Iko
Iko's body jerked up. Her face covered in sweat and her heartbeat racing like the ship's engine itself. Her hand shot up and she clutched her chest, her short shallow breaths were the only sound in the room. Iko glanced around the dimly lit room looking in every corner and every shadow but nothing was there. Iko's neck felt as if there were pins and needles jabbing into her skin every other second. She quickly removed her hand from her chest and gently massaged her neck.
"Another nightmare... God, why can't I remember them?``Iko huffed out Iko.
Suddenly the alarm clock began beeping loud and clear with the screen flashing 8:00 am. A loud sigh escaped from Iko's mouth as she tossed her legs over the edge of her bed. Iko gently and carefully reached over to the alarm and slammed her fist down on the alarm as harm as she could. A loud and satisfying cracking sound came from the once fine alarm, the screen flickering in red then blue and then black. Iko felt no remorse for the alarm. That bastard had woken her up from slumber one too many times. Iko's feet hit the floor and she walked swiftly over to her closet and grabbed a clean uniform. Quickly Iko changed out of her pajamas and into the uniform. After she was done changing, Iko quickly reached down and picked up her pajamas then proceeded to toss them into the laundry bin. Swiftly Iko walked over to the bathroom to brush her teeth and put her long hair into a ponytail. After she finished her hair Iko glanced in the mirror and stared at her reflection. The woman in the mirror was her and yet... It wasn't. Iko reached up and brushed the sleep from her eyes and looked back in the mirror, it was the same Iko.
Suddenly Iko's holo watch beeped and Iko's attention was brought back to reality. The watch projected today's schedule, the first thing Iko had to do was go and check on Subject 10902. Iko glanced at the mirror one last time before swiftly heading out of her room to the Subject's cell. The Signa's corridors had a golden glow from a nearby dwarf star's light. Giving the corridors a light and warm glow. Iko smiled ever so gently and quickly began power walking down to the Subject's containment area. When Iko got to the new Subject's cell something seemed... Off. Subject 10902 was in the same position as it was a couple of hours earlier. The tranquilizer should have worn off a while ago. Immediately Iko lifted her wrist and started her voice log.
Log Date - 1 - 16 - XX
"Uhmmmm. Subject 10902 seems to be... Dead? I'm notifying Doctor Erma immediately and starting a perimeter check to make sure nobody tampered with the subject or the surrounding area.." Iko casually shut down her voice log and swiftly checked the control panel of the cell to see if somebody had increased the electricity or did something else to Subject 10902. But the control panel was bolted shut for safety and the surrounding area had no signs of tampering. Iko huffed out a frustrated sigh and quickly lifted her watch to call Doctor Erma. After a couple of seconds, nothing happened. Iko felt as if a pit opened in her stomach, a sinking feeling was starting to consume her.
"That's odd... Erma always picks up right away... Something is not right."
Iko reached up to turn off the electric field but suddenly paused. Iko felt as if she was repeating an action, repeating a story. Quickly Iko shoved down the weird thoughts of deja vus and slammed her palm onto the red button. The glass-like shimmering began to fade away to nothingness, Iko rushed into the cell and kneeled next to the lump-like thing. Iko slowly and carefully reached forward and placed her palm where Dirk's pulse would normally be.
"Crap...Crap... Crap! No pulse and ice-cold... How did this even happen?" thought aloud Iko. Carefully Iko reached both of her arms under the Subject 10902 and flipped it onto it's back.
"What the fuck!"
The body in front of her was hollowed out like an old watermelon that had been forgotten in the summer sun for a couple of weeks. Iko's body jumped away from the rotten husk of a being in front of her. Iko began to gag from the sight and the smell before suddenly realizing that something had been hiding within Subject 10902 and that something was now somewhere in the depths of the Signa. Iko's body shot up, she ran over to the emergency switch and with the force of a tidal wave, she pulled the alarm down to alert the entire ship that something had gone horribly wrong. The sound of sirens began blaring throughout the Signa, Iko cringed. She hated the sound of the emergency alarm, it sounded like nails on a chalkboard and metal clashing on metal at high volume.
As fast as she could Iko reached down to her holster and pulled out her handgun, a Kin-Blaster with neon green lights on the side to show she was a Signa crew member and not an enemy. Iko rushed out of the room and began walking carefully down the Signa to find whatever had been hiding within Subject 10902. The Signa looked normal as if nothing had gone wrong this early morning. Iko's ears strained to hear any sign of life, crew, or foreign. Iko lifted her wrist quickly and glanced down at the screen that projected upwards with an eerie glow. No calls from Doctor Erma, Captain Jaxon, or any crewmates... Something either happened to the Signa's crew or...Suddenly the abrupt stop of blaring alarms ripped Iko out of her thoughts, and a new abrupt sound forced Iko to whip around to be face to face with Captain Jaxon.
"Iko! Lower your weapon and explain yourself right now! I've been calling your holo-watch to get an explanation and I demand one! Why is the emergency alarm going off?" barked out Captain Jaxon, his face was red with pure anger like a ripe tomato.
Iko's posture automatically straightened, she holstered her weapon. Then she quickly saluted her angry Captain.
"Captain I checked on Subject 10902, and it was dead Sir. The body was hollowed out with nothing left inside the rotting corpse. Something was inside the Subject, and now that something is inside the Signa!" explained Iko.
Captain Jaxon's blank expression did not help Iko's nerves.
"Captain? Captain. This is serious! I know for some reason you don't trust me but something that can and most likely will kill is on the ship."
Captain Jaxon stood there taking in what Iko had just said, he stood perfectly still as if frozen in time. Captain Jaxon took a quick step towards Iko and gently placed his palms on her shoulders and looked directly into her adrenaline-filled eyes.
