Love, Lies, Secrets and Manipulation (Divergent/Eric OC)

43. Hanging On By A Thread

(Eric's POV)

With today being the last day of stage one training, we've decided to switch things up a bit. Instead of splitting the transfer and Dauntless-born fights up into the morning and afternoon, we're getting them all over with now, one after the other, that way we can get everything over with as soon as possible.

Drea, Four, Lauren and I stand around the outside of the ring, watching the current fight that's going on between Marlene and Clarissa. The initiates all stand scattered around the ring as well, but I notice how Natalie stays a little further back away.

Every once in a while my eyes will steal a glance, but she never even notices because her eyes are so fixed on Peter. I can tell that she's more than eager to get in the ring with him just by her body language—she stands firm with her back leaned up against one of the tall beams, her arms crossed against her chest and her eyes darkly narrowed right at him, all while continuously tapping her foot on the ground beneath her, nonstop. And Peter is completely oblivious to it all.

A loud thud in the ring pulls my attention, and I look to see Clarissa down on her back with Marlene standing right above her. With one hard stomp to Clarissa's face, Marlene finishes the fight.

"Winner: Marlene!" I announce.

A few initiates cheer and clap, and while we wait for the girls to get out of the ring, I walk over to stand beside Drea.

"You should call their fight next," she says to me quietly, "She's ready now. You keep her waiting any longer and she's gonna explode."

"You call it," I say. "I don't want to distract her or throw her off her game."

"Fine," she mutters. "Next in the ring: Natalie vs. Peter!"

Right away, Natalie makes her way straight for the ring, determined as ever. If she fights him anything like she did yesterday, all should go well; but something gives me the feeling that this fight between them is going to be a lot more interesting than yesterday's.

Peter steps up on the ring and loosens his arms out in front of him, waiting for her to join him. Once she does, she cracks her knuckles and rolls her neck around, then gets into fighting stance with her arms up in front of her. As they begin to circle around each other in the ring, Peter steps closer towards the center, and then he smirks at her.

There's a look on her face—one that I don't think I've ever seen before. It's a mixture between calmness, readiness, and maliciousness. I can't read her mind, but whatever she's thinking, I can almost bet my life that it's nothing pleasant.

"Is it just me," Drea murmurs, "or does she actually look like she's going for the kill?"

"Yeah..." I respond after a few seconds. "That's what worries me."

Right away, Peter throws the first punch, but Natalie's quick enough to block it and step aside, not giving him a second attempt. I'm surprised she didn't strike him when she had the chance, though—there was a short open window where she could have taken him down, and she could have used that to her advantage.

I watch her movements as she carefully circles around him, her observant eyes never once leaving him. He slowly takes a step closer as he continues to walk in counter clockwise steps, and just as he takes another, he throws a sudden right hook. That's when she jabs him right at the throat, then quickly follows up with a right hook to his left eye, then an outstretched kick to his groin that causes him to immediately lose balance and fall over on his side. As he grabs himself and groans in pain, she uses that opportunity to kick him right in the face.