"The first thing you will learn today is how to shoot a gun, the second, how to win a fight." Tobias walks past us, giving each person a gun. It is cold, and heavier than I thought it would be when it drops into my hand.
"Thankfully, if you're here, you already know how to get on and off a moving train, so I don't need to teach you that." He pauses. "Initiation is divided into three stages, We will measure your progress and rank you according to your progress in each stage. The stages are not weighed equally in determining your final rank, so it's possible, though difficult, to improve your rank over time. We believe that preparation eradicates cowardice." Tobias continues, "Therefore each stage of initiation is intended to prepare you in a different way. The first stage is primarily mental; the second, primarily emotional; the third, primarily mental."
"But what…" Peter yawns, he hasn't fully woken himself yet, like many of the other initiates. "What does firing a gun have to do with… bravery?" Tobias presses his gun to Peter's forehead, clicking a bullet into place. Peter freezes, mid yawn.
"Wake. Up." Tobias growls, pausing between each word. "You are holding a loaded gun, act like it." He lowers the gun to down by his side and Peter stays surprisingly silent, his cheeks glow red.
"And, to answer your question… You are far less likely to soil your pants and cry for your mother if you're prepared to defend yourself." He then shows us how to hold and fire a gun. I hold out my gun, matching Tobias' previous position. I aim for my plywood target and tentatively squeeze the gun's trigger, the loud bang makes my ears ache, the recoil sends me stumbling backward. The bullet doesn't hit the target, as I expected. I fire again, the bullet lands at the furthest edge of the target. After several tries I manage to hit pretty close to the bullseye. Tris fires again and again but can't manage to hit the target let alone the center.
"Statistically speaking," A boy next to Tris says, "You should've hit the target at least once by now, even by accident." I hear the leftovers of an Erudite I-know-a-lot-of-stuff edge in his voice, his name is Will. I giggle behind my hand.
"Is that so?" Tris asks him.
"Yeah." He says, smiling at me, "I think you're actually defying nature." Tris glares at the bullet holes in my target, barely clustered by the center. The next time she shoots, she hits the edge of her target, She raises an eyebrow at Will
"So you see, I'm right. The stats don't lie." The corners of Tris' mouth turn up in a smile. We all go back to shooting. I hit the target dead center.
"Good job, sis." That's not Tobias. I feel a hot breath on my ear I press my gun to his chest instinctively.
"Woah, watch where you're pointing that thing." Eric says, using one finger to push my gun away from his heart. I try to resist cowering as I glance around for Tobias. Where is he?
"Oh, your intimidating big brother isn't around to clench his jaw intimidatingly at me this time." Oh god, he's gonna hurt me, I try to keep calm.
"How," I start "How do you know…"
"He was in my initiate class, I know his old faction and his last name, I'm not stupid Stiff." He snaps at me. I want to flinch at the sudden intensity of his voice, but I know that will show weakness. He moves closer to me,
"So, Eaton, since that big bad brother of yours isn't around, it would be real easy to just…" He pulls back his fist and throws it toward my face. I close my eyes and wait for the impact, but it never comes. I open my eyes, a hand is wrapped around Eric's fist, blocking it from hitting me. I turn,
"Peter," I breathe. He looks into my eyes, there is no mischevious smile curling his lips. I open my mouth to say something to him, but he looks over Eric's shoulder, then turns and rushes back to his spot. By this time we've caught the attention of Tris and Will, thankfully, Eric was talking quietly enough about Tobias being my brother for them not to hear.
"Mind if I talk to you Eric?" Tobias asks, his quiet angry is clear in his voice. He grabs Eric's arm and drags him out of the room. When the pair comes back, Eric has a glowing red mark on his cheek. Tobias punched him?
After lunch Tobias takes us to a new room, there is a chalkboard on one wall, on it, are all of our names, in alphabetical order. On the other side of the room, faded black punching bags hang in a line about three feet from one another. He leads us over to the punching bags, each person is stationed at one. Tobias shows us each type of punch and how to do it then sets us loose on the punching bags. We attack the bags, Tris and I (standing next to each other) both have trouble getting our punching bags to budge. Tobias sidles up to Tris. I pause to fix my ponytail so I can listen to their conversation, instead of focusing on my punching.
"You don't have much muscle," He tells her, "which means you're better off using your knees and elbows. You can put more power behind them." I smile as he presses his hand to her stomach, he reaches almost all the way across her abdomen.
"Never forget to keep tension here." He says quietly, he lifts his hand and moves on. He's gonna have to tell me about this later. When I get back to fighting I do all the things he told her to do, since Tris and I have a similar issue. I grin at my bag, which I will soon beat the hell out of. My brother has a crush. I have so much to talk to him about, but we have to be all secret or he'll be accused of favoritism. I still can't manage to make an impact so Tobias comes up to me.
"Here, try these." He says, handing my two wooden sticks that are about a foot long each and have a series of grooves near one end, where I guess I'm supposed to hold them. I stare at them and then look up at him in confusion. "They're called nightsticks. Here," He takes them from me and shows me a couple techniques, then hands them back. I copy his moves the best I can.
