This chapter is so long! Oh my goodness, I'm sorry if that's not your thing. I'm just trying to get the plot rolling so I can add some romance between the characters.

"Today is going to be busy for you. You're going to learn how to shoot a gun, and then after lunch you're going to learn how to win a fight," Lance told us as he passed out guns. "It's all preparation for the first stage of initiation."

"How many stages are there?" Elijah, a Candor transfer, asked as he held the gun gingerly in his hands.

"There are three stages: physical, emotional, and mental," Lance explained. "Each stage has different point values so, in theory, you can completely bomb one of them and still get a high rank if you do really well on the others. I'm going to warn you that the second stage is the hardest. The fearscapes can change who you are as a person and change how you think about and see the world, but we're not going to get into that until the time comes."

We were training outside to day and the wind was non-existent and the sun was shining bright. I had my hair tied on top of my head as usual, but this time I had a scrap of fabric wrapped around my head to hold back my baby hairs. I'd seen a couple of Dauntless women who wore their hair longer do the same thing and immediately latched onto it.

We were outside of this training and I loved the way the sun felt on my face. My hair was tied up on top of my head and I had wrapped a scrap of fabric wrapped around my head to keep back my baby hairs. I'd gotten the idea from a few other Dauntless females that kept their hair longer and immediately latched onto it.

The gun felt foreign in my hands, too heavy and cold, and it scared me a little bit. In Amity guns were completely prohibited for any reason. The fact that they were given out so readily to us, who have only been in the Faction for two days, was crazy to me. What if someone decided to hurt another person with it? Then I thought about what I would've done to have this gun the night Wyatt happened and realized they weren't that bad. I don't think I could've killed him, but I definitely could've wounded him. I guess Lance wasn't lying when he said the Factions were complete opposites, I could only belong to one and this one seemed to be a good fit.

There was another set of targets about thirty feet from us except they had three dots in a vertical line down them. Lance had his own gun, standing in front of the group of us. He was going to show us how to shoot the gun correctly and let us go, much like us with the knives yesterday.

He stood with his feet flat on the ground, shoulders' length apart. He held the gun with both of his hands, one of them cupping the bottom and the other holding the handle part. He had his index finger on the trigger and his eyes locked on the target. When he pressed the trigger, I thought my ears were going to start bleeding.

"Damn, that is loud!" I told Kadence, watching as the bullet hit the middle dot perfectly.

I made my body match Lance's and pulled the trigger of the gun after he told us to start. I had no idea that guns recoiled, Lance's body didn't show that. I thought my hand was going to fall off it was aching so badly, but I'd learned from that. I knew that guns recoiled and I had to tense my body so it didn't get thrown back. I could do that.

I shook the tension out of my body and got back into firing position. I steeled myself into standing still when I pulled the trigger this time. I saw the bullet hit right along the outside of the top blue circle. It only took a couple more shots for me to hit the center target, perfectly in the center.

I was reloading my gun when I heard someone scream. I looked around quickly and saw that a stray bullet must've hit Elijah because he was lying flat on his back with his hand clutching his chest. I was so happy that we'd put on protective vests earlier or he would be seriously hurt. I heard Kadence apologizing profusely as Lance's laughter filled the air.

"It looks like we've got the first hit of stage one," he announced, making his way over to Elijah to make sure he was okay. "There's not blood, but there will definitely be a bruise there tomorrow. This happens every year except sometimes the initiate that gets shot isn't as lucky."

After Elijah got back up and we were reassured that he wasn't dead, we got back to shooting. By the time lunch came around, I was very proud of what my plywood looked like. There was a scattering of bullet holes all around it, but they were mostly at the center dot. Apparently I had a genuine talent for shooting guns. I almost see everyone in Amity throwing a shit fit and giving me the Peace Serum if they knew and it made me smile.

I handed the gun back to Lance along with my protective vest like the one that saved Elijah's life. He seemed to be getting better, his dark skin losing its ashen look. He even hit the center dot a few times. Kadence kept apologizing to him and he was eating it up. He even wrapped his arm around her shoulders and told her not to worry about it, making her face turn bright pink but not pull out of his embrace.

"It's a good thing you're better with a gun than a knife," T remarked, sitting down beside me at the table. "I was starting to worry about your rank, Rhys."

I punched him hard in the shoulder and saw him wince. "I wasn't, I'm good at this and it's where I'm supposed to be!"

