30 Days of Undead Summer [Zombie Challenge]

June 10th: #SciFiSaturday

Drift

Swallowing the sob, I push myself against the wall. My eyes are trained on the open cabin in front of me. If I could only get to the control room, I could turn off the gravity. Let these bastards float in the air while I turned us out of the drift toward earth.

Squeezing my eyes shut as I hear them. My crew members. Only they aren't who they once were. Staring outside the window, I wish I was on the surface of Earth. At just six years old, I knew what I wanted to be after one single trip to the Kennedy Space Center. Being a captain was never something I sought for but it happened and these people were my responsibility.

I had failed them. I had failed us all.

The mission was simple. We were one of the first to explore the planet of Mars. After just three months on the planet, we were scheduled to return home. Scientists wanted soil samples and to test what the planet had done to us. Everything was fine until we got back to our craft. One got sick after a week on board and we couldn't stop the fallout.

All of us were infected. We realized that when crew members started to fall ill within days of each other.

Suddenly, I push off the wall as I cough. Cupping my mouth, blood coats my fingers.

Damn. The first symptoms. It's about right that since most of my crew is gone, I shall follow in their footsteps. As I contemplate this, the moans from down the corridor grow louder. Forcing myself forward, I finally make it through and with the last of my strength, I push and lock the door behind me. Immediately the tiny window is filled with the decaying faces of my crew members.

Turning around, I fall into the chair at the control panel. While I was never the tech on this particular trip, I know the basic. We're drifting into a closer orbit to break the atmosphere. Immediately, I pull us out using the thrusters. We've been on the international space station for a few days. Shortly after arriving, most of the crew we had left began to drift off. It's how we realized everyone was infected.

Strapping myself against the seat, I turn off the artificial gravity which leaves the dead outside the door to float in the air.

As the moans drift from the door, I pull up communications with earth.

The only thing I can think to do at this stage is save my home. I have two children at home that deserve to grow old with their own children. This will not affect them if I can help it. I can easily let the ship drift into deep space, save earth but kill us all.

"Captain. What are you doing?"

I ignore the voice. Only one other crew member is still alive. Glancing in the camera, I notice she's in the barracks, what I've grown to call our sleep quarters.

Her voice sounds gravely. She was sick before me, I left her in the barracks when they grew closer. Just like bait they followed me and left her alone.

"I'm saving earth. We can't save us, but we can save them."

Pulling up the communications again, I quickly type our final message.

'Let us drift. It's for your own good.'

I then quickly send as much data from what we discovered toward Earth. Hopefully, I managed to save earth even if I couldn't save myself or my crew.