DIVERGENT: Tobias (Watty Award Winner 2013)

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The next morning I woke up reluctantly. I have to teach the initiates how to shoot a gun. This should be interesting, considering they probably haven't held a gun their whole life. Whatever. I'm not going to dwell on that fact too much. I'm mostly looking forward to being in the training room again. It's the one place that makes me feel strong and powerful and confident.

Pretty soon I'm in the training room and I'm explaining the task we are working on to the initiates.

"The first thing you will learn today is how to shoot a gun," I pick up enough guns for everyone. "The second thing is how to win a fight." At that second I give a gun to Tris, but I don't want to see her expression, so I continue down the line without looking at her.

"Thankfully, if you are here, you already know how to get on and off a moving train, so I don't need to teach you that." I say with relief evident in my voice. I continue down the mental speech. "Initiation is divided into three stages. We will measure your progress and rank you according to your performance in each stage. The stages are not weighed equally in determining your final rank, so it is possible, though difficult, to drastically improve your rank over time."

I finish my little speech and take note of the initiates holding their guns. Some look bored, others look eager, and some even look scared. I linger on Tris's expression and notice that she looks a little repulsed by the gun. She looks slightly startled by the weapon in her hand and her face... Wait! I need to stop this. There are 8 other initiates in the room that I have to focus on. So I continue, wearing the same face as before.

"We believe that preparation eradicates cowardice,which we define as the failure to act in the midst of fear, therefore each stage of initiation is intended to prepare you in a different way. The first stage is primarily physical; the second, primarily emotional; the third, primarily mental." As I tell this the initiates, I start to remember my initiation. I quickly dislodge those memories from my head... Some of them were not too happy and I don't really want to relive them.

All of the sudden one of the initiates speaks up. "But what..." he cuts himself off with a yawn. I just recalled his name, it's Peter. "What does firing a gun have to do with...bravery?" Great! Another smart mouth! I quickly flip the gun in my hand and point it right to the his forehead. I click a bullet into place and he stops moving, completely frozen mid-yawn.

"Wake. Up." I snap harshly at him. "You are holding a loaded gun, you idiot. Act like it." I say through clenched teeth. People like him constantly tick me off! I lower the gun and allow myself a look at the now wide awake boy with tomato red cheeks. I choke back my smile to answer his question.

"And to answer your question...you are far less likely to soil your pants and cry for your mother if you're prepared to defend yourself." I walk to the end of the row and stop. I turn slowly. "This is also information you may need later in stage one. So, watch me."

I turn to the wall with the targets and get into my regular stance. I stand with my feet apart and hold the gun in both of my hands. I concentrate on hitting the dead center of the target and I fire with a loud bang. Sure enough, I hit the center of the target. Many of the initiates crane their necks to get a glimpse of my bulls eye before turning to their own targets and trying it themselves.

I appraise each of them. Some initiates are actually getting pretty close to the bulls eye, however some are not. Tris definitely isn't. My eyes can't help but return to her every few minutes. I haven't seen her even hit the target once. Then the boy next to her-I believe his name is Will- turns and starts to talk to her. They only talk for a minute when she turns toward her target with a determined look on her face. She fires, her hands jumping back in the process, but her feet stay firmly planted on the ground. Her bullet hits the edge of the target.