Tris and Eric woke up the next day and moved silently through the apartment. He could tell that she was nervous about her course. He made her some eggs, toast and coffee and made sure she ate it all. She took a shower and put on her outfit used in combat. She put her hair up into a tight ponytail and looked at herself in the mirror. Eric came up behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders.
"You will do great. Remember why we trained so hard, just because your timed is no reason to be sloppy. Don't forget to breath and steady yourself," he said to her. "Ready?"
She turned around in his arms and put her head to his chest and wrapped him in a hug. He leaned down and kissed her hair and squeezed her tight.
"I'm ready. Thank you Eric," she looked up and smiled at him. He leaned and put a sweet soft kiss to her lips.
They made their way hand in hand to the Pit and she could hear all the commotion. She had never heard the entire faction gathered together in one place before. They rounded the corner and she stopped for a moment to take a deep breath. Eric faced her and nodded. The broke their hands apart and Eric opened the door the Pit for her while she walked through standing tall, shoulders back. Eric took his place beside her and walked with his hands behind his back. The moment they entered the Pit she heard the cheers and the fists pounding on the tables. Eric lead the way through the middle of the tables and she caught sight of her friends who were on their feet shouting for her. Eric stopped in the middle of the Pit and looked up to the podium carved into the rock. Max, Harrison and Bernie were standing there and Max called for silence. She noticed then that there were large screens covering the walls in different spots.
"Dauntless members, we are here to witness Tris Prior come one step closer to assuming a Leadership position. Already she has proven herself to be brave, cunning and loyal and today she will prove that she has a skill and mastery of weapons used in combat," he stopped and the crowd cheered. "Tris, I am now going to give you instructions for the course. Eric will accompany you by train to the location. There are five tasks to complete. At the beginning of each task you will find a weapon and instructions for the task at hand. Your time will start the moment you jump from the train. Aim straight and good luck," Max finished.
Eric put his hand on the small of her back and started to lead her through the once again screaming crowd and out the door to main entrance. Once the Pit door closed behind them she let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding.
"Breathe," Eric reminded her. "The cameras are set up on the train and will follow you through the course. You are going to do great. When we get on the train try and relax. The building you will enter will be clearly marked for you to see in time to make the jump."
She nodded at him and they made their way to the tracks. Once they were aboard the train she took deep breaths and remember to steady herself. You've practiced with these weapons a hundred times and Eric knows you'll do well, she told herself. She made her way to open car door and looked back and gave him a smile and wink. He chuckled behind her. When she looked out she saw a curve ahead and spotted a rooftop with the Dauntless logo painted to it. She took a few steps and another deep breath while shaking the nerves out of her hands. The bend came she before she could think about it she was jumping. Her feet landed on the roof and she stumbled a little but righted herself quickly. Her time had begun so she searched the rooftop and saw a sniper rifle set up on a ledge. She ran over and picked up card that laid there.
TASK ONE-USE WEAPON TO TAKE OUT TARGETS LOCATED BELOW. TOTAL OF 5. FOLLOW EXIT SIGN TO NEXT TASK.
She quickly picked up the gun the positioned it on the ledge of the roof, she then brought her eye to the scope and began to scan the street below. She quickly spotted and nailed four of the five and had to spend a few moments searching for the fifth target. When she found it hid between a set of dumpsters, the only part visible was the right shoulder and ribcage. She hit where the right lung would be located. She placed the gun down and located the exit sign and sprinted to the door and found herself in a stairwell and quickly made her way down to the next floor. She spotted a table that held twelve knives of all different sizes. She placed all the knives into the spots on her vest and picked up the card.
TASK TWO-USE WEAPONS TO HIT ALL TARGETS THAT POP UP. TARGETS WILL ONLY STAY STATIONARY FOR 7 SECONDS AND WILL APPEAR AT RANDOM. TOTAL OF 10 TARGETS. ENTER HALLYWAY. FOLLOW STAIRS TO NEXT TASK.
Tris opened the stairwell door and stepped into the hallway. It was a long corridor that had doors on each side. She took four knives in her hand and took a deep breath. The first target popped through the door in the middle of hall and she let her first knife sail and sunk deep into the bullseye. She quickly readied herself with another knife. She targets appeared and she nailed everyone and quickly made her way back to the stairs and headed down. At the next level there was an assault rifle leaned up against the wall. The flung the strap across herself and read the next card.
TASK THREE-USE WEAPON TO CLEAR THE APARTMENT ACROSS THE HALL. 3 SUSPECTS. FOLLOW STAIRS TO NEXT TASK.
She entered the hallway and took a deep breath. She opened the apartment and swung the door with force in case there was a target hidden behind it. The room she entered had a couch, chair and large bookcase. The kitchen was off the right and a closed door to her left. She made her way to the center of the room and scanned and noticed by the bookcase the tip of rifle pointed towards her. She threw herself into a roll as the gun went off and a paint ball splattered against the wall. She aimed and struck the target and quickly got up from the floor. She looked towards the hallway and held her rifle in position. There was a closed door on the right and light spilled through the door on the left. She entered the open door and the room held a bed and had a closet. She started to make her way to the closet when she heard paint splatter the doorframe where she had just been standing. The turned quickly and shot the target twice. She went back to the door frame and saw the closed door across from her. She made a last minute decision and kneeled on the floor before opening the door to reveal a bathroom with a shower curtain drawn closed. Again she could see the tip of a rifle sticking out through the curtain and before the paintballs could be sent she shot through the curtain twice and heard the target fall. She stood and ran back through the apartment setting the gun down against the wall and made her way down the stairs. She spotted a card and no weapons.
