Guy had willfully lagged behind his two companions on their wild journey down the many twisting corridors of Sitalii. As soon as he had broken open the bulb, the walls had come alive - the entire station had come alive with inhumane screams, distant howls and the unmistakable tapping of something moving against the metal grating. Something running.

Guy spun his head to look over his shoulder as he reached the end of the corridor and for the first time, he saw the horrific monstrosities; creatures defying all logic and reason - beasts that had no business walking, let alone running.

They appeared like mockery of the human form - skeletal faces twisted, mangled and skinless. The craniums peering out from between the haphazardly formed muscle was crooked as if in a perpetual state of melting. To solve the conundrum of the placement of its central nervous system, the lifeform had seen it fit to tip the skull with a white-gray mass of solid tissue; tissue that might’ve easily been mistaken for hair had it not been for the extended tendrils.

The tendrils… the tendrils were so eerily reminiscent of wiring, snaking along the bone and bared, writhing muscles before branching off to form myoneural synapses to innervate the twitching flesh.

The bipedal forms’ skinless bodies were highly mobile - capable of lunging, leaping and slashing long, bone-tipped fingers, nearly succeeding in toppling Guy over at one point as they grabbed hold of his hair. But a kick to its chest - a kick to be proud of, had sent the monstrosity reeling backwards into its fellow beasts, buying him two precious seconds to key the door shut.

They made quick work of the doors. Despite their shambling bodies and despite the light weight, they had such strength - such inhuman power to the twitching muscles that they easily deformed and broke through the doors; crushing their bodies to fit through slits no appendage had any business fitting through.

To dodge the incoming flood of monsters, they had to divert from their route and soon found themselves running into compartments clad in the monstrous, undulating masses. They ran through suspended plexuses of vessels, spraying themselves and the interior of the hull by popping arteries and veins; veins that should’ve been buried beneath skin, rather than metallic hull plating. But they moved like a team - a team guided by an invisible extension of Guy’s knowledge of the station. In fact, it was something he would stop to consider whenever he closed a panel; how he would silently plot their desired path, only for Luna to make every right decision at the forefront of their procession.

Inevitably, their journey led to a room with a lesser density of the red horrors - one more sparse, less interesting to the life-form that had claimed Sitalii. It looked about the same as the control room of Sitabee, but with a vital difference of having three doors leading out of the chamber. As he had begun to suspect, now that he needed to plot their course, Luna’s frantic running ceased. Guy leapt over to the Throne - a metal sink-in chair far fresher, far more conditioned than the one currently seating Mars over in Sitabee. There, he tore up the display and began to fiddle with the digital map, ignoring Menta’s stumbling words and questions. “What the fuck is that!? What are those - h-how are they alive? T-those people… it’s… it’s like it’s farming them…”

Luna stood choking back retches in the corner, her eyes wet with tears. But Guy - her rock and ground was focused on the screen, as if unbothered by the scene. As if he had seen it all before. As he continued to mutely key, he spoke:

“They’re the Monstrum… those are the things that forced us down here - the ones we’ve been hiding from.” Menta’s lips began to quiver, his eyes likewise teared up.

“Then let’s get the fuck out of here! They’ll catch us and hang us up in… in those things! Come on - please hurry the fuck up!”

Again, Guy ignored him - he simply kept keying and spoke to Luna when he next opened his mouth. “The Commander’s set detonation charges around the station. I’m setting the hull to decompress… when it blows, water will come in here with the force of the pressure outside.” There it was again - that darkness to his remaining eye. The one she had seen in the kelp, that murderous madness; the hatred. Whatever experience he had with those beasts, it was clear by his frown that he needed to do this.

“More importantly, we need to make sure they don’t reach Sitabee. You two get out - I’ll need to set a timer. I need to see how long it takes for you to get out, can you do that?” He directed the question calmly at Luna.

