The Poseidon Project

14. The Zeus Project

Ian gave me a confused look.
"Why would I leave you?"

I sighed. "I'm one of the most powerful living beings right now. That puts anyone close to me in danger so eventually, to save yourself, you're gonna have to stay away from me."

I rubbed my eyes to stay awake and I heard Ian step closer.
I looked up and he was just a few centimeters away. "What?"

"You may be one of the most powerful beings out here but let me tell you something."

He leaned in and his breath tickled my ear. The area was dimly lit and I was glad of it because I could've been mistaken for the relative of a tomato.

In a soft voice he whispered "you're short."

"You're looking to die, aren't you?"

He laughed. "Lets go back."

Ian turned around and started walking and I quickly ran to catch up to him.
"Wait, would you leave me?"

"Well, what do you want?"
I bit the inside of my cheek. "Don't know. I just want to be normal, not some project that others use me for. I want to be a normal human female, I guess."

"What do normal human females do?"
"I guess they wear dresses and keep their hair long."
"That's very stereotypical."
"Sorry. But I don't want to wear dresses. Uh, the only thing that I probably have in common with humans like that is the need for affection."

Ian put his hands in mine. "Like that?"
My breathing started to become inconsistent again. "...stupid feelings."
"Feelings are stupid? Even love~"

"Yes. Feelings get in the way of everything."
"Ri, you're being-" He paused.
"I'm waiting for the insult."

"You're being emo."
"Shut up."

"And cute."
I glared at him. Ian just smiled. "Not gonna tell me to shut up now, are you?"
"Lady dog."

We arrived to a one floor house and Ian opened it with one of the keys. Ian waved me in and led me to a bedroom with a queen sized bed. "Is this my room?"

"It's our room."
"Okay, I'm sleeping on the couch."
"No you're not. I know you hate sleeping alone."

I didn't respond and crawled under one of the bed covers. The weight in the bed shifted and Ian was laying beside me.
"G'night Ri."

"Night Ian."

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

I woke up to a thud and I ignored it until I heard it again.
"Ian...?"

I got up and moved around the house. I knew Dyllon was in the house somewhere so I wasn't gonna yell to wake him up.
"Ian?"

I rubbed my head and decided to change and take a bath.
I walked to the bathroom and turned the knob in the shower to get the water to run.

I sank into the bath and sighed. I didn't realize how tired I was until I was adjusted to the water's temperature.
I was not experiencing terrible water withdrawals but after the few tears wasted yesterday, it was very tiring.

I rinsed my hair and wrapped myself in the bathrobe hanging on the back of the door.

I couldn't hear anyone awake yet.

"Dyllon? Adrian?" No response again it was fueling my anger. "Where the fuck are you people?!"

I groaned as the only reply was the creaking floorboards. I stomped outside and saw people moving in one direction; confused, I asked a young woman what was going on.
"Dearie, we have been called to an assembly. Something about the Zeus Project, I hope that person is okay."

The Zeus Project?

I blended in with the rest of the crowd and followed them, some people on bikes and cars that didn't run on fossils.
I was eventually the only one walking, along with a few others.

Dyllon and Adrian don't own a car so where the hell are they?

"Cari?"
"Ah, Dilila." The bright haired girl jogged up to me and handed me a water bottle. I gladly took it and chugged it down.

"Cari, you should've came over to Chance's. He could've told you what was up."

I looked up at the sunlight filters and remembered last night.
"Meh, whatever. So is he already there, to where we're supposed to be heading?"

She nodded. "I told him to go on ahead because I was gonna go look for you. I'm sorry about last night, I just don't want to lose you again."
"Again?"

Dilila's fingers twitched again. "It's fine. We should get going though, the meeting will start."

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

Chance stood on the stage in the community center and started speaking.
"There is no easy way to say this but the government agents have found us."

There were gasps and mummers and cries.
"Please, don't be alarmed. It has been said that the Zeus project has a tracker to which they can track specific targets from the Projects. The only two left for them to find are the Hades project and the Poseidon project."

I wandered around a bit to look for The guys because I took no interest in what he was saying.

"They will be collected by the end of the day and handed over to the government and we will be able to live normal lives again, being able to finally live above ground like we should."

Poor them, they've must've been down here for a while.

I found Ian comforting Dyllon by the water fountain away from everyone else.

"Ian! Dyllon!"
I ran up to them and squated to see Dyllon's face.
His face held an expression that I've never seen from him. He looked distant, lifeless.

"Hey Dyl, you still there?"

He sighed and sat up. "Yeah, I'm still here."

"What's up? You seem upset."

Ian put his hand on my shoulder and I looked up at him. "What's going on?"

He didn't respond. He leaned over and pecked my cheek.

"You know I love you, right?"

"Yeah, I do. Why are you telling me this? It's not like I'm leaving you..."

Now that I think about it, Dyllon has never told me what Project he was. Is he one of the Projects they have to collect?

And how Ian's acting with me...

I'm one of them too.

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

How was chapter 14, guys?

Lots of luck and other stuff 🍀