The Leader

5

The door slams shut and I glance up to see Eric walk in, a smirk present on his face. That's not good. I get up from stretching and face him, awaiting instruction.

"You ready, initiate?" Eric says, his muscled frame towering over me. I gulp and nod even though I am far from ready. "That's what I like to hear."

"First, we'll start with two laps around the room."

I sigh and start running. I'm not entirely thrilled about the laps, but it could be much worse. He could have said five, but lucky for me he didn't. If he would've, I'd honestly pass out. The training room is huge.

Once on the other side of the room, I sneak a look at Eric. He has his arms positioned behind his back and his eyes trained on me. I avert my gaze and focus on the cement floor under my feet.

Lap one finished.

I quicken my pace to get this lap done quicker and see Eric out of the corner of my eye. His eyes are still trained on me. I finish my lap and rest my hands on my hips to catch my breath.

"Now some push-ups."

I get down on the floor and do a push-up, but he scoffs.

"That's not a push up," he says, positioning himself in the floor next to me. "My knees aren't touching the ground, and take note of how my hands are positioned."

He demonstrates a couple push-ups and I lock my eyes on his toned biceps. Appreciation.

"Got it?" he says.

I nod and he pushes himself off the floor. I tear my gaze away from him and mimic his stance before pushing myself up. I do about twenty before he tells me to stand.

"Now that you've warmed up, we're going to go over fighting techniques," he says. "To see punches or attacks coming, you will need to pay attention to their body language. Most people take a step before punching, so watch out for that."

I nod and he continues.

"All right, the first move is called the double jab, straight cross."

He demonstrates this punch by jabbing his left fist toward me twice before his right shoots in my direction, causing me to stumble backwards.

"This move throws your opponent off, which is good," he says, a serious look on his face. "They aren't expecting the last blow with the other hand, which gives you the upper hand."

He pauses and then charges at me, putting me in a headlock. My hands grab at his arms, trying to pull them free.

"Come on, initiate," he says, loosening his arms a bit. "Try to get free."

Please don't let me get in trouble for this.

I reach my hand back and punch him in the groin, making him groan and release me. He falls to the floor in a fetal position with a thud. His eyes are closed and his hands are covering his weak spot.

"I'm, uh, sorry," I say, kneeling down next to him apprehensively. "You said to get free and that's the first thing I thought of."

"Good job, initiate," he says after a moment of silence, his eyes peeking open. "I pity the poor guy who puts you in a headlock next."

I grin and grab his arms to try and help him up. He stands on his feet and gains balance, but doesn't release my arms.

"You did well, initiate," he says. He clears his throat and releases my arms before continuing. "It's getting late, so we'll continue this tomorrow."

He steps past me, his arm brushing against me and I watch his retreating figure.

"Good night, Eric," I call after him.

He stops in his tracks and turns his head slightly, but doesn't look at me.

"Good night, initiate." He continues walking and I smile at his retreating figure.

He's a little rough around the edges, but he's not that bad. I don't care what anyone says.

***
The dormitory is peacefully quiet when I walk in. The clock on the wall reads 9:32.

"Rori," a small voice says, "is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me," I say, making my way toward Tera's bed. I sit on the edge of the bed, facing her. "How are you feeling?"

"I have a headache, but other than that, I feel okay," she says. "How do I look? Is it that bad?"

I study her face before answering. Her jaw is a canvas of pinks, purples, and yellows. Bruises are painted from her jaw to the middle of her cheek, from his punches.

"Not really," I say, shaking my head. "Your jaw is a few different colors, but you still look great."

She nods and we sit in silence for a little bit before I gesture to the medicine bottle in the floor.

"The nurse said to take those every six hours." I grab the bottle and read it over before handing it to her. "I'll get you some water so you can take one before bed."

I get up and leave the room. The halls are empty, which means people are either in bed or in the Pit. Probably the latter.

The dining hall is empty when I walk in, except for a figure near the leaders' table. I ignore the figure, hoping it's not a leader, and make my way toward the kitchen. The door is locked.

I turn around and the glow of a soda machine captures my attention. There's a water. I click the button but a message pops up on the screen. 1 point required. I forget the Dauntless use points for their money system, and since I'm not officially a member, I don't have any.

An arm reaches over my shoulder causing me to jump to the side and trip over my own foot.

"Whoa there, initiate," a familiar voice says, humor laced in his tone. I glance up and am met with Eric's cool blue eyes. His arms grab mine to tug me up, and he steadies me once I'm on my feet. "Didn't mean to scare you."

"Really?" I say, disbelief written all over my face. "You snuck up behind me, but you didn't mean to scare me?"

"Fine, I was meaning to scare you," he says. "But I wasn't expecting you to trip and fall over your own feet."

Thankfully, it's dark enough in here for him not to see the redness in my cheeks.

He releases my arms and grabs the water bottle from the machine. He hands it to me and I grab it slowly.

"I'll pay you back," I say.

"Don't bother," he says, sounding relaxed. "It's just one point."

"Okay," I say with a nod. "Well, thank you."

"No problem," he says. He checks the watch on his wrist and frowns. "You should probably head to bed. Training starts at eight in the morning."

He turns and walks away without another word or glance my way. I watch his retreating figure until he's out of the room before cracking a smile. I shake my head and make my way to the door.

It's about five til ten when I get back in to the dormitory. The other transfers are still not back, but they are not my problem. If they want to stay out late, that's on them. Their butts are on the line, not mine.

"Tera," I say, sitting down on the bed. I shake her shoulder lightly to get her to wake up. Her eyes peek open lazily and I hand her the water. "Here. You need to take your medicine."

"Thank you," she says. She takes the medicine before turning over and getting comfortable. "Good night."

"Good night."

I walk away from her bed and hit the light switch before snuggling into my own bed. I lay there thinking about a certain blue eyed leader for about ten minutes before sleep takes over.

A/N: Okay, I know this is a shorter chapter than usual...but I hope the scenes with Eric make up for it. 😉

Anyway, I hope you liked the chapter, and if you did please vote! Thanks for reading!