Eric
She didn't scream the entire way down. I looked back and saw the two people she was standing with, another Abnegation and a Candor, looking worried.
"So, a Stiff is braver than any of you?" I sneered at them. "Come on, who's next?" I crossed my arms and looked over at the initiates. The guy from Abnegation stepped forward.
"I'll go." He said. He walked to the edge shakily and jumped, yelling as he went. Eventually, all of the initiates have jumped. I fell over the edge backwards after they're finished, and climbed off when I hit the net. I walked near the two trainers, Four and Lauren.
"Alright, initiates, you will face different challenges here and will be ranked based on your bravery and your performance in training. Anyone who isn't in the top ten by the end of initiation gets cut and will be asked to leave Dauntless. Any questions?"
"We weren't told we would be cut." A transfer calls angrily.
"Why does it matter? Would you not have chosen Dauntless if you had known, out of cowardice?" I asked him. He didn't answer. "Alright. Transfers go with Four," I waved to him and watched as the transfers moved to him, "and Dauntless born go with Lauren." The initiates dressed in black shuffled to her. They started walking towards the training rooms but I grabbed the first jumper's arm.
"What's your name, Stiff?" I asked, ready to write it down.
"Tris." She stated, looking at me nervously. I wrote it on the ranking board in the first slot and then gave the board to one of the assistant trainers, releasing her arm and watching her run after the other transfers.
"Put everyone on this board, ranking them in the order that they jumped. We will change ranks after training but as of right now, it's based on who jumped when." I ordered the trainer. She nodded immediately and walked towards the training rooms. I followed, cracking my knuckles and deciding where to go. I opened the door to the Dauntless-born initiates training room and stood by the doorway.
"Line up Dauntless-born!" Lauren ordered. There was no hesitation as all of the initiates lined up, fighting to get to the front.
"You're going to be firing a gun. As you know how to, I expect better shots than the transfers, got it?" There were a few mumbles. "I said, got it?" She was met with yells of "Yes ma'am."
She handed them guns one by one as the line moved forward, and they knelt in front of blocks to shoot at targets.
"Marlene! What the hell was that?" Lauren yelled at one of the initiates.
"I-I'm sorry! The gun is heavier than I remembered!" She defended herself. I was about to move forward and give her a punishment but Lauren seemed to be handling it, as she was telling her to stand up. I nodded at Lauren when she looked at me, and I walked out to go to the transfer's training room.
"Statistically, you should've hit the center of the target at least once, even by accident." An Erudite transfer, the same one that questioned the safety of jumping earlier, said to Tris, elbowing her in the side.
"Yeah, thanks, Will." She quietly replied.
"Anytime."
The other Stiff transfer was sitting on the other side of her, his shooting no better than hers. I walked over and watched as they both took two more shots, both missing.
"You're both gripping the gun too tightly and your shoulders are too tense. Relax." They both relaxed their shoulders and loosened their grip. The boy got it better, but Tris still missed. I walked closer and put my hands on her shoulders. "Relax your shoulders, Stiff." I pressed down gently. She relaxed them more. I reached down and grabbed her hands. "Now loosen your grip." She held the gun looser. I nodded and smirked when I saw her blushing slightly.
"Now shoot, Stiff." She took a shaky breath and pulled the trigger. The bullet didn't hit the center, obviously, but it hit close. She smiled widely and turned to me.
"Thank you." She mumbled to me. I nodded and backed away, realizing that I probably looked like I was hitting on her. I looked around and, as I thought, the other transfers were staring at me.
"What are you looking at, initiates? Get back to shooting." I growled, walking over to Four, who was rearranging the ranks as the initiates shot. Tris was now third to last, with only a guy named Caleb, who I'm assuming is the other guy from Abnegation, a girl named Alicia, and a guy named Al under her.
"What was that, Eric?" He asked, still writing in names.
"She hadn't hit the target once. I helped the other Stiff as well." I answered, watching as he wrote the name 'Peter' in the second slot, and 'Edward' in the first.
"Watch out, you don't want others to get jealous because they think you're showing favouritism."
"I'm not showing favouritism." I muttered. "I barely know the initiates."
"I'm just saying."
I walked back to the edge of the room, and watched Tris and who I'm assuming is Caleb shoot more. I noticed that every time she went to shoot, she relaxed her shoulders and took a deep breath.
Favouritism. I scoffed. I'm not showing favouritism. I was just helping the Stiffs. I looked around and noticed a big guy who hasn't hit the target at all. I could help him to prove I'm not showing favouritism. The only problem was I didn't want to. I still felt the need to help Tris, but not this terrible shot.
Why?
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I'm not sure that I like writing in Eric's POV. I might not do it again for awhile, as I feel my writing is not my best while I'm in his POV.
I'd like to answer a review I got on last chapter!
foreveramused- Thank you so much! And thanks for clearing up the initiate thing, though I feel my choice to make the initiate that fell a transfer from Amity was a good choice, as a Dauntless-born is less likely to miss than a transfer from Amity. I definitely appreciate you telling me though!
Always feel free to leave a review with suggestions on what I should do with this story, as I'm always open to them!
Xoxo,
E.R.M