Inferno

Chapter 5: I'm Going To Make It

"Oh." She says, and looks down at the floor.

I feel bad. I think of Christina as a friend too, and she probably feels left out. I crawl over to her and take her hand. "No more secrets, I promise."

She looks at me. "Promise?"

I smile and nod at her. She hugs me.

"Geeze." I say into her hair.

"What?" She asks.

"I feel like all I've done the past couple of days is eat, sleep, train and hug."

She chuckles. "Well, I could kiss you."

"No, no, I'm fine with hugs." I tell her, giggling.

"That'd be hot." I hear Will whisper to Al.

I pull away and look at them. "Seriously?"

They looks surprised I heard them. I turn to Tris and Christina, nodding my head. "Get them." I say, and we launch ourselves at them, tackling them to the ground.

Christina gets on top of Will, and Tris and I get on top of Al. We tickle their sides, until they're begging for mercy and can't breathe. Then we stand up and high five.

"Good job ladies. I think they've had enough." Christina says, and we three burst out laughing while Will and Al still catch their breath.

I sleep good that night.

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"Alright initiates, today you will be doing something different. Instead of practicing attacks on stuffed dummies, you will be using them on each other. Two of you at a time will fight each other until one is unconscious or dead." Eric instructs, and I gulp deeply. That doesn't sound pleasant.

"Or until I say so." Four adds, and Eric glares at him.

"First up: Christina and Jackie!" Eric bellows, and gestures with his hand to step onto the mat in front of him and Four. There's a giant circle on it.

Christina walks onto one side of the mat, and Jackie, a candor, on the other. She's larger than Christina, but I know that she's also slower. That will work to Christina's advantage.

Eric looks at them for a second. "Go." He says it like they should've already been fighting.

The fight doesn't last long. Jackie gets a few good punches in, but I was right about Christina. She moves quickly and swipes underneath Jackie's feet, causing her to crash to the mat. Four calls the fight after that.

Will goes next against Trevor, a Erudite boy. Trevor wins. He has a tough right hook.

Tris goes against a girl from Erudite, whose name is Amy. Amy is tough. Amy wins the fight, and Tris lays on the mat for a few seconds after it's over.

"You okay?" Tobias asks her, his eyebrows furrowing.

She takes a breath. "I'm fine." She says, and then she wobbles to her feet. I hurry over to her, and help her walk over to Will and Christina.

"Crystal and Al." Eric calls.

I freeze, and stare at Tris. She doesn't know what to say. I don't want to fight Al, he's my friend.

I turn and swallow, walking over to the mat. I look at Tobias, and his face just screams 'I'm sorry'.

Al steps onto the mat, and he looks even sorrier than Tobias. Eric looks smug, knowing he put me against my friend.

Eric gestures for us to start, and Al rushes me, picking me up and throwing me on the ground. I groan, and then he's on top of me, his face close to mine.