Authors Note: This story is based off a dream (nightmare?) I had last night, that I assume was based off a game trailer that I watched yesterday although it changed and developed into something much more serious and sinister, that reminds me of a story befitting a new tabletop RPG I tried over Thanksgiving weekend called 10 Candles. If you like sci-fi horror, please read on, and enjoy.
When I opened my eyes, I realized I was in some kind of space age conference room. Sterile looking aluminum colored walls, thin metal frame chairs, and a large wooden table inlaid with chrome bits all bolted to seemingly random places. There was carpet though, like a gaudy office carpet of all sorts of mishmash colors, like you’d expect to find in an elementary school library from the 90s.
I couldn’t remember how I got here for a moment then it all hit me at once. There was a shuttle taking people to this space station. They’d take eight or so people up and I got in. There was nothing left for me on earth. I’d lost my job, my girlfriend, all my family lived away and was successful and happy without me. I was ready for something new, but I guess I wasn’t prepared for it, and now I wasn’t excited.
Some passengers experienced this “space sickness” or so they called it. I must’ve passed out on the way up, but now I was sitting in an awfully hard chair in some kind of meeting. A man with dark skin and dreadlocks was standing at the head of the table talking, and the other people around the table seemed to be afraid, but for some reason I couldn’t hear. My ears were ringing and as the ringing dampened, the voices in the room escalated until I could hear they were yelling.
“Now everybody, everyone please remain calm. Station personnel are taking care of the issue and performing a full security sweep. Your rooms will be searched and scanned for any traces of the issue.” Said the man at the front of the table. He was wearing a black suit, with a silver tie, and had a…name-tag? More like a security badge. His name was Georgio Wellman.
“Captain Wellman, with all due respect I don’t want our belongings rifled through by a bunch of space men!” Said a man sitting down the table on the side across from me. He was older, maybe in his sixties with a tuft of grey hair combed over his head, and beside him sat a woman of equal age with shorter curly grey hair who was clinging and pulling on his arm.
“No we don’t! And you keep calling it ‘the issue’, ‘the issue’, what is the issue sir?” She said next.
The rest of the people chimed in with a “yeah” or a “tell us what’s going on” just like you’d expect a mob to. I wondered what was going on. Also, our rooms already had our stuff in them? I thought we’d gotten off the shuttle and come here to this room.
“Now people, please! Let’s keep this civil. I can assure you there are no critical issues at this time, nor can I inform you of what we believe to be the issue and maintain order.”
“Well wh’hat does that mean?” Said a younger man, a couple seats down from me on my side of the table. He was wearing a suit jacket over a pair of overalls, with a classic ten-gallon hat.
“When can we go back to our rooms?” Said the woman sitting next to me. She wore a silver sequin gown, and had her platinum blonde hair all done up with some kind of silver wire? I guess like you’d expect to see hanging around a house with stars in it at Christmastime. She looked like some kind of performer, but in space. Oh right, we were in space now. She said back to our rooms? Had we already been there?
Then, the door behind me slid open and in walked a pair of what I assume were the “station personnel” that Georgio Wellman was talking about. They were wearing chrome colored hazmat suits and were carrying their bulky helmets in one hand, and some kind of futuristic pulse rifle in the other.
“Captain Wellman sir!” They said in tandem with a salute before the one with more bars on his shoulder spoke alone. “We’ve completed the sweep and scan of the guest quarters sir. Nothing out of the ordinary sir.”
“Very good Lieutenant Carver. As I had informed you all, everything is under control, you may return to your quarters as you please. And the rest of the station Lieutenant?”
“We’ve got personnel posted around the station under Code Amber situation terms, guests should be free to move between the dormitories, leisure area, and canteen sir.”
“You all heard the Lieutenant, you’re free to move about those areas of the station as you please, but we do advise you to remain aware, and inform any crew of anything you notice that might be out of the ordinary.”
“I reckon this whole gol’dang thing is out the ordinary.” Said the young man in the large cowboy hat.
