Divergent: Four

Chapter 7

Song: Baby I by Ariana Grande
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The next morning, after breakfast with my weird ass friend Zeke, I strode to the training room quickly and with ease. I was excited to see Tris again, yesterday is the most amazing days every. I still felt tired from last night and I didn't get any sleep because I stayed up the whole night thinking about Tris.
Today, the initiates will be practicing drawing knives at human like targets. I'm very good with knives, whenever I throw them, I never miss the place I aimed at.
When I walk into the training room, Eric is already there with a couple of other initiates. He glares at me with hatred and disgust as I walk past him. I ignore him like I usually do and wait for the others.
Eric stands in the middle of the room, his posture so rigid it looks like some mad scientist slapped a metal rod in place of his spine.
"Tomorrow will be the last day of stage one," Eric begins when everyone gets here. "You will resume fighting then. Today, you'll be learning how to aim. Everyone pick up three knives." His voice sounds extremely deep, he's mad. I smile slightly and he turns to me, I turn serious again. "And pay attention while Four demonstrates the correct technique for throwing them."
The way Eric spats my name out suggested he hates my guts now, more than ever.
When no one moved, Eric loses his patience and screams at them. "Now!!!"
Everyone scrambles for daggers while I clench my three knives. Eric indicates me to stand in front of the human target while giving me poisonous looks. I ignore them so he thinks I'm not paying attention to him. But I always pay attention to things happening to me, or around me.
I narrow my eyes and exhale a breath and throw the knives one at a time, hitting the target every time.
Eric nods at me and I step back for the other initiates to practice throwing.
"Line up!" he orders.
I pace around the room slowly, studying every initiates to make sure they are throwing it right. My eyes land on Tris like they always do. She practices without throwing the knives. Tris is focusing on her stance and how she's gonna throw the knives. My face lit up by her smartness.
"I think the Stiff's taken too many hits to the head!" remarks Peter, a few people down of Tris. "Hey, Stiff! Remember what a knife is?"
I rise an eyebrow and cross my arms. Hey Peter! Remember what a hospital is? That's where you're going to end up if you keep harassing her.
My mind and eyes drift to Tris who is still practicing without the knife. She takes a deep breath and does one more practice and lets the knife fly. It spins end over end, slamming into the board but the blade doesn't stick. Even with that, Tris is the first person to hit the target.
I walk around again and see Peter misses the target again. Ha!
"Hey Peter!" I hear Tris say. "Remember what a target is?"
My mouth twitches a bit and a laugh rumbles gently in my chest. Tris is hilarious and has a sense of humor, I like that.
Half an hour later, Al is the only initiate to not have yet slam a blade in the target. His knives will either end in the ground or bounce off the wall. This won't be good with Eric around.
My prediction came true, the next time Al tries and misses, Eric marches toward him and demands, "How slow are you Candor? Do you need glasses? Should I move the target closer to you?"
I cross my arms and bite my lip.
Al's face turns red. He throws a knife and this one sails through the air and hits the wall and bounces off.
"What was that, initiate?" says Eric deadly quiet, leaning closer to Al.
"It-it slipped," says Al nervously.
"Well, I think you should go get it," Eric says. He scans the other initiates' faces like a monitor- everyone stops throwing their knives- and says, "Did I tell you to stop?"
Knives start to hit the board. This is all my fault, Eric is using his anger on Al.
"Go get it?" Al says. "But everyone's still throwing."
"And?"
"And I don't want to get hit."
"I think you can trust your fellow initiates to aim better than you," Eric says, his cruel smile displaying on his face. "Go get your knife."
"No," Al says.
Oh no, wrong chose Al. You never object your leader's word. Stupid boy.
"Why not?" Eric's narrowed eyes fix on Al's face. "Are you afraid?"
"Of getting stabbed by an airborne knife?" says Al. "Yes, I am!"
I wince, Al and his Candor traits never does anything good in Dauntless.
"Everyone stop!" Eric shouts. "Clear out the ring," he looks at Al. "All except you."
Knives drop, hitting the rusty floor with a thud.
"Stand in front of the target," says Eric.
Al's big hands shakes as he walks toward the target.
