Noctura

fifty two

minho

EARLY MORNING on Tuesday, two familiar figures step into the small dining area of the Alliance safe house in the third sector.

"Yoon!" I greet, quickly standing up and moving over toward him. "Nephi! You're safe."

Nephi looks up at me and smiles. He has tired eyes.

"Where were you?" I ask. I turn to Yoon. "How long did it take you to find him? Are you guys okay?"

"Everything's fine," Yoon responds with a small smile. "Nephi's smart. He was just hiding in an abandoned house. It didn't take me too long to find him, but it took longer to get back here. We stayed in an old bus in a junkyard last night because we were too tired to continue. But we were up really early and... now we're here."

Nephi lets out a sigh. "I'm just really tired. It was kinda scary being out there all alone. And I missed my bed and all my old things."

Yoon ruffles Nephi's hair. "Let's get you a new room, shall we?"

Nephi nods.

Yoon looks at me. "Where's Jinwoo?"

"Still in his room," I respond.

Yoon nods. "I'll be right back. I gotta get this one into his room."

"Yeah, yeah, definitely," I say.

He then takes Nephi's hand and leads him out of the dining area, down to where the rooms are.

I go back to the table I was sitting at.

This Alliance base isn't as big as the one in the sixth sector, but I still haven't been able to explore all of it. I don't think there's much more for me to explore. I think most of the base just consists of this dining area, a hallway  or multiple hallways with rooms, and a front room.

I decide to go exploring anyway.

I leave the dining area and go down the hallway that leads toward the front room. When I get to the front room, I look around, studying it.

There's a desk in the middle where two people sit, typing on computers or writing things down. A hallway branches off to the right; that hallway leads to the dining room. The second hallway is behind the main desk, and it doesn't lead very far to two large showering rooms and multiple bathrooms. There's another hallway on the left that leads to rooms. Maybe there's another hallway full of rooms somewhere else.

In front of the main desk, there's a small, hidden staircase that leads up to the main building. Unlike the one in the sixth sector, the stairs lead up to a door in the middle of a hallway upstairs. It's better hidden than the sixth sector base.

I move down the hallway where the rooms are, taking light steps on the carpet to get to the end of the hallway.

When I reach the end, I see that I can turn left and there is another long hallway with doors on either side, leading to rooms. I move down this hallway. I scan the doors as I walk past, looking at the different numbers.

Once I get to the end, I see that it's a dead end. There's just a wall with the soft yellow and orange wallpaper.

I step forward, pressing my hand against the wall.

This base is a lot smaller than the sixth sector one.

"Hey,"

I turn around and see Yoon standing next to a door, his hand on the knob still.

"Yoon," I greet him. "Is Nephi doing alright?"

"He is," Yoon responds. "He's very tired, so he's going to sleep now. What about you and Jinwoo? Have you guys been holding up?"