Children's Games: A Story of Modern Consequence

Chapter 35

~Joshua~

They had spent sixty minutes going through the hallway to reach the military base, and therefore it would take them twenty minutes to run all the way back to Fimiston. Alarms were blaring behind them, chasing them through the darkness, but not one of them made a single sound as they bolted through the dark sand.

Joshua looked back to find that some people had emerged from the shed that hid the existence of the military base. Bright white lights from their torches attempted to find the infiltrators, but they were already too far away, and too few of them to risk following their unknown enemies.

Dominik led the party with the weight of the outside guard hanging over his shoulders. Anna carried the guard from the stairwell, though not so gracefully as Dominik. Joshua saw her stumble one too many times as she quickly started to fall behind. He stepped in and took the body off her shoulders without another thought. She looked annoyed at first, but quickly accepted his offer as she realised how much it had been weighing her down. She gave him a curt nod and ran to the front of their procession to lead them away from obstacles.

He wondered why they were taking the bodies with them... then answered his own question as he realised that it minimised evidence. At least now they'd be able to keep the option open that these two guards had deserted... as if anyone would believe that. Though he took back the last thought as he realised how easy it was for them to assume that Rosie's suicide was real.

As they ran, the sky started to lighten and he realised that they'd actually spent hours down there, for most of the night just running through the maze of hallways through two hundred floors, avoiding cameras and people. Against the harshness of the terrain, the sky was quite pretty, the stars still shining brightly against the lighting sky and between the purple clouds.

Emilia also had a natural awe to her. Even now when she ripped the mask from her face in order to breath better, her nose and cheeks red, and her eyes wary and distant. She shone like a star and glowed like the sun. The few moments that he had caught with her when she actually smiled made her dimples show, and the deep worry lines around her eyes look cheery instead of conflicted.

He thought about her reaction from Rosie's death, and then to only moments ago with the two guards, one of which he carried on his back. She definitely had the skills to be a soldier, but she was also awfully sensitive. Being sensitive wasn't always a bad thing, but it was certainly unrealistic for their setting, inappropriate for the front lines.

Perhaps she joined the army for a different trade, he thought, trying to think of a job that would suit her current personality. He didn't want to make too many assumptions though, since what she was identifying with now probably wasn't the same person that she was before the war.

Joshua had so many doubts now. When it had turned out that she was right about the military base being the reason why everything in Fimiston was so hidden, he had been silently ecstatic, and the surest he'd ever been about Maria's theories. All the pieces were falling into place, and he would soon be able to save everyone. Everyone.

'Australia is a TB84-free zone. Yet they have it right here. Testing it out for cures. What do you think that means?'

Anna's words changed everything. Because clearly his theory was wrong, and he had demonstrated the same racial prejudices that had led the rest of the world to turn a blind eye to Australia's war crimes. Russia had been led by extremists in the past that were quick to conflict and slow to resolve... Maybe that's why this is Australia's perfect crime.

That made Joshua realise that he really didn't know anything at all. He had put the pieces together in the same way that these disease-makers, these warmongers had planned the rest of the world to. And yet, the picture of the jigsaw puzzle made sense, but the pieces weren't exactly fitting together.