Bite Me || Eric Coulter Fanfic - Divergent

9. What are you afraid of?

Here's a cute, little riddle for you: what is tall, annoying and loves to bang metal pipes against the walls of the dorm until all the transfers wish we didn't have ears anymore?

That's right, it's Four.

After that lovely wake up call, we all gather in the training space. The sun is shyly rising in the sky and its soft light is being reflected on something in the room. I look around, trying to find the culprit.

On a table resting on the wall to our right, are knives. Short and impeccably clean.

"Today you will learn the basics of knife throwing" says Four. He's standing next to Eric, the pair looking like Titans who have come to share their wisdom with mere mortals.

"Each of you, grab a few knives and go stand in front of a target" says Eric, looking like a teacher trying to explain how a door works to his petulant students.

After a demonstration by the two men, we are left on our own to practice on our targets. Once again, their demonstration is very impressive, but I must have a thing for knives because both of them looked extremely attractive. Too bad one of them is annoying and the other one is extremely annoying.

Knife throwing was one of my favourite things to do with Renner when we were both bored, so I didn't struggle much. I chose three spots on the target and practiced hitting them; head, heart, stomach.

It seemed to be going well for me, as I had yet to miss the target. Four was walking in a line behind us and must have noticed, because he stopped next to me briefly.

"Keep it up, initiate" he simply said and walked on to correct someone's stance.

I turned my head out of instinct and my eyes immediately locked on Eric's. Again, big mistake. He sent me a murderous glance, looking ready to pounce any minute now.

Seriously, what is his problem?
I haven't pissed him off that much, have I?

I was on edge after that brief interaction with Eric, but continued practicing.

"Well that was pathetic" I suddenly hear Eric exclaim next to me. I'm about to give him a piece of my mind, thinking that he was talking about my throwing, when I saw that he was standing next to Al.

The boy's face was red, his head bent down in shame. He looked flustered and rightly so, since he had been consistently below the red line and this kind of attention from our instructor was definitely not helping.

"I'm sorry, it slipped" Al said dejectedly. I winced when I saw Eric's eyes gleaming. This won't end well.

"Well then go get it" Eric says, irritation and malice clear in his voice.

"W-what? While everyone else is throwing?" Al asks scared.

"Why? Are you afraid?" Eric asks, his voice becoming lower, eyes darkening in satisfaction. He had Al right where he wanted him.

"Of being stabbed by an airborne knife? Yeah, I am" says Al and I wince again. Keep your mouth shut, Al.

"Everybody stop!" commands Eric.

His next words send a chill down my whole body.

"Go stand in front of the target" Eric's voice left no room for question.

Al looks terrified and ready to pass out. Nevertheless, he walks shakily to the target and I respect him for that. At least he's not giving in to Eric so fast.

"Here's how it's going to work." says Eric, his tone conversational, but we all know better than that. "You're going to stand there while Four throws knives at you. If I see you flinch, you're out, understood?" says Eric, looking immensely pleased with himself. Jerk.