Slowly he made his way down the stairs, his footsteps loud on the metal beneath his feet. He shone the flash light, shadows fled it's beam; dispersing as they went, only to reform behind him. Watching, in silence, his every move and listening intently to his every breath. Markus was scared, something had gone very wrong with this place. Here they were, light years from home; deep in the darkness of the void. He could feel the horrors that dwelt in this cold and lonely place pressing against the hull of the ship. He could almost feel it creaking under the pressure from whatever other worldly abomination pushed against it.
Markus passed through three more decks before he reached the cargo hold, each deck he passed through seemed more darker and desolate than the last. Whatever James had done to strengthen the lights on the upper decks really wasn't working down here; he was entering the abyss, a black and terrifying world in the bowels of the ship.
And for what? To see if the escape pods are gone, what's the bloody point?
When he finally reached the cargo hold the lights had more or less failed, without the flash light he would have had to have gone back.
He found himself in a large hallway, not unlike similar areas in other parts of the ship. In all directions long dark passage ways led of into the darkness. Shining the torch on the walls he found a deck map, he slowly walked over; he was finding the dark disorientating. According to the map the escape pods were down the passage to his left, going right would take him to the main stores and forward lead to the science stores. He looked up the corridor to his left, shining his flash light ahead of him and began slowly making his way. About halfway down something caught his eye, on the wall about shoulder height there was a large gouge in the wall, not unlike the one he had seen in his Stasis lounge. But this one was much longer and definitely deeper, it stretched nearly the rest of the length of the corridor; about ten metres in total.
What the hell caused that? Is the ship slowly cracking?
Markus continued walking until he reached a door, a notice above read 'EMERGENCY SHUTTLES – NO ADMITTANCE UNLESS IN AN EMERGENCY' he opened the door. The room beyond was vast, at least thirty metres wide; it's length stretched off into the darkness. At regular intervals on either side was a metallic grey round sphere, maybe three metres in diameter; with a large window on one side and groups of several small thrusters placed all around the outside. Two crew members could fit in each pod; there must have been around one hundred and fifty of these things here.
Nobody left this ship in one of these, they're all accounted for.
Markus walked the length of the room, just to be sure none of the escape pods were missing; they were all here. He started to make his way back towards the door when he heard something, something over to his left behind one of the pods; it sounded like a child crying. He shone his light over in the general direction but could see nothing out of the ordinary but the strange noise continued.
What now, I can't handle any more of this shit.
He wanted to run, run back up to the top decks; at least it was bright up there, like a bright sunny day in comparison. Yet he couldn't, not through fear but something else; maybe there was a frightened child here, scared and lonely. Slowly, he made his way towards the escape pod, keeping the flash light ahead of him. His heart was starting to beat faster, he could feel his breathing increasing and his head was starting to hurt again. He looked around the front of the escape pod but the moment he got close enough the noise stopped, everything was in silence.
I need to get out of here.
Markus turned around and started walking back towards the door, as soon as he had gone a few steps he heard it again; in the same place as before, behind the escape pod.
No, nothing was there. Keep walking.
He upped his pace, his heart was beating faster and faster, while the crying became louder and louder. He began to run, the beam from his flash light shining wildly as he went; something was there, running with him. He saw it out of the corner of his eye and then it was gone, he stopped dead in his tracks; something was huddled in the door way, just a few foot in front of him.
No, no, no! Make it stop, please make it stop.
Slowly he lifted the beam of light to see what was there, his eyes were almost closed; he didn't want to know what it was, yet he couldn't stop himself.
“Daddy.” It said. “Can we see the dinosaurs now?”
Markus dropped his flash light to the floor, the shock of hearing his sons voice was almost too much.
“Christopher? Christopher is that you?” Markus asked, his voice quiet and trembling.
“Dinosaurs, dinosaurs, dinosaurs!” It said back to him.
Why is my son in this dark, horrible place? He shouldn't be here.
“Dinosaurs, dinosaurs, dinosaurs!” It said, over and over again, each time getting louder and louder.
Markus reached his trembling hand down and grabbed the flash light, shining the beam at his son. It was Christopher, there was no mistaking it.
Another voice gently whispered behind him.
“That's not Christopher, Markus. Christopher is dead now, he died a long, long time ago.”
It was a female voice, it was Louise' voice; talking from the darkness behind him.
Markus stood frozen with fear in the blackness, listening to the voices; Louise' voice continued,
“I know Christopher is dead because I killed him, many years ago. I cut his throat and watched him bleed to death in your wife’s arms. Oh how we smiled.”
“No, this didn't happen” Markus said, the words barely able to leave his fear stricken throat.
Something moved rapidly from behind him, Christopher looked up and screamed; his face a picture of utter fear. He turned and fled down the corridor.
“Wait!” Markus shouted.
“Let me show you...” Louise' voice said to him.
Markus ran, all the fear he was gripped in had gone; he needed to save his son.
Why is this happening, why is my Son here with Louise?
Christopher was sat on the floor in the hallway at the end of the corridor, Louise was knelt down behind him; her eyes were black and dead, a strange smile on her face. Markus was paralysed, all he could do was watch as Louise took a large knife from the floor and plunged it into Christopher’s throat. Blood sprayed across the room, the scream that should of come from his sons mouth was nothing more than a gurgling.
“let me show you...” Louise' voice said again.
She lifted the knife above her head and brought it down hard on Christopher’s back. The blade was so long it went straight through him, Markus could see the blade come through his chest before it was ripped back out and brought down on him again. Louise was in a state of madness, just stabbing and cutting the poor boys lifeless body.
My baby boy, why? No!
Markus still couldn't move, he was in shock; he didn't know what to do. He shouted to her to stop, but the more he tried the worse she became. Christopher’s eyes, had turned black like Louise' had; there was blood everywhere.
“Stop, please, MAKE IT STOP!” Markus shouted.
With that, James Hortons voice came over the ships tannoy.
“This is James Horton of the Numinous. Markus, Louise and anyone else that's out there and can hear this; please make your way to the Bridge. There is something here you need to see, please head back as soon as you can.”
“Let me show you...”
Markus fell to the floor, he felt exhausted. The room was empty again, there was no sign of Christopher, Louise or any sign anything he had just witnessed had ever happened.
He slowly got himself to his feet, the battery on the flash light was getting low, the beam getting dimmer. His body felt wrecked, he'd just witnessed the violent murder of his Son at the hands of Louise. All he could think about was finding her and killing her, Markus' mind had been fragile before, now it was nigh on shattered.
She'll pay for this, she'll fucking pay; the twisted bitch!
He started making his way up the stairs, all fear that had previously consumed Markus had gone; replaced by a paranoid, hate filled rage. His only thought was the death of Louise, drag her up to the Bridge by her hair and cut her up in front of James.
Fuck it, kill that bastard too. Who put him in charge anyway?
Somewhere, deep in the depths of Markus' mind a tiny voice tried to speak out, tried it's best to tell Markus to stop. But it went unheard, nothing could shout over the voice which now resided in his head, the voice of insanity.