"Hey, Four." Eric addresses me. "Give me a hand here, huh?"
I grab some knives and walk over. It's better that it's me who throws the knives at Al instead, if it was Eric, he would stab Al in places on purpose.
I scratch one my left eyebrow with a knife point and approach Eric. My mouth tense.
"You're going to stand there as he throws those knives," Eric says to Al, "until you learn not to flinch."
I knew Eric wants me to draw some blood, not just miss Al. Eric is cruel beyond words of Dauntless laws.
"Is this really necessary?" I say, trying to sound bored but my body and eyes were alert. It's a challenge. I normally don't challenge Eric but this time he's taking things too far.
Eric stares at me in silence and I stare back with the same boldness.
"I have the authority here, remember?" Eric says quietly. "Here, and everywhere else."
I grit my teeth and regretted not being leader when given the chance. Color rushes into my face and I grip the knives tightly. I turn to Al and swing my arm back, ready to throw the knife in my hand.
"Stop it." Tris says, anger written on her face.
I stare at her hard, she is doing something stupid. I rub my finger along the metal edge.
"Any idiot can stand in front if a target," she says. "It doesn't prove anything except you're bullying us. Which, as I recall, is a sign of cowardice."
"Then it should be easy for you," Eric says calmly. "If you're willing to take his place.
My lips went dry.
How can Tris be this stupid?! I almost lost her in the Ferris wheel and I don't her to get hurt!! Tris doesn't understand that she's always risking her own life. It's bravery and good but sometimes you need to think about yourself.
I recover my senses and glare at Tris as she walks to replace Al. I held one knife in my right and two in my left. I just need to miss two and just nick her ear to draw a bit blood then it'll be over. I need to be brave enough to do this.
But I am their instructor, I can make them do anything. An idea came into my mind.
"If you flinch," I say slowly and carefully. "Al takes your place. Understand?"
She nods.
My eyes are trained on hers when I lift my hand, pull my elbow back, and throw the knife. I aimed near her cheeks and it lands there with a thud.
"You about done, Stiff?" I say, practically begging her to say yes.
"No," she says while shaking her head.
"Eyes open, then." I tap the spot between my eyebrows.
She stares at me. I pass a knife from my left hand to my right hand. I held back my hand and threw the knife. It lands right above her head. The next one will HAVE to be blood. This one has to draw blood. I can feel Eric's cold unloving eyes staring at my back.
"Come on, Stiff," I say. "Let someone else stand there and take it."
I hope she would listen to me and let Al take her place instead.
"Shut up, Four!" she yells. I cringe at her sudden loud voice, I don't like it when she's mad.
The knife turns in my hand and I pull my hand back. The knife flies straight to Tris's ear, just close enough to draw a few blood. I look at Tris with guilt for hurting her and move away.
"I would love to stay and see if the rest of you are as daring as she is," says Eric, his voice finally smooth. "but I think that's enough for today." Everyone withdraws from training room until it was only me and Tris.
I turn away from Tris and walk slowly to the table where the knives were. My hands are shaking from the thought of me hurting her. I hate Eric with a passion. I could just kill him if he wasn't the leader, I'll do it without hesitation.
I look back over my shoulder to see that everyone left but Tris. I start to worry about her ear. It might get infected and her ear can get taken off! Of all the possibilities that can happen.
I walk toward her. "Is your-" I begin.
"You did that on purpose!" she shouts.
"Yes, I did," I say quietly. "And you should thank me for helping you."
She grits her teeth. "Thank you? You almost stabbed my ear, and you spent the entire time taunting me. Why should I thank you?"
I glare at her, she doesn't understand why I did what I did!!!!
"You know, I'm getting a little tired of waiting for you to catch on!"
"Catch on? Catch on to what? That you wanted to prove to Eric how tough you are? That you're sadistic, just like he is?"
"I am not sadistic." Anger boils into my blood, Tris thinks I'm just like Eric! I am nothing like Eric. I lean close to her face and say, "If I wanted to hurt you, don't you think I would have already?"
My face turns into a scowl and I cross the table and slam the point of the knife hard into the table just to show Tris how mad I was. I bang the door behind me and walk to my room before she says anything else.