Tweet jarred awake as Vicki stood in the doorway.

“Well look who’s back? Tired of suckin on big blue and needed a little red meat in your diet?” he chuckled.

“You enjoy this, don’t you?”

“I take what I can get, and learn to enjoy it. I could teach you how. But I guess just fuck me up and leave me to heal as usual, huh, princess?”

“We’re gonna play a different game this time.” She said placing down two pistols on the bed.

“Kinky.”

“You get a one minute head start. The moment you leave that cell, I start counting.”

“You just gonna arm me and let me loose on the ship?” He questioned. “Feels like a trick if I ever saw one.”

“The crew is offworld, and the robot can access the ships systems remotely. You can't get into Zhoren’s cell and Dee is safe in there with him, probably for a long time after what we discussed. So it’s just you and me, and a shuttle you don’t have security codes to get into. There’s not a lot you can do loose on the ship except run and hide, fight back a little, and get caught. I want something to chase.”

“What if I don’t wanna run?”

“Then I just drag you out and shoot you and say you tried to escape. So… you like games? Grab the guns and run, I’ll see you soon.”

“Gun's ain't loaded.” He smirked.

“Oh yes they are. I’m a hunter. I’m sick of goats tied to a post served up for me. Make it fun for me, and I’ll make it fun for you later.” She smirked.

“Well, you’re gonna fuck me up either way, at least this way I get to fight back a little. See you soon little red.” He said while winking and grabbing the guns.

“See you soon, too.” She said, beginning to count slowly.

...

The group slowly trudged along, reloading and swapping to fresh magazines. Nicole pouted adorably with her arms crossed.

“Hey, cheer up. We won for once. We’re usually outmatched for literally every unknown threat. We wiped the desert floor with those things.”

“I’m sad.” She muttered. “I’m sad because you made me shoot cats.”

“Bit of a stretch to even call that a cat, more of a vaguely feline resembling skin mite adapted to burrowing."

“Well, I had to shoot animals, and I'm upset now.”

“The sun going down seems to have calmed them. The few left burrowed under as soon as the light began shifting from white to blue.” Vinn noted. “Hopefully that's not because something worse that eats them comes out at night.” He said, stepping into a wet spot and looking uncomfortable. “Guys, the ground is getting gooier as we go.”

Little pastel blue paint volcanoes bubbled and dripped as the group walked through the layer of dust grey and sand colored dust and into the few inches of goop below it to harder packed ground. The glooping sound of digestive percolation served as the only music for their journey. The smaller mushrooms became larger and denser as they neared what they thought was a forest from the fly-by. The trees were all either mushrooms or rocks jutting out of the swampy marsh. Thick fog wafted from the woods as nightfall approached and the temperature dropped. They reached a small creek, or a slow flowing river of viscous bubbling goo. It was a swirl or burgundy and green that didn’t seem to blend together.

“Gotta be a good place to cross.” Gizzy sighed, looking up as a thunderous rumble shook the ground and snow began to fall.

...

Rushing in unison to evade the piercing wind and snow, the group made their way to a shorter area of canopy where the mushrooms overlapped enough to provide some cover. Nicole stopped short as Gizzy let out a hellish blast of machinegun fire. A screeching cry roared from the human-sized maggot taking cover near the tree.

“Uh, we may want to weigh our options.” Gizzy said. The group noticed the writhing blue tentacles and flatworms big enough to carry someone off.

“Jack, how cold are you?” She yelled back.

“Pretty cold.”

“Well, if Jack is cold, I’m cold too, I just don’t feel it. Vinn, you’re good I assume?”

“Overall? Yeah.”

“Well, nobody seems to wanna go in there, and out there the storm is getting worse. Jack, it’s your call. If anyone freezes to death first it’s gonna be you.”

“Well, if we go in there we may all die, so I guess fuck me. There’s gotta be shelter somewhere past this.” He shrugged.