“I understand Mr. Brown that this is not what you may have expected for your trip. However, in space there are entirely new, unique, and distinctly non-earthen things that can occur.”
“Like what?” Said the woman in silver, “why don’t you just tell us what the issue might have been?”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that ma’am, but if you’ll take my word for it, it’s nothing you need to concern yourself about. We’ve got everything under control, and your stay will resume it’s peaceful state shortly after all this dies down.”
Resume our stay… How long have we been up here?
“I’ll take your word all the way to the senate Captain.” Said the older man, as he and his apparent wife rose from the table.
“As per usual, you’re free to contact whoever you like on Earth, but you will remember that I’m in charge while we’re up here Mr. Robin.”
“Yeah yeah…” the old man muttered as his wife turned up her nose in the direction of the captain. The two were the first to leave the conference room, and others began to follow.
“Say that was something Ms. Mayview.” I said to the woman in silver next to me as we both got up from our seats. How did I know her name?
“It sure was…oh! Johnny, Johnny Michaels. I’m sorry I knew we had met on the trip up, but I haven’t seen too much of you since then. I suppose it’s only been what, two days before all this business.”
That answered my next question. Two days? Why couldn’t I remember? What have I been doing up here?
“Yes, I suppose I haven’t been enjoying all the space amenities as much as others. I’ve been working on…my book.” That’s right, I’ve been writing.
“Well you simply must come out to see one of my performances. The first singer to perform on a luxury trip to space, Ms. Elise Mayview! I can see a whole chapter in your little book about that! I’m of course willing to do an interview you know, but you must allow me to go freshen up. Ta ta dear.” She waved with her fingertips at me and left the room.
When I looked around, I realized it was only me and the captain left in the room.
“Mr. Michaels? Everything alright?”
“Uh, yes, sorry, just a little disoriented by all this. Captain, I’m afraid I must’ve zoned out during your talk. I’ve had my book on my mind ever since I got here. Would you mind telling me how this issue began?”
“Well, it was just a few hours ago, around 0230 hours, eastern coast Earth time. We had an alarm go off that woke up our guests.”
“Yes, the alarm.” I pretended to remember.
“I myself came to the guest dormitories and escorted you all here, where we’ve been for the past four hours while my crew swept and scanned the ship for any…abnormalities.”
“Do you have any idea what triggered the alarm?”
“My engineers suspect it could’ve simply been an atypical radio wave of a potentially dangerous frequency, but no systems were damaged I assure you. I noticed you were a little absent earlier, perhaps you ought to go back to your room and get some sleep.”
“Yes captain, I think that’s an excellent suggestion.”
“I’ll walk with you. I’ve got to return to the bridge anyway.”
I asked the captain a few more questions about the alarm as we walked. He kept suggesting typical spacey things that could’ve gone wrong. An airlock seal malfunction, radio waves, solar flare. He seemed more nervous than me though, and clearly it was none of the things he suggested. I’m sure anyone in that conference room could’ve determined that something was wrong up here, but no one would tell us what. Luckily, I could at least pretend it was al curiosity for my book, but I think I might’ve been the only one who was so curious. We got back to my dormitory, and the captain left me.
The dormitories were like little capsules. Sliding doors that made the classic “whoosh” sound you’d expect from space doors. Aluminum and metal walls, a large locker, a metal desk and metal chair. Metal bed frame but some kind of space age foam mattress that seemed to call to me as I walked in. I remembered I had sleeping so soundly since coming up here. Perhaps that is why the alarm was so disorienting. As I took steps across my room, I saw my notebook open on the desk. I had been writing. A lot. I came to space and I’ve spent my time, two whole days cooped up in my cabin, writing my book. No wonder I was disoriented. I collapsed into the bed, closed my eyes, and began to wonder about all the things that ‘the issue’ could be. Aliens? Alien ships? An alien ship’s scanner wave? Despite the activity of my imagination, I quickly fell asleep.
I awoke to the loud wwaaAApp wwaaAApp wwaaAApp sound of the alarm system. There were lights high on the wall in little cages that seemed to flash or rotate a serious looking red color. I sat up in my bed, still dressed in my pants and button down from this morning when I dressed to meet everyone.
