Writer Games: Pending Secrets

Task Four - The Great Escape - Female Entries

Jana Monaco

*DID NOT HAND IN*

Chloe-Marie De La Fuente

*DID NOT HAND IN*

Felicia Reynolds

*DID NOT HAND IN*

Shyen Ann Brooke

*DID NOT HAND IN* Strike One

Naomi Desmond

Naomi's heart felt as if it was being ripped apart. Logan placed his hands over his ears, rocking back and forth. Occasionally, he would cry out at something that only he could see. His screams mixed with the tears on his face twisted her stomach, and made it difficult for her to swallow.

Suddenly, the earth began to shake. What little furniture was in the run-down building they hid inside collapsed. There was an ear-splitting roar as the ground in the center cracked and tore itself apart.

Naomi shook Logan. "Logan! It's an earthquake! We have to—"

A loud crash interrupted her. Part of the wall to their right swayed, and was going to crumble down on top of them. Naomi yanked Logan to his feet, but she wasn't strong enough to force him to move. The loud noises only made his episode worse. He ducked down, avoiding bullet shots and explosions that weren't coming. "Logan, please!" Naomi cried.

Without thinking, she darted toward him, tackling him to the ground. They landed in a heap, just as pieces of the fall smashed into the floor where Naomi and Logan had been seconds before. More debris was raining down on them, cutting and bruising her as she shielded Logan from it.

If they stayed here, they would be crushed to death.

Before a shelf had a chance to fall on them and crush them, Naomi grabbed Logan's arms and rolled to the left. The crack in the floor was wide open, like a gaping mouth waiting to swallow them whole.

Purposefully, she rolled them inside it, landing roughly on the ground. She gasped, trying to gulp air into her lungs that the blow had knocked out.

Logan's eyes blinked several times and his muscles sagged in relief. Naomi crawled over to him and placed his head in her lap. He's finally coming out of it. "Naomi?" His voice was hoarse and thick from all the screaming.

"There was an earthquake... I couldn't... I had to push us inside a crevice," Naomi said. She had no idea why it was so hard to tell him. Tears threatened to spill over, and it was a struggle to keep her emotions in control.

Logan sat up, looking around, before his eyes landed on her again. "I'm—I'm sorry," he choked out.

Naomi shook her head. "Logan, it's not your fault."

He stood to his feet, ignoring her comment. Her heart clenched; Grady's death had changed him. Even looking at him now it was as if she was staring at a stranger. This Logan wasn't her Logan; not the loving, kindhearted man who would tease and laugh with her. No, this Logan was riddled with pain, weighed down by sorrow.

Sorrow that the Gamemakers only made worse.

Anger took ahold of Naomi with surprising force. She wasn't a person who felt anger too often. Working in the hospital she always had to remain calm, and keep others relaxed, no matter how horrible things became.

Why was she angry now?

Looking at Logan as he mentioned that they need to find a way out, she realized she was angry because the Gamemakers had hurt him. Internally scarred him, in a way that he would never recover from. His PTSD had already been bad enough from the war, much less adding in all of this along with it.