Star Singer

Sixteen - Gore Warning

GORE WARNING! (Let me know if you think the mature rating should be turned on)

Also: Not edited again. Ran out of time, sorry.
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     All together, the group returned to the Med Bay. Just as Boy had earlier, Trash hung back in the waiting room while the others crowded in front of the door. Simon, who had taken the lead ever since Kelly failed to show up, placed his hand on the door nob and took a deep breath.

     "Whatever we find in here, try to keep your wits about you," He called out, and then he opened to door.

     And there was nothing but an empty room. The piece of furniture that Boy had moved over the vent was still in place. There were a few splatters of blood from both Ben and Boy's original encounter with the parasite, but it was not enough to cause alarm. Simon glanced around the room before he turned to Anna.

     "Does anything look different? How about to you, Kass?"

     The two mentioned stepped into the room and glanced around. None of them really saw anything different from how they had left it. Kass did point out that the medical supplies Sam and Ben had been using were neatly put away; they had not been in a hurry when they left, it seemed.

     "We should try the cameras in Maintenance if we can't find them elsewhere," Lauren suggested.

     "You can get recording for up to four hours. Any longer and you need the Captain's authorization," Anna added in.

    Simon glanced in her direction, but then swiftly moved on to Kass, ignoring Anna. Anna opened her mouth to say something. She swiftly realized the atmosphere wasn't right, so she kept quiet. They did not linger long and returned out to the hall to go toward the Command Deck at the head of the Star Singer. 

     The scene that met them at the Command Deck was... horrific. Before they even made a full approach, the door to the room had been broken open and hung at an angle. Puddles of dark liquid could be seen splattered all over the room. The liquid was too dark to be human blood, but not green, so it did not belong to the Salam either. No one wanted to go near it; there had been no training for carnage like what was waiting for them in that room.

     Simon stopped everyone about ten feet from the door.

     "Anna and I will go in together. Everyone else stay out here." He commanded.

     "W-what?!" Anna protested.

     "You are one of the more suspicious people here. I am not about to just leave you here with this lot." He growled at her, crossing his arms.

     Anna looked around at everyone around her, feeling fears of betrayal welling up. A few seemed to side with Simon, but Kass and Lauren were looking shocked and flabbergasted at the thought.

     "Come on, Simon, why are you being a jerk to her?" Lauren snapped.

     "I think he's got a point though," Teddy mused, looking Anna up and down thoughtfully, "all the attacks so far happened when Anna was around."

     "Not true! Sam and I were attacked before, right when Anna was with Ben, and Anna obviously didn't do this!" Kass pointed out, waving toward the mess in the Command Deck.

     Trash watched everything doing down expressionlessly. He gave no input, but he stood near Anna as she fought back tears. He was a small comfort, but a comfort nonetheless. She forced herself to get control of her emotions. Simon wasn't wrong, but he wasn't right either.

     "It's fine. It's..It's fine. If it will make you all feel better about me, I'll do whatever is needed," She said glumly.

    Lauren made a disgusted sound and crossed her eyes, refusing to look at Simon or Teddy. Teddy chuckled lightly and leaned back against the wall.

     "Fine then, let's go," Simon commanded, waving Anna over.

     Obediently, Anna shuffled to walk beside Simon and the pair headed for the door.  He made her go in first and she had to step carefully over a lump of...something. Once inside, the absolute nightmare that the Command Deck had become was revealed to them. A destroyed body, completely unrecognizable, lay up against one of the terminals. Singer was floating in that very terminal as if waiting for a command that would never come. As the two entered the room, the A.I. flickered before vanishing.

     "Good God," Simon swore under his breath as he glanced around.

    Anna looked everywhere but at the body, a tremor shaking through her entire form. She had never seen death before. Especially not like this. It was awful and made her feel physically ill. And there was a strange smell about the room. And even stranger; of the four people missing, there was only one body-and it was obviously that of something not human.

     "What...are we looking for?" Anna asked hesitantly while Simon glanced about.

    "I don't know. Clues, remains. Anything, I guess. Make yourself useful and go check that thing out," He shrugged.

    "M-me?!" Anna choked, glancing at the body and then swiftly away.

    "We need to know who it is, just do it. Find their tablet or something." Simon snapped as he bent down to examine something.

    Sick to her stomach, Anna fell silent and turned to the body. There was...something covered in dark liquid that may have been a tablet. 

     Careful not to look at the body, Anna approached and reached for the tablet. As she did, the once still remains twitched violently and she screamed, flinging herself backward. Simon jolted up and looked over just as there was an orange blur.

     Trash was there, his jaws opening wide and unhinging like a snake's. Before either of them could really understand what had happened, he engulfed the entirety of the body that was thrashing about and, with a sickening crunch, swiftly returned his jaw back to normal. He licked some black liquid from his lips and turned to the two.

     "It tastes disgusting," he complained.

     A few seconds later Boy was there, pushing the metal door open, his eyes black as he searched about the room. He was panting; obviously he had sprinted back as fast as he could. His eyes landed on Anna, unharmed and sitting on the floor in a frightened heap. Simon was beside her, his eyes wide and jaw on the floor from shock.

    "You have my thanks," Boy nodded to Trash who burped.

     Trash simply glanced at Anna, a warning she could not read passing between them, and then he left. Boy moved over to Anna and hesitantly wrapped all four of his arms around her. She looked up at him and then pressed herself against him willingly. He lifted her up with ease before glancing down at Simon, who had shaken himself free of his shock and  was heaving near by.

     "You put her in danger." Boy said darkly.

     "So...so what? We're all in danger," Simon panted, spitting stomach bile from his mouth.

     Boy simply stared him down for a moment before he turned away, taking Anna with him back out of the room.