"Iko... Shut up for one bloody second. I don't give a shit about what you are saying! All you do is talk and talk and talk! Or you just stare at Doctor Erma. Honestly, how the hell did you even get into this position?" he spat out.
Iko stood frozen in place as if someone had just slapped her across the face. She took a step back and began nervously tapping her thigh with her fingertips. She took in a deep breath of the cool artificial air and looked into Captain Jaxon's dark stormy gray eyes.
"Captain, you know I don't ramble on about things unless they are either important or deadly. And right now this is deadly!" Iko glared at her captain.
Captain Jaxon opened his mouth to say something but suddenly his body shot into a rigid position and he froze. He began clawing at his chest, his eyes as wide as the sun.
Iko immediately took a step back and laid her hand across the holster of her gun. She tilted her head in confusion. Her long hair tilted with her, a few strands falling across her concerned face.
"Captain...? Captain, what in the name of the Signa and stars is wrong with you?" Iko said while staring at her captain. Her eyes filled with bewilderment, anger, and a little hint of fear.
Captain Jaxon's face went slack and he dropped down onto his knees. His face tilted up to Iko, the lights of the Signa glinting off the sweat that had built up around his face. He's always angry eyes filled with terror as if his worst nightmare had quickly come true. He looked at Iko, his eyes so wide it looked as if they could get no larger, Captain Jaxon slowly opened his mouth and muttered out so quietly Iko barely heard.
"Leave now."
Suddenly Captain Jaxon fell to his face, a hard thud echoed down the empty hall. His body had begun shaking and contorted in so many different ways that it looked painful. Iko took a step towards her Captain and slowly reached down to tap his back. Suddenly his body shot up in such an unnatural way into a standing position like a broken or old marionette. His head was hanging on his left side. His face contorted into a smile that was way too big for his face. Iko's instincts kicked in and she pulled out her Kin-Blaster and aimed it right at the Captain's heart. Captain Jaxon slowly reached up to his head and repositioned it so he was facing Iko with direct contact. Captain Jaxon slowly lowered his arms down to his side and stared into Iko's eyes.
"Captain... What the fuck just happened..? What the actual fuck is wrong with your face?" she quickly said not to break eye contact for a split second.
Captain Jaxon didn't reply. He slowly reached up to his face and gently touched the smile that was painted across his face. He slowly reached for the corners and grabbed onto them tightly, suddenly Captain Jaxon began pulling and clawing at this face-ripping the already too big smile even bigger. Blood began to drip down his face as it was falling down like a waterfall, the sound of ripping flesh was all Iko could hear in her ears along with her heartbeat. Iko was frozen in place; it was as if time had stopped and the image of her captain ripping apart his face with his own hands burned into her memory for the rest of time. Suddenly the erratic movement that came from Jaxon forced Iko back to the terror-filled reality. He had stopped ripping his face and was now just staring at Iko. The blood is still falling at a rapid pace down each and every curve of his face.
The once already large and terrifying smile was now up to under his eyes. The ripped and shredded flesh was hanging down from his face. Almost every single one of his teeth was visible, what once was white had now been stained red with blood. Very slowly the Captain reached up past the gruesome and terrifying smile, his bloody hands stopped at his eyes. They were no longer filled with fear, only nothingness. Slowly he curled his hand into a fist except for a finger on each hand. Before Iko could even react Captain Jaxon slammed his fists into each one of his eyes. A scream of pure terror ripped its way out of the Captain's throat. The blood ran down from where his eyes once were and joined the blood that had originally just been coming from his smile. Slowly the Captain pulled back his hands showing that his eyes had gotten stuck onto his fingers. The optic nerve-like cables hanging onto the bloody eyes that were stuck on his nails like some type of weird olive.
Iko couldn't take it any longer. She tried to stabilize her trembling hands and was about to pull the trigger to stop her captain's pain and her horror from continuing when suddenly the Captain pulled his body back and used all of his force to launch himself at Iko. His mouth was wide open with teeth that were aimed to rip off parts of Iko's body and flesh. Iko screamed and shot several times at Captain Jaxon. Each shot found its mark someplace on or near his chest. The Captain dropped from the air and made a heavy thud on the floor. Blood began to pool around the Captain's body making a large scarlet lake that glitter in the lights of the Signa. Iko's legs went out from under her and her body fell to the floor. She pulled her gun close to her chest. Her heartbeat slammed in her head, the smell and image of what had just happened to infect her senses. She stared at what had once been the cold Captain Jaxon, now he was just some hunk of flesh with blood pouring out of too many cuts, holes, and who knows what else. Iko slowly lowered her head into her open shaking palms and sucked in the cool Signa air.
"W-what the fuck?! How...Who...What??" Iko stammered out. The shock still consumed her, threatening to suffocate her at any moment. She slowly got up her palm on the wall of the ship to stable herself. All she could do was stare at her captain's lifeless body still trying to figure out what had just happened.
Suddenly a loud crash made her whip around to see a shadow slowly moving along the wall just down the hall.
"Hello? Identify yourself now!" Iko shouted out. Her Kin-Blaster aimed for the shadow of the green neon lights showering Ikos's face in a creepy glow. Iko slowly began walking to the shadow of her will to survive at its maximum. She slowed down once she noticed that the shadow had stopped moving.
"I'm giving you one chance! Identify yourself now or else!"
Suddenly Iko felt something wet and warm grab her leg with such force it pulled her down to the floor making Iko fall flat on her chest and hit her head on the hard floor, blood was already coming from her forehead. Iko whipped her head around to see what had pulled her down only to see the Captain's bloody smile and eyeless face staring back at hers.