Disclaimer: I don't own Divergent.
"Line up!" Amar orders when we have all jumped off the train. For once we did as we were told without having to be asked twice. I guess we were all eager to get the first day of training started with. Tobias stood on my left hand side, Andrew on my right. Mai had gone to the other side of the line.
"Okay," Amar started as he walked around and gave everyone a gun. "We are going to learn how to shoot today - targets now, not each other. Dauntless is about bravery and strength not who can kill each other first." He pressed a gun into my hand, the metal was smooth and cold.
"We believe that preparation helps you act in the midst of fear, so the three different stages all prepare you in a different way." Amar had finished handing out the guns and was now standing in front of us again. "Incase you didn't hear me on the train, those three stages are going to prepare you physically, mentally and emotionally. Now, are there any questions?"
"What does a gun have to do with bravery?" Mai piped up from wherever she was. I knew it was her by her voice.
"It prepares you to be able to defend yourself and not wait for someone else to save you." Amar answered. "Anyone else?" No-one spoke up. "Great, now I am going to show you how to shoot, watch and remember."
Amar faced a wall that had targets on it. A square of plywood with three red circles on it.
"Okay, so hold the gun with both of your hands - no matter how cool it may look with one hand. Feet a good distance apart. Aim and-" He was cut off by a loud bang. I looked at his target. It went straight through the middle.
"Don't worry if you don't get it perfect the first few times. You are here to learn and practise. Try to hit the wood though." And he walks away to the other side of the room.
"Now we don't have enough targets for all of you so pair up and take turns."
I face Tobias and realise that he has paired up with Andrew, okay so who else is here? Mai? Wasn't she just over the other side of the room?
"How did you get here?" I asked confused, positioning myself.
"Magic." She replied. "I walked of course, I wanted to see how good you and Tobias would be, you know, compared to my brilliant self." She laughed, and her eyes gleamed with excitement, but there was a little bit of worry in there. She was a Amity-born, she technically wasn't supposed to be doing this.
"It'll be okay." I tried to reassure her.
"Duh," she flicked her ponytail off her shoulder. "I bet I can hit the middle before you." She held the gun and fired, she obviously hadn't anticipated the force of the bullet and stumbled back. The bullet hit one of the corners of the square.
"At least you hit it." I told her before taking my first shot. I held the gun out in front of me, it was heavy enough for the size of it. I wondered how someone has small as Mai was able to lift it at all. She must have had a lot of practise with boxes in Amity.
I fired and was also surprised by the force of the fire, but was able to stand up straight. I hit the second circle.
Humph, I bet that I can do better than that." Mai sniffed. "I was just caught off guard the first time, that's all."
"Sorry guys, I just hit the middle." Tobias laughed.
"You're not included." Mai smiled. "We all know that you would be a star student, now go, leave us be and don't rub the fact that you are good at this in our faces."
"Fine then, at least Andrew is nice to me." Tobias stuck his tongue out at her.
"If Tobias is good what am I?" I asked.
"Your average." She answered grinning.
"And yourself?"
"Absolutely amazing, see?" She pressed the trigger and shot the middle of the target. "I won."
. . .
"Okay, okay, maybe you are better at shooting than me, but there is no way that you will beat me at fighting." I told Mai. She had hit the middle the majority of times and I had hit it about a third.
"Don't under estimate me Eric," Mai smiled. "I might just surprise you."
"What did you do? Bully all the other Amity kids, you witch." I laughed.
"No, but I'm sure it can't be that hard to pack a punch if you know where to hit." She smiled mischievously.
"Like?"
"You'll see when we get to fight." She answered, mysteriously. "There's Andrew and Tobias! Come on!"
. . .
After lunch we are back at the main part of the compound again and led to a different room. It is huge with a wooden floor that is creaky and a little cracked. It is such a state. It has a big circle painted on in the middle and immediately I wonder why. On the left wall is a chalk board. Fourteen names, our names, are written on the wall in alphabetical order: Andrew, Connor, Ella, Eric, Marie, Mai, Nicolas, Percy, Sean, Shane, Shantelle, Theresa, Tobias, Xavier. Hanging, with a few feet spacing them out, are black punching bags.
"Line up!" Amar roars again and once again we do as we are told without complaint.
"Now for part two. I am going to teach you how to fight. This is absolutely necessary if you want to be a Dauntless member." Amar said it without a smile on his face, for once.
What if I had to fight Mai? Or Tobias?
"Today is training and tomorrow is the real thing, so you had better get practising!" Amar announced. That little time? Amar demonstrates, repeating each punch three times, to make sure that we are able to wrap our heads around it.
"Now initiates, find a punching bag and start." Amar left us to practise.
At first I find it hard. Only hitting the punching bag and gaining red, sore hands and no victory. But then I think about my life before moving to Dauntless. Erudites. My parents. Intelligence. And suddenly all that anger is being taken out on the punching bag. Thank God it is strong material, or I would have to get a replacement.
I hadn't realised that Amar had been walking around and examining everyone, and giving them tips until I heard him call my name.
"Eric!" He snapped. I turned to look at him, breathing heavily. Thank God he had been smart enough not to touch me or he would have had a broken jaw. I had really gotten caught up in that session.
"I was just saying that you should channel your anger, use it to motivate you but don't get caught up in it and let it direct your hits. But other than that, well done." Amar moved on to the next person and I decided to take a breather to try and calm down. All I could hear was my heavy breathing and the sound of fists and legs hitting the punching bags.
I looked around for Tobias, he was hitting the bag pretty aggressively, but his hits were more controlled and precise. I wonder what had made an Abnegation so angry. I then searched for Mai, she wasn't too shabby either, compared to some of the others in the room. Her only problem was that she was small and didn't have much weight on her. Amar went over to her and started to demonstrate where she should hit and touching where she should put the tension in her body. I turned around abruptly, I couldn't watch... but I did have a fresh burst of anger to take out on the punching bag.
. . .
Amar finally dismissed us a little while after, saying that most of us were pretty good and that we were to keep it up for tomorrow. My anger had gone and I was pretty sure that Amar hadn't made a move on Mai, because he had done the same to Shantelle and unless he was a player, which didn't really suit his personality, he wasn't into her.
"Hey Tobias, Eric, Andrew." Mai skipped over with a smile on her face. "I don't think that I did too bad today, you know, considering my size and all." She grinned. "I was watching ye though, you all aren't bad either. In fact I'm kind of hoping that I don't get one of you tomorrow."
"Why?" Andrew laughed. "Scared that we'll ruin your pretty face?"
"No," Mai retorted. "I'm scared that I'll ruin yours. I can be lethal when I want to be. For all you know I could be faking this small little girl thing - I could be really strong inside."
"I guess we'll see tomorrow then." Tobias said.
"Yeah, and I'll prove you wrong!" Mai smiled. "Anyways I want to get a piercing."
"Piercing?" I asked surprised.
"Yup, I want to get my eyebrow done. I think it would look cool." I tried to imagine her with an eyebrow piercing. I couldn't do it.
"You? With an eyebrow ring?" Andrew would probably be laughing if he didn't know that it would hurt her feelings and that she would probably punch him in the face.
"Not an eyebrow ring, what if my hair got knotted in it. I want the studs." Mai let out an exaggerated sigh.
"You could always cut your hair." I told her, focusing on her mid-back length hair.
"No, I like it long." She retorted. "Anyways I'm going if you want to come, well come, if you don't, well don't." And with that she walked off, or rather skipped.
"I'm going." I told the two guys.
"Okay," Tobias answered. "I think that I'm going to get a tattoo with Andrew anyway."
"See ya." Andrew replied.
And with that I followed Mai.