Children's Games: A Story of Modern Consequence

Chapter 26

 ~Florence~

Florence was second in command of Unit 352, and part of the second division. So even though she was 'second in command', really that meant that she was in charge of Joshua, Matthew, and Alice only. Emilia, she corrected herself. Joshua, Matthew, and Emilia. Dominik, however, had started to override her duties and taken the new girl under his wing, constantly trying to cling on to her every movement to keep ahead of any complications that may arise. He talked about her too much, and he acted like he knew her. Though Florence thought that Dominik decided on half the things he'd told her about Emilia, pretending that she was someone else.

She tried not to let it bother her. It is not my place to question, only to obey. But that word, 'obey' sounded grotesque in her mind; dirty, sickening, and blindingly patriotic.

Now, as the second in command, she was in charge of the door. Yet again.

The council building was a pit of anxiety for all the team members, including herself. She stood with her back against the door and clenched her jaw so tightly that her teeth ached. She had her ears peeled for any slight noise, though nothing came, and so she continued to stand there, afraid and motionless.

They had been in there for plenty of time, and Florence was starting to feel her skin crawl. They had been quicker last time, she told herself as she watched the timer Liam had synchronized between their watches. Yet last time had been cut short because of the incident. She could still see it clearly in her head.

"Natasha, you stay by this door. Bang once if there's any disturbances above, or if any of the others signal down here." Liam had been as nervous as a sinner in church, which he may as well have been, considering their circumstances. He had always been so serious, but this operation was the riskiest task that they had even attempted so far, and he had left his guard completely down.

Nevertheless, she returned him a curt nod and took her position as Mary finished working the small panel next to the door and what was left of them filed through. Liam, Joshua, and then Mary. Alice stayed for only a moment to smile and wink, easing Florence's nerves. She took her position and kept her ears open, ready to react as soon as there was any indication that they had been found out. She felt as nervous as Liam.

They had lasted seven minutes before there was a melody of strange noises coming from the room, followed by a crash. It made the hair on the back of Florence's neck stand on end.

The noises were muffled... and resembled yelling, whimpering, crashing...

Without being able to take anymore of her nerves, she decided that the noise was enough to draw attention to them, even with the cameras turned off. So she opened the door and was met with a distressing scene. She didn't know where to look.

Joshua stood in the corner, gloved hands running through his hair, almost tearing it out as he failed to stand still. Anna was pacing across the side of the room, her long strides pounding on the floor as she whispered colourful profanities towards the main show.

Alice had fallen on some cardboard boxes, spreading their contents across the floor as she had toppled to the ground. Pieces of paper scattered the area around her, and the flinching girl searched desperately for a particular one. The computer she had been working on was blank as it was undergoing a factory reset, while a radio hung discarded in mid-air.

"No, no, no," she mumbled, almost a whimper, like she was about to sob. "No, no, no..."

It was Dominik who answered her, crouching over her as her muscles weakened and she struggled to keep her eyelids open. He swiftly wrapped an arm around her waist and hoisted her over his shoulder as she completely lost all her movement, falling limp against his back. When he turned around, his face was no longer squished to look nervous, it now looked hateful, disappointed, annoyed.