More Than Divergent

8. Holding On

I walked into the room and Drew was already in the circle practicing and swinging his fists in the air. Tobias gave me a knowingly look.

I'll be right back, I have to use the bathroom" I started to veer to the right side of the room when a huge body stepped in front on me.

"Where are you going?" Eric arched his pierced brow.

"The bathroom" I said annoyed.

"You're not running away are you?" He prompted.

"Yea to the bathroom, do you mind?" I pushed through him and he caught my arm.

"You're faster than he is." He said in a low voice.

"Wha-"

"Be quick, and aim for the throat" he interrupted and let me go. I watched him walk away and then I went to the bathroom. Why would he give me advice?

I noticed my hands where shaking when I was washing them. I knew I had only a few minutes before I had to go out there. Why was I so nervous? It's not like I haven't taken a hit before. With Marcus I couldn't to fight back. I can fight back here. What if I'm not good enough. What if I'm too weak. I will never amount to anything. What if this is the beginning of my failure and then I'll become factionless. I walked out of the bathroom still trying to shake the negative thoughts. If I allowed them to stay I was good as gone. One day at a time, one fight at a time. I reached the circle and everyone's eyes were on me.

"It's about time Stiff" Drew smiled.

He pulled his hands up to his face and I did the same. He jerked toward me and I moved out of the way. His movements were slow and awkward. Drew swung again, this time he connected to my jaw and I stumbled back. Marcus hits harder than that.

"You call that a punch?"I shook it off like I always did and stretched my jaw. Insulted, Drew lunged again and this time he missed my face and hit my shoulder. I barely acknowledged his hit. He tried to grab me and in doing so he left his throat exposed and I took advantage. A quick jab and my knuckles could feel the stiffness of his trachea. He hunched over coughing. I looked over to Tobias and his motioned back to Drew. I forced my elbow into his back like Tobias showed me earlier. I did so repeatedly until he pulled my legs from under me. Pain exploded from my ribs to the rest of my body as I hit the mat hard. Drew was on top of me swinging his fists toward my face. He was able to get a few shots in. I felt pain radiating from my cheek but ignored it. My arms were covering my face when I remember what Lynn said. I let him hit me as my arms left my face and my fist went to his groin. The collective groans from the guys in the crowd let me know it was a decent hit. Drew fall backwards off of me. Not wasting any time I stood up quickly I kicked him in the ribs. I could see him struggling and weak. I could easily overpower him from this position. He was laying on his back still when I straddled on his chest. My hands created a fist and swung until they met flesh. You're weak. Marcus' voice said and I jumped. You'll never amount to anything. You will be worthless just like your brother. With every hit I drowned out his voice.

I felt my hand get sticky and noticed they were red and trembling. I looked down and Drew's face was bloody. I stood up and looked around. Everyone was watching me. Tobias went to check on Drew who was barely moving. I looked at Eric who had a grin spread across his face like he was proud. Saying nothing I walked away and headed toward the bathroom. I could hear Tris call after me but I ran into the bathroom and washed my hands in the sink. Drew's blood tinted the water as it swirled down the drain. I scrubbed until my hands were raw. I was so focused on the sound of the water I didn't hear when Tris walked in.

"Theo? Are you ok?" Her words filled with caution.

"Yea I'm fine." I continued to scrub my hands. Tris reached over and turned off the faucet.

"Stop you'll scrub your skin off." She reached for my hands and clasped them. "Relax" her words were soothing.

"Is he ok?" I looked at her.

"Yea he was taken to the infirmary" She had a paper towel around my hands. I stood there for a few moments.

"Thank you" I met Tris's eyes

"You're welcome, come on Christina is fighting" She walked toward the door and opened it to run into Tobias. She was stunned when she realized who it was.

"Get back on the training floor Stiff." He stated. "Wait" He gestured to me. Tris shot me a sympathetic look and walked back to the training floor. Tobias waited until we were alone. "After dinner meet me at the entrance of the dinning hall."

We left the room and watched as Eric lead all of us to the chasm bridge. Tobias grimaced at Eric and left in the opposite direction. Everyone watched as Eric dropped Christina from the bridge. She hung from the bridge and water splashing against her legs. I could see her grip starting to loosen.

"Come on Christina" we encouraged. Eric shot me a glance. This was the longest 5 minutes I had ever witnessed. There was a second when her hand had slipped and I was sure she was gone. No she held on. "That's five minutes" Al and I rushed to pull her up.

"She has to pull herself up" Eric said.

"No, she's done. She proved she's not a coward." I spat as I pulled up on one of her arms. Tris had kneeled by Christina's face and we all caught our breath.