Red On Black

Chapter 5

Rehtaeh

When the alarms went off, she grabbed her backpack and put it on, contingency plan step one. Step two was finding a hiding place. Some place that was secure and less likely to fall apart. She followed her instincts and headed for the prow of the ship. If the Captain decided to purge the ship, she wanted to be near the front, where the main cabins were. She found a space between two cryo chambers and wrapped her fuzzy blanket over her shoulders to protect her head from debris. Then she braced herself and hung on for dear life.

She could hear her cot and the crates with the rations crashing around in her little room and she sent a little prayer of thankfulness to the universe that she had had the instinct to move when she did. That little meat locker had no place in it to anchor her and the crates made it dangerous to be there. The ride got suddenly wilder and rougher if that was even possible. She could hear the ship beginning to buckle around her; she could hear high-velocity winds as the upper passenger cabin was torn apart. She sent a second quick prayer up to the universe for her convict companion. Hopefully, they would both make it out alive.

"Why him?" Rehtaeh thought. She just knew that if there was a race for survival he would be the one she would want in her corner. It was pure animalistic instinct, she had spent way too much of her life ignoring her inner will, much to her detriment. "If she had only learned to follow her own path from the start... That was a thought for another day. Today was about getting through."

She was being roughly slammed against the two Cryo chambers, but they held tight and she was wedged between the two, she saw debris fly past and there was stuff falling from the roof. She kept her head under the blanket letting it take the brunt of the sandblasting that seemed to be happening around her. It was all that she could do to relax enough that she wouldn't injure herself and still be in sufficient control to ensure that she didn't become a boneless ragdoll in the wreckage. Finally, the ship came to an abrupt angry stop and she slammed harshly against the Cryo-Cell to her right. She heard a sickening pop as her shoulder popped out of her socket, and she heard a couple of her ribs crack.

"Frick, like I needed more injuries, haven't I been through enough?" She thought as she unwrapped herself from the blanket and tried to stand, but her legs collapsed underneath her. Her stomach was roiling, her heart was pounding and her head now felt as though she had been struck by a sledgehammer. She could hear something scratching against the floor below her. Scratching, screeching, clicking underneath her. Like something trying to feel it's way along the walls that had been embedded into the ground. A shiver ran up her spine and her instincts told her to run. She was about to come out of her hiding spot when a figure in black appeared before her. He placed a gun right in front of her feet.

It was him, out of his cryo cell, he had made it. "Thank goodness!" she thought as she looked up at him. He looked down at her, there was now a small tear in his blindfold, but the bit was still in place and he still wore his chains. She made a move to stand, but he shook his head no and motioned for her to stay. He jumped and pulled himself onto the pipes, grating and hoses that were above them. She heard someone come down the ladder and her instincts screamed for her to hide, so she pulled back into the darkness, pulling the gray blanket back around her to camouflage herself. It was the medicated Johns. She could smell him. Her stomach roiled, and she choked back her vomit. She looked up at Him.

He was concentrated on Johns, who had moved to pick up the gun that He had planted just moments before. When Johns stood, He dropped his legs down, trying to strangle the medicated man with his leg irons. There was a struggle, Johns pulled out a small tube and flicked it open to reveal a nightstick, and he started beating the prisoner.  The pipes broke and the prisoner fell, his head slammed against a piece of debris and he was unable to continue fighting.