The pair spent a short while resting in the corridor, just the other side of the bulkhead door. The really pressing matter was the wound in Sam’s abdomen. It needed treating and soon. Vincent was in a hurry to set off, but he was exhausted. He needed to rest a little first and he wanted to ask a few questions before they left.

“How did they get to your family? Did you have any dealings with them before this?” Asked Vincent.

“No, I hadn't… But I’d seen the boss around town and heard rumours about him. I just went to sleep one night, then the next thing I knew I was being dragged out into the street and my family were gone. I think that they gassed my home. They told me that if I did as they asked, I would see my family again. I shouldn’t have trusted them!”

“It sounds like you didn’t have much of a choice.”

“I just couldn’t let them go, not without trying…”

“But why you? There must have been some reason why they singled you out.”

“I don’t know. It’s well known that I travel between several communities trading goods. Perhaps that’s why?”

“Maybe.”

“All I know for sure, is that they were looking for specific people, people that carry the control gene.”

So that was what they were after. Dwight was right.

“The people they took from the community, did you get a look at them?”

“Yes, I did. They were Ray’s eldest, the girl and the boy.”

“You mean Felicia and Milo?”

“Yes.”

Then they’re still alive! I have to find them.

“Do you know anywhere they might have taken them?”

“I only know the place they took me… Oh, and I think they own a bar in town, I’ve heard stories about it too.”

“Good, then we have somewhere to start.” Vincent said getting to his feet.

Sam pulled himself up slowly, holding onto his gut and groaning as he did so. Vincent pulled one of the med kits from his bag and pulled out a small cylinder.

“Hold still.”

“What are you doing?” Sam asked, a tremble clear in his voice.

“It’s a pain killer. We’ve got a long walk and I don’t want to carry you the whole way.”

“Oh right, okay...” Sam said cautiously giving Vincent his arm.

Vincent pressed the cylinder against Sam’s skin, there was a small hiss. Sam’s posture relaxed somewhat, almost immediately as the drug took effect. He had clearly been in a lot of pain from his injuries before. Then Vincent lifted Sam’s shirt and inspected the wound. Good it’s still holding. There wasn’t any sign bleeding since the dressing had been applied, but he still needed to get to a medical bay soon.

“We should get moving, come on.” He said letting Sam’s shirt fall back in place.

“Okay, lead the way.”

Vincent strode down the corridor away from the reserve and Sam followed behind. When they reached the maintenance hatch still a little ajar, they stopped. In his hurry here Vincent hadn’t noticed it before. He pulled the door open and looked inside.

“We could reach the next level a little quicker, if we took this route.” Vincent noted.

“Yeah, this is the route the raiders took to reach here. We can reach the next level, but the hatch after that is sealed shut.”

“It’ll still buy us some time. Do you think you can make it up that ladder?”

Sam felt the wound on his abdomen.

“I’ll make it.”

“Good, then up we go.”

The pair entered the maintenance hatch and started their ascent up the ladder to the next layer.

 

 

Inside a small chamber somewhere in the ship, Milo slowly begun to open his eyes. The first thing he noticed was that his face hurt all over. He sat up groaning and holding his chin. His sister Felicia was dozing nearby, and his groans woke her.

“Milo! You’re awake!” She said throwing her arms around him.

“Yeah, I kinda wish I’d slept for longer though. My memory is really hazy, where are we?”

“I don’t know…”

“What do you mean you don’t know?” He asked glancing around the unfamiliar room.

“You don’t remember anything that happened?” She asked concerned.

Milo’s mind was a blurry mess, but the events were slowly starting to come back to him. He could remember the door to their home being kicked in and a band of thugs storming inside. They were dragged outside and then…

“Where’s father?” He asked in a panic.

Felicia just slowly shook her head, tears running down both of her cheeks.

“Nathan? Ethan?”

She was still silently shaking her head, then hugged him again trembling as she did.

“I thought you were never going to wake again. I thought I was going to be left here alone. I’m so glad that you woke up!”

Felicia couldn’t bring herself to say what happened, she couldn’t say the words. Milo could remember enough that he didn’t need to ask again. The pair sat there holding each other, both of them were crying uncontrollably. Then the door to the room opened. They both pushed themselves back towards the wall. A large and balding man that neither of them recognised stepped inside. He put a tray containing some food packets and bottled water down on the floor and kicked it towards them.

“Where are we? What are you going to do to us?” Milo asked, his voice shaking.

“You’ll find out soon enough.” Answered the balding man as he turned to leave the room.

The door closed behind him. Once they were alone, Milo got to his feet and tried the control panel on the door.

“It’s no use! I’ve already tried. It doesn’t open.” Felicia said as he tapped the controls.