“Alright. Vinn you block the wind, Jack, stay in the middle, move fast.” She ordered. They pushed on into the wall of snow, the tan dunes now stark white with a blue lighting hue and the two dark purple mounds eclipsing the setting sun looking like the best options of literally 2 options. The hills opened up, revealing themselves to be hollow except for some suspicious steps that led downwards. The sharp corners of the stone, covered in frost and moss, descended to support pillars and several flights of wide stone stairs, like a subway system. The carved stone pillars and steps were slick with a combination of melting snow and the light blue goo the overhead life was secreting. They followed the stairs down to a much warmer area, saturated like a flooding street in a big city during a thunderstorm. The rush of water draining fairly well and only an inch or two of standing viscous blue foamy water stood anywhere.

“Oh wow.” Nicole marveled. The warm glow of something orange cast a green glare on an entire underground city, blue light from above and snow still flowing in through open skylights blending with the harsh light. The streets seemed to maintain an intentional 3-4 inches of watery goo, but the level never seemed to rise above that. Past thick flowing waterfalls and drips of falling ice they approached the orange glow of a building corner. The sharp 90 degree chiseled side was supported by one pillar, flat inside and naturally jagged on the other, leading into a square room with an orange and red warmth to the light. They climbed the steps and entered what looked like a slotted perimeter for glass walls that no longer existed. Strands of insect silk and glowing pods hung from the ceiling, as well as some stalactites. In the center was the source of the warm glow, emerging 3 manhole sized openings in the thick stone floor where far below, molten lava flowed freely.

“Volcanic heating, or natural disaster?” Nicole pondered out loud.

“Who cares, it’s warm.” Jack shivered, exploring the area. “Oh, it gets nicer, folks.” He said. They headed upstairs to a living area, abandoned but oddly modern. A combination of natural flowing rock and abruptly flat polished surfaces and corners accented a room with large round windows, a good 4 inches thick and rippled, as well as a skylight still filled with the intended glass.

“This is newer than the rest of the city.” Gizzy noted. “That city looked ancient, while this looks recently renovated, only abandoned for years, rather than decades or centuries. Hell, they got a coffee table, a fireplace, and I think this is a couch of some kind, rotted down to the stone frame.”

“Why is everything flooded slightly?” Jack asked, sloshing through about an in of water and admiring the 10-12 foot round viewing window aquarium leading into an illuminated ice cave. “Is there a leak?”

“I think it’s intentional.” Nicole said, noticing that the water was perfectly still and just to the edge of the central pad of mossy grass, a strange, black, soft glass, almost like a manicured lawn form of decorative throw rug.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

“Who the hell wants a house with wet floors?”

“Menace.” Gizzy shrugged. "She would love this.”

“I kinda love this.” Nicole said, removing her boots and stepping barefoot into the cold water. “Hey, for a cold reptile, this is a luxury feature, not a problem.”

“Nicole, why are you playing in the water? Are you doing that thing you do where you hear the water speaking or whatever, because you have no idea what’s in that water."

“Doesn’t remind you of anything?” She asked, kneeling down and touching it, smelling the thick water.

“Snail slime?” Gizzy said sniffing the air to try and decode it. “Does this entire planet just secrete this slime?” She asked while scanning a sample and noticing a similar composition. "I wonder if this is where they originally came from. Actually, I wonder if this is why the Sil-Ken claimed it. This whole world may literally just be a giant drug manufacturing farm.”

“Well we may as well get cozy, scans show the storm is huge and not letting up.” Jack noted, “Jack to Medusa, we’re staying the night it seems. Anyone copy?”

“Dee to Jack, that weather looks pretty bad down there. You guys need an Evac?”

“No, you wouldn’t be able to see shit and there’s no good landing spots for about 2 miles around here. We found a nice little cave that used to be a fairly bustling city. Volcanic heat, shelter, nothing but a few silkworms and a plumbing choice I don’t agree with. We’ll be fine. Kinda wish Vicki was here. It’s oddly almost romantic. The cyan glow, the flooded ice caves behind glass walls, it’s like an arctic hotel someone abandoned. You put a flat screen TV and kitchen in here, and people would pay to stay.” He said. “How is Vicki?” He added.

“She’s been avoiding me, actually. Staying in her room. Taking lots of pictures.”

