An 'Among Us' Short story

Chapter 2: The Buddy System

The burial for Brown felt too short.

  The group had gotten together in the Cafeteria after a very silent breakfast of dry oatmeal and not-strong-enough black coffee and had decided to hold the "burial" right there from the table. We had never had a funeral on the ship before, it was a common agreement that everyone thought it would be years and years before any of us even would possibly pass...

When you're surrounded by the vast abyss of the universe for so long, fatality really does seem like such a silly little thought. 

They had remained gathered around the meeting table. Brown's picture had been put in display on the hologram in the center.

   Purple had stood up and had tried to say a few words for her fallen brother, but her emotions had gotten the best of her and when she could no longer talk through her sobs and tears, Orange took her gently back to her seat where the rest of the crew comforted her as best as they could.

Blue then stood up and cleared his throat.

"I remember the first day I met Brown at the training. He was such a bright and rightful man right off the bat."

  Blue gave a soft smile "He had told me that it had always been his dream to go to outer space and see all the stars and that's why he joined the program with his sister because 'What's a dream if you cant experience it with the people you love?'. He also later told me that his mother told him that he couldn't go if he didn't take his sister with him"

  The group gave a heavy chuckle and even Purple managed to give a breathy laugh through her tears. I sat there and though back on my first day at training when Brown, with his black hair pulled back into a bun and his bright smile shining, had been the first person to introduce himself to me. He truly was the type of person who could make anyone smile. You could always count on him to make the crew smile on a dull day...

Blue continued:
"He was a good man. He was more than a good man, h-he was family-" the leader's voice cracked and he took a second to seemingly control his emotions "He was family to all of us" 

He looked down at Brown's picture  "I'm sorry you had to go like this. I'm sorry that you never saw all the stars"

After his speech he went and sat next to me and there was a moment of heavy silence. There wasn't a dry eye as Green and Black had respectfully placed Brown in a body bag and had sent their friend off into space through the latch.

   It was the best they could do for their fallen crewmate.

"This is messed up" Orange said, shaking his head as they watched Brown's body float off peacefully.

The two of them had been best friends...

 Although the team was still heavily grieving, they all knew and understood that action had to be taken. They still had a mission to complete.
After Brown's body could no longer be seen, Blue looked over at me and gave a subtle nod to speak.

 I wiped my eyes and tried pull myself together. There was a lump in my throat but I cleared it once and tried to sound as formal as possible "We have new precautions to follow".

The crew turned to me. I could see how they, just like me, pushed down their grief and put on their professional masks. 

   "We'll continue to work in shifts, but this time we will work in groups of 2. Therefor if something would happen, there would be an eye witness and the opportunity to report any unusual activities. We don't want to repeat what has happened"

They only nodded in agreement .

   I took a breath and pulled out my screen pad "The groups are as followed: Pink and Orange will take first shift in the Engine room, then it will be White with green in Electrical, followed by Blue and I in Shields and then lastly Purple, Black and now Red near Security. We'll move clockwise so there will be someone in every area. Understood?"