"I was hurt, I was broken..." I said to Eric as I was sitting on the edge of the bed.
"He left me when I needed him the most." I finished, tears wanted to stream down my face, but I fought them back. "These scars were made in anger when he left." I...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"You keep leaving yourself open." Eric said to me as I tapped his forearm twice, he lets go of my neck and I lean over taking in deep breaths. "Alright, lets go over that again." He said picking my shoulder up. "Through your nose." He said, I nodded breathing in through my nose. "Alright, now show me that arm twist lock." He ordered, I nodded, he puts one hand on my neck and I use one hand to twist it to the side, spin into him and elbow him, but he stops that hit with one of his hands.
"Remember what I told you to do." He said, I nodded and step on his foot, then hit his face with the back of my head. He lost his grip on my elbow, so I unspin myself, wrap my leg around his arm and neck, twist my body and he falls as I hold his arm in a lock. He grunts as I pull him back and he uses all his strength to grab his hand with his free arm, and he takes a grip on it. He slowly starts picking me up, and then slams me on the ground, I lost my grip as I gasped feeling like my back broke into two.
"You should've knocked me out when you had the chance." He said looking down at me. "I didn't want to hurt you." I said out of breath, he leans on me and places one arm over my head to the side of my face.
"You will need to." He said, his face centimeters from me.
"Did you have to do it?" I whispered to him as he starts leaning into me more. "Yes." He answered, I cupped one of his cheeks and he closed his eyes leaning more. His lips touch mine, but I turn my head so he fully makes contact with my cheek, I hear him let out a sigh and he moved away from me.
"Today you have gun training." He said getting up and grabbing his jacket from the ground. I lift myself up and he puts on his boots, I felt awkward as he was tying his boots and I walked towards him. "Every morning before anyone wakes up, you meet me in the hall close to the bridge." He said standing up fully and looking down at me. "You're going to teach me?" I asked him and he nods. "Now go back to your bed." He ordered handing me my boots, I nodded and grabbed them.
~~~
"How are you still shooting the same spot?" Will asked me as I shot the dummy again through the same hole. "I don't know, I'm surprised myself." I answered and feel someone stand behind me. "On your feet, Ella." I hear Tobias ordered me, I stopped shooting and got up from my knees.
"Shoot the head of the dummy." He adds, I nodded aiming my gun at the dummy's head and let out a breath. I pulled the trigger, feeling the pressure of the gun hit my shoulder and I see that the bullet went through the head.
"She shoots better than you, Four." Eric compliments me, I look to the side to look at him and he gave me a very, very tiny smile. He gives me a subtle wink and I feel myself blush, Tobias lets me keep practicing on my shooting and I felt like I belonged here for the first time, yet I felt like something was missing.
~~~
"Come on keep up." Tobias ordered the transfers, he jumped over a broken concrete wall, so I did the same. "I still need to talk to you." He said as I kept my pace as we ran and I glanced at him. "What? So you can abandon me again?" I questioned him as I start breathing hard a bit, he slows down as we both see some of the factionless.
Then we come a complete stop as Tobias gets close to a man watching them like a hawk. "Hey, what have you got?" Tobias asked him. "Factionless. Not doing anything." The man answered, I took in a deep breath looking at them walking so depressively. "They deserve a place to stay." I muttered, Tobias heard me and spoke to me. "They belong nowhere. They're not kind, smart, brave, selfless or honest." Tobias said to me, I looked at him and shook my head.
"Everyone belongs. They just didn't live to the expectations." I added looking back at them, I heard a baby cry and I see the woman shivering in the cold holding her baby. "They're not good enough for any faction." Tobias said and I shook my head still looking at the woman. "I know that feeling." I said, I untied the sweater from my waist and make my way towards the woman. "Ella!" Tobias called for me. "Is she crazy?" Peter questioned. "Initiate! Get back here!" Tobias called, raising his voice. The woman holding her baby looks up at me, and I stood in front of her.
"Here." I said handing her my sweater, she gracefully takes it and puts it over her baby. The baby stops crying slowly and she lets out a relieved sigh, then she looks up at me. "Thank you so much." She said, her voice sounding so hoarse, her eyes brimmed with tears and she takes a hold of my hand.
"Someone stole her blanket, and she was so cold. Thank you so much." She said her voice breaking and I nodded. "I'm very sorry they stole the blanket." I apologized and she shook her head. "Initiate!" Tobias called for me. "Thank you." She whispered letting go of my hand and looking down at her now sleeping baby, I start walking back to my brother and his face did not show anger.
"You still haven't changed." He said low enough so only I could hear.
~~~
"How are you so good at this?" Will asked me as I was doing this fight routine they told us to do with a partner. "I don't know." I answered a bit breathless, he chuckled and kept going. "Ella! Peter! On center mat!" I hear a voice call, everyone stopped practicing and I looked at Will confused, who shrugged in response confused like me.
"Now." Eric ordered, I walk away from Will to the center mat and Peter gets on it with a cocky smile. "I'm not going to take it easy on you, stiff." Peter said to me as I looked at Eric who stood in the middle, outside of the mat. "I never asked you to." I said looking at Peter and he shook his arms.
"You'll both be fighting against each other, winner wins an ego trip and points for the top spot." Tobias explained and we both looked at him confused. "You both are currently fighting for first place." Eric said seeing our confused faces, I feel my heart race and I looked at Peter who was cracking his knuckles. "Ready to be second place, sweetie?" He asked getting into his fighting stance. "I don't know, you've been the one there before. You tell me." I retorted, Chris chuckled at my comeback and I get into my fighting stance.
Peter slowly starts walking towards me and throws his fist.
