Four leads us to the training room. There were rows of orange punching bags. Leaning on one of them was Eric, one of the Dauntless leaders.
"In the first round of initiation, you must pass in fighting," Four begins, "Today, you will learn how to fight and fighting techniques, and tomorrow, you will be fighting each other." Eric straightens his back so he wasn't leaning anymore and interrupts.
"The Dauntless born initiates have a better chance of passing initiation. It is best not to act arrogant. It may decrease your chance of making it through."
Four stands next to a punching bag. He first explains different punching techniques and demonstrates them by punching thin air, so everyone could see what he is doing. Then, he positions himself in front of a punching bag so that his knees were slightly bent and his feet slightly staggered, and he demonstrates punching the punching bag.
I start to catch on as the lessons go on. My fists and elbows are stinging from the continuous impacts against the punching bag, and no matter how hard I hit, the punching bag barely moves. Four wanders in the crowd of initiates. When he stops behind me, my heart starts racing. Four stares at me, analyzing my movements.
"You have room for improvement. You need to tighten up your core over here and bend your knees more," Four says to me, placing his hand softly on my stomach. I can feel the heat rushing up to my cheeks, so I quickly turn away.
"If it helps, try thinking about something that makes you angry," Four nods at me and moves on to the next initiate. I take his advice and straighten my posture and bend my knees. I think about how every Erudite report that puts Abnegation under fire, and I give a series of hard punches against the punching bag. However, this time, the bag does seem to sway a bit more.
After we're dismissed for dinner, Christina runs to catch up to me. She nudges me with her elbow.
"Those punching bags were heavier than I thought. I'm surprised Four didn't snap you into pieces," she says, "He's so scary."
I laugh then shrug, "I guess he is."
I wake up at 5:30 AM today, an hour and a half early. While everyone is sleeping, I quietly change into black training clothes and head down to the training room. Yesterday, Four said that we will be fighting today, so I want to be as prepared as possible. I approach the nearest punching bag and bend my knees as Four had told me. I don't know why I'm listening to his advice. It might be because I want to pass initiation.
"Wasting your energy right before your first fight?" I hear a voice say behind me. I swivel around and find myself facing Eric. During lessons, he is scary. Being alone with him is terrifying. He looks amused.
"What?" I ask in an annoyed tone. I immediately regret snapping at him, him being a Dauntless leader and all. However, he doesn't react to my rudeness.
"It's just surprising how someone originating from Abnegation is this determined to pass the first stage," he says, taking a step forward.
"I have no intention of being factionless," I retort. Eric rolls his eyes.
"Trust me, no one wants to be factionless," he says, "I do think you have potential, however. All you have to do is have someone train you."
"No, that would be cheating," I say. I want to earn my way to the top, not be trained by Eric.
"Unlike Four, I have the authority to take an initiate under my wing if I believe they'll show improvement," Eric says. I stare straight into his eyes. Surprisingly, I see no hint of evil, just genuineness. I look down at my feet. If I train under Eric, then I will surely improve, but people will start to suspect. But I really want to improve.
"All right, I'll do it," I say, looking back up at Eric. His eyes seem to light up, but he masks his surprise with a calm, casual expression.
"Meet here every morning at 5:30 AM sharp," he says, "Don't be even a second late." With that, he turns and leaves the training room. I wonder if he only came in to ask me to be his trainee. I shudder at the thought of Eric having special interest in me.
When I go back to the dormitory, some people are awake, including Christina and Will. They are sitting together on Christina's bed. I make my way over and smile when they look at me.
"Where were you?" Christina asks, "I heard you getting up this morning." I didn't want to tell Christina about my talk with Eric, so I just say, "I was just training in the training room." Christina nods and continues her previous conversation with Will. Not wanting to interrupt my best friend talking to her crush, I take a quick, cold shower and slip on a clean pair of training clothes and head out with the rest of the initiates.
We sat down at a table for breakfast, and Christina says, "I hope you didn't use too much energy while training. We're fighting today, and you need all the strength you have."
I bite down into a blueberry muffin and think about Eric. The way his eyes lit up confuses me. I don't understand why he would choose me to train out of everyone else who can probably improve faster and better than me. Considering he showed doubts about me passing initiation, I am cautious of his motives. However, I think I made a good choice accepting his offer.
When we meet in the training room, Four and Eric are waiting on the training mats for us. Behind them is a chalkboard with our names and opponents written on it.
"Listen up, initiates," Eric barks, "Over here, we have written down for you who you are fighting today. Since there is an odd number of initiates here, one of you will not be fighting."
"How long do we fight for?" Molly asks.
""Till one of you can't continue," Eric answers. There are a few murmurs.
"Or one of you concedes," Four cuts in. Eric shoots him a harsh look before speaking up again.
"According to the old rules. New rules, no one concedes."
Four glowers at Eric and mutters, "You're lucky those weren't the rules when we fought." I can see anger rising in Eric's eyes, but he compresses it and walks away.
First up is Al and Will. They start by crouching into a fighting stance, and then, they circle each other, waiting for one to strike first. Al decides to throw a punch at Will's eye. Will blocks Al and punches his stomach. Al doubles over but is immediately back into position again. He kicks Will on the side, knocking him down, and one final blow at Will puts him out cold. From my peripheral view, I can see Christina watching Will worriedly.
"Next fighters!" Eric yells, "Tris and Molly!"