Hi again. Sorry if this is up a little later than I said it would be. Life got in the way, as it has a habit of doing. Thanks so much for continuing to read these, and I hope you enjoy this chapter too.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Divergent Trilogy. Veronica Roth does.
Chapter 5: A New Name.
The next morning, I wake up with my jaw still throbbing painfully. I press against it with my palm and feel the tender skin, swollen under my touch. I go to the door and try the handle; still locked. I decide to make use of the time and do press-ups while I wait for someone to let me out.
Eventually, I hear the lock click open and Six walks in, greeting me with, "Let's go," I follow her out into a hallway I've not been in before which opens out into the Pit at the end.
"What time is it?" I ask Six.
"Nearly eight. Training will be starting soon." I grimace, thinking of the upcoming fighting.
When we walk in, I see Four talking with Simon and Georgina. When we approach them, I see Simon look at me briefly before glancing away. I frown at Georgina and she just shrugs apologetically.
"Hey," I say.
"Morning," Georgina replies. Simon grunts, not looking at me. Is he scared of me? I find myself thinking.
"How are you doing?" Four asks.
"I'm good. Is Laura gonna be here today?"
"Yeah, but we've decided to change the schedule. Fighting will be left until later to help you guys recover." Four tells me. I look around, trying to guess what we'll be doing instead. Eventually, Thomas saunters in and Laura is just behind him. Her left forearm is in a cast, holding her second and third fingers straight. The lower half of her face is bruised nastily. She smiles slightly at me when she sees me watching. I try to smile back.
Okay, everyone gather round." Four announces. "This morning we'll be introducing you to gun training, and this afternoon, knife throwing.
"What?" Thomas speaks up, "Why aren't we fighting?"
"Fights will continue after we teach you how to shoot a gun and how to throw a knife." Four replies sharply. I wander to myself why we'd need to know how to throw knives if we can shoot a gun instead.
Four and Six lead us over to the far wall where there are targets lined up against it. We stop at a long counter, where five guns are waiting at intervals opposite the targets.
"Pay attention, everyone," Six starts. "To start with, you're all gonna fire away at a target so we can get a basic idea of your skill." She picks up the gun on the end. "Watch what I do,"
She stands with her feet apart, gun held in front of her with both hands. She puts her finger over the trigger and I see her breathe in deeply as she squints at the target, one eye closed. When she releases the breath she fire four rounds, her hands barely moving with each shot. I look up at the target and see four holes clustered right in the middle of the target.
"Everyone, pick up a gun and copy what I did. First person to hit the target gets my piece of cake at lunch," She says grinning. I walk right to the other end of the counter and see that Laura picks the gun next to me.
"The safety switch is on the side of the gun," Four tells us. "Make sure you put it on when you aren't using the weapon!"
I turn the safety off and hold the gun in front of me, trying to mimic Six's stance. I look down the top of the barrel and try to align the sight at the end with the centre of the target. I breathe in just like Six did, and when I release the breath I squeeze the trigger. The gun flies upwards into the air and I almost fall back, surprised by the force of the recoil. I look up at the target and see no holes anywhere on it. I look behind me and see Four and Six grinning. Laura is laughing beside me, trying to cover it up with her hand.
I turn to her, "I'd like to see you do better," I raise my eyebrows.
"Fine then," She raises the gun in front of her and squints at the target. She pulls back on the trigger, firing one shot. She is expecting the recoil, but the gun still raises up in her hand. I look at her target and see a hole a few inches to the right of the centre.
Laura raises her eyebrows at me and I pretend to scowl at the floor before looking up and grinning back at her.
"Laura, my cake is yours! Well done," Six shouts from the other side of the counter.
We continue shooting for the rest of the morning, everyone gradually hitting the target closer and closer to the centre. It takes me over an hour before I finally hit the target, and when I do, the hole is millimetres from the very centre. I look around shocked. Four and Six are both talking with Simon. No one is watching me.
"You saw that right?" I ask Laura.
"Hmm, what?" She replies, though there is a slight smile on her face which she tries to hide.
"Look, I practically hit the centre!" I point at my target.
She squints at it. "I don't know. Sure that's not some dust there?" She doesn't try to hide the grin any more.
"You've gotta be kidding me," I reply. She turns back to her target, which is now riddled with holes.
I don't hit the target again for a good ten minutes, but towards the end of the morning, I am consistently hitting the very edge. Laura's shots are almost all hitting the centre by now.
"Okay, go to lunch everyone!" Four shouts over the gunshots. I put the safety back on and place the gun back on the counter. I'm by far the worst shot out of everyone.
P/B
When Laura and I sit down to eat in the cafeteria, I ask her, "How are you so good at shooting? Have you done this before?" I'm still curious as to what she is hiding about her past.
"No, of course not!" She says, her eyes wide. "I'm from Amity, remember? They're all about friendship and harmony, we didn't even have guns; only Dauntless does, right?"
