Wilted Roses ; The Hunger Games

XI. protecting the weak

     ROSE SPENT ALL her time thinking about that nightmare, her skin crawled at just the thought and she blinked back tears every time she remembered. One of the worst aspects of being stuck in this arena is not being without your family, or even the possibility of death, it's not knowing what could be happening back home. Before Rose was shipped away to the games she heard stories of tributes families being executed while they were still in the arena because of things they did that could be considered an act of rebellion in the Capitals eyes. Rose could only hope nothing she did could ever be considered so bad such acts would be committed.

      Rose was snapped out of her thought by Connor tugging on her sleeve which startled her slightly. They were walking through the thick trees in desperate search of food or a clean source of water because they knew the contents of their backpack would only last them so long, they had already picked the bread clean and their water supply was already halfway gone though there was probably a way to filter the ocean water by the beach.

He points out some area through the trees which Rose couldn't spot at first, his eyes were wide and his face seemed frozen so Rose assumed it was serious. She looked down to him, pulling a confused face before looking back and seeing two figures zooming through the trees in a blur.

Rose squinted to get a closer look before she even attempted to sprout into action, Rose could make out Marcus from District One chasing after a much smaller person who Rose recognized as Zelda from District Ten. Roses heart pinched as she called out for her district partner, Phoenix, but to no response.

     "Stay here." Rose grumbled as she readied her sword in her hands, anger blinding her common sense as she snuck towards the two. She shielded herself within the thick leaves of the trees surrounding her as Connor hissed her name from behind her before realizing it was no use and hiding in a nearby bush.

     Marcus cheered as if it were some sort as he practically hopped towards her, just waiting to jam his spear into her as if this were some sort of game. Every time Rose had killed someone, she felt remorse, she felt sick to stomach at just the thought, but he viewed it as some sort of sport.

     Rose waited patiently in a bush as they got closer, her plan was to knock him onto his feet and give Zelda enough time to escape, nothing more, nothing less. She only knew at the slice of her sword and the agonizing scream of Marcus as he fell to the floor, that she had taken it a step too far.

A shriek of terror and confusion split from Zeldas lips as Rose stepped out from the bushes. She began cowering backwards as if she didn't understand that what Rose just did was to protect her, of course she didn't. She probably just thought Rose saw a chance to knock two more tributes off the board. When Zelda looked up at Rose, she saw a monster. Rose failed to understand how anyone could ever see her that way, especially somebody so young, but with Roses 'reputation' as the girl who took out a career in the bloodbath and got the highest training score, how could she not? Rose was a monster. No matter how Rose thought of herself, in the eyes of others she must have been some sort of evil.

She turned her head to Marcus's body and inspected the gaping hole in his side. From the sounds of the groaning and the blood gushing onto the grass, Rose knew she had to put him out of his misery. From the sight of it, there was no way he could ever be able to survive this, it would be cruel not to.

Rose mouthed a quick 'im sorry' before ending his suffering once and for all as she kneeled down to shove her sword right through his head, almost flinching as the slice made his expression go numb and his struggling stop. He made one last gurgle as blood poured from his mouth, one last heaving breath before everything stopped. Rose placed two fingers over his eyes before shutting them for all eternity, he almost looked peaceful before another cannon boomed and it was only a matter of time before the giant hovercraft ascended from the sky to retrieve him.

Rose stood up, towering over the cowering girl below her which only made her look more afraid.

"Im not going to hurt you." Rose assures Zelda with a quick shake of the head, feeling simply disgusted with herself. She reached out her free hand to help the younger girl up which she quickly crawled away from, Rose assumed that it was probably the combination of blood and dirt that turned her away.

Connor came out of the bushes and walked right back up to Roses side and Zeldas gaze softened.

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"We heard you call for your district partner, are you allies?" Connor interrogates the girl as they head towards their cave, at first Zelda didn't believe them when they told her about the cave, unable to believe she hadn't found it first while she was roaming the beach.

"No, but I could have sworn I saw him while I was running. It was just for a moment but he must not have heard me." Zelda tells him as Rose walks behind them, still attempting to recover from what has just happened.

They stepped into the rocky beach and Rose and Connor showed Zelda the way to the cave and they showed her around every inch, especially telling her to never move the rocks Rose and Connor spent hours placing.

While Connor was showing Zelda the official 'sleeping corner' something in the windows caught Roses attention.

"The girl from four killed Marcus." Rose overheard Crystal tell Dionysus, the hairs on her neck stood up instantly. She didn't know how Crystal could know this already but now she had two careers after her, though it helped that they weren't very intimidating, Rose had no doubt they were worthy competitors so she decided to see where they were going with it.

     "She got the highest score so taking her out won't be easy—" Crystal continued, it took everything out of Rose not to bang on the glass and somehow make her presence known to the two but that would be nothing but bad news if they discovered the cave.

     "But after she killed Marcus, she ran off with two twelve year olds. We get to them, we get to her." Crystal announces with a cocky smirk resting on her red lips. Rose took a small stumble back, she knew they would get targeted eventually but she couldn't let them die because of her. She was almost blinded by an unsettling mixture of anger and fear fogging her vision and her thoughts, she looked back to Connor and Zelda who were laughing with each other, completely unaware of what awaits them. One thing became crystal clear from then on, Rose wouldn't hesitate to kill anyone who tried to touch them. It was now her duty to protect them for as long as she could.