Project Genesis

Chapter 11

She has got
such a good heart.
She really does.
It's just been broken.
A lot.

†††††

"Please tell me that was reverse psychology!", Markus asked with a feint smile as he came and stood beside Althea. She was standing in front of her room window with her hands in her pockets, staring out at the forest. Her face was blank. She just stood there like a statue - without moving, or blinking, or showing any emotions.

"Amm...usually when some says something they expect a reply. That's how a conversation works, you know!" He exclaimed.

"Ohh so now you want to have a conversation." She said sarcastically, turning to face him.

"What do you mean?" He asked seriously.

"When were you going to tell me?" She asked as her eyes burned with anger and Markus just looked at her, puzzled.

"Four is not the number of bodies we found Mark, it's ten and I didn't get this info from you.", Markus' face fell when he realised what she was talking about.

"Were you going to tell me or not?" She questioned but Markus kept quiet, looking at her with humble and guilty eyes.

She shook her head and moved towards her bed when Markus said, "You had your hands full with Issac and his group. I didn't want to trouble you further."

"Were you going to tell me or not?", She asked again with a straight face, standing near her bed.

"I was."

"When?"

"At the right time."

"Of course, you are going to quote me to me."

"You had enough shit to deal with." He stated calmly.

"So you decide not to tell me?"

"I decided to wait for the right time."

"It's not for you to decide Mark. I needed to know that!" She said through clenched jaw.

"I know you needed to know but---"

"Then why didn't you tell me?"

"I told you I was waiting for the right time." His voice rose a pitch despite him trying to keep it levelled.

"There is no right time Markus. Your right time got my friends killed!" She replied with an intense voice. She wasn't screaming but her voice carried enough power to make anyone tremble.

"They weren't just your friends. They were something to me too." He stated clearly pissed off by her attitude and continued in not so calm tone, "And what do you want me to say? Look at yourself, you don't sleep, you don't eat, you survive on caffeine. You look like you just crawled out of your grave. Your abdomen, leg and forearm isn't healed yet and then there's this bite mark on your neck. And God knows how many more injuries you have that I don't know about! " His voice went down a notch as he finished his last sentence.

He took a deep breath, moving a hand through his hair and turned away from her as he tried to calm himself down.

"What was I supposed to tell you?" He asked gaining his composure back, "Hey Althea, there is someone out there killing our people. I don't know who they are but just wanted to let you know!"

"Yes! That's exactly what you were supposed to say. So that we could already do what we are going to do now - find out who they are and deal with them." She said shaking her head. He stood a few feet away from her with his hands folded together.