Dead Space 1. New Arrivals

**I absolutely love Dead Space and this is my first fanfiction for the series. I don't know why I got the desire to write this but I really wanted to do it!**

**I hope you enjoy this novelization of the greatest horror game of all time!

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The hull of the USG _Kellion_ hummed softly as it went through shockpoint, taking it across the universe faster than the speed of light towards its destination. Thank God for the Shockpoint Drive, otherwise it would take ships days upon weeks to reach another star system. The screen of the _Kellion's_ computer flashed with an eerie, bluish static as the mission info flashed across the screen, the automated white letters appearing rapidly across the screen…

**CEC Mission ER529**

**Status update…**

**USG Kellion en route to Aegis VII…**

**Primary mission assets**

…**Isaac Clarke – Engineering and ships system specialist…**

…**Kendra Daniels – Computer Specialist…**

…**Zach Hammond – Chief security officer…**

**Directive A: Locate mining vessel USG Ishimura.**

**Directive B: Diagnose and repair communications blackout.**

**Time to contact point: 3 minutes…**

The video playback of the engineer's RIG link flipped on under his command. A young woman appeared on the screen, adjusting the camera before she sat down in her chair, the blue hue of the RIG's link and the static distorting some of her features. But he could easily tell it was her; he could never forget that beautiful face of hers, no matter what…

"Isaac it's me. I wish I could talk to you. I'm sorry, I'm sorry about everything. I wish I could just talk to someone. It's all falling apart here I can't believe what's happening. It's strange…such a little thing…"

Before the video feed could continue any further he cut off the transmission, a loud sigh of impatience escaping him.

"How many times you watch that thing?" Kendra Daniels asked him, datapad in her hands. Zack Hammond tapped the scrolling commands of the orange hologram, focusing on the mission objectives they entered into the _Kellion's_ databank before leaving CEC headquarters. "Guess you really miss her…"

"More than you know Kendra…" Isaac Clarke said, wishing he could stretch in this seat. He didn't understand why he could stand up like Kendra and Hammond; he felt so constrained in this rather uncomfortable seat, but he knew how Chen and Johnston felt sitting at the_ Kellion's_ controls the entire flight. All he could do was sit and enjoy the view of the universe from the cockpit window. "It's been such a long time since I saw her in person."

Isaac did not know Hammond, Kendra, or the pilots very well; he only met them this morning after hearing about the _Ishimura's_ issues, according to their distress call. His girlfriend Nicole Brennan was a crew member on the vessel, and he _really _wanted to see her. He didn't need to beg the CEC to let him go; Isaac was a very skilled engineer and, needless to say, an asset.

Kendra smiled and gave him a slight chuckle. "Don't worry, we're almost there. You'll be able to look her up once we're on board." Kendra fumbled with the datapad as Hammond turned off the holoscreen and turned to the cockpit window. "Sounds like you do have a lot of catching up to do…"

The small ship smoothly exited shockpoint and entered the rocky Aegis system. The ship traveled through the rock field; it was practically an asteroid field surrounding the dead planet but Chen's impressive piloting skills helped keep them clear of the debris.

"Alright everyone, we're here, synching our orbit now." Hammond said with a soft sigh, a half-smile on his face as he looked out upon the massive planet that was Aegis VII.

"All this trouble over that chunk of rock…"

"Deep-space mining is a lucrative business, Ms. Daniels." Hammond said matter-of-factly, hand resting on the back of Chen's seat. "Aegis VII is a gold mine according to prospector's reports. Cobalt, Silicon, Osmium… Now where is she…..there she is, we have visual contact."

The larger chunks of the planet parted as they approached the planet and sure enough, the magnificent vessel that was the_ Ishimura _came into view.

Kendra joined him behind Johnston's seat, an awed smile across her face. Never had she seen the _Ishimura_ in person, only heard about it, and she was quite impressed with the large ship.

"So that's the _Ishimura_…Impressive."

"The _USG _Ishimura." Zach corrected, but not in a rude way. "Biggest Planet Cracker in her class. And it looks like they've already popped the cork."

Isaac's eyes went directly south of the ship where the large tectonic mass hung from gravity tethers, floating like it was just another piece of debris. But that chunk was teeming with valuable resources like Hammond said. Isaac understood the importance of that; after all, where else could they get resources? Those on Earth were depleted a long time ago…

"Why's it all dark I don't see any running lights…?" The suspicion and a bit of worry were very apparent in Kendra's voice.

Hammond waved that concern off; they might be doing emergency maintenance that requires the whole ship to go offline. More than likely, this had to be it. "Corporal take us in closer and hail them," As Hammond commanded Chen guided the ship closer to the mining vessel while Johnston boosted their speed, working in unison with his co-pilot. "And stay clear of that debris field; we're here to fix _their _ship, not the other way around."

Chen flipped on the com and easily achieved a signal with the ship; it was very weak but they had a signal and that was good enough for them. "USG _Ishimura_, this is the emergency maintenance team of the USG _Kellion_ responding to your distress call. Come in _Ishimura_."

Kendra walked in a half-circle, listening to the indistinct chatter coming from the communications. "You're going to need to boost the signal if their power's low."

"Yes we know…" Hammond said impatiently, looking at the metal floor for a second. "Boost the signal." Chen did so. "More." The humming coming from the signal was louder than ever, almost ultrasonic.

"Never heard of total communications blackout on one of these things," Kendra chimed, gesturing towards the ship. "You'd think with a thousand people on board someone would pick up the phone."

Isaac adjusted the name-tag on the front of his suit and popped his neck, readying himself for a hopefully quick and easy mission. All he wanted was to see how Nicole was doing, how much she missed him like he missed her, but that didn't mean he would neglect his duties as an engineer; the _Ishimura_ needed help and he was there to help provide it.

A response came from the ship and played through the system, but the message was a garbled mess, impossible to understand. The crew stood there, a bit confused by exactly what they were listening too.

"What is that?" Johnston asked, looking to Kendra for the answer. She was the computer expert after all.

"It's a busted array like we thought," Kendra was able to pick up the exact problem with ease, not giving a second thought about it. That's how skilled she was with computers; during her training at the CEC she learned how to listen to the computer messages of broken communications systems and discern the issues just by listening to the distortion of the message: the voice distortion, how much hiss and interference there was in the message, and how weak the signal was. "You get us down there and Isaac and I can fix it. Forty-eight hours max"

"Alright you heard the lady, take us in let's see what needs fixing" Hammond said. Isaac could feel something in the pit of his stomach as he stared at the _Ishimura_. The fact that the entire ship was dark was bad enough, but it seemed so strange that it just sat there, hanging in space like an abandoned freighter after a ruthless assault by space pirates.

A blue energy field came over the _Kellion_ and the ship started to shake, but that was part of the process involved with attaching gravity tethers. "Gravity tethers engaged, automatic docking procedure is go."

Suddenly an explosion rocked the hull of the USG _Kellion_, almost knocking them out of the gravity tether connection and Hammond off his feet. Debris flew in front of the window, the culprit behind the explosion. The inside of the _Kellion_ sparked and several systems malfunctioned, others going offline.

"What the hell...?" Hammond said sharply, squinting through the cockpit window of the violently-shaking Wai Lao-class shuttle. Chen and Johnston frantically tried to regain control of the ship, which they were losing rapidly.

"S-Sir, the autodocking-" Chen began before Hammond interrupted, saying "What is it?"

"We're off track! We're going to hit the hull!"

"Hit the blast shields! Their guidance tether is damaged! Switch to manual, NOW!" Hammond shouted his command. Isaac could only sit there in his seat and watch the passing sights of the _Ishimura's_ hull. One small mistake and they would end up charred in a ship explosion, smashed under the weight of the ship if it crashed. Luckily, Chen was a very skilled pilot and he would get them in safely; he hoped.

"Hammond, what's going on here?" Isaac shouted over the siren of the _Kellion_ but his voice was drowned out. The massive shapes and towers lining the inside of the dock was practically a death trap; how could a ship maneuver through without the perfect guidance of gravity tethers?

"Inside the magnetic field? Are you insane?" Kendra argued. "Abort!"

"NO! We can make it inside!" Hammond's voice was filled with confidence; confidence in the skills of the pilots so far successfully guiding the _Kellion_ through the dock. "Corporal, I gave you an order!"

Johnston reached up and pulled down the lever above the controls, giving the ship the command to let down its shields to help the impact of landing. In doing so it broke free of the gravity tethers, leaving them without the guidance of the tethers and relying solely on the skills of the pilots.

"The field's too strong!" Johnston grunted after a sharp jarring of the _Kellion_ nearly forced him from his seat.

The _Kellion's_ computer screen flashed to life and lit up the darkened interior, the staticy blue screen showing everything in front of them behind the obstruction of the shields. Chen's hands were sweaty under his gloves, beads of perspiration flowing down his face. His hands started slipping from the controls but he kept a firm grip, determined not to end up splattered across the _Ishimura_ walls.

The insides of the_ Kellion_ flashed and sparked with bright white lights, creating a weird strobe-like effect and that could blind the crew; the ship was coming close to landing, closer than they thought. Kendra and Hammond braced themselves behind the pilot seats as the ship suddenly came to an abrupt and crashing stop, sending them to the floor and filling the ship with another flash of light before going completely dark, the ship systems whirring loudly until they faded to silence, dead.

Isaac was now thankful for the constraining seat. Kendra coughed loudly, the impact causing some painful force on her chest. She and Hammond got to their feat as the _Kellion_ automatically let up its shields and the sights around them had instantly changed. They successfully landed on the _Ishimura's_ flight deck, albeit lacking a graceful and painless landing.

Isaac sat up, his waist hurting from the sudden push of the constraint belt in the crash landing. He leaned his head back against the head rest and took a deep breath.

"Is everyone okay?" Hammond asked, showing his honest concern for the rest of the crew.

"Wow, that was fun…" he mumbled to himself, rubbing his forehead.

"What…what the hell were you thinking?" Kendra raised her voice at the Chief Security Officer. "Were you trying to get us killed?"

"I just saved our asses Ms. Daniels." Hammond's tone was calm and collected despite the frustration and relieve he felt deep within. "If we had aborted at that speed and distance we would've smashed right into the side of the _Ishimura_. Now settle down, let's get to work. Corporal, report."

As Johnston started reading off the damage report, Isaac bent forward and put on the helmet of his Standard Engineer RIG, unclipping the restraints and standing to his shaking legs.

"I'm not getting any reading s from the Port Booster, and we've lost comms and autopilot. It'll take some time to fix."

"Alright," Hammond said. "Let's get some hands from Flight Deck to help out."

Kendra sighed and turned to Isaac, connecting her datapad to his RIG link. "Hold still Isaac, I'm synching up everyone's RIG with the ship…" Within the seconds the empty meters on their backs flashed with blue light, filling all the way to the top of their spine. Their health was full so no one had sustained any injuries from the crash. "Okay we're done. Clean bill of health for everyone."

"Alright, we've still got a job to do. We're moving out." Hammond said, taking charge of the mission that now officially started. Chen and Johnston stood, Pulse Rifles in hand. Hammond carried the same weapon. Isaac watched his comrades leave the ship before he joined them on the long stretch of the docking bay.

"_This ship is a mess…_" Isaac thought after getting a look of the surrounding Flight Deck. "_Looks like they're having problems with more than just the comms array._"

Kendra stopped beside the front of the ship, shaking her head in disbelief. Johnston was wrong; the Port Booster was completely gone, lost in the crash. "You didn't lose power to the Port Booster, you lost the Port Booster. Unbelievable…"

Isaac patted her on the shoulder, sighing gently to show he had some frustrations with the mission so far. Kendra gave him a look before continuing down the runway. Isaac looked up at the white glowing words that read "USG ISHIMURA" above two computer screens. As he walked away from the _Kellion_ the screens instantly turned on and a series of pictures displaying the _Ishimura _and its accomplishments went across the screen, accompanied by a woman's voice:

"_Welcome CEC employee, to the USG Ishimura. The Ishimura was the first Planet Cracker-class vessel and is now the oldest serving, with sixty-two years of continuous service. It holds the record for highest number of planet cracks, with thirty-four to date and highest dead weight of refined product at fourteen trillion kilotons and counting._"

"Wow, impressive…" Isaac said to himself, stopping to watch the video. He heard great things about the _Ishimura_ and its status as the backbone of Concordance Extraction Corporation. But thirty-four planet cracks? Fourteen trillion kilotons? Needless to say Isaac was very impressed. Maybe getting Nicole this job wasn't such a bad idea.

"_Whether you'll be joining us aboard the Ishimura or strengthening the extraction work force on the colony, the captain and crew would like to welcome you and we hope your stay is a pleasant one. Concordance Extraction Corporation: 'Powering Humanity into the Future'._"

The inspirational music played for a few more seconds as the CEC logo lingered over a starry backdrop of space, the red planet spinning in the grey C before the video feed went off.

Isaac could not help but smile. "Kinda cheesy and overdone, but I like it." He looked at Johnston and Chen who stood guard at the lobby entrance, watching and waiting for something to happen. Isaac wondered what the point of that was. No one on here was a potential enemy. They're just here to fix a busted array; what's the worst that could happen?

Hammond examined the locked door that lead to the Flight Lounge, based on the sign above it with the phrase 'Welcome to the USG Ishimura' scrolling to the left. As if that fancy video feed wasn't enough of a welcome…

"Guess the power's down everywhere. Isaac, get over here and hack the doorpad."

Well, time to crack in those skills. Isaac kneeled down in front of the door, his skin-tight engineer RIG snagging certain areas of his body that made it very uncomfortable. Sometimes Isaac didn't like wearing this RIG; he wished he could have clear view of everything around him like the others, but he had the most dangerous job in the maintenance team. The helmet was required and it certainly was better than having half your face blown off in an explosion cause by a faulty power fuse. He was also more grateful he did not have the higher leveled RIGs; while they offered more protection, they hindered and made certain movements harder.

"Sometimes I wonder what kind of future I have with this corporation…" Isaac said aloud to no one in particular as he pressed some buttons and manipulated a few devices on the door.

"You're an asset to the CEC based on your records Isaac." Hammond said in a supportive voice. "I'm sure you'll have a bright future with the CEC."

Isaac smiled slightly. "Yeah, thanks Hammond…" he said that, but what he really thought was, "_My bright future is spending the rest of my life with Nicole…_"

Eventually Isaac managed to hack the door and it slid open with a loud mechanical whirr. He stood up, glad he still had the touch. The lounge was dark, lit by only a green elevator sign against the back wall but the second a step was taken inside the room, the lights flashed on and showed there was nobody around.

Not a single trace of life, the only indication someone was even in here being the forgotten luggage scattered here and there.

"…Where is everybody…?" Isaac said to himself, looking around through his helmet's narrow vision. The engineer took a look at the cubby holes as Hammond, Kendra, Chen, and Johnston walked in, the door closing behind them. Isaac found a small Med Pack and 800 credits.

"Hm…a Med Pack…this could really come in handy." Isaac wasn't sure how well or even how badly this mission would go but he wasn't one who took many risks; risky was not his middle name. Nicole helped make sure of that. He took the Med Pack and the credits, storing them in his RIG's virtual storage container. This allowed any object to be broken down into virtual memory and stored within the RIG's massive database. Later if he wanted to, he could take out any item he wanted and use it without having to lug it around anywhere.

Isaac walked past Johnston and looked up at the flight schedules in and out of the_ Ishimura_. Interestingly, every single flight to and from this ship was cancelled; every one of them. This made Isaac a little nervous.

Hammond looked around the empty lounge, from Isaac to the pilots to Kendra who had her position at the door leading to the Tram Station.

"Seems like everyone was trying to pack in a hurry…" Kendra observed.

"There should be a security detailing in here…" Hammond responded.

"Yeah, well there's not. There's nobody here!" she said as if that fact wasn't already obvious. Aside from the lack of workers to assist them after the crash landing, who could even say there was a single crew member on the Flight Deck? "I can't pick up any broadcasts!"

Hammond's eyes picked up a security console behind the glass directly beside Johnston. "Well that security console's still alive. Isaac log in and see what you can find. Kendra, get that elevator back online…"

"Power's dead. I can't!"

"Then reroute the damn power!" Hammond said angrily. Kendra scoffed and turned away to give her attention to the door, insulted by Hammond's lack of patience. Johnston and Chen looked at him, wondering if everything was alright with their team leader. The Security Officer quickly regained his cool; there really was no point in arguing. It would get them nowhere. "Look if we all cooperate, we can figure this out a lot sooner. Just get that computer display up Isaac."

Isaac nodded and went through the door that lead to another path to an elevator, like the one Kendra was trying to open. The thing that really caught Isaac's attention, were the red stains all over the floor and walls.

"What the hell is this?" the engineer said, looking all around the separated section of the room. "This can't be…blood? Okay, this is creepy…" Isaac shook his head and turned to the computer console, getting up the display with the push of a few buttons. A holodisplay of the _Ishimura _came up and every section of the ship began flashing red. He stood there, knowing he'd have to fix all of it…

"Huh, that doesn't look good," Johnston said. "She's taken a lot of damage."

Hammond nodded and pointed at the display. "The tram system's offline. Getting around is going to be difficult." A soft click broke the silence and the air conditioning system flipped on, the cool air blowing down onto the hot sweaty faces of the crew. Isaac wished he could take off his helmet and feel the nice cold air on his face. That was another thing he really hated about the RIG suit. "The air seems to be flowing again, that's a start."

Isaac took his helmet in his hands, wanting to feel the air so badly but before he even got a chance the lights went out and a loud siren blared in the lounge, an orange light spinning on the ceiling. The display was gone and now it was red, the words "QUARANTINE" flashing with a common biohazard symbol accompanying it.

"What the…what's going on here?" Isaac said with great concern, but they didn't seem to hear him over the sound of the overly loud alarm. Johnston, Chen, and Hammond kept their Pulse Rifles pointed at the ceiling, the flashlights mounted on the top of the barrels aiding in breaking the darkness.

"What the hell was that?" Kendra said with the same amount of worry Isaac had.

"Automatic quarantine must have tripped when the filtration system restarted. Everybody relax…" Zach didn't want his team panicking. He had to keep everything under control otherwise things would start going wrong. Horribly wrong…

Isaac stood there in front of the console, only able to see his comrades because of the orange light and the lights of their weapons. As long as they were okay, he was fine…

"What was that? Did you hear that?" Kendra said in a panicked voice after a very loud knocking in the air vents scared the shit out of her.

"I'm not sure…" Hammond said, starting to lose his calm demeanor no matter how much he wanted to hold on to it. A loud crash radiated throughout the room followed by the sound of metal-on-metal. If the lights were on they would've seen the ventilation covering shatter to pieces.

"What the hell…?" Chen said, trying to squint through the blackness.

"I don't know something's in the room with us!"

The orange light flashed Isaac's way for a split second, and he saw it. Was it…a man? It had the shape of a human but it had blades protruding from its arms and its body looked…deformed. And it was right behind Johnston.

