of her desire for power, so she found a way to eliminate it
49.
I sat next to her at the kitchen table, twice a day, for sixteen years, and never once did I consider the possibility that she could have been anything but Abnegation-born
50.
The room goes quiet, probably as all the Abnegation imagine themselves in the place of the Dauntless soldiers, and that’s when it occurs to me
51.
The Abnegation will stop dying
52.
ERUDITE AND DAUNTLESS forces are concentrated in the Abnegation sector of the city, so as long as we run away from the Abnegation sector, we are less likely to encounter difficulty
53.
Every minute that I waste staring at Peter, thinking about how he haunts my nightmares and the damage he did to me, another dozen Abnegation members die at the hands of the brain-dead Dauntless army
54.
“That every second I waste means another Abnegation dead and another Dauntless made into a murderer? I’ve realized that
55.
But what I said to my father before was right—for every second that I waste, another Abnegation member dies
56.
The streets in the Abnegation sector, now crawling with Dauntless soldiers
57.
I scan the screens, one by one, looking for one that shows the Abnegation sector of the city
58.
Instead of embracing him, she just touches his shoulders, like she remembers the Abnegation’s distaste for casual physical contact
59.
She is referring to the group of Abnegation who were with my father and Marcus in the safe house
60.
Johanna takes us to the cafeteria, where we find some of the Abnegation who were in the safe house with Caleb and my father
61.
One of the Abnegation puts a cup of steaming liquid under my nose and says, “Drink this
62.
I was about to rattle off a few more holidays, but only the Abnegation celebrate them
63.
I search her face for a sign of what she has lost—her father, an Abnegation leader, didn’t survive the attack—but I see only the placid determination characteristic of my old faction
64.
And she doesn’t ask about my shoulder, how I was shot, what happened when I left the Abnegation safe house to stop the simulation
65.
I get the sense that if I were to whittle her down to her core, she would be Abnegation all the way through
66.
The Abnegation sit in tight rows a few yards to my left
67.
“But we have also had a strong relationship with Abnegation in the past, and we do not think it is right to revoke the hand of friendship when it has for so long been extended
68.
I thought Jeanine attacked the Abnegation to seize power, but she attacked them to steal information—information only they knew
69.
I have to find out what could possibly be important enough for the Abnegation to die for—and the Erudite to kill for
70.
“I think there probably is some information the Abnegation knew that Jeanine wanted to know, but I think he’s exaggerating its importance
71.
Before he can go on, the cafeteria doors open, and a group of Abnegation come in
72.
“The other Abnegation and myself have discussed it and decided that we should not stay here
73.
Why does Marcus want to return to the city? Is it really just an Abnegation decision, or does he intend to do something there—something that has to do with whatever information the Abnegation have?
74.
He gets up and sits at the other end of the table with the rest of the Abnegation
75.
“I heard you talking to Johanna about what motivated Jeanine’s attack on Abnegation
76.
“I’m sure if it had been Candor and not Abnegation that got attacked, you would have just let your family get shot between the eyes without protest
77.
I strain toward him and try to ignore the stunned faces of the Amity and the Abnegation—and Tobias—around me, and the woman kneels next to Peter, whispering words in a soothing tone of voice
78.
Not hushed, like the Abnegation speak, always treading holy ground and trying not to disturb
79.
By now, the Abnegation at the other end of the table are paying attention
80.
” I scan the crowd of Abnegation
81.
The door is open, and through it I see Tobias stuffing Abnegation clothes into the trash bin
82.
We join the crowd of Abnegation-turned-Amity
83.
The woman touches one Abnegation child on the shoulder and whispers something to him, and a few seconds later a small group of children run down the hallway, dodging Amity feet and yelling, “I touched you! You’re it!” “No, that was my sleeve!”
84.
The rest of the Abnegation spread throughout the room, and Caleb and Peter are a few seats down from me
85.
he did not cut his hair like the Abnegation
86.
All at once, the Abnegation rise from their places under tables and benches, and start toward the door
87.
He wears tattered clothes in different colors—a black T-shirt with a torn Abnegation jacket over it, blue jeans mended with red thread, brown boots
88.
And now she stands in front of me, her eyes colder than the eyes of any Abnegation woman I’ve ever seen
89.
“So you were all Abnegation, huh?” He shovels several noodles and a piece of carrot into his mouth, and passes the can to the woman on his left
90.
“Caleb and Susan are still Abnegation
91.
What’s left of Abnegation is with us
92.
“Before the simulation attack, part of the Abnegation aid effort involved testing the factionless for a certain genetic anomaly,” she says
93.
“Fair enough,” he says, “but why were the Abnegation so concerned with finding the Divergent? It wasn’t to help Jeanine, was it?”
94.
The Abnegation were reluctant to provide information that only serves to relieve curiosity
95.
Therese told me there is a large group of Abnegation refugees in one of the factionless safe houses,” says Susan as I lather soap into my hair
96.
The Abnegation are modest to the point of discomfort
97.
“I was Erudite before I was Abnegation
98.
So am I—the Abnegation don’t hold grudges
99.
When I was in Abnegation and wasn’t allowed to look into mirrors, I used to think that a lot could change in a person’s appearance in three months
100.
“My allegiance lies with anyone who does not support the attack on Abnegation,” he says
