I headed to the armory. I needed to get a weapon if something was on the ship with me. We had a medium size armory, enough for a small battalion of around 100 people in case something else happened to be in the system. We never expected it of course but it never hurt to be safe. I went down to the second deck from the Research Center. Another Security checkpoint here led to the armory. All the doors on the ship that required security access had the same 3-5-3 time to open and close. It was dark on the checkpoint itself, power was probably routed to the research center above to keep the specimens alive.
I used my friend’s code to open the door and walked in. This would have been a gun nuts heaven. A standard MP15 was used for any purpose. It was a pretty light weapon and could be used for most applications. The magazines with it though, were heavy. They were hyper dense and turned into the selected ammo on the MP when necessary. They housed depending on use, 200 rounds of 5.56 or 10 minutes of fuel for the built in flamethrower. I grabbed one MP15 and a simple service pistol, older but reliable. I got a flashlight attachment for the pistol and three clips. For the MP15 I got one magazine due to how heavy they were. Just in case I had to deal with close quarters, I brought a combat knife.
I heard something behind me and turned around. It sounded like a light step. Like someone was trying to sneak towards me. I aimed my Pistol looking for an intruder but didn’t see anyone. I didn’t have the same dreadful feeling as before so could have been my imagination this time. Going through these dark areas in the light of a flash light seems to have made me a little paranoid. The foreign entity still worried me though.
I went back to the research center closing the armory behind me. I stopped for a moment to let my eyes adjust to the light difference. I headed towards the Security Checkpoint trying to steel myself for what may be in the Atrium.
“HEY!”
I nearly shit myself. I aimed my gun towards the sound ready to fire on whoever just yelled at me. Someone was running towards me from the entrance to the glass hallway.
“Thank god someone else is awake. I’ve been looking around trying to find anyone.” He was about 5’9” with brown short hair. He looked like he hardly hit the gym, skinny but little muscle. “I couldn’t connect to the mainframe and don’t have the code to get into the bridge. I saw you as I was heading back to see if anyone was awake in the cryopods.” He was wearing a similar uniform to mine but was yellow with a white stripe. Each of the uniforms designated a specific division that the crew member worked for. Maroon for Electrical, Blue for Operations, White for medical, Brown for Engineering, and Yellow for the network and AI. I was hopeful having him here. It would help a lot if I have an AI tech here.
“I’m Yuri Chekov, Computer Specialist, You?”
“James Colin, Electrician Specialist.”
“What’s going on?” He was a little fidgety. He still had a green film on him as well. Did he take a shower?
“There is an issue going on right now. You are the first person I’ve met since I woke up and that was 3 hours ago. I’ve been in the bridge and checked the Captains terminal. Apparently someone or something is on board with us. I don’t know what is going on but I really need your help.” I stood next to him looking at the door thinking something was going to burst through.
“I’ll happily join you, anything is better than being alone honestly.” He was a little shaky about how he said it but he knew it would be better to stick together through all of this.
“Let’s go to the armory, I just came from there but can get you a weapon.” I was walking towards it now when he grabbed my shoulder.
“That won’t be necessary. I’m not too good with weapons, I’m better with computers. If we can get to my workshop I can get my equipment.” I wish he would at least take a pistol but he doesn’t seem like he would budge. He accepted taking my knife at least.
“Where did you come through?” I was a little confused as to where he came from if he didn’t go through the Atrium or the workshops.
“I came from the lower decks. A maintenance shaft from the lower cryo station led up to here.” That sounds about right. I’ve been in the tunnels myself getting trouble tickets completed or using my “work” to get quick access to other space without having to go around or use the Security checkpoints. After seeing the hole in the grate at the bridge, I was surprised he didn’t see anything crawling through the tunnels with him.
“We’ll, let’s keep moving. The sooner we get to my shop, the sooner I can get access to the mainframe and see the system status. I’ll be able to take control of the cameras on the ship and possibly pilot some scout ships from it.” He was a nerd at heart. Not surprised being that most the Computer Techs were scouted from multiple defense networks.
“Ok, let’s go. Stay behind me and we have to be quiet as possible. I saw something just before the door closed. I don’t what it is but I don’t want to run into or see it again.” I opened the door and we stepped through. It took a moment for our eyes to adjust to the spotty red lights but we were able to see soon enough. Going down the hall I followed where he said to go and eventually made it to his shop. He opened the door.
It was dark and cool with racks of equipment everywhere. They never kept anything clean it seems.
“Can you hand me a flashlight?” I threw him one and he went over to the personal lockers. It took him a moment with him mumbling to open his locker. He had a simple computer. Turning it on to show me, it was heavily modified. “If you take me to the security room, I can get access to the cameras without the password. Think we can do that?”
“Yup, let’s go.” The security room was located on the opposite side of the Research center from the armory. If we got there, Yuri could find out what is going on exactly.
We left his shop and headed towards the Security checkpoint. We moved slow and quiet. I had that feeling of something watching me, I couldn’t tell from where though. The feeling went away instantly. Seconds later we heard running. A naked man went sprinting down the hallway in front of us. He was screaming wildly. He stopped in the middle of the hall between us and the checkpoint. Neither of us said a word, we stayed absolutely silent.
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He turned around and stared at us for a moment. We didn’t know if he could see us in the dark or not.
“RAH.” He started sprinting towards us with his hands out. Yuri fell to the ground as I pushed the man out of the way. He started crawling towards Yuri and looked like he was about to bite his leg. I shot him twice with the service pistol and he fell limp.
“What the fuck was that? I didn’t expect someone to charge at me like that.” He was clearly shocked from the experience. I didn’t mention that the man was trying to eat him.
