Among Us....

Chapter 7. The file.

Carter sat by the airlock and wept. In fact the entire team sat together on the cold floor and wept. They wept over the events of the past 6 days. They wept over Emilia, Andrew and now Phoenix. None of this seemed real.  Not to anybody, especially Anant. Who, through the tears, was a step away from snapping.
"It had to happen...he would have killed us." A shaky voice broke the silence, it was Tayjah. She held herself. Her big brown eyes glanced over to Deelan, who's face was pale. Despite her darker skin colour. She glanced up at Tayjah with red eyes, and nodded her head.
"This makes no sense..." mumbled Anant. Who slowly stood up and looked at his crew, who were sitting stagnant by the airlock controls. They each sat there, limp and broken. Each with wet cheeks.
"How did we know for sure?" His demeanour changed slightly, as he looked at Carter.
"Know what?" Daniel asked, as he looked up at Anant.
"Know that Phoenix was...an imposter. What if we're hallucinating...."
His voice began getting shaky.
"You saw Tentacles break out of his skin too, right?!" Tayjah quickly replied, as she narrowed her eyebrows.
Anant paused, he blinked a couple of times and looked down. She was right, even though he didn't want her to be.
•
•
•
Hours had passed, and the ship was as quiet as ever. Not a sound could be heard. Just the ship itself, no humans. However, foot steps could be heard if you listened close enough. The foot steps of a nurse. Deelan paced heavily up and down medical bay. Her face was twisted with fear and confusion. God, she wished Emilia was there to help her make sense of it all. The infections, the clues and everything in between. Emilia was the smart one! Not her! She was just her apprentice. But Emilia is dead, just like Andrew and now Phoenix. Quickly her throat swelled, she felt blood rushing to her head as she cupped her face and began to violently sob. Quivering, she looked up to the ceiling as she cried.
And shut her eyes tightly
"....Oh god, what do I do..." she whimpered, as tears soaked her shirt. When she opened them, Daniel was in front of her. She gasped and widened her eyes, Daniel had a very sad look on his face. He approached Deelan, and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. She hugged back.
He let go and looked at her, "why don't you go get me a few incident reports, and I'll fill them out." He offered.
"Okay." She mumbled and took a few steps towards the door, then paused.
"Oh my god." She whispered. Daniel looked over at her confused.
"Reports....Emilias Reports!" She shouted and took off towards the dorms.
"Emilia's reports?" Daniel whispered to himself, "She doesn't mean-" he paused.
•
Deelan opened the door to the bedroom that ones homed her two friend. The room was dark, and seemed empty without the two vibrant souls. After closing the door she flicked on the light and began looking around, although the room looked trashed. Maybe it was hidden in an obvious spot? So she began looking over and under, until her hand slapped a large pillow off a bunk bed, and there was a file. It was thin and in a beige folder, marked
"Phoenix/ infection."
Deelans heart stopped as she belt down to grab it.
"Andrew died protecting this file..." was all she could think to say.
•
•
•
Carter sat quietly in his room, and turned on his camera.
"Captains log...Andrew was killed by Phoenix. So we ejected Phoenix, because whatever was making him to these things was still in him...I-"
Carter stopped and began to weep.
"I failed my team. They relied on me to keep them safe, and all along...I...was leading them closer to death..." he wept between words and gasped for air. "I don't know how this happened, all we were supposed to do was-"
A loud sound suddenly cut him off.
"EVERYONE TO CAFETERIA! NOW!" Deelan screamed over the speakers.
Carter jumped up and covered his ears.
He grabbed his camera, shoved it in his pocket and raced to the cafeteria.
The scream woke Tayjah, who was in a deep state of numbness. She gasped, and gripped her chest immediately, thinking her heart was going to explode! Tayjah gripped onto the damp fabric of her t-shirt and pulled it from her sweaty chest. Strands of her curly brown hair was stuck to her face, and her body was trembling with fear as she quickly caught her breath. It was times like this her gasp would wake Deelan right up, she'd see her roommate lean over the bunk and say something like, "your okay." Or maybe "catch your breath." In her tired voice. But this time it was Deelan causing the panic.
