IV.

Piety was greeted by a frigid gust of air as she tiptoed over the twists of creeping flesh that grew across the door frame. She took a deep breath of fresh morning air as she walked out under the dimming stars above. It felt good to be out in the open again, if only for the moment. She couldn’t let herself get comfortable, not again, not where the demon had grabbed her in the first place. “Come on,” she said with a coaxing hand. “Just be careful not to step on the… stuff.”

Sophia stepped over the pulsing mass of flesh out into the dawning world beyond. For a moment, she stood there, staring skyward as if she had never seen the stars before, her mouth agape in wonder. Piety gently pulled on her hand, and said, “We’ll have plenty of time to stargaze when we’re out of here.”

“It’s different,” Sophia would say softly, “than from looking out the window. I’ve never seen the stars from below before.”

“We’ll have plenty of time to stargaze when we’re out of here,” Piety urged with a tug of her hand. Sophia must have been born on the ship, she thought, one of the First Seeds second generations. It was a strange thought, that she might be as alien to the earth as the demon was. To experience everything for the first time, must be harrowing. “Stay close,” Piety continued, “and step where I step.”

Sophia did as she was told, and Piety could feel that strange warmth flood her body as she neared. Piety shook her head to clear it. They were in no situation to get distracted by butterflies. The pair continued on, tiptoeing over the fleshy tendrils as they made their way to the elevator shaft. Once there, Piety paused for a moment, Reverence’s words spawning fresh in her mind – a warning. She decided to try and reach out. “Reverence, come in,” Piety said, thumb on her radio. “Can you hear me?” Her only reply was a wall of impenetrable static. Piety looked back over her shoulder. There was no going back.

Piety let go of Sophia’s hand and motioned for her to follow. “Be careful, alright?” she told her as she lowered herself down into the shaft. “It’s a long way down.” Piety searched for the ladder with her foot and finding it she pulled herself over to it. She looked down into the voidic darkness and sighed before saying, “Alright, follow me. We’re almost out. Just a few stories below and a hop and skip through the habitation deck and we’re golden.”

The descent was done in silence, one Piety couldn’t help but break halfway down. “So, got any hobbies?” Piety asked casually. “What did you guys do here?”

“My mind is a little foggy,” Sophia admitted softly, but would try to answer anyways, saying, “We spent a lot of time preparing to help the earth. Every day we’d study what we needed to have a good life down here. Agriculture, history, all of it.”

“So, you guys were planning on coming back?” Piety pressed with a huff. “That’s a first. Most people would jump on the chance to get the hell away from this place. I know I would.”

“We never forgot earth, our home,” Sophia answered, a level of pride in her voice. “We were going to make things right again.”

“I guess saving the world doesn’t leave much time for hobbies,” commented Piety with a click of her tongue.

“I like to read,” Sophia offered meekly. “And play with the dogs.”

“Play with dogs, and not run from them?” Piety questioned with another huff. “You guys really did live up in the clouds, didn’t you? Must have been nice, to be far away from all this, to be safe – or well, not safe, because here we are. But you get what I mean.”

For a few moments more they just climbed in silence with Piety kicking herself for showing her jealousy in her words. Now she had gone and offended her new companion. But then Sophia would speak, saying softly, “It wasn’t always peaceful… We had enemies, people who want the world to stay how it is, who profit from the suffering. They sent the demon to attack us, to bring down our ship. We fought, but…” Sophia struggled to find the words, “but we weren’t strong enough. After everything, all our training, we couldn’t stop one demon! Even with her holy flame lighting the way.”

“Her holy flame?” Piety echoed in question, but before Sophia could answer, there came a loud resounding bang from above and the scraping of claws against steel.

