Fantasy Vs Reality | The Withering

21: Rescue

W̷̢̾̽͜e̶͓̬͍̓ ̵̫͗̄̉t̸̛̪̓͂ơ̵͙̳̼͐͌l̶̲̭̍ḋ̶̨̜͂ ̵̨̛͓̘̌͠y̸̢͎̩̆͆ô̸̡u̴̦͗͒̅ ̸͉̝͐͝s̸̖͇̖̊h̶̢͔̒́e̷̻̬̯͌̇̇'̴̗̇̈́̚s̵̫̗̖̀̓ ̵̀̄́ͅn̶̙̿o̶̪̙̓̀̚͜t̷̢̞̃̂͑ ̵̞̣̏̈r̸̝͇͛̌̈́ͅē̴͕̜̗â̷͇̼̣d̸͖̠̀̃ͅẙ̵͖̱̻̔.̷̼͖̆͆͊͜

~~

Simon helped Kay suit up, finding a suit that fit her and he handed her a laser pistol. Despite not recalling ever holding or seeing one, she somehow still knew how to use it. She held it confidently while Orion finished suiting up and he watched her with a critical eye.

Without a single word spoken between the two of them, Kay followed Orion to a small spacecraft and she hopped in, buckling up. Orion fired up the engines and within seconds they were already blasting out of the Docking Bay.

He flew effortlessly, turning and not even analyzing the debris for a safe way through. He zig-zagged through the field like it was nothing. Only five minutes passed before he made it to the small dock where the previous team had parked. 

He docked swiftly, turning on his communicator with Kay. She did the same without thinking, and they both hopped out of the craft. He fastened it, and they both entered the port. They bounded along quickly. Kay tried to get used to the tiny amount of gravity and had a hard time controlling her movements. However, she managed to keep up. Orion was no longer paying attention to her, his focus was honed in on the path ahead.

They arrived at the first destroyed airlock and Orion only pressed on, faster this time. Kay was breathing heavy now. Anxiety was shooting through her. Storm was somewhere on this... as was Marcus, Ember, and Coal... she just hoped they were all okay.

The second airlock was intact still. Orion seemed slightly relieved, but his emotions did not show much else. His eyes remained stone grey in colour. He pressed the button for the airlock to open, and stepped in just as Kay caught up with him. He huffed to himself as she leaned over, tired from bounding about.

"You're... so fast." she breathed.

"I'm also twice your size." Orion simply replied.

Kay caught her breath just enough to continue when the second door to the airlock opened up. She leaped backwards, screaming as Orion stood in front of her with a laser rifle. He shot at some strange ooze that leapt at him angrily, disintegrating it in the flash of an eye. At their paws, was an unmoving figure and Orion knelt down to examine them.

It was Marcus.

He tried to sniff Marcus through his helmet. When he couldn't get a scent, he ripped the helmet off of himself. He lifted his mate's head up, tapping on the helmet, then looked up to Kay. He put his helmet back on, "Take him to our craft and get him in our stasis pod. I'm going to look for the others." Without looking to see if she'd follow his orders, Orion bounded off towards the left.

Kay lifted Marcus' limp figure, thankful of the light gravity, and pulled him back into the airlock. She pressed the button for it to close, but it got stuck. Panicking, she pressed it again... and again. The door didn't move, it was frozen. 

She screamed when the dim lights went out around her. She looked down at Marcus, his eyes were closed and he was limp. His suit was extremely burned. Trying to think through the panic, she looked around. Technology was bound to malfunction at times right? So what if she pulled some emergency switch and the door behind her opened? 

But what if someone didn't have an oxygen tank? 

There was no time! The port was falling apart! She had to get Marcus out of there! Otherwise no one will make it! She looked for a moment and found a switch. She closed her eyes and whispered, "Sorry!" and pulled down on the lever. 

The door behind her opened partway, cracking. It was just big enough for her to get out and pull Marcus through. The little amount of air that was in the port began to suck itself out, pulling her with it. She used the momentum to pull Marcus through and go sailing at a swift speed for the craft. 

She looked back to see the door didn't open anymore... she hoped that no one bigger than Orion was in there... otherwise they wouldn't be able to get through. She panicked slightly when she felt another explosion shake everything around her. 

She planted her paws on a broken wall to stop herself and Marcus from sailing. Slowly, she made her way past the first airlock and to the crafts. She pulled him inside Orion's and looked around hastily for this "stasis" pod. Then she found it. It was a vertical pod that opened like a weird shower. She stood Marcus up vertically with the pod and opened the door. She placed him inside and closed it.

Without thinking she pushed a few buttons on the pod and it turned on. She blinked, laughing slightly, "It worked! Hang in there Marcus..." 

She waited for a moment for Orion to return to the craft, but ten minutes passed... fifteen minutes...

She tried to contact him, "Orion? Can you hear me? Uhh, over." 

There was no answer. 

Frowning, she took one look at Marcus and said, "Sorry captain, I'm gonna have to go back after your stubborn boyfriend and the rest."

Kay shot herself out the craft again and aimed for the wall beside the door to inside. She used the lack of gravity to her advantage and bounded swiftly through the ruins. She got used to it quickly. She shot past the first airlock, and she fought the air that sucked through the second to squeeze back through. 

Remembering that Orion went to the left, Kay went to the right. Her logic was if they split up they'd find all the team members faster before the port fell completely apart. That is, if Orion was still alive. She ran quickly down the hall and found herself in a cafeteria of sorts. The lights pulsed, brightening up to an almost blinding bright, and then all the lights blew out. 

Pulling out her pistol, she turned the light on at the end of it shakily. The thought of those oozing goopy monster-things coming after her was a horrifying thought. She rounded the corner and nearly screamed. 

Storm was sitting in front of someone, who was shaking vigourously. She turned to look at Kay, her emerald green eyes glistening from fresh tears through her helmet. She didn't look surprised at all to see her either, which was off-putting.

"Hava, please help me. I can't think..." she whispered.

Kay nodded, "Pick him up with me. We got Marcus in one stasis pod already... but-"

Storm shook her head, "Don't explain just go. There is only so much oxygen left in this tank I found." She stood up and grabbed Coal's left arm while Kay grabbed his right. There was a squirrel sitting a ways away from them holding an identical oxygen tank to Kay's to her face. She didn't have a suit.

"What do we do with her?" Kay asked, "She doesn't have a suit?" 

"She'll just have to manage. She won't be exposed too long. Come here dear, we're here to help you." Storm reached out her hand. The squirrel grabbed it like a lost child, despite the fact she looked at least to be in her mid 20's.

The squirrel was dragged along as Kay and Storm tore through the hallway past the cafeteria with Coal in their arms. They made it to the airlock within about ten minutes of just running and they all squeezed through the airlock, "I've got him from here." Kay said, "You worry about the squirrel."

Storm nodded, and Kay used the same method to get him out as with Marcus. All the way to the crafts with Storm close behind, they got everyone inside the first craft. Coal had stopped shaking so much, but he wasn't in good shape either. The bandages on his neck were stained with blood from what Kay could see down his helmet.

They would've put Coal into the second stasis pod, but Storm mentioned it would be safe to leave it vacant if Ember or Orion were in worse shape. They closed the doors to the craft and turned on life support for the squirrel. She seemed to be doing a little better than the first time Kay saw her.

And so, they waited for Orion to return.

And they waited.

...

And waited.