Chapter 141

Chapter 141
Hope

“I knew from the moment I saw you doing your art that you would be special.” Justin’s voice changed from smooth story teller to his normal voice. It was still soft and he was still stroking his hand through my knotted hair.

The story he had just been telling me, of how we first met was exactly how I remembered it because he wouldn’t have known what I was thinking back then. We hadn’t got really close until a few months later.

It was like he had read my memories. Plucked them out of thin air and narrated them back to me.

Shaking the thought away I stared up at his face. He was still staring into the distance. His eyes glazed and his cheeks gaunt.

He was Justin , my Justin that’s how it had felt when he had been telling me the beginning of our story but now with my eyes open and looking at him. I could clearly see he was no longer the dorky boy I had once loved .

I couldn’t be sure he ever was.

“You were very sweet that day.” I said in an even voice. “I know how much courage it took to come up to me and tell me I was beautiful.”

His eyes snapped down to me. “I did think you were beautiful.” His hand tangled in my hair. “I’ve always thought that and I still do.” His eyes softened. “But it was more than that. Did you know I volunteered in the medical office-“ he drifted off.

My eyebrows pinched together as I frowned. “No, I didn't know that. What has that-“ 

Oh hell no. He couldn’t be saying what I thought he was saying. 

“You don’t mean I was special to you do you?” I asked quietly.

“Of course you were special to me, Hope,” he bit back. “But I knew when I saw your blood work that you would be special to the cause.” He said it like it was the simplest thing in the world. Like I should feel special because I had been chosen. Not because he had some geeky college boy crush but because he had singled me out for my biology.

“The cause?” I whispered.

“I loved you as well, it was like you were made for me and I knew, I just knew it was my job to look after you. Make sure you would always be safe even when I knew it would hurt you.”

“Hurt me?” My voice shook. “You knew what was coming didn’t you?” 

He didn’t answer me and really he didn’t need to, rolling away from him, I climbed to my feet and stood there glaring at him with my hands on my hips.

“You knew they were going to drop the bombs.” My voice rose to a scream and still he didn’t answer me. He didn’t even have the good graces to look away guiltily. All Justin did was stare at me with his broken puppy dog eyes and expect me to tell him that it was all going to be ok 

It wasn’t ok and it would never be ok 

“You were never in any real danger Hope. I told the others that you and some of the others had to be protected. Even before I became yours I told them.”

I blinked rapidly. “Are you really saying that you knew even when we were in college that the world was going to end?”

But of course he was. He had even told me over and over again that it was going to happen. I just hadn’t believed him. I’d just thought he was a conspiracy theory nut. It was one of the reasons I had ended things.

“How did you know that Justin?” I screeched at him. At my side my hands closed into fists and my jagged nails cut into my palm hard enough to draw blood. “How the fuck did you know what the worlds governments were going to do?”

Soulfully he looked at me. It hit me like a punch to the stomach. I physically doubled over as the air left my lungs in a whoosh. 

I couldn’t catch my breath. I couldn’t do anything but heave and try not to throw up. “You did it.” I heaved 

“Not me personally. But yes the people I worked with decided that the world as it was had to change and the only way to make that happen was to wipe the slate clean and start again.” He reached for my hand and forced my fingers open. His eyes glued to the bloody half crescents my nails had made on my skin. “I’d been working in genetic modification for years before I went to college. I’m

Pretty good at it and they wanted to make sure only the strongest humans would survive.” Lifting my hand to his mouth he licked at the tiny cuts and a shudder of disgust swept through me and made me shake.

But nothing made me shake as much as the anger that was flowing through me. “You made people into monsters, you didn’t make them stronger and then your crazy scientist friends dropped nuclear bombs on us? How is that possible?”

Suctioning his lips over my cuts he sucked hard. Drawing my blood into his mouth. “You’ve always been naive Hope. Governments don’t rule this world. They never have. We did what we had to do to make things better.”

“But you didn’t make it better, you made it into hell.”

Justin’s fingers tightened around my wrist, but his lips pulled away and when I looked at him my blood was on his lips. “It will be better now I have you back Hope. My own omega. I made you to love me and now we are side by side we can start to regrow. I’ll admit things have gone a little wrong.” He sighed and licked my palm again. Making me shudder. But his grip on my arm was to tight for to yank my arm away without tearing it off my body completely.

“You made me,” I gulped hard. “What does that mean? You didn’t make me. My parents did that. Parents that welcomed you into our family.” I screeched. “Parents you killed. That’s what you did Justin. When you didn’t warn anyone about what was going to happen you killed my parents and millions of other people and-“

“I didn’t kill you. Some sacrifices had to be made and I’m sorry you are hurting but -“

My eyes narrowed. “What year were you born in?” I asked. “You’re a time traveller right? You jump back and forth? Are you even from my time?” My voice shook.

In answer he yanked me down on to his lap. Kissing his way up my trembling arm.

“That doesn’t matter.” He said cryptically. “What matters is that I saw you and you were perfect. I made you for me, to love me and never leave me and now I have you back I won’t ever let you go. I love you Hope and soon you will remember that you love me as well. I am going to give you everything you want-“

I cut him off. “Holy shit.” I swore. “Did you really just admit that out loud? Are you really saying you and your band of crazies fucked the whole world up for some crazy incel bullshit?”