Children's Games: A Story of Modern Consequence

Chapter 30

~Katerina~

Katerina had learned, thanks to another raw game from Yelena, that 'Emilia' was born in Melbourne twenty-two years ago, her parents were Ian and Bev, her brother was Jeremy, and she had enlisted in the army as soon as she turned eighteen. Then, Yelena had started her little smacking routine as Katerina decided that Emilia joined the 'Anderson' family when she arrived in Fimiston to work in the pharmacy, after she was diagnosed with clinical anxiety disorder. Katerina now had to practice acting like she depended on special medications in order to function appropriately. She also had to pretend to not be so surprised that their fake family was named after the Anderson's, the family that supposedly lived in the pharmacy before them.

The Anderson family consisted of the other members of the Special Ops team, but according to Yelena's cane, they were actually a close group of siblings and cousins that ran the pharmacy together after the death of their parents. Coincidentally, they all had some sort of exemption from qualifying to enlist.

They also decided on a range of little details that outlined her fake identity perfectly, and she spent hours memorising the cover story until she remembered it seamlessly. By then, both hands were red and raw, light dots of blood trailing down the sides. She tried not to let it bother her, especially since Natasha, the second in command, watched the entire time, sitting on a chair with her elbows on her knees, her chin in her hands. But at least Yelena looked proud and helped her clean up.

Yelena and Natasha made dinner, refusing Katerina's help. With nothing better to do, she sat on one of the stools in front of the kitchen bench and listened to their murmuring until Klaus joined her. They had nothing to talk about, and he looked over at her to start talking several times but stopped as soon as she made eye contact. She didn't know whether it was because of the other night where he had caught Joshua and her speaking in private. As private as a surveillanced house could get.

It took Ivan to walk past with an obvious glare and a sigh as he passed Katerina for Klaus to say something.

"You did well last night," he nodded seriously. She nodded back, even though she didn't agree.

For dinner, Yelena had sworn that they were having macaroni. But upon closer inspection, the pasta was amongst a creamy sauce and an odd serving of mince. Katerina was afraid to ask as everyone else at the table looked famished at the steaming bowls without a hint of notice at the oddness of meat in macaroni.

Calico was sitting at her feet under the table, and she felt the urge to give him the mince while she kept just the pasta and sauce... the little thing did look oh so hungry. When no one was looking, she picked out a thick junk of the meat and dropped it in front of the kitten, who ate it greedily after tearing it to shreds. Every chunk after that was properly played with before consumption.

Then Dominik arrived with his usual dark under eyes and slumped shoulders. She had been unsure about everyone else's activities that day, but their captain had gone out late into the afternoon alone to deal with some pressing issues, too important to share with the rest of the team. She understood that he was the leader, but what could he have possibly been doing that he needed to hide from everyone else? When she looked at him, she heard Joshua's voice calling him a monster.

"Unit 352. I've finalised our plans for the rest of our time here. We're going to go to the security place tomorrow night. We'll only have this one shot to get everything that we need from that building. Our biggest hope is evidence; of anything criminalising." He sat down at his normal spot at the table and gestured for everyone to start eating. It tasted funny in her mouth as she chewed. The texture suggested that it was pure meat. "Therefore, we need to prepare to be in there all night if that's what it takes. So, tomorrow we'll try to sleep through the day in order to save our energy. There'll be sleeping drafts if you have trouble."