Erudless

Lights Out

When lunch finally came around we sat at the same table as yesterday with Laura. Brendon decided to join us, taking Riley's place because she sat at the Transfer table today. Laura and Brendon would not shut up about the, and I quote, "badassery of guns". Seriously it was getting annoying. Although they seemed to get along pretty well so we just let them be. Tobias spoke with the same Dauntless-born from the infirmary; I think his name was Zeke. This left Hazel and I sitting in the middle of both conversations. We weren't particularly hungry so we just kind of sat there in silence, with her head resting on my shoulder.

"How are you today Slater?" she asked.

"I'm well today Miss O'Riley. And you?"

"So far I am enjoying it very much here at Dauntless." she chuckled.

She was so cute when she laughed; the way her eyes just lit up made her look so happy.

"I have a hunch we're fighting after lunch. Although I hope we aren't fighting each other. I don't want to hit my new girlfriend." I said out of nowhere.

She tilted her head up to give me a kiss on the cheek.

"Blagh! Get a room Erudless!" Laura screamed.

"I could say the same for you and Brendon over there. Has he even proposed yet?"

Laura scrunched her nose at the thought.

Brendon, being the uncensored Candor he is, blurted out, "We didn't beat the crap out of each other before our first date Erudite."

"Just wait a few days Candor. You'll blurt something out that she won't like, and then she'll personally punch you in the dick. It'll happen, you'll see." I shot back.

"It's true you know. Erudless had the bad luck of experiencing it himself, twice." Laura said, almost matter-of-factly.

The whole table returned to their private conversations within a few minutes. Hazel and I started on a new topic.

"I wish we had a copy of that book we like. Sadly I left my hidden copy of it at my house in Candor. Now you can't read it to me." she sighed.

"Tell you what. I normally hate reading, especially out loud, but if either of us finds a copy I'll read it to you. Okay?"

She snuck another kiss onto my cheek when no one was looking.

"Okay." was her curt reply.

Instead of going to the gym today we walked to the Pit. Once again we spent the first few hours or so practicing moves and fighting techniques. Then when Amar grew bored of us standing there hitting punching bags he had us paired up for the fights. He stood in front of the chalkboard, the one that would assign our opponent for today.

"By the way Transfers, I have one quick announcement. There are 7 of you and 8 Dauntless-born, giving us a total of 15 initiates. Only the top 10 get any jobs worth bragging about after initiation. So if you want some bragging rights after you get through initiation I'd keep a good eye on that scoreboard over there. I got in trouble because I didn't tell you that part about the scoreboard yesterday."

No one reacted much to this news. It was kind of expected for there to be some extra detail about the board.

"Geez you guys could at least gasp dramatically like I just told you the most important thing in the world. Kids these days are so hard to please. Anyway here are your fighting partners!"

With that said he moved out from in front of the chalkboard.

Riley & George:

Hazel & Brendon:

Eric & Tobias:

Joshua, the kid from Amity wasn't fighting today, but I was.

The fights before mine were long, not boring, just long. George beat Riley with a lucky punch to the jaw. She was quick although she never used that to attack, only to dodge. Hazel won by catching Brendon off guard. He tapped out of his fight, Riley left the Pit unconscious. Tobias and I were up next.

We stepped onto the platform. Tobias was shaking head to toe, but he had his fists raised in the air ready to fight. Within seconds we were prepared to attack one another until one of us concedes and Amar signaled for us to begin.

We hesitated for a moment, he waited because I was one of his first friends, and I waited because I wanted to assess any weaknesses like I had done when I fought Hazel. This guy standing in front of me is one of my best friends, but I am willing to do anything to pass Stage 1.To continue observing I allowed him to make the first move. As he swung at my face I took a step back. But I need more to establish a confirmed weakness. So I let him swing at me again, solved with another simple step back. My eyes focused on his lower chest when he threw that last punch. Trying to hit him there wouldn't work; he covers his abdomen with his other arm. But there was nothing preventing me from hitting his throat when he threw a punch. A quick jab under his chin may momentarily leave him breathless which would give me the chance to attack.

His fist soared through the air, bringing me back to real life after I had been thinking for what felt like a long time. If I was going to strike I would have to do it now. My hand flew past his and I hit him in the throat. This caused him to take a step back; coughing for a few minutes until he could breathe again. He was not prepared for my fist to strike him first in the chest then in his jaw. But no matter where I hit Tobias he never fell down, just staggered back a little.

He recovered quickly then something inside of him kind of snapped. His eyes grew darker and the quiet Transfer from Abnegation was gone; replaced by a Dauntless warrior with a lust for revenge. Then I remembered a very important detail about Tobias. He was abused for his whole life and now here I am hitting him where he is at his weakest, where his father has probably struck him before. Of course he's going to be pissed off.

This new Tobias lunged forward and began hitting me whenever he saw the chance. His fists where moving too fast for me to try and block any oncoming attacks. After a few seconds Tobias struck me in the side of the face and I fell to the ground. I could feel a gap in between a few of my teeth; a gap that was supposed to be occupied by another tooth. Damn it now I'm going to have to put up with even more ridicule from Laura. That is if I wasn't in the infirmary by the time this fight is over.

Nothing was stopping Tobias. No one was pulling him off me and he wasn't going to let up anytime soon. What was it that Amar said when we first learned about fighting? The fight ends when...when..... Jesus Christ I can't even think. My head was throbbing, my heart was pounding, and my vision was blurring. How can I make this stop? How can I get the normal Tobias to come back? Finally the answer came to me before I could black out. Tap out you dumbass or else you'll die right here in this ring.

As quick as the whole thing started everything stopped. Both Tobias and Amar heard my hand pound against the floor. Tobias looked mortified as Amar helped me to my feet. I didn't think anything was broken, but my head wouldn't stop throbbing. Amar sat me down by the nearest wall and asked me something. God what did he just say? Christ my head! How many times did he hit me? Why the hell is my head still hurting? Why didn't I think to tap out earlier?

I think I felt my body being dragged somewhere. Was I dying? No Amar would've ended the fight if I was in any danger of dying, or at least I hope he would've. Darkness clouded my vision so I couldn't see who was dragging me or where I was going. Maybe if I give into the darkness all this pain would stop. Shut up! Don't think like that! It's just a fucking headache. I'm going to be fine. But every second that passed the less I could see and the less I could think.

Finally the darkness took over. The pain stopped.