I could hear the thumping of heavy boots in the corridor and looked out the porthole window in my door. I saw two men in the chrome hazmat suits run down the hall, when the familiar voice of the captain came over the intercom system.
“Stationwide alert, code red. Repeat all station personnel we are at code red. Guests please return to or remain in your rooms and enable the pneumatic locking system from your personal security access panel next to your doors and await further instruction. Repeat guests are to return to, and not to leave their rooms until escorted out by station personnel. Stationwide alert, code red.”
The alarms continued to blare as I got up and in the dim red light went over to the personal security panel the captain spoke about. It was a small pad about a hand length high and wide. There were several options on the screen from climate control, light colors and settings, and…there the door lock options. Sure enough, there was an option for “Pneumatic Door Lock (PDL)” which I tapped to set “ON”. A popup came up asking “Are you sure you want to enable Pneumatic Door Lock (PDL)? This action can only be undone by authorized station personnel.” Something inside me told me I didn’t want to be trapped in my little tin can of a cabin, so I opted for “NO”. Another option came up that was labelled “Enhanced Door Security (EDS)”, and when I tapped that it read “This option will disable GREEN through AMBER security badges from opening your door. Only personnel with a RED security badge will be able to open your door. You may disable this at any time.” That sounded more up my alley, and I tapped “YES”. There was a short beeping sound and I heard some extra locks or something shift around in the door, and I continued to peer out the porthole.
Across the hall, I could see blasts of compressed air escape from the sides of doors to the two rooms I could see. That must be the pneumatic lock, I thought. Before I could think another thought, I heard heavy PSHOO PSHOO PSHOO sounds of what I assumed were those hefty pulse rifles the personnel were carrying. They were coming down the hall from the direction of the conference room on the same deck as the dorms, that we were in earlier. There was a loud ripping sound, like something shredding metal from the same direction.
A moment later, all the lights went out, and the alarms stopped. For a second I held my breath, standing with my nose practically pressed up against the porthole, in the complete darkness. There was a brief hum of some electricity working, and the lights on my security panel came back on. There on the screen, was the image of an envelope that took up the whole screen. Naturally, I tapped on it, and this was the message within.
“Attention all crew and passengers of Space Station Athena: The station is in critical state due to Unidentified Foreign Threat – Eta, henceforth known as UFT-Eta. We believe Eta gained knowledge of our vessel, and/or boarded our vessel during the alarm at 0227 hours earlier today. The time of the writing of this message is now 0432 hours. Our personnel intercepted Eta in the conference room on deck A-1 several minutes ago. Eta escaped into the maintenance crawlspace that runs throughout the station, and could be anywhere. At the moment, we are running on reserve solar power, which should last approximately eight hours. Personnel is advised to proceed to the armory on deck B-2 for a briefing and further instructions from Lieutenant Carver, who is to take command of the station in the event of my being rendered unable to do so. Passengers who have engaged their PDLs, I will be coming through the dormitories shortly to remove your locks, and escort you to the Panic Room on deck A-0. Once secure, we can proceed to the escape pods on the same deck. Please note that the station is currently on lockdown, and any and all doors will not open without the proper security pass. Godspeed ladies and gentlemen. – Captain Georgio Wellman”
I just stood there. I re-read the message a few times, but couldn’t very well believe what I was reading. This was totally some kind of alien, and I didn’t know if I should be freaked out or excited. I packed my things quickly. I had only brought a single duffel bag of clothes, and writing supplies. They told us the station would have everything else we could need. I suppose now I just had to wait for Captain Wellman.
