Parker's POV

I awake before anyone else, which is surprising given the time I fell asleep last night. I feel an ache in my hands and I look down to see them wrapped in bandages, then the events of last night come flooding back to me, I groan I really don't want to see Tobias today I'm still angry at him for our conversation with him last night, and I even more so don't want to have to explain my hands to him, which I realise Eric must have bandaged up once I had fallen asleep. I look at the clock on the desk next to my bed, the red numbers glare back at me aggressively and I see it is only four in the morning and by a quick calculation I've only slept for four hours but I'm no longer tired and I cannot get back to sleep not matter how hard I try. I work out I've got two hours before Tobias comes down here and wakes everybody up and I really don't want to be in here when he does that given I plan to avoid him as much as possible. I know logically that it is probably the worst idea in the world especially as he is my instructor but I can't bring myself to talk to him, as I know deep down that the comments made last night were far from one-sided but still. I decide not to have a shower as I don't really feel like unwrapping the bandages on my hands, stuck for something to do I slip out of the dorm and head towards the training room knowing nobody is going to be in there. Although I decided to come in here I don't know what I was planning to do once I got here, suddenly I remember mother's book I brought with me I rush back to my bed and slide open my drawer next to my bed as quietly as possible so as not to wake the others, I grab the book and go back to the training room.

Once I've made sure nobody is in there I go to the same bench as last night, tucked away in the far corner of the room. I settle myself on the bench and start to read the first page. I don't notice how long I've been there for until I hear the door open. I quickly hide the book as I do not know who it is and I do know we weren't actually allowed to bring anything from another faction and anything we did bring was supposed to be burned the first night we came here along with our old faction's clothes. Once I'm sure the book is well hidden I turn to see who it was that came in, I'm surprised to see Eric standing there, an amused smirk on his face. "What?" question him, sounding much harsher than I attended, he doesn't say anything in reply and just continues his way to the punching bag next to me. I notice it's the same one I had been punching at last night, but I'm sure there's nothing behind his choice, it's probably because it's the furthers one away from the door, I mean after all that was the reason I chose it last night. He starts to pound it with his fists, the sound of his hands hitting the leather echoing throughout the sparse room. I watch him work at the bag punching it furiously, I'm captivated by the power behind his punches, and the punching bag is swinging much more than it had when I punched it, in fact, it had hardly moved when I had been hitting it. I can't help but give him a once over, his ridiculously defined muscles contracting as he attacks the bright orange bag. I hadn't even realised I was staring until I heard Eric speak, "She something you like initiate" I flush embarrassed that he caught me looking. He doesn't say anything more as he makes his way out of the room leaving me on my one once again. I'm surprised when he return not ten minutes later, but now he is not drenched in sweat. He looks over at me when he enters, "seeing as you are up you might as well help me set up for the training today" he calls over to me. I don't say anything I only nod as he jerks his head in the direction of the door and I follow him out, completely forgetting about the book.

I follow him silently through another set of double doors and up some stairs until we come to a bolted metal door, he unlocks it and motions with his arm for me to go ahead of him, I door as I'm told and push the door open. I notice it leads out onto a gravel roof, similar to the one we jumped from the train to, but much smaller. Looking around me I see ten targets lined up in a row, over at the over end there is a table on which there is an assortment of guns ranging from shotguns to pistols to sniper rifles. "You going to help me load all these shotguns," Eric tells me proceeds to pick up one of the shotguns and shows me how to load it. Once he is sure I know what I'm doing he tells me to start on the rest, and I do so.

I just finish loading the final gun when Eric informs me ten past six. I make my way down to the initiate dorm, wait for Tris to get ready before heading down to the mess hall for breakfast. Thankfully Tobias had gone by the time I got back to the dorm. My luck, however, ended once we got to breakfast and I saw Tobias sat there eating, I couldn't bear to explain my hands to him especially not in front of other Dauntless members, I'd already had a barrage of questions from Christina and Tris, which I refused to answer, and I had enough of the looks the other initiates had given me. I decided to skip breakfast luckily I didn't have to explain where I was going to Tris and Christina as they had already gone ahead of me, clearly not wanting to talk to me, I didn't blame them, I had been rather short with them but it made my departure easier so it was beneficial towards me in the end. Not really sure on where to go, I just let my feet carry me, and I find myself heading towards the training area, not that I have many other options. I'm too consumed in my thoughts to notice where I'm going and I slam into something very hard, I stopped so abruptly that I lost my balance and was headed to land on the floor, but once again I'm stopped just in time, by Eric, who I had accidentally smashed into. I hear him grunt as he reaches for my arm to stop me falling. "Look where you're going initiate," he tells me sharply before storming off, probably to breakfast. Rather embarrassed that I've nearly fallen to the floor twice and I haven't even been here twelve hours, I make my way to where I was headed before I crashed into Eric.

