"Excuse me?" I heard Beatrice, my best friend ask angrily a few feet away. A girl that was twice her size stood above her and I couldn't tell what she said but Bee gave her a good shove making the girl stumble. I tried to make my way over but in those short few seconds a crowd had formed. By the time I hit the centre of the circle Beatrice was on the ground and the other girl was punching her in the face, Bee was doing her best to block the hits but she had the disadvantage of being on the ground. Without thinking I grabbed the big girl by the hair and gave a massive yank dragging her off Beatrice and throwing her sideways. Before she gained her balance or recovered from the shock I tackled her as hard as I could to the ground and punched her in the jaw. My fist connected 4 times before I felt arms wrap around my torso and drag me off her.
"That's enough!" A voice barked angrily into my ear as I struggled to loosen the grip around me. I immediately became still but his grip didn't loosen as he walked me away from the girl.
When we were further away he loosened his grip and nearly threw me to the ground.
"What do you think you are doing?" The guy asked, he was covered in piercings and tattoos.
"I was protecting my friend." I snapped back angrily.
"It's not your job to protect your friend." He growled. "Your job is to fall in line and follow orders, do you understand me?"
I had a response on the tip of my tongue, something about how he hadn't actually given us any orders to follow yet but I bit it back and instead said bitterly, "Yes Sir."
He stormed off to check on the other girl while I went to check on Beatrice.
"You alright?" I asked, she had a split lip and a bleeding nose but she didn't look too bad considering.
"Had worse." She smiled in return, then winced when she felt her lip. "Thanks for jumping in though."
"What do you think I'm here for?" I smiled back. It was true. Me and Bee had been friends for years and she always had a habit of causing trouble. She had a smart mouth and a fiery temper but wasn't the best fighter, which luckily for her I was.
"And sorry about getting you into trouble."
"Don't sweat it, would've happened eventually anyway." I shrugged.
"Okay gather round." The guy with facial piercings spoke.
He had introduced himself as Eric, one of the dauntless leaders and explained to us that we now had to jump off this building into a deep, dark hole that appeared to be endless. He was asking for volunteers which I thought only an idiot would do.
For all we knew, it could've been a test for stupidity and the first jumper dying would be a lesson not to do stupid shit - you know, like jumping into a big, dark holes that appeared to be endless.
"You can't be serious." I grabbed Beatrice's arm as she made her way towards the ledge.
"Parks it'll be fine." She tried to smile reassuringly.
"Forget about it, you're not jumping and neither am I." I'd much rather watch someone else die from the jump.
"We don't have a choice."
"Yeah we do! Forcing us to do dangerous shit like this, it's not right."
"Parks tru-
"-Do we have a problem here?" I heard Eric, the trainer guy ask from behind.
"-Yes." I snapped
"-No" Bee spoke at the same time
"No. we. don't." Bee stated again more firmly giving me a 'do not argue with me' stare.
"Hurry up Initiate. I don't have all day." His voice was cold when he spoke. Great.
Beatrice was up on the ledge and over in a heartbeat. I held my breath and waited in horror for the sound of flesh hitting concrete or some kind of scream but I heard nothing. I released the breath I was holding and tried to calm my racing heart. Thank god she was alright.
Typical Bee. The first one to jump off. I can't decide whether I'm proud or pissed at her bravery.
Eric looked at me now. I guess that meant it was my turn? Fine. Taking a breath I took the leap of faith and felt myself hit netting. I felt arms come around me and pull me off as a voice asked my name.
"Chace." I responded dusting off the invisible dirt off my pants. I stood next to Beatrice (or Tris as she wanted to be known now.) and waited for the rest of the initiates to jump.
After everyone was standing together, four introduced himself as our instructor and began showing us around the compound. We both made friends quickly with the other transfers.
Hearing that the sleeping and bathroom arrangements were co-ed I froze. He couldn't be serious. I heard grumblings around me, apparently I wasn't the only one who disagreed. I felt Bee grab my arm and rub it reassuringly. "It'll be fine."
We were all told to undress and change into dauntless clothes. The girls looked sheepish as they quickly switched over their clothes trying not to reveal too much skin in the process; the guys on the other hand had no problem. Me? I sat there trying not to shake.
"Parks." Beatrice's voice knocked me out of my thoughts. She shoved some dauntless material in my hands, pushed me to the corner of the room and held a sheet from one of the beds in front of me so I was hidden from the rest of the room. I quickly got changed.
"Thanks." I smiled
"What do you think I'm here for?" She grinned back.
We made our way to the dining room where we found Will, Christina and Al sitting.
We sat with them and started piling food onto our plate. I shovelled some onto Bees' when she looked unsure of herself. I wasn't originally from Abnegation, so I knew about all the other foods and life styles and such.
"Have you never eaten a hamburger before?" Christina asked when she saw the look on Beatrice's face.
Will went into a long spiel about abnegation and their dietary needs.
"I can't believe you have to live like that." Christina shuddered. "No wonder you left."
"Like your faction can talk Candor." I snapped defensively. I might not originally be from Abnegation but their selfless virtues were the reason I was taken in by Margaret and Thomas Parker. I hated it when anyone put Abnegation down for the way they chose to live.
