Noctura

sixty

minho

I HEAR the booming sound that rattles the ground.

Immediately, I look over at Jinwoo, who's standing around with the other Alliance members in the abandoned building we've been hiding out in.

Yoon wanted us closer to the fourth division AAN building because he thought the gangs might attack there first. And he thought it would be soon.

From the sound of that boom, I think Yoon was right.

Yoon moves over to toward me. He looks me right in the eye. "Your friend, Nikita, her friends have not shown up yet. We might have to go out there without them."

I nod. I want to seem brave, but on the inside, I feel like I'm shaking.

"I want me and you to go check out what's happening. Everyone else will stay here. We aren't attacking yet."

Yoon and I head outside the building, making sure the door is tightly locked behind us.

I don't have to be any closer to see the orange flames rising high into the sky above us, lighting up the dark clouds.

My breath catches in my throat.

Where is that coming from?

"The AAN building," Yoon whispers, as if he was reading my thoughts. "They blew up the AAN building."

Yoon and I begin racing through the streets. There are people coming out of their homes, office buildings, apartments, to see what that sound was.

Once we're able to see the building, I stop dead in my tracks.

The entire AAN building is up in flames. I can feel the heat on my face from here and we're not even that close to it. There's glass and ashes everywhere, surrounding the entire building.

"Minho, look!"

I glance at Yoon and then turn my head toward the right, where he's pointing.

There are people standing near the flames of the building.

People with black and violet eyes.

"And there." Yoon points to the left.

My eyes follow where he's pointing to.

There are more people, running toward the fire. These people have guns and armor and there are tons of them. They're all running toward the burning building.

They're running toward the Nocturas.

I glance around at people on the streets, looking around, confused. They're wondering why the AAN building has gone up in flames.

But then they start seeing the Nocturas standing around.

And they start running.

Yoon tugs at my sleeve. "Minho, come on! We have to get back to the others!"

I turn around.

Gunshots fire.

I hear screaming.

There's another booming sound, a little farther off.

I break into a sprint beside Yoon and we race back to the abandoned building.

We almost break the door getting inside.

I double over and try to take deep breaths.

This is it. This is the war.

"What happened?" Jinwoo asks me. "Are you okay? What's going on out there?"

"The war has begun," Yoon announces to everyone in the front room. "The gangs blew up the AAN building, but it looks like the humans saw it coming. AAN members were running at the Nocturas just as Minho and I came back here."