Dauntless Brothers

[Chapter 17] Knives.

When I walk into the training room there are a couple of initiates scattered around the room and Lauren and Evelyn stand in a corner talking. The knives haven't been layed out yet. I walk to the supply closet and pick up one of the boxes. Split seconds later a voice speaks up.

"Do you need any help?"

I turn around to find Kate standing behind me with her hands in her pockets. At once this mornings events flash through my mind. My first instinct is to say no.

But I force myself to say. "Yeah. That'll be great. Can you grab the other box?"

She nods and picks it up. I set it down on a table and Kate follows. Then she goes back to of course, Henry.

I wait for everyone to arrive so that I can show them what I have in store. Soon everyone is here and Tris walks in which means that she's checked to make sure that no one's still out.

I open one of the boxes and take out a knife. I offer it to Tris, keeping this morning's conversation in mind and I must admit that she was the best out of all of us at knife throwing.

Without hesitation she throws the knife. It neatly hits bulls eye.

I look around at the initiates to check out their reaction. Half of them stand with their mouths hanging open and the other half have an impressed look on their faces. I at once start to explain.

"You'll be practicing knife throwing. All of you now know how good or bad your aim is. But knife throwing does not have anything to do with aim. It depends on how good your hand-eye cordination is. Grab five knives each and start practicing!"

They all move towards the boxes and soon they're all spread across the target range, trying to do their best. I turn my attention to Kate. She might be good with guns but not as good with these. She keeps missing by just centimietres.

Someone walks into the class and shouts. "Initiates!"

Eric.

I inwardly groan and try to keep my face straight because Evelyn is here too. Everyone's looking at him.

"I hope that all of you are working hard! I don't want weak, weeping babies in Dauntless! I want strong, brave warriors who can fight! Now get back to practice!" Everyone obediently turns their attention to their targets.

Eric comes to stand next to me. "How's it going bro?"

"Don't call me that!" It's disgusting to hear him call me "bro".

"Fine how's it going, Four." He amends himself.

"Good. Most of them are doing pretty well." I reply. I always try to keep our conversations as short as possible but he's always aiming for the opposite.

"What do you mean by most? Why not all of them?" He orders.

"Don't be stupid." I tell him, because he knows exactly what I meant but he still insists. "What do you mean?"

"What I mean is that they're human!" I exclaim. "They're all human. Which means that they have different abilities and strengths. They're not robots that they'll function all the same."

"Keep your tone under control!" He jabs a fingre at me but I turn away from him. After a few minutes I wish that I hadn't.

Kate's throwing knives. All of them hit the board but just not the centre. Once all of the ones in her hand our gone, she stands waiting for others to finish.

Eric strolls over to her and says. "I thought that you were good at this. What a shame." He clicks his tongue and then all of a sudden his face turns serious. "Go fetch you knives."

"But the others are still throwing." Kate says to him.

"I don't care. Go get them." He says.

I think to myself. My parents notice when I'm being a coward and punish me but when Eric is doing something stupid which is worse than cowardice they just stand by and watch. Like Evelyn is right now.

There is fear in Kate's eyes. She starts to move forward when Tris speaks up. "Eric, this is stupid. You can't prove anything. Anyone can stand in front of a target."

"Oh really? Then why don't you take her place. If you twinge, then you and Kate both leave." I can't believe he said that to Tris. He must be really pissed off about what happened between them.

Without saying a word Tris walks past Kate and stands in front of a target.

"Tobias. Would you do the honour?" Eric says shoving the knives into my hand.

I know that no is not an option so I take a deep breath and walk over to the target that Tris is standing in front of her. I try to catch her gaze but she refuses to look at me.

I throw the all the knives one after the other, I manage to avoid her but then I realize that Eric will probably come up with something else. So, I decide to take the riskk.

The last knife the throw slightly nick her ear. At once her hand moves up to touch the wound. Now her gaze meets mine. We both look at each other and then she walks away.

"Back to practice!" Eric shouts.

I run after Tris and catch her in the hallway. I get hold of her arm and spin her around to face me.

"I'm really sorry." I tell her.

"Why did you do that?" She asks me.

"I was trying to warn you that..." She cuts in by saying. "I knew that you and Eric were up to something. I shouldn't have trusted you in the first place!"

With this she storms off, leaving me surprised and shocked.