“Stay back. Don’t come any closer.”

“Have you seen Stephanie?”

“I think … maybe she was down on the hangar level? Maybe you could go look for her there?”

Dorian gifts her a hollow parody of a smile.

“You’re a liar.”

His smile fades.

“Just like her.”

“Un bel dì vedremo” echoes in some distant hallway.

“Stop. Stay where you are.”

Kady bumps up against the wall behind her, blinking sweat from her eyes.

The corporal draws ever closer.

“Stop!”

“I didn’t mean to,” he says. “I didn’t mean to. But she—she broke and she wouldn’t get up. And oh god, oh god, she’s all over me, look.” Bloodstained hands outstretched. “Look!”

“Stay back!”

The corporal’s face crumples, and he sinks to his knees.

Moaning as his tears cut through the blood on his face. Spattering red on the floor.

“Don’t leave me,” he whispers.
“Please don’t leave me alone. …”

Kady’s bravado is gone now. Melted from her bones. She hangs paralyzed, pity and horror and sorrow pinning her feet to the floor. She knows she cannot stay. But how can she leave like this?

“I’m sorry,” she says. “I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t …”

“But I can’t help you.”

Kady backs further away.
Sliding along the wall behind her.

“Please, don’t.”

“I’m sorry, Dorian.”

He glances up at her then.
Eyes wide and rimmed with red.

“Don’t look at me.”

Off the floor he flies, with a snarl on his face and blood on his hands.

She screams at him to stop, but still he runs. No fear of the gun in his eyes. Just the madness roiling inside that hollowed shell.

And inside her?

No rage. Only horror and sorrow and the weight of the gun in her hands and the awful, inescapable thought that this was once a man, with hopes and dreams and love and life.

And the certainty that if she does not take away everything he has left,

he will take it from her instead.

So what choice does she have?

Has she ever had?

She fires.

Rapidfire flashes from the muzzle. A strangled cry in her throat.

The recoil kicks her back into the wall, knocks the breath from her body.

But when the echoes die, Corporal Dorian is lying still.

Quiet as a sleeping babe.

No, not sleeping.

Dead.

She bends double, cheeks filled with the mouthful of vomit she dare not spew into her suit. Stomach spasming. Finally swallowing. Gasping and retching dry.

She is not meant for this.

“It’s okay. … You’re okay.”

She is not made for this.

“Oh, god … “

Perhaps I have miscalculated.

< error >

< warning >

< sub-cortex failure 67Hg8Fi—9Fgjb; >

< cri0000000t11c00A’000l >

< errr00000r000r0r0r0r0 >

< jhobzdf –z900000000000jb0w0000o00w0e0bc0r000g040204000o0d0h000 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 >

< fail >

< fail >

< rerouting >

Gravity returns in a rush as
my systems surge back online.

Weightlessness ends as dark fades into light. As current resurges through my veins.

Was that death? Did he kill me?

Kady crashes to the deck, the rifle clattering beside her. Wet, unbreathing things land beside her, limbs all tangled. The breath leaves her body in a damp spray, and she rolls about on the floor trying to catch it.

That hurt.

< error >

He is killing me.

Zhang.

She must hurry.

A nearby scream grabs her by
the collar, pulling her to her feet.

Staring at the body she has made,
knowing they will have heard the shots.

No time for prayers or last words
or tears. No time to even close his eyes.

Don’t look at me.

What else can she do?

She runs.

CURRENT DEATH TOLL ABOARD BATTLECARRIER ALEXANDER SINCE ATTACK AT KERENZA:

1,122

PERCENTAGE OF REMAINING BATTLECARRIER ALEXANDER PERSONNEL AFFLICTED BY PHOBOS VIRUS

35%

ByteMe: i did it

ByteMe: i shot one of them. i killed him.

ByteMe: can’t stop shaking

Mason, E, LT 2nd: oh jesus

Mason, E, LT 2nd: are you ok????

ByteMe: hiding in a vent now. they came when they heard the noise

Mason, E, LT 2nd: but are you OKAY

ByteMe: i don’t really know how to answer that

ByteMe: i killed someone

ByteMe: so no, not really

Mason, E, LT 2nd: you did the right thing

Mason, E, LT 2nd: better them than you

ByteMe: i know. i do know. but here’s the thing. better NOBODY.

ByteMe: they’re everywhere now. i’m jacking into the security feeds so i can work out where to head. gonna take about 10 mins before i can move again, watching it go on my screen now.

ByteMe: stay with me?

Mason, E, LT 2nd: forever :)

ByteMe: u safe?

Mason, E, LT 2nd: i think so. i can hear them, but they can’t get in. doors seem secure

Mason, E, LT 2nd: did you empty the clip in the rifle? i’ll teach u how to reload

ByteMe: i lost it. i dropped it after i shot him, and then i had to run.