It has been a couple hours into my first time as a trainer, and quite frankly, I am impressed with some of the recruits! Most of them have full physical potential. Others, not so much.
Looking down the line at the knife-throwing area, I noticed Albert having a hard time aiming correctly. I walked over to him, hoping to contribute a helping hand.
"Hey Albert, you alright?"
Albert turned around, startled by my sudden approach, "Yeah, I'm just not very good at this kind of skill."
"I can tell," I said, standing beside him."Do you know why?"
He shook his head, an unsure expression on his face. I smiled as I reached into my holster to take out one of my own throwing knives.
"When you throw, you want to manuver it at a downward angle. The reason why it isn't a reasonable idea is because wherever your arm goes, the knife goes. Also, your not putting enough tension in your wrist to dictate the path the knife should take to hit the target. There are two ideas you want to focus on: speed and accuracy. Here, watch. This how you throw."
Just then I threw the knife without any care at a downward angle. The knife bounced off the cement floor.
"Is that really how I throw?" Albert questioned.
I nodded, "Yes."
I reached into my holster again, taking out another one of my personal knives.
"Now, come stand beside me, and follow my moves."
He positioned himself in front of the target, following the standard position.
"Since you throw with your left hand, hold your right arm out for momentum purposes. Later on you'll need to work on creating it yourself before you throw. Instead of using just our arm and leaving it loose, put a little tension throughout the arm and flick your wrist."
"Could you show me?" Albert said, telling me he was more of a visual learner.
"Sure," I said, taking his place.
Quickly getting into the position, I took a deep breath to steady my breathing.
With a quick motion of the wrist I threw the knife. An array of gasps sounded, as they saw that my knife went right through the target.
"Damn," I heard Christina say.
Turning around, I saw Eric looking at me with a blank expression. I just shrugged. I'll have someone come replace it.
I turned to Albert, "Now, you try."
Nervous, Albert set himself up, obviously nervous by my talent.
"Don't worry about my throw, I've been doing it a lot longer than you have."
Releasing his breath he threw the knife with the flick of the wrist. I smiled.
"Good job, Albert. You hit it right in the stomach area. Good spot for a fatal wound. However, you need to practice using your wrist."
I made my way over to the target, standing right in front of it.
"What are you doing?" He questioned.
"Kill me," I said blankly.
"Wh-what?"
"Throw the knife at me."
Albert shook his head, "No, not at an instructor."
I rose my eyebrows, "I am giving you an order, do you wish to defy them?"
"Yes," Albert whispered.
I got mock-pissed and bent down to pick up the knife I threw earlier only to throw it right at him, just missing the side of his face.
"What the-"
"If you're gonna' let me dictate the fight, then I'll make sure to kill you first!" I yelled, trying to light a fire in his belly.
"If you don't kill me, bodies are going to start dropping. I'll start with Christina, then William, then Edward, and so on. But, the best part will be saving Tris for last. I can imagine her face twisting in pain when I pierce her skin with my knife. And her screams will make it ten times better. It'll just make me want to more-"
Before I could finish, the sound of a knife hitting the wood beside my face rang through my ear. However, I could see another one coming straight for my head and caught with one hand, blade up. It was nearly a millimeter from impacting my forehead.
Through the knife I could see Albert's breathing heavily, as if he released all the anger he mustered up.
I smiled and rose my hands up, "I'm dead."
I walked over to him and patted his shoulder.
"Excellent start. Keep practicing like that, and you will be on your way to significant improvement. For now, go take a breather before you try and kill someone else besides me."
Albert nodded, quickly parting ways from me. While walking over to the table of knives, I could see the initiates watching my every move in horror.
"What are you staring at?" I questioned, making them immediately turn back to whatever it was they were doing. As I gazed upon the numerous knives in front of me, I noticed a shadow appear in front of me.
"Was your training like that?" Tris asked, somewhat concerned.
I nodded, "It's highly effective when done right. Albert just needs more fire within him if he is going to succeed in the physical and mental examinations."
"It must've been hard training like that."
I shrugged, "You just have to realize that in that moment, it's nothing personal. Strictly a training exercise that applies to real life, that's all. Now, go make sure your Candor friend doesn't get in trouble for her big mouth."
"I heard that!"
Tris chuckled at my statement before going back to throwing knives with Christina, leaving me to look at the shiny objects I loved so much.
"Hey, Popper!"
My head snapped up to see an upset Molly walking toward me with my knife in her hand.
"Yes?"
She slammed my knife down on the table, "Watch where you throw your knives. It almost stabbed me."
I stood there appalled. " I'm going to do what means necessary.You however should pay more attention to your surroundings. If you die, it's not my problem."
"Is that what you think of your first partner's-"
Before she could say another word I took the knife she put down and held it at her throat.
"If you EVER dare to mention my first partner, I will either slit your throat or throw you into the chasm myself. What happened is none of your goddamn business. I suggest you stay out of it. Am I clear?" I said, looking at her dead in the eyes.
Molly nodded, her eyes were wide at my hostile action.
I lowered my knife, "Watch your mouth, Candor."
With that she ran away as if her life depended on it. Did I feel bad? Absolutely not.
I set down the knife and walked toward the other side of the punching bags, letting off a little steam.
"Adelaide! Can I talk to you?"
I looked behind me to see Eric walking up to me, his eyes showing a dull expression.
"Yes, sir. Is there a problem?"
"No, not at all. I want to talk to you about a leadership opportunity."
My eyebrows furrowed, "What do you mean?"
"Max insisted that since you are of high rank, he thought it would be wise to put it to use. I was thinking that we could do some sort of a station day with you, Four, and I as the head leaders of our group. Just something to consider," Eric said, looking at me for a quick second and then started to walk away.
"Wait," I said, catching his attention.
"Yes?" Eric said, as if I was wasting his time.
"What are the terms of this operation?"
"We can discuss those tonight. Meet at my apartment at 8 o'clock, and we will all discuss whatever needs to be."
With that, he continued his path while yelling at the initiates.
"Alright, listen up! For the rest of the time, we are going to run around the perimeter to build up more stamina. Four and Adelaide, get rid of all the knives and get someone to replace the target that Adelaide mutilated."
A lot the initiates chuckled a little bit when I just shrugged my shoulders.
"Let's go, initiates!" Eric yelled before running ahead of them.
I immediately went over to the table of knives, grabbing my own before putting the others in one of the black slots in a bag.
Four eyed me as we were placing the knives in the appropriate bags.
"Something wrong, sir?"
Four smiled, "No."
I nodded, tieing up the bag now full of knives.
"Do you want to come to my apartment for dinner? You can bring Lucas," Four stated, hope apparent in his voice.
I nodded, "Sure, it would be a pleasure."
Four nodded and started to walk away. However, he abruptly stopped, looking over his shoulder.
"Oh, and Adelaide?"
"Yes?" I asked.
"My name is Four."