"Johnston! Johnston look out! It's behind you!" Isaac yelled, banging on the glass with his fists as hard as he could. Unable to hear Isaac's frantic yelling because of the deafening alarm, Johnston was unable to see or hear the creature creeping up him. With a loud, inhumane roar the blades were brought down up Johnston and the man was ruthlessly attacked.

"Jesus! Open fire!" Hammond screamed before he and Chen started firing barrages of bullets its way, but they were unable to stop it and Isaac watched in horror as Johnston's head was taken clean off his shoulders, blood spattering on the window in front of Isaac and the sound of his RIG flat lining echoing through the room.

"Kendra! Power!" Hammond yelled over the siren as another monster came into the room. "Kendra!"

Kendra's fingers went rapidly all over the holographic display. She was almost there but they were running out of time. The second creature lunged at Chen, pinning him to the floor before a violent bite to his neck caused his vitals to instantly go out, a second flat-lining filling their ears.

"Come on…come on…" Kendra mumbled nervously as the creatures came towards them. Isaac started to panic, having just witnessed two of his comrades murdered right in front of him. "Got it!" The door slid open, as did the one behind Isaac.

"Isaac! Get the hell out of there!" Hammond yelled.

"The doors unlocked! Run!" Kendra and Hammond ran through the door, leaving Isaac alone in the Flight Lounge.

The events that just transpired were a lot for the engineer to process, but despite this he immediately turned and ran through the door into the narrow, winding hallway. He ran, legs pumping hard as if they were moving on their own. Now he was really glad he wasn't wearing a higher level suit.

"What the fuck is going on here?" Isaac screamed aloud as a vent exploded above him, nearly making him lose his balance and go tumbling down the ramp. The siren blared through his ears and behind him he could hear the sounds of those…things, roaring like mad rabid monsters. He dare not look behind him to see what they were. He made another sharp turn to the right as the next vent was destroyed and he just barely caught a glimpse of what came out of it. Shaped like a man, blades in its arms…what is it?

"Run Isaac! Get the hell out of there!" Kendra's voice radiated over Isaac's RIG link.

"I'm running as fast as I can!" he yelled turning to the right once more. Dead ahead, in the middle of what looked like fog, he could see an elevator. A wave of relieve washed over him and he started running faster, his lungs working as hard as his legs were to supply oxygen to his body.

The elevator got closer and closer. Isaac held out his hand to touch the pad of the doors to get them open as fast as possible. His insides were telling him to run faster; he could feel them getting closer, gaining up on him, but he dare not check to verify.

Isaac pushed his hand around against the doors, not giving them enough time to open all the way; he forced his way through the doors and slammed his hand against the elevator controls, crashing against the back of the elevator as the doors closed.

"I'm safe…thank God I'm safe…" Isaac breathed out, leaning against the wall with his elbows resting on the bar. His head was sweating profusely beneath his helmet and he knew it was time to get some fresh air.

Before he could even motion to take his helmet off, something started attacking the doors. Two long blades forced their way through the doors and forced them open. Isaac gave a loud, horrified scream as the creature roared at him, red and yellow fluid leaking from its mouth as it pried the elevator doors all the way open. There was nowhere else to run, nowhere else to go. Isaac stood there, in the mercy of the creature. He held up his arms over his face to block its attack, seeing it lunge forward at him.

But the attack never came. The interrupted mechanisms of the elevator doors made them snap shut, smashing the creature and killing it instantly. Isaac lowered his arms, staring at the bladed arm and head that were at his feet, the cold sunken eyes staring at him in the darkness of the elevator.

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**Well, what do you think? If this gets some attention I will continue it! If you thought this was good (I hope) it will get better!**

**Read & Review!**


	2. Stasis and Tram Repairs

**Here's the next chapter! Enjoy!

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Isaac stood there, his helmet on the metal floor of the elevator as it traveled down to the room below. Though he couldn't see it very well, he knew the head of that thing was staring at him. He saw its eyes when it tried to attack, and there was something about them. Something about those eyes that sent shivers up his spine. They were human, or by the looks of it…once human.

"What's going on…what are these things?" Isaac asked himself for the umpteenth time. Johnston and Chen were both dead, and he could only hope Kendra and Hammond didn't suffer the same fate. If there were more of them around the ship, the last thing he wanted was to be on this ship alone; until he found Nicole. He had to find her. He just had to.

Isaac took a deep breath of the cool air pumping through the air vents. His short hair was matted to his scalp, small beads of sweat dripping down his face. He suddenly felt weak; not only from his mad run from the creatures with his life on the line, but weakened from the thought of this ship being overrun with them. Surely it wasn't possible. He could only hope and pray…

The elevator came to a stop once it hit the bottom and the doors slid open. Isaac took one last deep breath of the air before grabbing his helmet and putting it back on. He stepped slowly stepped off the elevator into what looked like a small maintenance area. The area was quiet except for the knocking of the pipes in the wall, and the sound of someone coughing.

Coughing…? Someone else was alive on the ship.

Across the room was a door with a red holo-symbol, indicating it was locked; the culprit being an active power fuse. Isaac was skilled in many fields of engineering, working in hazardous environments and hacking doorpads, but he had not yet learned how to override those power fuses. Damn, now he was stuck here…

To the left of the door was a platform with what looked like a tool bench of sorts with a large sign above it that listened instructions on how to use certain tools, and there was something written across it but he couldn't make out what it was from here. With nowhere else to go, Isaac decided to check it out, his curiosity piqued. He went up the platform and lying in front of the bench was a dead body.

"Great…a dead crew member already. Seriously, _what_ in God's name is going on here?" Isaac mumbled, finding himself asking that a lot lately. The man's features were still recognizable for the most part but his innards and ribs were exposed, large red open-wounds along his chest, abdomen, and face. The sign above the bench….

In large letters, written sloppily in blood were the words "Cut off their limbs".

Isaac swallowed and continued towards the bench. Sitting there all by itself, beckoning to the engineer, according to the sign which had the words "Plasma Cutter Repair" directly above two bloody handprints, was a single 211-V Plasma Cutter.

Plasma Cutter? According to the instructions that Isaac could read that weren't obstructed from the blood stains, it was a mining tool that discharges plasma energy to break through rock and other hard objects.

"Basically a weapon…" A smiled came across Isaac's face. "Bingo. This could come in handy." The engineer picked up the mining too; the device was very light weight, and he liked that. Very easy to carry around. To top it off it fit perfectly in the palm of his hand. Giving the device a try he lifted it up in front of him, flipping on the targeting switch. Three vertical blue laser sights came up, indicating where he would shoot. Isaac turned several times and moved it here and there, his finger resting firmly on the trigger. Wow, he hadn't even fired a single blast of energy and already he liked the little weapon. Now he had some protection from those mutants. Hopefully it would prove more reliable than the Pulse Rifles; then again Chen wasn't very skilled at using weapons to begin with. He _was _a pilot after all.

With a full clip already in the cutter he was ready to go. Isaac inspected the CEC certified storage containers and found another small Med Pack and some more credits.

Another cough. He heard the same coughing he heard before when he first came down here, but this time it was accompanied by a voice.

"Is someone there…?" a man's voice echoed throughout the room.

"Where are you?" Isaac called out to the voice, looking around the room.

"Please help…please help." The voice whimpered helplessly. He sounded very frightened.

"I'm here! I can help you!" He responded, coming off the platform.

"They're in the ceiling; in the vents. Help! Help!" the voice became more panicked and a loud knocking came from behind the locked door. "I'm trying to hack this door but I don't have the key!" Oh no…from behind the door.

"Don't worry! I'm coming!" Isaac hurried over to the door, clutching the Plasma Cutter tightly and kneeled in front of the power fuse, examining the glowing purple tube that hummed as it pumped power continuously to keep the door locked.

"Oh God t-they're everywhere! I-I can't get away from them! Help! Help please!"

"I'm trying to shut off this power fuse! Please hold on, I'll save you." Isaac assured the frightened _Ishimura_ crew member, running his hands all across the sides and underside of the fuse.

"Please! I can't hack this door! There's no key! Help! Oh Jesus, I'm trying to get this open!"

"Shut up and let me work here!" Isaac shouted back, pounding his fist on the wall. This power fuse had no off switch as far as he could tell. How was he supposed to turn this thing off? Is this one of those doors that you have to hack to open? Was this power fuse meant to keep it locked at all times? Isaac was dying to know because it was starting to look that way.

"I'm trying to get help! I'm tr- help me! Help me hack this door! Help!" Obviously the fear was taking hold of him; it was impossible to reason or even calm him down.

Isaac shook his head, not believing what was going on here. "There's no way to turn this fucking thing off!" He stood up, sweating more than ever. He wasn't going to let this man die and this fuse wasn't going to get in his way. There was only one thing to do. He tightened his hold on the Plasma Cutter, he said "screw it" and brought his arm back and bashed the cutter against the fuse, instantly destroying the fuse and cutting off the supply of power. The red light turned blue and the knocking got louder.

"Help! They're everywhere!" the man yelled in terror. Isaac got up as fast as he could and pressed his hand against the door to open it and let him in. A loud scream filled his ears as the door slid open and a mass of pale bloody flesh attacked the man Isaac was assisting, roaring like mad as it slashed at him like it did with Johnston.

Before Isaac could lift his weapon up and shoot at the mutant the throat of the defenseless man was slit and his vitals instantly flat-lined. It leaped up as a plasma blast riddled its back, turning to face Isaac. The engineer unloaded two energy shots into its head and chest, knocking it down dead instantly into a small pool of blood. Isaac shook his head and kneeled down beside the slew crew member, hand over his visor. Another one dead…

"So…this is what they look like…" Isaac looked at the corpse of the dead creature. Yes, indeed human shaped, deadly blades on its wrists, bloody stomach open and small arms hanging from it…the most bizarre thing he ever saw.

"Nicole, please tell me you're okay…" Isaac shook his head and stood up before continuing on his way. In the next hallway he found another small Med Pack and an audio log, by the looks of it, lying discarded on the floor at the bottom of the ramp. Isaac picked it up and transferred the information to his RIG databank.

"Finally, maybe I can get some answers…" he said as the log booted up.

"_This is Benson, everybody listen up! They're using the vents; that's how they're gettin around the ship! Stay away- Get back! Get back! Ahhh!"_

The log ended. Isaac cursed under his breath and continued through the door ahead marked "Tram Control Room".

"Good, the Tram...Hammond said it was offline. Maybe I can get it working again." Isaac peered around the dark room. Three terminals sat in front of three long windows blocked by metal shutters concealing the light from the outside. He walked a feet into the room and the shutters went up from the windows, light flooding the dark room. To top it off Isaac's RIG link came on.

"_Isaac!_" Kendra's voice chimed over his helmet. She was alive! Isaac gave a very relieved breath. He didn't need to worry about her or Hammond, because they were both there at the Tram Station, Kendra waving her arms to get his attention. The station was across from the control room. "_Isaac! God I can't believe he made it…_"

"It's good to see you too Kendra," he chuckled jokingly. "Glad to see you and Hammond alive and well."

The RIG feed focused onto Zach. "_Isaac, heh, we ran into more of them on the way over here. Are you okay?_"

"I've been better, but I'm still alive." Isaac rubbed the back of his helmet and took a seat in one of the terminal chairs.

"_More _what_?_" Kendra said in a demanding voice. "What _the hell are those things? Is that the crew?_"

"_Keep your voice down!_" Hammond scolded sharply. "Whatever they are they're not friendly and half the doors on this ship are locked because of the quarantine. Now we have to get to the Bridge, bur first we've got to repair the Tram system."

"_You're crazy, Hammond. You're going to get us all killed!_" Kendra complained.

"_If you listen to me,_" he responded firmly. "_I'll get you out of here alive. "Now what's wrong with the Tram?_"

Kendra looked over her datapad and groaned in a frustrated voice. "_The databoard's fried. But there should be a spare in the Maintenance Bay. There's also a broken Tram blocking the tunnel that need to be repaired. Damn it, everything is on the other side of this quarantine we can't reach it from here!_"

"_No _we_ can't, but _you _can,_" he motioned to Isaac. "_Isaac, if I can get to the Bridge I should be able to access the personnel files. You fix the Tram, and I'll help you find Nicole._"

End transmission. With a new objective, Isaac stood up from his seat and gave Hammond and Kendra one last look before he turned and went to the other end of the control room, picking up a few supplies from the storage locker including some more Plasma Cutter ammo and going out into the small hallway with lead to a fork.

According to the coordinates, the Tram repair station was to the right, and the Maintenance Bay to the left, but the Bay seemed to be locked. So Isaac headed to the right and ran his hand across the door bad. With a soft whirr the door opened.

A body fell from the ceiling, nearly giving Isaac a heart attack, cutter raised automatically.

"Jesus…is this ship one whole booby-trap?" he mumbled before scooting the body to the side and going down the ramp. Against the wall a sign read "Danger! Live Tram-Way!" Well, with the Tram offline he didn't have to worry about that.

"_Isaac, be careful,_" Hammond's voice chimed in. "_Shooting them in the body didn't seem to work. Go for the limbs; dismember them. That should do the job._"

End. Shooting them in the limbs? The Plasma Cutter had the perfect ammo, targeting system, and accuracy for that.

"Thanks Hammond, I'll keep that in mind." He said to his commanding officer before going through the next door, into the Tram tunnel.

The tunnel was massive. The walls formed an octagonal shape, lined with metal platings and other devices to help the Tram run smoothly through the _Ishimura_. Papers lay discarded all over the floor. Isaac even found 1,000 credits lying amongst the garbage. The fog that came out through the vents and gaps in the metal made the dark, gloomy appearance of the tunnel even gloomier. If the Flight Deck was this dark and ominous, Isaac wondered what the rest of the ship looked like. It was amazing if a crew member could come down here without being scared shitless by the darkness and threat this tunnel gave off, even without the mutants around…

Isaac turned to the right and went down the stretch of tunnel. Everything seemed quiet until a loud wail pierced the air. He froze. His training immediately came back to mind; not his engineer training, but the training he took a while back; the ability to recognize the sounds of extinct Earth creatures.

This wail sounded like a whale. The call of a whale. What the hell was a whale doing on a mining ship? The only explanation could be his mind is simply playing tricks on him, or…there's something else that sounded like a whale…

Isaac shook off that thought and continued walking down the tunnel until he reached another door. Unlike the others this one was opening and closing rapidly, banging against the door frame. Two dismembered corpses lay on each side of the door.

"Looks like they tried to get through the door…" Isaac shook his head with pity. Next to a green storage case laid a strange device. By the looks of it, it could be worn on the forearm and hand. He picked it up and after a careful examination, he remembered hearing about this devices.

Stasis modules, is what they are called. These handy little tools uses a type of blue-colored energy that, whenever it hits something, causes a temporary time dilation, making objects move at an extremely slow rate for a brief period of time; this is perfect for fast-moving objects, like that door. This could prove to be very, very useful.

After smashing the green box and collecting another clip of plasma energy, Kendra's voice came up over the link.

"_Looks like that door is malfunctioning Isaac. Try using the Stasis module you just picked up._"

"A little obvious, but let's see what this baby can do." Isaac raised his hand up to the door once it snapped shut and a bullet of blue energy erupted from the sensor on his palm, absorbing into the door and changing it a light blue color. The door moved back, but it was so much slower than before. It worked, perfect. Isaac ran through the doorway before the effects could wear off and the door resumed its mechanical malfunction.

Isaac went up the ramp where he came across a Stasis recharge pack. Once again, perfect. Isaac stored it with a smile and turned to the left once he came to a three-way fork towards the door marked "Tram Repair Room".

Before he took even a few steps towards the door the power failed, plunging the room into darkness. Isaac stopped in place before he continued towards the door, trying his best to ignore the knot of fear that formed in the pit of his stomach. Not only were the monsters enough to make him jump out of his skin, but the simple mechanical issues the damaged _Ishimura_ was experiencing added to that. This would certainly be fun…

The power came back on as he entered the repair depot. That relieved some stress but he put that at the back of his mind for now; he had a job to do, and that was fix the broken Tram. The depot was an open room with a mesh ramp that went around the room in a half circle. The repair device, which was basically a large mechanical box with two retractable claws on the front, sat underneath the ramp which had the command console sitting on it. On either side of the ramp was a console that by the looks of it controlled the claws. Seemed pretty basic.

"_Your Stasis module should be able to help you with that arm mechanism._" Kendra said through the link.

Stasis? Maybe on the claws… Isaac went up the ramp and used the Stasis recharge station across from the command console before heading to the other side of the room where two more corpses lay, in just as bad shape as the one he came across when he picked up the cutter. Between two vents was a little storage shelf that, when opened, had 2,000 credits waiting for him, calling out his name.

"Wow what luck, I guess this ship isn't all that bad after all." Isaac stored the credits, the RIG barely processing the request as a loud knocking came to the left vent, starting the engineer. Cutter up at attention, he watched as the vent burst and a creature clad in torn overalls jumped onto the mesh-like floor. This one was similar to the creature he saw earlier, but this one had no hands, just blades, purple skin and a very deformed face. Isaac aimed his sights carefully and blasted the creature in the arm, cutting it off at the shoulder. Roaring in pain and rage Isaac did not let it have a chance to retaliate before he unloaded another blast into the other arm. Damn, that creature was ugly as hell…

Hammond was right, it seemed; dismembering them does get the job done. Isaac picked up the Med Pack against the wall (he couldn't get enough of these) and another audio log.

"_Listen up car 8 is trashed; we managed to get it up to the repair depot but now the autoloader is fried. I need a Stasis module down here now! If we don't get this piece of shit off the tracks, it's going to jam up the whole system!_"

Across from the mechanical claws the broken Tram sat, clear as day in the opening that showed the Tram tunnel. The Tram looked terrible, all broken and sparking with smoke coming off it. Isaac went to the nearest console and activated it with a single touch, the claw letting off loud mechanical noises as gears shifted and turned inside it, extending out and hooking onto a nub sticking out from the bottom of the Tram. As Kendra and the log said, Isaac put the claw under the effects of his Stasis.

Isaac nodded to himself. He seemed to be getting it right so far. He was getting hot under his helmet again. He went up the ramp and the same mechanical sound attacked his ears. Much to his horror and frustration, the claw escaped the effects of the Stasis and retracted back into the autoloader box.

"Are you kidding me? Damn…" Isaac went to the other claw and did the same to it, but this time it stayed, but he was not sure if it would stay in effect for very long. Running up, across, and down the ramp, he was so focused on getting the other claw attached that the breaking of the other airvent made him shout in surprise as another creature came up in front of him, slashing at him before he could even react.

The blade caught him in the shoulder. All of his senses were suddenly crying out in pain as he tried raise his weapon to attack. The monster stood there, roaring at him and brandishing its blades across the air. Despite the pain he managed to raise his arm and punch it right across the face, the dead skin of its neck breaking with ease and flying off its shoulder, blood squiring out here and there. Isaac grunted loudly as he punched it again and again until it dropped dead with a loud gargling noise.

