The Arrivals shuttle was near empty. Just Lillian, a quiet doctor who was looking out a window, and a couple assistants loudly bragging about what jobs they might end up with. She quiet adjusted her ID as the shuttle came in to dock.
There was a rumble as the shuttle connected to the station, and Lillian frowned as she heard the magnetic clamps engaging. Something just seemed wrong.
With a concussive bang, she was proven right. The explosion blew a great gaping hole where the doctor had been looking out his window. Lillian screamed soundlessly as the air vanished in an instant, and she frantically started putting on her internals kit. The two assistants had already unbuckled from their seats, and were long gone. Lost to the depths of space. Lillian looked around, feeling the icy fingers of space wrapping tightly around her even through her SmartCloth jumpsuit.
She closed her eyes tightly, and waited until the last wisp of air was sucked into the depths of space, then she gently unbuckled her restraints. She felt her core temperature dropping, and she moved forwards into the station. An emergency shutter was sealed before her, and she frantically swiped her ID across it's scanner, but she was denied. Lillian felt panic welling up within her, not knowing what to do if she couldn't make it into an atmosphere soon.
The shutter grated open a tiny bit, then a crowbar forced it's way into the gap. Lillian grabbed one end, and pulled, forcing the shutter open. An ERT Security member stood before her, in full Hardened Space Suit and armed to the teeth. Without a word, he grabbed Lillian's wrist, and dragged her through the hall. He passed through a couple doors, and finally turned, letting Lillian come to rest.
Lillian took off her mask, and asked, "What the fuck?"
The ERT man shrugged, and said, "I don't know. Someone bombed half the station. There's still subsidiary explosions going off, and the Station's structural integrity is questionable at best. We're going to escape. You think you can make it?"
Lillian nodded, and pulled her mask back on.
---
They crow barred through the final shutter, five people filing into the Escape Wing. Three ERT, two Security and one Medical, Lillian, and the Chief Medical Officer Marcus. The Shuttle had already arrived, and it's doors were open invitingly. Lillian shined her flashlight around the darkened hall, unknowingly saving her own life as she looked for another survivor. She turned and walked onto the shuttle, where the first ERT Security member was leaning against a wall. She tapped his shoulder, and he fell back, convulsing. She could see his helmet was already full of vomit. Lillian looked up, horrified, to see the other two ERT members laying on the floor in similar conditions. The Medical ERT man pointed one finger towards the Sleeper Section of the shuttle, and Lillian backed away. She entered the Cargo section of the shuttle, hoping she hadn't been noticed, but she saw Marcus coming through the doors.
Lillian didn't stop to talk or beg. She ran. She ran into the darkened escape wing, and tossed her PDA when Marcus fired a laser past her. She held totally still in the dark, her breath bated. She listened, and heard Marcus walking. He was close. She jumped, and heard Emergency shutters close. Lillian half-gasped, half-sobbed in terror, and started running down the Escape Wing hallway.
The first shot took her in the knee. She fell to the ground, her leg a carbonized mess of ruined flesh. Lillian bit back a scream, and tried to roll out of the light reflecting out of the EVA windows. Three more shots flashed, lighting the area up each time. The first missed, but Lillian ran out of room, and rolled into a corner, her back literally against the wall.
Lillian took two laser bolts to the chest. She felt her flesh melt and run under the concentrated concussive heat of the laser. It stole her breath, and her strength. The wounds were lethal, and she could hardly see in the dark.
Marcus's Hardsuit helmet lights kicked on, and the charnel hallway was suddenly lit up. Lillian looked over to see a dessicated corpse, not three feet away, in Scientist's clothing. Marcus walked slowly to Lillian, pulling his helmet off slowly.
Lillian sat up against the wall, and tried not to sob. "Marcus...?"
Marcus stood over her now, intimidating and imposing, a laser gun in one hand, the other pulling off his helmet.
He dropped to Lillian's level, and she considered bashing him in the face with something, but she couldn't even lift her hands. Marcus smiled at her, and gently put his hands around her throat. Lillian said, "Please, Marcus. Please no..."
His eyes flashed in the poor lighting, changing color for a moment. Reflecting light like a cat. "Oh Lillian. What you don't understand is that I'm not Marcus." His throat distended and an invisible seam opened.
Out of the seam came a three foot long proboscis, tipped with a wicked barb. Lillian looked at it blankly in horror, and said, "Marcus... Please just fucking sho-"
He jabbed it viciously into her throat. Her last words died in a gurgle, but Lillian didn't die quickly. She felt all her blood being sucked into that horrifying proboscis. Her whole body was going numb... She felt like falling asleep...
She weakly tried to bat him away, but Marcus curbed the movement as one might stop a child from striking something. A moment later, and all that was left was Marcus, gently re-snapping his helmet on, and checking the charge on his laser.
Or rather, the creature that looked like Marcus.
Author
Topic: Space Station 13: Urist McStation (Read 2160216 times)