Elian

The alarm didn't sound like the drills.

"Warning. Breach detected. Sector B. Lockdown protocol initiated. All non-essential personnel evacuate immediately through gate 5" 

My hands froze. For a second, I didn't breathe. Ever since I arrived here, everything had been so smooth. So organized. Even the air felt structured. But now, everything was wrong.

They said 'non-essential personnel.' That meant me? 

'Gate 5' Where the fuck is gate 5. 

I ran from the maintenance floor, took the stairwell. But, the corridor was empty. Weren't they supposed to be evacuating?

Had the other Forgotten, if there were any more in this sector. Already been guided out? But no one had come for me. I stood there, not knowing where to go. I wasn't made for breaches.

No footsteps. No voices. No guards.

Suddenly, the emergency broadcast stopped and the reinforced wall was put down. The sector was sealed completely - with me inside. I picked up the pace. My boots thudded against the floor, louder than I liked. I didn't know Sector B well. I didn't know the evacuation routes. No one ever told me. I was just the cleaner.

Even if I vanish right here. No one would noticed. 

People think the world changed when the first Door opened. But it didn't, not right away. It changed when the first Hollowed came through.

People panicked. Fought. Died.

Then came the Walls, the massive structures, circling entire cities. Above them, invisible electric currents poured constantly to keep out flying Hollowed. They were the first line of defense. Still, the breaches could happen anywhere. 

Then came the bunkers. Layers deep, partitioned by sectors: S at the center, surrounded by A, then B, and so on. I'd only ever worked in Sector E. Training grounds for Gifted, mostly. Until I was reassigned here.

Sector B. Not for training. For dispatch. Communication. A higher sector on the ladder. 

The Gifted live deeper inside. Close to Sector S. Same with the scientists. The important Forgotten live there too, those with skills. Engineers. Medics. Those they call the Bound.

The Bound aren't Gifted, but they're close. Some say they were touched by something. A reaction to the Door's energy. They can't summon fire or rip a Hollow in half, but they're smart. Valuable. Trained. The facility keeps them close. Protects them.

The ones outside the facility? They'd kill for a spot in here. They think it's safe. Stabilized. They don't know what it was like to be inside. To clean the blood no one talks about. To dodge the stares of the Bounds who think they're one step from divinity. The person you were with in the morning disappears and you can't question it.

Survival inside means never slipping up.

One mistake, and you disappear.

I tried to reach the emergency evacuation line and reached a checkpoint, but it ended abruptly at a sealed door. 

I heard a thud. A thud shook the floor. Distant but close enough to feel. 

I turned back. 

Another thud. 

I sprinted down a side hall. Panicked. Nearly tripped over my own boots. My Lungs burned. I didn't know where I was going. Nor did I know where to go. 

Then I saw them.

Three of them. Gifted. One with a red lightsaber. Another with pale silver hair and strange lenses over his eyes. And the third, a tall man with a calm, tired face. They walked like they had all the time in the world.

Behind them trailed five Bound. One clutched a data slate. Another wore a med-vest. All were led by guards.

I stepped forward, waving.

"Help-"

They didn't even glance at me. Pressed a button. A door opened in a sealed wall. Transmuted. Gone.

I wasn't Bound. I wasn't essential.

I stood alone again.

Another thud. Closer this time. 

My legs moved on their own. I turned another corner, only to find there is no way to escape. Everything is sealed. Emergency lockdown sealed everything I could've used.

Except one. 

A door. I didn't pause to look. The one I pretend never saw. Red light blinking above it.

RESTRICTED — AUTHORIZED ENTRY ONLY.

It's open. But how? 

Another thud. 

I ran inside and closed the metal door, locking it from inside.

"Yo" a man's voice said. Familiar.

Felix?