Shared Pain

Chapter Nine- Final Brawl

We were gathered around the blue fighting mat waiting for Four to post our opponents and watching him amused. Four's actions were sloppy, he kept rubbing his temples and swallowed two Tylenol before he came to show us our brawl partners. He was obviously hung over, it made me wonder how many more beers he had after I told him to go home.
"First brawl will begin in ten minutes." Four announced and turned the board around for us to see. Molly, one of Peter's minions was my pair, and we were last.
Each brawl was different and showed different skills from both the winner and looser. Will was quick, but his blows were weak, Al's punches were hard and pointed, but Al was like Barney in human form, he wouldn't hurt a fly.
Finally it was Molly and my turn. Four, who had been close to dozing off perked up and watched us intently. Molly took her stance and I took mine.
"Go!"
Molly swung at me but missed by a mile. I stomped on her toe and whipped around nailing my elbow into her gut. She coughed and leaned forward to catch her breath. After a minute I started to walk towards her to get in another blow but she spun herself around and caught me in the side. I yelped and backed up a few steps, the feeling of that punch didn't feel right, it wasn't a quick pain that ached afterwords, it was a sharp long lasting pain. I put my hand on my side and I felt warm liquid, pulling my hand away I saw that I was bleeding, badly. Looking back at Molly, she looked satisfied with herself, and a very sharp ring the was red with blood was on her finger. Four saw what had just happened and was coming to deal with us, but I wasn't done, Molly wasn't going to get away with that. I sped towards her and punched her in the gut, when she leaned over I kneed her nose and she fell onto the floor groaning. A red haze covered my vision and I started to wobble, showing I was about to pass out. I started to fall and the last thing I saw was Four, and him looking at the gash in my side.
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I woke up in a room dressed in white and a horrible stitch in my side. "Tris?" I blinked a couple times and could make out Will and Christina's faces. "Hey guys, what happened?" Christina and Will looked at one another hesitantly. "Guys?"
"Molly used a weapon against you, you both have been cut by Eric." Christina said. "We're sorry." Will said, then they both stood and left. I was cut? Why was I cut? I didn't do anything! I threw the sheets off of me and stood from the bed, my side hurt to no end but it was doable. I rushed out of the hospital wing and into the training centre. No one was there, not a soul. I ran out to the Pit and asked the first person I recognized if they knew where the initiates had gone. The first person I saw that I knew the face of was Uriah's brother Zeke whom I've met once when I was sitting with Uriah at lunch.
"Zeke!" I called to him. He looked around and when he saw me he looked confused. "Hey Stiff."
"Where did the initiates go?" I asked hurriedly. "Didn't you hurt your side." He said looking at my wrapped torso. "Zeke! Where did they go!?" He shook his head. "The train." I gave him a quick hug and ran off. I needed to get there before the train is gone. I burst out the door when the last initiate was getting on the train. I don't think I've ever ran faster, my feet were flying one after another and my arms were pumping hard. Four was about to close the train door when he saw me, he stood there and watched me speed towards the train. He couldn't really do much else. I reached for the train handle but couldn't quite catch it. Four looked behind him before grasping my hand and yanking me into the train. "Thank you." I whispered. I could barely feel my legs and my breath was coming in fast gulps.
"Stiff!" A gruff voice called to me. "How'd you get on!?" Eric pretty much yelled at me. "I jumped on." I say, still a little breathless. He nodded and perked his lips, "Okay." I looked over at Four and he winked. He was probably the weirdest, most strange instructor out there, but he did the job well.
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We reached our destination which was an old abandoned amusement park. All the initiated jumped off the train and we set ourselves up in a row in front of Four and Eric, ready to see what team we were on. "You go first." Four said to Eric. Eric, as expected, chose Edward. The strongest, most feared brawl opponent, even before Peter and I. When Four was preparing to choose, it looked like he was going to choose Al, but instead, he looked me right in the eye and said, "I choose the Stiff." I walked over to Four and threw a green piny over my head. The team picking went on, and my team ended up consisting of Uriah, Christina, Will and I. The others I didn't know. "Ok! We are playing a mean game of capture the flag." Eric said, "with paintball guns."
"Rules of the game!" Four called over the chatter. "Whoever gets the other teams flag first wins, get hit by a paint ball you're out." The two teams went their separate ways in search for a place to hide our flag. I didn't know why, but I was excited for this game.