Unleashed: A Science Fiction Horror Adventure (NecroVerse Book 1)
Page 32
They moved slowly down the hall, more battered carts lining the wall to his left. Garbage and refuse covered the floor, flowing from an overflowing bin. The doors opened onto a wide ramp running down and away, the floor and walls covered with the familiar patina of rock dust and grease.
Jacoby led them quickly down the ramp, the airlock door at the bottom leading out to the half-dozen docking bays. He turned left, his gaze quickly sweeping the corridor. The five round hatches closest to them were closed, red lights glowing against the ceiling above them. But the furthest door was open, the light from inside casting a long, dark shadow onto the floor. A person leaned out, spotted them, and shouted.
Jacoby ran, Anna and Lex on either side of him, and Soraya pacing just behind. Two people ran forward, meeting them just outside the lit hatch.
“You’re alive!” Emiko yelled, her mouth turning up into a wide smile. “There were so many people, and it was so confusing. They all crowded onto the freighters, pushing and shoving. Then the crews just left, but Doctor Reeds made the last ship stay. He said you would make it. He knew.”
Jacoby looked from Emiko to Doctor Reeds, the physician’s differently colored eyes studying him.
“Thanks, doc,” Jacoby said.
“Of course. Of course. We’ve got a lot to talk about, to figure out, I think, but why don’t we do it in there?” he asked, and gestured back towards the open hatch.
“Solid plan,” Lex agreed and they moved as one. Jacoby squeezed Anna’s hand again as they approached the light, their spirits both lifting as one. But the hatch hissed loudly, the round door suddenly rolling shut.
“What the…?” Reeds yelled, but Jacoby reached the hatch first. He looked through the small window, and found a tall man stooped over just inside.
Manis turned and looked out the door, and their eyes met.
“Open this door! Do it now!” Jacoby yelled, pounding his fists against the metal.
Manis said something, but he couldn’t make it out. The hatch was too thick. He pointed behind him at the freighter’s airlock and shrugged his shoulders. Then he mouthed “sorry” and turned and walked away.
“Open this hatch, you fucking coward!” Jacoby raged, pounding his fists against the stout door again. He felt the anger spark once again, the fire sliding down into his muscles. He curled his fingers over the lip, kicked a foot onto the frame and pulled. His muscles bunched and knotted, the door groaning in response, but felt the outer hatch slide shut. The gold hue slid slowly over his vision, the dark passage brightening considerably.
“Don’t leave us here!” he screamed, but a tremor shook the floor. Anna and the others ran to a wide window set in the wall, but Jacoby could see well enough through the windows in the hatch.
The ship’s dull-gray hull was moving, floating away, jetted thrusters firing and pushing the large vessel into the black. He slammed his fist into the hatch, his knuckles sinking into the metal. The ship’s engines fired, the pulsing thrum vibrating through the deck plating beneath his feet.
The freighter gained momentum as it slid out of sight. Manis’ wide, watery eyes and shrugged shoulders popped into Jacoby’s head and he punched the hatch again, the metal ringing from the impact.
“Jacoby!” Anna yelled.
“That weasel left us! He left us to die,” he growled, spinning around.
Anna, Lex, and Soraya stood side by side, but Reeds and Emiko were backing away.
“What?” he yelled.
“Coby, you’re…glowing!” Anna whispered. He looked down, but his hands and arms looked normal enough, save for the gold tint.
“No…look!” Lex said, pointing at the window.
Jacoby slid between them and stood before the exterior window. His reflection shone back at him, a surprisingly warm and bright halo framing his body. He took a deep breath, forcing the anger away, fighting back to a calmer place. The glow flickered and started to die away, just as the energizing fire receded in his muscles.
“F-F-Fascinating,” Reeds whispered. He was behind him, at the hatch, running his fingers through knuckle-shaped dents in the hard metal.
“We’ve got to find another way off the station,” Lex said.