The table got awkwardly quiet after my outburst.
"Umm.." Christina cleared her throat. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be offensive." And because she was a Candor, I knew she was telling the truth.
"No it's fine, I might have over reacted." I apologised feeling a little guilty now.
"No you didn't, being Candor I just say what comes to my mouth when really I shoudn-"
"-I don't want you talking about your old factions." Four spoke from beside us. "You're Dauntless now." I frowned. What's up with him?
"Were you a transfer?" Bee asked.
"You're kidding right?" Four asked incredulously. "What makes you think you can talk to me?"
I kept my mouth shut but shared wide eyed looks with Will, the other transfer. It pissed me off that he would talk to Beatrice that way but I remained quiet not wanting to start anything.
"..Must be because you're so approachable." Bee responded her voice completely flat and calm. Her response made me laugh but because I was drinking I started choking as it went down. Bee hit my back as I tried to catch my breath.
"Four!" I heard a shout from behind us as I watched Eric approach our instructor. "Making new friends are we?"
"What do you want?" Four responded, the muscle in his jaw jumping.
"Max wants you upstairs man." Eric gave Fours shoulders a squeeze. Four shrugged him off and took off.
"What are you looking at Initiate?" Eric snapped at me. I didn't realise I had been staring at him. I looked away and kept my mouth shut.
"What's it to you?" Bee asked in response. Shit. I knew she was sticking up for me but I had the feeling she was also gonna get us both killed in the process. Eric did not seem like someone you wanted to fuck with.
"What's it to me?" He spoke softly moving closer to our table and bending his head so he stood right above Tris.
"Yeah what's it to you?" She repeated. "Parks can look at whoev-" She didn't get to finish her sentence as Eric lifted her up by the scruff of her shirt. Her feet dangled in mid-air. I went to stand but he was watching me, daring me to react. Great this was getting ridiculous. Bee and I jumping into each others problems when we felt the other was being wronged. Well it was too late now. In for a penny, in for a pound.
"Bee." I called and she quickly ducked her head to the left while I grabbed the cup next to me throwing water into Erics face. I knew Eric could beat me in a fight but I didn't plan on fighting him, just getting me and her out of there.
The distraction threw him for a bit as Beatrice twisted out of his hold. I grabbed her arm and tried to make a run for it but I felt a massive arm grab me around the torso. I twisted out of Erics grasp and quickly swung at him but he ducked. He grabbed my arm again so I punched with the other arm, I tried to hit him wherever I could but he was too fast. I was a good fighter, but I only fought on the streets, Eric had been trained. He moved fluidly and efficiently. It didn't take him long to get me on the ground. His hand was wrapped around my throat and he was squeezing it, tight enough for my air flow to be cut off. I tried to claw his fingers off me but he held strong. I was losing oxygen and getting dizzy, I knew I wouldn't last long. "What are you going to do now little girl?" He spat "Huh? You seriously thought you were strong enough to beat me?"
I could hear Beatrice pleading for him to get off me. She was trying to pull him off but she wasn't strong enough. A crowd had formed to watch but nobody interfered.
"You are nothing. Do you understand me? "
I nodded in response, it was the only thing I could do. He loosened his grip on my neck and I gasped for air, oxygen had never tasted so good. Coughing I sat up, Beatrice running up to me rub my back. I watched as Eric walked away.
"Well.." I took deep breaths and when he was out of earshot muttered, "At least we can mark Eric off the list of people we can pick fights with."
Beatrice laughed nodding her head. "Yeah cause that's all we were actually trying to find out."
I was already awake when Four came into our sleeping area. He had a metal rod and began hitting it against the railing.
"Get up." He barked. "I want everyone in the pit."
I didn't need to dress. I had already changed into my clothes while everyone else had slept. Having insomnia had its benefits. I waited for Tris to finish getting ready though before we both made our way out.
"Everyone gather round!" Eric called so we made our way to the ranking board. He showed us a board with the numbers 1 through 40 on it.
Four began his speech. "In your initiation there are 3 stages. The first stage is physical, you will push your body's till breaking point, master the method of combat. The next stage is mental, again breaking point. You will face your worse fears and have to conquer them.. or not. After the end of each training day you will be ranked." Four spoke. "To find out where you sit amongst your fellow initiates, both you and the dauntless born will be ranked together. The ranking systems also helps determine where you'll move onto from here. Whether it be leaderships, guarding the fence or stopping the factions from killing each other."
"You'll be doing hand to hand combat today. I'll take you through all the basic moves then everyone will pair up and practise."
The moves were easy enough to pick up.
I was paired with a girl named Monica. We sparred for a short time but I deliberately held back because I didn't want to accidentally hurt her. Monica seemed nice enough. We paused for a moment to catch our breaths so I had time to sit and watch Christina and Tris. They were lightly going through the moves but neither of them had any real fighting experience and I could tell Tris was nervous.
"First jumper!" I heard a voice shout. I didn't need to turn around to know who it was though. Eric. Just the sound of his voice made me nervous. "In the ring. Last jumper! Time to fight."
