Free The Elect: Malevolent, a Dystopian Novel by Tamryn Ward Page B

force at the point of impact.” He waves in his direction. “Try it.”
    He wants me to hit him.
    My heart pounds. I hear the blood rushing through my body. My head spins. He’s too close. I can’t concentrate. And there’s no way I can hit him.
    “Do it. Now,” he demands.
    Reluctantly, I jab my right hand out and grab a handful of satiny curls. I freeze.
    “We’re not dancing,” he whispers.
    I want the earth to open up and swallow me. “No. Right,” I say, yanking my hand back like it’s been burned. I feel like a complete idiot. Since when did I become such a spineless sissy? I want to cry. Or run from the room. I want to do anything but what he’s asking me to do.
    “This isn’t a game, Eva. Try it again,” he says.
    He isn’t going to let me fail. I hate him for that.
    I close my eyes and suck in a deep breath. Then I let it out slowly and try to focus. I’m not doing this for fun. It may save my life. A lot of people are counting on me. Mother. Father. I can’t forget them. I have to do this.
    Feeling slightly better, I jab out my right arm again. But his fist clamps around it and before I realize what’s happened, I’m pinned to the floor and the world is spinning around me. As I blink his face comes into focus.
    “Get your head together.” He steps over me. “The next time you won’t be facing someone who is so nice. And when I say you don’t want to know what happens to anyone who doesn’t make it through training, I mean it.” He says louder, to the entire class, “You have thirty minutes for lunch.”
    Absolutely humiliated after having just been thrown to the ground, and frustrated by my embarrassing lack of skills, I push myself to my feet. Mattie stops next to me, gives me an encouraging smile, and together we head to the cafeteria.
    “I saw what Jay did to you. You looked like you wanted to die,” she says as we take our place in line.
    “Yeah, I did want to die.”
    She leans closer. “He’s scary,” she whispers. “There’s something about him. The way he looks at you.”
    “Yes. There most definitely is.” My fingers tingle, the sensation of those smooth curls still vibrating along the nerves. And the memory of his eyes as he stared down at me makes me jittery. I shift my weight and focus on breathing.
    Tom comes up behind Mattie and pokes me in the ribs. I jump like a cat startled by a bulldog. He chuckles. “Sorry, Eva. Didn’t mean to scare you.”
    “I’m not scared,” I say, sounding like a defensive, whiny little girl. I clear my throat. “I mean…I’m not used to people touching me.”
    “That’s too bad,” he says, winking. He’s flirting with me. Me. That makes me even more uncomfortable. No guys ever flirted with me in Riverview. No guys except for Sam, of course.
    I’m so caught off guard an awkward, uncomfortable silence follows. Fortunately it’s my turn to order my food. By the time I’ve ordered Mattie, Tom, and Paul are busy chattering among themselves. We all sit together and talk about this afternoon. I don’t say much. I know already that it’ll be a complete disaster.
    Knowing we would be fighting each other, I had kept one eye on the other recruits this morning. If I’m paired with Paul, Tom or any of the other big boys I don’t stand a chance of winning. If I end up fighting Alice or Mattie, there might be some hope.
    Might.
    “I wonder how they’ll pair us,” Mattie says, voicing my question.
    “Jay has seen us practicing. He’ll probably pair us based on our skill level,” Tom reasons.
    I hope he’s right.
    “Then again,” Paul says, “if they’re just looking for a way to get rid of some of us that would be easy. All they would have to do is put the weakest of us with the strongest.”
    Everyone looks at me.
    Alice chooses that moment to stop at our table and look at me too. “Nice dance moves this morning,” she taunts. “Where did you learn those? Ballet class?”
    I would love to come back with some really