Somnolent Days

C2: Piggyback, Froggyleap

For the second time since she had come to consciousness, Thiri May was allowed out of her room. The first time was when she had to be transferred into another cell due to "suspected contamination"
. It was  a false alarm but in that short moment, the hallway beyond her room had left an impact on her.

There were many doors. There were many numbers on those many doors. However, the signs above those many doors were blank. Except for three. Above her room were the words "IN USE" in red lights. So did two others.

As she looked back at the door she had just exit from, Thiri noticed that the sign no longer bore words. It was now just one of many vacancies.

Walking ahead of her, Nic seemed to be more occupied with something else. They were staring into space.

Thiri picked up her pace to mirror their footsteps.

"Aren't you gonna get the others too?"

Nic turned around with a single question mark on their face- a look of confusion.

"Y-Y'know, those other two."

Nic shook their head.

"They are not yet ready, child. However, I do expect we might have them accept their situation in the future," the voice on the intercom spoke up.

"Why not ?"

"They are not ready. Now kindly refrain from further questions, it is about time you leave. You do want to reunite with your parents, do you not ?"

Thiri nodded.

Her parents- she barely ever mentioned them but the truth is she missed them. Her memory may be patchy but she still remembered them, not their faces but their actions - her mother's cooking, her father's fond pats on the back, and their days together hiding away when everything started falling down around them. No matter how hard she tried to suppress her memories of them, she longed for their firm kindly words and loving embraces. But then again, she could do with a loving embrace from anyone at this point.

Thiri and Nic had left the hallway into... yet another hallway? This one was a much wider one with dark blank screens along the walls. The doors here were wider and all were labelled with not just with numbers, but also with alphabets mixed in.

The two kept walking, in and out automated doors and going down elevators only to come to yet another drab but very slightly different looking corridor. Of course, they were no longer in the Biological Items section of the storage facility. That was one of many sectors in the labyrinth that is the storage facility. And every wall looked alike. By now, the novelty of being out of her room has worn out and the little girl was beginning to drag her feet.

"Are we there yet?" Thiri was starting to groan into the mic built into her suit.

Nic nodded.

"Are we lost?"

Nic shook their head.

"We are lost, aren't we?"

Nic shook their head again, even more insistently. 

A more than a few minutes of walking seemed a lot like an hour of tediousness for the girl. It was a wonder she even managed to survive being confined to a room with only the administrator as company.

After a particularly long elevator ride upwards, they finally came to a fairly inconspicuous door, monitored with a couple more security cameras than the others. But what really made it notable was that it lead outside.