Divergence: Choices

Chapter 32

The three of us stand in front of the initiates taking turns explaining the rules of fighting, like last initiation the fight will continue until one of the opponents are unconscious. I had hoped we could maneuver around that rule, but being that Eric is an on-looker today, it's a rule that will have to stick.

We based opponents on age only, considering that a person a few years older will be larger and stronger than a sixteen year old. Although age doesn't matter her in Dauntless, it is all we had to go by, there are too many of them to know their skill levels.

We start calling the sixteen year olds forward, having them line against the wall counting off by two's.

"Ok, one's and two's pair up." I boom across the room. Everyone moves quickly, of course pairing themselves with friends. Once they all stop moving and have a partner I continue. "The person you chose is not your friend, they're your opponent today. The first graded skill of Phase I is hand to hand combat, so today you will be fighting each other. The fight will continue until one of you are unconscious or no longer physically capable to move. I highly suggest you forget your friendships in this moment, I promise you they will forget yours when they're a member and you're Factionless." I point to the first three pairs. "You guys are first, since you don't have names, you'll be assigned numbers to track your ranking."

I try to watch Tris' fight as well as my own. As brave and fierce as she is, she is soft hearted and still holds Abnegation close to her. If Eric see's her misjudging or interfering with a fight, she will face consequences I may not be able to protect her from. My first fight only last a few moments, a large boy was partnered with a fairly small female. I had seen them together a few times in the halls, if I had to guess I would say they were romantic in nature. I say were because based on how quickly he was willing to render her unconscious, I doubt she will find him appealing much longer. I instruct him to carry her to the infirmary to be examined for a concussion or broken bones.

I notice Tris' fight is still going on, she is allowing them to circle each other. She is going to be pissed but I have to interfere. I tell my next pair to standby as I walk closer to her. "Stop stalling and finish this, we have a lot of fights to get through today and you all are wasting my time. Someone needs to be unconscious in the next sixty seconds or your both cut." With that the larger female lunges forward, delivering a strong blow to the smaller girls chest effectively knocking the wind out of her. While heaved over and gasping she catches a knee straight to the face, causing her to fall to the ground and still. The fight is over.

"I know you hate this, but Eric is watching. We will make sure no one is seriously injured but we're instructors, we have to play their game for now." She sighs in defeat, looking up at me sadly. "I wish we were alone." I whisper before going back to my own fight.

By lunch time we're not even half way through the fights. Tris comes over and slumps her body against the wall next to me. "This is exhausting, we are going to be here all night and still have to meet at Zeke's."

"Maybe we could do it now, everyone should be free." Tris agrees and we quickly split up to go find the rest of the group. By the time we all get to Zeke's we only have forty-five minutes before we have to be back in the training room.

"Ok guys, we are stretched for time so let's get started." Zeke grabs his laptop so we can look at the blueprints Tris obtained yesterday.

"Looks like we would have to go in through the roof." Zeke says pointing to the screen. "We could repel down through the elevator shaft, there should be a crawl space for maintenance right about here that would put us behind the storage room."