𝙸𝚗𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚊𝚝𝚎 | Divergent

Chapter 5

Next time I imagined Eric's face on the target. My knife stuck.

"Alright, break for lunch." Tobias announced, he placed the knives he'd been switching from hand to hand on the table "Sasha, you are on knife collection duty, take it as a punishment for your lateness."

I bite my tongue to stop myself arguing, we couldn't bicker like siblings here, it would be seen as refusal to follow orders and I could earn myself a worse punishment from Eric.

I narrowed my eyes at him, but began to collect the knives from the targets.

"Stiff!"

Instinctively, I raise my hand to catch the object flying towards me. The tip of the blade protruded from my clenched fist, I stared, mesmerised by the shiny metal and bright red, there was a faint tickle as blood trickled down my arm and pooled at my elbow. The sound of droplets hitting the wooden floor was the only noise in the silent room. No one dared to speak, I didn't even dare to breath.

Finally, I pulled my eyes away and met Eric's.

"Don't be late again."

When he turned and walked out the room, I let the bloody knife go.

.:.

I joined Maddie and Jake in the dining room, my right hand sported a matching wound to my left; one I received from the Choosing Ceremony and the other I received at the faction I chose.

Surprisingly, the gossip had travelled fast and the nurse had praised me for my bravery as she cleaned the wound.

I wanted to explain that I wasn't brave, I was just too proud and too damn stupid to know when to reign it in. Marcus had warned me that my mouth would get me into trouble one day.

The cut wasn't deep enough to need stitches, but the nurse bandaged my palm to keep the wound from reopening during initiation.

"People are staring. I don't like it." I mumbled, as Dauntless members passed the table I felt their eyes land on me, I stabbed at the fruit in my bowl with a little more force than necessary.

"Not many people go toe to toe with Eric." Maddie explained, "they're thinking you're brave."

The last thing I needed was to stand out, the more I drew attention to myself the more they would look into me, and then my aptitude is more likely to be called into question. The Abnegation born, Abnegation tested but Dauntless transfer wouldn't start to add up, and although it was a little more discreet in Dauntless with all the free-will they promoted, the idea of someone not conforming to the faction would terrify them.

"It's a good thing, Sasha." Jake added "embrace it."

I looked down the table at the other initiates, some of the transfers seemed to shy away from me, some of the Dauntless-borns were watching with a curious glint in their eyes.

Shaking my head, I reached over and took the last of Jake's chocolate cake.

"Seriously? I'm sorry but you're gonna have to pay for this taking my food business." He said, I held up my hands in mock surrender before attempting to get a head start. Giggling, I manoeuvred around the crowd and disappeared down the tunnel towards the training room, a noise of surprise escaped my mouth as he lifted me up on his shoulder, spinning us both in circles until I couldn't tell which direction was which. The tension from the morning bled away, and I began to laugh so hard my stomach hurt.

The spinning stopped abruptly, the room carried on moving but in the blur I see two black figures.

"Initiates." Tobias spoke, it wasn't a question but it was to be answered with an explanation.

"Sorry, we didn't realise people were here." Jake explained, while hoisting me off his shoulders.

"I'll meet you out there." Eric stated, he stuck the knife he was twisting around his fingers into the table, I watched it sway gently but the blade remained in the wood.

Realising that Jake still had his hand clasped on my waist, and my brother was now staring at them with a look of annoyance, I brushed them off, walking over and collecting my water bottle.

The transfers were split into groups and taken to opposite sides of the Dauntless sector with Tobias or Eric.

Eric's group took the train to the wall that separated us from whatever was beyond the Amity farms and we were slowly making our way back, strung out over fields and then the dilapidated buildings that were unsalvageable, where the Factionless made their homes. Not only were we being tested on our endurance, but our ability to navigate the city, whoevers entire group was back first won points.

As I entered the Dauntless compound I saw Eric up ahead, I turned into the training room and stumbled to a stop, I braced myself against the wall and pinned my hand to my side to try and dispel the stitch that had grown. We were the only ones here, even my brother hadn't made it back yet.

"What's your deal?" I called across the room, Eric placed his water bottle on his jacket, "your mood swings are giving me whiplash."

Eric turned around slowly, stepping forward until I had no space to go, his cold blue eyes narrowed "would you like to repeat that, initiate?"

I shook my head, Eric was intimidating, he probably about six feet, maybe a couple inches more, and twice my size "I don't think so?"

The blonde man shook his head and stepped back "watch yourself, initiate. You're good but not that good."

For the rest of the day we done sit-ups, push ups and other various activities, which tested our cardio, speed, agility and strength.

"Tomorrow morning you'll be brushing up on your combat skills and in the afternoon you'll be taking part in your first fights." Tobias announced "I would like to remind you that these have the largest sway on your rank at the end of stage one."

Edited