I suddenly got a lot more nervous. That meant Bee was paired up with Molly. Molly who was not only bigger then Bee but from what I'd observed from earlier today, was also a better fighter.
"How long do we go for?" I heard Molly ask.
"Till one of you can't continue."
"Or one of you concedes." Four interjected.
"No. Those were the old rules; new rules mean no one concedes." Eric retorted. I didn't hear Fours response but I didn't miss the scowl on Eric's face, realising I was staring again I quickly turned away. I was so not repeating yesterday's mistake.
Tris looked at me as she approached the mat. She looked terrified and I didn't blame her. I was terrified too.
You'll be okay. I mouthed silently to her. I just hoped I was right. She nodded but I could still see her shaking. I wanted so badly to do something but I knew I couldn't interrupt, after yesterday's fiasco, I was already on thin ice.
I watched the whole fight. I wanted to look away but I couldn't. I owed it to Beatrice to watch and at least find any weaknesses of Molly's in the process. I didn't realise I was shaking until I felt Al touch my arm.
"Hey are you alright?" He questioned concerned.
"I'm fine." I bit out. I was not fine. I was angry. So fucking angry. Years of protecting Beatrice and now I had to stand by and watch as she got beaten to a pulp? This was a fucking joke.
I watched her get punched and kicked, I watched her fall to the ground and I watched angrily as, after a nod of encouragement from Eric, Molly gave Tris a punch that was unnecessarily hard to the face and knocked her out cold.
"Great. Next up Peter and Jason." Eric smiled moving onto the next mat. The bastard was completely unfazed by Beatrice lying there unconscious. Scratch that, the bastard looked pleased with himself. This was just some sick twisted revenge for her mouthing off to him yesterday.
Angrily I shoved past the other initiates as I went to the mat to move Bee off to the side and at least somewhat out of view.
"Leave her." Eric's voice ordered from my right. He was standing by the other mat as Peter and Jason prepared for their fight.
I ignored him. Probably not the smartest idea but I didn't care. I put my arms underneath Tris and dragged her off, pulling her over to one of the benches where I was attempting to pick her up to slide her onto it.
"Here I'll do it." Four offered from behind me. I watched as he gently lifted Bee and rested her on the bench. I took my jacket off and put it over her to protect her from the draft that continuously flowed through this area. When I was satisfied that she was comfortable I turned around ready to walk back but was instead greeted to a chest and folded arms.
"Did you not hear me tell you to leave her?" He questioned his voice cold.
I looked down clenching my jaw. "I asked you a question initiate!"
"I did sir." My voice was quiet when I spoke.
"And what?" He asked grabbing my chin and forcing me to look at him. "You just decided the order was optional?"
"She's my best friend." I defended. "You expected me to just leave her there?"
"I expect you to follow orders. Nothing more, nothing less."
I gritted my teeth and said nothing in response. "Go join the others." He growled his command.
Anything to be away from you. I thought bitterly.
I watched a few more fights before my name was called.
"Chace, Janette, in the ring." I knew this match up would be no problem. Once the fight began I let her get in a few hits and let her shove me around a bit before taking control. I wanted to beat her in the fight, but I didn't want to humiliate her. When it seemed like she put on a good enough show so she wouldn't lose too many points with the listing, I made my move. I grabbed her arm mid swing, ducked under, twisted and elbowed her in the face before giving her a hard punch to the side of the head in the hopes it would knock her out. It did. Thank god. "Match goes to Chace." Eric spoke. I bent down to check that Janette was okay, I reached out to touch her head but Eric's voice interrupted me.
"Leave her Initiate." He commanded. "Don't make me tell you twice."
This time I did listen. I knew there was only so far I could push him.
"Okay gather round! " Eric called at the end of the training session. He indicated the board that now had all our names written on it.
"This is where you all place. If by the end of the second stage, your name is below the red line." He indicated to the lowest 10. "You will be cut."
"Cut? What do you mean cut?" Al asked.
"You won't be accepted here." Eric looked directly at Al and shrugged nonchalantly when he said "so you will be forced to live factionless."
"What?" Christina asked outraged. "That's ridiculous. Someone should have told us."
"Why? Would you have chosen differently? What? Out of fear? In which case you don't belong here. If you really are dauntless you won't mind that you might fail. You chose us. Now we get to choose you"
That was an unexpected turn of events. And also fucking wrong. I had already made friends with most of the transfers and I didn't want to see anyone leave. On second thoughts, I could do without Molly..
Surprisingly enough I was in the top 10, I thought for sure Eric would deduct points from me for my insubordinence. Tris however was below the line. I grabbed her hand and squeezed.
"I'm not going to make it." Tris shook her head later that night.
"We're all gonna make it." I replied automatically.
"I'm the worst here."
"Then you'll be most improved." Christina countered.
"You're Candor, you're not meant to lie."
"Tris." I spoke. "I am not gonna let you fail."
"How can you say that? I'm completely shit."
"We'll see how you go over the next few days." I responded, "And if you don't improve I will get your ass out of bed at 4 in the morning and train you myself."
