Beatrice's father glares at her in accusation, but her mother smiles. Caleb appears to be having an easy time with this, which she takes as a betrayal. Dauntless is the first to leave, running down the stairs in a wild frenzy, and their first task as initiates is to jump onto a moving train. Beatrice has a lot of trouble at first, but finally a Candor transfer reaches out to help her. She watches as a boy doesn't make it onto the train; he has already failed initiation, and is now factionless. The Candor girl introduces herself as Christina, and as they ride the train to Dauntless headquarters, Beatrice wonders how she didn't notice that Caleb was leaning towards Erudite all along.
The Dauntless initiates have to jump off the train onto a rooftop seven stores high. Missing the jump would mean falling to one's death. An Amity boy refuses to jump; he would rather be factionless than dead, but Beatrice disagrees. Christina and Beatrice jump hand in hand and make it; most of the others do, but a Dauntless-born girl falls to her death. Her sister has little time to mourn. Beatrice worries about surviving initiation.
A Dauntless leader named Max greets them and informs them that to enter the Dauntless compound, they must jump off the building. Everyone else is reluctant to go first, but Beatrice steps up and without thinking too much, jumps. A net catches her and a young man reaches out a hand to help her up. She notes his deep, dark blue eyes.
A Dauntless girl nearby remarks that she can't believe a Stiff was the first to jump, and then the young man asks her name - telling her to think about it, because she doesn't get to pick again. Finally she settles on "Tris". The man, known as Four, welcomes her to Dauntless.