“But how? There were five freighters down here. Two were scheduled to depart this week, two more next week, and the fifth just arrived. We don’t have any ships due for arrival for at least a month! Our spot in the orbit right now puts us further away from Jupiter and Mars than any time this solar orbit. Trust me, I’m a…was a scheduler. There is a relay station on Ceres, the habitat domes on Europa, but they’re resupply ships run on a completely different schedule than ours do,” Soraya shot back.
A thought popped up into Jacoby’s head, locking into place with almost photo-quality recall.
“What do you think Manis meant when he said, ‘If something happens to this station, I’m taken care of’?”
“Wait, I remember that? How did you…how can I? My memory usually sucks, but I can picture that in my head perfectly,” Lex said, trailing off.
“Maybe it’s that,” Anna said, pointing to the now closed airlock door. “Maybe he was planning on jumping ship the whole time.
“I don’t know,” Jacoby said, shaking his head. “Is it possible they have a ship docked someplace else on the station? Someplace we don’t know about? Something small, like a shuttle, or rock jumper?”
“You mean, besides the gravity tugs they use to haul rocks back to the station?” Soraya asked.
“Yes. And if there is one, how would we find it? I mean, the rest of the station could be filled with those…things,” Emiko said. She stood by the opposite wall, her arms hugging her midsection.
“The question we should be asking ourselves is: should we get off the station at all? Our most prudent move right now might just be to establish outside communication. There are dozens, maybe hundreds of people on those freighters, and any number of them could be infected. What would happen if those things got to Mars, the lunar colony, or any of the other dozen or so off-world settlements? What would those things do if they reached Earth?” Reeds asked, stepping tentatively forward and looking to them each in turn.
A shiver coursed through Jacoby’s body. Anna, Lex, and Soraya all trembled visibly at the same time.
“We can’t…won’t let that happen,” Jacoby muttered, and met Anna’s crystal blue eyes.
“That’s the spirit, Jacky,” a man said, stepping out of the shadows next to Emiko.
Jacoby flinched, his hand jumping to the saw handle. Anna, Lex, and Soraya spun, following his eyes.
“Who is…there? How did you get in here?” Anna asked, her gaze locking onto the shadowy figure.
“What in the hell?” Lex growled, “That’s…”
The stranger stepped back into the shadow next to the airlock and appeared again next to Reeds.
“Jacoby, what…err, who are you talking to?” the physician asked and swiveled about. He looked right at the stranger, but didn’t seem to see them.
“Jacoby?” Soraya asked, pointing as the stranger stepped fully into the light.
“What the shit?” Lex cursed.
“Stop it, you’re scaring me,” Emiko cried, jumping forward and wheeling about.
Jacoby squeezed the saw’s trigger as the stranger’s face clarified. It was him…somehow, another Jacoby.
“What is it, Jacoby? I see it in your eyes, on all of your faces. You four see something that Emiko and I obviously don’t,” the doctor said, his voice pulled tight in alarm.
“Honestly, doc. I don’t think you’d believe me.”
“Yep. He’ll think you’ve gone bat-shit nuts, Jacky! Well, because you kinda are. But heh, I’m outta your head now, so you’ve got that going for you. But let me tell you, now that you and the girls can see me, we’re going to have so much fun together!”
NecroVerse will continue in...
EXodus
Coming soon.
Other titles by
(Science Fictio
n)
–NecroVerse–
Book 1
Unleashed (Out now)
Book 2
Exodus (Coming Soon)
Book 3
Sparrow Rising (Planned)
(Fantasy)
–Overthrown–
Volume 1
The Winter of Swords (Available Now)
Volume 2
Before the Crow (Available Now)
Volume 3
A March of Woe (Available Now)
Volume 4
The Prince of Orphans (Coming Soon)
Volume 5
Blade of Ashes (Planned)
Volume 6
A Song of Bones (Planned)
The Chronicles of Denoril
(An all-new supplementary series)
The Delving (Available Now)