U.S.S.A Alice

Chapter 13 I'm sorry Alice

It wasn't what Metis said that unsettled me the most, it was more how she said it that made me want to jump out of my skin as if she was too frightened to tell us what these "Anomalies" are. I would rather not press her on what they are right now, I'm much more concerned with finding a way to Lilith's location and getting her out safely. "So what's the best route to get us to the A.I. core?"  She didn't answer for a few seconds, her hologram glitching faintly for a moment.- "That would be to take the maglev on the eastern section of the deck then take it to deck 26 then I'll give further instructions from there. I can protect you with the defense turrets until you reach the maglev, then it will be up to you to defend yourselves afterward, now I'll need more time to evaluate the threats onboard."  I turned around to address everyone.- "Well you heard her, let's get a move on."  I could see the apprehension on everyone as I said that, hell, I felt it myself.- "Well it doesn't seem like we have much of a choice, I'm in."  Lola said confidently. - "Screw it, I don't want to die alone in this place anyway."  Tobey looked at Tyson waiting for his answer.- "Shit,  I'd rather find a way off this ghost ship, we should go for the escape pods while we still can."  Lola looked at him with disbelief at what he said. - "Sir...Tyson you know that's horseshit. we can't leave anyone here if we can help it, we have to find survivors, then we can leave the Umbra."  

Metis hologram reappeared.- "One thing I should have mentioned now that Tyson brought up escape pods, 90% of all escape pods were sealed or destroyed during the surge. I am working as best as I can to find a safe way off the Umbra for all of you, but I am working with limited or damaged scanners so it will take some time."  -  "So we're all in agreement?"  I asked trying to hide as much of my nervousness as I could, the staring glowing white eyes on their visors didn't help. - "Okay fine since I respect you not wanting to leave a colleague behind, but if she's dead when we get there, we're getting in a pod and we are not coming back."  He said while sounding very matter-of-factly. - "That's all I can ask for, from all of you."  I could barely contain how happy I was to hear that they would help save Lilith, although I bet my big dumb grin gave it away. Tyson seemed to notice the strange way he was looking at me then looked away. We exited security central and went on our way to Deck 26 via the maglev. I looked back and wished to never go back to that horrible place.

the dark blue halls were eerily quiet despite there being hundreds of them not even an hour ago.  "Um hey guys, where are all the bodies? Like there had to be dozens or more of them just in this hall, there isn't even any blood on the ground. shouldn't the turrets have pasted them?"  Tobey asked confused.- "You'd think so, I'm not even surprised anymore with all the weird shit I've seen these things do. One moment they'll be chasing you down and when you look back they'll be poof, gone, I feel like I'm in a fucked up haunted house."  Lola said, obviously disturbed by what she's seen. Everyone was in a protective formation around me as we walked through the hallways, with Tobey to my right, Lola to my left, and Tyson leading us; it felt strange to be significant enough to be worth protecting. We all got inside the elevator safe and sound, Lola hit the button to take us up to Deck 26. 

A creepy jingle played over the sound system, and the sound of the instruments began to screech then preceded to become more and more distorted, tunes overlapping with each other. I quickly covered my ears, but I could still hear it inside my head, I felt the urge to crush my head and make it stop. I swear I could even hear a warped voice speaking to me, I couldn't make out what It said at all, I just wanted it to stop. "Oh hell no! I'm not dealing with this bullshit."  Tyson stated, then preceded to smash the tiny speakers that lined the inside of the cabin with his rifle, there were so many of them, too many all blaring at once. Everyone seemed to be toughing it out and here I was without any hearing protection. The music sent Tyson into a rage, all 6'11 of him just moving around and smashing all of them, he was able to shove Tobey out of the way almost effortlessly. Lola pulled me close behind her to get me out of his way, I'd never seen him like this, he seemed lost in his rage to stop the unspeakably awful music. The doors opened just as he smashed the last one, Lola pushed me out, and the last of the music faded from my ears as I fell to the ground. -"Calm down man, it's alright."  Tobey said trying to calm him down. Tyson hunched over to catch his breath. -"Jesus, his heart is beating faster than a jackhammer, what the hell was that music?"  Lola said staring right at him, I wonder If she could see his heartbeat. - "I have no fucking idea, I just never want to hear it again."  Tyson managed to gasp out before he caught his breath.