Isaac leaned to his side, grasping his arm. The skin-tight RIG didn't do much to prevent his arm from sustaining damage. Quickly going through his inventory, he used on of the Med Packs he picked up to heal his wounds and restore all the color to his RIG bar. The pain was gone thankfully, and he could continue his mission.

The engineer reactivate the control and layed a blast of Stasis onto the claw. He ran as fast as he could up the ramp and activated the command console. The claws retracted and brought the Tram into the repair depot.

The _Ishimura's_ automated computer voice came up over the intercom, "_Replacing damaged Tram car, please standby._"

As the claws released the Tram and hatch beneath it opened up, Isaac refilled his Stasis. The Tram disappeared into the darkness below and Kendra's face came up on the RIG link.

"_Isaac, you did it. The Tram was blocking the whole system._" He voice was full of relief. "_When you get the computer online you'll be able to call the Tram from the control room._"

"Kendra, the Maintenance Bay is still locked. Have you gotten the door unlocked?"

"_I'm working on it now. It shouldn't take much longer. Isacc, the faster the better; I can hear something crawling around out there._"

As Isaac watched the brand new Tram come up in the broken one's place, he heard another vent break to his left. He couldn't see it because of his helmet's tunnel vision, but he turned to see another one at the bottom of the ramp. It moved slowly, arms raised above its head. Isaac aimed and shot at its chest, only making it flinch. That didn't work. Aiming carefully he shot its arm again and its chest, killing it.

"_Tram replacement complete_**_._**" the computer announced as the Tram was put into the Tram tunnel.

This all seemed too easy. There had to be some kind of catch to these creatures. Something about them… These creatures were like something out of a nightmare, and even the worst nightmare had to have a name. These monsters, dead crew members it seemed, had to have a specific name… They slashed and killed Johnston, slashed that survivor's neck, and only recently slashed his shoulder. It was too obvious; only one name could fit these monsters:

Slasher.

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**I hope you enjoyed this chapter! More to come soon!**

**R&R! **


	3. Leaper

**Okay this is shorter than the last two, but it's a good chapter nonetheless. Enjoy!

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On his way out Isaac picked up a Power Node stored in a blue container hanging on the wall. Power Nodes could be used to upgrade his weapons and RIG, and could be used to open doors locked by a node lock. Hopefully there were more nodes scattered across the _Ishimura_; they could really come in handy, like all the other things he found on his mission thus far.

His shoulder still ached despite the full heal he got from the Med Pack. That audio log was completely one hundred percent right; the Slashers do used the air vents to get around. Sneaky little buggers…

Isaac shook his head as the door to the hallway opened; luckily the power was still on and he hoped it would not go off again. His mind began to wander as he looked off down the hallway. What else would this ship have in store for him and his companions? Would either of them end up the same way as Johnston and Chen?

But more importantly to Isaac, where was Nicole and was she still alive? He could only hope and pray…

A loud shuffling sound came to his hearing as he went into the hallway. Above his head was a metal grate attached to the ceiling, the purpose, Isaac was not sure of. The engineer focused his narrow sights on the grate as he walked forward; something was up there because it was making some kind of noise; like the squealing of a pig, but it clearly wasn't. The squealing had a hint of human in it.

Isaac could see the shuffling was made by the creature dragging itself across the grate; dragging itself because as far as he could see, it didn't have any legs; it looked like a human torso with something long a red growing from the base of the abdomen.

"_Shit. There's more…_" Isaac thought as he looked at the creature move around, the squealing turning to louder more inhumane noises as it leapt up into an opening in the ceiling at the end of the grate. It was gone but Isaac waited. He didn't trust it. Clearly this wasn't a Slasher, but he could name it once he saw what it could do. Isaac breathed deeply and continued on.

Before he left he decided to head down the other ends of the hallway. Directly at the other end of the hall he found 3,000 credits and the other way, in front of the locked door that lead to the Cargo Bay, he found a green storage container with a clip of plasma energy.

As Isaac passed the open doorway to a public restroom, a cold chill came over him; so cold that it froze him in place. He stood there, unable to move. The hallway was almost dead quiet, except…

"_Voice analysis of the audio log detects various indicators of positive communication and physical behavior…_"

"Who's there?" Isaac said calmly, sweating beneath his helmet. Whispers. Soft, barely audible whispering. "I can hear you. W-Who's there…?"

"_The desire for social interaction, physical contact, affection, and support may lead you to make poor judgments and decisions in multiple areas…_"

Isaac's finger quivered over the trigger of the Plasma Cutter. He dare not look in the restroom, the entry way of which he was now standing directly in front of him. His legs felt like Jell-O, his insides cold as ice. It took a lot for him to get back to the ramp that lead down to the hallway, but he managed to do it.

"_Please review the following information to increase chances of survival._"

Isaac convinced himself it was simply the PA malfunctioning, but that last one made him think… Chances of survival? How does that apply to a mining vessel such as the USG _Ishimura_? Either the PA is having issues too, or it wasn't the PA, but whispers of the crew themselves. Isaac felt a wave of dread sweep him again even as he got further away from the hallway, the whispers getting fainter and fainter until they were gone all together.

With the door still banging loudly against the frame, Isaac froze it with Stasis before proceeding and refilled it at the station next to the door. The tunnel was just as quiet as ever, the only difference in appearance being the new Tram hanging from the ceiling in the distance and blending in with the darkness of the tunnel. Now all he needed to do was get the databoard from the Maintenance Bay, if Kendra got it unlocked yet.

Plasma Cutter tight in hand, he glanced around the dark smoking tunnel until halfway down the tunnel an airshaft covering near the door at the other end flipped open. Two long, blade-clad arms suddenly emerged and pulled a growling mass of bloody flesh into the tunnel. The Slasher turned towards Isaac. He could feel those cold eyes on him even though it was so far away and he had no idea what it could be looking at, but he knew it was looking at him.

With a loud roar that could be taken as a battle cry the Slasher started running towards him at top speed, blades cutting the air as its arms flailed like mad. Isaac raised the cutter up and took careful aim, taking a few steps back and shooting the Slasher, stopping it dead in its tracks; the blast almost made it lose its footing. Isaac took the window of opportunity and laid down two carefully aimed shots on both of its arms, and the rest of the Slasher laid there on the floor in a heap.

A dark shape appeared above the obstruction that blocked the end of the tunnel Isaac focused his light on the creature. Torso-like body, tail-like appendage…

The same creature he came across earlier. He knew he should be shooting at it but his natural curiosity got the best of him and he watched it. The creature made a loud squeal that sounded like it had a sort of electronic effect to it before it jumped down onto the floor. It ran towards Isaac, tail swaying, running…on its hands. That reminded Isaac of this ass hole character he saw in a _Star Wars _movie when he was a kid. And it was moving fast. Isaac prepared to shoot it but it stopped, and without any warning the creature jumped in the air, leaping towards him. Not a single shot hit it, and it quickly got closer.

Isaac got the sudden feeling of strong hands on his shoulders that pushed him down hard against the metal floor, knocking the wind out of his lungs. The thing was on top of him. The loud noises it made nearly made him go deaf, they were so loud. This creature had a face more resembling that of a man and as Isaac struggled to push it off, four long mandible-like fangs unfolded from its mouth, extending as it they were coming for his face. Isaac yelled at the new creature and dug his glove-clad fingers hard into its reddened pale shoulders and the skin nearly fell apart under him.

It let out another loud disturbing noise as it lunged down twice, once at his face then at his neck. Isaac grunted loudly and thrashed his head from side to side to get it to lose its aim for his under-protected neck, banging its side with the Plasma Cutter. He grabbed its shoulders again and moved his legs up as well as he could, rocking back to get the bottoms of his boots on the creature's torso. A quick thrust of his legs made it come off and fly into the air, rolling inelegantly on the metal floor of the tunnel. It shook its head to recover but Isaac quickly blasted it off its shoulders, aiming another shot at its arm, missing and hitting its body harmlessly, but after shooting twice the monster made another sick noise before it died, little blood spatters here and there around it.

On his feet Isaac shook the daze out of his head, the room tilting a bit before it straightened out and returned to normal. Another one, but different this time huh? Of course like the Slasher, he had to give it a name. It walked on its hands, and it flew through the air. No no, fly isn't the correct term. It could jump and glide, but not fly. It leapt at him…

"Leaper…Leaper…" Isaac mumbled as he continued on, reloading the Plasma Cutter. "These things are leapers…" He opened the door to the long ramp back to the baggage transport hallway, lucking himself up the ramp. His boots felt so heavy as he walked up, the _Ishimura's_ automatic gravity device dragging his magnetic boots down the ramp. The engineer knocked his palm against his helmet and shook his head to get rid of the shock that Leaper gave him when it nearly knocked him out.

It took some effort to get up the ramp, maybe because he already felt exhausted, his chest was starting to hurt, but he finally made it to the top where that dead body was still laying there. The RIG link opened up and Kendra's voice started playing.

"_Isaac I've patched into the Deck security system. It took some work but I've got the door to the Maintenance Bay unlocked. The databoard should be somewhere inside._"

"Thank God…" Isaac said after the RIG link went off. "Now we can get this son-of-a-bitch they call a Tram back online, soon…" He opened the door and stepped back into the dim yellow light of the baggage transportation hallway.

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**Short yeah but I don't want to give the entire story in large chapters lol. R&R!**


	4. Determined to Survive

**Sorry for the long wait! I had this written down on notebook paper and I couldn't get myself to type it all down. But here it is! The next chapter!**

**Enjoy!

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The way the sparks shot off the walls and the exposed wires made Isaac wonder what kind of calamity this ship went through. He was still confused as to what they were, though part of him was convinced they were the crew, only part of him. Could it be possible they're hostile alien life forms from Aegis VII, taking over the bodies of the crew? No, they couldn't be; he knew were this thought would lead to. Isaac didn't believe in all that "aliens will redeem us" bullshit Unitologists taught. Unitology was such a widespread religion, so influential, with more members than Judaism, Christianity, and even Islam combined, he would not be surprised if there were a few dozen, if not a few hundred Unitologists out this 1,000 or more member crew.

Kicking aside the abandoned luggage scattered here and there along the narrow corridor, Isaac looked at each bag. Naturally he felt pity for those who lost or left them behind. Losing their belongings, never to see their possessions that they loved and held near and dear, but it looked like they wouldn't need them, if they're dead. Every time those things came close, he could smell rotting flesh even through his helmet which blocked out most smells; this one was so strong, there was no doubt about it. When the Leaper attacked, getting closer than any so far, the smell was the strongest. These creatures were clearly dead, or at least partially dead.

The length of the hallway was darkened thanks to the broken and shattered lights, only one still active at the back wall which gave the hall it's soft and only source of light. There was a sharp turn to the right, followed by two more to the immediate left and right. Isaac guessed this had to be the way to the Maintenance Bay, according to the coordinates, thankfully.

"_How much more of this can I take?_" Isaac thought. "_I still have a whole ship to go through if we can't get back to the Kellion. We'll have to find another way out of here if the ship is in no shape to take off…_"

Isaac picked up a plasma clip in front of a few stacked-up storage crates, and then stopped when he turned to the right. With the stakes at hand, he would have hurried off to the Maintenance Bay as fast as his legs could carry him, but instead he stood there, staring at the Slasher laying there in the middle of the floor.

Arms hanging to his side, the engineer stood there not breathing, only taking small breaths when needed to. That Slasher…why was it inflicting so much fear into him, and why was it just laying there like that? Based on the condition of the body and shape of the walls and floor (an obviously lack of blood) it didn't look like it was dead… Unless it died of natural causes and just dropped down dead.

Isaac wasn't sure. He admittedly had high doubts about the condition of the corpse. Turning casually back to the other side of the hallway and went to grab one of the many bags on the floor then brought it back, standing in the same spot, same position, with the same strong suspicion and caution.

"Little bastard, are you trying to trick me…?" Isaac scowled under his breath, getting tired of these things already. It stayed there, lying motionless. It hadn't moved a single inch since he moved away from it… He swayed the arm that held the luggage, back and forth, back and forth like the pendulum inside an old grandfather clock, the rummaging of the bag's contents replicating the clicking of the said pendulum. On the final sway, he let his fingers unwrap from the handle and allowed it to fly gently through the air, arcing slightly before it came down and hit the Slasher on the stomach.

Nothing. No movement. No reaction at all; the same way a dead body would react if you touched it. It wouldn't react at all. It moved only a hair however only because of the bag which teetered for a few seconds before landing on its side, just as motionless as the creature.

Okay, maybe it wasn't dead. The possibility allowed Isaac to release his breath, taking deeper breaths through his partially strained lungs. Now he could breathe easy now…

"I guess someone was able to kill this one…" Isaac concluded to himself before he started moving towards the Bay. When he was only a few inches away from the Slasher his boot brushed up against the underside of its right foot, squishy dead flesh rubbing off onto the metal. When this happened Isaac took a quick glance at it and as if touching it had an effect, the Slasher moved onto its feet and literally sprang to life, fleshy body bending until it was standing upwards.

"BRAAAAAAA!" It roared loudly, blaring through Isaac's RIG sensors. A bladed arm swung forward and caught Isaac right in the face, helmet absorbing the blow but sending him back hard on his ass.

"Shit! Shit!" the engineer yelled as the creature stood over him, having completely fooled him. Isaac pulled the trigger several times, not caring where he shot it or that he used up over half a clip just to kill it. He didn't care as long as it died. Blood now covered the walls and floor, the evidence of its death now there. Isaac reloaded the cutter before he stood up shakily.

"_Jesus…these things are smart too…?_" Isaac thought, rubbing his sore rear end. "_Can't I go one foot without being attacked? I'll have to be more cautious from now on._" He cursed himself for falling into the Slasher's trap, caught like a mouse in a mousetrap, Isaac the mouse, the Slasher the trap, and the Maintenance Bay the bait. The irresistible bait.

Isaac learned an important lesson: Running around this ship without thinking can lose you your head. He wasn't expecting to learn anything new here, but luckily Isaac was a smart man, and learning was one of his many strong suits.

"Another audio log?" Isaac commented as he bent down to pick up the electronic device laying in front of an air vent. "What does the crew have to tell me now?"

"_This is Benson, Tram Engineering! We think we've figured it out; Smith killed one. Listen, forget about shooting them in the body! You gotta cut of the limbs! Grab a cutter, anything! Cut 'em apart!_"

"_I guess they figured it out too…_" Isaac thought as he opened the rusty door to the Maintenance Bay. He stepped in and ran his hand across the holographic panel, the door creaking shut and the darkness becoming bathed in orange as the elevator went down, clicking every second.

"_Isaac, it's Kendra,_" the woman's voice came up over the RIG. "_It looks like the door to the storage room is locked. There should be a key somewhere in the Maintenance Bay._"

"Crap…" Isaac sighed as the elevator eventually came to a stop and the doors slid open. For the most part he was not surprised the door was locked; nothing could be easy on this ship. As far as he could tell, there were still so many locked doors on the _Ishimura_. Hammond did say most of the doors were locked due to the quarantine. Maybe if all the mutants were taken out, the quarantine would be lifted. But what set off the Hazardous State Quarantine, as the system was known as? It was set off in the Flight Lounge, so maybe if all the anomalies in the Flight Lounge were killed, the quarantine would be lifted. But the lounge was far from his position, and even if he lifted the quarantine, he risked the possibly of getting killed on his way back to the Maintenance Bay; or worse, he risked Zach and Kendra's lives.

"_I should just continue on and hope for the best._" Isaac concluded. The databoard was close by after all, and the sooner he got it to the Tram Control Room the sooner Hammond and Kendra could get to the Bridge…and the sooner they could find Nicole…

More metal grates served as the floor, not your best friend when carrying small tools; the floor of the Maintenance Bay – this part anyway – that same metal slatted grate... Everything looked brown with a very soft tint of orange in some areas because of the dim yellow lights hanging down from the highest parts of the ceiling, swaying back and forth like some grotesque tendril, the light never fixed on one spot. Back and forth, back and forth… The grated floor attached to the wall had a lower-hanging ceiling over it, most likely to protect workers from falling equipment.

"Calm down Isaac, you've worked in these kinds of environments for years," the engineer told himself as he stepped off the elevator. "This is your home turf…in an unfamiliar environment…"

He was sweating again. Isaac was only a normal man. Of course he was scared; you'd be scared too if you were on a dark interstellar mining vessel with mutated creatures, the only line of defense you had was the little mining tool grasped firmly in your hand, and there were no survivors on-board except for you and your two remaining allies; that can be pretty stressful on a person. But he had to stay calm, don't panic. Panicking can get you killed in a place like this. Remain calm… Remain…calm…

The sound of a sharp knife on metal filled his ears, like the gritty sound of a knife against a metal sharpener; except this was grittier, and more threatening…

At least fifty in front of him, over the metal guard rails ending the grate platform, two long pale arms pulled the bloody shape from over the edge of the rails, the Slasher plopping on its strange squishy feet. Just as ugly as ever, resembling the ones he saw before to a T; sickly pink skin, no jaw, sunken grey eyes, matted hair, lacking clothing, stomach hanging open… So many disgusting features too numerous to even name.

Isaac grit his teeth at the sight of it and aimed, shooting three shots into the monster before it had the chance to do anything. Near the railing close to him, he spotted another storage box with a green flashing light on top. Boy, he needed as many supplies as he could get. Had it not been for the loud roar, he wouldn't have even seen the Slasher to his direct right, purple skin, tattered overalls and half its face deformed. Isaac quickly turned and using the same skills he used on the last he killed it with a few well-aimed shots to the spindly arms.

"Jesus, how long can I go without seeing one of these things…?" Isaac thought as he smashed the box with his boot, collecting the small Med Pack from under the debris after the dust cleared. His RIG's health bar was only a few inches from the top, which wasn't too bad, and he felt perfectly fine despite his heart beating at twice its normal rate, pounding and pounding against his rib cage. From where the Slasher came from he went down a little ramp where the body of a worker lay directly in front of a bridge – not to his surprise it was grated. Directly next to it was a new sight: a glowing red cylinder. The fire hazard symbol on the front told him clearly it was an explosive barrel. Isaac could not help but smile, because he knew that would come in handy.

The sounds of stirring came from the vent built into the wall directly across from his standing spot. The light tint of red light coming from the vent provided light so he could see the dark silhouette of something inside. He started sweating. Another one, just what he needed and wanted. He had a few ammo clips in his RIG storage and he knew it would be easy to find more, but he was reluctant to just use them up on every creature he saw; what would happen if he ran out of ammo? He wasn't sure if running from them was a wise option. He saw how fast they could run and they didn't have any energy to lose, unlike Isaac who had to take a break to catch his breath after long periods of running. He did not want to make a simple mistake that could end with him losing his life, a mistake that could have easily been avoided by fighting instead of just running like a coward, no hope for his future, no determination to survive.

