Writer Games | Masquerade of Martyrs & Family Ties

Task Two: The Garden - Females

District One - Virgo Alizé [1]

At first, she took  comfort in the flowers that greeted her when her tube broke the surface  of the arena. She had never seen real, wild roses before. The ones that  had adorned the kitchen table until her mother left home were different.  Domesticated, that's what her brother had called them. Rosie was so  enthralled by the flowers surrounding her platform that she forgot where  she was.

She had been prepared  for the first cannon, it didn't catch her off guard the way it did to  some people. It didn't make her less hesitant when it came to leaping  from her platform and running. For all her brilliance, Rosie had not  decided what she was going to do to keep herself alive. Jace had said  that there was no shame in running away but Rosie knew that that was a  lie.

She liked the roses less  when their thorns began to tear at her ankles. She cringed but she  didn't dare stop, flying down the little path with all the speed she  possessed. Orion and Jace were strong but Rosie wasn't. Her speed was  all she had, aside from her brain and Jace's final words of advice. If  she was lucky, that would be enough to get past the Bloodbath.

Rosie had been warned  that the beginning would be disorienting, the bloodshed hard to stomach  and the conflict hard to avoid. The gears in her head had been whirring  incessantly until she paused at the end of the path. The Cornucopia  loomed before her in a threatening way. She had never been so daunted by  a simple object but she still couldn't make herself run towards it.

Besides, the others were  readily snatching up weapons and throwing themselves into combat. Even  the idea of spilling blood made her feel positively green. Jace had said  there was no shame in running away but the grass was tall and running  away could mean starvation. The debate sparked in the back of her mind  before she even realized that she'd run into the elegant field of grass.

This, it turned out, had  been a terrible idea. The grass felt like razors against her bare arms  and it tangled around her legs as she tried to run away. She had never  experienced the wilderness before. District One had been big, shining  buildings and neat flower-boxes and paved streets. Rosie, like the roses  that shared her name, was more used to domestication that growing wild. 

This didn't stop her  from weaving between clumps of grass and staying strong on her feet. She  was proud of herself, proud that she had already made it this far. The  familiar drowsy sensation was tugging at the back of her mind but other  than that, she was as sharp as ever. Worries of how she'd take care of  herself in the real Games began to nag at her but she decided that  getting away from the Cornucopia was her first concern.

She wasn't sure how long  she ran out in the grass but her lungs started to ache. Having nowhere  else to go and nothing else to do, she sat herself down and tried to  collect her thoughts. Jace had given her a lot of good advice but not  enough of it had stuck to her. She would have to find some form of food.  Water. Weapons were overrated but nutrition wasn't.

Rosie was so focused on  what she was missing that she didn't see the man come barreling through  the grass until he had already tripped over her, prompting her to scream  as he tumbled to the ground. She hadn't been injured but the fright was  enough to panic her. Her heart was racing and the man had sat up,  turning and trying to speak to her. She couldn't hear a word he was  saying over her own pleas for her life.

He was still there when  she opened her eyes again. Rosie recognized him as the man from Eleven.  Jace had told her to watch out for the older men, as they were the  biggest threat to somebody her age and size. So while the man tried to  calm her down, she kicked out at him and shouted words that Orion had  made her swear never to repeat. The man didn't look like he wanted to  hurt her but she'd been warned against falling for that.