I shined a light on the man’s face and saw blood and saliva coming from his mouth. His eyes were bloodshot with blood caking his chest. We may have not been the first he went after. I didn’t recognize who it was. He looked like a passenger but I wasn’t sure. His hands were chaffed as if he was tied up. So many questions popped up from this one man.
We quickly headed towards the security check point and went through the door. Just like last time I focused on behind us with the light staring down the hall. Nothing appeared this time and I was truly glad for it. Neither of us had much to say after what happened, we were both still shocked from what happened. It was the first time I’ve killed someone, I never knew what taking someone’s life felt like, nor did I want too. Yet it happened. I killed a man in cold blood with this pistol. I had to sit down to get my bearings straight. This isn’t something that could easily be shaken off. I need to get over it though. It may not be the last time either. We went to the Security room to find the lock broken. Opening the door, we saw all but one screen broken. We had no idea what was on that screen. All we saw was a weird symbol. Shining my light around, I saw a dead body in the corner with blood coming from the vent above, the vent looked like it was clawed open. We quickly exited realizing we weren’t really safe anywhere. We decided it would be better to try and head to a spot to hold up in.
I started calling on all channels and frequencies trying to get ahold of anyone in this section of the ship. No one was answering. All I could get was a weird popping noise on the lower frequencies. We decided to search through the lower decks and see if we could find any survivors that wouldn’t kill us or any provisions like food. To get to the lower decks, we have to take the stairway next to the glass hallway. It gives access to either two of the lower decks or one deck above towards the upper levels of the Atrium/Work centers. The lower decks we wanted to head too. The next deck down had the Cafeteria, passenger cabins, and lounge area. It also had all the showers and such for the passengers and them only. It wasn’t much different from ours but we liked to take pride in the fact ours were cleaner. The level below that housed the crew cabins and showers as well as the radar equipment room. It was also one of four points of access down into the Engineering/AI spaces as well as the Hanger bay. First stop was the Cafeteria.
We head down into the lounge area. It was dark down here as well. From what I remember, it had multiple pool tables in the far left corner. The door to the Cafeteria was on the far right. Shining the light around, the area looked unrecognizable. Everything was all over the place. Broken chairs and some blood on the objects as well. That was in our immediate area alone. We decided it would be best to go through separately since many of the tables and chairs were broken up all over the place. I went through the right side of the wreckage scanning with my light looking for any signs of bodies or survivors. It was generally clean near my area. I couldn’t see anything besides the broken chairs and occasional blood on objects.
“Ah shit!” Yuri was yelling from the other side of the room, so much for being quiet. “I Cut my arm.”
“Should’ve been paying attention, now be quiet. We are almost to the cafeteria.” We got together at the door. Yuri’s arm had a small scratch on it. He has probably been jumpy like this since waking up.
We stopped at the double doors and looked through the windows. It was dark inside. Not even the emergency lighting was working. A foul smell was coming from inside as well. I flashed my light through the window and saw some tables and chairs flipped over in the middle of the Cafeteria. I couldn’t see where the smell was coming from.
We walked through the doors heading towards the kitchen. The smell was getting worse. Walking through we saw what looked like a dead animal, one of the dogs onboard mangled and twisted in the corner of the kitchen. It looked maybe a week old. Multiple bite marks were on the body of the animal. This may have been what the man was feeding on. In the freezers, we found multiple dead bodies inside, a medic and two passengers. It was a standard walk in freezer and once closed, could not be opened from the inside.
“Poor bastards.” Yuri whispered.
“Let’s get out of here. We can head to the passenger cabins.” We could look through and see if anyone else is awake.
“Let’s get something to eat at least before we move. I’m starving.” He was right. We both have not eaten since waking up and needed something to give us energy. “I’m thinking a hamburger sounds really nice. Ill cook up something. What would you like?”
“I’ll do a burger as well. Thanks.” I moved the dead animal into the freezer and locked the door up. The smell slowly dissipated and was replaced by the sweet aroma of cooking seasoned meat. I wonder what he put into it. The stoves had two lines to it, an electric and a Gas powered in case a power issue did happen. The gas came at a very small rate compared to standard gas stoves to reduce the chance for an explosion or it lighting. I preferred gas anyways, gave it a way better and much more natural taste. We were soon sitting at one of the tables with a flashlight lighting up are little area. We moved a table into the kitchen so we were in a more secure area. We were still unsure what was out there and did not want it sneaking up on us in a large open area. The kitchen was much safer two doors in and out. A wide double door that led to the cafeteria and another leading to passageway that led to the lounge on the right side once you entered from said double doors. We moved some counters to block the doors while we ate. We may have been paranoid but did not want to risk it.
“What did you put in this? It’s tasty!” This was heaven after being asleep for so long.
“I looked through the spices and found Cajun spice to put on the burger. The bun is a rice bun, it soaks up some of the grease and spices from the burger. The Swiss cheese makes it even better.” He was definitely proud of his creation. He deserved to be too. “What should we do now?” I wish I could have another but we needed to get some work done. “I say we continue looking for survivors. It can’t just be us awake on the ship. We could wake up some others if we have too.”
“We can look for others but we can’t wake the sleepers. We seem to have taken it pretty easy of what’s going on around us but I’m not so sure about others.” We will have to look through the passenger cabins to see if anyone is awake. Most the passengers would go to their cabin’s to rest after waking up.
“After we look though lets head to our cabins and get our personal gear. I would prefer to wear regular clothing instead of this jump suit.” He was right about that. As comfortable as these were, our regular clothing would feel so much better and familiar. I did want to get some personal supplies as well. I hoped I would be able to find my wife as well. She was one of the passengers and I hope she is still alive. We finished our food and prepared for the next step in our journey.