That wasn't Isaac. He was determined to survive and he certainly was not a coward. If he was a coward, he would not have the determination after all.

The vent exploded into large shards of shrapnel as the Slasher leapt onto the Bay floor, pausing for a brief second before it immediately took off in a mad dash towards the engineer. Damn, they could run fast! Isaac acted as fast as he could and shot the explosive barrel, a loud explosion filling the air as the tank ruptured and burst, engulfing everything around it in a quick but powerful fireball. The Slasher roared as its body was scorched by the fire and the force of the explosion blew its body apart, throwing it back against the wall. The man's corpse was blown apart as well. Isaac felt bad about himself for desecrating the innocent man's body, but it was a price he had to pay; an unfortunate price, but a price that he was willing to take for the safety of his friends. He had to get that databoard, fast. He could already hear Kendra and Hammond's screams of terror as they were slaughtered ruthlessly, like Chen and Johnston. Even now he still felt bad for his fallen comrades and he was certain the sorrow would come back to haunt him as long as he lived. He shivered at these thoughts and did his best to isolate them in the back of his mind, as far away as possible from his objective.

Turning to the left he faced the bridge that went across the steamy black chasm that served as the Maintenance Bay's lack of adequate flooring, going back to Isaac's point about the grate not being your best friend when you handled small tools and other equipment. According to the coordinates Kendra uploaded to his RIG's data computer, the key was directly above him and the elevator directly across could get him there.

Isaac started walking across the bridge, his boots clanking loudly on the metal. He winced with each step, knowing a single loud noise like that explosion could draw them to his location. But things went smoothly despite this and for the most part the Bay was silent except for the noises produced by a few mechanical noises here and there. Between the perimeter made by the grate platforms surrounding the chasm, making a circle if you could call it that, the hull of a ship in desperate need of repairs hung above the steaming darkness attached to the ceiling by tethers, rocking back and forth and clinking as the loosened parts of the hull shifted around as if it threatened to come loose from its supporting tethers and fall into the inky blackness, never to been seen or retrieved again.

Isaac shook his head and tore his eyes from the ominous shroud the damaged hull became in his mind, getting closer to the elevator, eyes now fixed on the blue holopad. He stopped dead when he heard something behind him. Even though he was practically in his home turf, engineers were always stationed in areas like the Maintenance Bay until they were called to action, this ship did not feel safe and it only added to the fear. He heard it again. He was afraid to turn around; afraid he would turn and see another one of them, charging like a berserk rhinoceros intent on killing everything in sight. He wasn't a coward, anyone who knew Isaac Clarke could support that, if he wasn't he wouldn't have made it here. He heard it, one of those hoarse inhaling noises they made and the fear sent him forward on his feet, slamming his hand against the pad, dashing in and closing it behind him. Even as he turned he swore he saw another purple overall-clad monster across the bridge. He could not be sure because the elevator door closed and it brought him up to the next level. A sigh of relief.

Within seconds the door opened and Isaac looked around. Another bridge which was where he need to go, and to the right another right turn that lead…somewhere. Not wanting to do more exploring at this point he headed to the bridge where three bodies laid. It filled him with suspicion how they just laid there in a pile, as if someone dragged and threw them into the pile. A trap, maybe? Isaac could not be sure.

He took a cautious step forward towards them and on the fifth step two of the bodies went flying up, the third pale and naked one springing to its feet. Isaac nearly freaked out and shot it twice, falling to the floor with a loud gargling noise. God, their blood shot up like a fountain of red water. He kicked the Slasher off the bridge and watched its body fall limply into the chasm like a rag doll, never to be seen again. Like that hull hanging over the abyss…

He grunted and continued. Ahead two walls blocked the platform expect for what was directly in front of the bridge, leaving for a lot of fear and surprises. But he saw something blue and flat laying on the floor, the computer in his visor indicating it was just what he was looking for.

"Thank God, the key…" Isaac sighed, relaxing his shoulders and the rest of his body. So close, so close now…

Crash. A piece of metal landed beside the key from the left. Isaac held his breath and raised his weapon, body tensing up once more as he knew what was coming. He knew to expect it, be on the guard, and not to expect any surprises from these creatures. Another air vent was there it seemed, and he wondered if the one he saw down there followed him up to the second level… It was highly possible.

Sure enough, a purple form lumbered clumsily into his view. Not wasting a single moment he shot it right in the shoulder but the Slasher merely staggered back as its arm went flying off. Isaac growled and shot it in the face which did it in, slumping against the now blood-stained wall. Isaac did not linger on the many thoughts and questions he had about these creatures, only the task at hand. Kneeling down with a soft grunt, Isaac picked up the flat blue card. The key looked mechanical based on the tiny cells and fuses on it but he wasn't one hundred percent sure. Sometimes key cards like these looked like they were made of metal but were really formed from a special kind of plastic. Technology really advanced since the twenty-first century. With the key now stored in his inventory, he could now get to the storage room. Isaac was so relieved he found the key but he ignored the need to praise his finding; the databoard was so close…

Trekking back to the rusty elevator Isaac rode it back down; a little confident he would succeed. Standing close to the door he wanted to get out as soon as the doors opened so he could hustle his ass over to that storage room. With a click and a whir the door opened and he barely had time to process the purple and blue blur that ran towards him, running and running fast until it forcefully shoved him against the hard wall of the elevator, the bar digging into his back.

"RRAAAAAAA!" the Slasher roared at him as it leapt into the elevator, blades pinning him to the wall. It felt like they pinned him because the force of the grabbing pushed him further against the wall but in reality the Slasher was pulling him towards it. Isaac could not make a single reaction, it was just too fast. The Slasher roared and lunged its head down, latching its dirty, sharp and thin upper teeth – or really, upper _fangs _– into the side of his neck. Isaac yelled in pain and pounded at the creature's shoulders, trying to get it off him. It held him in a sort of sick hug as it tore at the material "protecting" his neck, feeling his skin tear with it. It was as if the monster thought he was some kind of intruder in its home, like he was some sort of threat or even prey, and wanted to kill him with this horrible malevolence and violence, not stopping until he was dead.

He could feel blood flow down his suit, RIG meter depleting as it beeped rapidly like an EKG; the beeping would only get louder until the moment the bar was fully depleted and his vitals would flat-line at the moment of his death. The elevator became blurry as pain shot through him, filling every corner of his body. No, I will not die, he repeated madly in his mind. I will not die!

With strong determination to survive, get away and protect his friends, Isaac mustered up as much strength as he could and pushed it away, using his Plasma Cutter to knock its head clean off its shoulders. The monster staggered back, now completely blinded. He followed the punch with a hard kick to its open abdomen. The hard metal underside of the boots sent the dead fleshy monster flying back and hit the railing hard enough to break its spine in two. Its limp body flipped backwards over the rail and fell down into the pit.

Isaac nearly collapsed as he staggered off the elevator. His body throbbed with pain but his neck hurt like bloody hell; the perfect way to describe the feeling and appearance. Bloody. How far did the meter go down…? He didn't want to see. He didn't want to know how close he was to dying.

"D-Damn it…fucking Slashers…" He muttered curses under his hoarse breath as he lifted a shaking hand to his RIG hologram link, summoning up a small Med Pack. His fingers grasped the little white cylinder firmly as he put it to his neck and pushed the little button on the cap. A burst of thick mist covered his wound in powerful healing agents. With the advancements in technology, the medical field was one of the most advanced fields. The Med Packs were so advanced they could heal and clean out the wound, and even patch up any broken skin or blood vessels like new. The sharpness of the pain went away almost instantly, leaving only a dull ache in his neck. Isaac felt like new, his vitals returning back to the top. He stood, and went on.

After a few sharp turns to the right and to the left up a long ramp he was led to a locked door a few feet from the top of the ramp. Above the door the electronic sign read "Maintenance Bay Office. CEC Officers Only, Please". Okay, so technically it wasn't a storage room per say, but this had to be it. Kendra wouldn't lie to him after all. Going to the door Isaac pulled the key-card from his storage and slid it into the little slot of the locking mechanism. The door clicked a few times before the red light turned blue and Isaac smiled under his helmet.

He opened the door and was instantly greeted by blood stains lining the walls and floor, like a poorly done and unfinished paint-job. The room was small; a few storage lockers lined the right wall, a Power Node storage box directly across which he collected right away along with the supplies from the locker, consisting of a few plasma energy clips and a few thousand credits. There was also a Bench at the other side of the room which he could use to upgrade his weapons and RIG. He only had two Power Nodes so he couldn't do much with that. Better save them until later.

Against the window right next to the door on a small table, there it was. The databoard. Isaac felt a wave of strong relief come over him, washing away all worry he had for his friends. He hoped they were safe, though he wondered why they hadn't contacted him since he first entered the Maintenance Bay…

But here it was and finally he could get the Tram back online. He picked up the thin piece of metal and examined it for a minute. The databoard was simply a green computer chip-like memory board with a few yellow circuits here and there over the grey memory chips. Carefully, he stored it in his RIG.

Objective Complete.

But first…Isaac needed a rest. After all he nearly had his neck torn out and the Med Pack didn't cure his exhaustion from the attack. Leaning against the wall, he sucked in a loud amplified breath and thought about how they were going to get off this ship, with the _Kellion _still in need of repairs…

* * *

**So did you like it, hate it? Let me know! Come on peeps, where's my reviews? I want a few just to tell me I'm doing a good job! Just a few, please…? ^^**


	5. A Compromised Launch

Alright, here's the next chapter! :) Thank you for your support so far, and I hope you all enjoy this one, because I _really _worked hard on this!

**Disclaimer**: I own nothing in this story. All characters, situations, and dialogue from the game belong to Visceral Games and EA.

_Italics- _Audio/Video Transmission, computer announcements, and thoughts.

* * *

The short rest was only a minute or two even though it felt longer; more like a long, grueling hour or two. Isaac's neck still ached and he was certain it would continue to hurt the rest of the mission. Until they got off this ship and real medical attention would be available. After an attack and injury like that, pain doesn't go away too easily. Isaac straightened up and pushed away from the wall, moving his neck back and forth to get rid of the forming cricks.

"Looks like I'll need a higher-level RIG suit after all…" Isaac mumbled to himself after pressing his fingers to the spot on his neck where the Slasher tore through. The hole in the protective material wasn't too big; surprisingly it got patched up with his wound, like a second layer of skin. Maybe he was obsessing after that attack, was he? He didn't know, wasn't too sure. But it was understandable wasn't it? You'd be concerned about getting attack again after nearly having your neck torn out like a lion on a zebra. Even though things looked bad now, this early in his mission, Isaac only knew things would get worse; much, much worse.

At this point a higher-level suit was the best option. Isaac pulled up his inventory screen through his RIG link. The center of the screen showed ten glowing storage spaces, six of which were filled with plasma clips and a single Med Pack. To the right it showed two Power Nodes in storage, and a total of twelve thousand five hundred credits. A pretty decent amount. Hopefully that would be enough to buy the next level suit. He could relinquish the high-flexibility the Standard Engineer RIG granted him for added protection. Running around the ship in this skin-tight suit wasn't the best idea, what with the hostile environments he knew he'd have to go through throughout the _Ishimura_. And if he came across any areas exposed to space, it wouldn't be very comfortable…or even safe.

"This should be enough for the Standard Miner RIG, I think…" Isaac commented, thinking back to the types of RIGs he had to study and memorize; study their appearance to identify them easily, what they did, how much protection they offered, the basics like that. The _Ishimura _had to have them all available at the store. As time went on a newer and better suit would be necessary, but he needed the credits to buy them. Worry about that when the time comes Isaac, he told himself. You've got a job to complete right now.

Isaac popped the empty cartridge from the Plasma Cutter. The hollow rectangular ammo pack clanked softly to the floor and he replaced it with a fresh, full one. Now he was ready to move on; confident in himself, but not too confident. Overconfidence nearly got him killed…

The door of the Maintenance Bay office slid open and Isaac stepped back out into the dimly lit sub-deck. The RIG link video playback came to life and Kendra appeared on the screen.

"_That's it Isaac, take the board back to Tram Control and plug it and plug it into the computer array. That should get the Tram back online._"

"I'm coming Kendra, don't worry, I'm on my way. I'll try to hurry," Isaac assured her. Ahead by the ramp a Slasher pulled itself up from the abyss onto the grate bridge. Those same sunken grey eyes stared at him through his helmet, practically piercing his mind and soul. "Kendra I've got a little problem here. I gotta go. Isaac out."

He ended the transmission just as it moved towards him, arms raised straight over its head. With the Plasma Cutter's three lights aligned with its left arm Isaac's finger shook over the trigger, trying to accurately line up the cutter with the long arm. This task was hard in itself, but remaining calm while doing it was an entirely different story. Already it was a major bitch for Isaac. It wasn't until the Slasher roared that his finger slipped of the trigger and hit a little switch adjacent to it. Imagine his surprise when the half-circle "barrel" of the Plasma Cutter did a ninety-degree turn, flipping the beams horizontally. The Plasma Cutter had this function? Isaac forgot it for now and shot the arm off without any problem, killing it with a few more shots.

"You're just full of surprises aren't you?" Isaac said aloud, testing this new function with a few clicks of the button. Once again, this could be very useful. The best decision was to keep it on the horizontal mode. Aiming would be easier now, thank God… Isaac turned right and went through the Bay until he reached the elevator. With the databoard safely in RIG inventory he could get the Tram back online. Finally things were looking up. The fear for his friends' lives was still there but it diminished greatly. Get Kendra and Hammond to the bridge, and he could get rid of it completely. The mission would be so much easier without it… But he was not out of the woods just yet. He couldn't sit back without any worry. They were all lost in this wood known as the USG _Ishimura_ and he had to get them out in one piece.

Once they arrived at the bridge Hammond could look up Nicole's RIG code. That way he could contact her and make sure she's alive and safe. That's why he signed up for this mission after all. His stomach hurt. Make sure she's alive… The thought of her dying, dead at the hands of these monsters…that was just too much to bear. Isaac swore to protect her, keep her safe from all harm. And damn it, he was going to do just that.

"I'm coming Nicole. I'm coming. Please, be safe…" Isaac said, his voice determined and worried at once. He came to fix the _Ishimura _and find his love, and that's exactly what he was going to do.

Isaac sighed heavily as the elevator doors closed behind him and the lift ventured away from the Maintenance Bay, leaving it pushed to the back of his mind, a distant memory. Despite what happened back there, what happened anywhere else on this ship, he couldn't linger on it; think only about the task at hand. The task at hand…that's all that seemed to really matter now, the tasks that needed to be completed. One slipup and you are dead Isaac. Just another unnamed body lying in a pool of you own blood, as cold as the metal flooring of this vessel.

The elevator doors slid open with the same mechanical whir Isaac was already used to. Just as he left it, the hallway was the same cold and uninviting left twist, the same bluish hue and smoke hanging in the air like the fog in the early morning. The elevator closed behind him. He listened…listened for what?

"_Anything. Anything…_" Isaac's mind told him. "_You can't trust any sound in this ship. Listen. Stop and listen Isaac Clarke._"

Listen? Isaac knew better than to trust his basic instincts; survival instincts were needed here, and with as much as Isaac knew about surviving he needed to improve those skills. Improve them to the max. But was his mind right, as crazy as that even sounded? Anything could be around that corner, waiting for him. So he did just that. Stood perfectly still and listened. Sure enough a strange feeling blew across him like the soft air coming out of the vents. He stopped breathing and listened carefully. Over the sparking of the exposed inner workings of the ship and the clanking of the walls, his mind processed the barely audible reverberation of rapid squishing sounds. And they got louder by the second.

"Wh…What the hell…?" Isaac mumbled, squinting. "What is that…?" It was very familiar. He heard it a few times before….no, it couldn't be, could it? Not this soon. Isaac's hand shook, his finger playing over the trigger.

"_Come on Clarke, don't get scared stiff like this. You're stronger than that._" His mind scolded him. He slowly raised the Plasma Cutter up to level with his shoulder like an officer stalking a criminal, looking over the barrel of his gun to take aim. Like a soldier ready for battle he kept the Cutter in front of his face to improve his aim, both hands clasped firmly around the butt of the gun. And he waited.

The squishing kept coming…until it stopped. Just stopped, as if it was never there. Isaac felt like he suddenly went deaf and it was still there, he just couldn't hear it, because one minute it was there and the next…gone. Just gone. Something came over him like an energy field. Fear? Suspicion? Terror…what? Maybe it was just…safe now? Or was it a simple explanation of his mind playing tricks on him, even after assuring himself to stop and listen? God, what a fucking nightmare…

Either way Isaac let go of his breath and resumed pumping air into his lungs, letting go of some tension but still did not trust it. He took a single and very slow cautious step so his boots wouldn't clank loudly on the floor. Another step, then another, and another…

The squishing returned just as soon as he let go of his fear of it and became very loud very quickly until the source became known. A loud inhuman roar blasted through the air and a Slasher appeared directly in front of him from the left, its face only a few inches from his own.

It all happened so fast. The Slasher had been running and the sharp turn around the corner made it run right into him, bodies colliding and knocking Isaac right to the floor. His hand clutched the cutter tightly and discharged a blast of hot energy as a result, completely by accident. It hit the wall and sizzled loudly like bacon on a frying pan, leaving a black burn in its wake.

"Fuck!" Isaac swore, kicking the Slasher in the shin with the underside of his boot. The leg broke and collapsed like a pillar of salt after a harsh rainstorm, bringing it down with him. The only thing that made it worse was seeing it crawl towards him, using its blades to drag itself across the floor.

"You desperate mother fucker!" Isaac scowled angrily, still on the floor. With all his might he gave it a firm stomp in the face and broke its neck, head rolling off its shoulders. Blood shot out onto the front of Isaac's suit, giving him a bath of hot red liquid. Disgusting. Isaac stomped again and again, pushing its now "dead" body back away from him.

"Jesus, how desperate are they to kill me?" Isaac got to his feet and shook his head, trying to get his bearings. Don't trust your mind? What a stupid ideology. Trust your instincts, trust your mind, and trust your weapon. Trust everything you have in your disposal, he concluded. This whole situation was all around fucked up...

Isaac could feel a dull aching in his legs as he kicked the abandoned luggage from his path. His neck hurt less. Did the pain drain all the way down to his legs? What the hell was that all about? Whatever. Just don't let it bother you Isaac…try to ignore it…as hard as it was to ignore pain he did, as much as he could. The light hanging from the ceiling behind him which served as the only source of light at that end of the hall served as no help to him, only guided by the lights next to the door leading to the Tram tunnel and the green baggage-claim light situated next to the Tram Control Room door.

Isaac turned right and went down the very short hall, plugging his finger on the opening mechanism when a shadow went over him, squishy footsteps accompanying it until they both faded into nothing.

