Malevolence Unleashed — IX
First Contact
CHAPTER 1
There were only three of us left now. Richa, James and I had somehow managed to find an unused storeroom in a corner of our ship. I had insisted on taking first watch and they were getting some much needed rest. The cold, damp floor was a far cry from my warm quarters on the other end of the corridor but I didn’t dare step out.
It had all happened so quickly, I hadn’t stopped to settle down and process everything. It had begun with Chief Matt, after he had returned from his expedition on the planet’s surface. Everything had seemed fine until he started gasping for air and collapsed on the floor. The medical team had done everything they could but he couldn’t be saved. I remember the emergency meeting of the crew to declare the news of his passing.
The entire crew had gathered in the main meeting hall for Captain Walker’s address, followed by the report by the ship’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Rahim. Captain Walker was a towering man in his late forties. The way he carried himself commanded respect and admiration from all that knew him. Tonight, he had respectfully kept his address short and offered brief condolences before handing it over to the doctor. She had been a prodigious find for the international space program, managing to go on her first mission at the age of nineteen, making CMO on the Wanderer, the most advanced spaceship ever made, barely seven years later.
“It is with a heavy heart that I come to tell you that our colleague is no more,” she had begun. She and Matt had been dating for close to two years, so this had to be especially difficult for her.
“He was rushed to sick bay minutes after boarding the Wanderer after the expedition. He showed no signs of any documented conditions or physical injury-”
A sudden chill descended upon the crowd. The air seemed to thicken with dread and anticipation. That’s when we heard it; the sound of something heavy being dragged against the metal floor.
“D-Doctor! Behind you!” someone from the crowd screamed out.
Dr. Rahim turned around to face a hunching, disfigured body half-limping, half-dragging itself towards her. Her eyes widened in horror as the entire room fell silent. The man who had been the ship’s Chief of Security took another step and straightened up to face her.
“Matt… I watched you die… t-there’s no way…”
Suddenly, what looked like two dark vines erupted from his eyes and raised them above his head. Before anyone could react, they slipped right back inside his body with them, leaving two gaping holes where they used to be.
The crowd started dispersing in panic and chaos as I and the other members of the security force pointed our guns at whatever that thing was. I motioned to the others to circle around and establish a perimeter.
“Doctor, I need you to step away from Matt,” I called out.
“D-Do you think he could still be in there?”
“Dr. Rahim, I don’t know if that’s even possible, but I need you to get out of there. Now!”
As if on cue to help me in my persuasion tactics, the vines suddenly bore out through his chest, ripping through bone and muscle. Oddly enough, there wasn’t a single drop of blood on his shirt, as if all of it had just vanished from his body, ironically making the scene even more gruesome.
The doctor didn’t need any more convincing and proceeded to run towards the exit. Deputy Chief Yao, who had been watching the situation unfold, stepped up ahead of me.
“Let me handle this”, she said, placing a hand on my shoulder.
“Chief, I’ve known you for six long years and it has been a pleasure to serve aboard this ship under your command,” she said, raising her weapon and levelling it at the person that had been her mentor and friend.
“Now, go in peace,” she declared, as she fired the shot.
CHAPTER 2
The bullet whistled through the air, hitting him in the center of his forehead. It was perfect shot. His knees buckled and he slumped forward. He lay motionless for almost a full minute. None of us dared to make a move.
“Do you think it’s over?” I whispered.
“I’m not sure, but I think so,” said Yao.
As if in response, the kneeling body suddenly lurched backward and the vines that had burst through his chest took the form of what looked like claws.
“OPEN FIRE!” yelled Yao.
Amidst the rain of bullets, the claws ripped apart Matt’s body from the inside with the ease of opening a newspaper. They continued to peel off pieces of skin and muscle and a nightmarish creature emerged from within. It was easily over seven feet tall, with four arms that ended in sharp claws. It had an elongated dark purple head with a terrifying mouth housing teeth that looked like they could chew through solid steel. Its entire lower body was almost translucent. Where there should’ve been a heart was an empty, glowing chamber. Its face had no sockets for eyes. Instead it held the two it had stolen from Matt earlier in two of its four arms.
It opened its mouth, revealing a pit of darkness that seemed to have no end and let out a blood-curling scream filling the entire hall with horror.
“Chief, let’s fall back and regroup,” I called out, but she seemed to not hear me.
“Chief, we have to go. NOW!”
She raised her hand, pointed her weapon at her own head and fired. I stared in disbelief as her limp body hit the ground. I hear another gun shot from my right and I turned to see Lt. Patel’s body hit the floor. I turned to face the creature again. It had to be doing this. I had to take it out. Maybe if I aimed for the eyes in its arms. But as soon as the thought took form in my mind, a wave of nausea washed over me. I watched in helplessness as my arm moved of its own accord. My body was a puppet in the fiend’s grip.
My arm raised the cold metal weapon towards my head and pulled the trigger.
Wait a second. I died back there.
I turned around to look at the storeroom we’d been hiding out in. Richa and James were curled around in the corner next to each other, asleep. Richa and James, my two children, who should probably be at school around now back on Earth. I try to remember how I made it into this storeroom with my children who should be halfway across the galaxy but I have no memories whatsoever after the attack in the main meeting hall.
I felt beads of sweat forming on my temples despite how cold the room was. There was definitely something wrong here. I reached for my gun and found that it wasn’t there.
“Is this what you’re looking for?”
Richa was holding the gun in her hand. Was that really my little girl?
“Here, take it and keep us safe,” said James, taking it from Richa and handing it to me. I reluctantly take it, but as soon as my fingers brush the cold metal, I feel lightheaded and tired.
“Hold on to it and go to sleep. We’ll take care of you.”
“You don’t know how much I want to do that. I wish you were real, both of you… I’ve missed you so much,” I said, raising the gun up to my head.
“But this nightmare ends now.”
Tears stream down my face as I take the shot.
CHAPTER 3
I open my eyes to see that my feet are floating two feet off the floor. Dark vines circle around me. I swing my body back and forth until I break free of the tendrils and roll onto the floor. I had to get to the bridge and make sure the Captain was safe.
I took a few steps and realized that my entire body felt very weak. Those dark vines seemed to have sapped the very life out of me, leaving me in an enfeebled state. I somehow managed to pull myself up straight and take an account of the hall.
The shredded remains of what was left of the security officers littered the floor. Each one had their eyes gouged out. Something suddenly struck me. I scanned the floor near where I’d been and there it was, my gun. I picked it up and confirmed my suspicions. The magazine was empty. The creature must have gotten tricked into thinking I was dead when it made me shoot myself.
I hauled my complaining body across the hall and into the corridor. Everywhere I looked I saw shredded remains of bodies. Hundreds, littered on the way towards the bridge. I reached the door to the Captain’s chambers and saw that it had been forced open.
On the opposite wall was a torn uniform with a badge with his name. The little flame of false hope I had been brandishing all this time had withered away. I picked up the Captain’s gun, lying on the floor. One bullet left.
I suddenly heard the same blood-curdling scream of the monster, amplified a thousand times, coming from every single direction.
“I see you’ve got friends this time,” I chuckled to myself.
There was only one thing I could do with my not-so-stellar level of security clearance. I somehow crawled up to the ship’s bridge, which was thankfully devoid of the creatures. I sat down at the nearest navigation control panel and locked in a direct collision course with SOLR-XVIII, the nearest star.
The dark vines were pouring in through the entrance to the bridge, seeking a new host to birth another one of their kind.
I smiled for the last time as I raised the Captain’s gun to my head.