I'm relieved to find nobody is in here, I guess everybody is at breakfast, which I probably should've gone to seeing as I hadn't eaten since the evening of the day I took my aptitude test, which had been over twenty four hours ago. Not really sure what to do I go to sit down on the bench I was on this morning when I suddenly remember the book I left, I search frantically for the book, I can't believe I'd been so careless. After a good hour of searching a resign myself to the fact that I lost the only thing of our mother's either of us had. I sat on the bench wondering how on earth I was going to tell Tobias especially as I had been avoiding him since yesterday evening, which I'm sure he's noticed. I hear the set of double doors swing open for the third time today, I don't bother to look up to see who came in as it would either be Eric or Tobias and I really don't care to talk to either of them so I continue looking at the floor. Soon a pair of black boots come into my line of sight and the fact that they are so polished that I can see my reflection in them tells me they belong to Eric, I'm relieved that it is not my brother and I look up slowly, once we've made eye contact he starts to speak, "You missed breakfast"

"I wasn't hungry," I tell him, which to be perfectly honest wasn't a complete lie, I had lost my appetite from all the anger and hurt I had been feeling.

"You need to eat", he tells me with a bit more force than before, and I can tell he is getting impatient but I don't care and I tell him so.

"I told you I'm not hungry," I tell him hoping he gets the picture, and my prayers are answered when he just sighs.

"Have it your way then, but you're not going to be able to avoid your brother for much longer, he is your instructor you realise?" he tells me as if I was stupid.

"I know that, but it's not going to stop me, now can you just leave me alone"

"Fine, we're training you how to shoot this morning so if you want to avoid talking to your brother for as long as possible, you might as well come up with me," he tells me, not waiting for a response he heads towards the doors. I decide that following him was probably the best idea if I want to not talking to Tobias, no matter how surprised I am at the idea of Eric helping me, I walk out the doors and find him waiting for me. I don't get how he could have known I was going to follow him but I don't mention anything as we ascend the stairs towards the bolted metal door that leads onto the roof. Once we are outside I notice it has gotten colder since we were out here earlier on. Neither of us say anything and I just watch him as he places a gun at each station, which each faces a target, but rather than an ordinary bullseye target, it is shaped like a human body and is the same bright orange as the punching bags in the training room. It isn't long until I hear the rest of the initiates stomping up the stairs like a heard of baby elephants, and when the door opens I meet my brother, it is clear by his face that he is surprised I'm up here with Eric, but I look away before he can say anything to me. Once he's made sure that all of us are on the roof Tobias calls us over so he can explain what to do and I make sure I'm at the back of the group, as far away from him as possible.

I'm sure I can see hurt in his eyes for a second but that quickly replaced by a hard stare when he goes onto explain how to correctly hold the gun, he then proceeds to shoot the target without even looking at it, and there are loud gasps when we realise each of the three shots hit dead centre. Tobias then orders us to line up at a station and I immediately go towards the one at the back and pick up the gun, I had expected it to feel uncomfortable in my hands but I felt surprisingly at ease with the pistol in my hands. I watch as Eric walks back up the line, from talking to my brother which I guess means we are about to be allowed to start and weirdly I'm quite eager to. I take my time making sure I've got the correct stance and I'm holding the gun the right way when I hear a loud yawn from somewhere to the left of me, so I turn to see that it is Peter "But what… ", he yawns through his words, "What does firing a gun have to do with bravery?" I shake my head subconsciously questioning how stupid he could be, when quick as a flash Tobias has the barrel of his gun against his head and is clicking the bullet in place. I almost laugh when I see the look of absolute fear on Peter's face, a yawn stuck in his mouth.

"Wake. Up," My brother snaps. "You are holding a loaded gun, you idiot. Act like it." I watch intensely as he lowers the gun. Once the immediate threat is gone, Peter's green eyes harden. I'm surprised he can stop himself from responding, after speaking his mind all his life in Candor, but he does, his cheeks red. "And to answer your question…" Tobias continues, "You are far less likely to shit your pants and cry for your mother if you're prepared to defend yourself" and with that he turned on his heel and walked to the opposite end of the row from where Eric was standing.

I don't blame him for being tired it was very early after all but what he did after that meant he deserved what Tobias gave him, in my eyes, even if I was a little shocked by my brother's actions. Eric then signals for us to start shooting, we do so immediately and as I pull my finger down on the trigger I can help the exhilarating feeling I get when I shoot the bullet, the feeling gets better when I look to see the bullet hit right in the middle of the targets head, I then fire again, this time, I aim for where the mannequin's heart would be and I am thrilled to see I hit right in the middle of its chest.

"Impressive" I hear someone say behind me and I look round to that it's Eric, "you sure you've never shot a gun before," he asks me. I shake my head no, I think it might run in the family, but I don't know how seeing as my parents were both abnegation, I quickly look away from Eric as I start to think of my mother again, I don't want to be seen as weak, I wipe at my eyes quickly hoping nobody notices the tears forming, but I know both Eric and my brother do. When I look back at Eric it looks as though he wants to tell me something but, he just tells me to go back to shooting.

Here you go, another chapter. See, I do keep my promises and this was probably the longest chapter so far, so I hope you enjoyed it. And once again, a huge thank you to those who have reviewed, I know i say this a lot but it really does mean a lot to me.

~DepressedIntrovert~