Children's Games: A Story of Modern Consequence

Chapter 41

~Emilia~

The next day flashed by in a sleepy daze. She had been in no mood to converse with anyone, and Joshua had seemed much the same as he brooded around the house. She was angry at herself for not speaking up sooner about wanting to go with him, but also angry at him for not giving her the chance to. He had to understand her need to have evidence, and it was unreasonable for him to expect blind submission considering the situation they were both in in Unit 352.

Emilia hadn't gotten that much sleep the previous night, as she had woken herself up multiple times in a sweat. She couldn't remember her dreams but was certain that they were nightmares considering those first few moments after waking as she sat up in her bed, afraid of an unknown... thing. Her neck hurt like she had been sleeping at odd angles, and there was a pain in her stomach as if she was starving.

Anna, every time, would complain next to her, mumbling 'every- single- night!' as she lightly smacked her large hand over Emilia's cheek to silence the shaky breath filling the quiet room. And every time, contact of Anna trying to cover her mouth would introduce a burning sensation on her skull, and her throat would catch and fill her mouth with saliva.

But it was Joshua's warm brown eyes across the room that would calm her down enough for Anna to roll back over, still asleep. He would be lying in bed, but very much awake as his concerned gaze landed on Emilia's disruptive presence. He would look like he wanted to say something but never did. She felt bad about how things ended between them yesterday above Fimiston.

When it was time to get up, she asked to accompany Dominik on his morning walk and was pleasantly surprised when he accepted. He looked reluctant, and never said a word during the whole tour of the city. Instead, he fidgeted restlessly and had a guilty expression on his face. She tried to ignore her distaste for the man who had yelled and threatened her so easily the previous day. He's a monster. He stabbed her seventeen times.

She realised that she needed to find out as much as she could about Dominik, which parts of their mission were real and which parts supported Joshua's claims. She had irrevocably decided that she couldn't be Russian, but she didn't want to be Australian either. For now, she was on her own. And the quickest thing she could think of to get back on Dominik's good side was to be the person she wanted him to be. Maria. But unfortunately, they had never met, and Emilia could only go off of what others had told her, which was next to nothing.

Nevertheless, the day had gone by quickly, with her only tasks being to wash their protective gear from the previous day and make some strongly smelling chemical poison silently with Anna. Now, once the sun had plunged below the red rock skyline and the moon provided a cooler touch to the city of Fimiston, her legs had just started to ache as they climbed the never-ending staircase.

Over the past couple of days, they had done a lot of running, climbing, and going upstairs, but this.... this was worse.

She was wearing 3-inch heels, a stupidly 'necessary' feminine touch to her waiter's outfit. She also wore well-fitted dress pants and a long-sleeved black button-up shirt with a ridiculously large collar that was long and pointed. They had been hired to waiter for the VIP Tuesday party hosted by the elder, George, aka their target for that evening.

Elizabeth, Victoria, and Edward were also supposed to be at the fancy Tuesday party, as this was a party for the wealthiest constituents of Fimiston. It would be a night for cocktails and finger food delicacies, as opposed to a rave for the rest of the city, dancing with their dirty liquors down at the bottom of the pit.

Getting the job to work at the party got their ticket in, but it meant climbing to basically the very top of the pit in shoes that pinched Emilia's toes terribly.