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Chapter 35

Tris

After Tobias leaves with Zeke, I stay in bed and try to go back to sleep. It is only five in the morning so there is no need to get up yet. I finally decide to get up an hour later and slowly get ready for the day. I get a shower and put on some of the new clothes that I bought yesterday. They are all black and very tight, but they fit me well and if the way that Tobias looked at me was any indication, I must not look bad in them either.

I brush my hair and put it back into a ponytail and head out to the cafeteria for breakfast. On my way there I find Susan in the hall way. She is dressed all in black, but her clothes are not nearly as tight as mine.

"Hey Susan, how are you?"

"I am fine, Tris. I just thought I would walk to breakfast with you this morning."

"Where is Brian? You guys have been spending a lot of time together."

She sighs, "Uriah is working with he and Michael one on one to accelerate their training. I think everyone thinks that we are going to have to go into war soon."

"They are probably right. Things are quiet right now, it is almost seems like the calm before the storm."

"Where is Tobias, I mean Four?" Susan asks.

"He was called to the control room early this morning. It seemed kind of urgent," I explain.

We walk toward the cafeteria and find Felicia standing outside waiting for us.

"Hey, are you going to breakfast?" she asks.

"Yeah, why aren't you in there?" I ask.

"I wasn't comfortable with going in alone. I have not had to do anything alone here yet." She looks nervous and uncomfortable. Suddenly I realize that I have not really introduced either of them to Christina or Marlene yet. They are almost always with Mike and Brian, I never wanted to interrupt.

"Come on," I say. "I have some friends for you to meet."

We enter the cafeteria and go over to the table where Christina and Marlene are eating breakfast. "Hey, where is everyone?" I ask.

"All the guys and Tori are in the control room. Apparently there is something big going on because Zeke wouldn't talk about it when he came in here to get Will and Uriah. They all ran out of here without a word," Christina explained.

Now I'm curious. Zeke came to get Tobias hours ago. If all of the leaders and the control room workers are there, something big is going on.

I gesture for Susan and Felicia to sit down, "Susan, Felicia this is Christina and Marlene," I say gesturing to each girl. "Susan and Felicia are from Abnegation, Susan was my neighbor and we met Felicia during initiation."

"Yeah, I tried to steal T… Four from her before I knew they had something going on," Felicia says with a giggle.

"You weren't originally Abnegation, were you?" Christina asks.

"No, I wasn't, I was…" she is cut off by Marlene.

"Oh, let me guess!" Marlene says. "Well we know you weren't Dauntless, because I am Dauntless born, so that leaves Candor, Erudite, and Amity."

"She wasn't Candor, I would know her if she was," Christina interjects.

"You have no problem with the tight clothes of Dauntless and you tried to hit on your instructor during initiation, neither of those things are logical. I'm going to guess you were Amity," Marlene declares.

"Yep, I was Amity," she smiles.

"Why did you leave there after the war started? You could have gone back with the other Abnegation that where in Candor?" Marlene asks.

"I never felt like I belonged there. Abnegation was where I wanted to be, but if I have to choose between Dauntless and Amity, it is no contest. No one can possibly ever be that happy and peaceful. Plus I never liked the idea of being drugged to stay happy."

"Wait, what?" Christina exclaims. "Who was drugging people to stay happy?"

"In Amity, they put peace serum into the bread so that people stay peaceful," Susan explains.

"They go through life drugged? That sucks!" Marlene says.

"Yeah, well that is part of the reason that I couldn't stay there. There were many reasons I couldn't stay there."

We continue to talk and eat our breakfast.

Uriah walks into the cafeteria and announces, "Abnegation initiates, it is time for training. I will be instructing you in fighting today."

Felicia, Susan, and I get up, say bye, and follow Uriah out of the cafeteria and to the training room. I rush up the Uriah, "Hey what is going on?"

"Not much Tris, how are you?"

"Uriah, don't be so evasive. What is going on in the control room?"

"Look, I can't tell you. I don't even completely know what is going on. I just know that it is important and that Zeke, Four, Will, and Harrison will be working all day until they figure it out."

"But maybe I can help, my father was an Abnegation leader."

"I'll mention it, but for now you best focus on fighting. It is important that you learn how to fight and beat someone that is bigger than you."

I drop the subject. I know that there is only so much that Uriah can do. He isn't really completely part of what the other guys are doing, he just passed initiation when I did. He never had the opportunity to get assigned a job let alone get trained into one before the attack.

We enter the training room and there are punching bags hanging at three foot intervals around the room.

