Drown [Eric Coulter] Divergent

Part XXIX

XXIX

"Steal me, deal me, anyway you heal me

Maim me, tame me, you can never change me

Love me, like me, come ahead and fight me

Please me, tease me, go ahead and leave me" 

"I Think I'm Paranoid" -Garbage

All of the initiates, both Dauntless-born and transfers, found themselves on the train, heading to the dark, unused sections of the faction. Harper hadn't had any experience with the game, but she understood the basics of it. When Eric handed her one of the guns, it felt heavy in her hands, but she stood tall and did not waver under the pressure that Eric was putting on her. Everything felt relatively normal with him again, she was able to diffuse the tension between them and almost entirely between him and Tobias.

He was in a playful, albeit cocky, mood and that was the mood that suited Eric best. She was glad that they were doing something to both even out the playing field and to show the initiates that the faction wasn't all seriousness.

"Harper, you're team captain." Eric grinned, "You can pick first."

Harper had no doubt in her mind who she was going to choose first. "Tobias."

Eric raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. He had seen something growing between Harper and Tobias, but he was not jealous in one way, but was in another. He knew that she was not romantically interested in Tobias Eaton, even though he was much closer to her age than he was. That was not something he had ever worried about with Harper, the both of them were far too attracted to each other to bother with others. But there was something Eric knew Harper identified with Tobias, they were similar in ways that Eric didn't want to think about. This kid was going to be the pulling factor in Harper's decision, and Eric knew that if he wanted Harper to see his way of things, he would have to get Tobias to stay away. He had an idea, but it wouldn't be able to come into play until the initiation was complete, and that might be too late.

Eric made his first pick, and they went back and forth until there was no one left to choose from. Then Eric explained the guns, "These bullets will not harm you, not really. They trigger the neurons in your body to feel the pain of a real bullet. We might be playing a game, but take this as a learning lesson on how you will react when shot at."

"No head shots." Harper added, not knowing if that was a rule, but she certainly wasn't allowing initiates to give each other brain damage.

The train shook slightly as it turned, and Harper glanced at Eric, reaching over and grabbing hold of one of the poles to steady herself. The gun was strapped around her back, and she walked over to Eric. The initiates were all tittering and talking, some nervous, some excited. Those were two emotions that seemed to go hand in hand in Dauntless, Harper had noticed since she had been here.

"How come we never played this when I was an initiate?" Harper asked him.

"Carson hates it," he told her. "She's never been a fun person."

"Don't be too hard on her." Harper adored Carson. "She was a good trainer."

"You took her down on your first fight."

Harper almost said she had been trained to fight by her father, but she held her tongue just in time. "Like I said, she was a good trainer."