Danger is Near

Chapter 16

I sat waiting for about thirty minutes! Until he, finally, arrived.

I was so angry, I just had to say something. "OMG that was so quick!" I said sarcastically.

He just, as usual, glared at me, as he walked towards the guns. He didn't even show that he was pissed off at me, but I knew he was. He always hated when I had attitude.

He assessed the guns quickly and swiftly. "Ok, your free to go" he announced, as he too walked away.

Today we seemed to have finished up early, for when I arrived in the Hall a lot of people were still eating their dinner. I lined up and got my food. Then, I went off trying to find 'my people'.

I found them sitting at the same table we sat at on our first night. Everyone was there, so I must've been the last person Eric checked up on. I sat down and we basically just talked about our first day.

After dinner we all headed straight to the dorm. We didn't want to be late. We arrived at the dorm around seven thirty. There were already a few other initiates inside. Most of them were taking showers. Some people were absolutely fine with being out in the open but some people had friends holding up blankets around them.

"That's a good idea" I piped in, "we should all probably shower now while there aren't many people around" I said to the girls.

"Good idea, mum" Christina joked. I chuckled sarcastically as I went to retrieve blankets off of our beds. I'm pretty sure all of us didn't want to be seen naked.

I saw that there were two showers left. Two of us could go while the rest of us held up the blankets for privacy.

"Ok so which two of us want to go first?" I asked. While looking over at the free showers.

"Yep. I'll go" Christina freely announced walking towards a shower.

Tris, Emma and Jem followed her, knowing someone would have to hold up blankets for her. I chucked a few to Jem.

"Ok, so, any of you guys wanna hop in first?" I asked a second time.

No one wanted to go 'first' so I said I would. I wasn't too fussed about it, as long as a few people held up blankets around me. We walked towards the last free shower, next to Christina's.

Jem and Matisse went next, then Emma and Amy and then Tris and Tess.

For the rest of the night we just talked. Then before I knew it I was in a deep sleep.

The next few days of training consisted of learning and working on defensive and offensive tactics. We also worked on a bit of endurance. That was the one I hated the most.

I eventually filled out my punishment, which was a blessing. I was completely over having to be alone with Eric. I didn't even talk most of the time and soon enough each and every 'punishment session' he spent less and less time with me. Which was good. Boring but good.

It had been about a week and a bit of training. I was actually surprised that I had managed to survive it.

One day Eric showed up at training, which was unusual. So I knew something big was about to happen, and I'll be honest with you... I was terrified.

I looked over at Four, wandering what was going on. And that's when I saw the massive mat laid out in the middle of the ring. Shit...

"Today, you will be putting all of your fighting techniques into action" Four proclaimed loudly. "You will be assessed and ranked by Eric and myself".

It went silent for a bit, as we all stood around looking at each other. Eric then broke the silence. "First jumper and thirtieth jumper, in the ring!"

Everyone's attention turned to Tris and a tough looking girl. They were the ones who were to fight.

They both hesitantly walked into the ring, taking their places on the mat. I was very worried for Tris, for I had seen her during training, and she wasn't all too good. And she was up against this girl, who I had also watched during training, and she was very good in combat. I was even worried to fight her.

The two of them hadn't even touched each other yet. They were standing there a little awkwardly, looking to Eric, not knowing when to begin. "How long do we fight for?" the girl questioned, all too casually for my liking. I may not necessarily like Tris a lot, but I don't want to see anyone get beaten up.

"Until one of you can't continue" Eric said ruthlessly.

"Or when one of you concedes" Four added as he took a step closer, now standing next to Eric.

"According to the old rules. New rules, no one concedes" Eric said, trying to hide a wicked smile. He must've created that 'new rule', which I did not like one bit.

"That's way too harsh" I heard someone whisper behind me. I turn around and give the person an agreeing nod.

"Lucky for you, those weren't the rules when we fought" Four said valiantly. Smiling a little.

Eric's face went stone cold, if that was even possible. You could tell he wasn't happy with what Four had just said. Especially how Four said it for everyone to hear. I swear I could even see a little pain in Eric's eyes, but I was probably just imagining it.

"As Four said before, you'll be scored on this, so fight hard" Eric finished strongly, moving away from Four, and walking around to the other side of the ring.

The girl's just stood there, not sure whether to begin or not. "Go!" Eric said, waving his arm about. He looked extremely pissed off.

They began to move around in circles with their arms up in a defensive position. Looking for the right time to strike. As they were doing this, the tough girl went for a punch and Tris quickly moved off of the mat. You could tell she was scared shitless. "Don't be scared stiff" Peter yelled out, as Tris made her way back onto the mat.

They continued to fight. The tough girl was beating Tris, no doubt. Tris had tried punching her, kicking her, pinning her down but nothing worked. I looked over to Eric and he didn't look amused at all. At one stage of the fight he wasn't even watching. He was just staring off into the distance, looking bored out of his mind. His jaw relaxed and his eyes almost closed. Like this was making him tired.

Tris was eventually knocked out and taken to the Infirmary.

The fights went on and on. Most people went to the punching bags to practise during the fights, but I stayed to watch and observe the ways in which people fought. Even my friends, I was surely going to come up against them at sometime.

After the eighth fight I was called upon to enter the horrifying ring. And guess who was my opponent.

'Tough girl'. Aka, the girl who beat the absolute shit out of Tris.

This would surely be interesting... and painful.