I just realized, I never finished updating my space survial fanfic, so here it is
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Chapter 9 - Safety in NumbersYossi gazed on at the smoke that was pouring out of the destroyed cafeteria.
"Why'd she do it?!" Makoto screamed. "Why did Tsuji choose to stay and die?!"
Yossi shook her head. "They were friends...inseparable friends. Do you remember when they first formed W? They made a promise, a commitment to each other, to stay together forever...to never leave each other. Aibon was going to die soon...so Tsuji chose to die with her. She kept her promise to never leave her friend."
The other girls slowly nodded their heads. "Come on, we have to get down to the lower levels to meet up with the rescue ship." Yossi said. All the remaining girls got up and began to make their way to the lower levels.
"Approaching the H!P space cruiser...we'll dock in two minutes." Sgt. Andrea reported.
"Excellent, are the men ready?" Lt. Charles asked.
"Yes sir!" Sgt. Andrea said.
"We're almost there!!" Yossi said, as she continued to lead her group down to the lower levels. Just then, they heard a loud roar, coming from seemingly far away, but they were sure it was from the lower levels.
"Oh no... It’s already down there!" Reina said, fear in her voice, as she then began to back away.
"Reina, we have to go down there. The rescue ship is down there. It’s our only way out of here!!" Yossi shouted, but Reina continued to back away.
"No...I'm not going down there..." Reina said, as she then turned around and ran away.
Makoto looked back at Reina running away, then at Yossi. "I'm sorry Yossi, but I'm not going down there either." Makoto then turned around and ran down the same corridor that Reina went.
"Damn it!" Yossi shouted as she pounded her fist against the wall of the corridor. Her attention then turned towards Takahashi and Konno, who remained by Yossi’s side. "You’re not going to leave now, are you?"
"No, I'm staying with you," Takahashi said, looking at Konno.
"I'll stay with you too." Konno replied, as another roar then echoed throughout the ship.
"Thanks girls...but we have to hide and fast!" Yossi and her two companions then ducked into a nearby room and hid.
As Lt. Charles’ spaceship began to approach one of the outer docking ports of the H!P space cruiser, the ship’s auto-docking system then started up, with small thrusters kicking in every now and then, helping guide the ship in its docking sequence.
"Contact in...3...2...1..." Sgt. Andrea said, watching from her computer screen, as the ship’s doors then locked onto the docking hatch of the H!P space cruiser. The doors then opened and twenty soldiers began to pour out of the smaller ship and form up neatly and quickly in the H!P space cruiser’s corridors. Lt. Charles and Sgt. Andrea then exited the ship together, with Lt. Charles heading to the front of his soldiers.
"Alright men, I want five teams. Split up into groups of four, and spread out and search the entire ship. Let’s find the girls and any other survivors and get the heck out of here." Lt. Charles said.
"Yes sir!!" the soldiers shouted in unison. They then split up into teams of four and each headed in a different direction to search for survivors. The Alpha team headed to where Yossi and her group were located to begin searching.
"Do you hear that...?" Takahashi asked quietly, "It sounds like footsteps."
"This room is empty, search the next." A voice outside the door said.
"They're here!! Help has arrived!" Takahashi said excitedly as she stood up and ran to the door. The door opened and the four soldiers aimed their guns at Takahashi.
"Don't shoot!!" Takahashi cried out, holding her hands up defensively.
"A survivor!" one of the soldiers said. He then lowered his gun, as Yossi and Konno then came out of the room as well.
"Quick, get them back to the ship! We'll continue to search the ship." the leading soldier of Alpha team instructed to another soldier.
"Yes sir, you three come with me," the soldier said. The girls nodded and began to follow the soldier as he started back to the docking bay, where the rescue ship was waiting.
"Wait! Wait!!" Yossi shouted. The soldiers stopped and looked at Yossi. "There are still two other girls left onboard. They split up from us. They went that way!" Yossi said, as she pointed down the corridor that Reina and Makoto had run down.
"Understood, we'll find them," the lead soldier said. Yossi nodded and continued to follow the soldier to the docking bays.
"Continue with your search!" the lead soldier said, as he and his two other companions then continued to slowly make their way down the ship’s long corridors, systematically searching every room. The creature watched their every move, as it clung to the dark ceiling of the H!P space cruiser.
