Revolution -Eric Coulter-

Chapter 6

Riley sat on her bed with her legs pulled to her chest. Her eyelids were tightly pressed together as she attempted to stop the tears from flowing. The previous events kept flashing in her mind. She was willing herself to think of anything else, but she couldn't. Her arm throbbed from where her father had bruised it. It was nothing that hadn't done before, but Riley had never handled it well. Her mind snapped out of the daze it was in at the sound of her door opening. Her heart began racing in fear, and she scrambled backward in an attempt to distance herself from the person.

"Hey," Tobias slipped through the crack in the door. "It's just me."

"Tobias," she stopped moving. The sense of fear she felt quickly vanished. "I'm sorry I-"

"Hey," he rushed to the side of her bed. "It's not your fault." Riley nodded but continued to feel guilty about the events. "You need to get to bed." It was something Tobias often did on bad nights. He made sure she went to bed safe. However, something about tonight was different. Tobias was different.

"Okay," Riley crawled over the top of her blanket and slid underneath it. Tobias kneeled down and grabbed the edge of the blanket to pull it up a little higher. As he did that, he stretched his arm and winced. Riley instantly noticed the pained expression on his face. "Are you okay?"

"Fine," he brushed her off. "You need to get to sleep." It was clearly a lie.

Riley stared at her brother, "so do you." Tobias rolled his eyes and began pushing off the floor when his eyes caught sight of the bruise forming on Riley's arms. In an instant, he reached forward and pulled her sleeve the rest of the way up. He took a deep breath at the sight. Riley didn't speak through the encounter. "It wasn't your fault, either." Her brother normally faced the wrath of their father head-on. Whenever Riley found herself on the front lines, Tobias would insert himself between them in an attempt to take the heat off her. She hated that he would do that for her, but she couldn't fight him. However, tonight he wasn't fast enough. Their father had grabbed Riley from her chair and dragged her halfway across the room before throwing her on the floor.

"Get some sleep," Tobias repeated. This time his tone had changed. Riley didn't speak further on the matter. "Night, Riley."

Riley stood in front of a table with a few of the other transfers with gun parts sprawled out. They were learning to put together and clean a weapon. Four had explained the process multiple times, but Riley was still having a hard time grasping the information. The only comfort she had was that nearly everyone around her was struggling as well. The only people who seemed to understand instantly was Peter and his group. They didn't hide the fact that they knew what they were doing. In return, Four took them to train outside. The shooting didn't officially start till the next day, but Eric didn't want them sitting around. That continued anytime someone finished putting their weapon together.

"What the-" Christina whispered to herself as she held a metal piece in her hand. "What does this go to?"

"That's part of the body," Will whispered to her.

"That isn't helpful," Christina whispered back. Across from her Tris laughed, but quickly covered her mouth when Eric turned his head. Riley glanced at her friend and noticed she hadn't done anything to reassemble her weapon. Out of the four of them, Will was the closet to being done. Al was one of the people who had finished early. Next was Riley, which was surprising. She had only a few pieces put together, but there weren't that many.

Riley held the base of the weapon in her hand and stared at the last three pieces she needed to place. The only issue was that she had no idea where they belonged. The strawberry blonde's hand hovered over the remaining pieces, but she didn't make a move to pick any of them up. "Barrel," a deep voice spoke from behind her. She glanced over her shoulder to see Eric standing behind her. He pointed at a black metal part a few inches from her hand. "Your gun is useless unless the barrel is attached to the hold."

"Thanks," Riley whispered feeling slightly embarrassed. Eric turned his attention to Christina.

"Are you going to start on your weapon," Eric questioned. "Or are you just going to stare? Attach your magazine last, start with the piece in your hand."

Christina didn't have the chance to reply because Eric was already walking away from her. "He is such an asshole," she spoke under her breath.

"At least he gave you a tip," Tris put another part on her gun. Riley picked up the piece that Eric had told her too. She quickly slid it onto the front of her rifle.

"An unhelpful tip," she spoke under her breath. Riley's lips pulled up in a smirk. Her hand grabbed the last two items she needed. Once they were in place, Riley stared at the weapon in her hand. "You're done?"

"I guess we will see," Riley stood up from her spot. She turned to look for Eric, and when she found him, she sucked in a breath. With a reluctant pause, she began making her way over. It didn't take long for him to notice her.

"You done, Initiate," he asked as she approached.

"I think so."

"You think so," Eric took the gun from her. "You think so?"

"I-I know so," Riley replied nervously. She didn't like speaking with Eric, and after her run-in with him last night, she found herself more intimated than she already was. Eric inspected the weapon in his hands.

"Okay," it didn't take more than five seconds. That surprised her, but she didn't question it. "Join Four and the others."

"Thank you," with that Riley stepped away and trotted towards where her brother and the others were training. 

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I don't know anything about guns or weapons. I apologize if my information is wrong. Thank you for all the reads/likes!