Noctura

fifty seven

seunghoon

TEAGAN AND I have been at the AAN building all night.

I've been talking to everyone and trying to get them mentally prepared for a war. I haven't ever been in a war myself, but I think it might be like the battles I've witnessed on a much larger scale.

The officers and senior officers here have been getting trained all night. I've had many different groups train and then I've asked them to go home and try to get some sleep. They need their strength up if they're going to fight in a war.

There are other soldiers helping me train and get everyone prepared.

And Teagan has been researching. She's looking deep for any information indicating when and where the gangs are going to attack.

But we're not stupid.

We know they would attack here first.

That's why we're trying to figure out when they plan on attacking, so we won't be here when they do.

"Good job out there," I tell my latest group coming out of the simulation. "Go try and get some rest, okay? Be back here in four hours or so."

All the other AAN divisions are doing this same thing. We informed the director of our knowledge and he has been traveling to all the other divisions to inform and prepare them.

Mostly everyone has gone home to try to rest now, and the basement is empty, so I head upstairs. I walk up to Teagan's desk.

"Hey, any word?"

She looks up at me and gives me a sad smile. "Unfortunately, no. They're hiding their secrets well. I can't find anything at all."

I sigh. "Well, I guess we're just gonna have to prepare for the worst."

"If they sent that note last night, they're expecting us to be in a panic now, right?" Teagan starts thinking through things. "They're going to want to attack while we're panicking. That means... they could be attacking today."

"You're right," I tell her. "We should get everyone out today. But where should we go?"

Teagan sighs. "I... does the AAN not have a safe bunker or something?"

"Maybe. I could—"

"Bunker?"

Teagan and I both look up as Andres strolls over to us. "Sorry, I was eavesdropping. But, we do have a bunker sort of place. It's not actually a bunker, but it's this huge warehouse a few blocks away. We could take everyone there."

I glance at Teagan and find that we're both nodding.

"Yeah," I say. "We can do that. We can gather everyone now and then all wait there."

"Now?" Andres asks.

I glance at the clock. It's almost thirty past five in the morning.

Then, I look back at Teagan.

She gives me a confused look as I look back at Andres.

"They could attack any minute," I tell Andres. "It probably won't be in the daylight, but we don't know exactly when it's going to be. It could be at any time. To be safe, we should get everyone in the warehouse as soon as possible."

Andres nods. "Okay."

"You take everyone here to the warehouse," I tell him. "Get all of our weapons loaded up into vans and bring everything over to the warehouse. Teagan and I will stay here. I'm going to train her and direct everyone else to the warehouse as they come in."

"What?" Teagan asks.

"Give me the address of the warehouse," I command Andres. "I'll send a message to all the fourth division members. Anyone who comes in here I'll direct to the warehouse."

Andres is already writing the address down. He hands it to me, asking, "Will you two be okay here?"

"We won't be long," I assure him. "I'm just going to give her a quick training. I'll make sure anyone who comes through here will go to the warehouse."

"What time will you stop directing people?"

"Probably around eight or nine. After that, everyone better be at the warehouse or it's on them."

Andres nods. "Okay, Seunghoon. Good luck."

"You too, Andres."

He goes to gather everyone in here right now and begin transporting them and all the weapons to the warehouse. I quickly send out a message to all fourth division AAN members. Once it's sent, I hear a ding from Teagan's phone. I turn back to her, and see a very confused look on her face.

"We're going to what?" She asks.

"I'm going to give you a quick training," I explain. I gesture for her to come along with me. "Come on. You ready?"

Confusion is still written all over her face, but she stands up and follows me into the basement anyway.

Once we're down there, she grabs my hand, stopping me.

"Seunghoon, what are you doing?" She asks. "Why are you training me?"

I step toward her, keeping her hand in mine. "I'm going to be doing a lot of fighting, Teagan. I won't be able to protect you every minute. You're going to have to protect yourself."

"Me?" Her eyes widen. "No, Seunghoon, I can't... I can't fight. I can't. I'm not good at it."

"Look at me, Teagan." I grip her arms gently. "There is a war coming. The Nocturas are not going to care who you are. They are going to kill you."

She swallows, giving me a slight nod.

"Just let me train you. I can give you some tips and pointers on how to kill Nocturas. I want you to be safe, just in case, okay?"

"Why do I have to fight?"

"You don't have to be on the front lines." I gently touch her cheek with my knuckle. "But in case you get involved in a battle with a Noctura, I want you to know what to do."

Teagan nods.

I bring her over to the simulation.

"We're gonna start easy," I tell her. "I'll be with you the entire time. I'm going to teach you everything there is to know about fighting Nocturas. By the end of this training, you'll be able to defend yourself, okay? It's going to be hard, and you're going to fail sometimes, but you're going to make it. You're going to be okay."

Teagan takes a deep breath.

"Are you ready?" I ask.

She gives me a determined nod. "I'm ready."