A3 - Chapter 147 – Not with you (Patreon)

USD: 1 Day after Cadre-S Graduation

Location: Van Biesbroeck’s star, Meltisar, MIL-1A Elevator, Tram Tunnel

The group of survivors had slowly spread apart as they moved down the lifeless tram line. It stretched in front of them forever, despite the distance they had already made between themselves and the rampancy.

Elis tightened her arms around Fred’s neck again as her arms burned, pulsing weakness. They had already traveled for at least six or seven kilometers down the darkened straight tunnel.

Some of them had been too wounded to maintain the pace and had been left behind when they couldn’t be carried any further. The rampancy wasn’t traveling that fast, and she hated leaving people behind. If she’d been at least able to communicate, she could have organized some stretchers or the like, but as it was, her only hope was to cling to Fred.

A fearful thought pressed against her. The rampancy and damage was coming from the direction of the transit hub where Alex was supposed to be arriving. It wasn’t a massive leap to think that she might be hurt.

The feeling of being unable to do anything left her core feeling numb.

Explosions punched hot streams of air from wherever their destination had been, and Elis had the fear that one of those would carry the rampant nanites ahead of them and cut them off.

It was at least ten kilometers, at the minimum, between each stop. They’d almost been to the next station, and judging by how far they had come, they were at least two-thirds to the next one.

Fred staggered suddenly, and they almost came down in a heap, but he caught himself. Elis looked up at his face, covered in sweat that ran freely. Concern for his ability to keep carrying warred with her amazement at his endurance. The rest of the group was tired, and none of them had been able to carry anyone further than a kilometer.

It was only because of his extreme efforts that she wasn’t with the ones left behind.

She wasn’t sure why he was trying so hard to save her. They’d slowly lost ground and were now at the back of the group.

“Do you need to rest?” she tried to say, but it just came out a garble. It was the first time she tried to speak in a while and he stopped to look at her.

“Don’t worry, I won’t leave you behind.”

Not being able to answer properly, she tightened her hold around his neck and did her best to hold still for him while he carried her. But her mind ran with the fact that he was a nurse, probably meant he had a lot of experience helping lift patients.

Ahead, someone shouted, “Emergency Shelter Point!”

The main power being off left only emergency lights on, causing the shadows to hide the cubby hole until they were right up on it. The entire ragged group found spots inside the space to sit down and take a breath. Fred lowered her gently near a corner.

“Thank you.” Elis murmured.

Despite it sounding more like gibberish than words, Fred nodded. “No problem.”

Even though he had been the one carrying her, she felt exhausted and her arms burned and felt numb as she propped herself up against the wall to watch the others.

Fred and a few others that were in better shape went to the lockers and started to try to open them to get supplies.

A second set of emergency lights flared an angry red and begun to spin. A distant siren began to wail. One of the survivors jumped up. “That’s the I-field loss warning!”

The group trying to break into the emergency supply lockers redoubled their efforts. Why they were sealed shut if they were meant for an emergency baffled Elis.

Fred arrived with a length of metal and shoved it into the hinge of the steel cage, and pried it loose with a snap. Several medkits and rows of emergency breathing masks sent Elis’s stomach into a freefall. She didn’t have a skinsuit under her hospital gown, and it didn’t appear there were any available in the lockers.

Fred grabbed two masks and brought one to her and she put it on, anyway.

A few seconds later, a man began to shout. “There aren’t enough masks! Who took more than one! We have to share!”

He spun frantically, looking at the other survivors who pulled back from him. He only stopped when his glare landed on Elis.

“You! You don’t even have a skinsuit! You don’t need that mask. Give it to me!”

Elis pulled herself to sit up straight as he took a step forward, but Fred placed himself between them.

Fred held up a hand. “Relax, we can figure something out. It shouldn’t be hard to share a mask.”

Elis looked around for a weapon, but there wasn’t anything in reach. Sure enough, the frantic survivor wasn’t appeased and began raving. The man suddenly swung a fist toward Fred’s face.

Her nurse sidestepped, then perfectly executed two textbook jabs under the man’s chin, sending him sprawling backwards into the lockers. Threatening murder, the man jumped back on his feet and grabbed one of the medkit bags by its strap and swung it at Fred’s head.

It was knocked away, and the men continued to square off, but Elis’s attention was on the kit as it fell near her. Scrambling to pull herself over to it she pulled it open and grabbed the first sharp thing she could find, a pair of pointy scissors.

Turning back toward the fight, she found her effort was unneeded. Fred had the man on the ground, face and torso pressed against the ground while his arms were pinned behind his back.

“Get me something to restrain him with!” Fred yelled at another survivor, who just stood watching the scene blankly. Elis searched the kit and found a roll of medical tape and tossed it to him. He thanked her, then hog-tied the man despite his struggles.

Elis didn’t have time to be impressed because just as he finished there was a loud popping sound, and then a torrent of air began to rush down the tunnel toward where the tram wreck was. A half-dozen people began to scream in their breath masks, while others panicked and retreated deeper into the room.

