Nita stared up at the towering skyscraper in front of her. Above the gigantic entry way, INHUP was spelled out, as if it had been imprinted into the glass wall.

"I can't believe we're here."

Nita glanced over at her current companion. "Mirella, I can't believe we're still fucking alive."

Mirella scoffed. "You got that right." Her long pink hair was tied back into a tight ponytail, and she was sporting a black eyepatch over what used to be her left eye. The bustling city around them had a constant hum, not unlike the jungle.

Nita shivered, and decided to discard that comparison and never make it again. She wanted nothing to do with any kind of jungle or rainforest for the rest of her life.

"So," Mirella began. She hadn't taken her eyes off of the building in front of them, and she sounded nervous. "Should we just... walk in?"

Nita wiped at her face, trying to rid herself of any dirt or grime. She knew her attempts were futile.

"I guess we don't have much of a choice."

And with that, the two girls put their fear behind them, and entered what could either be their salvation, or their destruction.

…..

Upon entering the building's main lobby, Nita was immediately greeted with the smell of lemon and bleach. However, she didn't find it unpleasant in the least. It was a nice refresher seeing as the market constantly smelled like sweat and stagnant water.

The lobby had high ceilings and bright white lights. A black woman sat at the main desk, her short curly hair dyed a bright shade of yellow.

Nita hesitantly started walking towards her, but was startled into a stop as Mirella took her hand. Nita gave her a questioning look, raising a brow. Mirella let out a shaky sigh, and Nita understood.

Together, they approached the front desk. Mirella was squeezing Nita's hand so tight her knuckles were turning white, and Nita had to focus on keeping the blood circulating in her hand.

The yellow haired woman smiled as they neared, and Nita took note of how bright her smile was.

"Hello girls. How can I help you?" She asked, her hands laying folded on the desk.

Her name tag had "Agent Luck" written across it in loopy handwriting. Nita thought it went well with her overall demeanor. Bright.

Nita stole a glance at Mirella, and saw her taking in the sight of Agent Luck. Her hand loosened its grip on Nita's, and continued to loosen until their hands were no longer intertwined.

Nita felt relieved, she didn't like extended skin contact with other people.

"Agent Luck," Mirella blurted out, and Nita jumped a bit. She wasn't expecting her to say anything at all, with how apprehensive she was acting.

"Yes, dear?" Agent Luck asked, concern written across her features. She was starting to notice how tattered their clothes were.

Nita hoped that she wouldn't get questioned on the blood stains crawling up her neck, but she figured that it was unavoidable. She started thinking up an acceptable story while Mirella continued.

"We were prisoners in El Mercado de la Muerte. We are seeking asylum."

Agent Luck gasped, her eyes widening. She looked back and forth between the two of them, as if they were ghosts.

Finally, she seemed to catch her breath.

"You poor things," she began, her voice soft. "Follow me girls. You're safe here, nothing else can hurt you."

She stood, and walked out from behind her desk. She waved them forward, and guided them to one of the many doorways in the lobby.

Mirella and Nita shared a questioning stare, each one silently asking the other what they were thinking.

The doorway Agent Luck lead them through gave way to a long hallway. The amount of parallel doors on the wall reminded Nita of a hotel hallway. She doubted each door held a little bedroom though.

Bedrooms. Beds. Nita stifled a groan.

The thought of sleeping comfortably in an actual BED was so enticing, she nearly asked Agent Luck when she'd be able to do just that.

However, before she had the chance, Agent Luck announced that they had reached their destination.

She had led Nita and Mirella to a big, open room with high ceilings like the main lobby.

Crystal clear windows trailed along the wall, high enough that no one from the street could see in. They did let in a lot of sunlight though.

There were various couches littered across the room. Coffee tables held small stacks of magazines and books. In the corner, there was a counter area with a water dispenser and a coffee machine.

"This is where clients wait to be questioned," Agent Luck said, her hand gesturing at the whole of the room.

She continued. "I know you girls must've been through a lot and are probably tired. Feel free to relax, maybe even take a nap. There are some blankets folded in a basket over by the coffee machine. You're welcome to take one."

