Amity in Me: Part 11

It felt nice to get back to the way things were. We were back in the caves training like nothing had happened. Of course, something did. Since those fear tests, Tank has not been the same way. I hadn't had the chance to talk with her, but I saw from the look on her face that she was shaken up. She held herself when she walked and averted eye contact with anyone, even me. She ended up in the clinic more then she use to, which was concerning. Again, never speaking a word. I treated her wounds and let her be.

Tris wasn't in there as much. It's funny; it's as if they had switched places. I still would find her training after hours when I tried to get some work done. We would talk about the fear simulator and laugh at how silly they were.

"I mean, it was birds!" She said, laughing.

"Birds? Well, how did you face them? You were always in and out so quickly, so I assume it was easy." I asked.

"Using a branch to swing at them. I don't know; it was all kind of silly." She said

I nodded, standing up. I went over to the punching bag and got into my stance. The first few hits were rather light, but I made sure they hit the target. Once I got into the rhythm, I could hit hard and fast without missing a beat.

"What about you? What was your fear?" she asked.

She was next to me, stretching her arms. I guess it's weird for me to ask her what hers were and not tell her mine.

"Well, one of them was loud noises. I don't know… It was like something that kept scrambling my brain. First, it was like laughter. Everyone I ever knew just started laughing. It kept getting louder and louder until… Until I woke up crying. Did you cry?" I asked.

I had stopped with the punching bag and looked at her. She was still stretching, but as looking at me.

"I… I don't think so." She said

I shrugged, but the though was still in the back of my head. Was I weak to cry? Should I ask anyone else how they felt? No one really talked about it while training. We all just pretend it didn't happen.

Suddenly, we see Peter walk over to us. I knew him and Tris did not get along; she wasn't a fan of his arrogance. And that's fair. If you took away all that we've been through, I don't think I would have been friends with him. Granted, we were not as close as we were before, but I didn't hate him. He smirked as he passes us.

"Getting some well needed training in today Stiff?" He asked.

Tris winced a bit. I noticed her face changed once he came in. I turned to him, frowning.

"Why are you always on her like that? What did she ever do to you? Besides beat you at knife throwing today." I said, nudging Tris a bit.

We both laughed a bit before standing up. Peter scoffed, walking to the punching bag that I was at. Earlier today, we were all practicing knife throwing again. Tris excels at it, so Peter brought it upon himself to challenge her in front of everyone. Four, who was training us that day, set up the targets.

"Okay. Let's see who can hit the center of the head. The closest throw wins." He said, making the spot with a marker.

Peter threw first. I will admit; he throws harder then Tris, having his knife sink into the target farther. His knife was an inch from the mark. Everyone cheered as he turned to her, smiling.

"Beat that, Stiff" He mocked, folding his hands.

Tris shook her head, stretching a bit. With one swift throw, she hit the spot perfectly. The room fell silent. Even Four didn't have anything to say.

"I think I just did." She said.

Peter's eyes widen. He walked to the target and pulled his knife out and walked away.

"Just a lucky throw." He murmured

Now, as me and Tris were readying ourselves for a scrimmage, we could feel his eyes on us. I shook it off, putting my hands up.

"Ready? I asked.

She nodded, circling the ring. This wasn't the first time we had practiced. Though, we made a rule to use open hands and not to deal strong blows. We didn't want to injure ourselves. We just needed technique practice. Peter walked over to us and sat down outside the ring. Tris put her hands down.

"Can we help you?" She asked.

Peter, sitting cross legged, shook his head. I sighed, turning my attention back to Tris.

"Ignore him Tris. Let's do what we came to do." I said.

With that, we began. By now, I was aware of how Tris fought. She was smaller and fast, catching me off track often. She knew I was slow, but powerful. She was the first to strike, hitting me in the ribs and then in the back. She put some distance between us, circling a bit again. It pretty much started out that way every time. When she came back in, lunging to strike her before she made it to me. I hit her arm, countering her attack.

"You're getting faster." She mentioned.

I laughed.

"Maybe you're getting slower?" I asked.

I went to her, zigzagging my steps to throw her off. She calculated my movements, getting out my way and whirling to behind me. With a few strikes, I was pushed off balance and fell.

"Maybe not." I said.

She walks over to help me up. Peter clapped, standing up and walking toward us.

"I guess it's easy fighting someone you've fought for a while. Why not try me?" he asked

Tris tilted her head.

