“Earth is dead,” I said. “You might be the last ones to make it. But everyone else? They are acting like animals. They’ve lost their goddamn minds.”
She looked at me intensely and pulled away. “I can’t leave them all behind. I can’t betray the crew.”
What else could she do? I admired her loyalty, but it was not what we needed right now.
We walked down the hall, and the lights were starting to flicker. The ship had been slowly shutting down power this whole time, and now, they were on their last engine thrusts.
Pretty soon, we’d be walking in complete darkness. The people frozen within their chambers would die. All hell would break loose.
As we got closer to the cafeteria, it was pretty clear that hell had already been invited inside. Things had begun to set in for Mia. Her eyes widened. “What have I done?”
But her outburst wasn’t just a minor annoyance to her. I could sense that it was indicative of her distrust, something she had slowly built over years of combing the darkness. “Fear and betrayal work hand in hand. Use it to your advantage,” I said.
The more I walked near her, the more I saw how capable she was, how understanding she could be toward a situation that should have broken any woman, omega or beta. She had conviction, and she had learned to take orders. She was a leader.
Had she not been pregnant, I would have beaten her into submission. She hadn’t learned how to fully submit, how to stand tall behind her man. She would have to someday soon.
Finally, we rounded a corner and saw the quarantined cafeteria. My heart stopped, but Mia ran with excitement toward the automatic doors until she saw what covered the windows.
Blood. It was everywhere. It was not the thick puddle one might expect, nor the occasional handprint. The walls were covered with a thick mist of blood, as if multiple people had suffered blows to their skulls.
As I got closer, I caught a true glimpse of the destruction inside. Food and trash covered the floors. Nearly all the appliances had been thrown to the decking, broken as much as they possibly could be.
I pressed my head against the glass and let out a course predatory growl. All of the bodies inside had been dismembered and slaughtered, torn and left out in full display. There was no rhyme or reason to this violence.
In the center of the room was a bright red apple. A single bite cut through the top.
It was as I thought. Chaos had started to spread. “I will enter and search for Juliana’s body,” I said.
The gore didn’t faze me as I knew it fazed her. I had seen worse. Mia wiped her tears from her face and denied me access. “No. I’m calling the search off,” she said. “I’ve got a new plan. A better plan. We get off this ship. We just go.”
“Cade is somewhere near,” I said, sniffing the air. I could smell the bastard. He was closer than I originally thought.
Turning, Mia looked down another hall. At the end of this one was a small garden. The door had been left open.
“Don’t,” I said, stopping her. “He’s close. I’ll go inside first.”
“You don’t need to be a hero,” she said. “I’m not frightened.”
I refused. This place was now a nightmare, and the only way out of it was to be careful. I had instincts she didn’t. I could scent like no other animal. Despite our last fight’s ending, I was positive I could break this man in half.
The garden itself was brightly lit and overgrown. However, the plants were starting to decay, albeit slowly. I stooped down in the center of the room to take a look at a tomato that had started to fold in on itself. Not far away, another half-eaten apple sat on top of a small crate. No doubt, Cade had been in this room.
I hunched near the plants and searched for any more unusual signs. A few footprints here and there but not much else I could find. I glanced back at Mia and shrugged. “Nothing. We need to head to the cargo hold. We can get the batteries I left and get the fuck out of this place.”
But just as I was about to exit the room, the power to the ship turned on. My eyes widened, and I felt a new sense of urgency take control. “No,” I muttered. “Fuck no!”
Mia sensed it, too. She screamed and ran toward the shutting automatic doors. “Run—”
But her voice cut off as soon as the doors closed in front of me, cutting us off from one another. The bastard nearly took off her hand.
Mia hit the doors hysterically screaming, but her voice was muffled behind the glass. I put my hand on the glass in defeat. Cade knew we’d be back to free the crew. He knew one of us would be stupid enough to enter the garden. And now he had me trapped like a bull in a pen.
“Mia, it’s okay,” I said, keeping my hand against the glass. I was waiting for Cade to come around the corner, but he didn’t. Instead, I heard a hissing sound whizz from above, followed by the cold mist of gas. A thick fog started to fill the room.
Looking for a way out, I held my breath. I tried to remain stoic and strong but couldn’t see shit. The poison coursed through my veins, shocking me to my knees. I tumbled to the floor, unable to search for a safe place to land.
Not only was the pain incredible, it paralyzed my nervous system. I turned irate and confused, rolling like a dying insect, but even those movements stopped as a deep weakness sank in.