After thirty-one days in the OctaCore, all communications with the outer army bases were severed. The general overseeing the facility ordered the guards to evacuate the eastern, south-eastern, and north-eastern sections, designating them as the last refuge for civilians in preparation for a potential attack. He transmitted a warning to all monitors in the residential units, instructing civilians to gather at the eastern launch pad, where an officer would escort them to the temporary shelter inside the wall. That officer was Egon, the general's third-in-command.
Twenty minutes before the scheduled departure, a scout's drone reported enemies in sight. The general immediately gave Egon the passcodes to the building's security systems, granting him full authority.
Egon led 840 civilians into the wall, with only one man returning to search for his late wife. They settled in the eastern section, judged safest at the time. Of the 840, 124 were from the Ziegler family, 135 from the Cline family, and 137 from the Baumann family. Once inside, Egon, acting on the combined suggestions of the three family heads, changed the security codes so that only the four of them could access and control the system.