"Damn it Deelan!" Tayjah slammed her fist against the wall, and leaped down from her bed, throwing on her suit and jogging to cafeteria.
Tayjah saw Carter walking to medical bay from the cafeteria, and anxiety grew in her stomach. Tayjah placed a hand on her chest and leaned against the wall, she began messaging her heart. Trying to inhale as much oxygen as she could.
"Hey..." a voice came from behind her.
Tayjah turned around. It was Anant.  She looked down.
"What?" She hissed between gritted teeth.
"Are you... okay?"
"...I'm fine." Tayjah removed her hand from her chest and stood up straight. 
"You look like crap, dude." She added.
Anant's eyes were red, and his skin was pale.  He did look like crap, but at least he wasn't covered in sweat, like Tayjah.
"I'd worry about yourself for now." Was the last thing he said, before he entered the cafeteria.  Tayjah followed shortly in after him.
To see Deelan standing against the furthest wall, she looked a little frightened. But then again, who didn't. Her braids we tied back and she had her glasses off, you could see her nervously biting the skin from her lip, then licking the sore spot.
A brief moment of silence passed and Carter and Daniel walked in.
"What is so important, cadet." Carter asked, he crossed his arms and stood like a rock.
"Yelling over the speaker, Deelan? My heart nearly stopped..." Tayjah mumbled, her face plastered with worry. As was Daniels, his hair was ruffled in front of his face and his cheeks were pale, he never showed much emotion before but now he was like a statue.
"Um...I think you should all sit down." Deelan said, her voice was hallow.
The team glanced at each other defensively, then slowly sat down. All but two stood standing now. Both like stone.
"Captain?" Deelan asked. All eyes shifted to Carter.
"I'll stand." Was all he said, now all eyes on Deelan. She nodded, without further discussion. She opened up a folder that was in her arms, and took out a few sheets of paper.
"This might be hard to understand..." was all she said. Her hand was shaky as she was spreading a few photos apart. And before she could get words out, her blood shot eyes glazed with tears. The team noticed.
"But I've made a discovery."
Anant hugged himself anxiously, and glanced at Daniel. Who had a blank stare.
Deelan sighed,
"Andrew was killed protecting this file...it's a medical report done by Emilia before..... her accident." She swallowed hard, and continued.
"I've read it and-" Deelan struggled to speak.
"and...and—"
"AND WHAT?!" Daniel shouted, cutting the silence in the large room with a knife. And slicing his crewmates along the way.
Tayjah gasped and again, gripped her chest.
"Quiet." Was all Carter hissed.
Anant bounced his knee anxiously as Tayjah just focused on staying alive. Deelan continued.
"And whatever was in Phoenix...is still on this ship."
And for once...the entire ship was completely silent. In dread, that sat, like corpses, and saw as Deelan began to tremble over her words.
"...How do you know?" The words could barely leave Tayjahs throat.
"This...organism, once in the body. Can replicate our cells. And completely morph with us." Deelan placed a hand on her stomach.
As she looked at the dead faces of her crew.
"It can be...and in fact IS, one of us."
Deelan looked down, she sounded scared and hollowed out.
"And I know this because the wires for the scanning machine in medbay are cut..."
Tears rolled down her cheeks as her throat tightened, she whispered with a dry throat
"And rats can't chew through those wires..."
Tayjah leaped from her chair, in fact they all did.
"Oh my gosh." Anant began to shake his head, in horror on the news.
"Everyone stay calm!" Carter snapped as he took a step back.
"Captain, what do we do?"
"We stay calm!" He shouted back. A moment of dead silence passed.
"Here's what we're going to do, everyone stay in your rooms. Get the service bots to bring you food each day. And do not leave until I give further instructions! Deelan, you stay in Emilia's old room. Tayjah stays in her room."
Carter looked around at his crew,
"Is that understood?!" He shouted.
They all nodded their heads.
"Stop crying Deelan." He added.
Deelan closed her eyes and eventually her tears stopped.
"You need to keep that file safe. Hide it."
He added, she agreed.