Mirella snapped her gaze away from the basket in the corner, full of fuzzy quilts.

"Wait, are you leaving us then?" She frowned, and gave Agent Luck a pitiful look. "Can't I just talk to you?"

Luck sighed, and her eyes were sad.

"I'm so sorry, but I'm not authorized to question you two quite yet. I still have a year left before I'm promoted." She said, and Nita realized that she couldn't have been more than a few years older than Mirella and her.

Mirella looked as if she wanted to protest, but Nita cut in.

"That's fine Agent Luck, we understand. Thank you for everything." Nita said, shooting a look at Mirella. She bit her lip, but nodded.

"Yeah, I'm grateful for your help, Miss Luck." Mirella said, a sweet smile making its way across her face.

Agent Luck smiled. "I wish the best for you two, I might see you again eventually." And then, after a quick wave, she was gone.

A few moments of silence passed, before Nita made her way over to the blankets. She picked up two fuzzy quilts, and tossed one to Mirella.

"I don't know about you," Nita said, "but I'm exhausted. I'm taking a nap." She plopped down on the nearest couch, stretched out beneath her blanket and closed her eyes.

All would've been good, but Mirella had to come disturb her. Nita cracked an eye open, and saw her standing above the couch with an expectant look on her face.

"Do you..." Nita yawned. "Need something?"

Mirella gave her a deadpan stare, and after Nita eventually closed her eyes again, decided to sit down on top of Nita's legs.

"What the hell?" Nita groaned. "There are other couches you know."

"Nita, I get that you're tired. I am too. But aren't you at least a little bit on edge? Being here, in the custody of INHUP?" Mirella asked.

"I mean, a little." Nita replied. "I'm more tired than anything though, and I NEED to get some sleep before I figure out where the hell we're going from here."

"We?"

Nita opened her eyes to find Mirella smiling at her. She silently cursed herself for slipping up.

It wasn't as if Nita disliked Mirella. They were a team of sorts, and would probably be dead without the other.

But Nita liked working solo, and Mirella still didn't know about her... hobbies. Plus, there was Nita's mom to worry about.

...and, there was him.

Nita shook her head, and put Kovit out of her mind. There was no reason for her to be thinking about him, even with the slip of paper in her back pocket.

The slip of paper containing his contact information.

"Uh, I guess." Nita began, avoiding the other girl's eyes. "I mean, we both gotta have a plan for when we get out of here."

Mirella sighed, and moved so that instead of sitting on Nita's legs, she was sitting on the arm of the couch. She let her hair down, and started combing through the messy pink strands with her fingers.

"Nita?" She asked, her voice kind of small.

Nita frowned. She hoped Mirella wasn't going to cry. She sucked at comforting people.

Nita's frown suddenly deepened. Since when did she care about her ability to comfort people? Especially Mirella? They had only known each other for a week.

Still, seeing her look so dejected made something tighten in Nita's chest, and she sat up.

"Everything alright?" Nita asked softly, and angled herself so that she was facing Mirella.

Mirella stared at the wall behind Nita, her gaze unfocused. She took a deep breath, and her eyes cleared. Mirella looked at Nita, a small smile on her face.

"Can I braid your hair?"

...

Nita didn't know how she had convinced her to let her touch her hair, but she obviously did somehow. Because there Nita was, sitting sideways on a couch letting Mirella's fingers comb through her frizzy curls.

Any kind of casual touch made Nita feel squirmy, and getting her hair done was no acception. Especially because she could hear every breath Mirella took, as she was sitting right behind her.

Nita wondered why it was so much easier being around dead things than living ones.

Mirella definitely didn't scare her. Hell, Nita could go as far as saying she liked being around her.

There was just something so unpredictable about living things. Something Nita didn't have complete control over. It made her uncomfortable.

Mirella, on the other hand, seemed as calm as ever. She was humming quietly as she worked on braiding Nita's hair. She was doing something more intricate than what Nita was used to.