Yossi and her group then made it to the docking bays and were now onboard the rescue ship. Lt. Charles looked back at Yossi as she entered the smaller space ship. He then nodded at Yossi and turned his attention back to a wall full of monitors and video screens.
"What are these?" Yossi asked, as she approached Lt. Charles.
"These are the video links we have attached to every soldier’s helmets," Lt. Charles explained, as he continued to scan all the monitors, communicating with his soldiers.
"Nothing here sir," one soldier said as Yossi looked at his video monitor as the soldier scanned the room, and nothing was there.
"I’d better be getting back to my unit," said the soldier who led Yossi and her group to the rescue ship. He then exited the ship and began to make his way back towards his companions.
The lone soldier made his way down the H!P space cruiser’s corridors back to his unit, with the creature watching him from the ship’s dark ceilings. It then began to follow him, slowly crawling along the ceiling stealthily.
The three other soldiers from his unit were continuing their search of the ship’s corridors, when the sound of footsteps fast approaching made them quickly turn around and aim their guns down the corridor at the approaching soldier.
"Whoa!! Whoa!! Don't shoot!" the lone soldier shouted, raising his hands up defensively. The others then lowered their guns and went back to searching the corridors.
"This room is empty, search the next!" the lead soldier of Alpha team said.
Hearing the voices outside, Reina came out from under the table she was hiding under in the next room, the familiar sound of human voices making her heart jump for joy.
"I'm in here!!" Reina shouted. The soldiers then quickly made their way to the next room. Reina opened the door and looked at the soldiers gratefully, but then, her face turned into an expression of fear, her eyes growing wide as she saw the creature’s tail descending from the ceiling behind the soldiers. Reina then let out a bloodcurdling scream as the creature’s tail stabbed the lead soldier in the back. The other soldiers then began to open fire at the ceiling, as Reina quickly shut the door, locked it and backed away as gunfire, screaming and shouting continued to erupt outside the room.
"Oh my god...Oh my god!" Reina screamed, as she paced around the room in panic. She then saw a small air vent at the back of the room. Running towards it, she pulled with all her might and the vent came free. She then crawled inside and began to scurry on all fours down the long ventilation shaft.
"What’s going on down there?!" Lt. Charles shouted into his walkie-talkie after hearing gunfire coming from Alpha team’s video screens.
"Alpha leader is down!!" one of the soldiers shouted into his radio, as he then screamed and his video monitor turned static.
"This thing just won't go down!! We're hitting it with everything we- AAHH!!!" another soldier screamed and his video screen then turned static as well.
"Get out!! Get out of there!!" Lt. Charles shouted into his walkie-talkie to the last soldier whose video screen was still operational, showing he was still alive.
"Jammed! ...My gun is jammed!!" the soldier shouted as he pounded his gun, trying to get it working again. The creature then dropped from the ceiling in front of the soldier. Lt. Charles was clearly able to see the creature from the lone soldier’s monitoring camera which was attached to his helmet.
"What is that thing...?" Lt. Charles said slowly, as the creature then rushed at the soldier. He screamed one last time and his video monitor then went static.
"What’s going on?!" Yossi shouted as she quickly approached Lt. Charles and looked at the video monitors and life stats of Alpha team. All four screens were static, three of the life stats were flat-lined, and one still had a faint heartbeat.
"Some kind of...creature just slaughtered Alpha team. Wait...One of them is still alive! Bravo team come in!" Lt. Charles shouted into his walkie-talkie.
"Bravo team here." a voice crackled over the radio.
"Alpha team has been wiped out, but there’s one survivor left. I need a rescue party right away!" Lt. Charles shouted.
Just then, the surviving soldier’s video monitor came back on. The soldier’s helmet was on the ground, aimed up at the creature and the last surviving soldier, filming the creature with the unconscious soldier in his claws. Yossi and Lt. Charles looked on in horror, neither saying a word. The creature then brought its large face close to the soldier’s head and slowly opened its fang filled mouth. A small tube emerged out of its mouth, going down into the soldier’s throat. Yossi let out a small scream as she watched on, as a round object then slid down the tube and into the soldier’s body. Upon its descent into the soldier’s mouth and down his throat, the creature dropped the soldier and left him on the ground, as it quickly scurried away.
"What the hell was that?!" Lt. Charles screamed. Yossi then realized what she just witnessed.
"So that’s how it does it...that’s how it infects its hosts with its eggs..." Yossi said slowly.