“On the ground, Stiff.” Eric snarls through his teeth. Stepping forward, past the initiates I brush the scabs on my knuckles. “I want twenty push ups without stopping, only on your knuckles.” I crouch down and inhale through my nose, the air smells like sweat and dust. Al gives me a sympathetic look. I place my two front knuckles on the wooden block, it’s about 5 centimetres thick. My knuckles ache but I do it anyway. Slowly, I press down on my arms and legs, my arms shaking. I keep a steady breath, as I count to ten. I can feel my skin splitting, and the blood begins to trickle out. My muscles burn and my back arches I want to cave in, but I want to prove Eric wrong. I can do this. 15, only 5 more. The compound has fallen silent. Eric towers over me, never breaking away. He keeps running his teeth over his bottom lip. “Come on Stiff, don’t be a coward. This’ll teach you to keep your mouth shut.” I want to get up, and ram my fist into his face. I am not a coward. My hair tickles the back of my neck; it hangs in a textured knot and falls over my face. 18, 19, 20. I take a sharp breath as I sink into the concrete, but I then decide to stand back up and brush myself off, just to prove my point to Eric. He pauses for a moment, twisting his lip piercing between his fingers. “Hmm. Not bad, but don’t think that you can just rebel against a leader. Unless you want to end up Factionless.” I nod, and wipe the sweat off my hands on my pants. Christina puts her arm around my waist, and pulls me into her. “Holy shit, Tris. That was awesome, I can’t believe you did that. Are your hands okay ?” I look down at my hands, blood is smudged over my fingers. “Yeah, I just wash them off. Catch you guys later?” I jerk my head towards Will and Al. “Sure, we’ll be at the cafeteria.” I watch them walk down the hall, following their shadows as the slowly disappear into nothing.