"Damn them all…" Isaac simply said, not daring to look behind him or go search for the source. He wasn't stupid like that. The door slid open and the darkness of the Control Room was there to give him its humble greeting. Humble greeting? Could darkness even be humble? Screw it. Time to get that databoard plugged in. At this point he cared less about most other tasks; he just wanted to get Kendra and Hammond to the bridge.

The shutters over the window's lifted up and filled the room with light once more. There they were, standing at the station and patiently waiting, Kendra and Hammond, alive and well. Thank God, Isaac thought, another wave of softening relief coming over him and his body relaxed. They were safe, he was very worried about them but now that he saw then with his own eyes, the stress went away. Ignoring the pain in his legs he ran over to the terminal in the little booth at the other side of the room. Isaac punched a few commands in the small holoscreen next to the terminal and the fried databoard was allowed to be removed. The fresh new databoard came into his hands and he carefully slid it into the vacant slot, fitting it perfectly like a piece of a puzzle he worked so hard to complete. With the new databoard in place, the computer terminals around the room roared to life.

"_Tram Control computer now online._" The _Ishimura's _main computer chimed in.

"_Alright, let's get this Tram back to the station._" Isaac thought. He went over to the computer terminal, picking up the abandoned issue of _Interstellar Sports_ of the chairand setting it aside so he could plop down in it. The engineer tapped his fingers across the screen, setting the location for the Tram to arrive at the Flight Deck and hitting the "activate" key. Almost immediately after hitting the command the Tram roared through the tunnel as it made its way to the Flight Deck station.

"_Tripwire Tram system reinitialized. All Trams now operational_." The computer announced once more. "_Tram arriving at Flight Deck station. Quarantine lifted._"

The Tram Isaac replaced earlier in the Tram maintenance room came into view, slowly stopping at the station and blocking his view. Everything was going smoothly now, so far. He succeeded and now there were off to the Bridge. That fear for their lives…it was gone now, he hoped, and he was allowed to just sit back in the chair and take a deep, relaxing breath, stretching his aching legs out. At least the Hazardous State Quarantine was no longer in place so the doors on the ship were no longer sealed shut. Moving around the _Ishimura _would be so much easier now…

As the Tram slowly pulled away from the station Hammond came up on the RIG Link.

"_Alright we're on board and heading to the Bridge. Good work._" He said, smiling confidently.

Kendra didn't like as confident. She seemed very uncertain about something. "_Strange, the Quarantine just lifted…_"

"_Whatever_ _was in the Flight Lounge must have left, that's lucky for us._" Hammond replied, trying not to add pressure to the situation. "_Isaac get back to the Kellion and prep it for launch. We'll find out what we can from the Bridge an meet you there._"

"_If we live that long!_" Kendra returned, her voice filled with worry. "_You're out of your league Hammond! This is suicide we're going to die up here!_"

"_The lack of confidence in me is duly noted, Ms. Daniels,_" Hammond said, barely letting Kendra finish. His confident voice and expression disappeared and replaced with frustration and a slow ebbing away of patience. "_But I have a mission to complete and that's exactly what I am going to do with, or without you. Do we understand each other?_"

Kendra looked at him for a few seconds before she said with a shaky voice, "_Just get us out of here alive…_" End transmission.

The sound of the Tram roaring across the tracks disappeared a long time ago and all that could be heard was deadening silence. He was alone His only allies were off to another part of the ship, far away from his location and here he was, sitting in the soft darkness of the Control Room.

No use sitting here just doing nothing. Hammond commanded him to get the Kellion ready for launch. Isaac was not one to disobey the orders of his superior officer. But it did not add up; didn't Hammond see how damaged the Kellion was when they docked? Or more accurately, crashed? Johnson's damage report showed the ship was in no condition to fly; he did say the ship would take some time to fix, and they had no time.

They still hadn't found Nicole. Did he Hammond want to get the Kellion launched and just take off like that? He fixed the Tram, and he said he would help find Nicole. Hammond would keep his end of the bargain if he had to force him. He was not going to leave this ship without her. He couldn't. He wouldn't.

Leaving the Control Room Isaac headed back up the ramp he found the first Audio Log and went through the next door, going around the twist and turns of the corridor like he was in some dark labyrinth. He was close to the spot he encountered the first survivor; the one he couldn't save. It still hurt the deepest parts of him because a life was in his very hands, and he let it slip between his fingers like that… Isaac hated himself for it. Down the stretch of the hall bloody footprints stained the floor, starting where the man died to underneath a broken air vent.

"What the…where did it go…?" Isaac didn't need to look around because the body was nowhere in sight. It couldn't have just…walked away. Bodies don't do that. The only explanation could be a Slasher dragged it away. But that still did not explain the boot-shaped footprints. Isaac didn't allow himself to think about that anymore, but still wondered about its whereabouts even as he went through the room he found the Plasma Cutter and went up the rickety elevator.

Flashbacks of the chase, that run for his life, the fear and anxiety, running, legs pumping, heart beating fast, it all came back to him. The hallway he ran for his life through to get away from these things (other than the individual names, he still didn't know what to call them as a whole) and quite frankly he was not glad to see it again.

"If I have to run again, I'm not going to be happy…" Isaac scowled to himself. "I'll break their necks if they try to get anywhere near me." The hall had to be safe now, though his thoughts were answered when the doors opened and across the hall he barely caught a glimpse of a Slasher disappearing to the left.

This was the hallway of Hell. The dark ominous red light, Slashers constantly populating it like little demons, all it needed was the presence of the Devil himself; and even now he might as well be here, with the evil overrunning the ship. Isaac was cautious. Very cautious. He kicked aside an air vent fan but managed to keep his footsteps quiet as he trekked down the hall, slow, careful steps. It was right around the corner, he was certain. Like the Slasher down outside the Maintenance Bay. Standing there, not making a sound, waiting for him to come around the corner. Then it would strike, trick him again. But he would not fall for their tricks, not again.

Isaac waited at the very edge of the corner before he jumped around and fired several shots down the hall. He didn't know what to expect by firing so blindly. Maybe they would hit something and maybe they wouldn't. But much to his surprise he did hit something. A Slasher lay slumped against the wall, fresh blood stains on the walls and floor around it.

"I guess it was…my lucky day…" Isaac said, unable to prevent a nervous laugh from coming out of his mouth before walking down the hall and up the ramp, then through the door marked "Flight Lounge. Please stow all tools and torches."

"_Hell no. This Plasma Cutter is staying right where it is._"

Upon entering the Flight Lounge the lights came back on again, as they did when they first arrived. The lights were obviously programmed to turn off when no one was around, as a way to save power. That's the conclusion Isaac could draw. Entering the main part of the lounge, Isaac's Audio playback came up.

"_Isaac, we made it to the Bridge._" It was Hammond. "_It's a nightmare up here. No survivors... We're going to try to get to the Command Computer. Wish us luck._"

"Wish _you _luck?" Isaac retorted at first after the transmission ended. "I'm the one risking my life down here! You should be wishing me luck!" he stopped himself, and took a deep breath. "Calm down Isaac, calm down. Don't start acting like this…they're putting their lives on the line too… And you still have a mission to complete."

Isaac headed out the door leaving the Flight Lounge, the sign above it reading "Thank you for visiting the USG Ishimura". Yeah, thanks alright; thanks for a shitty first visit to the amazing mining vessel known as the USG _Ishimura_.

Right where they left it the _Kellion _sat, stationed beside the long loading dock. The poor shuttle was a complete mess, smoke radiating from the broken, sparking panels, parts of the ship hanging here and there. Even one of the four engines might have been completely severed off, but Isaac could not tell. Either way he had to try. The _Kellion _was the only hope they had of getting off the ship alive. And it was so very close. But at this point, there's no telling what was out there…

Isaac straightened up, filling his lungs with a deep cool breath of…well it wasn't fresh air; more like rank, stale, necrotic air. Refreshing… He had to brace himself for a run, a possibly difficult run. Well, here's goes something, Isaac Clarke.

He took off running from the Flight Deck lobby and down the runway, legs carrying him as fast as they could. Don't look back, for God's sake whatever you do, do not look back. Something could be back there. As he got closer to the ship a loud squealing noise could be heard behind him. Oh no…

Isaac told himself not to, but he just could not help it. He turned to look and see what it was, but instead of turning his head, he turned all the way around so he could see it, and shoot if necessary while running. As he thought, much to his dismay, a Leaper was running towards him. Shit, not another one of these bastards. Isaac shot at the monster, missing a few times but getting it in the shoulder and at least stopping it for a minute. He thought he was in the clear until his heal caught on a piece of luggage and he was sent falling on his back painfully, helmet flying off and scattering across the floor.

"God dammit!" he swore as the Leaper caught up with him, close enough to give him a swipe to the face with its bladed tail. Isaac grabbed the luggage that made him fall and threw it angrily over the railing, then laid two more shots into its body before that could happen. He struggled to his feet and got his helmet, then ran across the loading ramp and into the _Kellion_.

The ship was in good condition on the inside at least. The blue holoscreen in the cockpit flashed to life as soon as he entered the cockpit, a holographic outline of the _Kellion _appearing with the words "Load Damage Report?"

"Okay, time to see if we can get this bird flying." Isaac said, sitting down in Johnson's seat and fiddling with the controls. Isaac was an engineer, not a pilot, and their only pilots were dead, so getting out of here was going to be a hassle. Finally he found the activation key and the damage report flashed across the screen, noting the various damaged areas along the shuttle from the port booster to the engines; just about everything on the _Kellion _was in need of repairs.

A Leaper crawled across the cockpit window and the voice of the _Kellion's _computer chimed in.

"_Hostile life forms detected. Hull damage critical. Evacuate immediately._"

As soon as the voice announced those words parts of the shuttle began to explode, fire engulfing the inside rapidly as the siren blared loudly.

"What the fuck is going on?" Isaac yelled as he was forced from his seat. He scrambled as fast as he could, almost dropping the Plasma Cutter as he found himself in the middle of a huge fireball. Had it not been for the RIG he wore, he would certainly have been charred. But he felt the heat of the flames and the pain that came with it. The sounds of the ship exploding like it was under attack by enemy fire and the siren blaring madly nearly made him go deaf as he struggled to get down the steps.

"_Evacuate immediately._"

Isaac forced himself down the ramp, nearly losing his balance in the process. The heat produced by the fire was so hot, so strong; it felt like the very sun itself was blazing behind him. A loud explosion rocked the hanger and the star supernovaed. The result shockwave of the blast sent Isaac onto the hard metal floor, the wind getting knocked out of him.

The _Kellion's _docking clamps failed and let go of the dock, sliding away to the floor of the hanger as its metal frame twisted around by the heat, twisting and spitting apart, charring in the heat. It was a sight to behold, but not one you could enjoy; a sight no one could enjoy. The fallen engineer struggled to his feet, grabbing the Plasma Cutter before a final shockwave that spilt the _Kellion's _engines in half sent him right back down, hitting his helmet-clad head against the floor and rattling his brain. He could feel the effects of the shockwave, like his insides were going to implode when he was hit.

"_Ouch, that hurt like hell…_" Isaac thought as he struggled up.

What was happening? One minute the shuttle was there and the next it was laying in the corner of the Flight Deck, burning and falling to pieces. The hanger was several degrees hotter and the smell of burning metal was strong in the air.

"Oh my God…this isn't really happening…" Isaac respired, needing to take a deep breath after that harsh affair. He looked, horrified by the sight of the wreckage. But it was, it was happening right in front of him, no doubt about it, undeniable. The _Kellion _was gone.

"I hope the explosion didn't…" he said, then trailed off quickly when his unfinished question was answered for him as Slashers crawled up onto the runway like little demons, shadows, vile insects swarming the hanger. "Oh shit…"

"_Alert. Collision detected in the main hanger bay. Emergency crews have been notified._"

The nearest Slasher took off at him, flailing its arms like mad. Isaac glared at it from under his helmet and used Stasis to slow it down before lobbing its arms off with a few blasts of the Plasma Cutter. They continued coming, some without clothes and some with the purple skin and overalls; he hated those damn Slashers. Even a Leaper that seemed to come up from the wreckage of the _Kellion _showed up, wanting a piece of the action; but all it got was a shot in the face.

How many were there on this part of the ship; so many and hopefully no more would be attracted by the explosion. Isaac's RIG link suddenly came on without warning and he heard Hammond's voice.

"_What the hell is happening down there? What happened to the shuttle?_"

"They destroyed it Hammond!" Isaac responded. "Our launch has been compromised!"

"_That was our ride home…_" Kendra said in a clearly upset voice, sitting in a chair in the Bridge with Hammond standing behind her. "_It's the only way off the ship…_"

"_Kendra…_"

"_No Hammond!_" she yelled. "_This changes everything!_"

Isaac put his hand over his visor. The shuttle was destroyed, they were on separate parts of the ship, and mutants were out to kill them. Things just went from good, to bad, to worse.

"What are we going to do?" Isaac said, leaning against a part of the railing that wasn't destroyed. "We have no way of getting out of here."

"_Just let me think_." Hammond said, hand on his chin, pacing back and forth behind her. "_Can you access the Command Computer?_"

Kendra said nothing for a few seconds. "_It's no good, there's an executive lockdown on all primary systems. Without the Captain's authorization I can't access them._"

"_Well, where's the Captain?_"

Kendra was silent again as she looked through the computer systems she was allowed access to. "_Here his is. Captain Benjamin Mathius. Location…Med Lab. Status…Deceased._"

"_What? How?_"

"_I can't access that information. Find the Captain and you'll find his RIG! With his authorization codes I can crack this computer wide-open._"

"_Dammit…_" Hammond swore, pressing his fingers to his temple. "_Isaac, I'm sending the Tram back to your location. Get the Medical Deck, and find that RIG as fast as you can._"

"_What was that?_" Kendra asked with fright as she looked around the room for a source of a strange noise that suddenly got louder, piercing over the RIG link.

"_Holy shit! Come on, get outta here!_"Hammond shouted as they scrambled away from the computer terminal, disappearing off-screen as a Leaper jumped onto the chair.

"Hammond! Kendra!" Isaac said frantically before the Leaper's tail hit the screen and the transmission went dead. "Damn it!" Isaac swore and immediately took off down the run way, yanking out the empty cartridge in the Plasma Cutter and jamming a fresh one in. it was his only weapon at the moment but that was the least of his concerns…his friends needed him. The fear, the worry, it all came back in an instant. The Leaper found them and there was no reason to think it wouldn't bring friends with it. He dashed through the Flight Lounge and through the door Hammond and Kendra went through during the initial attack…to escape facing Johnson and Chen's fate. As far as he could see, they had no weapons. Kendra didn't anyway, and he didn't see Hammond with his Pulse Rifle so there's the possibility he lost it; but he also could have stored it in his RIG for safekeeping…

Out of the many thoughts running through Isaac's mind, he came to a realization. Hammond never got Nicole's RIG number. No RIG number means no way to contact Nicole unless he was on the Bridge so he could use the computer to call her. But he was not on the Bridge. Hammond lied. He said he would help him find Nicole once the Tram was fixed. The personnel files were untouched, he was sure of it because Nicole's RIG number wasn't mentioned in the last transmission. But…maybe the personnel files were blocked because of the executive lockdown. Isaac's head hurt; he just wanted to find Nicole, and get her off this ship.

At the end of this very short hall was yet another elevator but this one looked nicer than the rickety, rusty old elevators before. Halfway down Isaac was able to pick up a small Med Pack and a plasma clip, for you could never have too much of these. He needed all he could find on this ship; it meant the difference between death and survival. Directly cross from the containers Isaac spotted a bathroom. He hoped he didn't have to use the bathroom at any point, because this RIG was not easy to put on or take off.

Riding the elevator down, Isaac could only watch the orange lights going up the door continuously. In the elevators this was all he could do to keep his mind focused, keep it from drifting in case he had to make any sudden attacks. Click click click click click, went the elevator, over and over and over and over again in time with the lights. It was already annoying, but he knew he would have to get used to it very, very soon…

Eventually he arrived at the Flight Deck station. The windows of the Tram Control Room could be seen across the tunnel. The words "Flight Deck" were printed across the platform so arriving crew could see exactly what deck they came to. Maybe as an extra assurance they didn't come to the wrong deck…

The most notable feature of the station was…the Store. Isaac smiled under his helmet. Thank God, a saving grace. Hopefully he could buy a new suit. The store was a simple terminal at least the size of a phone booth with a retractable hologram projector that could unfold downward, making digital shopping very easy; the Store…stored the products the same way a RIG did. It was all the same technology. Two metal doors lined the back of the terminal. Changing RIG suits was done behind those doors. It was a complicated process that only the one behind them could see.

The hologram projector flipped down for Isaac and the menu popped up, the entire list of wares shown to him. The store had the basic items, small Med Packs, plasma clips, Power Nodes (which cost ten thousand credits; an outrageous amount of money), and…that was the basic extent of it.

Isaac's eyes traveled down the list until two particular items caught his eye. "They even have weapons available…" Isaac said in an intrigued voice, nodding and arching an eyebrow. So far the Store had the IM-822 Handheld Ore Cutter Line Gun, and much to his surprise a SWS-Motorized Pulse Rifle. A Pulse Rifle…on a mining ship? Very unheard of as far as Isaac was concerned. The machine gun might have rapid fire but he saw first-hand just how useful this weapon was for Hammond and the now-dead Chen.

"I'll…pass that up…" Isaac mumbled, biting his lip as he looked through the list. The Line Gun however, that might be a trusty weapon. A laser beam-based cutting tool? Need more be said? He had twenty thousand credits or so far, maybe he could purchase both it and the suit.

Sweat flowed into his eyes so Isaac had a hard time focusing on what was in front of him, but eventually he found it, the level 2 suit, the Standard Miner RIG. He had enough credits for it and the Line Gun. But first things first, the suit. The tool could come later. Isaac selected the suit and confirmed the purchase when it prompt him to do so. The screen closed and the double hatches opened and revealed the hidden compartment in the back big enough for Isaac to fit.

"Alright, here we go…" Isaac said as he climbed inside the space and turned around, standing up straight. The magnets built into the floor activated and locked his feet in place, and an unknown force made his back straighten up even more. Isaac winced, the sensation causing a bit of unpleasant discomfort. The hatches closed and locked him inside the tight, cramped booth.

_"__RIG upgrade initiated. Please standby._"

Isaac braced himself and stayed as still as possible, He never switched RIGs like this before so he had no idea what would happen or what to even expect.

_"__Please remain still while your RIG is upgraded._"

Moments later Isaac felt his helmet sliding up, the work of a mechanical arm coming from an open hatch above, taking it up with it. The air hit Isaac's sweaty face and he took long deep breaths, savoring each ounce of air flowing into his lungs. Fresh air would be limited and he had to enjoy it while he could, if only here in this little cramped changing booth. Little hatches opened all around him and the sounds of mechanical devices whirring and shifting filled his unprotected ears. Isaac watched, without moving his head as best as he could, the tri-pronged arms latch on to different areas of his suit, one of them pulling his Stasis Module right off his forearm and taking it into the dark hatch. He knew he would get it back, but because of the difficult situations ahead of him, there was still a fear of the Store malfunctioning and keeping the module inside. Whatever the case, he did not want to lose it.