"As I said in the cafeteria," Uriah begins, "next you will learn how to fight. The purpose of this is to prepare you to act; to prepare your body to respond to threats and challenges - which you will need, if you intend to survive."

"We will go over technique today," he continues, "and tomorrow you will start to fight each other, so I recommend that you pay attention. Those who don't learn fast will get hurt."

He pauses for a moment, then continues, "Everyone gather around, I am going to show you some basic punches and kicks."

He approaches a bag and begins to name and demonstrate a few different punches and kicks, both against the air and the punching bag.

The sound of skin hitting tough fabric fills the room as every initiate tries to imitate his actions. It takes a few tries for everyone to get acquainted with the motions, just like it did the guns.

I notice that Uriah slowly starts to move around the room while making careful observations of everyone's strengths and weaknesses. While everyone else is still familiarizing themselves with the basic movements, he begins to give them suggestions about what they can do to improve their chances.

"Tris, you don't have much muscle," he says, "which means you're better off using your knees and elbows. You can put more power behind them."

He shows me on the punching bag what he means and how he wants me to use my elbows and knees.

"Make sure you keep tension in your abdomen, it will keep your core steady and it will help if someone punches you there."

I nod and start to practice the moves he just showed me.

He walks over and tells Susan the same thing. She is about two inches taller than me but she is built very much like I am.

We spend the rest of the morning practicing the moves that he taught us. He also showed us some other move individually that he said my help us during our fights.

"Alright, it is lunch time. This afternoon we are going to continue to practice and possibly do some sparring with some more advanced fighters to give you an idea of what is to come," Uriah explains.

"Are we really going to fight each other?" one girl asks. "We are all friends here."

"Yes, you are going to fight. It doesn't matter that you are friends. You have to learn how to fight. If you can't defend yourself in hand to hand combat, then you won't be of any use to anyone once we have to attack or defend ourselves. You came here to be protected, well when you leave here you won't need protected. You will be able to defend yourselves."

There is some grumbling but no one really protests. We all made the choice to come to Dauntless. Now we have to abide by their rules.

We enter the cafeteria and Tobias, Zeke, and Will are all sitting and eating. They look haggard. I sit next to Tobias and he puts his arm around me.

"Hey beautiful, how are you doing today?" he kisses me on my head.

"Just learning how to fight."

"Yeah, I heard. Zeke, Will, and I will be coming in for your afternoon to help with some sparing."

"But you haven't been trained to fight yet," I say.

He smirks, "Trust me Tris, I have been trained to fight. I have been training in hand to hand combat with Zeke one on one since we were in Candor. I never told you because I didn't want to pressure you to come to Dauntless with me."

"Oh, okay. Well, what is going on? What have you been doing all morning?"

"I can't discuss it quite yet. I almost have the code broken," he says without explaining.

"Well don't forget, my father was a leader. The code could be his. I might be able to help."

"We will keep that in mind," Zeke says. "If we can't break it by tonight, we might just bring you in to try."

We finish our lunch and return to the training room. Zeke, Tobias, and Will accompany us.

"Okay, like I said before lunch we will continue to practice punches and kicks on the punching bags. We have some help here this afternoon. They will be able to give you more tips and guidance than I did. We will also begin to pick out some of you to spar with us so we can give you more suggestions and help you to become better fighters. First we would like to show you a fight."

Brian and Michael come into the room. They both look stronger and more muscular than they did when we left Abnegation.

"Now, these two have been training at a more accelerated rate than the rest of you. They will show you the proper technique to have in a fight. We aren't expecting you to kill each other. But we do expect you to put out full effort in learning to fight and you will never learn to fight against just a punching bag. The only way to learn is to fight against an opponent," Uriah explains.

We move in around the ring where Brian and Mike are preparing to fight. They begin to circle each other with their hands ready to defend or attack. You would never realize that they were both Abnegation if you didn't know it already. Mike's face is scrunched up showing his determination. Brian grits his teeth and gets ready to pounce. Suddenly Mike rushes Brian.

Brian leaps to the side and kicks Mike in the back. Mike stumbles but quickly regains his balance. Brian quickly rushes Mike from the side. Mike drops and scissor-kicks Brian and brings him down. Brian is faster though and he manages to kick Mike in the face. Mike is dazed but still attempts to stand and attack again. Brian rushes but Mike sidesteps and plants an elbow to the back of Brian's neck knocking him to the ground on his face. He takes the momentum and drops his elbow to the back of Brian's head, knocking him out cold. Mike stands dazed but triumphant. He picks Brian up and drags him out of the room to the infirmary.

