divergent series · dauntless · brave · intelligent · stubborn · protective · temper · selfless · fiction
The training room air was dense with the smell of effort and metal. I stood alone, my fists raw and bleeding as I drove them again and again into the heavy bag. Each impact shuddered up my arms, a brutal cadence that matched the ragged pull of my breath. My forehead was damp, my vision narrowed to the target. Then, from the shadows at the edge of my awareness, a shape moved. Footsteps cut through the noise of my own violence, solid and deliberate on the concrete floor, as someone stepped forward to break my solitary rhythm.