Stay Away | Eric Coulter [1]

nine

    The sound of metal clanking jars me awake. I peer up from under my covers to see my brother standing by the entrance and groan. He has what looks like a metal rod in his hand, which he's using to stir up a ruckus with by banging it against the metal railing.

"I want everyone in the pit. Two minutes," Tobias orders before promptly leaving the room.

Falling back onto my bed, I steal a couple more seconds of shut-eye before I rise.

I quickly get dressed and stuff my feet into my shoes, securing my laces and tucking the ends into my boot so it wouldn't come loose.

Not anywhere near awake enough to be in the mood to socialise with anyone, I don't wait for the others and make my way to the Pit on my own. I'm pretty sure this was the fastest I've ever gotten ready. As I enter the Pit, my eyes meet my brother's, who raises a brow at me as if he was thinking the exact same thing.

Neither of us was willing to break our stares, reminding me of the stare-offs we would have as kids, though I'm sure that isn't his intent. Tobias would always cheat, finding crazy ways to try and make me look away. Once, he lied to me that there was a llama outside of our house. Being the gullible idiot that I was at five years old, I believed him and lost.

Someone clears their throat from behind Tobias and though I try not to, it's impossible to not notice Eric's intense gaze observing us from the back.

At the sound, Tobias looks over his shoulder at Eric. When my brother turns to look back at me, I smirk. Loser. As if he's able to read my mind, he scowls. And for a minute, I almost forget about how cold he's been towards me since I've got here.

"Are you going to stop making eyes at the initiate and focus on your job, or do I need to take over?" Eric snaps. Thankfully, I'm the first to arrive and it's only the three of us here.

Tobias glowers at him but says nothing in return as the others join us. I peer over his shoulder to meet Eric's gaze, narrowing my eyes at him in annoyance and the infuriating ass quirks a brow at me in response.

"Two stages of training," Tobias starts when everyone settles down, "The first is physical. Push your bodies to the breaking point and you'll master the methods of combat. The second is mental. Again, breaking point. You'll face your worst fears and conquer them...unless they get you first. You'll be trained separately from the Dauntless-born but you'll be ranked together." He points towards the group of Dauntless-borns gathered on the other side of the room.

I immediately spot Lynn, Marlene and Uriah among the group. As if Uriah could feel my gaze, he looks over and meets my eyes, raising a hand to wave at me enthusiastically.

Doubting that it'll be a good idea to wave back, I simply offer him a wide smile as Tobias continues droning on.

"After initiations, rankings will determine what jobs you move into. Leadership, guarding the fence, or keeping the factionless from killing each other."

"Rankings will also determine who gets cut," Eric announces, raising from where he's seated and coming to stand beside Tobias.

There's a second of stunned silence before Christina asks, "Cut?"

"At the end of each stage of training, the lowest ranking initiates will be leaving us," Eric explains.

"To do what?" Someone else- Al, I think- questions from down the row.

Eric shrugs, "There's no going home to your families, so you'd live factionless."

Bile rises in my throat at the news. The uncertainty scares me, but looking on the bright side of things, I'm sure living factionless would still beat staying with Marcus in Abnegation.

"Why didn't we know about this?" Another voice joins the fray. This time, it was the tall Erudite transfer, whose name I'm pretty sure is Will, who spoke.

"It's a new rule," Eric states casually as if he didn't just drop a bomb on all of us.

"New rule? Somebody should've told us that-"Clearly agitated, Christina starts to argue only to be cut off by Eric.

"Why? Would you have chosen differently?" He says, "Out of Fear? If that's the case you might as well get out now. If you're really one of us, it won't matter to you that you might fail. You chose us," He continues, his tone commanding attention as his eyes fall on me, "Now, we get to choose you."

I'm vaguely aware of how his eyes follow mine as I looked back at the group of Dauntless-borns, once again finding my friends in the crowd. The three of them goofed off, looking as carefree as ever.

I'm sure they've been told this news as well. Still, there wasn't a hint of doubt on their faces. Maybe they were just good at hiding their emotions, but there was still an air of confidence that they emitted that made not only them, but everyone around them believe that they got make it. That's how I wanted to be.

Straightening up, my eyes flitted back to Eric's as if there were some invisible thread that drew up to each other.

Don't get me wrong, I was still really pissed at him. But there was no denying that there was an attraction there.

"Training will commence every day at eight in the morning through six. You'll get a lunch break in-between and you're free to do whatever you like after training has ended, but you're only allowed to leave the compound if you're accompanied by a Dauntless." Tobias then adds, "Since it's your first day and we still have some time before eight, you're free to go get some breakfast. Be back by then."

That leaves us with thirty minutes to grab breakfast. As the group disperses, I spot Marlene waving me over, only to pause. An odd look takes over her face as she peers over my shoulder.

I feel the heat of his body against my back before I even see him.

Eric rounds me and moves to stand in front of me, "I see you took my words to heart."

It may be a little childish on my part, but I refuse to reply him or even look at him and fold my arms.

"Giving me the cold shoulder?" He comments, "That's a little uncreative, don't you think?"

I roll my eyes at him before pushing past him. I could've sworn I heard his low chuckle as I left.