“I bet you didn’t try this though.”

Milo was trying to prise the panel from the wall. He wasn’t getting anywhere with just his fingers, so he checked his pockets. Somehow their contents from before he was knocked out were still there. Their captors hadn’t bothered to search him. He pulled out a small multitool and begun to lever the panel. A gap started to appear as it slowly pulled from its place.

“This might just work!” He said excitedly.

His excitement proved to be short lived. The panel popped out from the wall and fell to the floor. It was only pressed into place. The hope he had was dashed, the space inside was devoid of any operating mechanism. Even the wires had been stripped out. There was just an empty space behind where the control panel had once sat. This door could only be opened from the outside. Milo slowly dropped to the ground and just sat there, blankly staring at the door.

 

 

Vincent and Sam had made their way up to the next level. It was just as Sam had said, the maintenance shaft to the next level up from there was sealed shut. There was no way to open it, so they would need to walk to the general access point. It was about five sections along from their current location. Vincent looked Sam over as he decided what to do next. He had managed the long climb, but he was breathing heavily from the effort.

“How’re you holding up?” Vincent asked.

“A little sore, but I’ll manage.”

“Do you need a break? We’ve still got a long walk ahead of us.”

“No, we can keep moving.”

“Okay, but only if you’re sure. I don’t want you collapsing on me.”

“Don’t worry, I don’t need carrying yet.”

The pair headed down the corridor towards the next access point. It took them almost half an hour to reach it. Vincent could easily have made it there in half the time, even less if he ran, but Sam couldn’t move quickly. The lift was out of action, but Vincent already knew this. They would need to take the stairs. Sam groaned a little when he realised that they would have to walk up.

“Want a rest?” Asked Vincent.

“Just for a moment.” Sam said before sitting down on the bottom step.

Vincent could carry Sam the rest of the distance to the medical bay, but he was exhausted himself. He hadn’t slept in over a day and if he had to carry him, he’d rather it was after they had climbed the stairs to the next level. After a couple of minutes on the step Sam got to his feet.

“Okay, I’m ready. Let’s go.”

It was slow going up the stairs, but they eventually made it up. Then as they started along the corridor on the next floor, Sam stumbled.

“Woah there.” Vincent said grabbing Sam before he fell. “Let me help you.”

He put his arm around him and held him up as they walked. They had covered more than half of the distance, but it was still another six sections to the medical bay. From there on in Vincent helped Sam walk and the pair ambled along slowly. It took them the best part of an hour to reach the medical bay, but at least Sam had managed to stay on his feet. As they stood outside Vincent let Sam go, leaving him to prop himself up against the wall. Vincent tapped the control panel and the door to the bay opened. The lights worryingly flickered for a moment before they stayed on normally. The place was in a worse state, than it was the last time Vincent had passed through. He just hoped it was still functional.

Leaving Sam outside he stepped inside and made his way to the control desk. The main computer booted up as he sat down. The room’s control system was at least working. He pulled up the controls for the medical capsules. According to the system, two of them were still operational, they were in luck. He ejected the first capsule, then got up from the desk and went to collect Sam. Sam was sat against the wall outside, he was clutching his abdomen and breathing heavily.

“Come on, time to get you fixed up.” Vincent said offering Sam his hand.

He helped Sam to his feet and walked him inside the bay. There was a cylindrical tube sticking out of the far wall. The lid was open ready for the patient.

“You want me to get in there?” Asked Sam.

“Yes… Haven’t you been inside one before?”

“No, never.”

“It will fix your wound, there’s nothing to be worried about.”

“If you say so.” Sam said glancing over the capsule with a dubious look.

After looking it over he decided to trust Vincent and with his help he climbed inside and laid down. Once he was inside the lid closed automatically, this made Sam panic a little and he started to bang on the lid.

“You need to calm down Sam.” Vincent told him.

A mechanical arm came out of the side of the capsule and injected Sam in the neck, a few seconds later he was unconscious. Vincent sat back down at the control desk. He reinserted the capsule and brought up the live feed from inside. The capsule had already begun the scanning process, from the preliminary run it didn’t look as there was any serious internal damage. The medical AI had already suggested a treatment procedure. Vincent read through it before giving the operation the okay. It would take three hours to close the wound and heal the tissue damage. It would take a little while longer for the anaesthetic to wear off and after what Sam had been through, he would likely sleep for some time after that. Sleep was exactly what Vincent needed too. He left the medical capsule to run the repair and got up from the control desk. After walking across the room, he tapped on a panel on the far wall. A manual examination bed extended from the wall. Vincent climbed onto it and started to make himself comfortable. He placed his rifle and rucksack under the bed, then he laid on his side facing the door and closed his eyes.