After about fifteen minutes, another message popped up on the security panel. I tapped to open it:
“Mr. Johnny Michaels,
Due to security risk involved, I am unable to proceed beyond the bridge on deck A-2. After a quick security evaluation, I’ve discovered you elected for the EDS instead of the PDL. Normally, I would reprimand someone for such reckless action, but in this case, I must offer you thanks, and I must ask something of you. You must disable the PDLs on the other passengers cabin doors on Deck A-1, and get to the Panic Room on deck A-0, a single deck below you. I am modifying the security clearance information in the chip that manages your security panel to “RED” clearance level. You’ll be able to open all the doors on the station. You’ll also have access to a station blueprint, and all the files in our system. I trust you not to be selfish in your curiosity, and accomplish the task I’ve set forth. When you’re ready, simply tap the eject button in the bottom right of your panel. Godspeed. -Captain Wellman”
No, no, no no no. Why me? Was I the only one who engaged the EDS instead? I tapped around on the security panel, and a whole lot of new information was available to me. Personnel files, passenger files, security information, station status, the whole shebang. There was one other passenger who used the EDS. A Carly McIntyre, age 29, from Three Forks, Montana, and an electrical engineer. She probably had the sense to not use a lock she couldn’t undo instead of my own paranoid reasons, but she could be of help. Her room was on the right side of the hall at the end, right next to the conference room. I think she was sitting across from me during the meeting earlier. I decided I’d go get her first. Besides, the PDLs that engaged on the doors across the hall from mine also sealed the windows with a metal panel, so no one would see me skip them.
“Okay.” I said aloud, as if that was going to help calm my nerves. I was shaking. My hands were vibrating, and for a second there was ringing in my ears. I looked over the map on the panel for a moment, trying to memorize how to get down to the panic room. It was down the hall away from the conference room, then through a junction where left would get me down a set of stairs. From there, it was the first right off the second landing. Second landing? Oh, the first landing had an exit that lead to the maintenance shaft. Where this Eta thing was now running around the station from. Terrific. I tried to force that out of my mind. First right off the second landing, down the hall, first right through a security door, which turns left into a longer hall with another security door, then the panic room is the first left, through another security door. I think at this point all the doors were labeled “Secure Door”. There was a restroom attached to the panic room, as well as a small kitchenette, and another security door that lead through a hallway where we could access the escape pods. Okay. No problem, right?
I listened for a while with my ear to the door to my room. I couldn’t hear much, but there was this quiet thud sound every five seconds or so. It wasn’t getting any louder or quieter so I guessed it was just some piece of machinery on the station. I pressed the eject button the captain had noted, and from the bottom of the panel a small mechanical looking keycard popped out. It was about the size of a hotel room key, but was encased in plastic or something and had connectors at the top where I could plug it into other panels. I assumed. When I hit eject, I heard a similar sound in my door as when I first locked it, and only two options remained on the panel, “OPEN” and “CLOSE”. I tapped open, and my door slid open with the classic “whoosh” sound that had made me smile hours earlier. Now it just made me nervous.
I poked my head out into the hallway and looked both ways. It was so dark, except these tiny white lights along the bottom of the wall on either side, like the guide lights in a movie theater or airplane except smaller. I guess they’re trying to conserve power. I couldn’t see anything at first, although in the tiny bit of light there was, I could see that the door to the conference room was trying to close every five seconds, but something was blocking it. I took a silent deep breath, and started walking as quietly and quickly as I could towards that end of the hall.
Carly’s room was immediately to the right of the conference room door, and as I got closer and my eyes adjusted to the low light, I could see why the conference room door wasn’t able to close. There was a leg in the way, in a chrome suit. It was the guy who was with Lieutenant Carver earlier, and beyond the half shut door, I could see blood soaked into the carpet. Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit I thought to myself over and over, and my curiosity got the better of me. I stepped over the body into the room, and I really, REALLY wished I hadn’t.
The top half of the man was just…torn to shreds. Bits of blood and bone spewed across the floor. I held back my gag reflex, and took note of the pulse rifle that had been dropped. I picked it up, pushed the bottom half of the body into the room and stepped out. The door closed with a satisfying “whoosh”, followed by a sickening squelch at the end. There was blood in the door frame. I swallowed hard, the small amount of bile I had thrown up into my mouth. This was not what I had signed up for.
