Noctura

sixty five

seunghoon

THERE ARE bright lights when I open my eyes that are so bright, I have to shut my eyes again.

But when I open my eyes and let them adjust to the light, I see that they're not as bright as I thought they were before.

Where am I? What happened?

Before I can determine my surroundings, I remember everything.

Minho, a Noctura. Teagan on the ground. Something hitting me in the back of the head and everything going dark.

I look around.

And now I'm in a cell in what looks to be some kind of basement. I'm sitting on concrete floor, there's a blanket on my left, and there's a door in front of me.

Where am I?

Someone took me somewhere after they hit me. But who? And why? Why wouldn't they have just killed me and left me there on that battlefield?

I want to think about Minho. I want to think about Teagan, too. I want to think about how Teagan was lying there on the ground, possibly dead. I want to think about how Minho was standing near her, looking over at me with those big, black and purple eyes.

But I can't.

I can't think about any of that right now, because if I do, I might lose it.

And I can't lose it.

I have to figure out where I am. And I have to figure out how to get out.

I stand up carefully. I have to hold on to the bars of the cell to help myself stand up. I'm so dizzy. I press my hand against the back of my head. There's a small bump. That's probably why my head is throbbing and it's hard for me to stand normally.

Even with the head throbbing and dizziness, I'm able to stand up and look around. This basement room I'm in is pretty small. There's just this cell and the door on the opposite side of the room.

The cell door is locked with a large padlock. There's no way I could break it.

I quickly check my belt. My gun and knife are gone. My holster isn't even there.

I try to pull on the bars of the cell. They're definitely too strong for me to break.

How did I end up here? Why? I don't understand why anyone would want to keep me in this cell.

"Hey!" I scream. "Hey! Let me out of here!"

Nothing.

There's no response. No one comes through the door.

Nothing.

Okay, how else can I get out of here?

I go to the other sides of the cell. I look at the bars, trying to find any weak spots. There are none. I get on my knees and begin searching the ground, running my hands along it so I can feel for anything that could possibly lead to an escape. I look under the blanket, I check the wall behind me, and I find nothing.

Nothing.

Defeated, I sit down on the blanket with my back against the wall, staring out at the door in front of me.

Why? Why would somebody want to kidnap me and take me here? I'm definitely not as important as someone like the Director. Unless whoever took me is trying to use me to get to the Director. But that would never work.

The Director doesn't care about me. He doesn't care about anyone in the AAN personally. He only cares about the AAN and ridding the world of Nocturas. And these people have to know that, anyway.