Four arms, two in front and two in back emerged and latched onto his shoulders and pulled off some of the coverings, replacing the left with a thicker covering and the right shoulder, plus his arm, with metal ring-like covering. Every part of his suit was given specific attention. Extra features were added to his boots, weight added as a result. The arms hooked a belt around his waist, lined with little storage compartments for quick reach. Pretty convenient, Isaac had to admit. Long pieces of metal that had the same circular plating were attached to the front of his suit; these would act as shock absorbers in case Isaac came into collision with something…or someone.

It felt so strange, getting held and handled by these mechanical arms, but strangely it felt like…there was some familiarity to it, similar to when he put his Standard Engineer RIG on back at CEC headquarters. It was all coming back.

Everything was changed, even his RIG. The machines upgraded it too, switching off for a second before coming back on, transferring his inventory, audio and video recordings, all of it. Sweat dripped down Isaac's face from all the anxiety and how cramped the booth was (it was getting hotter and the thick suit didn't help) but he knew this wouldn't last much longer. The prong-like fingers unhooked his gloves and pulled them off, his hands getting a short breath before thicker and more durable gloves took their place; these could resist heat, electricity, all of it better than the previous suit; the whole suit resisted it all better. To his relief the Stasis Module was slipped back over his forearm and a new thicker cloth came up from the RIG and covered his neck up to his chin, while the hatch above opened up and slowly slide the new helmet over his head. As he expected, the visor was narrower than the first, because the higher level the suit the more they could resist, and that included giving higher eye protection.

The visor flipped on and everything he could see was instantly bathed in a bluish tint, RIG systems flashing off to the sides. The whole suit felt a little heavier but not much, as well as less flexible, but the added protection was all worth it.

_"__RIG upgrade, complete. Thank you for your patience, and have a nice day._"

The mechanical arms retracted back into their hatches and the sealed doors opened up, the magnets releasing his boots and the other devices letting him go. Whatever held his back in place like that, they obviously didn't design it to be very comfortable. Isaac stretched the second he exited the terminal, and then examined his new suit. The Standard Mining RIG didn't look too bad at all. It certainly wasn't skin tight like the Standard Engineer RIG so certain areas of his body were spared from uncomfortable and unnecessary snagging. Isaac cracked his neck and turned the Store terminal off. The Line Gun he would leave alone for now. He needed to get the Medical Deck.

_"__Not bad, this certainly was worth the credits spent_." Isaac thought as he stepped up the ramp to the Tram. _"Things will be safer now…I hope._"

The Tram's interior was relatively small with only twelve seats and didn't leave a lot of leg room or any kind of space; there was plenty of space for the advertising placards, one over every seat. The center of the Tram had the navigation screen with another graph of the _Ishimura_, the Flight Deck highlighted in green. Isaac punched in a few usual commands before pressing the activation button on the command console below it. The shutter-like door came down and locked Isaac safely inside, and then it was off, slowly pulling away from the station and the Flight Deck.

Isaac fell back onto the nearest seat, leaning back and setting the Plasma Cutter next to him.

"This…is going to be a very, very long mission…" Isaac mumbled. He felt so tired all of a sudden, his muscles starting to ache everywhere. He closed his eyes and took slow, long breaths as he listened to the soft hum of the Tram as it traveled through the dark tunnel. All he wanted to hear...was Nicole's voice, comforting him, telling him everything was alright.

But he knew, it wasn't.

**Chapter 1: New Arrivals, Complete**


	6. God's Mysterious Works

Sorry for the long wait, I couldn't get myself to do this one, it was so hard to do it but here it is!

I can't believe it ended up being longer than I thought it would to get this up! Sorry for having my fans wait so long!

Enjoy the update! :)

* * *

**Chapter 2: Intensive Care**

Cool air flowed over his face, the gentle hum of the air conditioner a constant disruption of the otherwise deadening silence, the soothing silence. The air felt moist, the reason for this he could not explain, but the soothing coldness it brought…eliminated all worries…

"_Isaac…Isaac…_"

The voice…who was there? Come back later, Isaac wanted to say, but he was unable to speak, unable to make a single sound. Cough, sigh, nothing… Darkness, nothing but darkness accompanied the cold wet air, like a marine cave deep under the ocean; Earth's oceans weren't the same as they were two hundred years ago however. It wasn't until the blackness softened, his eyes adjusting to the dark, that his surroundings were made known to him, but he could barely make it out. His…his bedroom.

His bedroom back on earth. He laid there in his bed it seemed, the soft sheets wrapped around his body like a partial cocoon, like a newly transformed butterfly emerging from the darkness, only into the darkness that flowed around him.

"_Isaac, wake up…_"

Her, her voice, he could make it out, set it to a voice, know who it was, see who it was…her face. She was there, in the darkness, her face above him and looking on him like an angel, a guardian angel devoted to protecting him from all harm, all evil.

Nicole…Nicole…

Her hand, soft fingers brushing through his short hair, stroking his face. The beautiful woman he fell in love with at the CEC seminar over five years ago, the woman he knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life with, have a family with, grow old with, and eventually, die with. She lit up the darkness with that smile, the comforting smile that brought a smile across his features, lit up his darkest days, cured his worst moods, and made him feel like he had a purpose in life other than being just another one of many Engineers employed by the Concordance Extraction Company. He wanted to reach out to her, to touch her, feel her, and make sure the young woman he loved was still there with him…

"_Isaac…Isaac…_"

His fingers wanted to meet the soft warmth of her skin, but instead met the cruel, dark, empty air. She was there, but she wasn't; she was floating away from him, further, further away and out of his grasp. No, Nicole…he wanted to say. Please don't go Nicole…

"_Isaac…make us…make us…_"

The darkness disappeared in an instant, leaving no indication it was even there to begin with. His face was cold and damp. The chilled air, the soft sheets, and her face, the face he loved seeing so much…it was all gone. Gone, without a trace. The scenery change was so sudden, as were the sensations on his body, he wasn't even sure what happened, how it happened, or even if it was truly real or not. His body felt cramped and hot, everything in front of him coated in the same soft blue hue that was now all too familiar.

He was in his seat in the Tram, aboard the USG _Ishimura._

Isaac's insides went cold with despair. A dream…it was only a dream. That one moment, that one brief moment of comfort was just an illusion produced by his brain. The comfort, the security, all of it, just gone. Vanished, like dust blown away by the wind. This felt like a sick cruel joke played on him by some sick twisted son of a bitch who was laughing his ass off at his pain.

"Nicole…" Isaac mumbled, voice breaking slightly and his eyes closed in an attempt to stop the moisture gathering in the corners of his eyelids. He didn't want to be here. He wanted it all back, to be with Nicole, in any way he could. Was getting her this position really worth it? The damn ship was going to be decommissioned the following year…

The Plasma Cutter was still in his grasp, locked firmly around the handle like it was super glued to his glove. The Tram had come to a stop while he was sleeping; God knows how long he was out. He was now at the Medical Deck, there was no doubt about it. The dream was gone and he had to accept that whether he wanted to or not; this was reality, and he still had a job to do. Isaac was a man who fulfilled his duties, no matter what.

His legs felt like Jelly as he struggled to stand up, still partially in the groggy dream-like state that made him feel like he was going to black out and collapse on the Tram floor, his body heavy and cold.

"This deck better have some good medication…" was all Isaac could say as he turned around and emerged from the safety of the Tram and out onto the deck.

The words 'MEDICAL DECK' greeted him in nice big white letters printed across the floor of the station. Just another reminder of where he was. Isaac did not expect much from the Tram station they all looked exactly the same except for a few changes in color to fit the mood and setting of whatever part of the ship he happened to be on. Smoke rose up from the Tram tunnel and flooded the deck like a weird smoke machine effect, almost partially blocking out the first set of words; yeah, 'MEDICAL DECK' was printed more than once; every few feet it repeated. Not much else could be said about this station other than it looked in worse shape than the one at the Flight Deck, but one of the first thing he noticed right off the bat were the two large metal shipping crates blocking the exit. Second, there were body bags scattered across the floor. The third…

A woman sitting on the floor, and she was alive. Isaac could not believe it. He felt like he was dreaming…again.

"A-A survivor?" Isaac exhaled, breath greatly amplified that time. A wave of hope came over him, that there was someone else alive on this ship, someone who could help them off, and maybe even tell him what the hell was going on around here! The engineer ran over to her. "M-Miss, miss I'm here to help you! My name is Is…Isaa…" Isaac found his words trailing off into a slur before they went away altogether. The woman, although she looked okay from the back, for she was turned away, Isaac knew something was wrong, and his stomach went into a knot. She sat next to a bloody corpse and rubbed it slowly like she was comforting it, maggot or two crawling over her hand and landing back into the opened torso. The body lacked arms, legs, and even a head.

"Shh…shh it's alright McCoy. He's here, nothing to be afraid of!" she sounded relieved, just as hopeful as the man standing behind her, but a dark and ominous chuckle made Isaac's spine stiffen with fear.

She tore herself away from the corpse to look up at him, a little smile on her face. A white cloth was wrapped over her eyes, a dark red circle over her right eye.

"I knew you would come…just like you said." She spoke up to Isaac, her body shaking like mad, muscles twitching in her arms and legs. It was like she was freezing cold, or just witnessed…a very traumatic event. "I-I saved this…for you." Isaac pointed the cutter at her and took an involuntary step back when she reached her hand behind McCoy's body, feeling around rather clumsily and almost falling down on her side. In her hands was a little rectangular device, pale blue in color with ridges all along the back of it.

Isaac looked down at it curiously, his hand lowering down to his side, until the woman fell back on her elbows, shaking harder than before while she made little whimpering noises. Isaac had never witnessed many deaths, but when he saw this, he knew why and something made him go down to her side, and support her up with his hands. He knew…he knew she wasn't going to make it.

"Come on, s-stay with me, stay with me…don't die, please…" Isaac told more than said, desperately not wanting possibly the only survivor on this ship to expire. He didn't want to be alone out here.

"C-Can I go now?" She asked in a sad and shaky voice, looking past Isaac at the blank, empty metal ceiling. "Clare wants to take me…the ship…"

With the release of those last words, her last testament, and her final breath, Isaac felt her go limp in his hands. He couldn't believe it, and neither did he want to. But, it was undeniable. Another slap to the face from the cold harshness of reality. He carefully set her down on the cold metal floor of the station. That's how he felt; cold, stiff…alone. All that was left was the little blue device lying behind him on the floor. It had to be very important, otherwise she wouldn't have held on to her dwindling life like that just to give him a useless object.

Isaac simply twisted his waist around and picked up the device before standing up to examine it better. He wasn't exactly sure but something told him this was a Kinesis Module. He heard about these at that CEC convention he attended when he was new to the company.

"A Kinesis Module?" Isaac said to himself, then looked up at the crates blocking the exit to the rest of the deck. Maybe, just maybe…

Searching for a place to put the module, Isaac spotted a triangle-shaped groove on the Stasis Module directly on the top side of his forearm. That looked like it could fit it perfectly. Isaac adjusted the module in his hand and attached it on top where it made a soft clicking sound as it snapped perfectly in place. Examining the new addition to his arsenal, he knew this would really come in handy but he wasn't sure how to really use it; at the convention he learned how it worked but that was several years ago – it had something to do with flicking his wrist or something. If he couldn't figure out how to use it he would be up shit creek without a paddle.

"Okay okay, let's see what I can do here…" Isaac said as he stood in front of the crates and raised his palm up, his fingers twitching with nervousness. "Here goes nothing." He flicked his wrist and instantly a clear white orb of energy came over the module and a beam flew out to the first crate, lifting it into the air. The module hummed deeply with electricity-like buzz; Isaac was both amazed and relieved that it worked. He smiled as he moved the crate over to the side and then did the same to the other, clearing the pathway for him.

"_Alright, with that out of the way, let's go…_" Isaac sighed, walking into the hallway. Even in here there were body bags littering the floor like forgotten pieces of trash just left to rot and be eaten by the bugs infesting the ship. It made Isaac's lungs hurt, the faint smell of rotting flesh seeping through his helmet. He could not help but wonder why all these bodies were up here anyway; they belonged in the Morgue. According to the map of the _Ishimura _the Morgue was a floor below them. They belonged down there. Unless someone moved them up here…

Next to one of the bas Isaac spotted a flashing light. The source was a little grey piece of metal with a flashing blue light in the center. Obviously and naturally curious Isaac kneeled down to pick it up. The metal was actually pretty light-weight and flexible, and had an inscribed picture of what looked like an industrial tool. Beneath the picture an inscription read, 'PFM-100 Hydrazine Torch Flamethrower Schematic'.

"A flamethrower? I might need this." Isaac stored it in his RIG and went through the wide door at the end of the hall with 'Security Station' labeled on the electronic sign. He almost hoped to find a CEC Security Officer or two still alive and waiting for rescue, anyone who could help him, but he knew he was only fooling himself and not making things any better; with the ship in this much disrepair and overrun by those…whatever the hell those things were, the chance of finding a survivor was slim to none. Oh Nicole, please be safe.

The door slid up and when he saw the Security Station that faint glimmer of hope instantly died, shorting out like a light bulb. Body bags…more and more body bags; there had to be at least fifteen of them. Blood-stained walls, floors, and Sun and Peng advertisements were all he could see, flashing broken lights barely keeping the room lit. One thing that immediately caught his attention though was the haphazard barricade put up in front of the leftmost door. According to his RIG, that's where he needed to go. Just when things couldn't get worse…

Isaac came to the center of the station and his RIG link nearly gave him heart failure when it abruptly came on.

"_Isaac, are you there?_" The voice, the face that appeared on the screen… Hammond!

"Hammond! Thank God you're alive." Isaac said, his hand over his chest and his heart beating hard. "What happened back there?"

Hammond sighed and pursed his lips. "_We were attacked. Kendra's gone one minute she was there and I-I can't believe I lost her!_"

Great, something else to worry about; if Kendra was dead getting around the ship would be even more difficult than it already was; Isaac was a skilled engineer when it came to hacking doors and other mechanical equipment but when it came to complex computer systems he didn't know jack, and the same could be said for Hammond. Kendra was the only one who was skilled in such a field, making her a valuable asset to the repair (and possibly rescue) team.

"It's not your fault Hammond. I'm sure she's still alive."

He shook his head slightly and took a deep breath. "_We can still do this. Get me the Captain's RIG codes and we'll find Nicole._"

Isaac was glad his helmet completely concealed his face so the Chief Security Officer couldn't see his eyes fixed in a glare. "_I nearly died in that explosion Hammond. You owe me Nicole's RIG number dammit._"

Hammond looked over something to the right of the screen that Isaac couldn't see; most likely a holoscreen of sorts, with lots of information that he needed to give him. A map of the immediate area of the Medical Deck appeared on screen. "_Looks like the crew barricaded the door to the Emergency Wing. We'll have to blow through it to get to the Morgue._" Two sets of three red rings glowed on different parts of the map. "_Get some Thermite from medical storage, and a Shock Pad from Zero-G Therapy. Should be down the corridor._"

The screen roared with static and switched back to Hammond, his face filled with anger and frustration. "_God communication is useless in all this static!_"

He cut out, and the connection ended. Left alone once again, to fend for himself. Isaac straightened up and made sure the Plasma Cutter had a fresh clip. Nothing was ever easy. He wondered why they would barricade the door because if they learned anything about these monsters, it wouldn't help them; they obviously didn't use or simply didn't know how to operate doors; the broken vent next to the ER door was evidence of that. Isaac pulled up the map and looked over it. The other two doors led to what he needed to blast through that barrier so hopefully the task would be relatively easy. The Thermite looked closer, down by the research center of the deck, less harder to get to so the best thing to do was to make the quick run over there and grab it first before getting the Shock Pad.

"Okay Isaac, time to get to work." He headed to the door directly across from him marked 'Research Wing' and headed through, only to find himself greeted by a dark hallway and a dead body laying on the floor, chest hanging open in a bloody mess. Isaac cringed. He wasn't sure if he could get used to that, but he had a feeling he might after a while on this ship. He walked down the ramp, coming across three more bloodied bodies laying in a pile in the corner beside a blood-stained poster of a smiling young woman in a Medical Civilian Rig holding a space rock standing before a space backdrop with the words, "Where would you be without Science?" next to her, the word 'Science' in big red words.

"_Nicole worked on this deck…_" Isaac's thoughts raced through his mind. "_Maybe I can find something…anything showing that she's still alive…_"

Off down the hallway Isaac listened closely to a peculiar noise. He heard a deep pounding din echoing down the hall. What the hell was that? It sounded rather…squeaky and mechanical. Isaac continued left and right until he found the source of the noise, a malfunctioning door sliding back and forth in a very distinct pattern, almost _too _distinct, not at all randomized like you would think with a malfunctioning door. Strange. There was small hall past it and the banging of the door constantly cut off the light flowing into the otherwise dark hallway.

Stasis was the only thing that would get him past that door. Isaac's hand clenched and his wrist gyrated around to stretch the muscles before pointing his open palm at the door and letting the blue blast of energy flow over the door. It went in slowly, it's humming low and loud and opening a safe path for him. Isaac went through, smiling under his helmet. He thanked God for finding that Stasis Module back there. Everything here that could help him was a valuable asset; the Stasis and Kinesis Modules, Plasma Cutter… He put his life in all of these now.

Next destination, the Research Lab. As with most labs it was predominately white, with some grey panels here and there along the floor. But the white was everywhere; white walls, white floors, white desks…you get the idea. He could only imagine how bright this room would be if it was completely spotless. It looked safe from here, that much Isaac could tell just by glancing around the lab but he also noticed the large number of air vents lining the walls, including one directly to his left. As if having three vents wouldn't keep the lab workers cool, they had to have upwards of nine. Which meant danger could strike at any moment. He took a few steps away, just in case.

Isaac pulled up his map again and took note. The Thermite was very close, in the next room in fact. The only problem was the door to the storage room was locked, indicated by the door lock glowing red. Things were never easy. Now unless some spontaneous event unlocked that door, the only way to get in was to fins and alternate route. Halfway through the lab there was railing that created a square enclosure all the way to the other side of the lab, indicating there was a lower level and possibly another route could be accessible. Isaac walked slowly through the lab, careful not to let his heavy boots echo or let his guard down the slightest bit. His heart beat, his blood rushing through his veins…

Suddenly an alarm sounded and metal barricades with black biohazard symbols covered the two doors. Isaac froze, not a single inch of him moving.

"Shit…" he whispered so silently, afraid simple talking could set something off. "This is bad..."

"_Hazardous anomaly detected. Quarantine activated._"

The room went dark and was pitch black for a few seconds before an orange siren light came on and spun, the only light source in the whole lab now and producing a soft siren-like buzz. All Isaac could think was, "Oh fuck."