“I could almost see myself living here.” Nicole sighed, feeling the weird tingle of the water absorbing into her feet. The same snail slime high, just diluted a dozen times. She wandered up one of the stairwells as Vinn followed.

...

Tweet smiled, twirling his guns like he was in an old western movie as footsteps approached. He popped up and fired beside her, putting a burn mark on the wall.

“Whoo girl, you really did give me live ammo. Someone is downright risky.”

“Good thing you can’t shoot for shit.” She said firing back.

“Oh, that was just a warning shot. Little foreplay, little love bites if you know what that’s like. But you go right for the neck. I like this new game, even if it ends the same as the old one," he said, popping up and placing a round right in her shoulder. She ducked for cover. Snarling at the pain even if they were energy rounds and not grenades. She patted the wound, shallow but tacky with blood.

“You still can’t shoot, you barely clipped me.” She taunted.

“I want you hurtin not dead, girly. A dead you means they probably kill my ass. A wounded you means you just get a little mean with me. We both gotta be alive when this is over, to heal up and play again.”

“Oh, but that’s the problem.” She said eye going red. “I have big blue on the menu, so you’re just wasted space. Out of your cell with a loaded gun, nobody would say a thing if I defended myself and killed you right here.”

“So you let me for one last hoorah, death by shootout? Sneaky little bitch. Okay, then I guess I die either way.” He smirked. “Then fuck your game.” He said popping up and firing both guns, hitting her in the face, the rounds impacting an invisible barrier between her flesh and the beams. The shimmer of a silver mask appeared as the cloaking deactivated. His smile faded to worry.

“You really would have just shot me in the face?” She said, lifting a remote and deactivating his guns. He clicked the triggers as she peeled the mask off, sticking to her face a little like it didn’t wanna let go. “Well, that’s no way to treat a lady.” She said rushing him and pinning him to the metal beam, pounding his teeth to shards with a series of wild punches and clawing his good eye for insult. She clamped her nails into the back of his neck, dragging him to Ricardo’s tank and opening the lid. She shoved his face in and felt him struggle and scream as a frightened Ricardo swatted his blue tentacles at the panicking man. She pulled him out as he gasped.

“Does drowning scare you more or the monster in the water?” She asked, plunging him back in as he clawed the plastic tank for his life. She yanked him out again as he spit water, blood and broken profanity. “You like to burn little kids, don’t you?" She said while dragging him to the workshop bench and slapping his cuff to the table leg as he pulled on the bolted down floor mounts. The puff of a cutting torch igniting and dialing in turned his head.

“I’ve never killed anyone like that. You seem to find it very entertaining. I guess you’ve inspired me to try new things.” She said as the workshop filled with blood curdling screams of pain and the sizzling of flesh.

...

Gizzy drifted to sleep on the smooth stone in front of the unused fireplace as Jack prepped himself a futuristic MRE and drank hot cocoa by the ice cave aquarium wall.

Nicole sat naked, water raining in on her head in a little 5x5 cutout cube with rounded corners, her legs submerged in the bath and sitting in about 3inches of the water. She bathed in the liquid like it was a luxury shower, staring out at the snowy city through one of the glass sides, the other facing the room Vinn was relaxing in. She felt oddly at home, naked in alien water, covered in 50 degree melted rain and thickener, her hair twisted up in a loose bun with a single tie. She wiped the gel over one of her tattoos, watching it shimmer.

“You seem like you almost belong here.”

“I don’t know where I belong, Vinn.”

“With me, on our ship… preferably not saving the universe with everything trying to kill us but maybe just… traveling.”

“I mean my people. I know my human heritage well, but I know nothing about my Menacodian side. Do we have a world somewhere? Would I even see it as home or would it be too alien for me? I wonder about that sometimes. Some place cold and dark, flooded caves, bugs and fish swimming around.” She said while reaching out slowly and scooping up one of the little glow-worms and letting it glide across her hand, turning and switching hands so that it went nowhere.