Rifle in one hand and security chip, card, thing in the other, I turned to Carly’s door, plugged the chip into the bottom of the panel on the outside of the door and was presented with two options “OPEN” and “CLOSE”. I tapped open, and as soon as I heard the “whoosh” something flew out of the darkness and knocked me back, hard. I hit my head on the floor of the hall and everything went dark.
“Shit, shit, I’m sorry, please be okay, come on, please…” I heard, a woman’s voice, as I came to. I saw, ever so faintly illuminated in the hall the face of Carly McIntyre which I had seen on the security panel earlier. “Oh thank goodness, I’m so sorry, are you okay?” She asked.
“Uh, yeah I think so.” I replied, sitting up and rubbing the back of my head, which was still sore, but not bleeding.
“I didn’t know what was going on, and I saw something go into that conference room, and you didn’t announce yourself or anything like I thought the captain would when he came to get us, so when my door opened I…might’ve…thrown my chair at you. Speaking of which what are you doing here? And how did you open my door?”
“Well. I went into the room to see why the door wasn’t closing. That Eta thing ripped a hole into the wall in that room so I thought it would be good to get the door closed. As for the captain, he couldn’t risk the security of the bridge so he sent me a message and gave me the security codes to open everyone’s doors since they put on the pneumatic locks. When I got the security info, I saw you didn’t and that you were an engineer and thought maybe it would be good to let you out first.”
“I could get out though. Like you did. The EDS still lets you open your own door. And what were you doing with this?” she said while holding up the pulse rifle.
“Well, protection I guess… I haven’t even looked at it enough to see if I know how to use it.”
“I think I can figure it out, if you don’t mind. So what now? We get the others and head down to the panic room? Do you know how to get there?”
“Yeah of course, and yes I looked at the ships maps before I left my room. That Eta thing could be anywhere in the ship though so we should…” before I could finish my sentence, there was a mechanical creaking sound somewhere above us.
“Shh. I got it, let’s go.” She whispered. I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t something attractive about a take charge woman holding a futuristic rifle helping me up from the ground, but this was no time for that. We turned across the hall to the room opposite Carly’s. The rooms were staggered a bit, so it wasn’t directly opposite, but you get the idea. I pulled the security card from the panel at her door, and popped it into the slot. The same two options as before came onto the screen, “OPEN” and “CLOSE”. I tapped open, and both Carly and I had to put our hands over our mouths to suppress our gasps.
The room had streaks of blood around it, and was in complete disarray. The chair was toppled, whatever personal belongings were on the desk or in the locker were now strewn about, and the inhabitants where nowhere to be found. We stepped in to look around briefly, and closed the door behind us. I took a second to grab the security card, and plug it in inside the room. The rooms occupants had been Joe and Beth Wright.
“What the shit?” Carly said. “How did Eta get in here?” I looked around. There were no holes ripped in the walls, floor or ceiling for that matter.
“Wait, you’re right. Every room had the PDL engaged except yours and mine….”
“Back off.” She said, aiming the rifle at me.
“Woah woah, w-what are you doing?” I asked, controlling the urge to wet myself.
“If I was this Eta thing, you’d be dead already. Besides why would I help you up?”
“If I were Eta, why would I have come to your room trying to help save you?”
Carly lowered the rifle. “Sorry, guess I’m a little on edge, can you blame me?”
“No, and so I am. So is probably everyone, so let’s get a move on.”
She nodded, and we went along to the next room down the hall, away from the conference room, towards the stairs we’d need to take to get to the panic room. When I popped the security card into the panel, this time it read “Pneumatic Lock System (PLS) is engaged. Are you sure you want to disengage the PLS?”, with options “YES” and “NO”. I hastily tapped yes, and we heard a burst of air expelled from the door frame. It whoosh’d open, and inside were the elderly couple from earlier.
“Wha- Who are you? What’s going on?” The man said. I knew from the file he was Gary Robin, and the woman still clinging to his arm was Margaret.
“The captain can’t make it, he sent us to get everyone out, hurry up get your things.” I said, while Carly stood in the doorway, rifle in hand glancing left and right.
“Why the hell should we go with you?” Gary spat.