Piety dreaded looking up, she already knew what it would be, that the demon had found them at last, but she would anyways. She could see it in the sliver of moonlight cutting through the doors above, staring down with shimmering eyes – predator’s eyes, glimmering in the darkness. “Found you,” the demon said in childish singsong as its lithe body craned out over the shaft. From what Piety could see, it was a strange thing, a mess of lashing vines attached to a barrel-like torso, with a starfish for a face. On the end of each arm was an eyeball that darted wildly. Midway through its stumpy body grew two long and gnarled arms, with spider-like hands attached to both. It was nauseating to see and smelled even worse.

“Slide now, hurry!” Piety exclaimed, dropping several rungs down. “Quick now!” Sophia did as she was told without question, sliding down the ladder after her. The demon set off, throwing itself into the elevator shaft in a whirlwind of lashing vines and groping claws. “Fuck-fuck-fuck!” Piety cursed, unsure of whether they were close, or past their exit. But then she seen it, the top of the elevator and the hatch wide open. “Hurry, we’re almost there!”

Piety slid off the last rung onto the roof, hitting it with a loud bang. “Hurry – hurry!” she hollered, urging Sophia to her side. Practically pulling her from the ladder, Piety helped her onto the roof. “Down here – quick!” Sophia threw her legs over the emergency hatch’s lip and slid down inside.

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“Wait,” the demon called after them, “don’t go out there! I’ll give you good dreams this time.”

“Fuck you!” Piety answered, flipping the bird as she jumped down into the elevator after Sophia before slamming the door shut.

They could hear the demon strike the roof with a heavy thud before fumbling with the latch. There was no way it was going to stall it for long. The two fled the elevator into the hall beyond, not stopping to look behind them as they heard the door being wrenched off its hinges. “Reverence! Rev, we need extract, RIGHT NOW!” Piety yelled into her radio, unsure whether he could hear them yet or not. “Rev, send the damn drone!”

Piety slammed up against the far wall in her mad dash for safety. They were right there, the gnashes in the hull, all they had to do was squeeze through. “Go-go-go!” she urged her companion with a coaxing wave of her hand. The demon was nearly on them now, filling the hallway in lashing vines as it threw itself down upon them. “What about you?!” Exclaimed Sophia, the worry in her voice giving rise to that warm fluttery feeling again.

“I’ll be right behind you!” promised Piety as she pushed her ahead. Sophia followed directions without another word, ducking into the crevice and out to the other side, hopefully to safety. Piety followed suit, pushing herself into the crevice hard enough to crack her goggles. Damaged goods beat demon food any day. She would just have Rev repair them when she escaped – if she escaped.

Right behind her, a wall of fleshy feelers burst in after her, each groping and grasping for her to pull her back into its clutches. Piety kicked and screamed as the demon’s arms wrapped around her legs. Quickly she drew her knife and started slashing. Green ichorous blood sprayed everywhere as she cut through the multitude of arms. The demon wailed and retreated into the shadows, leaving an emerald stain where it had been. Finally, Piety pushed through to the other side, falling out onto the glassed ground heaving.

“And here is pest number two,” said a voice she didn’t recognize, “alive and well.” Piety looked up wide-eyed. They were surrounded, guns trained on them both. Piety quickly motioned for Sophia to get behind her. She reached for her pistol but remembered that she had lost it when the demon’s weird-field overtook her. Instead, she raised her knife, cutting the air fiercely. “I don’t know who the fuck you are, but you better back off!” She threatened, a threat that had seemingly no effect on their captors.

The owner of the voice would only laugh dryly and step forward anyways. He was a tall man as pale as death with solid black eyes that pierced her dangerous guise like tissue paper. “And if we don’t, little bee, will you sting me?” he asked amusedly with a wicked, black-lipped smirk upon his face. He wasn’t the least bit afraid of her. Piety lunged at him, swiping the air with the blade, “Back off!” She snapped, “It’s not a day to test me, I fucking swear!”

