Writer Games | Masquerade of Martyrs & Family Ties

Task Five: Moving Day - Females

District One - Jamilla Argentaria

It appeared to her that  Kase was ready to give up. She had been utterly amazed to find him  alive, considering she'd left him for dead when she thought that he  wasn't going to make it. Jace had only found him after she stumbled away  from Orion's room. There had been no cheesy, overly-dramatic reunion.  That hasn't been on the list of things she had expected from Kase,  though death had been on that list but he was still breathing.
They'd  been slouched against the tunnel wall since she'd finished cleaning up  his impressive head wound. Though she'd never been patient enough to  practice it, she knew enough first aid to keep him from dying. And to  feel redeemed after leaving him to die in the first place. Though it  might've been more worth it if they'd done more than sit in sullen  silence for hours.
And then the entire hallway had started to shake.  She'd cried out as she fell against Kase and nearly bit through her  tongue trying to muffle the sound. The knife she'd been holding had  scraped across the palm of her hand, giving her a rather nasty cut that  stung more than she'd expected it to. Part of her wanted to take the  time to bandage it- she knew enough about infection to know that open  wounds were bad- but the crumbling of the tunnel walls made running a  bigger priority.
It was much harder to run in a shaking tunnel than  she'd thought it would be. Earthquake preparedness had not been part of  her Academy curriculum and she'd never expected that to be an issue.  Jace was trying to hard to keep her legs from buckling underneath her.  The closest she'd ever come to this feeling was walking across the rope  bridge that she and Orion had made as children. And that wasn't enough  to prepare her to run for her life when she could barely stand, that's  for sure.
She was halfway down the tunnel before she realized that  Kase wasn't behind her. A string of curses escaped her as she stopped,  considering the possibility of just leaving him behind. She'd been  taught that your ally's life isn't always worth yours and despite the  fact that there were rocks falling down around her, she was stuck  debating whether or not this was one of those times. Was Kase worth her  life?
Jace knew that turning around would probably be one of the  worse choices she'd ever make but after leaving him to die once, she  knew that she couldn't leave Kase behind. At least if she KNEW he was  dead this time, she could save herself without feeling guilty. So she  turned around- against any ounce of good judgment she possessed- and ran  back down the tunnel. Fissures were beginning to appear in the flood  and a cannon exploded into being.
If this was how she died, it would be because of her own stupidity.
"Kase!  Kase, where are you!? Kase!" Despite her frustration, she didn't let  out another torrent of swears until she got back to where her ally had  been and found only a stranger's body in his place. It was a girl, she  wasn't sure which was one, but the large pool of blood on the tunnel  floor convinced her to keep going.
After running for what felt like  ages, trying not to get murdered by falling rocks or a tragic misstep,  she came to a dead end. Or rather, a large pile of rocks that cut her  off from the other side of the tunnel. Jace stopped cold when she got  there. That was it, that was the stupid move that would get her killed.  She hissed out a sigh before heading back the way she came and praying  that it wasn't too late.
Which, if truth be told, it probably was.  She tried to keep herself calm but the desperation was starting to get  to her. One of the trainers at the Academy, probably her least favorite  out of them all, had once told her that untimely panic was likely to be  the end of her in the Games. She'd replied with a snarky insult and a  well-placed slash with her sword. He'd needed ten stitches and Jace had  been forbidden from sparring with others for almost a year.
Now she  could see why he had said it. Her heart was pounding in her chest and it  wasn't just from running away from the destruction. Jace was genuinely  afraid for the first time since the Games had begun. Tributes, she could  definitely handle. She had proven that mutts weren't a problem for her.  Psychological tests hadn't taken her down yet. But she was powerless  against the elements, real or artificial. Jace hadn't been trained to  combat an earthquake.
The ground was rumbling beneath her feet and  for a moment, she thought she was going to fall through. She just needed  to run, she told herself, running would be the best thing for her  chances of survival. This seemed like a perfectly good plan. That is,  until she got to a large blockade made of jagged pieces of stone. One  that blocked the other side of the tunnel, her escape.
Adrenaline  was thrumming through her veins but she had nowhere to go. There was no  escape, nowhere she could go. No amount of training or strength or wits  could get her out of this. Jace Argentaria, District One's youngest  female volunteer in years, was trapped like a bird in a cage. She  pressed her palms against the wall of debris like she could shift it  with her thin arms. She wasn't strong enough to move a wall of rock but  she was desperate enough to try.
What a way to die, she thought  bitterly. Of all the ways that her life could end in the Games, it would  be something as unmemorable as being crushed under a pile of rubble.  Her panicked laugh echoed off the crumbling walls as she ran a shaking  hand through her hair. What a way for Jace Argentaria to die. She  knocked a few smaller pieces of stone off of the pile but she knew it  wouldn't be enough. She'd be stuck. There was no way out, no way.
She  considered running but there wasn't anywhere for her to run. Instead of  thinking her way out of the situation, all she could do was stand at  the end of the tunnel and stare at the wall that sealed her hate. She  could've been a winner, she should've been a winner. But she tried to be  a hero instead. Jace should've been more afraid of death than guilt but  she'd tried to be a hero instead of a victor.
Another cannon  sounded as the walls around her continued to crumble. More cracks  appeared beneath her feet and she decided to wait and see which would  kill her first. Falling into oblivion might hurt less but being crushed  to death would be quicker. It was morbid thinking, made more pathetic by  her frustrated tears and the desperate pacing the that she took up  while she waited.
What a way for it all to end.
And that's when  the ceiling caved in above her. She should've been crushed but instead,  she found herself plummeting into darkness as the floor shattered as  well. A scream tore itself from her throat and she waved her arms,  searching for a way to hang on. But she kept falling. There was nothing  she could do, this was how she was to die. And what a way for Jamilla  Carnelian Argentaria to die...
Then she hit the ground. Hard. Despite  her high pain threshold, the impact made her body scream out in  protest. Something had gone wrong, she could feel it, but she was still  alive. She wasn't dead yet and the walls were done falling around her.  She wasn't sure what had happened, perhaps because she'd just fallen too  far and hit the ground too hard, but she wasn't dead yet. Something  felt wrong and she could taste blood in her mouth but she wasn't dead  yet.
She'd never been so happy to lose consciousness in her life.