This Forsaken World

This Forsaken World Chapter 34

This Forsaken World Chapter 34

Commander Devin Crowe

It took a few minutes before we found a chamber that wasn't exposed to the vacuum of space. I waved the mechanic forward to double check it was safe to open, stepping aside to give him room to operate. We didn't want to open the portal if there were survivors on the other side in order to keep them alive.

After some time the mechanic nodded and cycled the door open, moving away so the security officer on point could clear the room on the other side.

A handful of seconds passed before he waved us in, lowering his assault carbine and relaxing his tensed shoulders.

Stepping through I grimaced at the scene around me. The place we were currently in was the former officer's mess hall, blood splatters and chunks of flesh were everywhere, the pieces of human remains now floating freely as a result of us opening the door.

The rest of the team joined us and the rear guard slammed the door shut, hitting the pressure button until a green light lit up and the room was filled with oxygen once more, anything previously floating crashing to the ground.

Reaching up for the seal on my helmet I unsnapped it and slid the offensive head covering free, breathing in the recycled air deeply. The other members of the rescue squad followed my example before spreading out and examining the room with the same alarmed looks I had, only Sally seemed immune to the grisly human remains around us.

"This is the work of Hunters..." The vampire maiden whispered, her eyes darting around the room cautiously. For Sally to show fear, we had to be facing a seriously dangerous enemy.

"Care to elaborate?" I asked, undoing my pressure suit and settling it into a corner by a small refrigerator.

"There sent out to either hunt down specific prey, fight powerful enemies or assassination missions. There basically the one's who do the dirty work of the ancients so they don't have to get there hands dirty. If they are on board it means we're in trouble, they are ruthless and extremely powerful. They prefer to fight with dual swords, chains and throwing daggers." I nodded as I listened, gripping the shotgun tighter unconsciously.

"Well, guess from this point on we keep our guard up. Everyone pull drag except for one security member, the rest of you with us in front." The team did as I ordered although with some mild confusion. The people with me weren't used to this kind of action, mostly spending there time isolated on board the carrier with only there specific jobs to tend to.

Knowing Sally was the only one I could depend on I gave her a serious look and she winked at me with a smile.

Every part of the ship we explored told the same story, blood, gore and guts....strangely however there were no bodies. We had yet to see a single human being or 'hunter' at this point and it was really starting to creep me out. This ship had a one thousand crew member capacity and while we had been reduced due to the escape from Earth being hindered, the count had still been over eight hundred.

Biting my lower lip I kept glancing at my lover every so often hoping her enhanced senses would catch something but each time she simply shook her head. We had currently scouted over half of the battleship and I looked at my watch with a curse. We had eaten up almost half of our allotted time and soon we'd be forced to withdraw and prepare for the next stage of the operation.

I'd been hoping we'd be able to get the ship up and running and return it to the Venus station but from the state of things it would take a lot of people and a substantial amount of time to complete this task.