Candice didn't bother to follow Fenton when he ran away.
She was more focused on getting a chance to eat during the chaos and was upset that her meal had been ruined. It took ages to shake loose Harmonia, her partner, and now she had to help people, and work.
The nerve.
As a true leader, she knew she could outsource her work. She stared at the fingerless arm on the floor, and it started to shiver.
"Don't be lazy," she barked.
It got up and mumbled a strange noise, even though there was no mouth present. Bored and already used to violence, Candice bent down to the corpse and carefully pulled out an eye, careful not to damage it.
"Come," she commanded.
The fingerless arm dragged itself over to her and she placed the dismembered eye on the top of its hand. The eye sunk into it, skin growing over, and eyelids took place, protecting it.
The hand could now see, and Candice could see whatever it could see.
"Find me the boy," she instructed. "Then find me the others."
It grumbled a strange noise, and then went off to do its job, skittering through the halls. Candice coughed up a fingernail and grimaced.
"I hate these things," she said. “Always don't digest all the way."
She spat it to the floor and glanced at the corpse on the floor.
"Must be some use for you," she mumbled.
She moved over, to give it room to move, and it groggily sat up, as if it just had a long nap instead of dying in a hallway only a few minutes earlier. It yawned and looked around, taking in its surroundings.
"Don't be lazy," Candice barked. "I don't like laziness."
"I am so sorry," the corpse said. "Please give me some time."
It took some time for him to stand up, and once he got his footing, he smiled, with his one eye, one arm, and bloody swimwear. "Find the fools on this ship who ruined my vacation," Candice hissed.
"Bring me back a hand as well."
He set off, first slowly, but after a while, he went into a full jog, unrestrained, now that he had no limitations of a beating heart to slow him down.
Candice was only worried about Ace dying. Something about him had changed, and now, she could finally keep his power, all for herself. She could sense it, it was weak but pure. No sacrifice would be needed to use Ace's new power, and with it, she could be unstoppable.
She walked off to find him and stumbled. She took off her heels, upset that they were now useless and bloody, and continued on her way
Santos was confused.
Santos sat in Rikka's suite, watching television, after he patrolled the empty hallways, and abandoned his partner, Gabriel. Gabriel wasn’t that upset to see him go. Santos wasn’t putting in any effort because everything was going to repeat anyway. They had already been on the SS Andromeda 285 times, and the 286th time had made it lose its charm.
Santos scratched his butt, lay on the couch, and watched a show where people had to finish a song while stung by bees.
David glared at Santos, upset that he had to put up incompetency and now laziness.
He did not trust Santos with his smarminess and tattoos, and now he had his feet on the coffee table.
The nerve.
"Go help them," David shouted.
"Reality TV is wonderful," Santos exclaimed. "These people will harm themselves for very little sums of money! Fantastic!"
"What about this is fantastic!?"
"None of this matters. This has repeated so many times," Santos explained.
"What!?"
"I already tried telling that short kid, Fenton, last week, because he felt like something weird was going on. Nothing important is supposed to happen on this trip anyway. We've been here 286 times."
"You're crazy. If nothing important is happening, then why is the ship under attack?"
Santos sat up and paused his show and gave it some thought while David left the living room to find Rikka, his one and only priority.
He had never experienced a hostage situation on the ship in the thousands of times the past three months had repeated.
His thin disguise as part of Team 57 wasn't very well-maintained.
He never took his job seriously as Levi's bodyguard and wasn’t trying to pretend he was younger than his true age. Santos was older than all the ages combined of any group of people inside one room, but that did not mean he was mature by any means.
His mild concern quickly left once he overheard shouting from the other room as Rikka and David got into an argument about whether to stay or go.
She pouted, sitting on her bed, upset that her birthday was ruined, her small show on the SS Andromeda was cancelled, that people were dying, and that she couldn't even help.
"Rikka, they haven't come back yet, and I'm worried," David shouted. "I think you should risk using the rosary."
"If we were back on Earth of course, but I'm afraid I would blow a hole in this ship. We'd all die instantly!"
“Well, we’re not staying!”
He left the room, but he wasn't going to do anything to help them. He was going to drag Rikka off the ship and leave everyone else to die. David had no reason to worry about anyone else.
He started packing a backpack and checked his gun. Santos noticed and was curious.
"You leaving," he grunted.
"Yes, you stupid fuck, you should leave too if you care about your life."
"I can't die," Santos scoffed.
David made a shrill noise in exasperation and quickly went to the minifridge, packing snacks and drinks for the trip home.
"You're insane," David shouted. "Each and every one of you is insane!"
Suddenly Ace popped into the room and David screamed.
"What the hell," David shouted.
"Sorry!"
"Where is everyone," David asked. "Why are you the only one who returned?"
Ace shrugged.
"I thought everyone would be back by now, but no one is," he said. "Something is wrong."
"No shit!"
He struggled to close the large bag filled with food and necessities and started to put his anger and frustration into it.
"I think we have to get them," Ace said. "We should call the base as well for help."
"You can look for the others and call for help," David said. "I'm taking Rikka with me. You can all die in vain."
David finally closed the heavy backpack and went to go get her from her bedroom. More shouts could be heard from the other room as their argument became even more heated.
"I'm not going," she shrieked. "Levi could be dead! I want him to come with us!"
"He is not my problem," David shouted. "Don't die for that bastard!"
Santos listened and then suddenly remembered he had to protect Levi.
He promised Levi's grandfather, many years ago, that he would protect his descendants, and in turn his family would protect his own. A dead Levi would break a century old pact and mildly impact his weekly tv schedule.
He couldn’t risk that this was the one time that the three months didn’t repeat because they were so different.
