Chapter 2

 THE MEETING 

I stared out the window as the can drove into the compound, I had a funny feeling in my heart. This was the house I grew up in and while part of those memories were tainted by my foster parents, the rest them were very precious to me.

These memories were the only thing that kept me going through the last days of humanity and after the end, they were the ones that made me kill myself and preserve whatever was left of my humanity.

And now, I had just given up my ownership rights. But I knew it was because of the future, it had to be done.

I paid off the cab driver and began walking towards the house and just as I expected, James, my foster father was standing on the balcony of the mansion, staring daggers at me.

I stared back, my composure as cool as possible. I’ve battle beasts that would make the devil himself tremble and piss his pants, I wasn’t about to be scared of a coward.

James expression subtly changed, I could see the surprise in his eyes, just as I thought. The surprise immediately morphed into more fury and he retreated from the balcony.

I walked up the stairs, the moment I pushed the door open, I saw a shadow from the corner of my eye. James grabbed my shirt and slammed me into the wall, his face red, his lips tight and his eyes bulging. His anger was intense.

My eyes fell to his neck and I immediately felt the slight relief of tension from his grip. I smirked. He thought I was scared, that I was avoiding his gaze but in truth, my attention was on the bulging veins on his neck. They might have seemed like ordinary veins but to someone like me, a special anomaly with spatial abilities, I saw things differently.

I could see which vein led to his heart, which one was going to his brain and which one sat just on top a very important nerve. I couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if I grabbed his vein and pressed down on it. If I twisted it and pulled till it snapped. But alas, the only abilities I could access now were dimensional traveling and storage, both of which weren’t very useful on direct combat.

But that didn’t mean I couldn’t fight.

“What’s going on?”

I looked beside me, my eyes locking with a pair of green pupils. My expression immediately softened and I felt tears welling up in my eyes as I stared at him.

“Eli, go to your room, I’ll be there in a sec.” I said gently to my younger brother.

“Johanne, what’s going on?” he asked,

“Everything is alright, go to your room.” I repeated. Johanne stared at me for a moment and I could tell he wanted to ask more questions but he didn’t. I watched him leave, the warm feeling in my chest not receding, I’ve missed him so much.

His death had taken a huge toll on me and it broke me. Towards the end, I always wondered what would have happened of my brother was still alive. I wondered if I would have done half the horrible things I did to survive or if I would have done worse to keep him alive.

And then I remembered the cause of his death and my heart immediately went cold.

I glanced back at James, unable to control my killing intent. His grip loosened a bit more, I could tell he was shocked and this time, there was also a hint of fear in his eyes.

No, I couldn’t make him suspect anything. So I reined in my anger and took a deep breath.

“Where’s Maria?” I asked and when I saw that he didn’t reply, I added, “tell her to come. I have all the cash I got from selling off the house and other properties and I want us to have a meeting on how to split it up.”

James stared at me suspiciously for a moment but I remained silent. I knew this man very well; when it comes to money, he looses every ounce of brain cells he has.

“So you’ve come to your senses, h” James smirked as he approached me, he grabbed my chin and brought it close to his face, “you better watch that disrespectful attitude if yours. The next time something like this happens,...”

“there will be no next time.” I said.

James held on for a moment longer before finally letting go. I watched him as he left before heading towards Eli’s room. When I opened the door, he was sitting on his bed, fiddling with his hands.

Before the apocalypse, I would have thought nothing about this, but during the apocalypse, I found out that this was a habit of Eli. Whenever he was troubled, he would fiddle with his fingers. It later got so bad, he began chewing his nails too.

“Did I scare you?” Eli looked up at me, breathing a sigh of relief as he noticed me. I furrowed my brows, confused at his behaviour. In the past, Eli knew nothing about the bad deeds of James and Maria, both the fact that they killed our parents and the fact that they killed him. So it made no sense that he would have been scared for me.

James and Maria were great actors, while they weren’t the nicest, they weren’t bad. A more normal reaction for Eli would have been for him to be just a bit worried before ignoring the whole thing, and the past me would have ignored this small change but not the present me.

“what’s wrong?” I asked as I approached Eli.

“Nothing...” he muttered and I gave him a look. “i...it’s stupid.” He added and I remained silent while maintaining my look.

“Fine. It’s a bit silly but, I’ve been getting funny feelings since earlier today. For some reason, Jason and Maria just suddenly seemed way more sketchy than normal.”

My eyes narrowed as I began to consider the possibilities. A normal person would have ignored it but once again, they weren’t me. They haven’t seen what I have seen. But no matter how much I consider it, I just can’t seem to understand what was going on or how Eli suddenly got very intuitive.

Eli never awakened in the past so I couldn’t attribute it to an early awakening. The only thing that seemed to fit was an anomaly, one that is bizarre even to me.

I sat beside Eli and gently ruffled his hair, “Don’t worry. I might not seem like it, but I’m pretty strong.” I said with a smile and I could immediately see the relief wash over Eli.

I paused for a moment before asking, “Do you trust me?”

Eli gave me a silly look and he giggled, “What kind of question is that?” I didn’t reply but instead, continued staring at him.

“Yes, I do.” Eli added after he realised I was serious.

“Good. Pack up a few clothes and meet me in the living room.” I said. I got up and headed for the door.

“Johanne, wait!” Eli called out and I turned around. “Nevermind.” He said after seeing my serious expression.

As I entered the living room, I saw James and Maria sitting down, obviously waiting for me. I stared at Maria, willing my heart to slow down. If I wasn’t am experienced fighter, I would have killed her in the spot.

“I heard you have something to share.” Maria said with a sly smirk. She was the smart one, the brain to James brawn. Truthfully, they were a pretty good team. Unfortunately, good teams aren’t enough for people like me.

I’ve decimated armies.

I sat down, ignoring Maria’s question. The room was silent until a few minutes later when Eli entered the room with a backpack in hand.

Maria’s raised a brow but remained silent and since she said nothing, James also remained silent.

Eli stared at us with furrowed brows but in gestured for him to come sit beside me.

I cleared my throat before speaking, “since all of us are now present, I’ll begin.”

“I went to the future.”