“Hey don’t feel bad. I’ve never been the Delmarian homeworld. I hear it sucks. They ruined it. forests and wildlife all burned out, industrialized to make weaponry and ships. It’s basically a factory now, so toxic that even we can’t live there without health problems. And we can breathe shit that kills humans in minutes. Maybe it’s gone, or changed, or maybe it’s nothing like you imagine. Something awful that you wouldn’t wanna live on. You’re more human than Menacodian you know?” He said as she turned and smiled, her eyes jet black and adjusted to dark mode.

“You know my fingernails get more grey as I age? They grow slower now. It’s like they’re slowly turning to slate.”

“Hey, Menacodians don’t have hair, be thankful you’re not totally bald.”

“Would you love me if I went bald?” She asked.

“Honey, compared to Delmarian women you kind of are bald.”

"I don’t mind the grey in my nails, or the grey I’m getting in my hair, but I would like to still have hair. Guess that would give me an excuse to wear more cosplay wigs, hu?”

“Different wife every night, different crazy roleplay, like having a harem but they’re all still you. Sounds pretty great. But I’ll turn grey long before you do.

"You may never reach old age, just stop at mature and stay there, but I’ll be a grampa-lookin bastard in 15 years.”

“Please don’t remind me that I’ll probably outlive you a dozen times over.” She said, looking sad.

“Well, we can just keep cloning me back when I get too geriatric. You get to be my arm candy and I can be the old fart with the hot young wife over and over, and just keep passing you up like a running joke.”

“I’d like that.” Nicole smiled. "Forever and ever. We just keep repeating it, new places new homes, new life. Never have to die. Sounds great. Anywhere we wanna go and no death, no suffering.” She said snuggling close.

...

Vicki wiped her mouth that was dripping with blood as she plopped the largest chunk in the Styrofoam cooler, snacking on a little piece of meat as she rearranged it to fit the other pieces, the area painted red and filled with the smell of overcooked meat and burnt bone. She rolled her eyes back, growling with primal satisfaction as he fangs retracted and she smiled with a sadistic pleasure.

“Was it good for you?” She asked the cooler. “Did you enjoy that session, asshole?” She chuckled. Dee sat on the edge of the table with a devilish grin.

“Feels powerful, doesn’t it?” She asked. “Satisfying, more than just a meal? Tastes like justice and freedom at the same time?”

“It just tastes right.” Vicki sighed.

“And who has the right to deprive you of this? One less child murdering arsonist, minimal mess given the brutality, that deep satisfying fullness you can't get from Vinn or big blue. Imagine a world like Amenthis, full of the worst criminals in the universe that all just a waste of oxygen and supplies, like a buffet nobody would miss.”

“Jack will never go back to where he came from. That’s his own personal hell.” She sighed.

“He was a boy, alone, scared. He’s a man now, a killer like his father, a ruling bloodline if you will, and you are no longer a weak human liability. You could be an empress, ruling that world with Jack as your right hand of power. A never ending regenerating supply of food, satisfaction and power, no rules, no Gizzy holding you down, and nothing stopping you. A goddess of your own personal hell. Jack already said he’s follow you to the gates of hell and back, Vinn and Nicole won’t stop you, and you could just put them in a cell and let them go with their ship when you get there. We could rule down there, and the only one who is stopping that is Gizzy and her damn superstitions. We could handle her together, couldn’t we?”

“She did save my life. She did save Jack’s life.”

“But she’s holding his soul hostage and doing the same to you. Haven’t you both done enough? Nothing is enough for her. We just need a few little toys hidden on this ship, and she wouldn’t be in no place to even object. Spare her life of you want. Put her soul in Amenthis and let her be the slave for a little while. It’s what she did to you and Jack. Spare a life, own you like a dog. Sit, stay. Good Vicki. Return the favor.”

“I don’t know where all the artifacts are hidden. She coded them, gave some to Nicole to hide from her I assume, maybe even Jack. I’ll find them. We were just fine without her protection, I’ll protect us now.” Vicki said, looking up and noticing Dee already gone. “We’re going to be free Jack. Just hang on a little longer baby.” She smiled, eyes still bright red, silver mask in hand, blowtorch in the other. “I promise.”