Then again, the last time someone had done Nita's hair, she was 8 and living in the U.S. She still remembered how carefully her dad would do her hair. She missed him.

She decided she would try calling him again after talking to the agent Luck had promised them at least a half hour ago.

He had to pick up at some point, right?

Nita's thoughts eventually drifted back to the girl gently braiding her hair.

Mirella's humming hadn't stopped, and Nita found herself following the melody with interest. It sounded pretty, and she wondered if Mirella liked singing too.

Nita hadn't ever tried to sing. She would occasionally hum along to her Disney soundtrack while dissecting, but it was usually fairly quiet. Plus, it was hard to carry a tune when you were constantly getting the chills. Satisfying chills.

Nita wondered if Mirella's smiles would stop after she realized what a monster her "friend" was. Because if there was one thing Kovit taught her in the market, it was that they were both monsters.

Mirella's humming stopped, and she sighed.

"You have really pretty hair Nita." She said while continuing to braid.

"Um, thanks?" Nita knew for a matter of fact that her hair was coated in a layer of blood and sweat, and that it was disgusting right now, much like the rest of her.

Mirella continued. "I used to braid my sisters' and brothers' hair all the time back in the Amazon. Sometimes my cousins would even ask me to. Their hair was all similar to mine though. Yours is a nice change of scenery, if that makes any sense."

Nita noticed how Mirella's tone became more sad as she went on.

"I know they're okay. My uncle wouldn't lie to me. I just can't stop worrying."

Nita turned, and saw that the younger girl was crying.

"It hurts, Nita. I have a pain in my chest that won't go away. I thought I'd never see them again in the market, and then, when I escaped, they still weren't there. I've never been away from the pod for this long."

When Nita and Mirella had first escaped, they split up. Nita searching the market, Mirella searching the water. Mirella said that if she could find her family fast enough, they would give Nita a ride to safety.

Unfortunately, Mirella had only found her uncle, who had stayed behind just in case she ever came back. He told her that her pod had left, swimming to safer waters, away from the market of hell.

While Mirella discussed things with her uncle, Nita accidentally killed Reyes. And then accidentally let Kovit out of the cage. And they had accidentally formed a bit of an alliance.

Nita was sure that Mirella, Kovit and her were the only ones to survive the fall of the market. Again, she heard the screams of that night.

The dying screams Nita had caused.

"Nita?"

Nita looked up at Mirella, who was curled up, hugging her knees. She had moved back to her place on the arm of the couch.

"We'll find them." Nita said, looking Mirella directly in the eyes.

Mirella sniffled, and then threw herself at Nita. She wrapped her arms around her neck, and buried her face in her neck.

In the back of her mind, Nita registered that Mirella smelled kind of fishy. There was a hint of river flower too though, so it wasn't necessarily terrible.

Then, she started noticing other things. Like how warm Mirella was, and how the close contact hadn't yet repulsed her.

Nita found herself leaning into it.

"I'm sorry," Mirella sniffled. "Boto tribes tend to be overly affectionate, and right now you're all I have."

Nita laughed. "Damn, that makes me feel so fucking good about myself. I really love how far we've come."

Mirella sat up, and gently rearranged herself so that instead of sitting on her, she was sitting next to her.

"You know, I didn't mean for it to come across like that. But take it as you will."

Nita raised a brow, and Mirella smiled.

"Someone feels better," Nita said. "Are you going to go back to being as snarky as you possibly can?"

Mirella laughed. "Maybe. I think I already have Agent Luck wrapped around my finger anyways."

"Suck up."

"You're just jealous that she couldn't HELP but to coddle me. How much you wanna bet I can get her to buy me a hot chocolate later if I tear up?"

Nita's eyes widened. "You're terrible."

A few moments passed.

"Make her get me one too."

Then, they both laughed. And it was nice. Nita wondered if this was what it was like to have a friend your own age.

Mirella scooted a little closer to Nita.

"Your braid came undone. I'll have to redo it now."

And as Mirella twisted her hair into intricate loops, Nita found herself leaning into the touch and smiling.