Somehow, this sudden shift in his mood affected her, too. Their conversations - those long nights of post-coital bliss began to make more sense to her than ever. This terror - the disgusting mass that had claimed the only station within a reachable distance had forced them away from the open skies; from a world without rebreathers and sharks… a world without fear. Without starvation and without the oppressive hulls.

“We can do it, if you promise to follow right behind us.” He glanced towards the porthole, and gave the directions for their journey before rising from the chair to nod at her.

The two stepped closer, he put his hands atop her shoulders. Even through the suit, she felt so small - so supple. The girl that had been so scared a moment before now reflected his hatred for their oppressors, from the thing that wouldn’t think twice about forcing them even deeper. Those red irises looked to him with a profound understanding - a connection that surpassed distance, that had survived the trials of famine, poison, conspiracy; pretty much everything the world had thrown at them. What could some monsters do?

He grabbed the dark bun atop her hair and brought her closer - touching their lips together as he had so many times before, sharing that spark of that connection again.

“I’ll find you as soon as I’m done here. Now that we’ve got the core, we can take back our freedom. We can go up there.” She could not stifle a smile, even in the face of what should’ve been their certain death.

The clanging resumed again, meaning the monsters were catching up to them. Menta and Luna could hear it echo through the corridors as they sprinted back to their arrival-hall, following Guy’s directions to the letter.

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“It’s right through here.” Luna pointed to a familiar, oval bulkhead, lined on either side with strewn-about, abandoned metal scrap that promised that an abrupt fate had met the poor scavenger of the past. Menta’s large form turned back in Guy’s direction ponderously. He lowered his brow, twitched the corners of his lip into a frown and extended the square metal box towards his companion. She looked to the gesture with confusion and awaited his answer.

“Take it. I’m a big guy, I’ll go help him out. Get suited up, get out and give us the signal. We’ll be right there.” She rolled her eyes and scoffed.

“This isn’t the time to be macho, Menta. Let’s get the fuck out of here - we’re wasting time!” But Menta remained stalwart.

Time was of the essence - every second they dawdled meant Guy would lose two. Therefore, she let the dumb fuck be and promptly turned to depart through the bulkhead, disappearing into the corridor leading into the hall.

Guy waited, staring out the porthole with a calm that impressed even him. The monsters were coming closer, clawing and pounding their way through the doors one-by-one. By the sound of it, they were still a distance away, but by long they’d be upon him… those wretched beasts… those disgusting masses.

Again, his head threatened to split at the unprovoked, unexpected pain as the cowardly presence began to quiver with terror. For the first time since he had awoken, he spoke to it - he accepted that it existed.

“You son of a bitch - when we get out of here, it’s time you answer some damn questions. What’s the point of showing me images? You know something - you knew they were here. Funny how you decided to make me cut my eye out, but you didn’t show me this.” His fists were tight enough to pain him. He was nauseous with fury, not at the thing - not directly… but because the very things now trying to claim his life had stolen so much from him. From them. From her. It was a rage that had come from nowhere, but simmered at the back of his mind, only worsened by the terror of the sniveling presence inside of him.

When he finally saw the lights outside, he keyed for the activation of the countdown - setting the charges while decompressing the hull. Powerful whirrs sounded from all over the station, applying the last of the battery power to push the air out through the numerous vents. He rose from the seat and hurriedly began his sprint after his companions.

When the door leading into the final corridor had closed behind him, he looked into the distant bulkhead to see Menta’s large form block the doorway, his face contorted into a grim grimace. The tall brute had aged two decades, his brow low and angered.

“You should’ve just died from the fish. This is your fault!” Guy’s feet stopped dead as he heard what appeared to be a confession. Outside of their trio - Guy, Luna and Mars, that information had never been made public. It was a step that had taken in order to keep the murmurs of his alien nature to a minimum - to dissuade the populace from further milling on rumors.

Menta seemed almost pained as he next spoke: “She’ll be safer without you. Everyone will be…” He slammed the bulkhead shut, its well-oiled levers smoothly sliding the locks into place as the wheel turned. Then, the brute grabbed a piece of scrap from the floor and jammed it into the mechanism, blocking any motion.

