Writer Games | Masquerade of Martyrs & Family Ties

Task Three: Barely Human - Females

District One - Jamilla Argentaria

She'd fallen  asleep fifteen years old and when she woke up sixteen, she was  disappointed to realize that she didn't feel any different. Sleep still  crusted in the corners of her eyes and she scrubbed it away with the  back of her hand. Kase was still asleep, his heavy arm draped across her  chest. If that's what you could call snoring and twitching and drooling  with total abandon. She carefully pried the knife from his hand so it  wouldn't end up in her throat.

"Kase...  Kase.... Wake up." She yawned and tried to push his arm away. Kase was  definitely bigger than her and she found herself nearly trapped  underneath him. He mumbled something under his breath that she didn't  quite catch but made no attempt to move.
The little hairs on the  back of Jace's neck stood on end when a loud roar filled the air. Her  muscles tensed and she tightened her grip on Kase's knife. Dread created  a knot in her stomach. Though she had been trained to deal with mutts  in her years of training, Gamemaker creations are much different than  angry hunting dogs. Was she afraid? Of course not. There was nothing in  the Games that she couldn't handle.

"Kase. Wake  up." Her ally didn't stir when she kicked out at him with her free leg,  less gently than she'd intended. She almost felt bad for waking him but  they didn't have time for dreaming and she was completely trapped by  the way he'd fallen asleep on top of her.
Every part of her was  tense and on edge as she waited for the appearance of their next enemy.  Tributes, she could deal with without a problem. Mutts were another  story. Especially when she couldn't move to fight back. She tried to get  up but one of her legs was numb and trapped under Kase. His arm held  her down. She swore under her breath, beginning to panic when another  roar echoed off of the walls. It was louder than before. Closer.

"Kase!  Kase! Wake up!" Her voice was embarrassingly shrill as she squirmed and  tried to free herself. Kase rolled over but not the way he should've,  squishing her and crushing her beneath him. A choked cry escaped her  throat and she let go of the knife so she could try to shake hi awake.  Of all the situations she could've found herself in, this was one of the  worst.
Orion had done this to her once too. Course, that had been a  completely different set of circumstances and this time she was fully  clothed and not running the risk of getting caught by a curious older  sister. However, Jace would rather that than be exposed to the danger of  a mutt when unable to protect herself. Her cheeks burned a little at  the thought but she tried to focus on figuring out her situation  instead.

She almost  felt bad about biting Kase. Almost. In reality, it was the only solution  she could think of and it was better than screaming bloody murder until  he woke up. If anything, that would just draw the mutt closer to them.  She gagged when she realized that she'd drawn blood but the noise was  cut off by her ally's pained howl. He sat up, freeing her to move again,  and blinked groggily at his bleeding arm like he wasn't sure what was  happening.

"The next  time you feel like cuddling up to me in the middle of the night, don't  bother." She hissed it from between gritted teeth but it was more out of  discomfort than anger. The prickling feeling in her numb limbs was one  she didn't like one bit. Kase said nothing, simply grabbing his knife  from the other side of her and wiping at the blood on his arm.
The  mutt seemed to appear out of nowhere and she couldn't help but shriek  when it did. It was embarrassing, really, that she'd cried out in the  face of fear in such an un-Victor worthy way. In reality, it was  reasonable for her to be startled by the sudden appearance of the  dog-headed person and his wicked looking knife. She fumbled around for  her weapon and prayed that her blood would start flowing again so she  wouldn't make a fool of herself once again.