TASK FOUR-ENTER ROOM, ASSEMBLE WEAPON AND LOAD THE CLIPS. UPON ENTERING THE ROOM YOU WILL HAVE 1 MINUTE 45 SECONDS BEFORE THE TARGETS BEGIN TO MOVE. HIT EACH BULLSEYE ON TARGETS TO MOVE ON. TOTAL OF 7 TARGETS. FOLLOW STAIRS TO FINAL TASK.
She pushed the door open and found herself in a room that had tracks running in different locations. She spotted the table that held the disassembled hand gun, empty clips and box of ammunition. She walked up to it took a deep breath and began. She quickly had the gun assembled and moved on to loading the clips putting them in the proper spot on her vest and loading the final one into the gun. She aimed the gun towards the tracks of the empty room and waited for the targets to start moving. She didn't wait more than a few seconds before the first target moved along the track at a leisurely pace. She nailed the target and it stopped moving. With each target that passed they grew in speed. She loaded a fresh clip and took out the remaining two targets. They were moving so fast she had to shoot at them both twice before she landed the bullseyes. She put the gun down and headed back to the stairwell and down. When she reached the ground floor she saw the same gun they used for capture the flag with the nuero sim bullets. She slung the gun over her shoulder and picked up the last card.
TASK FIVE-ONE TARGET IN NEXT ROOM. SHOOT TO WOUND. NEEDED FOR INFORMATION. WHEN COMPLETE EXIT DOORS ON OPPISITE END TO STOP YOUR TIME.
Nuero sim bullets meant that she would be shooting at a live person. She entered the room and saw turned over tables, chairs, bookcases and some large blocks of concrete scattered through the room. Whoever she was looking for would be a little hard to find. As she made her way to the first over turned table a shot fired from across the room missing her shoulder by a few inches. She threw herself towards the nearest cover. She peaked over and saw someone running to a new table. She took a deep breath and decided to move to a table closer to her target. Her target shot at her twice more missing and she ducked by the nearest table. She had read that to get the advantage in a situation like this the key was higher ground. She glanced around and noticed that there was a very tall bookshelf with a couple a chairs stacked behind it. She peeked back over and did not see her target so she crept quietly towards the tall case. She stood on the chairs and pulled herself to look over the top. She noticed that her target had made his way to the table that she had been previously hiding behind. He had not noticed that she had moved. She took her aim and fired and hit him in his shoulder causing him to drop his gun. She quickly aimed again and hit him the thigh. He went down cursing and grabbing his thigh. She quickly made her way to the exit at the opposite end of the room and ran through it. Sunlight hit her face and she threw her hands up to keep it out of her eyes. She let out a deep breath and set the gun down. She heard a clapping coming from a few feet away and turned and saw Eric.
"Very well done Stiff," he said proudly while giving her a wide smile. She smiled back and moved towards him. "Come on we have to catch the train back." They walked side by side until they reached the tracks.
"Are the cameras still following us now?" she asked.
"Nope. They are off now. The screens in the Pit will not have a list of every Dauntless leader from the dawn of the factions with their times posted next to the name. When we arrive they will post your time amongst them," he told her.
"What place are you?"
"You'll just have to wait to see," he said taking a step towards her. He leaned down and gave her a sweet but passionate kiss. When he pulled away he took her hand and they waited together for the train. They heard it approaching and took off running. Once they were situated on the train the embraced each other in a hug. Tris closed her eyes until Eric told her to get ready to jump. They landed on the roof of Dauntless and made their way to the ledge to jump. Eric went first and Tris gave him a minute to get off the net before she flung herself off, giggling the way down. He helped her off the net and put her on her feet.
"Ready to be the center of attention?" he asked her.
"Not at all," she groaned.
"Well I promise that my surprise will make up for it," he whispered in her ear,
"Oh yeah I was so focused that I forgot. Where is it?" she pleaded.
"You will see in just a moment," he said and interlaced their hands and lead her towards the doors to the Pit. She could her a thousand different conversations going on behind the doors. Eric stopped at the door gave her a wink and threw the door open causing it to bang loudly. She entered the room and everyone went silent until they all suddenly erupted into cheers and congratulations. The noise was deafening but it had her grinning from ear to ear. She glanced at Eric and he was clapping along with everyone else. He led her through the crowd and to an open space in the middle that faced the podium. She looked up and saw the elder three leaders clapping and smiling at her. Max held up his hands and the room silenced once more.
"Congratulations Tris, you have done very well. So well in fact that you finished the course faster than any other female leader in history," he said and the crowd cheered. She smiled wide and looked up at the screens. She quickly noticed that Max had the third best time on the list and Eric had the seventh. The only feminine name she saw placed in the top twenty. "It's time to see your final time and ranking," Max said. The moment he finished she noticed the spots rearrange and her named appeared in the ninth place on the board. She inhaled sharply realizing she made it into the top ten overall scores and she laughed. She looked over to Eric who was beaming at her and clapping along with the rest of the faction. She turned around and saw her friends at their table all shouting and they had huge smiles on their faces.
"You ready for your surprise Tris?" Eric asked and she nodded yes automatically. He grabbed her shoulders and spun her around towards the far end of the lined tables. Standing out among all the black and red of the Dauntless members were two figures clad in gray and smiling at her while politely clapping. She was moving towards them without realizing it. She had tears well up in her eyes as she approached them.
"Hi mom. Hi dad."