One had the foresight to rush over to the fallen locker grate and hand it to Fred, who slapped it over the entryway. That was fortuitous because they felt loose supplies and med-kits began to roll themselves out of the room in the rush of escaping air.

As suddenly as it started, a loud bang heralded the depressurization’s halt. Elis lifted her mask and took a breath. The air was thin and chill, but it wasn’t vacuum.

Which meant the restrained jerk on the ground was able to keep screaming about being murdered.

Fred looked down at him. “If you don’t stop, you’re going to use up your air before we can help you.”

The asshole ignored the warning anyway. If anything, he became even more irate. Until he suddenly went quiet.

Fred’s gaze fell on the man who had frozen up. “You. Get over here. You’re going to share your mask with him.”

The man shook his head and backed away, holding his hands up. “I don’t want to.”

“Fucking selfish bastard. Alright, who will share with this guy? There isn’t enough oxygen in the air at this pressure.”

No one in the group stepped forward, all seeming hesitative to do anything. Elis started to raise her hand, but Fred shot her a sharp look. “Not you. You’re already injured.”

He turned his gaze to the others. “What is this, Piscium? Does he need to offer you credits to keep him from suffocating?”

Finally, a woman stepped forward. “I’ll help. What do I do?”

Fred fetched the medkit from Elis and went to work creating a small mask with some soft plastic, then taped it over the man’s mouth and nose. A small tube attached to the woman’s mask allowed them to share the oxygen output.

“Good enough. But we need to keep moving.” Fred said, “The pressure activated blast doors shut, but the rampancy will probably continue. They’ll cut this section loose from the station before soon, and we need to make it to the Hub and hopefully a shelter by then.”

A frown crept onto Elis’s face. Just why did a nurse know about nanite rampancy? She consoled herself that the medical personnel likely just knew about all the emergency procedures on the station.

“We shouldn’t go anywhere. We should wait to be rescued.” One man said. That gained support from almost half the group. Including the woman who was sharing the mask with the restrained man.

Elis couldn’t tell what it was, but Fred’s attention to the group flipped like a switch and he shrugged, then turned to her. “We need to get out of here. Are you ready?”

She wished she had her datapad so she could reply. After a glance to the rest of the group, she turned back to nod at him. He picked her up and carried her out. A few others decided to follow, but almost half of them stayed put.

***

Time lost its meaning. The pace wasn’t as fast as before, and that only made the trek feel more arduous. The moment that bright white light began to spill into the tunnel ahead of them, Elis felt relief. They were almost to the transit hub.

A blue shimmer hinted that the hub was still fully pressurized, but as they pressed through the field, everything was silent. No emergency staff or people running about, and Elis had a sinking feeling that they had all been left behind.

“Where is everyone?” one of the survivors asked.

“There are emergency escape bunkers across the station. We need to find one for this section.” Fred said.

Fred aimed for a set of benches along a wall and set her down gently before sitting down to rest.

Elis closed her eyes and did just that. An overwhelming sense of exhaustion blanketing her. She hated it. Her new ‘normal’ was anything but. It was enough to make her think of asking Nameless for medical help.

A few minutes later, one of the survivors called out. “It’s over here! It’s locked!”

Fred stood up and started to walk over toward it, leaving her forcing down an irrational fear of abandonment. It made sense for him to check it out before taking her over. He’d already carried her for further than she’d thought a random person would be able, anyway.

He returned after a few minutes, but he had a grim look that didn’t give her any relief.

“It’s locked. They gave us directions to somewhere else, though. The others already went ahead.”

“Fuck.”

She took his hand, and then he lifted her up again.

“Thanks for not leaving me behind.”

“Uh. I’ll find you something to write with, when we get there.”

Defeated, Elis buried her face against his shoulder.

It was over ten minutes later when she began to wonder where they were going. They’d descended into an abandoned maze of corridors, storage rooms, and maintenance holes.

When they reached a shuttle deck, Elis’ eyebrows furrowed as she saw the shuttle waiting on the pad.

Fred must have noticed her attention since he spoke up. “Emergency flights taking anyone left behind on the pods off the station.”

When they reached the entry point, another man in a uniform saluted. “Sir, station is on lockdown, but all small craft are permitted for expedited departure due to emergency conditions.”

The words echoed in Elis’s head as she phrased them in her head. Fallon’s eyes met hers, his realization of his cover being blown arriving at the same time as her understanding that he was kidnapping her.

He dropped her, but she was still faster as she pulled out the pair of scissors and stabbed him in the neck, her bodyweight dragging the blades through his skin and leaving a spray behind. As soon as the metal slipped out, she stabbed him again, this time in the side, but a savage kick stole her air and send her rolling up the ramp.

“Restrain her!” Fallon shouted.

The crewman that answered moved to grab her, but as soon as he came in range she grabbed him and shoved her scissors into his eye.

She wasn’t sure whose shrieks were louder, but as she shoved the man aside, four more men appeared from inside the vehicle. The one in the front had a stun rifle and pulled the trigger.

Her world blinked out in a flash of light.