𝐙𝐄𝐑𝐎 - 𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐫

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄

𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞

  We all followed Four into a dark tunnel and later on stood at the center of what he called the Pit. It was surrounded by gray stones and stairs, which from my point of you seemed a little dangerous, especially if you stood for too long there. The Dauntless born initiates were sitting and talking a few feet away from us. Four turned his back so we could face him and i noticed Eric sitting and watching every one of us like in the roof. For some reason i couldn't take my eyes off of him. Like something was telling me to keep looking, keep trying to understand his mysterious presence that was kind of all over the place or at least for me.

When his eyes met mine i immediately looked down. I was blushing, not because he knew that i was looking at him the entire time, but because in Amity no boy had the same look as his. Their eyes were full of happiness and their behavior had not a single question mark. His eyes were different and almost felt like bullets once they fell upon you.

Four raised his voice and all the murmurs stopped and payed attention to what he was going to say next, "For the next few weeks, i'm going to be one of your instructors. Me and Eric will be responsible for your training. You will go through three stages. The first one being physical, the second stage primarily emotional and the third mental, you'll experience your worst fears and if you're good enough, you will conquer them". We all looked at each other, not so sure of what to expect.

"You will be ranked after every stage of initiation and your rankings will also determine who gets cut", Eric gets up and walks towards us. "Cut?", i asked without hesitation. I knew that being an Amity transfer would cost me a lot, but if i also had to think about getting cut, then i wasn't so sure if i would make it till the end. "The lowest ranking initiates will be leaving us".

"For what?", David asked confused. "There's no going back to your families, so you'll live factionless".

"Why didn't we know that?".

"It's a new rule".

"But someone should have told us that", i said and my heart was already out of my chest. He looked at me from head to toe, "Why?. Would you have chosen differently?. Out of fear?", i couldn't look at him for longer than five seconds, he broke the eye contact by looking at the other initiates. "You chose us, now we get to choose you".

• • •

"Did you notice how arrogant he was?", Christina was irritated by Eric's whole personality and i couldn't blame her. The fact that i was even in a room with a person like this, couldn't make me forget that i was from Amity and that was what i wanted to get rid of. "But you know, Four also knew about this new rule, he was just not so lucky of announcing it", i said ironically. "I'm not only talking about that. Eric seems like he is a pain in the ass", i had a small laugh, "Sorry, i know you're not used to this so inappropriate language", she said laughing back.

We made our way to a dining hall, where Four entered first and all the Dauntless born-initiates applaud and shouted at us. No Amity had such a powerful welcoming.

We found a table with some empty seats and quickly made our way there. The table had a big amount of food and after Christina started filling her plate, i did the same.

"Oh shit", i heard her say looking behind me and i turned to face Eric sitting at my right. "Is there a problem?", he continued his drink not wasting a second to look at us. "N-no", i answered, instead of Christina. "Why aren't you eating then?. Amity didn't teach you how to eat?", i stared at my plate and didn't give an answer. He wasn't even interested in hearing one. "Don't be too hard on them, at least not until training", Four said sitting across from me. "Well, i don't think they're going to last long", he made a quick answer. I could sense that they are not friends, but neither enemies, although an enemy seemed to be the closest thing a person could be for Eric.

Eric stood up and quickly left our table. I'm sure he didn't like how weak we looked, it almost felt like a shame to be here. "How long do you know him?", Christina took the risk to ask. "From our initiation. He transferred from Erudite and i from Abnegation", his voice low.

"Why did y-".

"You're asking too many questions, don't you think?", he looked at her with sharp eyes.

• • •

After Dinner, we followed Four and we went up some stairs, before we saw Eric down a tunnel waiting for us in front of a wooden door. "I will see you tomorrow at training", Four left us and we got closer to Eric. His arms folded.

"Behind this door is the room where you will be sleeping for the next few weeks. You have to be in the training room by eight o' clock every day. Training lasts from eight to six. After six you can do whatever you want. You will also take a break after each stage of initiation", he opened the door behind him and a few people gasped. After some seconds, i knew why. There is only one room and the beds were exactly the same number as those of us who were here.

"We expected that some of you wouldn't make it, but you were lucky", his eyes met mine and something inside me started giving me the sense of anger. I was not very familiar with it.

"We will all sleep here?", David asked. He had a smirk on his face for some reason. "Yes. Boys and girls. The same rules apply for the bathroom", i couldn't keep my mouth closed of how awkward it would be for all of us to live here. To changing clothes into having a bath. It would be torture.

"Be ready for training tomorrow. Your new clothes are on your beds", he walked past me leaving the room, almost touching my shoulder. With the kind of clothing i was wearing, it was easy for everyone to see me. Carla was already changing clothes and looking at herself in the mirror, unlike her brother who examined the clothing like it was some kind of newspaper. Henry was already in bed trying to sleep.

When everyone was finally lying down and the lights were off, me and Christina took our chance to change clothes. I covered myself with the thin blanket and i closed my eyes, worried of what the next morning would bring.