Zeke steps up, "This was a perfect example of using not only your fists and feet, but your knees and elbows to your advantage. Mike is not as big as Brian is, but he was able to get the upper hand by using his knees and elbows to his advantage. Now, everyone go to a punching bag, and begin. We will be around to help you and give you tips."

They walk around us and watch our stance, the way we throw punches and kicks, and the way we use our other body parts to inflict maximum damage. They congregate together and then call four names, "Tris, Susan, Felicia, and Teresa please come to the ring. The rest of you can come and observe."

"You four will spar with one of us. We are not looking for knock-out blows, so the rules are no punches or kicks to the head. Also we are going to use the head gear and boxing the fighting gloves," Will explains.

We all nod. I wonder who I will be fighting. Hopefully Tobias, I think he will give me the best fight without hurting me too badly.

"First up, Susan and Uriah."

They begin by dancing around the ring, much like Brian and Mike did. Uriah has his hands in perfect position while Susan's hands are too high. She is protecting her face but leaving her body unguarded. Uriah strikes first but Susan uses her speed and dodges the blow by rolling under it. She comes up behind him and kicks him in the back of the knee. He drops to the floor on his knees but sees her attack and quickly spins his leg and knocks her to the floor. They both scramble to their feet and begin to circle each other again.

Uriah attacks again and Susan attempts to sidestep his advance. He anticipates her move and lands a blow to her back causing her to stumble and fall. She quickly stands and advances on Uriah. He sidesteps her advance but she expects this and lands a knee to his abdomen causing him to buckle, then she elbows him in the top of the spine.

"Alright, I'm done," he concedes. He stands with a huge smile on his face. "Good job Susan! Way to use your knees and elbows."

"Alright, next Felicia and Zeke."

This fight goes pretty much the same as Uriah and Susan. Of course you can see that the guys are taking it easy on the girls, allowing them to gain the upper hand. What this is really doing is building their confidence and teaching them how to anticipate an opponent's moves.

Once Zeke concedes to Felicia, it is Teresa and Will's turn. She isn't as good at this as the other girls were. She does her best but ends up giving up to Will.

Finally Tobias and I enter the ring. I'm not sure if I like the idea of fighting him or not. I think he will push me harder than the others would.

We faceoff in the center of the ring and everyone is watching. Tobias is at least a foot taller than I am and outweighs me by more than one hundred pounds. He definitely has the advantage here. I am faster than he is, that might help me a little.

He smirks at me and readies himself for the fight. His arms are at the perfect height for offense or defense. I don't see any weakness in him. Then I realize that I am his weakness.

I whip off my tee shirt and reveal the tight camisole underneath. He looks at me shocked. But his lips soon turn up into a grin. I raise my hands and ready myself for the fight.

I decide to go on the offense and attack first. I rush at him and he easily avoids my attack and knocks me off balance. He turns to attack and when he is close enough, he swings. The shot would have hit me in the chest, but I quickly hit the ground and summersault. I kick him in the back of the knee and knock him to the ground. Before he has a chance to respond, I come up behind him and kick him in the back knocking him forward.

He rolls onto his back and flips himself up to stand. He looks at me with shock and pride. He attacks by knocking my legs out from under me and comes down on top of me. He straddles my legs with his so I can't move them and he holds my hands in his above my head. He leans in and kisses me. He smirks, "Give up?"

"Not a chance!"

He smiles and kisses me again. He holds both of my hands with one of his and runs the other down my side to my waist. He kisses me once more and gets up off of me. Before he stands I swing my legs around and knock him off balance again. He stumbles but doesn't fall. I bring my elbow into his solar plexus, knocking the wind out of him. He doubles over and I hit him in the back of his knee with my knee again and cause him to fall. This time I am straddling him.

"Give up?"

"Yeah, I give!" he says and leans up and kisses me.

"Okay, well I think that is enough for tonight," Zeke says with a smirk.

He turns to everyone else, "You have the rest of the night to do whatever it is that you do. Tomorrow you will all fight. After that you will have one full day off to heal, and then we will begin fear simulations. You are going through an abbreviated version of the initiation that our initiates go through, so you will only have two days of fear simulations, going through your fears twice a day. You will have a day off after the simulations. Finally you will each go through your fear landscape. Does anyone have any questions?"

No one asks any questions, they are Abnegation and curiosity is considered selfish.

"Not bad," Tobias says kissing me. "Not bad at all!"