Guy could scarcely believe what he had witnessed. Was the man who had cost him his eyes and nearly killed Luna… Menta? Had he just locked him inside - thrown him to those beasts?

“No… No…” Guy muttered, continuing his sprint until he reached the end of the hall. There, he grabbed hold of the wheel and attempted to turn it, only to feel it was stuck in place. It moved not an inch, not a millimeter, despite his best efforts.

“No! Menta, you fuck! Open the door!” He hung his weight on the ancient mechanism. It felt so cold against his skin, as if all life - all function had already abandoned it, never to move again… never to let him pass. It was a useless venture, struggling against metal that had kept the pressure at bay for thousands of years.

The depressurization collapsed plates of distant cantons - loud bangs and crackles echoed through the station. But nothing was as loud as the gargling screams, the fleshy thuds slamming against the door down the corridor.

He fell to his knees, stricken with a sudden hopelessness. The presence had been correct - this was his death. There could be no escape from the nightmarish creatures slamming their way towards him; even if there was… he’d be back in a world where people killed people. He was hated and feared with intensity to rival that with which he now feared his death. And what was his crime? Attempting to save them? Interacting with machines? All he wanted to do was live - to create a stable atmosphere and to feed the ones he cared about… her.

He could see her when he closed his eyes, he could feel her there - floating in the air, watching Menta swim towards her. Watching him grab her and boost his craft, dragging her struggling body along. At least she’d be safe - safe in the world Guy had prepared for her. That he had bettered for her.

Safe in captivity.

Safe in the oppression of the depths.

Scared of the monsters in the dark.

He harbored no love for the Logoruum. His heart did not beat for them - if it ever did, it was only with rage. The same rage with which he hated the Monstrum; the ones who would now see to it he’d never see her again. When he rose from his kneel, he demanded from the presence: “whatever you are - angelic power or just my own insanity, we’re in this together. The rest of this god-forsaken world may be trembling in fear, but it’s time for it to end. I’m not afraid of them.

The presence’s dark fright lessened. It was still weary, but it seemed to share in his determination and their common understanding that this was it. This was how they’d meet their end.

He moved instinctively. He opened the zipper of his envirosuit and immediately felt his skin bubble with decompression - gaseous things threatening to clog his vasculature. The presence grew more intense; palpable. Like a blanket covering his body just beneath the skin, soothing his foaming blood. Tendrils like the ones that riddled the station bored through his flesh - tearing apart his muscles to form tight junctions with his bones.

His blind eye could see again - see from a writhing, black bead, so hungry for the tendons of his aggressors. He tore off the bandage and felt his wings - the horrific, bloody things that Luna had spoken of so long ago. They ripped apart the skin of his back; bony growths of flesh and gore, each tipped with a razor-sharp point.

This was his gift - his curse. Long ago, he had received Logo’s kiss, just as he had fed it to Luna. It was up to her now to bring it onwards. To free them from the oppressors.

They broke through the door, but he was prepared. The metal barriers deformed and tore open, only for the foul freakish growths to be penetrated and eviscerated by lances of sharp bone and muscle spurting from his back. He felt stronger than ever as he grabbed hold of them and crushed heads against the hull - ignoring their bites, their scratches and their clawing.

One thrust its sharp fingertips into his stomach, tearing off a wide strip of skin, only to receive a punishing spike to its head. His own roar of fury echoed through the entire station; awakening the sleepers in the distance in time for them to feel the reverberations of explosions.

Stilts buckled, cantons imploded as the hull’s integrity failed. Thousands upon thousands of kilo’s worth of pressure flooded in - cutting cleanly through the demonic spawn.

Luna screamed into her rebreather as she saw the shockwaves ripple outwards across the dunes, raising dust and hewing rocks in every direction. The waters themselves shook in the aftermath of the bright-white flashes, sending them both tumbling through the waters; back towards their distant home.