After lunch we relocated to the training room. It was a lot hotter in there than outside so I quickly shed my sweatshirt in favor of my racer-back tank top and my cargo pants. I looked around the room and saw that it had been altered slightly since yesterday. A chalkboard was had been placed on one of the walls with our names written on it in alphabetical order. There were also punching bags hanging from the ceiling all through the room, replacing where the targets were yesterday.

"Now you're going to how to fight. This is going to prepare you to act, how to respond to any challenges or threats that come your way. It's a skill you're going to need if you end up in Dauntless," Lance instructed, walking the floor in front of us as he lectured. "Today you're going to learn about techniques and tomorrow you're going to fight. If you don't pay attention, you're going to get seriously hurt so I suggest you do."

Lance started to show us different types of punches, both in the air and against the punching bag. I took very detailed notes in my head about what he was doing. I had to figure out how to hold my own in that ring. I couldn't be beaten or I would be Factionless and I knew that. No matter how against fighting I was, this was something that I had to do to make a better life for myself.

I hit the punching bag gently a couple of times to get the feel of it before going to town on it. I tried to recreate all that I'd seen Lance do just seconds before. I was hitting the bag as hard as I could, with as much power as I could pack into it, but the bag was barely swinging on its chain. I felt my knuckles start pulsating. They were going to either be swollen or cracked open in the morning.

"Try planting your foot before you throw your punches, it'll give you more balance and you won't lose the force behind the punches trying to stand upright," Eric told me from his bag just behind me. "Tense your stomach but leave everything else limp. Core tension makes your muscles, what little ones you have, pack more of a punch."

I wanted to scream at him for talking to me, for putting himself into a situation with me after I told him not to. I had no idea what to make of him still and it infuriated me! Instead of doing any of that, I used that anger and frustration to hit the bag. It moved forward a little bit more but not as much as I wanted it to.

Even after Lance dismissed us for the night, I stayed after and worked with the bag more. I started to work my legs and feet into what I was doing until I was satisfied with the results. I kept working the bag until I was achy and exhausted and headed to the showers.

The water felt amazing on my sore muscles, the pulses of it working the aches out of my joints. By the time I was dried off and in sleep clothes, I felt pretty good. I could shoot a gun really well and throw a knife pretty well. I could use my body as a weapon, but I wouldn't know how well until tomorrow when we had the fights. I just hoped it was well enough to secure a good ranking.

My knuckles weren't as beaten up as I thought they would be when I woke up the next morning. They were a nice shade of purple, but they weren't split open and I was thankful. I pushed that thought away as I got dressed fo the fights today. I wore the tight pants called leggings according to Maddison, the girl from the roof on the first day. I wore a sports bra with a tank top over it and my hair in a tight braid behind my head. I thought ahead and tucked the bottom part inside, securing it with pins, so no one could use it as a weapon against me. I knew I couldn't out-brawn any of them, but I could outsmart some of them.

We all gathered in the training room again, but the chalkboard had changed. The names were split into pairs with mine beside a girl from Candor named Bailey. She was taller than me, but we had the same slight build. I had to be faster and move my legs up to her torso, it was a weak point. If I get her bent over, I could take her down and I knew that. A knee to the kidney or a chop to the side of her neck should do that or-

"Stop calculating and listen to Lance talk," T told me, elbowing me in the ribs. "You can calculate later, you need to hear the rules."

I hit his shoulder with mine playfully before focusing on what Lance was saying. "You will fight each other until you can't continue or you concede. There is no shame in conceding, but know that if you do, your rank will reflect that decision."

"Oh wow, I'm glad I listened to those rules," I whispered to T as a big Candor transfer named Frankie went up against an equally big Amity transfer named Leo.

Amity may be peaceful, but some of the boys were huge from all the lugging and packing of crops that they did. I'd seen Leo around, he was one of Wyatt's friends. That made me nervous around him, but he hadn't even acknowledged my existence so I assumed he just thought I was another face in the crowd and I clung to that. The last thing I wanted was for him to know what happened in those orchards that night because I knew it would be Wyatt's version and that wasn't what happened.

They circled each other for a minute before Frankie struck out and hit Leo square in the jaw. The sheer force of the blow would've knocked anyone else out, but Leo just stumbled back a little. He reached forward and grabbed Frankie's arm, wrenching him close with it much like Eric had done to me yesterday.

With his arm tightly in one hand, Leo slammed his fist up into Frankie's nose. It started spurting blood everywhere and disoriented him enough that Leo let him go and punched him in the side, knocking him to the ground. So that move did work to knock someone down, I was right.

