Klahai– Home of the Vain – Six hundred dead – Fire

-Page six

 

Just as I cursed myself for thinking jinxes were real, the plan went to shit. About thirty feet before me, the bulkhead decompression door slammed down. I had enough time to only lightly collide with it at my current speed without breaking my shoulder.

“IMONA!” I shouted.

“I… I don’t know; the bug is fighting back. It… I think it’s intelligent.” She told me.

“What? How could… never mind, OPEN THE DOOR!”

I turned back; they were getting close, and I only had a few seconds.

“OPEN THE DOOR NEXT TO ME!” I ordered.

“There are over a thousand in there!” she replied.

“JUST DO IT!”

A large circular door slid open on my right. Imona was correct; hundreds of creatures piled over each other further than my eye could see. The noise hit them and they were awaking.

“I don’t know why you want to release them…” Imona said.

Taking a trust knife to the light above, I activated my cloak ability and threw the screaming device into the room of sleeping Butchers. They had already stirred when the door opened as the screamer bellowed in a raucous echo throughout the large room.

I jumped back to the corner nearest the bulkhead and prayed that they followed it in. Ten minutes it took for the hallway to empty as the horrific things piled over themselves to reach their prey. Though I knew I made no noise, I couldn’t help but hold my breath to the point where my vision grew dark. Thankfully, not moving didn’t use up much of my energy.

“N…N… now close it, please.”

Sensing my anxiety, she just complied without a snarky reply.

“Imona?” I asked.

“Yes?”

“How about this… next time we are in a situation like that, just do it without replying to me. Okay?”

“Umm…”

“I mean… what the FUCK! IMONA! JUST YOU REPLYING SO CALMLY IN THE MIDDLE OF THAT…” I angrily pointed towards the now empty door. “MAKES ME WANT TO THRODDLE YOU!”

She didn’t reply; I only heard a sniffle as if she was crying.

“You can read my mind; you know that won’t work on me!” I said, clipping each word.

Then she giggled… she fucking giggled.

“Figured I’d try.” She said.

Then she opened the door I was leaning against. This caused me to fall backward and smack my head on the hard metal floor.

“You are so lucky I’m wearing armor…” I replied coldly.

“Me.” She said.

“Excuse me?”

“You are wearing me.”

“I’m not going to say that.”

“It’s trueeee.” She cooed.

“I know. I’m still not doing it.”

I heard her huff, then grew quiet.

“Now the question.” I said.

“Yes, you with the bad attitude.” She replied.

I sighed deeply.

“Why would the bug be smart if its purpose is to blow up the ship?” I asked.

“Tsk tsk…” she said.

“I will kill you one day.” I told her.

“Fiiiine… This bug isn’t to blow up the ship. It powers everything down and kills everyone on board.” She explained flippantly.

“But they sai…”

“I know what they said. But it makes no sense. But we know an armada is probably on its way here; it would be a huge waste if they just blew everyone up. Now they have hundreds of thousands of Butchers, presuming they can control them somehow, and a huge ship.” She said.

It made sense, but all this made the pit in my stomach sink even further.

“Can you beat the bug?”

“Probably. I can see here that it thought it had completed its mission and went dormant. The Butchers would eventually get the rest of the ones in cryo sleep. It woke up a bit ago when I started poking around inside.”

“Hmm.”

“Exactly. So, a timer was placed to wake the rest of the crew. It was a smart system where certain doors would open and close, luring them toward the newly awakened people. They were easy targets, and there was never enough awake to put up any sort of resistance. But… it looks like he awakened the rest of them. Bas… there’s few left, but they’re sitting ducks.”

“Can you do anything?” I asked.

It was silent for a minute. My heart had sunk to the floor. Two minutes… my stomach threatened to crawl out of my throat. Three minutes…

“Imona?”

“Hmm?” she asked.

“CAN YOU DO ANYTHING!”

“Oh… right. I already did.”

“God, I hate you…”

“No…”

“WHAT!” I interrupted. “Did you do?”

“Well, most were out of their tubes, so I locked them in their rooms and sent some… let’s call it sleeping gas into the rooms.”

“Imona… what is it really called?”

“Dexahexelfloride, or death spray.”

“Excuse me?”

“Don’t worry, they’re sleeping.”

“Alive sleeping?” I couldn’t believe the words coming from my mouth.

“Yeeeeessssss alive sleeping.” I could hear her rolling her eyes. “For now…” she said quietly.

“I’m sorry?”

“I SAID FOR NOW!” she shouted.

“Please explain…” I was going to kill her.

“Well…. It is called death spray because…”

“Because?” I asked impatiently.

“Because… there’s no known way to wake people from it.” She replied quickly.

I was silent for a minute.

“Bas?”

Two minutes.

“BAS!”

“WHAT!” I shouted.

“Don’t worry… I’m on it. I have full access to the medical facilities here and will figure it out. And… oh…”

“Ohh?”

“Umm, well, I wasn’t paying too much attention and… well, I sent some into the command center.” She said.

“Where is the nearest airlock?” I asked calmly.

“Oh, you took that better than expected. It is a few decks away; we are wayyyy inside this ship. Why?”

“BECAUSE IM GONNA TEAR YOU OFF AND THROW YOU INTO SPACE!”

“Well, that was just rude. I’m only trying to help.”

“Help! Well… I… I can’t argue against that… can you just please pay more attention? And fix the incurable sleep thing!”

“Fiiiiine… call it a favor.”

“NO! Call it fixing your fuck up!”

“You know…”

“NO, I DON’T KNOW!”

“Now I’m not gonna tell you.” She said back quietly.

I growled, with a growing headache behind my eyes.