Another chapter! YAY! Thanks to my reviewers:flaawerable,Guest, MelHispana, LuvLyfe and DauntlessProdigy4Life! You guys are the best!
After dinner my brother and Tris disappear, leaving Eric to lead the transfers out of the dining hall, and into a medium sized room with nine iron beds placed equidistant from each other. Plain white duvets cover the mattresses. Each bed is made with the kind of symmetry you see in an orphanage. Or a prison.
"There are some things you all need to know about initiation, I'm only going to say them once so listen up!" He shouts, his voice so cold he could have frozen everything in the room.
"There are three stages to initiation, the first is physical, the second two are both emotional and mental. Each stage of initiation will be ranked, although not equally, so if you score badly during the first stage it is difficult, but not impossible to move up the ranks." Eric opens his mouth to continue but a small voice comes from just in front of me cutting him off.
"What are the ranks for?" A small erudite girl chips in. She looks like she's spent her entire life in a library and I wonder why she choose Dauntless of all places.
"The ranking will serve two purposes. The first being that it will determine what jobs you go into post initiation. There are only a few good ones the rest of you will be on guard duty."
An evil smile twists across his face before he continues and I know something bad is about to happen. "The second reason is that only the top ten initiates will made members of Dauntless."
A sharp pain stabs through my stomach. Maybe I wont be Dauntless after all.
"What?" Claudia asks a look of horror plastered on her pretty face, that is also displayed in her voice.
"There are ten Dauntless borns and nine of you. Four will be cut after stage one, and the rest at the end."
A wave of horror washes over my body. Leaving me cold and shivering. Even if we make it through all three stages of initiation five of us will not make it in anyway.
Considering we are being ranked with the Dauntless borns, my chances of making it in are slim. Claudia casts me a look from the corner of her eye, but I cannot look at her. My eyes are locked on Eric.
"What will happen to the initiates that are cut?" The muscled Candor asks.
"You will be asked to leave the compound and live factionless." Eric's response is hard, and theres no mercy behind his eyes. I beginning to wonder if he ever feels anything.
A mousy Amity sobs from the back of the room. I do not feel sadness like the Amity, I feel only hard, cold resolution. I will be a member.
"No-one told us that! If I had known-" Brianna starts before Eric cuts her off.
"You wouldn't have chosen Dauntless? If thats the case then you can leave now , because you clearly weren't made for life here." He turns to leave the dormitory, but just before he disappears completely he whizzes round on his heel. "You chose us, now it's time for us to choose you."
That night as I lay in bed I heard the breathing of eight other teenagers, and the crying of another. Brianna. I know I should get up and talk to her, but I do not have the energy.
This is the first time I have slept away from my cold, grey Abnegation house. This is not what I imagined my first night away from home to feel like.
Even surrounded by other people I feel just as cold, and isolated as I did in Abnegation. The overwhelming fear of being made to live factionless invades every corner of my mind.
I'd rather be dead than factionless. I'd rather be dead than have no dignity at all.
I don't remember drifting off that night, but I am awoken by the sound of my brothers voice echoing through the dormitory. "Alright! Everyone up, you have 10 minutes to meet me in the dining hall!"
I heave a huge sigh before pulling myself out of the uncomfortable bed. When I sit up I see, Claudia sitting in exactly the same position one bed over from me. "Good Night?" I ask, pulling on a fresh black t-shirt.
'Yeah not too bad." She mutters, her voice heavy with sleep.
I decide to abandon any further attempts at conversation, until the two of us have laced our boots and are trudging out to the dining hall 7 minutes later.
"What do you think trainings going to be like?" Claudia looks towards me, worry piercing through her bright eyes.
"I dunno," I shrug. "It can't be too bad though can it? I mean were all beginners."
"Apart from that Candor. What was his name? Andrew?" Claudia turns to me as if I'm expected to know the name of the violent first jumper.
"No clue." Is the last thing I have chance to say before we arrive in the dining hall. The only people here are Tris and Four stood in the back corner talking quietly to each other. I check the clock; 6:28. Must be too early for most Dauntless.
When the two Dauntless notice us standing in the dining hall they quickly break off their conversation, turn and stride towards us. Their steps in perfect synchronisation.
"Alright Jane?" My brother grunts there are deep bags under his eyes, and his voice is drawn with exhaustion.
"What's up with you?" I ask, ignoring his question completely.
"Oh nothing, nothing," He mutters absently picking at his cuticle. I see Tris shoot him a concerned look out of the corner of her eye, but before she has time to voice her concerns a gaggle of transfers arrive in the doorway of the dining hall.
Four scans the group doing a quick head count before beginning to talk. "Right! For the next four weeks, you will be taking part in Stage 1 of initiation. This is all about pushing your bodies to the absolute limits, and showing us that you can survive in Dauntless!" His voice echoes through the dining hall almost evilly.
"If you follow me through to the Training Room, we can get straight on with the first thing, which is learning how to shoot." Tris' voice is much milder as she addresses before turning on her heel, and exiting the dining hall behind her boyfriend.
The initiates scurry after them, trying to match their quick purposeful strides with our own shuffling ones.
They lead us back through the darkened Pit, which was is much quieter in the middle of a working day than it had been the previous evening.
There was no time to dwell on this though, as we were led quickly along a corridor branching off from the right side of the Pit.
After walking along the corridor for a few moments, it opened out into a large, grey painted room. The room seemed to be split in half for different aspects of training.
In the half nearest to us red punching bags were hung on a rail with big thick chains holding them securely in place on the metal bar. A series of mats took up the rest of the side of the room, all surrounding a fighting ring.
In the half further away, were 15 human shaped targets stood equidistant from each other. Each of the human outlines were marked by rings, that got progressively smaller and smaller until in the centre of the outline a small circle sat, marking bulls eye.
"The first thing you will learn to do as Tris said, is shoot." Fours barks once we've stopped looking around in awe.
He walks over to a table covered in identical guns, which I hadn't noticed before. Picks up the nearest one, and stands in front of the centre target. Tobias sucks a deep breath in shuffles his feet outwards slightly and exhales again, before pressing his finger down on the trigger.
The gun bangs so loud that I and several other initiates have to cover our ears and duck our heads down. When I emerge I see that right in the centre circle of the target, was a small round bullethole.
Let training begin.
So this one is mainly a filler… sorry! On a happy note today is my birthday :) :) YAYYYY!
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