Convergent

Chapter Five

The training room was big, punching bags lined the edges and four fight mats were equally distributed in the middle of the room. The black flooring looked daunting, I could feel the ache of my body falling against it when Grace floors me in the first fight. Surprisingly, Dauntless isn't this big scary place with horrible people (with the exception of Craig) like Father told me it was. Everyone was happy, running around and chatting all the time, I never felt lonely here.

When Dauntless was announced it caused pandemonium amongst the Convergents, it was an uproar of the thought of war again. When news broke that Theo was a trainer, even more rage started with my Father adding fuel to the fire. He told everyone that Theo was "preparing an army of little Julius clones", he spat the tar from his cigarette on the dirt floor. I had never been more ashamed to call him my father. Andy was a picture perfect example of someone who wouldn't fit in at Dauntless, he hates taking care of his appearance which was indicated by his wild silver hair. He used to be a truck driver before the war, although he appeared to drastically change in the past couple months, Father was still hateful. I swore he should have gone to Abnegation before I came here but he would be better suited to factionless. On the small TV, the new broadcasted a special news night "Fear of being factionless?" . One of the Erudite news anchors voiced how the factionless are lower than what used to be the homeless, having a hologram of what one will look like. The man was in ripped clothes, his skin was black and red - mostly from street dirt and the cold but it slightly hinted that the red was blood. Their jobs were extremely limited; bus drivers, rubbish collectors, prostitution (only in desperation of course) and unemployed. I knew I shouldn't wish it upon my father but he didn't seem to be as compassionate behind closed doors. It scared me to death, I made sure to only pursue one of the desired traits of the factions and it was obviously Dauntless.

Theo snapped me back to reality, shoving a small gun into my hand "Shooting day"

"But it's our first day?" Carter mumbled, rubbing his thumb along the handle of the gun.

"It's fun" Theo snarled "Don't worry little boy"

Everyone laughed. I didn't.

"There aren't real bullets in the gun" Grace spoke up, having pulled out one of the bullets and inspected it closely "My dad was a cop"

Thank God. Grace lined the gun up, pointing at my face. I froze, it was an unnecessary freezing but my heart was in my mouth.

"Very funny" I pushed the nose of the gun down

Theo eventually pointed out a board behind him, it had 40 blank spots. Each one of our names were hanging on small hooks below, it wasn't the most high-tech thing I had ever seen.

"For all you competitive souls" Theo explained "No need to fret, only Zac and myself have access to the board...it has a lovely little invisible electric fence. You need a finger print like mine or Zacs to deactivate it"

"Now I am going to have to worry about people slicing my hand off in the night" Zac laughed

"If they want to be factionless, then go ahead" Theo rolled his eyes, he scanned the crowd. He caught my eyes, I managed to hold his gaze for no longer than a couple seconds but it felt like I was staring a little too long

"Grace" Theo held out his hand "Go to the very far target, please"

Grace grabbed his hand, as they walked together, she looked at me. Her eyes were wide and her nostrils flared, she looked like a startled puppy. She was at least a foot shorter than Theo, he placed his hands on her shoulders - I assume he was whispering instructions into her ear. Grace held up the gun, her arms were rigid and she exhaled slowly through her mouth. She squeezed the tight trigger and the bullet when flying towards the target. It clipped the left edge.