"Wow." He says. "You're pretty good at that, but keep working on hand to hand." He nods to me and walks away. I work with them for a bit longer and find that I quite like having them in my hands.
When Tobias lets us go for dinner, Christina comes up to us.
"I'm surprised he didn't break you in half." She says to Tris. "He scares the hell out of me, it's that quiet voice he uses." I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from smiling, I'd always liked that he never yelled.
"Creeps me out too." I lie, I realise fitting in will be an issue when everyone else is so frightened by Tobias.
"Yeah. He's…" Tris looks over her shoulder at Tobias. "... definitely intimidating." She finishes. Al, who we sat with during lunch, turns to us and says.
"I want to get a tattoo."
"A tattoo of what?" Will questions from behind me.
"I don't know." Al chuckles. "I just want to feel like I've actually left my old faction. Stop crying about it." When nobody says anything, he adds, "I know you've heard me." He's right, I can hear him, it always makes me feel uncomfortable, like I should do something to help.
"Yeah, learn to quiet down will you?" Christina pokes his shoulder. "You're right." She says.
"Let's get tattoos."
We all head to the tattoo parlor. I am surprised when I see my testing volunteer there, she is one of two tattoo artists. We look through the book of drawings we could get. I read one that I instantly fall in love with, it reads, "You can CHAIN ME, You can TORTURE ME, You can even DESTROY THIS BODY, But you will NEVER imprison this mind -M.G" I'm not sure what "M.G" means but it's small enough in the drawing that it won't ruin the tattoo. I bring the picture to the woman who tested me.
"I want this one please." She nods and leads me over to a chair.
"Where?" She asks.
"On the back of my neck." I say.
"It's pretty big so if you put it there, it'll go down your back some." She says. "Is that okay?" She asks. I nod.
"I never got your name." I say as she does my tattoo, it hurts, a lot, but I know pain.
"Tori." She says.
"You know what Joey, we should Dauntless-ify you." Christina says after we all get tattoos, Tris got three birds on her collarbone and Christina got a design on her arm. "Care to join, Tris? We'll get you piercings everywhere and dye your hair and get another tattoo." Christina says.
"I'm not doing it but I would love to watch." Tris giggles.
"Okay, slow down Christina." I laugh. "I'm willing to maybe get another tattoo, but the rest, no."
"Oh come on!" She begs. "You'll eventually grow out the dye, and you can take out a stud or ring whenever you want."
"Come on Joey, be a little Dauntless!" I hear Uriah behind me. Marlene laughs and takes his arm. I think about my name, it only reminds me of my past. I crinkle my nose.
"Would you guys be willing to not call me Joey?" I ask.
"What should we call you then?" Al questions. I shrug.
"I don't know, my name is just a reminder of my past, you know?" I ask. They all nod in agreement.
"Ooh!" Christina says. "We should call you Sticks." She says.
"Why?" I ask.
"'Cus you were using those stick things." She says, mimicking the movements I used with the nightsticks.
"Four said they were called nightsticks." I say.
"Whatever. It's a cool nickname." She shrugs. "So Sticks, Dauntless-ify?" She grins.
"Fine." I say. "What's first?"
I walk out of the tattoo parlor for a second time today.
"That was awesome!" Marlene giggles. "Tris next!"
"No no no." Tris says. My hair has dark teal streaks in it, I have a black ring through my left nostril, and a tattoo on my wrist of the word 'eleutheromania'. We spent all evening "Dauntless-ifying" me.
"I'm exhausted." I say. Christina also made me put on a shirt that cuts low down my back, showing off my first tattoo.
"Let's go show you off to some cute boys and laugh at your attempts at flirting." Marlene says. Oh, dear.
We walk by the dormitory, Marlene dragging me by my wrist. I see Peter sitting on his bed there.
"I think I'm gonna go to bed." I say.
"Okay." Marlene says. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"Hi." I say. Peter practically jumps out of his skin.
"Hey Stiff," He says, "You look… different."
"Yeah." I say. "Christina 'Dauntless-ified' me." I laugh.
"C-Can I see your tattoos?" He asks. I sit down next to him, turning away to show him the one on my back. I feel his finger graze my neck, sending a shiver through me. I turn back to him and show the one on my wrist, still red and stinging as I pull away the bandage.
"What does it mean?" He says awkwardly.
"An intense and irresistible desire for freedom." I answer, Will suggested the word when I was trying to decide what tattoo to get.
"Cool." Peter says.
"Umm, thanks for stopping Eric." I mumble.
"What?" He asks. "Oh, yeah, sure." He shrugs. Suddenly Tris walks in, I can see the surprise on her face.
"I'll talk to you later." I mumble to Peter.
Please note that a lot of the dialogue (especially in this chapter) in this story was first written by and therefore belongs to Veronica Roth.
Thanks for the ship name novellamal04, Jeeter should have some cute parts around chapter 10. I can't tell you guys how thankful I am for your reviews, you're all so sweet! Thanks again for reading and reviewing.