"Let me come with you," Santos sighed. "I forgot about Levi."
"Why are you worried about him, he's the strongest one of us all," Ace asked.
Santos snickered. "No, he's not. He's weak shit. All of you just believe whatever you're told."
Ace didn't believe him.
"You don't have to believe me, no one ever believes anything I say anyway", he sighed. "But we should definitely go. He'll probably be one of the first to die."
Santos got up from the couch and quickly put on his boots.
"Where was the last place you were at," Ace asked. "I can take you there."
Suddenly, Rikka ran into the living room and grabbed Ace.
"I'm not going," she screamed. "I want to see Levi!"
"Rikka, we're going home," David pleaded. "Please, I care about you. He would never do the same for you."
"Don't say that" she screamed. "I hate you!"
"I'll come," he pleaded. "Please Rikka. Don't go off by yourself."
"Fine. We're not leaving without him, got it?"
"Yes," David grumbled.
David agreed and was waiting for the right moment to drag her off to the escape pods since it was just the two of them.
"Hold onto me," Ace instructed. “Put your hand on my shoulder.”
Santos looked at him strangely but did it anyway. In the blink of an eye, they all stood in a hallway, blood on the floor and walls.
"Oh my God," Rikka whispered. "Oh, what the hell is this?"
"This isn't a game Rikka," David hissed. "Let's go!"
"No," she shouted. "I want Levi first!"
"Stop shouting," Santos said. "We can find Levi and leave."
"I'm not leaving without Fenton and Candice," Ace said.
"Fine, you can die with the others," Santos replied.
"Follow me," Ace huffed. "Fenton went this way."
They followed him down the halls, but Fenton was nowhere to be seen.
"This is a waste of time," David grumbled. "Let's go already."
Rikka smacked his arm and Santos snickered.
They continued through the halls, coming across more bodies. Rikka shrieked when she saw the horror on the floor.
"It's an arm! It has an eye," she shrieked. "An eye!"
They all jumped back, terrified that she was right. It skittered across the floor, its singular eye looking up at them, taking them all in.
"Don't panic," Ace shouted. "It's Candice's!"
"Doesn't matter, kill it," Santos grunted. He went right up to it and stepped on it, but he missed, and it ran behind Ace.
He screamed, but no matter where he went it followed him.
"It has a crush on you," Santos jeered. "Give it a kiss."
"Fuck you," Ace shouted. "This is disgusting!"
The arm grabbed onto his leg, and he screamed again, louder and shaking his leg. It quickly let go, as it was hard to grab onto anything with only a thumb. David took out his gun and shot it, emptying an entire round into it. It lay there, dead for the last time. They all waited for it to move, but it didn’t, and they quickly left, not wanting to see another Eldritch horror.
Further down the hallway, Ace heard someone running. They all turned and saw Candice, running, right at them, shoeless and with blood on her face, hands, and feet.
David raised his gun to shoot.
"Don't shoot, she's not dangerous," Ace yelled.
David didn't believe him. She had an intense gaze, like a predator as she ran towards them, and every part of his body was telling him that danger was straight ahead.
He held his gun straight forward and decided to wait until she approached them. She ran right up to Ace and hugged him.
"I was worried", she said. Candice sighed into his chest and held onto him tight.
David finally lowered his gun, but he still stared at her, still feeling like he was standing next to a lion instead of a small woman. There was blood all over her, yet she wasn't panicking. David saw right through her acting, but Ace didn't.
In fact, everyone was distrustful of Candice. Ace was the only person there who wasn't afraid or uncomfortable around her. He was too oblivious, never noticing things that most people did. He even used the bottom of his shirt to rub the blood off her mouth, never thinking about why it was there.
All their issues had evaporated away like water, and soon it would pour back down like rain.
"You should have called me," he murmured, playing with her long hair. "Don't run off on your own."
"I'm sorry," she said.
Rikka made a loud cough and interrupted their personal moment.
"We have to find Levi," Rikka repeated. "Stop flirting."
"No, we don't," Candice said. "Fuck this, let's go."
She took Ace's hand, but he stood still, and she groaned.
"What is it," she complained. "Let's go!"
"I don't want to abandon Fenton," Ace complained. "We need to find him."
Candice groaned.
"If we find him, can we leave," Candice shouted, head shaking, hair draping down her short body, making her look like an angry doll.
"Yes," Ace nodded. "I can't ever leave him."
Candice scowled. "Sometimes I think you like him more than me!"
"I mean… I like him.. Just differently," Ace said.
The others sighed and started walking away, not wanting to waste precious time on their personal drama. They followed and Candice continued to interrogate him.
"Are you gay," she asked, shrill and impudent. Santos snickered and David grinned, enjoying the show.
"I am not," Ace whined. "Why does everyone think that?"
Santos laughed, and mocked him, saying, "Oh shit, everyone thinks that? Was I the only one who never noticed?"
David laughed along and Ace's cheeks burned bright.
"It's okay," Rikka said. "My cousin Sara used to be a Michael."
"I'm not a woman either," he shrieked.
"Stop acting like one," Candice said bluntly. "Cut your hair."
David and Santos laughed, and Ace held his tongue. After two years his patience was wearing thin. He didn't like that she was only nice to him when they were alone, and in public, she would take any chance to embarrass him.
Ace blinked ahead of them, just to get away from them, and Candice scoffed.
"Wimp", Candice grunted.
They came to another lobby, and there were two staircases leading to the bottom. A door was open, and they heard voices.
"Finally," Ace shouted. "They could be inside!" Ace ran down, and Rikka followed, but David grabbed her arm.
"You need to think," David shouted. "Don't just go-"
Screams could be heard down the stairs. They ran down into the ballroom and realized that they had fallen into a trap.
