Inconclusive | E.C

Eight - Bullets and Bruises

    Kristian had been jerked awake on day one. The girl fell to the ground after hearing the sound of metal clashing against metal and found herself falling on the floor just to be told to go get food before meeting in the training room. Ignoring the snickering and laughing, she scrambled to her feet, keeping on the sweats she slept in and throwing on a clean t-shirt. She struggled to tie the boots she'd been given and found herself in the cafeteria with only fifteen minutes to eat, and she was still half asleep like everyone else.

    She practically loomed over her scrambled eggs and barely shoved any into her mouth before running with the rest to the training room.

    Amar began to explain how the initiation process would work, explained its three stages but Kristian could barely keep her eyes open. Stage one was the only thing she managed to pick up, she only heard 'physical training' from the man. Sleep was a curse, it really was, but insomnia was worse. If she were to look down at her feet she'd probably envision two shackles around her ankles from the damn thing.

    Suddenly there was a weight shoved against Kristian's chest. The girl made an 'oomph' sound and she found herself holding at least seven pounds of weight. Her eyes snapped down as sleep somehow completely disappeared, instead her drowsiness was replaced with shock. She barely stumbled as it got shoved into her arms, barely even realized what Amar was now roughly giving them.

    "A rifle," one of the girls, Jamie, asked, "what's a gun going to do for us?"

Amar looked at her and said, "Dauntless are soldiers. If you end up working outside, you'll be armed and if you are, you need to know how to use one."

    The ex-Erudite boy with round glasses snorted. "I've never seen a Dauntless with a rifle outside."

    Amar reached behind him and rolled his eyes. The boy, Leo, looked at his friend with a knowing look before freezing as a revolver was placed in his face.

    "Because we carry handguns, too," Amar said smugly, "it's called conceal carry. And, learning how to handle and fire a weapon isn't a joke. It's better to learn the safety of it now so you don't piss yourself later. Let's get to rule one; no aiming your weapon at something you don't intend to shoot."

    Leo blinked, choking his lips parted shakily as he said, "b-but you're aiming at me--"

    His eyes grew wide and Amar pulled the trigger. The initiates all jumped and looked at Leo, their grips tight on their rifles to not drop them. But there was just a click, no bang. Amar's smug look fell into a serious one as Leo's legs began to shake.

    "Now, if I didn't know what I was doing, you'd probably be dead," Amar said, pulling the revolver down and opening the eight-shot cylinder and showing it was empty, "lucky I didn't load it."

    There was a very loud gulp from Leo as he kept his mouth shut and Amar explained what to do as he flicked the cylinder back into place. On the wall were a mix of targets, but the ones they'd been set to fire at were orange faceless-mannequins that cut off on the gut and stood on a pole. Their first round wouldn't be marked, instead they'd just act as shots to demonstrate how it feels to shoot.

    The magazines consisted of fifteen bullets each, only half filled -- the spring inside could be seen.

    "Sixer," Amar looked at the girl, the girl flinched, "let's have you go first."

    Kristian barely nodded. She took her step towards the line and adjusted her grip of the rifle as Amar had explained. She took a deep breath and raised it, her left hand firm on the forestock and her right hard on the grip. Her finger lingered on the trigger guard as she aimed. Her eye landed on a black dot on the orange-target and she held her breath.