Chapter Forty-Nine #2
“What?” Danny barely got another sound out as she arched her arm out and wacked him upside the head at max velocity with the crowbar.
Danny was tossed to the side as Aphrodite crawled to her feet.
Turn off the S.O.S. They couldn’t afford anyone else to catch the signal.
She needed to get to the command deck. Aphrodite raced, limping as pain shot up her right shin into her hips, for the front of the ship.
Danny’s snarls like a wild beast followed her, his hands and boots thudding against the metal.
She ducked and whirled around sharp corners of the bridge.
Past red, dim lights illuminating panels within the ship.
If she weren’t being chased by a homicidal zombie, she might stop to stare in awe at the design and infrastructure of the ship.
Her body thrummed as the pain dulled. The adrenaline washed it from her consciousness for a short while.
Aphrodite could taste the command deck she was so close.
Only a pair of hands grabbed her by the shoulders and wheeled her around.
Her skull hit a crystal-encased panel first before she toppled to the ground.
Keeping one mission in her spinning mind, Aphrodite clutched that crowbar as hard as she could.
Before Danny could pounce on her, she swung.
Again, and again, once or twice she hit something, a few she didn’t.
But she shoved herself across the grate, clawing into her armor with its sharp grit.
Aphrodite gasped for air, struggling to get up onto her feet.
When she was finally standing, she faced Danny taking up the entire bridge inches away from the engineer’s ladder up into the command deck. He panted heavily as yellow foam oozed from his ripped open mouth. Blood shot eyes stared back at her as the infection fully devoured him.
Aphrodite’s world spun, her body wobbling left and right. She saw three Danny’s then two then three again. Blood dribbled down her temple and soaked into her already damp hair. For a moment, and for no reason other than habit, her eyes darted to her data pad. Buddy’s text filled the screen.
The skull is most brittle at the base…right where my light cannon is.
Aphrodite grinned, teeth coated in blood and grime as she peered up at the raging Danny. Woozily, she pointed the crowbar at his head.
Danny, unlike the others once they’d gone past the point of no return snarled. “That’s no gun, silly engineer.”
“No…but the real Danny would know to always look for my drone. I’m known for giving him upgrades.” And like pulling the trigger, Aphrodite made a ‘pew’ sound and cocked back the crowbar. Danny’s face melted as a massive hole was blown through the back of it and out the center of his forehead.
Aphrodite collapsed against the railing of the bridge, the crowbar clanging against the metal as she used it as a crutch. Buddy bobbed over the crumpled corpse toward Aphrodite.
He filled her screen.
Aphrodite Kerso is damaged but not infected. You need extensive care. There is hemorrhaging to the cranium and fractures in your legs. Plus, there are bizarre scans coming from your torso.
Aphrodite waved at him weakly. “I know…nothing good…but first, the signals…then we can catalogue my injuries.”
Buddy made a few sad chirps but bobbed alongside her all the same.
Aphrodite limped over Danny’s body before using the crowbar to knock him off the bridge and into the broiling depths of the ship where his body would eventually burn from the heat of the engine.
Or it would warp and twist and break until it was nothing from the power of the crystal energy.
Either way, no Brexzkit was using his body now.
It took all her willpower and upper arm strength to yank herself up bar by bar.
Up. Up. Up the ladder until she could pop open the hatch.
Her weak, sweaty palms slapped inside her padded gloves at the floor of the command deck.
She tossed the crow bar aside to drag her lifeless body out of the hatch and onto the smooth floor.
Denying her body the sweet relief of lying against its cool gloss, she crawled across the floor.
Like a toddler barely able to put their nose over the kitchen counter, she slapped her palms onto the control deck.
Buddy surged forward, following her command.
Aphrodite listed off ship commands, shutting off the emergency lights and restoring power.
One by one, she deescalated the ship before she was able to turn off the S.O.S.
Regular life and light returned to the ship as the front lights finally turned off.
For a long moment, it was quiet as Aphrodite stared through the windshield breathlessly.
“Seven Delta Nimbus Four, we notate your emergency signal has been cut off. Are you no longer in distress?”
People. Aphrodite cried. Sobbed as she snatched up the microphone.
Buddy wiggled his tentacles happily as Aphrodite croaked into the receiver.
“This is Aphrodite Kerso! Tech Personnel of Apollo 1616 and the Mphronatch of the Vroskrowz. I command you safely return to your post. I repeat, do not come close to this ship. There is an infection aboard we are cleansing, and they took over the controls. I’ve reinstated control of the ship. Do. Not. Engage… please.”
A long, crackling fuzz filled the command deck before another voice filled the speakers. “Aphrodite?”
“Vivian!” She gasped for air.
“I was on my way to your station when we received the distress call. The infected, is it the Lyssavirus thing you were talking about?” Her distressed tone filled Aphrodite’s gut with delight and despair.
“It is,” she swallowed, “but we’re handling it.”
“You better not be lying to me Aphrodite Kerso, or so help me, I’ll throttle you!” Vivian’s wounded cry filled Aphrodite’s chest with pain. Then the adrenaline wore off. Pain shot through her body and reminded her about the fight for her life previously. Everything began to swim again.
“I’m not,” she lied, slowly slipping down from the command deck. Her vision grew dark. “Proceed to the station. This hunt is being handled by the Kannatch and myself personally. I’ll see you there.”
Aphrodite dropped to the floor and from consciousness despite the screaming of her drone or the murmur of someone calling her name from deep in the ship.