A Blooming Rose (hunger games fan-fic)

Chapter 12 (Day 7)

Rose opened her eyes when Affron, the boy from 2, woke her. She had been sleeping for a while and he told she should to get back to work. Nilla was on guard soon and she would want to see Rose working. Sure enough, fifteen minutes after Rose started working again, Nilla came to change guards. After a few minutes, she looked at Rose.

"How's he looking?" she asked.

Rose looked at Sorrel. His stings looked much better and his cuts had been wrapped. Sorrel was well built for someone who lived in a district where there is rarely ever food, but since he was from a Career District, it's almost natural for him to be large than her. He was a brunette, whose hair was a bit spiky.

"He'll be okay. Not sure how much left I have to do, though. He should be waking up soon though."

Nilla nodded, but said nothing more. She simply watched Rose work.

~

It was Osie's turn to guard Rose. She sat in the corner of the building and watched her work silently. Rose poured water onto a rag and gently worked on Sorrel's cuts. Suddenly, he winced in pain. Rose jumped slightly. Osie rose to her feet and moved in closer. Sorrel opened his eyes and looked at Rose. He stared at her for a moment, then grabbed her throat. Rose coughed and gagged, trying to get a breath.

"Sorrel!" Osie said. "Leave her be! She's done nothing against you."

Sorrel looked at Rose, who was gripping his hand, trying to free herself.

"I've been trying to help you," she said.

Sorrel looked at Osie, who nodded. He looked back at Rose, then released her. Rose gasped for breath.

"How long have I been out?" he asked.

"Only a day or two," Osie said. "You need to relax. Let Rosalinda continue with her work. I'm going to get the others."

Osie walked out of the room. Rose rubbed her neck, then moved closer to Sorrel. She continued treating his cuts with the wet cloth. He did not make any other attempts to strangle her, which made her glad.

"How do you feel?" she asked. She glanced up at him for check his expression. His eyes were blue-green, but were fierce. Rose looked back at her work before he answered.

"Better," he replied. "Much better."

~

Rose awoke to the feeling of being shaken. It was dark out, and there were no deaths that day. Rose looked around and found herself looking at Vanil.

"What time is it?" she asked. "Is everything okay?"

"It's the middle of the night, Rosalinda," he said quietly. "The others are sleeping. I've been on guard for a few hours."

"Did I miss something? Do I need to do something?"

"Yes, you must. You need to run."

"What?"

"You need to run. To get away from here. While you were sleeping, the others were discussing what we were going to do next. They decided that you were no longer needed since Sorrel was alright."

He handed her her backpack which had her sleeping bag, extra food, and extra equipment, her sais, and her knife.

"Why are you doing this?"

"You said you would've helped Tilsee if we could have found you. This is what she would have wanted."

Vanil led Rose to the door. Rose looked outside; around the ruined village was woods and who knew what else beyond that. She looked back at Vanil.

"Thank you," she whispered. "For everything."

"Your welcome," he replied. "Now go. Before they wake up."

Rose nodded, slipped on the backpack, and ran away from the ruins.

~

Rose hadn't been running for very long. She had been crashing through the trees, blind, unable to see where she was going. She slowed her pace and wandered around, looking for a place to stay. She walked for almost fifteen minutes before she heard the sound of a stream. She followed the sound, winding her way through the trees.

Suddenly, she misplaced her footing and began to fall. She expected to hit the ground once and stop, but instead found herself tumbling down a grassy hill. She rolled for what seemed like forever before she landed in the stream. Cold water rushed over her body and head. She gasped for breath, but could not move. She hurt too much from her fall. She groaned, and coughed since a bit of water got into her mouth and nose.

I can't get up, she thought. I might just drown here in this stream. Vanil risked saving me just for me to die.

Instinct kicked in and Rose found herself being able to breath. She gasped for breath. She raised her hand and felt her neck. She had changed her skin to grow gills. Rose sighed.

I might survive after all. I just hope the Gamemakers didn't find out that I grew gills. No one can know. No one. No... one...