Knocking…knocking in the vents and the sound of roaring and other sick sounds he could not identify. Isaac swiped the perimeter with the light of the Plasma Cutter, flashing it over every vent in his immediate area and that he could see. He made several hasty circles, not leaving any ground uncovered.

Then, he saw it. In the vent next to the storage room door he saw a moving fleshy shape behind the metal. We waited, not once taking the blue beams off it. With a swing of its arms and a loud roar it broke through the vent like it was aluminum. Arms raised high when it jumped out onto the floor of the lab, with the beams facing horizontally he lined it up with the Slasher's right arm and fired. The blast only made it twitch without any noticeable burn, laceration, or other injury and continued towards him like nothing happened. Isaac shot again, this time blasting the arm clean off. The Slasher staggered back, growling sickly in pain before turning itself back to the engineer.

Damn, these things were durable, built to last. Isaac scoffed/laughed sarcastically at his own joking thought. He barely heard the vents breaking behind him, but he couldn't worry about that right now as suicidal as it sounded. Isaac aimed down for once instead of up at the arms, deciding to take a new approach to killing these bastards, and severed the Slasher's leg. A loud roar and it fell on its face, limp as a ragdoll on the floor. With that one out of the way Isaac swung around and shot the one coming over the bridge leading over the gap, killing it, then looked for the other one in the orange light. After frantic searching, he found it coming over the opposite way. This one looked like a Slasher, it certainly had the body shape and the blades growing out of its hands, as well as the same irregular stance, this was different than the other two variants. It had green and tan clothing on that hugged its rotting body rather tightly, had a slightly different shaped head with slightly longer hair, but the most notable and major difference was that it had breasts.

"Fuck. A female Slasher?" Isaac groaned with disbelief. It wasn't really unbelievable there would be female monsters, since of course there were women working on the _Ishimura_, but since the ones he encountered thus far appeared to all be male, he couldn't imagine what a female one looked like. It's growls even had slight "feminine" toning but sound just as sick as the others, and ugly too. It hissed at him and crouched down, bending its knees with its arms pressed together over its head and came at Isaac in that very awkward-looking stance. It was bizarre, very bizarre, but Isaac backed away and shot its arms off. The Slasher stumbled forward and spilled on the floor in a heap, growling and gurgling.

Even with the last Slasher he could see dead, the Quarantine had not yet lifted, still in full effect; there were still some left, somewhere around here. The only thing to do was look around and find that path to the Thermite, but first he had to find and kill those other monsters.

Isaac walked to the other side of the lab to see if he could find a way down to the bottom floor, and sure enough he spotted the elevator that could get the job done. The spinning light mixed with the blue surroundings as seen through his helmet and cast everything in an ugly muddy brown; possibly the ugliest color in this kind of setting. It was starting to give him a head ache. While he stood on the lift and plugged the command into the small hologram terminal, he flipped a switch on the side of the helmet. The color on the inside of his visor switched to different color settings with each flip of the switch until he reached the desired setting, no color at all, and he could see everything like he didn't have a helmet on but his helmet still produced its outer blue light so Isaac could clearly see what was in front of him.

The gears of the lift whirred loudly as Isaac was brought down to the bottom level. Papers lay scattered across the floor, scientific supplies and tools laying cluttered on the floors and desks and a single rack of vials containing numerous but otherwise unknown chemicals and other mixtures. Isaac didn't want to be ambushed; this floor had just as many vents as the last. So he searched around, flashing his light on the vents and inspecting them thoroughly before moving on. They all seemed empty on the first glance, but Isaac couldn't trust it. He would never trust anything on this ship except his tools, his friends (which only consisted of Hammond until Kendra or Nicole were found alive), and his tools. On the other side of the floor a hallway extended back to another hall behind a small room that probably served as an office of sorts. A lamp was on in that hall, shining its white light like a little spotlight, the bulb flickering on and off. Before Isaac could even take three steps to it a Slasher, a Slasher missing a leg, dragged itself from the back room, crawling like a hungry little leech. But a simple shot to the shoulder and Isaac silenced its sick growling for good.

Vents broke behind him, and like déjà vu he found himself turning around to face the Slasher at the other side of the room, ironically haven broken through one of the vents he searched, staring at its mocking movements before shooting the beast dead. Another Slasher lumbered from beside the elevator but Isaac could already see this was a new type of Slasher. He wasn't surprised. Before Isaac could really distinguish it from the rest another one came into his view from the side. A new one. Tattered green clothing hung loosely from its grey rotting shape, the arms lacking hands on the ends and just coming out to sick and grotesque blades. But its eyes…its eyes were bright yellow, sunken in, depressing, almost sad...sorrowful. They literally glowed in the dark like the monsters you would hear about in ghost stories told around the campfire. From its mouth hung worm-like tendrils that wiggled around every which way, dribbling liquid that clearly wasn't blood or saliva.

While aiming and shooting this new variant of Slasher the other was making its way over. Isaac sweat, knowing he could not take them both at once when they were this far apart. Rotted body fragments and blood flew off the creature until it finally fell back dead on the floor. Now, the other one. Isaac turned and found himself unable to move when he saw this one. From the waist down it wore some type of grey armored pants and boots, but above that…the form was so disgusting and malformed to the point you couldn't even tell what you were looking at was once a human. It's skin was sickly pink and swollen red in some places, the head completely indistinguishable except for a little pink tendril growing from its open mouth. Only one word could be used to describe it, and that word was "Nasty". And the thing was running at him at full speed, flailing its deformed arms back and forth like it wanted to lob his head off.

"Shit!" Isaac screamed as he ran backwards, fumbling through his RIG for a new clip while popping the old and empty one on the floor. Life or death, it was either life or death. At that very second Isaac thought he wasn't going to reload fast enough, but then something hit him. Isaac threw his hand up and a blue wave of Stasis blew over the creature, slowing it down drastically. He stared at the creature slowed down, frozen in time, then worked on getting the clip inside and reloading the Cutter snapping in place. Isaac held the weapon up at point-blank range and shot the head clean off, then easily cut off both of its arms and slowly fell to a bloody heap until the Stasis wore off, blood squirting out and coating the wall and floor with red.

Seconds later the alarm sounded, the orange light turned off and the lights came back on, the protective barriers lifting up from the doors.

"_Quarantine Lifted_."

And the lab was silent again except for the hollow banging noise of the malfunctioning door off in the distance.

He felt faint, his heart beating a thousand beats per minute. Another near death experience, fourth or fifth of possibly many, many more to come. He looked at his forearm, at the Stasis Module. It saved him, and Isaac just wanted to kiss it, thank it for saving him. Just as he knew, the tools would save him, like he knew they would in the future. Isaac leaned against the wall, closing his eyes and catching his rapidly-flowing breath.

"_Come on Isaac, just relax. Don't panic, don't panic…_" he told himself over and over until he caught his breath and calmed himself down. Red stains coated the white walls now, Slashers lying dead across the floor. What a fucking mess. With the threat eliminated and the perimeter now safe, the best thing to do was search the lab for a possible answer before finding that Thermite.

The hallway in the back was smaller than he thought. It served as a little storage space based on how much junk there was back here and stretched to the other end of the room. There were also three bathroom stalls that didn't have any doors. Isaac didn't see the point of that. Scientists wouldn't have any privacy. Isaac looked around, before seeing the log laying forgotten in the corner. A possible answer, explanation for what was going on around here. Picking up the log Isaac entered the code into the RIG's computer and the log played…

"_I finally convinced Jurgens to show me the video feed from the colony. And what I saw was glorious._" Whoever this was, he was from the Middle East, based on his accent. "_Breathtaking. Miners undergoing a transformation into something extraordinary. I must know more, even as the believer within me wants to become one of them, the scientist needs to uncover their secrets. I need to study one of these Necromorphs as Kyne so clinically puts it. I need to witness this infection first hand. Perhaps that patient from the colony..._"

That was a lot more information than Isaac thought he would find. Isaac processed and went over what he just heard. Believer? Isaac grit his teeth, knowing the only explanation for that: Unitology. Damn Unitologists with their fucked up beliefs. Isaac knew only what a non-Unitologist would know, but even though he didn't know much the information they shared with the general public was all he needed to know, and he hated it. Hated them, hated everything to do with Unitology. Some thought the religion of Unitology and its teachings were brilliant and enlightening, the only salvation to the universe in this heavily-industrialized era. To Isaac, they were just insane. One of their focuses, death, or really their _obsession _with it, was just so freaky and was complete bullshit. Death wasn't a good thing, and these people acted like it was. Death, an event that could lead to prosperity? Not the way they made it out to be…

The second piece of information that caught his ear was the word "Necromorphs". So that's what they were called? Maybe not an official name according to the log but coined by this Kyne person, but Isaac couldn't think of a more fitting name for these dead infectious monsters. Now he knew what to call them as a whole: Necromorphs.

"Necromorph…Necromorphs…That's what they're called…" Isaac thought everything over as he collected supplies from the back then exited out to the other side of the room. Isaac stood still, scanning the Research Lab. The small room to his right in front of the hall had a window with partially closed blinds, so maybe it did serve as an office. Only one way to find out. Isaac opened the door with a single swipe of his palm over the door lock, and his suspicions were correct. A red but somewhat dirty carpet covering the majority of the floor, a desk with several office supplies and even a bowl of old food, tables and filled book shelves against the walls, and at the back wall a Unitology poster of what looked like a light blue ocean, a strange spiral-like symbol, and the words "Join Us In Paradise." Unitology bullshit.

In front of the desk, a video log. Video logs usually had more information regarding the subjects in the log but didn't necessarily contain more useful information than audio logs, but they were still pretty important. He entered it in and he heard a voice as the video filled with static before it cleared up to a surveillance recording of the office.

"_What in god's name is going on down there?_" A man in white clothing, a doctor's RIG, standing beside the desk said this. He was talking to an older man in a blue shirt and black pants.

"_I think that's precisely the point, doctor. God's work._" The man had a voice that sounded vaguely familiar. It reminded him of a famous actor from the 20th century, but he couldn't remember his name…

"_I'm not so sure of that._" The doctor responded."_We have to assume that the colony's problems are somehow connected to the Marker._"

…Marker?

"_You can assume all you want to. I do not. The Marker is glorious and divine, you - you know that._"

More Unitology bullshit no doubt. Isaac almost shut off the log, but he didn't; he couldn't. He could tell this log had some kind of importance.

"_God moves in mysterious ways…_" The doctor replied sullenly, turning away from him.

"_Anyway we'll have it on board tomorrow. You can analyze it all you want to. What are you so worried about?_"

"_Worried?_" He turned back to him._ "Captain people are dying down there, killing each other._" So that was the Captain. Now that he knew what he looked like finding his body would be easier. What could have killed the Captain? Necromorphs? More importantly, what was happening with the mining colony?"_Is this madness the "transformation" Unitology teaches us?_"

One devote seemed to have second thoughts about the Church's teaching. Isaac was surprised to hear and see a Unitologist acting and talking rationally.

"_Doctor...Terrence...there will always be risk when the stakes are high._" Matthius's voice was low, filled with grave seriousness. "_And here, they are enormous. It could change everything._"

They looked at each other before the Captain turned away and walked out of the camera's sight. The doctor sighed, his gaze pointed at the floor.

"_That's what worries me…_"

Static, then nothing. Isaac had a strong feeling that something was happening here, something he could not explain. Marker? What were they talking about? Because of his limited knowledge he didn't know anything that only members of the church were taught, and this Marker had to be something like that. Just more of the widespread religion he didn't want to get involved in. And what was happening with the colony? Miners dying and killing each other? And this new info on the taught "transformation" was very interesting to. Isaac knew he had to look for more clues regarding this, no matter how deep into the intergalactic religion he got. It could be more important than he thought it could. But he had a mission to complete: Get the Captain's RIG codes, and find Nicole.

Leaving the office behind Isaac followed his map to a door to the left of the elevator marked "Bio Lab". This was the alternate route to the Thermite he was looking for. He kept up his guard, anticipating any surprise that lurked around the corner, hiding in the darkness.

_God works in mysterious ways…_

* * *

I'll try to work on the next chapter as soon as I can and get it up quicker than this one! I hope you enjoyed and don't forget to review on your way out!

R&R


	7. Echoing Screams

Here's the next chapter! Enjoy!

Sorry it took so long, I've been very busy with other things. Another month since I updated…I need to stop doing that.

* * *

The door slid up with a whir and clanked. The first thing that greeted Isaac was a big sign that Isaac could read most of without having to take too many steps towards it. Mostly green except for a red bar at the bottom left side, it had the upper-half of a man in a black leather suit flexing his bare right arm, a red dotted line along the muscle. It read: "Welcome to the USG _Ishimura _Biological Prosthetics Center. We keep you going!"

Isaac knew where to go if he ever needed an arm or a leg replaced if one got cut off by one of those Necromorphs. So basically he was heading to a prosthetics lab even though calling it the Bio Lab left a lot to the imagination. Isaac knew how the prosthetics worked; in this day and age, the field of surgical transplant advanced so drastically. A DNA sample would be taken from the subject and sent through several chemical processes, and grown into a clone kept in a tank of amniotic fluid. The clone would be kept grown faster than what it would take for a normal human to grow, so if a crew member needed a limb or an organ transplant, the clone would be ready and harvested for its body parts. This eliminated the long and very painful process of complications with finding a replacement or worrying about compatibility. It was a an interesting process, and revolutionary at that.

Isaac turned left past the sign, and got a chilling sensation as the hall suddenly shifted colors in front of him, from the typical grey color to a sickly green hue. The hall was at least twenty feet long and at the end was a wide window blocking off the actual Bio Lab. Inside Isaac could see the tanks of green liquid. The identity of this liquid Isaac could not identify just by looking at it, especially from his distance, but the most he could assume was it was amniotic fluid, and each tank held a fetus suspended in the liquid like a baby would in the mother's womb. The _Ishimura's _scientists were at the first stage of development on the clones when the ship was attacked it seemed, and the babies were left this way in a permanent state until they grew naturally as the months went by. Isaac knew he wouldn't be here for months; if he wanted to make it out of here alive.

The gravity panels lining the walls were a common sight and he was starting get too used to seeing them. The panels were basically a grey-rimmed glass pane over a few long grey rectangular bars. No more, no less. The _Ishimura _was designed to have set artificial gravity to keep everything from floating around in a zero gravity mess. This gravity could easily be shut on and off from somewhere like the Computer Core, wherever that was. What if one or more of these plating malfunctioned? Isaac heard rumors from other CEC engineers that someone stepped on a malfunctioning gravity plate…and needless to say his coworkers had to pry his body parts from the ceiling.

There was something about this room however, that made Isaac feel uneasy. He couldn't explain why, other than the fact a Necromorph could jump out at him at any time and cut his head off. This feeling…it felt worse than the cold, dark sensation that overwhelmed him in the Main Lab. That feeling was bad and he ended up being attacked by seven Slashers. If this feeling left him full of complete fright, as it quickly became, how ghastly would this next event be? Isaac didn't want to think about, nor did he want to answer his own question because he knew if he took his mind off his surroundings it would be his end, the thing that ended up losing him his life. That couldn't, and wouldn't happen.

For Nicole…

Isaac forced himself to swallow that feeling of unease and took a step forward. His heavy metal boot clanked on the equally metal floor. He took another step, then another, until he finally masked the fear across his face with a look of confidence. His hearing, amplified by the RIG, allowed him to hear the mixtures sloshing around in the tanks, the infants kicking their newly developed legs for quite possibly the first time. The splashing of the fluid reminded him of what remained of the oceans back on Earth when he and Nicole went to the beach in California. Nicole loved the ocean, loved everything about what it was, or what it once was; the pollution caused by the intense industrialization and advancements in technology ultimately ruined the earth and the oceans were no exception. It was upsetting how mankind devastated their home, and not only that other worlds eventually suffered a similar fate with the introduction of the planet cracking industry that dismantled entire planets, including the moon Titan. EarthGov tried to make things better by building a space station, Titan Station or The Sprawl as some called it, but everyone could see the government did not want to deal with the vast majority of people who protested heavily to the planet cracking business. The USG _Ishimura _was just a symbol of that, the ship that dismantled Titan itself.

The strangely relaxing sound of water dwindled away when a hiss interrupted the so-far secure ambiance of the Bio Lab. A hiss, a cat-like hiss, but hoarse at the same time. Isaac's hand went tight around the Plasma Cutter as he forged on, the main part of the lab just a few feet away from him. He didn't know what he was going to see or encounter, but he knew he wouldn't be surprised if that room was filled with Necromorphs. So imagine his surprise when a man in a grey civilian RIG came into view, running from the right side of the lab, stumbling frantically in front of the window Isaac was standing directly across from. Isaac did not expect this and he let out an audible gasp, running up to the window. Another survivor! Was it really possible someone else made it out alive? A strong wave of relief came to his chest and he felt much better and safer, until he saw it. Lurking across the floor sideways like a crab, the source of the hissing noise.

Isaac couldn't even describe what it was, other than it was shaped like a baby; the problem was it _was _a baby. It didn't look like any infant he ever saw before; greenish-tan skin covered its body, red lining three opening flaps on its back. Red tendrils hung from its small mouth, chest and stomach, but the most noting and frightening attribute of this creature were the beady yellow eyes, completely lacking a pupil. Isaac went completely cold at the sight of it and suddenly he could not move. A baby Necromorph; a dead, necrotically-transformed infant, and it was only a few feet from the survivor. The man hit the glass with his palm as if to get Isaac's attention, banging on the thick pane.

"Come on! Come on!" He yelled in pure fear. "Let me out!"

The infant turned to them both, its small yellow orbs piercing. The three flaps on its hunched, bloated back opened up to three long veiny red tentacles that almost matched the ones hanging from its abdomen, but more, much more; each tentacle had a sharp barbed ending that looked like grappling hooks. Another hiss and its left tentacle flicked forward. The crew member's left hand suddenly exploded into a splattering of blood, cracking the glass underneath. A scream of pain and he grasped his wrist in an attempt to pull his pinned and mutilated hand off the window.

"Shit! What the fuck?" Isaac yelled nearly falling back on his ass. Open the door! Get in there and save him. The possibility of this was quickly and completely eliminated when he saw through the window that the door lock was blue with a red circle around it. The door was on 'standby'. A door on that mode would not open until any malfunctions were fixed by the system itself; no outside interference would get the door open. Getting in there would be impossible and all Isaac could do was watch in horror.

The monster reared back on its legs and thrashed around, planting itself firmly on the grey floor, then whipped the middle tentacle's barb into the struggling man's back, forcing him to his knees; his hand was still stuck to the window. He fought and struggled to stand up, gurgling and groaning loudly in clear pain as small drops of blood fell down the corners of his mouth, leaving thin red streaks. Isaac's stomach churned and he suddenly felt very nauseous, his very struggling making him feel sick. The infant Necromorph jumped onto the tank-lined wall, clinging to it like a giant spider, like it was done with the person it just attacked, having lost complete interest. It looked back at them, its eyes glaring at him. There was no sympathy, no regret in those eyes. Nothing could be seen, nothing human or even inhuman; just nothing. Devoid of any life, all understanding or thought. The creature was just acting on its instinct; the instinct to kill.

