Bite Me || Eric Coulter Fanfic - Divergent

5. Oh, this is going to be fun

"Alright, listen up initiates" says Eric, seemingly annoyed that we hadn't guessed he wanted to speak and shut up before he said so. "Today, you'll learn the basics of hand-to-hand combat. So each one of you, stand in front of a punching bag"

After a very impressive demonstration by Four and Eric of the correct stance and hits, we started practicing on our own.

I knew how to hit and punch. How I know these things, I will never tell a soul here in Dauntless, or anywhere else for that matter. The people who taught me are considered inferior by all the factions and I didn't want to get them into trouble.

The truth is, that a group of factionless living near the outskirts of Amity taught me all I know; how to fight, use a weapon, survive. It all started when I was about 15 years old. At the time, my aunt and uncle had just been chosen to lead the council and the fields we were responsible for were towards the edge of the faction borders. Since I was still young, all my work was done my mid-day, and naturally I was bored and roaming around the border. That's when I met Renner and his group; the Factionless Army. They trained young and old to defend themselves against violence instigated by the factions.

Renner was reluctant to let me train with them, but a few bags of wheat and a scolding from his wife, convinced him to take me in. Renner and his wife, Elia, used to be Dauntless, until the Revolution. They defected and became factionless.

I was lost in my thoughts, punching the bag on auto-pilot, its back and forth swinging calming my mind. That's when I felt a looming, intimidating presence behind me. I turn my head slightly and meet Eric's steel gaze. This time though, I wasn't prepared for the interaction and I averted my eyes straight away, focusing on my hits.

"Your stance is all wrong, Amity" he says, purposely loud so that a few brave souls stopped what they were doing and looked at our exchange. One icy glare from Eric though got them right back to their original task. I looked straight ahead and caught Four's gaze. He was looking at Eric in confusion.

"Your legs need to be further apart" he said, kicking my right heel, without,  however, moving it to the right to widen my stance. Nevertheless, I momentarily lost my balance and had to hold on to the punching bag to keep from face-planting.

Sending a smirk my way, Eric kept walking around the room, barking orders. So that bastard just wanted to mess with me, not fix my stance? How childish.

"Alright initiates, time to make this a bit more interesting" says Eric, after about an hour of us practicing on our own.

"First jumper" he says, eyes meeting mine. "And last jumper, in the ring. Now."

"You fight until one of you can't take it anymore" says Eric and I swear I see some satisfaction in his eyes at the prospect of one of us possibly giving up completely.

"Or until one of you concedes" adds Four, the voice of logic.

But Eric's wolf-like smile only widens.

"That's according to the old rules." he corrects smiling. "New rules are that no one concedes. You fight until the end" Eric ends his little speech, looking pleased with himself.

Four says something to Eric, loud enough for only him to hear. Whatever it is though makes the smile on Eric's face disappear and his whole body to tense.

I waste no time getting in the ring. I see Chloe giving me an encouraging smile; she really was Abnegation.

A few seconds later, Peter, a Candor transfer, stomps onto the ring, a cocky smile on his lips, and starts cracking his knuckles.

"Oh this is going to be fun" he says with a sickeningly sweet smile, his canines showing.

"I might just take it easy on you, Amity. Wouldn't want to mess up that pretty face. It might save you when you're factionless" he continues

"Let's get this over with initiates, we don't have all the time in the world" says Four, looking bored.

Peter however, took no notice of our instructor's comment. He turned his back to me, focusing on some of his Candor friends.

"I swear I'm going to enjoy this so much." he smiles confidently.

"Then do something, before I get in the ring myself" comes Eric's low voice, danger creeping into his tone. "I promise you, you don't want that to happen"

Peter again, pays no mind and Eric's annoyance is palpable.

"Five seconds. That's all she gets, I'm telling you. Then she's getting face throttled" he boasts.

Face throttled? Did he hit his head somewhere? I swear Candors are supposed to be smart or at least have above average vocabulary.

Peter finally turns to me, a smile still on his lips, and gets into a very wrong fighting stance.

"When I'm done with you, you're going to wish you never left your farm" he says confidently.

Man, does this guy ever stop talking?

One look at Eric confirms for me that unless one of us does something, he would take charge. From what I've seen so far of Eric, that would definitely not be something to look forward to.

Finally sick of Peter's pitiful trash talk, I take a few steps towards him, arms raised protectively in front of my face. Time to end this, I thought, quickly and cleanly.

Peter begins to throw a weak punch but I'm quicker. I send two consecutive punches; left, right, and finish it off with an uppercut that leaves him unconscious on the floor.

The girl closest to me gasps, one of her hands flying to cover her mouth, her eyes horrified.

"Oh I'm sorry, did you want him to keep talking?" I ask exasperated and after making sure that Peter wasn't going to stand up any time soon, I leave the ring and stand next to Chloe.

I briefly look at Four and Eric, my insecurities not allowing me to rest until I'm sure what I just did was appropriate.

Four looks more than mildly impressed and tries to suppress a chuckle when two Dauntless members who witnessed the fight, drag Peter to the nurse, 'accidentally' bumping his body on one of the cement pillars holding the ceiling.

Eric on the other hand, looks pensive, slightly pissed off but a little bit impressed. Then, his eyes meet mine and all emotion leaves his face. Stone cold as ever.