White Space

59

 Yeah, Narayanan was a real hotshot. That much was clear to Yemon as he was ducking under the front of the surface lander. But even with such legendary skills, he never even noticed him entering, even though Yemon was not a real-life ninja or anything. Japanese descent or not, he was average at best at playing hide and seek. And yet, Narayanan just stood on the ramp, sending potshots in the general direction of Jaleel, who was smart enough to keep him. Yemon couldn't decide whether the man was just not trying to hit his mark or was such a terrible shot.

 Yemon had no trouble circling around Narayanan's back, who was staggering back and forth on the ramp leading up to the side door of the ship. Was he really so bad at this? Yemon thought he was supposed to be a seasoned adventurer. Whatever the reason, he was grateful for any help he could get. As soon as the feet on top of the ramp took an uneven step backward, Yemon grabbed them and pulled hard. Narayanan's head smacked into the door frame first, then into the metal floor. Yemon didn't make the mistake of letting him go, knowing full well that the padding inside the helmet cushioned both blows to his head, leaving him shocked rather than incapacitated.

 As the other man tried to stand up, he pulled at the rifle, trying to take it from him, but its strap was tangled in Narayanan's arm and neck, so he just ended up pulling him down to the ground. This, surprisingly, didn't work out all that well as he hit the ground headfirst, curling up into a roll, and reached for the gun. Yemon was just quick enough to kick it away from him, however this meant that he'd also lost control of it as the kick sent the weapon sliding toward the entrance at an amazing speed. The rolling man took this opportunity to spring up and leap toward Yemon. In this moment, he could clearly see the extent of Narayanan's delusion in his clouded, bloodshot eyes.

 "Shit." he heard Accacia's voice crackling through the speaker. "They're coming!"

 He ducked and tried to pull his head in, not that it was possible in the suit, and rolled to the side in an attempt to get out of the way. He could see behind Narayanan that Jaleel and Accacia were rushing inside. Jaleel swiped the card on the inner terminal and the metal doors started closing with a familiarly slow and jerky motion. Yemon could only catch a fleeting glance, but he already knew that this meant trouble.

 "Who's coming?" Narayanan asked, breathing heavy, his brow wet with fresh perspiration. He was supposed to be this great outdoorsman, Yemon thought, how on Earth would he be so beat from this scuffle?

 "Alright, let's talk about this." Yemon said, holding his hands up. "We just want to leave. Can we not do it together?"

 "Of course we can. Let's go inside, everybody straps in, we'll have a—" a cough interrupted his lying. He wasn't even trying to hide his bullshit anymore. Even the way he spoke the words carried a sort of nonchalant tone, saying he was willing to say anything they wanted and then shoot them in the head.

 "Alright." Yemon played into his bluff. "Let's calm down first."

 Narayanan looked down just in time to see the shadow of the door creep onto his leg, turning away with a terrified expression. As soon as he caught sight of Jaleel reaching for the rifle, he dove forward with impressive speed and bumped into the big man. This was somehow enough to topple him while breaking Narayanan's momentum. He hit the ground and clawed at the weapon by his head, but it wasn't there anymore. Instead, there was a bright flash. Yemon knew its kind very well.

 "I'm sorry." Accacia squeaked at the sight before her feet. She let the gun go as Jaleel gently took it from her and shouldered it. Yemon went closer to check if there were still signs of life in the downed man. He wasn't sure if it was because of their safety or because it was his sworn duty to save everyone, but didn't matter. As soon as he was close enough, he could tell that there was no helping him. He was shouting. He was clearly hurt, possibly mortally wounded, but somehow Yemon, not least because he had been shot several times, knew that the silent screaming inside the helmet was too much. It couldn't have been the gunshot. His body should have already masked the pain with shock, his failing body would have been flooded by the most powerful chemicals the human biochemistry could produce. It was something else. Something worse.

 Inside the helmet, the screaming visibly intensified, while Narayanan's eyes closed and shut. Yemon couldn't understand why the audio was suddenly gone at first. Then it dawned on him. The screaming and the blinking started out relatively normal, considering the circumstances, but then Narayanan's eyes lost track of each other. They started shutting and opening out of sync. After a few seconds, they weren't even looking in the same direction anymore. The terribly bloodshot, tearful eyes looked left and right, completely separate, while Narayanan couldn't stop screaming.

 As his eyes darted from place to place, person to person, his legs started to jerk his body up. But the motion was off. He didn't really use his arms and hands, at least, to Yemon's eyes, not like a person would. They moved more like objects supporting the body rather than limbs to in active use. Then even the uncanny similarity of a human form was slowly gone as his legs twisted and bent the wrong way. This seemed to further intensify the silent screaming, sending shivers down Yemon's spine as he watched.

 Then it was all but gone. The humanity, the familiarity. Even the uncanny nature of the twitching in his facial muscles ceased as his face pulled apart at the middle. The skin developed a dark gash at first without any blood. Then it deepened, and a slit formed, running through the head from the front to the back. The two halves of his head then separated and pressed onto the reinforced plastic of the visor, revealing small, wriggling tentacle like appendages at the inner edges emerging from where... his brain would have been. Should have been.

 Yemon managed to pull himself out of the sheer shock and grabbed the weapon from Jaleel. He took a shot at the creature's torso, but it didn't even seem to register. The creature was almost upright by the time he fired another round.

 "Let's get into the ship!" he shouted. The thing that was once Narayanan was still staggering back and forth when they reached the ship and Jaleel closed the door behind them. he was also panting like he'd just run a marathon.