"Yeah, I know. Still, what do you know that I don't?" I ask, grinning.
"Nothing! It's easy, just point the gun at the target and shoot." she says defensively.
"Well, you're a natural. It definitely isn't that easy for me." I say, and we settle into our meal.
P/B
Back in the training room, the guns on the counter have been replaced with several knives and the targets have been swapped for new ones. Four and Six are standing, waiting for us all.
"Gather round, we're gonna show you a demonstration. As before, pay attention to what I do." Four greets us.
Six walks up to one of the targets, smiling confidently. Four picks up three knives and holds them in his left hand. What's going on? I think. I look down at Laura who looks back at me, frowning.
Four takes one of the knives and holds it at his side, in his right hand. He looks up at Six who is now standing in front of the target and smiles at her. She smiles back.
Then, without warning, he has thrown the knife and it has planted itself in the edge of the target with a loud thud, four inches to the side of Six's shoulder. She didn't even flinch.
"What the hell was that? Are you trying to kill her?" Georgina shouts out.
"Just watch." Four says, not looking back. "Maybe you'll learn something about bravery," and with that, he passes another knife from his left hand to his right hand, and has thrown it, so fast, all I register is the thud and the fact that it has landed and inch above Six's head.
Laura grips my hand suddenly. I look down at our hands, feeling awkward again, just like when I first got to Dauntless. When I look up, Laura is staring at me, unafraid, but I feel colour rush to my face and I pull my hand bag. Laura doesn't react, just looks back to Four. What is wrong with me? I ask myself. I can't even hold someone's hand without feeling like a little kid.
"Come on Four. You can do better than that." Six draws my attention back to the action. Four grins. He throws the knife from his left hand into the air, catches it in his right and instantly throws it; all in one fluid action. This time, I follow Four's whole posture and even see the knife as it flies through the air, flipping over and over before thudding into the target, so close to Six's head that it even cuts the top of her ear.
Six just grins and walks towards us. "Okay, hope you were paying attention. Get to it!" she commands, wiping blood that is dripping down her ear. Unsure as to what that was all about, I head back to the end of the counter, Laura beside me and look down at the knives. They are small, about the length of my hand, made out of one piece of metal. The only thing defining the handle is the fact that it is not sharpened, while the other half is.
I pick up one of the knives, surprised to feel that it is fairly weighty, though the weight is nice, balanced and strangely familiar. I look across at Laura who is staring hard at me. I shrug, hold the knife by the blade between my first finger and thumb and, trying to remember everything about Four's posture, I throw it, flicking my wrist as I release it. It sails through the air, wobbling ever so slightly from side to side and thuds directly in the centre of the target. I stare, unbelieving at it for a few seconds.
"How did you do that?" Laura asks. I look across to her. Her eyes are wide in awe.
"I... don't know," I answer honestly. I realise that I barely even glanced at the target before throwing. The room is full of the clatter of knives hitting the floor, after bouncing off the targets or the wall.
"Do it again," Laura says.
I pick up another knife and repeat everything just as before. This time it flies through the air, wobbling slightly less from side to side and lands right next to the previous knife.
"That's insane," Laura whispers. Four walks over to us, and notices the two knives in the target. No one else has even got their knives to hit blade first yet.
"Let's see it," he tells me. So I lift another knife, hefting it's weight in my hand. I am distinctly aware of him staring at me and try to ignore him. I throw the knife and again it thuds into the target, next to the others.
"Impressive," Four says, raising his eyebrows at me. "Maybe you're not so useless after all." and he walks back over to Six.
P/B
That evening, Laura, Simon, Georgina and I are sat in the cafeteria eating dinner.
I am staring at my food, not really very hungry. Georgina's voice calls me to their conversation.
"Every single knife hit the centre?" She is looking at Laura. "That's crazy."
"I know, it's like he doesn't even think about it when he throws it. He looks as if he's not really paying attention. As if he is somewhere else," Laura answers.
"Hey, I'm right here you know." I say.
"We should call you Kunai." Simon speaks up suddenly. He is generally very quiet.
"What?" I ask him. We all look at him.
He looks anxious to suddenly be the focus of everyone's attention, but says, "It used to be a type of throwing knife, used in a place called Japan. My tutor told me about them." I am not surprised that I haven't heard of them or a place called Japan. We seem to know so little about how the world was before the war.
"Kunai," Laura says, nodding. "I like it. It suits him."
"Do I get a say in this?" I ask.
"Of course," she replies, smiling the brilliant smile I am starting to crave to see.
I think for a moment. I was always anxious saying my real name here, and it hasn't felt right the passed couple of days. Maybe this could be a way to help me make a new start.
I nod. "I like it too."
There you have it :) Let me know what you think of Alex's new name. I was kind of struggling for a long time to think of something, but I think this works. Thank you again for reading, and I'll see you next chapter! :D
~Crysics~