Noctura

fifty three

seunghoon

BACK AT work, I sit at my desk and look down at the papers sprawled across it. They're just papers with notes on them about Nocturas and where we think some of the gangs are located.

But all of this is useless.

We're not any closer to eradicating Nocturas.

We need a better plan.

The problem is, we can't come up with one.

I pick up my mug of coffee and take a sip.

"Hey,"

I look up and see Teagan looking down, smiling at me.

"Hey," I greet her. "What are you doing here already? It's not even four yet." I glance at the clock and see that it's almost forty past three.

Teagan gives a small smile. "Yeah, I thought I would just come in a little early. Say hello. See how you're doing."

"Oh, I'm doing fine. But how are you doing?"

Teagan nods. "I'm alright. So... working on anything interesting?"

"Define interesting." I let out a laugh and Teagan chuckles too. "No, not really. Just some papers about the gangs and where they might be located. But there's been no news of anything recently that we don't already know of."

"Ah," Teagan nods. "Well, I'm gonna go get clocked in and then I'll pop by over here, okay?"

I give her a smile as she heads back toward the break room to clock in.

Then, I sigh.

We're not getting anywhere with eradicating the Nocturas. The truth is, we don't know where the gangs are. They're constantly moving and hiding. We can't tell who is a Noctura and who isn't. The screenings do nothing for us because we can't see any difference between a known human's blood and a known Noctura's blood. The DNA makeup is exactly the same, as far as we can tell.

But that's not true. There's something about a Noctura's DNA that makes them different. It makes them crave human life essence. It makes them killers.

There's something there.

But what?

Our researchers have been trying to figure this out for as long as most anyone can remember. And they've gotten nowhere with it.

I tap my pen against a paper on my desk, thinking.

Maybe...

What if their purple eyes has anything to do with it?

What if...?

Ideas begin popping into my head, one after the other.

Have the researchers already tried anything like these?

The only way to find out is to talk to them.

I grab my jacket, quickly throwing it on.

"Seunghoon?"

I turn around and see Teagan. "Hey, Teagan. Sorry, I have to run. I'm gonna go to our research facility. I'm gonna ask them about the tests they're running."

"Why?" She asks.

I grin at her. "I think I might've gotten an idea or two."

. . .

I TAKE the bus north, toward the second sector border, but not all the way there. I stop in the middle of the sector, stepping off the bus and walking through the streets. I see the research facility surrounded by a tall, metal gate.