U.S.S.A Alice

Chapter 10 No god to save you

My head was screaming in pain and my vision was heavily blurred, what the hell happened? I could hear everyone groaning and stumbling around the lab. people were clutching their chests and grabbing their faces as if they were in intense pain. It had all happened so fast. One moment everything was busy but calm, then the next thing the monolith ignited into a blinding flash, absorbing Dr. Murray into it. I couldn't find Lilith anywhere. "Is everyone alright?"  I heard one of the scientists call out to everyone. Everyone either gave a confused yes or just a pained groan, we were not all alright.- "Lilith where are you?"  Had she not come back? I stumbled back to the console I was working at just moments before, the screen was just all random static. I looked up to see that the test chamber where Connor was, was heavily damaged by the massive release of energy from the monolith. "How're we still alive from that?"  I asked myself. As I was trying to get the console working, there was a blood-curdling scream behind me, it felt all too familiar. When I turned around to see what was happening, I witnessed something I thought I'd never see in person. Several of my colleagues had pinned a woman to the ground and were...oh my god they were eating her alive? Screams were coming from all around the lab and from outside, panic overcame me and I ran for the entrance. I saw one of the engineers on the ground, still dazed from the blast. "Come on Isaac get up, we need to get help."  I helped him up and ushered him to the exit, another person had the same idea and joined us to get help.

We rushed out of the lab as fast as we could, and the other researcher ran ahead of us. As soon as we made it out, I put the person I was carrying down and closed the door shut. "Phew, are you two alright?"  There was just silence. I looked over to Isaac standing there shaking in fear,  he stared on in shock at what was in front of him. I turned around to see...that researcher being held in place as some blackened creature that was concealed by the darkness was biting into his neck. It was eating him, I didn't know what to do other than to look on in horror. My respirator hopefully was quieting my breathing, or so I thought as It raised its head to look at us. The body of my co-worker fell from Its darkened grasp as It began twitching and spasming. The sounds of flesh twisting and bones snapping as it shuffled deliberately towards us, what was this thing? I had nothing to defend myself with as it approached me with hunger in its blanched eyes, the gurgling sound it made was enough to make me sick. When it got right in front of me, I clenched my hand into a fist and hit it in the face. The sickening crunch Its face made as my fist made contact made my stomach drop, The creature's neck rapidly snapped back at me, trying to bite at me with its dislocated jaw. The speed at which It lunged at me caused me to fall back. 
 
"Ow! Oh god please no, getaway!"  That was all I was able to get out as It was now on top of me, it was too strong for me to push off. - "I've got you, Alice!"  Said a voice from behind me, then a loud wet crunch. Black blood splattered across my face shield as its head was cracked open by a wrench. "Are you okay?"  He asked, extending a helpful hand towards me.- "Thank you Isaac, and honestly I have no idea. What the hell is happening?"  Isaac just shrugged.- "You think I know? If you want my opinion? I think that artifact was a bioweapon of some kind, maybe someone down on the medical deck knows more than we do."  I looked down at the corpse of the person or thing that had attacked us. They were wearing the same blue uniform I was wearing underneath, then I turned them over, revealing their gruesome appearance more clearly to Isaac and me. Their name tag read. 'Doyle' "Jesus, so that's what those things look like."  Their jaw looked to be dislocated yet somehow still attached to their TMJ (Temporomandibular Joints.)

Words could barely describe how horrible and inhuman they looked, the smell wasn't much better, like blood and tar but sweeter.- "Let's get going, we need to find a security guard quick or we won't last long here."  We continued down the now gloomy hallway, the screaming echoes of crew members ringing eerily throughout the ship. As we wandered the darkened hallways looking for help,  we came across a guard who was fighting off a large group of the infected crew. They shambled relentlessly down the corridor, they didn't make any footsteps as they crept ever closer, just the sickening sound of bones snapping echoed towards us. The guard was getting closer, he even waved at us. "Don't go down there! Get the hell out of here!"  I could hear the panic in his voice as he warned us, we listened and ran down away to somewhere safer, if there even is a place. We ran away until we were out of breath, the confined space of our masks didn't help.- "Christ these things are stifling."  Isaac took his mask off, took a deep breath, and threw it away.- "Are you alright?"  I asked him, concerned if he was alright or not.- "I...I don't know, physically yes but this is all too much to process right now. I just need a minute."  He sat down against the wall to rest. I nervously looked around to see if we were alone then I sat down next to him.

