"I call for June." The brown-haired girl looked already exhausted from the earlier practice. She climbed on the ring with difficulty and breathed hard while closing her eyes. She met Eric's stare and looked disgusted by him.
As the fight went on, much to Eric's surprise, June made a few good moves. He didn't remember her as such perseverant fighter. But that still wasn't enough compared to Mary, who seemed to have had fights since she was little. Almost ten long minutes later, June was lying down and holding her stomach while her eyebrow was bleeding profusely.
"Come on, get up now!" Eric shouted, not wanting to see June fail. "I'm sure you've witnessed worse than a stupid girls fight!" That was a phrase only she and he could understand. June looked up at Eric, half determined to get up, half disgusted by the fact that he had motivated her to do so. But Mary took advantage of the situation and kicked June in the stomach a few more times. A last punch in the face, and Mary won the fight. That hurt, but that was fair. The other initiatives understood that it was a real competition. None of them applauded Mary though, probably in respect to June. The agonizing girl could not make a move and when she started coughing blood, Eric felt thrills go down his spine. The last thing he was known for was showing concern except that he couldn't help it. But it was Four who intervened first. He took the girl in his arms and carried her to the hospital aisle. Meanwhile, Eric composed himself quickly in order not to draw attention and prepared the next fight.
All the initiates had been dismissed, most of them were glad to get some rest because of their injuries due to the fights. Four and Eric each made their own ranking of the initiates so that an average would be calculated. That was their last duty as trainers for the day. When they were finished, Four said goodbye to Eric, who obviously did not respond. Being civil to Four was too hard for Eric, since he got that second place after their initiation.
It was 6:30pm so Eric made his way to the pit to meet some friends. But as he crossed the different corridors, he passed by the one leading to the hospital aisle. Was it curiosity or concern that made him change his path? Either way, it was totally uncommon of him to check on someone after they had been injured. After all, everybody gets their ass kicked at some point.
He stood in the doorway without moving. Fortunately, no one was around to see him. June was asleep, certainly because of the drugs they gave her. He stepped into the room and grabbed her folder, hanging at the bottom of her bed. He did not understand all of the medical terms but from what he read, her stomach was not in good shape. He supposed that caused the bloody coughing. He stared at her bruised face one last time and was surprised to feel his heart skip a beat as he realized the bad state she was in. He then walked out of the room, not noticing that she had slightly opened her eyes.
At dinner, Four came to Eric's table.
"We need to talk about June's situation." Four said.
"What is there to talk about?" Eric feigned ignorance, chewing on a piece of beef.
"I've talked to the nurse who tells me that she needs three days of recovery. That is the fastest they can heal her, with the new drugs they administrated to her."
"So what?"
"Well, it's up to us to decide whether we eliminate her today, or if we delay the initiation."
Eric stopped eating. He hadn't even thought about eliminating her on her first day, as he would have with anyone else. If he decided to eliminate her now, she would become factionless.
"What do you think?" He asked Four, secretly hoping for a positive answer.
"I think we should give her a second chance. We don't know yet what she can do with more training."
Eric nodded in approbation, holding in a sigh of relief and Four left the room.
Three day went by, giving the initiates time to accommodate to their new environment as the initiation was delayed. It also gave time to Eric to realize that June was unwillingly messing up his emotional balance. Not wanting to feed his urge to see her, he decided not to go visit her again at the hospital wing. After all, she was just a girl he used to know. If he had to get tough on her to show himself she was nothing more, then he would.
When June entered the training area, everybody was already here.
"Don't you think we've already waited for you enough?" Eric asked sarcastically.
"I'm sorry, but it's not 8 yet."
"Those days in the hospital didn't make you lose your attitude." The tension was rising in the room. "You should be grateful that we're giving you a second chance not to become factionless. Besides, you should try to earn my respect as I am ranking you" He threatened as he knew she wouldn't have the guts to reply to that.
"Alright, today is the second day of initiation." Four went on, trying to ease the atmosphere despite the killing looks Eric and June were throwing at each other. "I'll go over the program then we can start. Today you will practice your shooting skills and your endurance. You are going to train outside through an obstacles race and shoot on targets. The first seven people to finish the race will be considered as winners and ranked depending on their place in the race. The last ones will be considered as losers. For each shoot you'll have to complete, you will have two bullets. If you fail, you must start the race from the beginning."
After the explanations, the group walked outside, led by Eric. The race was divided in three parts, with two shooting stages. The whole installation looked impressively huge.
"The fastest anyone has ever completed this race was 43 minutes and 20 seconds. This is nothing compared to what you may have to go through in reality." Eric warned. "Anyone who gives up will be eliminated". He looked straight in June's eyes, but did not see any fear as he expected.
Everyone got mentally prepared and went to the entrance of the race. The first obstacle was a ten meters high rope wall that led to a horizontal ladder where the initiates must hang and go forward using their arms.
When the signal was launched, everyone started climbing the rope wall as fast as possible. And as the minutes passed, one little figure started making its way faster than the other ones. Eric could not believe it, June was the fastest. She had a great balance and her moves were quick and precise. With a bit more training, she could become a real competitor in this activity. Four looked at Eric with the same astonished look, not expecting such a performance from a girl who had just spent three days in the hospital. A boy from abnegation named Evan was second in the race but his tall figure didn't let him catch up on June. Minutes after minutes, despite her increasing tiredness, she managed to remain first and outdistance her adversaries. Surprisingly, she did not miss any of her two targets and Eric wondered how she became so good with a gun. The last initiate was clearly not feeling at ease with this kind of training. Her name was Ashley and she came from Erudite. She wasn't slow but she missed her target every single time and kept on restarting the race from the beginning. After fifty minutes and thirty-two seconds, June crossed the ending line of the race, heavily panting. As Four announced her time, a small hint of pride showed on her face. Eric couldn't help feeling quite proud as well. He walked up to her as she sat against a tree and crouched down to face her.
"Where did you learn to shoot so accurately?" He asked her curiously.
"That's none of your business." She replied right away. "Leave me alone, I'm pretty sure you know how to do that." She spat at him with so much hate, it gave him chills.
He was rarely lost for words but at that moment, the only thing he could do was to obey and walk away.
Thanks to those who read my first chapter! I hope you will enjoy the rest ;)
