Soulmates

Chapter 4: Training

The first morning in training, Four and Eric start the transfers on physical conditioning and hand-to-hand combat techniques. The work is exhausting. Tris was never allowed to run in Abnegation, so her cardio conditioning is weak. The extent of her physical stamina is what she could get from her volunteer work with the factionless. However, Abnegation generally keeps the girls from doing too much of the heavy lifting, and a lifetime of minimal rations hasn’t helped either. Tris is small, weak, and struggling.

It doesn’t help that both of her trainers avoid her at all costs. As Eric and Four circulate around the room, they give out pointers to each initiate, but barely acknowledge Tris. They hardly even look at her unless one of them gets close to her, then the other watches intently. They’re territorial, yet standoffish, and it makes Tris crazy. She knows she’s small and inexperienced in fighting but she wants this as much, if not more, than anyone in her group. And it would help if her trainers would actually train her.

After lunch, Eric doesn’t return to the training room with the group. Four gathers them together and explains the schedule. The first part will be physical training. That lasts the longest, and will include lessons on weapons maintenance, shooting, throwing knives, hand-to-hand combat, and general physical conditioning. At the end of the first phase, the bottom four initiates will be cut and made factionless.

The second part of training is emotional. Four doesn’t really describe what that entails, but he calls it “fear training,” and explains that they’ll be training alongside the Dauntless-born initiates, but still living separately.

The third part of training is mental. It revolves around the final exam, when everything they learned is put to the test in what Four calls their “fear landscape.”

Sounds like the title of a bad horror movie, Tris muses.

“We believe that preparation eradicates cowardice, which we define as the failure to act in the face of fear,” Four explains. “Therefore each stage of initiation is intended to prepare you in a different way.”

With the announcements complete, the initiates go back to work on the punching bags.

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Training day two starts with another run, then Eric gives a brief lecture on weapons, including the types of weapons Dauntless uses and how to maintain them in proper order. He also gives the initiates some basic safety instruction before taking them into the range and passing out handguns.

Tris thinks that Eric sounds like an Erudite in the way he goes through each detail of what a gun does and how to take care of it so it will keep working properly, but she know better than to say it - even just to Christina. By lunchtime each initiate can disassemble, clean, and reassemble their weapon without help. Eric tells them that they will practice this daily, and with different types of guns, until they can do it in their sleep.

It’s a relief to Tris to be taking a break from the punching bags. Her arms are so sore from yesterday’s training that they shake when she tries to lift them. Working with the gun is more mental than physical, and she does a reasonably good job keeping up with her classmates.

The Erudite boy, Edward, is a natural. Will tells Tris and Christina that Edward has always wanted to transfer to Dauntless, so he’s been studying up on fighting and weapons since they were young.

“What about Myra?” Christina asks, referring to Edward’s girlfriend.

“They’re soulmates,” Will says, unconsciously putting a hand on his ribs where his own soulmark hides beneath his shirt. “They found each other just a few months ago. He was set on Dauntless, so she transferred with him.”