Back To You // Peter Hayes

kuebiko

a state of exhaustion inspired by acts of violence

The wind was cold up on the roof of the compound, it bit at whatever parts of my skin were exposed, of course Four picked the coldest day of the season to first try out target practice. My breath formed clouds in front of my face as I puffed in and out, bouncing on my toes slightly to stay warm. We were each handed a gun and told to line ourselves up with a target, "Okay, so the first task of today is learning to shoot a gun. This afternoon we will move on to physical combat!" Four shouted over the loud whistling of the wind,

"So....what-" Peter yawned through his words, "What does....shooting a gun have to do with bravery?"

Four ripped Peter's gun out of his hands and held it against his forehead, clicking a bullet into place as Peter stared wide-eyed down the barrel, "Wake. Up. You're holding a gun," he warned, "Act like it." Peter stepped back and pulled himself together, slightly nodding at Four before glaring at the ground by his feet. I snickered with a slight smirk tugging at my cheek, earning a deathly glare from Peter.

The targets were fluorescent orange mannequins nailed to a thin spire of wood with holes blasted through from past training sessions. I stepped up to one between Will and Al, placing the butt of my gun at my shoulder and locking my arm onto the side of it, gunshots fired around me with their echoing sound ringing in my ears and I fired my own gun. The blast was stronger than I expected and made me stumble back slightly, I'd read all about guns while I was at Erudite, how could I forget to keep a fighting stance? Mentally scolding myself, I repositioned my feet so I could lean into the gun and fired again. The bullet hit the arm of the mannequin, it was the final blow to cause the forearm to fall off the body completely,

"Statistically speaking, you should have hit the target at least once by now, even by accident." I heard Will say to Tris, who was on the other side of him and she hadn't hit her target at all. I hope she improves, it'll be sad to see her go if she's cut. On the other hand, she's a stiff, she doesn't have much of a chance.

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Four ran ahead at the front of the group, he was leading us in what he called a 'light jog', everyone was panting heavily in their sweat soaked t-shirts and trousers that stuck to my legs in an uncomfortable manner. I steadied my breathing and broke my step in beside Edward at the front of the group, who seemed like he wasn't bothered by the sweat dripping into his eyes like the rest of us. It was clear he would be top of the class, he was the only competition I ever had back at Erudite in Gym and I rarely ever beat him. We reached a guard station just outside a factionless shelter and Four stepped up to one of the guards,

"Hey. What have you got?" he asked the guard

"Factionless. Not doing anything." he replied,

"Check it out, Nose. That's gonna be your new family." Peter appeared at my side, nodding towards the factionless in front of us, "Go say hi." I elbowed him in the stomach, winding him as he stumbled backwards and doubled over, "Shit." I heard him mumble.

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Each of us had paired up with someone to run through hand-to-hand combat drills. Myra stood in front of me and we practised our punching with the protective pads. She wouldn't be my first choice to pair up with, she was so fragile and weak, I felt like looking at her the wrong way might just snap her in half. But being one of the few people that are the same size as me, she thought it would be the best idea. Eric entered the room with his usual unimpressed expression and called out to everyone,

"First jumper, in the ring." he looked at Tris, "Last jumper, time to fight." the big girl from Candor, Molly, stepped up onto the platform, eyeing up Tris like a meal,