Children's Games: A Story of Modern Consequence

Chapter 52

~Emilia~

Emilia woke with a jolt as someone stood over her, roughly shaking her shoulders. She shot up in an instant, her mind filled with the idea of Dominik stabbing her. She wrapped her fingers around his neck and dug her nails into his throat before he stepped back into the moonlight.

She let go of Joshua quicker than she had attacked him, a fumble of stuttering apologies spat from her mouth as she realised who it was.

"It's alright, love," he coughed, bending over slightly and putting his hands on his knees. "Good reflexes... never apologise for those kinds of skills."

"I'm sorry," Emilia couldn't help but repeat as she grabbed a glass of water from her bedside table and offered it to him.

Joshua smiled as he took a few sips, his free hand resting on her shoulder and leaning on her slightly as he drank. She couldn't help but watch his Adam's apple as it bobbed up and down his throat and for a moment, she forgot the dangerous situation they were in. I think he has more memories than me... he calls me 'love'.

The clock showed that it was approximately 10:30, meaning that they had slept for four hours, but still slept two and a half hours less than Anna had intended for them. Both Florence and Matthew were still out cold, having had downed their entire dose.

"I really am sorry," she said, cringing at the faint fingernail marks starting to appear around his neck.

He only shook his head, a small smile playing on his lips. "Come on."

The house was empty. Some things in the kitchen had been packed up, and the shelves in the pharmacy looked even more bare than usual. The others weren't in the house, which meant that Emilia and Joshua were free to explore to find whatever evidence they needed to aid in their escape. They both made their way to the basement and raised their eyebrows at the new scene.

All of the furniture and equipment were still in place, but the pin board and desk had been cleared of all the documents that had been set up. Maps, guest lists, addresses, mission objective plans... all of it was gone. Emilia wouldn't have been surprised if the computer had been wiped as well. The place where Ivan had fallen was also bare, and she wondered if he was with Maria now.

Emilia checked the lab and found that it was still full, but all the 'humidifiers', or ventilator machines that were going to be used to deposit the bacteria were gone. Joshua came back from the armoury to find that it had been stripped of all the bombs that still hadn't been positioned yet. Dmitri, the dog that Emilia hadn't seen since he had tried to attack her under Anna's command was also missing. The basement suddenly felt unbearably cold and empty at the feeling of how close to the end they were.

Then she noticed the refrigerator, normally stocked with all the Petri dishes of bacteria, was now the new grave for Ivan. He was folded up and leaning against the door, threatening to break through the frosted glass. The sight of his neck twisted at a grotesque angle, and lumps protruding out of the sides made her look away uncomfortably. It reminded her of the pictures of dissected people in jars that she had seen in the council buildings.

Joshua mumbled about not getting distracted, so she turned away, reminding herself how time-sensitive their little operation needed to be.

She opened the first draw that she saw, trying to find something. Fortunately, she hit the jackpot first try and called Joshua over as they examined the rows and rows of prepared 'vitamins' that they consumed every day with breakfast.

"I only take the pink and the white ones," Joshua offered. "You take all three, right?" She nodded.

"So, all of us take the pink ones," she mumbled, taking the small, labelled containers out and putting them on the bench in front of them. "You, me, Florence, and Matthew take the white ones.... and us girls take the multicoloured ones?"