I figured the fight would be over, but Frankie had another idea. He grabbed Leo's ankle and pulled down onto the mat with him. He flipped over onto Leo and held his hands down with his knees on his wrists; he was acting disoriented when he really wasn't! I would have to remember that for when I fought.

The fight went on for a little while longer as Frankie beat the hell out of Leo. He didn't tap out, but I'm sure he thought about it. The color of his face reminded me of the painting that the little kids did in school. So many different colors on one thing that they ran together to make a dirty black color.

"Winner: Frankie!" Lance announced. "Next fight, Kadence and Maddison."

That made my stomach clench uncomfortably as I watched them climb up onto the platform. Kadence held out her hand and Maddison took it, shaking it. That hadn't been asked of us, but I really respected the two of them for doing so. It showed that we were civilized, not total barbarians like the other Factions thought.

As soon as Kadence dropped her hand, Maddison launched herself. Kadence hit the floor with the bigger girl on top of her quickly. She hadn't been smart enough to wear her hair up and she seemed to be regretting it big time as Maddison used to hold her still so she could punch her face easier.

I reached down and grabbed T's hand in mine, lacing our fingers together as Kadence spit blood onto the floor. I watched her, willing her to do something, but she just stayed still. Then she used all of her body weight to knock Maddison off of her and stand back up. Their fight was pretty evenly matched until Maddison grabbed her feet and knocked her flat onto her back for a second time. Her head hit the ground so hard that it completely knocked her unconscious.

"Winner: Maddison," Lance announced, allowing T to take Kadence to the infirmary. "Next fight, Rhys and Bailey."

My chest was uncomfortably tight as I walked up to the mat with the other girl. I extended my hand to her, but she just knocked it out of the way. Okay, she was a bitch; that was going to make it easier to beat her.

I kept tension in my stomach as I watched Bailey for a weakness. She only covered her face or her torso, never both at once. I took a deep breath before striking up with my foot into her side, hitting her kidney. While she was bent over, I clenched my fist tightly and connected it with her cheekbone. She hit the ground hard and tried to grab my ankles, but I stepped around her.

I trapped her arms under my knees like Frankie had done to Leo, digging them into the tender part of her wrist. I threw my fist at her face again and saw blood start flowing freely from her nose, soaking my leg in it. I punched her one more time and felt a twinge in my stomach that made me want to vomit.

This wasn't what I wanted to be, I didn't want to beat someone senseless to prove that I was brave. My stomach was full of uncomfortable knots as bile rose in my throat, I couldn't do this and I wouldn't do this.

"Tap out!" I told her, digging my knees in deeper. "I don't want to hurt you, tap out!"

She shook her head and struggled in vain underneath me. This was terrible, I couldn't do this anymore. I didn't care how it affected my rank, this wasn't right. I stood up and held my hands in a surrender motion.

"I'm done!" I announced, standing up and stepping off of the map.

"Excuse me?" Lance asked, walking up to me and staring me down. "You were winning, why did you tap out? Get back over there and finish your fight."

"Being brave doesn't mean beating someone until they pass out. That's being a coward in my book," I said. "I'll take whatever rank that gives me, but I'm not going to fight her when she can't fight back."

I walked back over to Bailey and offered her my hand, pulling her up to her feet. I didn't look back at any of them, I just walked her to the infirmary with my head held high. She didn't say a word to me, but I didn't blame her. I'd hurt her pride by tapping out without getting a mark on me, but even if I didn't do it for her. I did it for me and my mental health. I don't think I could've handled beating her unconscious, I would've let it eat away at me until I drove myself insane.

I handed her off to one of the nurses before going over to check on Kadence. T was standing by her bedside, watching over her with his arms crossed over his chest and a severe frown on his face. She was still unconscious, but her coloring was better than before. I sat down beside her on the bed and brushed the stray hair out of her face, proud that she'd stood her ground even if Maddison won, she didn't concede.

"You two need to go back to training, I've got this under control," the nurse said, shooing us out of the infirmary and closing the door behind us.

"You're not going to be mad at me when I beat up your boyfriend, are you?" T asked me as we walked back to the training center. When I raised my brow, he explained, "I'm up against Eric and I don't want you to get all pissy when I beat him up."

I punched him as hard as I could in the arm and smiled when I saw him flinch. We walked back to the training center just as Mariah, a girl from Amity, knocked Ben, a boy from Erudite, unconscious with a knee to his temple. I guess they weren't kidding when they said that we had to learn to fight anyone, which meant girls fighting boys without any questions being asked or arguments being made.

