CHAPTER 15

FOUR POV

Eric and I walk into the training room side by side. The whole dining hall of people seem to be following. This is when my dad speaks up. "The fight will be in the pit in five minutes. Go and get yourselves a good vantage point."

There isn't enough room in the training room for everyone so it is a smart decision to have it in the pit. I am sure there will be more than one accident just from the drunks watching. Someone is sure to try to watch the fight from above and fall. Breaking a few bones or worse die. But that is all part of being Dauntless.

We walk out of the training room and into the pit. Everyone who was in the dining hall is here plus extras. It looks like the whole of Dauntless has heard what is happening and have come to watch the show. I can even see some of the shops have closed their doors and the owners are all out watching.

I don't like having this much attention on me. I don't like any attention on me. I have always been able to hang back and let others take the attention for themselves. It was easily done with Zeke as your best friend. He is always laughing and joking, he is the life of the party. But now I have to step up. I have to be brave. And most of all I have to wipe that smirk of Eric's face for good.

The thought of him having to guard the fence forever makes me smile on the inside. I am not going to show any emotion here, not now. I need to stay focused; I need to stay in control. Amar steps into the centre and says, "Begin."

I get into my fighting stance and I wait. Eric may be a good fighter but he isn't a great fighter. I know he will try and make the first move. I have been watching his fights and he always goes for a hit to the jaw. He tries to stun his opponent quickly so he can then inflict as much damage as possible while the person is still reeling from his first punch.

Then I see it, he has tried to hit me in the jaw. I block the punch and counter with a punch to his stomach. He is momentarily stunned. So I hit him again this time on his jaw. He is moving backwards now but I am moving with him like he is my prey. I want this over with. I want him out of Dauntless, I may not be able to get him out but I can get him as far from me and my friends as possible. And that is all the motivation I need.

I remember every time he has tried to beat me up at school, I remember that coward punch he landed that day. How he then made out that I started it and he got away with it. I want everyone to know what a real coward he is. So I hit him again and again. Each time in the face, every punch is stronger than the last. I then kick his feet out from under him. He is floundering now. He is just throwing wild uncontrolled punches at me. A few connect but they are nothing, there is no strength behind them.

So I bend down on one knee and I just keep punching him in the face. I hear his nose crack, that will definitely be a break. I see a tooth come flying out of his bloodied mouth. I am actually enjoying this now. For every time I have stopped myself from inflicting harm on others I am now taking it all out on Eric. I don't hear the yelling and the cheering but I know it will be there. Dauntless loves a blood bath and it is exactly what I am giving them.

One more punch to the head and I know he is unconscious. I don't care though. I stand up and I start randomly kicking him. I only stop when I feel Amar and dad dragging me away from him.

"Calm down," Amar says. "You need to calm down now."

I look him in the eyes and take a deep breath. "I'm fine, it's okay, I'm fine," I say. I know I'm not fine and that it isn't okay. I feel like I have just taken my first steps towards being just like Marcus. I know I enjoyed that fight a little too much. And this is why I haven't wanted to fight, I know that I could turn out just like Marcus; I can feel it in my bones. It is always just there below the surface, waiting to appear and today it did. I might have won the fight but it doesn't feel like a victory to me. I feel like I am turning into the person that I never wanted to become.

"Don't beat yourself up son; you did what you had too. He asked for it and you gave him what he wanted," dad says. He knows what I am thinking, we have had so many nights of me talking about why I don't want to fight and that I don't want to turn out like Marcus.

Part of me knows what he is saying is true, but the other part of me feels sick at what I was able to inflict upon Eric. "Go get a shower and come back and party with your friends. It's your night we can talk about this tomorrow, go enjoy yourself you deserve it," dad says.

And while I am feeling a range of negative emotions about myself at the moment. I also know that I have been waiting for this day for so long. Now I am able to party as a Dauntless member, a real Dauntless member. So I am going to take dads' advice and go and have a shower and then I will party.