JAX [1]

•Chapter 4: Training Day 1•

(Time Skip)

I woke up to the sound of something being pounded on metal. I sat up and saw Four at the stairs.

"I want everyone in the Pit." He said. "2 minutes." He walked up the stairs and out. I sighed, laying back down.

(Time Skip)

"There are 2 stages of training." Four said as he walked back and forth in front of us. "The first is physical. Push your bodies to the breaking point and you'll master the methods of combat. The second is mental, again, breaking point. You'll face your worst fears and conquer them unless they get your first. You'll be trained separately from the Dauntless-born, but you'll be ranked together." He pointed over at the Dauntless born. "After initiations, rankings will determine what jobs you move into: Leadership, guarding the fence, or keeping the Factionless from killing each other."

"The ranking will also determine who gets cut." Eric said. Me, Tris, and Chris glanced at each other.

"Cut?" Chris asked. Eric got off the rubble he was sitting on.

"At the end of each stage of training, the lowest-ranking initiates will be leaving us." Eric said, walking over to us.

"To do what?" Al asked.

"There's no going home to your families, so you'd live Factionless." Eric said.

"Why didn't we know that?" Will asked.

"It's a new rule." Eric said.

"A new rule?" Chris asked. "Somebody should have told us that."

"Why?" Eric asked. "Would you have chosen differently? Out of fear? I mean, if that's the case, you might as well get out now. If you're really one of us, it won't matter to you that you might fail. Now, you chose us. Now, we get to choose you."

(Time Skip)

We watched a fight between a guy and Four. Four won which wasn't really surprising. Next, we were practicing shooting guns. I missed. I missed again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again.

"Statistically speaking, you should have hit the target at least once by now." Will said. "Even by accident."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Will." I said, sarcastically. I pulled the trigger and missed again. I sighed in annoyance.

(Time Skip)

We were jogging when we stopped by some Dauntless guards.

"Hey." Four said. "What have you got?"

"Factionless." One guard said. "Not doing anything."

"Check it out, Princess, that's gonna be your new family." Peter said. The Factionless just stared at us. "Go say hi."

"Go screw yourself, Peter." I said.

(Time Skip)

I was practicing fighting with Al.

"First jumper!" I heard Eric say. I looked over at him. "In the ring." I sighed and walked to the ring. "Last jumper! Time to fight." I walked up onto the mat as Molly did too.

"How long do we fight for?" She asked.

"Till one of you can't continue." Eric said as they surrounded us.

"Or one of you concedes." Four said, glancing at me for a second.

"According to the old rules." Eric said. "New rules, no one concedes."

"You really want to lose 'em on their first fight?" Four asked.

"A brave man never surrenders." Eric said.

"Lucky for you, those weren't the rules when we fought." Four said.

"You'll be scored on this, so fight hard." Eric said, ignoring Four. We just looked at Eric. "Go." I got into a fighting position. She started stalking towards me. I backed up and walked around in a circle.

"Don't be scared, Princess!" Peter commented. I rolled my eyes. She threw a punch at me, but I dodged. I threw a punch at her, but she dodged and ended up punching me in the face. I ran at her, but she caught me and punched me in the stomach. She let me go and punched me in the face, knocking me to the ground. I was gonna stand up, but she punched me in the face, knocking me down.

(Time Skip)

I held an ice pack to my cheek, sitting on the bench. Tris was sitting with me. She lost her fight too.

"Alright, guys, over here." Eric said, leading the others to a board. "Listen, up." We got up and ran over as it showed the names. "Know what this board is? It's your life. We grade you every day. If you're still in the red by the end of the first stage, you're out." I looked and saw Tris was 32. I looked for my name and found I was the very last one.

(Time Skip)

"I'm never gonna make it above that line." I said.

"Me neither." Tris said.

"Yes, you are." Chris said, tying her shoes.

"I'm the weakest one here." I said.

"Then you'll be the most improved." Chris said.

"Candors aren't supposed to lie." I said.

"I was Candor." She said, sitting down on her bed. She crossed her legs underneath her. "And I'm not lying."

"If they cut me, I think my parents would take me back." Al said.

"No, it doesn't work like that." Will said, taking off his boots. "Even if they wanted to, their faction wouldn't allow it."

"Even if my parents would take me back, I wouldn't belong there anymore." Tris said.

"Even if Amity wouldn't allow them to take me back, my mom would." I said.

"Your mom would seriously disobey the rules like that?" Will asked.

"My mom was Candor." I said. "She was good at lying to the people in charge. But she moved to Amity to get away from all the people they were making Factionless. I know she would try to take me back, but I couldn't let her die for me."

"What about your dad?" Al asked.

"Born Amity." I said. "He doesn't have a betraying bone in his body. Even if he wanted to take me back, he wouldn't be able to break the rules. It goes against everything we stood for. Kindness, happiness, doing the moral thing. But when it's not the moral thing that's gonna save you, we have to do the lawful thing."

"This is getting depressing." Chris said. Will chuckled.

"Yeah." He said.

"You know what we should do?" She asked. "Get tattoos."