“Do you really want to stay here?” whispered Carly loudly from the doorway.
Margaret tugged on her husbands arm and looked at him, terrified.
Gary sighed, “Alright, come on honey.” They rose, and collected a few personal belongings. Meanwhile, I grabbed the security chip and continued down the hall, door to door.
Each encounter with a passenger went similarly, wondering why the captain hadn’t come and us asking what other choice they had. Eventually we had gotten all six remaining passengers into the hallway and headed towards the junction to take us down the stairs to safety. As we got the security door open and people started down the stairs, the door to the conference room at the end of the hall slammed open, and a humanoid shape started running down the hall.
“Wait for meeee!” The man’s voice yelled down the hall, and another humanoid shape emerged from the conference room.
“No!” A woman screamed down the hall at us, and began to run herself.
The other passengers began rushing down the stairs, while the man in the overalls and hat from earlier, who was named Doug Brown, Carly, and I waited behind the small group.
“What’re you doin’, shoot woman!” Doug yelled at Carly.
“But what if they’re passengers?” I said.
“They’re not.” Said Carly, before opening fire. White-blue bursts of energy came out of the rifle and shot down the hallway, illuminating it all to well. Before the first shot impacted the man, we could see he was no man at all. It was as if he had his skin removed, and grew a layer of reddish muscle-tone flesh over it all. His jaw hung open wide separated into four parts, and his fingers resembled large knives more than fingers. When the blast hit the creature, it blackened a large section of its chest, and it lurched to the side, but continued moving forward as more blasts hit it.
“Give me that and go!” I said, grabbing the rifle from Carly.
“But-” she started before I continued to fire at the creatures, although with certainly worse form than she.
“Come on lady!” Doug said, grabbing her arm and pulling her through the doorway. She grabbed the security chip, and raced down the stairs.
I stood, paralyzed, firing down the hall at the two creatures lumbering towards me. Carly’s shots had slowed the man and the woman had caught up. They weren’t men nor women any longer, but strange alien creatures. I closed my eyes and held the trigger.
“We can’t just leave him up there!” Said Carly as she raced down the stairs, being pulled by Doug.
“Well if’n there was anything t’do fer him we would’ve but we’ve gotta go lady! Besides, how’d you know they weren’t passengers?” He shouted back.
“I saw someone, or something go into their room early this morning, I couldn’t sleep anyway, and when Johnny and I looked in there, there was blood and a mess, so I figured they got attacked by this Eta thing, which apparently can turn people into more of it!”
The group of people had assembled outside the door to deck A-0, as indicated by the captains message to everyone. The door was closed and locked.
“Let me through, I’ve got the security key!” Carly said, as people made way for her to plug in the chip and open the door.
“Where do we go?” Someone said. “What do we do?” Another said. “What about that poor man?”
Carly stared down at the panel next to the door, taking note that the shots from above had stopped. She began hastily tapping the pad to get map information and to find out what to do while everyone stood in a moment of silence. “Come on folks, I found the way.” She said, leading the group of five through the door moving the security chip from the outside panel to the inside panel to seal the door once they were through.
As they were filtering through the doorway, a sick metallic creaking sound was heard from the landing above, and the sound of ripping metal. One of the fleshy alien creatures dropped from above atop Doug Brown.
“Shit!” Carly swore again.
“Close it girl!” yelled Gary.
“But Doug-” she started.
“No time!”
Carly reluctantly but quickly tapped the options on the panel to close and seal the door. She could hear Doug’s cries grow quiet as the door closed, until they stopped a moment later. A bladed claw slammed into the porthole window, cracking it, before the enhanced metal locking mechanisms kicked in, and a sheet of space age metal slid over the cracked glass.
“Why didn’t they build the whole damn place out of that stuff?” Carly asked redundantly, as everyone started racing down the hall. “Take that right!” she said urgently to the group, pushing her way through to get the security chip in and out as quickly as she could. “First left…” she said to herself coming to a door and opening it. “Almost there people!” She said glancing behind her to see her group had been reduced to four: herself, Gary and Margaret Robin, and Elise Mayview.
