Straining, she tried to direct mediocre punches at her punching bag. Eric had briefly introduced them to a routine after lunch, which the initiates had now been repeating nonstop for half an hour. Lucas seemed noticeably more comfortable with this task. Perhaps he also had personal differences with his punching bag, which he had now been furiously punching since the beginning.
Alex had chosen a secluded training spot and, between her punches, tried as best she could to solidify her image of the competition. In her group, Rina, also a transfer from Erudite, was by far the best. Her attacks were precise and energetic, though she often forgot to cover her left side.
Her gaze continued to wander over the competitors in her group. Most of them were already physically exhausted after the first practice rounds of the morning and did not even try to hide their tiredness. There was still one boy from Abnegation who silently continued to kick the punching bag. Sweat was dripping from his forehead and his fists were already shaking with tension, but his gaze was stern and focused. He definitely already had the fighting spirit, now only his physical fitness had to follow suit.
Alex paused briefly to fetch water so she could watch the other groups undisturbed in the room. She also wondered where Eric was. He had spent the first 10 minutes of their training pointing out initiates' weaknesses, rebuking their lack of energy, and generally interjecting taunting comments from the side. He couldn't seem to keep his attention on initiates any longer than that, however, because after that he had walked away without a word.
With the water bottle in her hand, Alex looked around the room. Kylie was about to retrieve her knives from the target when she caught Alex's gaze and signalled a thumbs-up. Alex returned the gesture and looked at the group at the training equipment. In this group, one Candor boy, in particular, stood out. Jason was in excellent physical fitness. Now if he also knew how to skillfully navigate the muscles he was certainly an opponent Alex should keep an eye on.
She was about to return to her punching bag when Eric spoke up, "Initiates!" Immediately, the room fell silent.
"I think that was enough training for the first day." Eric paused for a moment and several initiates already seemed to exhale in relief, but Alex's gaze still rested on Eric.
"It's time to judge you fighting," he added, and the atmosphere in the room tipped from relief to tension in a moment.
"Of course, first and foremost, the fights will factor into your evaluation. First and last jumpers - into the ring!"
Tentatively, Jason and Carla broke away from the crowd and strode to the ring.
"You've won as soon as the other person can't fight anymore." Alex briefly frowned in confusion and looked at Four, who was clearly not happy with this arrangement. With his arms crossed and a stern look on his face, he stood at ringside slightly offset from Eric.
The other initiates followed the two and gathered around the ring. Kylie came over to Lucas and Alex and together they looked at the dew game that was presented to them.
Carla was noticeably shaking and went down after two punches. Jason was already looking expectantly at Eric, but he shook his head.
"She can still fight," his icy voice rang out.
Kylie turned away and Lucas flinched noticeably as Jason delivered another final kick to the grounded Carla. Alex's face, on the other hand, remained untouched as her gaze rested solely on Eric, whose spiteful grin caused rage to bubble up in her stomach like she hadn't felt in a long time. Alex concentrated on her breathing and the seething fire in her belly slowly shrank back to a sparse ember.
Only now did her eyes fall on Carla, lying unconscious on the floor, her body twisted in an unnatural position. Without thinking, Alex's feet moved and a moment later she was kneeling on the ground next to Carla. Carefully, she slid her arms under her back and legs and lifted her up.
"What do you think you're doing?" Eric had stepped into her path and crossed his arms in front of his chest.
"Well, someone has to take her to the infirmary, right?"
"And that someone is you?"
"Well, I didn't exactly get the feeling that there was an empathic streak growing in you any time soon," she returned quietly and coolly.
Eric took a step toward her.
"Careful, initiate," he breathed in his icy voice to Alex.
For a moment she continued to withstand his gaze, but reason finally prevailed and so she lowered her gaze and muttered an apology.
"All right, if you want to play Samaritan. Take her there - but remember, we're training soldiers, not heroes." Taking a step to the side, he then cleared the way and she passed without hesitation.
Alex returned to the training room just as two Candor girls were competing. Without drawing too much attention to herself, she lined up next to Kylie and Lucas again.
"How's Carla?" asked Lucas to her right in a whisper.
"A nurse took care of her. When I left, she was still unconscious." Alex shrugged slightly. "On the way back, I ran into two other injured initiates. What did I miss here?"
"Well, Eric is very adamant about his rule that the other has to be incapacitated to win," Kylie said.
"Are the pairs formed randomly?"
"We haven't detected a pattern, at least so far," Lucas answered her question.
At that moment, one of the girls went down. When she didn't budge even after a few seconds, Eric gave a subtle nod and she was dragged from the ring.
"Next up, Kylie and Rina," Eric announced.
Kylie noticeably swallowed, at which point Alex grabbed her hand and gave it a quick squeeze. "Rina weakens at the cover on the left," she breathed to Kylie and winked.
Kylie and Rina positioned themselves in the ring and Eric nodded. That was the signal for the attack. Still, the two circled each other for a while first, until Eric's patience seemed to snap.
"Today, initiates," he hissed, whereupon Rina went on to attack. Kylie managed to pull her arms in front of her face just in time. The blow hit her forearm and Kylie stumbled back two steps. Rina took advantage of that and placed a precise kick in her stomach. Kylie went down and doubled over in pain. Pain that was also reflected in her eyes as her gaze fell towards Lucas and Alex.
"Left," Alex tried to remind her tonelessly. Maybe it was just the pain, but Alex imagined she saw a small nod from Kylie.
Rina, meanwhile, stalked around her like a cat around a mouse, waiting patiently for Kylie to right herself.
Rina attacked first again, but this time Kylie was prepared. She ducked to the side, which cleared her completely uncovered left half. A powerful punch hit Rina's ribs and she went down, where Kylie gave her another kick right away. On the second kick, Rina got a hold of Kylie's foot and with a twist, Kylie fell to the mat. Before she could react, Rina was already on top of her, punching Kylie over and over again.
Rina paused to survey Kylie's condition. Her face was covered in blood, whether from a wound to her nose or mouth Alex couldn't make out. Rina looked up at Eric, but to Alex's horror, he just shook his head. Alex watched in shock as Rina continued to beat Kylie, who was lying on the ground. By now Alex was already wishing that the Candor girl would finally pass out, but Kylie's eyes remained open and so came one punch after another.
"That's enough" Alex wasn't even aware at first that the words were coming out of her mouth. Eric gave her a quick warning look, but no one moved. No one except Rina, who continued to pound Kylie without interruption.
Alex had seen enough. She was about to lunge at Rina when two strong arms wrapped around her torso and held her back. "He's going to punish you both for this," Lucas whispered in her ear and lifted her up. Alex bit her lips, but let Lucas carry her back a few feet.
"Calmed down?" asked Lucas as he set Alex back down on the ground.
Alex nodded. She couldn't watch this any longer. So she turned her back on the ring and walked to the water bottles. Maybe that could silence the blazing fire inside her.
