The DOOM Chronicles

Chapter 02: Temporary Reprieve

Kyra looked out of the front of her pod and wondered if she was fucked.

Wouldn't that be just hilarious? Survive a shipwreck, in space no less, battling actual demons across two moons and Hell itself, and then another shipwreck, just to die because of some bad luck. Less hilarious, more infuriating, she supposed. But also true to life. Little shit going wrong seemed to be the cause of a lot of life's problems. Kyra perked up as she thought she heard gunfire coming from somewhere not too far away, but it was harder to tell from within the pod. She began looking around her pod again, hoping for something new to leap out at her this time. There was the emergency StimPack attached to the interior of the pod, and the pistol and ammo she'd managed to hold onto in all the chaos...

That was it, she surmised, although she'd want to perform one more search after she was actually out of the damned thing. But, all things considered, it wasn't a bad haul. She had her armor, too. Now more than ever was she grateful that she'd gotten that two-day vacation on Luna. She wouldn't pass out, or starve, or dehydrate. She had a new suit of green security armor, and although she wished she'd managed to hold onto her damned rifle, she was grateful for the sidearm. Kyra paused and then grinned: definitely gunshots.

She saw the muzzle flares and suddenly, one of the zombies that was pawing around outside her pod got its brains splattered all over the glass. It dropped. A fiend shrieked and threw a ball of fire somewhere off to the left, then it went down under a barrage of bullets. The rest of the zombies went down and then there was Jack, all done up in green armor as well. He looked in and said something, but it was lost because it wasn't over the shortwave. She imagined he was trying to be reassuring. She couldn't help but smile and as she watched him begin to get the pod door open, Jennifer watching his back, she remembered how badly she'd wanted to fuck earlier.

The urge hadn't exactly left her.

Her eyes drifted to Jennifer. Now really wasn't the time, but if they did find some time...she'd be really interested in making a threesome with the two of them. It was obvious that they were a couple. Maybe they'd both be into her. Or maybe one or the other would be cool sharing. Kyra sighed and shook her head. This definitely wasn't the right time for this. The Earth was aflame, overrun with demons from Hell, and she was thinking about fucking.

Then again, was there a better time to enjoy yourself before it all came to an end?

Finally, Jack got the pod door open. He offered her his hand, and she took it and let him help her out of it. She thought his grasp lingered, just a little.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Fine," Kyra replied. "Watch my back, I need to search this pod. Then we're checking the others."

"Understood."

Well, at least the chain of command was out of the way. Although that might be a problem. Power plays could be hot in fiction, and sometimes in real life, but it was the kind of thing that got complicated. Then again, neither of the two struck her as the type who'd agree to intimacy simply because she outranked them. Which was good, that would admittedly turn her off. Kyra forced all the non-serious thoughts from her head as hard as she could as she searched her pod. Now was the time to fight like hell.

There was nothing else in the pod, as she'd suspected.

Behind her, one of the others opened fire, and a zombie roared as it went down. She sighed and had Taylor send over the map she'd downloaded, looking at the pods. "Okay, Ward, which pod was yours?" she asked.

He paused, thinking. "Four."

"You're sure?" she asked, checking it out.

"Yes."