As she opened the door into the panic room, she heard a familiar voice call out, “Wait!” and turned to see a hatch in the floor, in a cutout section of wall on the other side of the corridor open and the face of Johnny Michaels emerge.
“Oh it’s Johnny!” Squealed Elise.
He carried the pulse rifle in his limp right arm which bore a large claw mark, and pulled himself up the ladder with the other.
“What in the hell?” Said Doug.
“But…how?” Said Carly, motioning for the others to go into the panic room, and helping Johnny in.
“The second one of those things? Slashed my arm but ran right by me, I thought it was going to get you guys. I managed to shoot that first one down and I knew from looking at the map earlier that there was an entrance to the maintenance shafts from the first landing you guys passed on the stairs. I ducked in there after the second creature ripped open the floor and leapt down. From there it was a crouched run and ladders to get me over here. Rifle is dead though.” Johnny said, handing the weapon to Carly.
“There should be a charging cell somewhere in here.” She said looking around, and finding a place to pull the pulse battery off the rifle and place it into the slot. “Who knows how long that’ll take, especially with the place running off emergency power.”
“The captain said the personnel were s’posed to go to the armory on the deck beneath us right? Could you get a fresh cell there?” Asked Doug, plopping himself and Margaret down on the couch in the room.
The panic room was like an executive lounge. Carpeted floors, with wooden cabinets, coffee table, and non-metal lounge chairs. The walls were the same aluminum colored material that lined the whole station, but for all intents and purposes this panic room was more comfortable looking than even the dormitories. There was even a standing floor lamp that finally gave a comfortable amount of illumination to the station.
“We could…” said Johnny.
“But those things!” Shouted Carly. “They got Doug…”
“Ah, so that’s who I heard.”
“Yeah.”
Everyone sat in silence for a moment. Then the silence was broken by the sound of rending metal.
SKRRRREEEAAAKHHH.
The sound came from the left side of the panic room, and the five survivors watched the wall in horror as the tips of blade like claws could be seen probing against the wall, like fingers beneath thin rolled pasta.
Elise screamed loudly, causing everyone to wince, “What kind of panic room is this?!” She shrieked.
“The escape pods are that way,” Johnny said, motioning to a door in the far right corner of the room, “go, go!”
Gary and Margaret were the first to the door, though it would not open. Carly tossed the security chip to Gary who dropped it clumsily, picked it up in a haste, and began to tap the screen to open the door.
The claws ripped through the metal and began pulling it apart. Three flesh covered faces, with unhinged and separated jaws each lined with their own row of teeth pushed their way through the opening and growled and hissed at the few people left in the room.
Elise screamed once again, and fell to the ground in a faint. Carly and Johnny ran over to start pulling her towards the door, when they saw Gary pop his head out, “We need this damn chip for everything!” he said, pulling the security chip and leaving the door to hallway where the escape pods were open.
The creatures ripped and shoved their way nearly into the room.
“Come on!” Said Johnny, “Just leave her!” he said pulling Carly away from Elise’s limp body.
“No!” Carly shouted as she was pulled away, as the creatures emerged from the tear in the wall and leapt over to Elise.
As Carly and Johnny ran into the adjoining hallway, large clear windows flanked the left side, and they could see escape pods jutting out from the station. Down the hall, Gary waved and tossed the security chip, which slid across the floor towards the pair of remaining survivors. A few seconds later, the two could see an escape pod rocket away from the station. Carly glanced over her shoulder to see the three figures coming through the door after them.
“Wait, I thought you said you killed one?” She said, as Johnny stopped in his tracks, one foot over the security chip. Carly reached down to try to pull it up. “We have to go! What are you doing?”
Just then, she felt a set of cold, sharp claws pierce her lower back, and a warm hiss on her neck. The creature lifted her up to a standing position, from where Johnny took her chin in his hand. The flesh on his face began to peel back, revealing an expressionless, fleshy visage, with a split jaw and rows of sharp, black teeth.
“You’ll understand everything soon.” He whispered.
