Children's Games: A Story of Modern Consequence

Chapter 40

~Anna~

Dominik searched the computer the entire time that Katerina and Petyr were gone, and he was almost pulling his own hair out as Konstantin still hadn't answered his message. He was already agitated from the stubbornness of Katerina, the woman that looked similar to his long-lost love. He was in a panic now, not knowing what to do next.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she said lowly.

He never answered. Konstantin not answering meant that the mission was temporarily suspended until they heard back. Dominik had only told her about the Lieutenant's worries about a suspected coup to overthrow him, but she never imagined that it might be something to happen so soon.

"Don't say a single word about this. To any of them." She crossed her arms at his demand, kicking a broken brick at him so that he could take a second to look up from the computer for the first time in an hour. She wanted him to see how annoyed she was that he wouldn't say anything.

When Petyr and Katerina returned, there was something off. There was a subtle coldness between them, but they re-joined the group quietly, so that was better than the angry tension from earlier. Anna knew that something had happened, because she had seen them behave before, and they had clicked straight away, leading to a deep fondness that they thought was hidden from the others. She could only hope that the rift was caused by some harsh words telling the new girl to fall in line. Anna was glad that she didn't have to be the one to do it.

Dominik finished searching for a message from Konstantin, and then they all finished packing their gear into their backpacks, before finally being ready to depart again. Their descent back to the house was slow, and everyone was particularly silent as they passed Mikhail's hidden grave.

Anna watched Katerina closely, comparing her clues, and calculating the symptoms... Emilia was worth a lot, and she had become someone that Anna enjoyed immensely, privately and openly. Anna was meant to have taken her down to the labs more often, but she was worried that it would be too much, and she would recover the wrong memories. There was no way, so far, to trigger specific memories and not others. Anna was tempted to abandon that whole section of the mission altogether. But is she worth another failure? Another blow of shame?

During her time alone with Dominik, she had wanted to talk to him alone about Katerina, but not when he was so mad. Anna looked over at him, still stiff and glaring. He never used to be like this. Maria's death had taken a personal toll on him, making him cold and unapproachable. It wasn't something she had been trained to deal with... the leader was supposed to be the most secure.

They made it back to the pharmacy and unloaded all their gear back into the armoury before she decided on what she could say. Petyr and Katerina left their company quickly, trying not to look at each other, and so leaving Anna alone with Dominik. She took a deep breath and mentally dressed herself in her confident mask that she hardly ever took off.

"You've never told me what actually happened that night, Captain." Anna leaned against the basement doorway, blocking Dominik's ascent. He studied her closely, wondering what her intentions were. "But Petyr came back with a lot of respect from you... and Maria came back without a heartbeat."

"That's none of your business."

"Why do you trust him? Be honest."

"I trust him because he, despite his condition, heard her out that night, and still thought that she was crazy. Petyr... he tried to reason with her to back down." Dominik crossed his arms over his chest, clearly contemplating her nerve to deny him exit. He raised his eyebrows but looked away. "Again, not that it's any of your concern."