Target Practice

I want to do extended sketches of scenes that I find interesting throughout the Divergent series. I will cite the location in the book whenever I can. Please review after reading. I find your feedback to be very motivating and helpful.

This sketch takes place in book one of the Divergent Series, at the end of chapter 13, right after the scene where Tris steps in for Al during Target practice. This event occurs before Visiting Day.

Tris shuffles in behind Christina into the training room. The targets were still set up. Eric watched her enter. Ever since her outcry in targeting class she started to feel his scrutiny on her. Christina looked over and tilted her head in Eric's direction. Worse part was she couldn't even pretend that it was just her imagination because she wasn't the only one who noticed.

"Hey Tris, I think he's watching you again. You really peeved him off when you helped Al. Man, I think you really do have a death wish."

Fear chafes against Tris's skin as her peripheral vision catches Eric glancing her way as if hearing Christina's last comment. Was he walking over?

"Let's see you hit the target, Initiate"

Tris felt Eric's presence as an ice cold glacier barreling towards her. Her hands were sweaty, but she dared not wipe them on her pants with Eric watching so closely. She closed her eyes and tried to breathe normal. 'Just concentrate, Tris,' she told herself. They'd been undergoing target practice every other day for the past week. Her aim was much improved but there was still the occasional misses.

Trusting her gut she let the knife fly.

"Everyone stop!" Eric yelled.

Eric walked over to Tris's target and dislodged the knife from the center of the target's chest. She reads the expression on Eric's face as one of jubilation. Her elation for hitting the target turns to dread.

"I want you all to gather around. This initiate will could show you a thing or two. Do we have any volunteers?"

Her fingernails dig into her palms. Four was looking at her, his jaw tightening as if holding back words. He was not going to speak against Eric on this. She didn't expect him to. She wasn't able to control her impulsiveness even when Four warned her and now Eric's attention was her punishment.

The crowd of initiates looked at one another and then at Eric.

"Not a single volunteer in the bunch of you? What do you take that to mean, Tris? Does your fellow Initiates not believe that you possess the control and accuracy to leave them unharmed? I think it's about time you showed them what you can do. You've shown no fear when you were the target, but will you be dauntless when it is your hand that is throwing the knives?"

"Four, since none of the initiates are showing any sort of backbone, maybe you can help us out again with this demonstration."

Four looks indifferent as he stands in front of the target. But his eyes bore into Tris's as she stands before him, knives in hand.

"We don't have all day, Initiate," Eric says. His arms are crossed and there is almost a pleased smile on his face."

Eric's hint of a smile fades as her first throw goes wide, too far to the right. The knife lodges in the wall a foot and a half away from Four.

"Eric, are you sure the Stiff can even hit a target?" Four asks nonchalantly.

Her next throw cuts off Eric's reply and more than knicks Four's shoulder. He winces with the sudden impact of the knife as it cuts through skin and muscle.

The other initiates recoil back, as if her next throw was going to hit one of them.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry!" Tris cries out.

"Continue, Stiff, and let's hope that in battle you don't accidently shoot your team with friendly fire," Four grunts out.

Her last throw hits a foot away from his left ankle.

Once her last knife is thrown, Eric walks to Four and dislodges all the knives, including the one through Four's shoulder. Blood was now dripping down Four's arm.

Four walks away and grabs a gauze pad from one of the tables on the side of the room. He applies pressure to the shoulder as Eric continues over to Tris.

"Initiates, your fellow initiate still has more practicing to do, but you would be wise to set her bravery here as your example. How many of you can continue after injuring a fellow Dauntless?"

Tris grimaced, her eyes on Four as he dressed his wound.

She suddenly felt Eric's palm on the small of her back as he propels her back to the other initiates. A shiver runs down her spine. She does not glance at Eric as she joins the rest of the group. Eric's eyes follow her as she goes.

Four writes Molly's name next to Tris's. He's surprised when he sees Tris front and center by the ring. He'd always noticed her in the back standing and watching with Will, Al, and Christina. Today she stands up front alone.

Eric monitors the initiates progress from the back of the training room. The first fight is between Christina and Al. He knows the fat lug Al was going to choke and lose to Christina. He was only here to see Peter's progress and watch the fight between him and Edward. 'What was the Stiff doing so close to the ring', he wonders as he catches sight of Tris.

As expected Al is a whimpering mess on the floor after just two blows to the face and ribs from Christina. Eric shakes his head. He wasn't going to waste his time with Al. He'd recognized the truth in the Stiff's words when she called him a bully. But in that same breadth she'd called Al weak. Bully's only terrorized the weak. There was no longer a point to do so when the rest of the initiates already recognized Al as not being one of their equals.

Four watches the initiate Al fall. The boy hadn't chosen the right faction. He was soft and Dauntless had no room for him. Only the strong could survive under the guidance of the new leaders of Dauntless. He remembered that a factionless man had once referred to the factions as being suffocating. If that was true then Al was drowning. It could be that he'd been in Dauntless for too long, because he felt no sympathy for Al laying on the ground. The boy could have easily defended against Christina, but he'd chosen the defensive. Everyone had a choice to make and he'd made his. He noticed that Tris did not turn from the scene either.

Peter and Edward circle around each other.

Eric was not impressed. Peter was slower and dumber than Edward and it was just so obvious. He'd thought the boy reminded him of himself but it was now clear that Peter would always be just a tool. Peter wasn't grasping the finer points of strategy. It wasn't that long before the second fight was over.

Before Four even had to call the next two combatants to the ring he saw Tris jump in.

Her eyes were bright like two sapphires as she watched Molly as a tiger would its prey. Even the initiates felt the change in energy thrown off by Tris as she circled Molly. The crowd was hushed. Eric and Four watched, both giving Tris Prior his complete attention. Tris was moving differently. She was cautious then less cautious and offensive and suddenly she had Molly on the ground and she was kicking her and kicking her.

Four jumped in before he even registered what he was doing. He was pulling her away from the bleeding Molly. Tris's eyes were glassy, as she glared down at her enemy. "You won, I think you should leave."

She says that she's fine but he just saw a side of her that he'd never seen. She could be ruthless.

As the initiates file out of the room, some saw that Eric was standing unmoving in the back of the room.

He'd seen her. He'd really looked at her for what felt like the first time. She was amazing, eyes glowing, pony tail whipping through the air with each attack. A cunning girl, methodically countering each strike against her. She wasn't afraid of the bigger girl. Eric felt his heart rate speed up as he watched her. Four stepped in after the Stiff had Molly bleeding on the mat. He could've liked Four but whenever Four gets a chance to go against him, Four takes it. But he noticed that Four just left the initiate Molly laying on the floor as he escorted Tris to the door. Four had never left another initiate just bleeding by themselves on the floor.

Eric's fingers leave marks on his arm as he watches Four take Tris's arm and guides her through the door.