Come Gentle Bliss

6) Natural strength

"First try?" I hear a voice say from above me, I looked up and see Eric standing behind me. "Yeah." I answered and he went to my side, I looked back at my target and didn't look at him.

"Do I make you uncomfortable, Cal?" He asked, low enough for only me to hear and squats next to me. "Not really." I answered and pull the trigger again, hitting my target right on the head. "In combat, you have to learn to shoot when you're in a tough situation." He explained and I pulled the trigger again, hitting my target on the neck.

"If I see you ending up lower than the top five, I'm gonna be real disappointed in you." He said and I looked at him.

"Eyes on the target, initiate!" Four ordered me, I take my eyes off Eric and pulled the trigger twice, hitting the forehead of the dummy in the same spot.

~~~

"Okay, so two, two, three, four." I counted with Tris as we practiced the fighting stance. "Thanks for practicing with me." She said and I gave her a smile. "We gotta help one another in this time." I pointed out and we practiced again.

"First jumper!" I hear Eric yell out and I stopped what I was doing. "In the ring." He ordered and I glanced at Tris who looked worried, so I start walking towards the lifted ring. "Last jumper!" He called out and Molly stopped what she was doing. "Time to fight." He adds.

I looked over my shoulder at Will who also had a worried look and I get on the ring, then Molly gets on, too.

"How long do we have to fight?" Molly asked and we looked at Eric and Four. I could feel everyone surround the ring to watch me be defeated because Molly was way taller than I was. "Till one of you can't continue. Or one of you concedes. According to the old rules." Four answered.

"New rules, no one concedes." Eric corrected him and Four gave him a look. I couldn't win against her, all odds are against me and it was like she was Titan, and I was Hercules before he got his strength and was scrawny.

"You'll be scored on this, so fight hard." Eric said and I looked back at Molly, not wanting to move.

"Go!" He ordered.

Molly and I get into our stances, and we both circle each other.

Think. If you can't fight by strength, fight by analyzing her throws. Let her throw the first hit to see how hard it will be.

She lunges at me, throws a hit on my face and I fall to the ground holding my cheek.

"Come on, Cal!" I hear Tris motivate me, I take in a breath and quickly stand back up.

She's relying on natural strength, I might be smaller than her, but I can tire her out by letting her swing hard punches. I get back into my fighting stance then start moving around her, she throws a punch, so I dodge going underneath her and toss her behind me and get into stance.

She turned back around and tackled me, I held onto her by wrapping my arms around her waist from above as she goes to pick me up by the waist and I slide my legs back to bring her down. She falls on one knee and let go of my waist, she then flipped me over her and I land on my back.

Before I could even adjust myself, Molly throws a punch at me to my left, then my right, then my left.

"Pick your arms!" I hear Will say to me.

I quickly pick my arms up and she starts mangling my stomach. A grunt escapes my lips and I hunched over to protect my stomach, she grabs my neck from behind and puts me in a choke hold while holding me back towards her, so my feet were dangling.

I struggle to breathe and I feel my face begin to turn red, I looked at Will who had his hands in his hair and tried to fight back the urge to run in to help me. My eyes began to water and I couldn't breathe anymore.

"You gonna give up?" I hear Eric ask me. "N-No." I managed to choke out. "Then get going." He said, I quickly try to pry Molly's hands off, but she didn't budge.

Think, Cal, think.

I looked down at my feet and see her knee is bent, so I hoist myself up her knee and elbowed her ribs. She loosened her grip and I stomped on her knee, she winced and let me go. I quickly get her on a chokehold and throw myself down, we both land on the mat, but I kept my grip.

What am I doing?

I hear her choke, so she tapped my arms and I quickly let her go. She gasps turning to her back and I stand up, and looked at Eric.

"Finish her off." He said and Four looked at him confused. "No tap outs. Finish her." He said as I stood there dumbfounded. "Or else." He added looking at me menacingly, I looked at Molly who looked at me with pleading eyes.

I looked back at Eric and he crossed his arms smiling.

"In real life, soldiers do not get tap outs." Eric said as he starts walking towards me. "In training, we do not get rewarded by being cowards." He said as he walks up the ring. "We get punished when we don't follow orders."

My heart skipped two beats as he looked down at me, so I looked back up at him, terrified of what he would say.

"Lose the shirt." He said and a knot gets stuck in my throat.

"Now!" He ordered. I take in a shaky breath and grabbed the bottom of my shirt, and lift it up and over my head. He sticks out his hand and I placed the shirt on his hand while still looking at him, he smiled and put his hands behind his back holding my shirt.

"You're gonna sweep the station, go get your gear." He orders and I lightly nod. "Yes, sir." I said going around him. "Oh! I forgot." He said stopping me and I paused before I got off the ring, and I hear him right behind me.

I lock eyes with Will who stood there covering his mouth, Christina looked at me worriedly, Tris looked at me with sympathetic eyes and Al looked at me like he wanted to say something, but couldn't.

"Lose the pants as well."

Don't break in front of everyone, don't cry. Don't cry. Don't cry.

I pulled my pants down, picked up one leg at a time then picked them up and Eric stood next to me, smiling as I'm left in my bra and tights. Good thing I put them on under the pants.

"Anything else, sir?" I asked him a bit angry, but I made sure not to show it.

"No. I want this place spotless. You can go ahead and start by scrubbing the mats." He said as he grabs my pants and walked away, I stood there bewildered and so embarrassed by what happened.

"Everybody else get back to training." Four orders the rest of the transfers.

Will gave me one last look and walked away not wanting to get in trouble. I crossed my arms covering my stomach and stared at the ground.