Torn 3

The next morning you woke up earlier than anyone else in the dorm. You wanted to get a sneak peek at the board and see where you stood since you didn't get to fight yesterday. You quickly and quietly got dressed, pulled your hair into a ponytail and checked your face in the mirror. Your bruises were still prominent and you wished you had some makeup to cover them. You quietly tipped toed out the dorm and jogged to get your blood going for the day to the training room. You stopped in front of the scoreboard and frown with disappointment as it was turned off. Shit!

"You won't find out your rankings until this evening after training." A deep voice ranged out. You nearly jumped out of your skin. You quickly turned to the sound of the voice and found Eric emerging from a corner behind you where you did not see him standing. Your heart pounded in your chest hard as he really caught you off guard and you were still traumatic after what happen with Kevin. You really needed to work on being aware of your surroundings. Eric slowly walked up to you as if a predator on the prowl. He looked exhausted as if he did not sleep at all last night. You slightly gasped as he stood just inches from you and the stench of whisky radiated off him. Why wasn't he in his apartment?

"Ok. Thank you." You said softly turning to go. You thought about mentioning the incident from yesterday but he was in no condition to hold a practical conversation. You did not want to make him even angrier with you. As you turned to walk away from him you felt him grab your arm, jerk you around and grabbed your neck with his massive hand. You tried to scream but Eric was pressing hard on your neck and only a whimper escaped your lips as Eric dragged you by the neck and pushed you up against the wall.

"Fight initiate!" he barked at you. You clawed at his hand. "I said fight! Protect yourself!"

You tried to knee him in the groin only to have his other hand block your blow.

"Think Y/N! Use what you have learned here!" His breath was making you nauseous. Tears sprung to your eyes as his hand pressed harder on your neck. He was going to kill you. Fight Y/N! Fight! You looked in Eric's cold eyes, brought your thumbs up to each of his eye socket, and pressed with all your might. It did the trick as Eric's grip loosen and you were able to bring your knee up again to his groin as his other hand tried to pull one of your thumbs from his eye. You hit him as hard as you could and he finally stumbled back. You leaned over coughing, gasping for air.

"Good." Eric said walking back up to you as if he did not feel any pain from your hits. Good? What the fuck was wrong with him? You leaned up against the wall to gather your wits as you glared at Eric.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" You tried to get a rise out of your voice but you still felt the pain of Eric's grip.

"Go get breakfast initiate and prepare yourself to fight Charles today. Remember use what you have learned so far." Eric walked away from you, leaving you angry as you rubbed your sore neck. What the hell was that?! There was no way you could eat breakfast after his assault to your sensitive neck.

You were taking a severe beating from Charles. No matter how you attacked, he was one-step ahead of you and you began to attack out of pure frustration only to be knocked down on your ass. Charles towered over you and mouth the words 'I'm sorry' before his feet came down on your face rendering you unconscious.

The first word out your mouth when you came to consciousness was 'fuck'. There went the chance of your face healing anytime soon. Your body ached all over and you felt your face pulsating with pain.

"Doc! She's up?" You heard Four call from your side. You felt Four grab your hand.

"You're up." Four sighed with relief flooding his face.

"I'm up. How bad did it set me back with rankings?" You asked trying to sit up but thought better of it as your head and body told you hell no.

"Don't worry about that. It won't take you pass the red line." Four removed lose strands of hair that fell into your face.

"What are those marks on your neck?" Four asked grabbing your chin and moving you head from side to side to inspect your bruises. "I didn't see Charles grab you by the neck. How did you get these bruises?"

What could you tell him? You can't blame neck bruises shaped as a hand on being a klutz.

"It's nothing." You told him. Four's brown eyes became darker as he realized who could and would put their hands on you.

"Eric." He seethed.

"Four don't say anything. I don't want him becoming angrier at me." Tears sprung to your eyes, as you did not want to experience any more wraths from Eric even though in some twisted way he thought he was helping you become more Dauntless. Without another word to you, Four stomped out the infirmary. You knew where he was heading and everything between you and Eric would become increasingly worse.

"How are you feeling?" the doctor asked as he used a penlight to look at your pupils.

"Horrible. Can I have something for the pain. Preferably something that will knock me out."

"I can give you something for the pain but we need you awake. You just woke up from unconsciousness." The doctor informed you as you cursed inwardly. The doctor went to fetch you some pain pills as you tried to get up once again from the bed. As you took it slow, you were able to sit up in bed. It took you a few tries to swallow the pills the doctor handed you, as your upper esophageal was sore from earlier. You finally got it down and asked if you could go back to the dorm. The doctor said you could but return to the infirmary when you needed pain pills. You slowly and painful got off the bed and took your time in heading to the dorms. You purposely took the long way back to the dorms hoping you would not run into Eric. You threw off your shoes, did not bother to change and crawled into your bed fully clothed. You were glad everyone was gone and you had total quiet in the dorm. Sleep did not come easily to you as you excepted an irate Eric to rush in the dorm at any moment and jerk you off your bed by your neck. You absently rubbed your neck and closed your eyes hoping sleep would not evade you for too long.

You must have fallen asleep as the sound of rowdy initiates entering the dorm woke you up. You sat up and wondered why they were so extra boisterous.

"Y/N!" Charles called when he saw you. He ran over to you and knelt down by your bed. "I'm so sorry. Are you ok?" He asked surveying the damage he did to your face.

"I've been better," You smiled weakly to him. "I'm not mad at you Charles. It's initiation and we have to do what needs to be done to be Dauntless."

Charles sighed with relief and leaned in to hug you. You nearly screamed in pain as he hugged you too tight.

"Y/N! You missed it!" Jen shouted as she pushed you to make room for her on your bed. You bit your lip as she plopped on your bed causing more pain to rip through you.

"Missed what?"

"Oh man it was fuckin awesome! Eric and Four got into a fight right in the middle of training!" Charles informed you of what you had feared.

"An argument?" You asked hoping that was all it amounted too.

"No a physical fight. It was awesome. I think Eric would have won if some of the leaders didn't break them up. They are in Max office now." Charles told you.

"What the fuck happen to your neck?" Jen leaned over and peered at your neck. "Charles did you do that?"

"No! I never touched her neck." Charles said in defense. Why was everyone focusing on your neck? Wasn't your face fucked up enough to garner attention instead of your neck?

"Y/N!" Eric shouted from the top of the stairs. You looked up and almost had a mini heart attack.

"Oh shit! What did you do?" Jen whispered.

Fuck! Fuck!

Charles and Jen got up and watch you in sympathy as you slowly got up from your bed.

You were a dead woman walking you thought to yourself as you walked up to Eric whose eyes were blazed with fury.

"Follow me!" he snapped. It was hard to keep up with Eric's fast pace through Dauntless headquarters. Your body screamed at you with every step. Eric looked back at you and barked for you to keep up as he saw you falling further and further behind. You grit your teeth and quicken your pace to keep up with his long strides. Your mouth fell open as you followed him into the apartment quarters. You recognized Four's apartment door as you passed it. Several doors down from Four, Eric stopped and punched in his code and his apartment door opened. You stood hesitantly at his door as he entered his apartment.

"Get in here!" Eric grabbed your arm and jerked you into his apartment.

Fuck!