"I mean, if you want to but-"

"No, not you. Tank." He interrupted, turning to me.

I wiped the sweat off my forehead.

"Me? Why?" I asked.

"We're friends, aren't we? Let's make this a friendly fight." He said

I glanced to Tris who shrugged. We both weren't expecting him to want to.

"Alright. Open hand though. Nothing too hard; Want you to be able to walk tomorrow morning." I said, smiling.

He laughed, walking to the other side of the ring.

"Alright. Ready when you are." He teased.

I haven't fought with Peter before; but I've seen him practice. We had similar techniques; Strong punches. But he had a habit of telegraphing when he would attack. Other then that, I had no idea how this would end. He didn't circle the ring as much as Tris; so calculating his steps proved to be a bit easier. But he didn't go for the sides or back like she did. After a moment of assessing each other, he moved in for an attack. His face changed slightly as he did, letting me know to move out the way a bit. But he also knew I would, so he changed his angle to strike me in the face, closed fisted. The blow made my head jerk to the side, spewing a few drops of blood on the floor. Tris started to come between us.

"What the fuck Peter! We said to use your-"

"It's okay Tris. I got this." I said.

My head was still down. I wiped my mouth, marveling at the blood. I smiled a bit.

"You wanna play rough; let's play rough." I said.

Then, unexpectedly, I darted to his side. Instead of hitting him in the ribs, I aimed lower, on his calf. With a hard hit there, he staggered. But he didn't let that get him down. While I was lifting myself, he hit my chest. I flew back and held my chest. The pain began to radiate though my body, but I ignored it. I began to breathe harder, making him run to me to deliver another hit. Like I always do, I stand in line with it, but decided to cancel it with a punch to his arm. When it made contact, I felt it go a bit limp. With that, I knew his blows wouldn't be as fast or hard. While he was reacting to that hit, I came in and hit the same leg I did last time. With that, his knee hit the floor. He wasn't done. I could see it in his eyes when he looked up.

"I see you're been learning." He said.

"I see you've been paying attention." I said.

If this was Tris, I would put some distance between us. But, with him, that only gave him more momentum and power with his hits. I chose to keep close. While he was struggling to get up, I took this time to kick him in the head, but he grabbed my leg before I Could, sending me to the floor. He began to kneel above me, grabbing my hands and keeping them down.

"DO you give up?" He asked.

I began fighting in his grasp, but not letting him know my legs were still free. I shook my head, but kept my eyes closed with a defeated look on my face. He laughed.

"What else can you do? You lost." He said.

I clinched my body and made a swift kick in between his legs. He grunted loudly and rolled off of me.

"I don't think so." I said.

Tris re-entered the ring.

"You okay Tank?" She asked.

I nodded. I walked over to Peter who was still on the floor, squirming.

"Hey. Good job." I said, taking my hand out to help him up.

He sighed, taking it and getting up. He distant him self off, wincing at the pain.

"Yeah Yeah. I went easy on you." He said, winking.

I pushed him a bit.

"Just can't admit defeat, huh?"

"Nope. The Dauntless in me refusing to surrender!" he said, raising his fist in the arm.

The strain made him retract it quickly.

"Come on. Let's get some ice on that. Hey Tris, let's call it a night, okay?" I said.

Back at the clinic, I look for the ice packs while Peter sits on a bed. His head was down as he held his arm.

"Is she your new best friend?" HE asked quietly.

"She's one of them. This doesn't change our friendship though. Here, put this on it." I said, tossing him the pack.

I sat next to him. I put my arm on his shoulder, sighing.

"You just need to relax some. I know that this place makes us hard, but we don't have to be so hard on each other, you know? We aren't your enemy." I said

"I know. I just want to be the best, you know?"

"I know. I admire your passion, but you just need to do the best you can do. Forget about everyone else." I said.

We sat for a bit longer in silence before he stood up.

"I promise I'll never do anything to hurt you." HE said, walking out the room.

I stayed, staring at the wall. That was the first time anyone has said that to me. In this place full of violence and power, everyone was looking out for them. And that's important. I came here to keep myself and everyone I loved back at Amity safe. But, knowing someone was watching out for me was new. It was comforting in a sense. A smile had appeared on my face. Was this what they meant when people talk about home in a new place?

COULD DAUNTLESS REALLY BE MY NEW HOME?