Eric's Sister

Chapter 4

I wake up with the firm understanding that my brother is not going to let it be known that I am his sister. He wanted to leave the past behind, he wanted the whole faction before blood. I will give it to him but he doesn't know me anymore. I am not the weak preteen he remembers I have studied and trained. I know i'm meant for Dauntless no matter what he thinks and i'm going to prove it to him and to everyone, starting today.

"Training falls under three stages" Six starts to say. "The first is primarily physical, the second primarily emotional and the third is primarily mental. The stages are not weighed evenly so even if you score low in stage one, you can though difficultly move up in ranks. Now speaking of ranks they are important for two reasons.  First is to pick the order in which you will choose your jobs and the second is to determine who stays and who becomes factionless. There are two cuts at the end of stage one and three, and only the top ten initiates become members."

After she finishes Four hands out a gun to each of us before showing us how to shoot. We all line up in front of targets and try to hit the bull's eye. I lift my gun as he showed us and I aim as best as I can but this is nothing like a bow I pull the trigger and fire. I almost fall over but steady myself quickly. I look around glad that I don't think anyone noticed. I didn't hit the target, but I am just happy to not be the one to fall flat on my ass. A small victory, but a victory none the less. I lift the gun again and this time I am ready for the kick back. I pull the trigger and remain standing there is a small hole on the corner of the target. I try something else. I switch which eye looks down the barrel aim again and fire, letting out a breath as I do. I hit the center of the target. I lower my weapon and smile.

After lunch we are back in the training room.

"Now you will learn to fight." Four speaks. "Today I will show you some moves and tomorrow the fights will begin you will be scored on your fighting and that will determine your official rank for the start of this stage. Are we understood?"

We all nod. Four shows us different punches, kicks and a few blocks while Six walks around us watching and fixing what she sees us do wrong. I feel a bit more relaxed in this since I had started working on fighting as more of a way to protect myself from my father, but at least it's helpful here and now. I am hopeful that I might not lose my first fight and my ranking will be closer to the middle instead of the bottom. With only six of us there is a small margin for error.

The next day I walk into the training room with everyone else and see my brother, Eric in the corner writing on a chalkboard. Next to three people's names are other names the pairings for today's fight. I look for my name, D vs. Ryan. I look around I know he has to be one of the Candor boys James was sitting with but other than that I have no clue. I look at Steph and she points to a boy about a foot taller than me but massively larger than me,  meaning he should be slower. We have the second match so I watch as Chris goes up against James. I hope Chris kicks James' ass, Lord knows he deserves it.  Sadly, after about 10 minutes James knocks Chris out.

I step into the ring and notice Eric fidget as the match starts. I raise my arms and Ryan begins to walk towards me hands up and ready to fight. He throws a hard punch to my ribs and I block it with my left arm as I  throw an uppercut with my right under his chin. He stumbles back a foot and rushes me, he grabs my arms and throws me across the ring. I quickly get back to my feet and try to kick him in the ribs but he grabs my foot so I twist my body enough to throw him off balance jump up and punch him while the momentum carries him to his back and I on top of him making him let go of my leg. I straddle him and punch him in the face till there is blood on my fingers. I see Eric circle my name, a small hard line where his mouth used to be and his eyes slightly widened. I guess I showed him I wasn't so weak anymore.

It's the day before the first cuts and it's also visiting day. The one day when families from different factions can see each other. I am pretty sure that my parents will not be there in the pit waiting for me, based on what I know from my brother our mother only visited on his first visiting day. I figured I would go anyway, and hope I wasn't going to be disappointed.