As we were resting, we tried to call security, with no reply. We tried the same for anyone nearby with the same result unfortunately, it seemed everything except the reserve power was shut off. We only had a few minutes to rest before the sound of gunfire came roaring down our way, the guard we encountered earlier was coming down the hall, he looked tired or injured. The two of us fled further down the corridor, as we ran in the opposite direction. We nearly ran into another horde of our corrupted crewmembers, we then tried to run back but were met with the previous group. "Fuck! What do we do?"  Isaac asked panicked. I didn't know what to do, Damien where were you? Before I could say anything, the guard yelled at us. -"Duck down!"  We did as he said and quickly dropped to the ground. He fired so many loud booming shots at our former crew; their heads popping like ink-filled balloons. "Stay behind me and keep close."  We followed him closely as he moved forward, shooting them as he went. He motioned us to go ahead when one of them grabbed him by the leg, he lifted his left leg and stomped down on its head. The contents of its cranium practically exploded out from its pulverized skull and so were the contents of my stomach, I managed to hold it in, just barely. Before we knew It, one grabbed him from behind then another. They were swarming him, completely engulfing him. "Run!"  He gave out one last desperate yell, then silence. Even if I could see what they were doing to him, I don't think I could stomach it. Isaac grabbed my arm and together we ran away from the black undead mass. We made it to an elevator on the other side of the deck, hopefully, it's working. - "Are you alright?"  Isaac asked me with a concerned but tired look.- "Yeah I think so, I'd be a lot better if we could find somewhere that's safe and isn't crawling with those things."  Isaac pressed the button to open the elevator door, it opened weakly. We cautiously stepped inside the flickering box. I pressed the button for deck 22; the elevator shook a bit then began descending, and so did the feeling in my gut.

We both breathed a sigh of relief as the ride down was surprisingly smooth. I watched as the numbers went down and down, then when it stopped at 23, the maglev stopped abruptly, shaking both of us to the floor.- "Whoa, ouch. What the hell?"  I was going to feel that when I'm an old lady. I looked over at Isaac to see if he was alright, he had gotten up before I did, but was no worse for wear.- "Well shit, looks like the power got cut or the disaster death box finally gave out, either way, this is not good." - "Well aren't you mister positive."  I pressed the open button but nothing happened, we were trapped. "Let's get this opened then."  We both tried to pry open the doors, movies made this look a lot easier. When got it halfway open, one of those things launched itself halfway into the elevator.- "Aaack."  Was the inhuman sound it let out at me. I instinctively kicked it in the face, its blood splashed on the walls of the elevator.- "Oh god Isaac, what do we do?" - "Take your mask off, I have an idea!"  I rushed to take my mask off, then handed it to him. He quickly got my mask over its twitching head, I see what he's doing now. It flailed around, scratching at the head covering. "Alright, grab an arm, we're going to throw this thing out."  I grabbed its left arm while he grabbed its right.- "What now?"  I was struggling to keep the arms of the creature still, these things were strong as hell.- "Now push!"  We raised our arms and then shoved it out of the elevator. 

"Well, I think that worked pretty well."  I smiled at him as I felt the adrenaline still rushing through me. I heard dripping coming from above us, I looked at the elevator hatch and saw a black liquid dripping from it. Then a moment later. Bang! The hatch burst open, several blackened hands reached out just above our faces.- "Aaaack" We ran out of the elevator in a panic, hoping to get away from them. The one we were dealing with before had just gotten back up and torn the mask off, it was not happy. Isaac pulled out his wrench and bashed it along the side of its head, then when it fell over he bludgeoned it over and over again.- "Isaac, Isaac!"   I repeated louder to get his attention. Its head was just a gooey black caved-in pulp. I grabbed his shoulder to stop him, he looked back at me and then at the creature.- "Oh god, what did I do?" -"We need to leave, now!"  I pointed into the elevator, it was full of them now. "Let's go!"  I ran ahead. When I got a few meters out I looked back his way, he looked hesitant to move. Then when he did, he had only gotten a few feet out until one of those things made a horizontal leap at him. "Isaac!"  Was all I could yell to warn him, but he didn't react fast enough. It began scratching and hitting him, when It tried to bite him he moved his wrench between himself and his attacker. Several of its teeth broke on impact, spraying him with pieces of tooth and blood.- "Alice, just go! I got this, I'll ugh... catch up with you!"  I didn't want to leave him but there was no way I could help him...so I just ran, I ran as fast and far as I could. The hallways were getting darker and darker as I ran further, till I could barely see what was in front of me.

Did I just leave Isaac to die? Should I have run away? Runaway like a scared child, how could I just leave him behind like that? Should I go back to help him? I haven't seen him in years and I just leave him to those monsters. Slowing down from exhaustion, I stopped by a wall to rest myself. I couldn't even see my hand in front of me, so I turned my flashlight on. It was just a small one on my lab coat's shoulder, its flickering light barely illuminated a few feet in front of me. I was now wandering aimlessly through the blackened corridors, unsure as to where to go. If I came across even one of those things down here, I'd be dead for sure. Unfortunately, there was no god to save me out here, in the middle of space. I walked for who knows how long, the air was feeling stagnant, I hoped the oxygen hadn't been shut off along with most of the power. Further in and I swore I heard something, like a heavy footstep, could one of them be down here? I cautiously stepped further until I walked into something, hard! "Ouch!" - "Whoa, what the?"  I fell to the ground; feeling like I had just walked into a brick wall. I looked up to see a large green figure with glowing white eyes staring down at me. "Hello down there?"