Her Dauntless [2] //Divergent// Eric Coulter

Hennessy Hayes

SIX ✧

Bang. Bang. Bang.

The lights switched on, followed by a chorus of groans, my eye scanned the room - rolling my eyes at their dramatic nature. After just over two weeks, you would've thought they would be used to this early morning wake up call. As I turned around, the bed Tris normally slept in was empty.
Every morning since Peter made the Factionless comment, she was awake before I was – her shoes where gone and her bed was made. Instead, I saw her in the training rooms, punching that orange bag; slowly but surely, she was making her way up the board.

With a shrug, I walk down the corridors to the training room, by the glass doors I smiled at Angel who stood looking sleep-deprived. In her hand was a two-litre coffee cup that she held to her chest as we walked into the training room.
Four was stood with his back to Tris as she punched the bag in front of her, steadying it now and then when it swung around too much.
Angel got a small cup, pouring come of the coffee out; handing it to Tris with a small smile.
"We aren't complete monsters."
Taking the cup, Tris looked at us differently – as if she was judging a whole faction by its leaders.

Lauren joined us around the table we had set up to leave our stuff on, she ran a hand through her hair as we went through the new plan for training now, we had Leadership watching our every move.
We decided to move them on to a more rotational method, having them start fighting each other and keeping them on the bags – then in the afternoon we split them up; some going up to the roof with me then others staying down with Four.
Lauren nodded to the idea, her training was going good as most Dauntless born could already fight and shoot guns, with shooting apples off people's heads being a popular pass time.
The four of us separated to our sides of the room as the initiates came back in, they all looked exhausted, tired and as if their muscles were about to give up on them.
Peter still had that cocky look to him that was slowly wearing me down. He stood in the middle between Molly and Drew; he was ranking higher than them both and I think that's the way he wanted it.

Overseeing the mats was slowly becoming a hatred of mine. Peter and Edward were going up against each other, both had good form though the technique was hateful; similar to what I think Eric's fighting style would be.
With Peter on the floor, Edward put his hand out to help him up; my brother knocked his hand away getting up by himself.

"Hennessy!"

I turned around, Ronnie had Myra sitting on the bench with a heavily bruised jaw and a possible broken nose; blood ran down her face as she tilted her head.
"What's up, Ron?"
She stood up, with her hand on Myra's back," I'm taking her up to see Theo in A&E, make sure she hasn't fractured her eye socket."
I nodded," Ok, just bring her back."
"Aye, aye captain." She saluted, on her way out," Who lives in a pina-"
I pointed at her, "No!"
"Spoilsport."
"Bite me."
She turned her head, pointing at the light marks on my neck, "That's his job."
"Shut up!"

As I watched them train, Eric sat on the side, sharpening his knife set. They were matte black, with bold engraved patterns. He never said where he got them from, but he didn't buy them himself, they looked more like a gift. From across the room, we shared the odd glance but he wanted to keep his tough exterior intact in front of the newer members.

During the morning, Ronnie wasn't here as she ferried people back and forth from the Hospital; most came back within the hour, some took longer.
These new rules made my initiation seem harmless and risk-free; we didn't know what happened to those who were last, I knew but that's because I stuck my nose where it didn't belong. This year tensions were high amongst the initiates and we were only two and a half weeks in with another two and a half weeks to go.

Angel and I stayed in the training room as they broke for lunch, she was telling me about the apartment she had seen with Theo; it was on the second floor – giving them a second bedroom if they ever wanted guests or possibly a family later on. At Seventeen, Angel had her short Dauntless life sorted. Before the rules changed, she and Theo decided to wait till they were a year in their relationship before moving into together, making them eighteen and twenty though that wasn't an option anymore because they wanted to enjoy a long life together before having to leave.

The gun boxes were out on the tables, we chose to go with handguns, that way one group isn't going to be doing more advanced things than the other.
Sitting in one of the holes in the makeshift gun range with a Tupperware box in hand; we listened to the rain as it echoed on the metal stairs outside.
Angel and I used two forks as we shared the remains of last night's dinner we took from the slow cooker. Ronnie made every meal in it since she brought it.