“Oh, I believe you,” the man said, sliding a hand over a bald scalp before whistling. “I believe your threat is genuine, that you’d gut me if given the chance. Choices, choices. I could just let my guard fire upon you, I guess – cut out the middleman. We don’t have to talk…” He’d raise a hand, and his surrounding guards would step forward. They weren’t like any merchant guards Piety had ever seen, all wearing thick mechanical armor that made them look more like robots than people.

“You… You want to talk?” Piety questioned nervously, not seeing any real way out of the situation. She shot quick glances back to Sophia. She just stared back doe-eyed, not sure what was going on. “Fine,” Piety said at last, dropping her knife, “We can talk.”

“Good, good!” The man said with a broad smile, clapping his hands together. With a curt wave of his hand the surrounding guards would step back and lower their weapons. “I like talking things through. It’s so much better than the alternative – torture – ha!” The man would chuckle to himself and shake his head. “Let’s keep our hands clean, shall we? Sound good?”

Piety nodded slowly. He wanted to know who told her about the hidden entrance, she thought to herself, betting she had scalped his claim. Piety stood up straight, trying to make herself seem less pressed against the wall than she was. “What do you want to know?”

“Who told you about the girl?” the man would ask surprisingly. “That dipsy thing behind you. Who told you about her?”

Sophia? He wanted to know about Sophia? Piety knit her brows in confusion before saying honestly, “No one. She was trapped the same as I was, by the demon.” The man eyed her silently for a moment before saying with a sharp click of his tongue. “You have no psychic abilities, no magicks… So how did you resist my gallu – the demon?” He said with a wave of his hand. “How did you survive when all others perished?”

“I… I don’t know,” Piety answered truthfully, “I just woke up. I could hear her calling for help.” How had she survived, she wondered. She had that dream, and then she could hear her voice, her desperate pleas for help. Piety could feel Sophia behind her, placing her hand on her back. With it that wonderful warmth filled her body, radiating out from her touch. It was almost enough to give her hope of surviving this.

The man tilted his head as if he could see the feeling she was experiencing. He narrowed his eyes. “You’re not the first, you know, that he’s sent.” he’d state darkly. “Though, I think you already know that already. It seems like every week we’re up here cleaning up his mess.”

“I – I don’t know who you’re talking about. No one sent me,” Piety pleaded. “We got word of some salvage – an easy way to get inside to make a quick buck under the merchant lords’ noses. That’s all, I swear.”

“Right, I’m sure of it,” the man would say with a smile. “I believe you. Fools are the currency of the Misborn, after all. And you seem plenty foolish. I told them that it was only a matter of time before one of his darts hit the mark – I told them!” He’d glance over his shoulder to his guards, saying, “Didn’t I tell them? I did! And. Here. We. Are.”

“Right…” Piety would utter softly under her breath. “What now?”

“Now?” the figure echoed before seemingly mulling it over for a moment. “Well, we talked, so that leaves only one thing.” He raised his hand, and at his command his guards stepped forward, guns at the ready. Piety quickly raised her hands in defense, exclaiming desperately, “Woah-woah-woah, wait! Wait! I told you the truth! No one sent me!”

“You did, and I believe you!” The man told her with a hapless shrug. “We have to kill you anyways. I’m sorry, but it’s for the greater good. You’re… infected, and we can’t have you spreading it around. You understand, right?”

“The fuck I do!” Piety hollered, balling her fists as if she could fight her way out. She stood tall in front of Sophia, protecting her with her body. The guards trained their weapons on her and the man raised his hand high in the air, ready to drop death down upon them.

That was when she seen it in the corner of her vision, the feed to Reverence’s drone flicker to life. It was a sky view of them all, growing closer and closer by the second. “Extraction in progress,” a solemn voice alerted from her radio.

“Get down!” Piety cried out, turning around to shield Sophia from the impact. The drone fell like a meteor, crashing in between the surrounding guards in a fiery explosion that filled the air with a cloud of smoke and debris. “Go-go-go!” urged Piety, pulling Sophia off the ground, “Run! RUN!”