Death Wish

Bonus Chapter

(For the five total people that really like this story and love Ferris/Eric... this ones for you!)

Eric Pov

Eric paced down one of the many concrete halls of Dauntless with long strides. To the uninitiated, the halls of Dauntless might at first appear all identical to each other. Long, square halls composed exclusively of dark grey concrete that seemed to loom for miles without end. But, at this point, Eric could practically navigate the maze of Dauntless with his eyes closed. The countless cracks, marks, and divots in the walls and floors served as his guide posts, each one a familiar landmark that created a mental map of the compound. 

Eric knew that the hall near the Pit was the one missing two ceiling tiles and that the floor leading to the chasm boasted a long crack that looked like a lightning bolt frozen in stone. He also knew that the hallway outside of the training room was one of the only halls that possessed a hand railing and that there was a slow decline in the hall's elevation. Eric didn’t bother using the railing in the hall as he walked throughout his faction, destination unknown. 

He’d been unable to find sleep that night and after about two hours of tossing and turning, Eric decided to tire himself out by taking a lengthy stroll around the Dauntless community. The halls were largely empty considering that it was nearly 1am in the morning and also a Tuesday. 

Eric was lost in thought, plotting in his mind who he should match up in the next fights between the current initiates. So far, Eric wasn’t very impressed by this initiate class but, to be fair, he was never impressed by any incoming class. At least there were a few standouts in the group so far. 

The Erudite transfer, Ryan, had easily been the fastest in the mile run by nearly fifteen seconds. His stamina and ability to push himself was a good quality and he was pretty nimble on his feet during sparring. But he needed to gain weight and master his hand eye coordination if he wanted to stand a chance in real physical combat. 

Eric also thought of the big Abnegation transfer, Dietrich. Dietrich was easily the biggest and heaviest of all the transfers and had shown promise during his first match against Frankfurt. Unfortunately, Dietrich didn’t quite possess the killer instinct of a Dauntless yet, he still harbored some of that classic Abnegation restraint. Had Dietrich not pulled his punches and let up at the end of his match, Dietrich would have surely won against Frankfurt. 

Speaking of Frankfurt, Eric had initially thought that he was the frontrunner of the initiate group. Frankfurt was a well rounded athlete overall and possessed good speed, strength, and technique. But his mouth and ass seemed to be located within inches of each other and his shitty attitude and massive ego would only get him in trouble in Dauntless.

Thankfully, Frankfurt’s ego had already taken a serious blow just the other night when a certain initiate literally smacked him in the face with a lunch tray and pummeled him into the floor for talking shit. It was bound to happen at some point, Eric thought, but he would have never imagined it would be the quiet, seeingly meek, Candor initiate to do it. 

Ferris Maguire, the tall, reserved girl that often hung out around the little redheaded one whose name Eric couldn’t recall in that moment. The Candor that preferred not to speak. 

At first, Eric wasn’t sure what to make of the Candor. She was the first jumper, which Eric thought was an out-dated achievement overall, but she had shown some real promise during the first week of training. She had decent stamina and strength from a baseline perspective and wasn’t half bad at sparring. But it was that temper, the livid, red hot anger simmering beneath her skin, just waiting for a chance to strike, that would either lift her to the top or be her downfall.