Opening his eyes Ridge sat up from the bed and stretched them as wide as possible without touching them. Adjusting to his surroundings he cleared his throat and checked the wrist panel. The time was seven hundred, rubbing his eyes clear of rheum he pulled the blanket away and got up to use the restroom.
Once inside he washed his face and of course, did his business, he didn't have his toothbrush with him and he didn't want to use the old commander's one so he just gurgled mouthwash that he found and washed his mouth that way.
Once he finished with that he walked back into the room and dropped to the floor. He began to do pushups.
He started at one and soon after some time passed ending him at two-hundred-fifty, before getting up he then began to do situps. Likewise, he did this till he hit at least one hundred.
Once two hours exactly passed and he finished working out Ridge then took a quick shower and got dressed. Walking out of his room he grabbed a couple of nutritional bars that could last him throughout the day and also grabbed the flamethrower. He had two reasons for this, the first was to burn up the dead bodies that were soon to be launched into space, and the second was to perhaps kill the thing that made him sleepy.
It was always best to deal with these things right away. A few of the others had already woken up and greeted Ridge as he walked by them with a flamethrower in hand, this of course was surprising to them, but for the most part, they just didn't question it. Ridge seeing that Berkay was still not at the navigation table decided to go to the cafeteria first. Once he finished dealing with the problem there he could come back to discuss further the details about the planet they found.
During that time he should probably also move to one of the escape pods and find the dead bodies so that he can set those on fire as well.
Now leaving the bridge he walked through the many halls of the ship while eating until finally he came upon the double sliding doors of the cafeteria and walked inside. The place still looked a bit rundown, however, there were also newer spots that seemed to have been recently cleaned and a lot of the junk was no longer visible, probably taken away as he was sleeping.
There was also still no one up and working in the cafeteria yet so he just walked directly into the kitchen and soon enough, into the warehouse or back of the kitchen. Still dark he reached to the right and switched the light on which lit up abruptly.
Examining from a distance he looked around and didn't quite spot anything, however, as he moved down each aisle, he began to notice something. There were these tiny spots of color on some of the supplies. Furrowing his brows he immediately left to quickly go to his room and got suited up with the spacesuit and helmet he left behind. This didn't take long and soon enough he returned suit and all once again passed by more people that had now woken up.
Moving back to the area where he found the colored spots he examined the place and saw that there were drops of what seemed like blood on the ground. Crouching down and running his now gloved fingers over it slightly he saw that it stuck to his glove, but after rubbing it between his fingers it simply disintegrated apart.
Ridge knew that it was dried blood for sure then and there, and immediately he followed the trail of drops with his flashlight until finally it led him to the dark corner of the room and showed a sad sight.
There was a dead body and on top of it was fungus of sorts similar to the infected that he fought only these didn't seem to have the power to control the body of the dead crew mate and also didn't seem to react too much. Feeling slightly saddened by this discovery Ridge just sighed and shook his head. He would have to burn this body early.
Before doing this, however, he turned around and began to quickly throw all the supplies into the corner where the dead man was lying and essentially entangled in the crimson-red roots of the fungus. He didn't want to take any risks, so he just threw whatever it was he found had colored spots on it. After some time and a close examination of everything he threw, he grabbed the flamethrower and aimed it at the corner that was now essentially empty besides the dead body, fungus, and pile of supplies lying atop them.
Hissing sounds sounded and an abrupt whooshing began to emit as the flames surged out from the gun and onto the pile. Igniting in flames the entire corner lit up Ridge's face into a yellowish-orange color and soon enough began to burn. As he kept the flames going he began to hear a hissing sound. Beside the now blackened supplies, the fungus that was infecting the body had begun to make noises and after what seemed like screeches of agony Ridge finally noticed that the sounds died out.
Ridge eventually stopped supplying the pile with more flames and monitored the things burning to make sure nothing spread. After what seemed like an hour of waiting he witnessed the flames dying down and all that remained were the charred supplies and ashes of the crew member that was being siphoned by the fungus.
"Rest In Peace," Ridge said quietly.
Looking around he walked back to the entrance of the warehouse and found a bag of some kind that was luckily empty and also a machine that could effectively suck up dust, a vacuum, after finding these he led himself back to the corner and cleaned up.
Although for the most part, he assumed it would be safe now that the fungus was killed he still wanted to clean up and in case something survived he would then burn whatever it was again before launching it out with the other bodies.
As he was undergoing this process of cleaning up Hank the soldier who found him asleep also entered the room and was immediately confused finding Ridge in his spacesuit cleaning up ashes.
"What happened here?" he asked.
Not looking up from what he was doing Ridge replied, " Cleaning up some of the ashes and remains of infected supplies and a type of fungus that had somehow fed on a corpse of one our crew members."
Hearing this Hank showed a face of disgust, "Good riddance, do you need any help now? A good portion of the crew has already begun to wake up and start work again so we're available."
Finally finished with vacuuming up the remains of his handiwork he looked at Hank and nodded, " Yeah, just finish tallying the rest of the supplies for me, I made progress yesterday before falling asleep, and with these supplies now burned, it will probably be best to make sure everything is up to date on the tablet and ship systems," Ridge said while holding up the bag that he was holding to showcase the supplies now turned into ashes.
"Yes Sir, I will start immediately," Hank saluted and then went to grab the tablet and start tallying the supplies.
Examining the room once more this time with the help of Hank every so often, Ridge made sure the room was secure and safe and once he figured it was, he left. Carrying the bag and bypassing some of the people who were cleaning not only the kitchen but also the cafeteria he walked down the halls once again until he made it to the area that held the escape pods.
This area was relatively new to be explored after the incident so Ridge took great care in making sure that nothing was out of place. Fortunately, there seemed to have been people working here yesterday, presumably dragging the bodies, so after passing the first and second escape pods he looked into the window of the third and found the remains of the infected that had been killed throughout the ship.
"I've already counted them by the way Sir," A voice said behind him as was looking through the window.
Startled Ridge quickly turned around and saw Yayha, "Jeez, you startled me, make sure to announce your presence," he said while putting down his flamethrower that was aimed at Yayha.
With his hands up Yayha chuckled and then said, "My bad."
"Anyways, you said you counted them?" Ridge said as he looked through the window again at the bodies that had been infected by fungus or at least what looked like fungus.
"Yeah, as we were moving the bodies I made sure to keep count just in case it was necessary and after some time I got the number forty-two, as of right now that is one less of what we need to have when adding the others that are alive from the original hundred, which means there is one more out there and we should be caut -," cutting him off before he could finish speaking Ridge said, "Cautious? No need, I found the last body in the warehouse and have already burned him, unlike the others he was being used as a sort of blood bag for a different kind of fungus."
Yayha hearing this was slightly taken aback, but soon nodded," Okay then, that accounts for everyone, we just need to take care of these bodies and then clean up the ship."
"Indeed, let's gather up the rest of the crew first and wake anyone who is still asleep, I want to hold a quick moment of silence with everyone here to remember the others," Ridge replied somewhat sadly.
Nodding with him Yayha sighed then left to gather the others. Sitting down and leaning against the wall Ridge simply waited as he quietly watched the door that held the many deceased people who used to be his family in space even if he didn't know them all individually well.