"Winner: Mariah," Lance announced. "Next fight, T and Eric."

"Good luck," I told T, squeezing his hand before watching him go up to the mat with Eric not far behind.

They were built very differently, but somehow they looked like they were evenly matched. Eric seemed to be all brute strength with broad shoulders and well-muscled to match. T was slight and lean, that meant he was going to be faster than Eric. I just hoped he didn't get too hurt, Eric was already arrogant enough without adding beating T to his list of accomplishments.

Eric didn't waste any time, he launched himself at T with fists raised. T dodged the blow and rounded on Eric, punching him straight to the ribs. Eric lost his bearings for a second before he threw another punch at T, this time his kidneys. T winced and struggled for breath, but he didn't stop fighting. He brought his knee up into Eric's stomach, taking him by surprise and opening him up for chop to the side of his neck.

Eric shook his self before cupping his hands on T's ears and popping them. He then brought his own knee up into T's stomach, making me groan and clutch it. I figured he'd be too disoriented to fight back, but he grabbed Eric's arm and forced him to the ground. Then he started punching Eric's face harshly, leaving no room for a fight on Eric's part.

I finally saw Eric hitting the ground with his open palm violently. T immediately stopped and stood up, wiping his hands clean of blood and looking at the ground. I knew Eric was going to be on the warpath now that he'd been beaten and it was going to be directed towards T and possibly me because we friends.

"Winner: T," Lance announced. "That's the last fight so we're going to end training early today. I would suggest getting a good night's sleep. We're running laps until you puke and working out all day tomorrow to prepare for final fights."

"What do you mean final fights? Wasn't that what this is?" Elijah asked.

"This was a way of showing you your standing now. You're going to do strength and endurance training for the next week before final fights," he told us. "That's the last part of this stage and first cuts will happen."

"First cuts? How many of us will be gone?" Frankie asked.

"Only the top ten will make it to the next stage," he answered before leaving the room in a dramatic fashion, much like every other time.

T and I made our way back to the infirmary to check on Kadence. I was overjoyed to see that she was sitting up and gingerly sipping on a straw in her water glass. When she saw us, her eyes lit up and she sat the cup down on the table beside her bed.

"What happened after my fight? How'd yours go? Am I going to get cut because I didn't win?" she asked rapid-fire.

"T kicked Eric's ass from the training room back to the Amity compound," I bragged for him because I knew he wouldn't. I couldn't fight my smile when I saw his cheeks turn pink. "He may even be ranked at the top right now."

"It wasn't that great," he said quietly. "I'm going to have bruised ribs for the next week anyway."

"Way to go! I knew you could kick some ass, Abnegation!" she said, holding up her hand for a high-five. "This is one of those high-fives Rhys taught you about the other day."

He sneered at her before slapping his palm against hers. "I may not be from Erudite, but I'm not a total moron, thanks."

"You're going to rank higher than I am," I told Kadence. "I tapped out."

"Huh? You don't even have a scratch on you," T observed, looking me over. "Why did you tap out?"

"I couldn't justify beating someone to a pulp that wasn't fight me back," I explained. "She refused to tap out so I did. I'm going to take whatever ranking I get because I deserve it."

"That was pretty brave, Rhys. I wouldn't rank you low for that," T said appreciatively, sitting down on the other side of Kadence's bed.

"It was brave," Lance said, making us all jump at his sudden appearance. "But Dauntless doesn't make rebels, it makes soldiers who take orders. You're a good fighter, but you can't let your conscious keep you from winning."

I wanted to fight him about that, but I kept my mouth shut. I needed to learn that that was how things worked in Dauntless. I needed to learn how to fight better and hold my own on the mat, maybe even how to knock someone unconscious.

"I'll keep that in mind," I told him. "But I skipped dinner and I'm starving. Do you guys want to join me while I get a snack?"

"Yes! I'm starving, I was too nervous to eat earlier," Kadence said, standing up and holding onto my arm. "Got a little dizzy, but I'm good now."

"Are you sure? Do you want to lay down longer? I can bring you something to eat," I told her.

She shook her head and drug me out of the infirmary with T following behind us. I realized then that that was our friendship in a nutshell. Kadence and I doing something stupid and him just following to make sure we were safe. That as nice, I'd never had friends that watched my back before.

Thank you so much for reading!