The tentacles came back out with new barbs on the ends. The sharp hook-like barbs all pressed together and fired off at the speed of light. The sounds of pain the man made stopped; his head burst like a balloon; blood, brain and other matter scattered across the window, obscuring the lab with a shroud of dripping red. His hand came loose and he fell out of sight. A shriek from the little monster came out, then it crawled up the wall and out of sight.

Isaac's stomach did a full turn and he sputtered; he felt very ill and he needed to get his helmet off. He unhooked the release mechanism on the back and yanked it off, doubling over as his throat started to heat up, followed shortly by a plume of reddish-pink chunk-filled bile spilling onto the cold hard floor, throat burning, stomach muscles contracting uncomfortably. Hours before he left the CEC headquarters on Earth he had a big breakfast to give him lots of energy for the mission. Nothing more needed to be said. Isaac panted, clenching his eyes and wiping vomit from the corner of his mouth.

"Shit…that was…unpleasant…" Isaac murmured, hands on his knees. Another survivor dead; he had a chance to save them, but he was too late. "God…forgive me…"

Three survivors were dead. They were dead because he couldn't save them or get them the help they needed. He wasn't fast enough to shoot the Slasher off the man on the Flight Deck, he couldn't help the blinded woman at the Tram Station, and this survivor died because he was so stricken with fear he couldn't move. His careless mistakes which he told himself not to do, not to fuck up on this mission. And he did a damn good job so far wouldn't you agree? You might be thinking Isaac was just being hard on himself, but you try witnessing the deaths of three people. It can be a lot for someone who isn't prepared to see such a thing.

His glove was cold against his hot, damp forehead. His stomach ached after throwing up. No longer was there any food in his stomach, the main cause of the pain, but he managed to muster up the strength to put his helmet back on. The left side of the hallway was the shape of an L, which led to the door that was no longer on 'standby'. Isaac hated this ship. He turned down this small bend of hallway. Above the door next to the rectangular sign that read 'Bio Lab: Authorized Personal Only' a red circular sign with a cartoon-like microscope was attached to the wall. The funniest and most ironic thing was next to the door, out in the open, a red box with a small comlink on the top and a red sticker with a black phone on it that read 'Security Phone'. Very ironic, he could call for help from the _Ishimura's_ security team and no one would answer. He could scream and no one would hear him.

The door slid up with the same default mechanical whir all these doors possessed. The lab wasn't as big as he thought it was, about thirty by forty feet but the ceiling was high; at least sixty feet with the same grey colors. Everything was so defaulted and boring around this deck he didn't expect to see anything new that would be appealing to the eye. What else would you expect from a hospital? The door closed behind him and the sloshing of the amniotic stimulant was louder, like the bubbling of pots in a busy kitchen. Isaac cringed at the sight of the fresh body slowly oozing blood from the gaping hole in between the shoulder blades. Brain and skull particles scattered every which way on the floor, walls, and tanks, the Bio Laboratory was a mess after that attack. Isaac looked around him at the containers of infants curled up in the fetal position, one of them sucking its thumb. It reminded him of Nicole, and how she wanted a child at one point.

Isaac and Nicole talked about having a kid or two at one point in their relationship. Their friends and mainly their family told them they were moving too fast and they needed to take some time discussing it over and decide if they were really serious about their relationship. Isaac loved Nicole so much; more than anything else in the entire universe, why couldn't they see that? They'd been together for five years, isn't that enough time to decide if someone was right for you or not? Nicole contacted him a few weeks before the _Ishimura_ was issued to be sent out to Aegis VII and told him how much she missed him, how dark and lonely her nights were on the Crew Deck, how she wanted to see him so bad. Isaac didn't need to tell anyone how he longed to be with her again, hold her in his arms and keep her safe, you could tell just by looking at his face; you could always tell when he missed her. He regretted not telling her those four words he wanted to tell her for years, or even show her the ring he spent so many hours fixing cruisers and EDF ships to make enough space credits to buy it. He sighed, then pushed those thoughts to the back of his head.

"_Concentrate on the mission Isaac,_" he told himself. "_Concentrate…_"

Isaac could see the corner of a lift at the other end of the room wedged in between the tanks and the wall, leading most likely to the second floor above, obviously. The Thermite was so close, just up and out of the lab in the Main Lab storage room. It should be in there. Isaac stepped towards the lift, the control panel coming into view. From the small nook that held the lift a mutated infant came out from around the corner.

Isaac nearly jumped out of his skin when its tentacles shot out in his direction, hissing loudly and leaping in the air at him. Isaac swore and involuntarily froze the creature in midair with Stasis. God this thing was hideous, it's shrieking low and slowed down. Upon closer observation tiny pointed claws were visible on its little infantile fingers, sharp fangs poking out from above the tentacles in its deformed mouth. It was now hard to believe something as innocent as a baby could become something like this. Isaac shot off two of its tentacles and with a loud but slowed scream it made a gradual decent to the floor until the Stasis wore off and landed with a soft wet smack in a bloody heap. Isaac kicked the limp creature the to the side and collected a clip of plasma energy from the table next to the wide window before he rode the elevator to the top floor, not surprised to see more amniotic tanks.

Hissing. Soft hissing…

Isaac side stepped cautiously onto the upper floor, careful his boots wouldn't make too much noise. Holding his weapon with both hands, he saw the creature lurking around behind the tanks, lurking…lurking back there. Lurking…lurk…

Lurkers. Would that be a fitting name for these little monsters? Try thinking of something and telling Isaac if you don't think so, because that's what they would be called.

Isaac followed the Necromorph infant which didn't seem to be phased by the symmetrical blue aiming lights shining on it, or it didn't even notice. But he kept the cutter aimed on it, ready to shoot if and when it tried to make a move to attack. Isaac moved out into the open. This part of the lab had a few infant tanks installed in the wall on his right, two taller ones on the left that had two or three infants in them. The door was directly across from him, but with the little buggers infesting this lab he couldn't just run over to the door without being attacked. That would be an incredibly stupid move on his part.

On this ship it was obvious running was not a viable solution to fighting off these creatures; running wasn't even fighting. Shooting was fighting, but running was not. If you killed them they could not follow or chase you and you could be safe, if only for a few minutes before more showed up.

Isaac waited patiently until the creature came out from its hiding place. It jumped on the wall with a soft of swiftness that was otherworldly, something incapable of a normal baby; this wasn't a normal baby, walking like a quadrupedal animal. It stopped just in front of a glass pane in the wall covering what looked like a big storage cabinet of sorts, then flopped out its tentacles. Isaac flipped the Plasma Cutter vertically with the push of a button and severed its middle tentacle. The Necromorph flinched, blood spraying the tank directly across from it. The left tentacle was next to go, which did the monster in. It shrieked, letting go of the wall and landing in a lifeless mess. The fetus inside the tank coated with blood started to cry, screaming. Other than the sloshing of the sickly green fluids this was all that could be heard in the pea green-tinted laboratory.

Isaac wasn't sure if this ship was right, even before this incident. A wave of sorrow came over him from the infant's crying; he felt horrible knowing they would never see the light of day, just hanging suspended in the liquids as premature prosthetics material, waiting for the scientist overseeing the lab too get back from his coffee break to speed up their aging, but not knowing he would never come back. Floating there, as nothing, nothing that would make a difference in this universe.

With a deep sigh Isaac swallowed. His throat was dry, and he was very thirsty. Maybe he would have to stop by the bathroom after all for a drink. Hopefully the _Ishimura's _water system wasn't contaminated. If there was no clean and drinkable water on this ship he was screwed.

After a while the fetus calmed itself down and the lab was quiet again. Isaac started towards the door that would return him to the Main Lab, but something stopped him in place in front of the glass cabinet. Something did not feel right, but what was that a surprise? Try guess the answer. But this felt…felt so weird, and ominous. He looked at what was directly in front of him; he would never get used to the helmet's tunnel vision and it would only get worse as he went further up in the upgrades.

"This lab has to be empty…I don't hear anything…" Isaac spoke softly to himself; any word could set off any hidden entity. "Shit…" He could feel something watching him, its dead eyes piercing and invading his mind without him knowing it or even where it was. He sweat under his Miner RIG.

A hiss, followed by a gurgling sound. Coming from his right. Isaac swung his view all the way to the right and he saw it. A Lurker stood on one of the shelves in the storage case. It acted faster than he did, already having its plan made out before Isaac did. It slammed itself against the window, broken glass flying in every direction. A roar cut through his helmet as it launched itself in air at Isaac, knocking the Plasma Cutter out of his hand and latching onto his shoulders with its clawed hands. Isaac yelled out in surprise, his vision blocked by its bloody throbbing underbelly as it hiss out and shrieked, and he would only scream louder when he felt two sharp blades plunge into the back of his shoulders, ripping parts of the RIG suit and tearing at his skin underneath.

Isaac grabbed the infant's sides and tried to pry in off his face, its claws digging into his neck to keep itself in place. The Lurker shrieked with ferocious rage, the amplifiers of his helmet vibrating madly and hurting his ears. Another stab to the back, then another, and another closer to his vertebrae. Isaac grunted in massive pain and furry as he beat the Lurker on its side, digging his fingers into the decayed skin and pulling, tearing a big chunk of flesh away. The Lurker shrieked and loosened up enough for him to lift it up. The baby corpse flailed around in his hands. Isaac ignored the fact he was holding what used to be an infant before he threw it down hard on the floor, then gave it a hard kick on the underside of the head. It screamed loud and shrill, hurting his ears again. It did a full flip over and blood sprayed the floor.

His entire back burned with intense, agonizing pain, his vision starting to blur again. Isaac breathed in hoarsely, struggling for a Med Pack. He swore, his legs shaking and threatening to give out on him. He knew at this rate he might not be able to survive this mission. Each minute he spent on this ship his life fleeted away, fainter and fainter. A Medium Med Pack digitized in his hand. His finger on the button, he fell to his knees and dropped the healing agent.

"F-Fuck…" the CEC engineer groaned, fumbling for the pack until he was able to move his hand over and behind his back, then activated the misting healing agents. The soothing mist flowed over his back side, going to the places he needed the most healing. Just like that the skin was patched up and the RIG suit was working on fixing itself. Isaac looked around for the Plasma Cutter, picking it up when he finally found it in front of the broken glass wall. Like his neck back at the Maintenance Bay his back was healed but it still ached like hell. Struggling up on shaking legs, Isaac pressed his hand on his forehead as he headed out for the door out of the Bio Lab.

On the wall next to the door an X-ray display graph flickered with a dying light. An x-ray result hooked by one corner, it displayed a fetus inside a mother's womb with an enlarged spine and two extra limbs growing from its back, where they clearly did not belong. Isaac caught only a glimpse of this but was too distracted to pay more attention to it. He just headed out into another very small hallway that only had another sign like the one he saw earlier, the smiling man flexing his arm, before he entered the medical storage room.

For a storage room it wasn't very big, only holding a few white shelving units on the right and left wall with only a few supplies on each, a desk and a chair in the center, and a Power Node storage box next to the door going back to the Main Lab. On that desk stood a white and red cylindrical canister with a deep red cap. The Thermite.

"Bingo, there it is." Isaac smiled, sighing heavily. He looked at the canister, then grabbed it by the sides. It was heavier than he thought and he couldn't get a good grip without dropping it. Maybe a different approach would work, so he picked it up by the top and bottom, holding it up long enough for his RIG computer to scan it, digitize it, and store it in the databank.

Objective Complete.

Hammond shocked in on the RIG link; he hadn't made contact in a while so Isaac almost forgot about him. "_Alright, that Thermite you picked up should melt through the barricade. Use the Shock Pad it ignite it._" He sounded apprehensive, and very unsure of himself. "_Hope I can hold this position. I can hear something big moving out there…_"

Something big. Isaac wouldn't really be that surprised there were bigger ones, but how big could a Necromorph get? Humans were only so big.

With the Thermite in storage all that was left was the Shock Pad. By looking over his holomap once more Isaac could see just how far away the defibrillator was, past a big cylindrical chamber that served as the Zero-G Therapy area. Getting to it wouldn't be as hazardous as this, he hoped, but considering the distance he would have to walk the chances of that were low, but he couldn't lose hope; not when he was so close to the Morgue, to getting Matthius's RIG codes and finding Nicole. Isaac couldn't understand, however, if she indeed worked on the Medical Deck, where would she be? He didn't want to think that she died at the hands of the Necromorphs. If she died… No, no don't lose hope Isaac. Don't lose hope. The best thing that could happen: they evacuated the deck before the attack spread to the Deck, or Nicole was on an entirely different part of the _Ishimura _all together. But the way things were was any part of the ship safe at all? The Medical Deck and the Flight Deck, and possibly the Bridge, proved not to have any parts of what one would consider a safe haven.

Isaac took the shortcut out the storage room then exited the Main Lab, back at the malfunctioning door. Stasis froze it and Isaac went on through easily to the dark hallway and refilled his Stasis at the recharge station against the wall. He heard what sounded like a limb snapping in half, blood spraying and sick growling noises. He stood alert, Plasma Cutter in front of his face. The ammo counter read with a orange number two. Isaac pulled the flip over the cartridge holder, ejecting the nearly empty clip and replaced it with a fresh one. Then he waited, heart beating rapidly against his ribcage. He knew to expect a Slasher based on the sounds that went through the necrotic air.

Sure enough a Slasher came into view. Armored grey pants, disfigured pink and fleshy body, just like the one before; and just like that horrifying thing the minute it came into view it charged, flailing its arms and roaring bloody murder. Isaac guessed this variant of the Slasher were the most violent and aggressive of the Necromorph subspecies. He glared, grit his teeth, and when the Slasher leapt in the air, arms up high and ready to slash, he punched it dead in the stomach twice with the Plasma Cutter, then quickly cut off its arm while it was down.

A long spindly shadow fell over the poster on the wall, blotching out the woman on the 'Where would you be without Science?' poster, followed by growls that were more feminine than the others. Female Slasher. Isaac looked around at the bodies scattered around the floor and got a strange idea. He used the Kinesis Module to grab the blade on the dead Slasher's arm, which snapped off fairly easily. Isaac pointed it away from him and prepared to take aim.

The female Necromorph staggered into his part of the hallway, arms arched above its head. Isaac used the Module's secondary function and let the blade fly out at incredible speed. Like a knife through butter the blade pierced the dead skin right at the base of its neck, below the throat. She stopped dead, sputtering sickly with blood running down the front of her chest. Isaac watched the once-human creature come his way. Being too cautious in its presence he blasted off its arm at the elbow joint. It roared sickly, starting to lose its footing until it collapsed in a heap on right next to the male one. A deep breath, then Isaac went up the ramp to the Security Station.

The Store looked fairly tempting. He had plenty of credits to get some more supplies, so he headed over there and activated the terminal. Two Medium Med Packs were added to his inventory, then he decided to finally buy the Line Gun. Of course it needed ammo too and he was starting to run out of inventory space, so he had to watch how much he was picking up and prioritize each. The Med Packs were of course the most important of the items, followed by ammo, then anything else he came across. Isaac scrolled down the list and pressed the Line Gun's holographic display, selecting 'yes' when asked if he wished to purchase, for nine thousand credits. The weapon was downloaded into his RIG and the terminal switched off.

Isaac stepped back. The RIG scanned his Plasma Cutter and broke it down into his memory bank and the Line Gun took its place in his hands. The mining tool was bigger and much heavier than the Plasma Cutter, in the shape of a box he had to hold by two handles on the back and side. Inspecting it Isaac located the flat ammo slot fixed along the top back where the line racks could be slid in. He hoped this would really help him. The first best thing to do was to test it out but he didn't even have any extra racks; better to not waste any ammo. With that done, now the Shock Pad was next.

"Okay Hammond, I'm off to get the Shock Pad." He shocked in to his commanding officer. "I'll contact you when I have it."

The pipes dripped and clanked as Isaac opened the large door below the scrolling sign that read: 'Imaging Diagnostics Wing: Please have Lab referral forms ready.'

_Thump_…_Thump…_

The echoing din of something wet hitting the wall…

* * *

I hope you enjoyed!

R&R!


	8. Do You Believe?

Here's the next one :3 I hoped I could make an update quicker than the last, before a month went by again, and I certainly did this time!

Enjoy!

* * *

_Thump_…_Thump_…_Thud_…

Directly across from the door, another sign, while another hallway went off directly to the left of the doorway. Isaac was starting to get tired of these winding hallways. According to the map this hall made a long U shape and directly behind the wall across from him would be the doorway to the Imaging Diagnostics Lab.

The poster displayed a woman in a thick black and white suit that was either meant for missions in sub-zero or cryogenic area, or for protection from high levels of radiation. More than likely it was the latter. In her left hand she held a white and pink capsule between the tips of her thumb and index finger. Behind her were a back and front view of the human body and a set up of periodic elements.

'CEC Imaging Diagnostics Lab.

Ishimura Crew Members,

Welcome to the lab! If you have been referred to the lab, please have your referral form and CEC authorization ready, then proceed to the lab office. Thanks!

-Lab Staff'

_Thud_..._Thud_…

Isaac turned his head. Darkness overtook the hall, except for soft white light reflecting off the glass panels on the walls. His visor's blue light didn't help to expel the dark from this distance.

_Thump_…_Thump_…

"The hell?" Isaac's hands tightened around the handles of the heavy mining tool, lifting the top bar so the protruding front would be pointed higher up. The Plasma Cutter, or the Line Gun? It was hard to choose which one he should use; the Line Gun might pack a punch but the Plasma Cutter was light weight and only required one hand to hold; running wouldn't be so easy holding something that weighed at least twenty pounds, and opening doors when you were in a hurry might also be difficult; personally Isaac did not want to find himself in that kind of situation. The Cutter was also more equipped for circumstances where rapid-fire was an asset, but then again he wasn't an expert on tools like these. Schofield Tools, the same company that produce the Plasma Cutters, engineered this to blast through bigger tougher ore that the Plasma Cutter can't get through, but that certainly didn't mean it was a superior tool. Only time could tell. As for that sound…

It sounded like something wet…and organic hitting the wall; the splintering of skin and bone. He didn't want to know what it was, because it could be just about anything and that's what scared Isaac the most. It was close, but not only that it was loud.

_Thump_…_Thump_...

Isaac was getting a headache already. What the hell was that? There was no other way to the Shockpad so this would have to do.

"_Look at you Isaac, scared over a little sound…_" he cursed his brief show of fear; Isaac Clarke was a man who was not known for his cowardice. The CEC was not a place for people with no backbone, who didn't like to take risks. Engineers risked their lives every day, every mission held the chance of losing an arm, a leg or two, or even your life. Some considered it a mediocre job and engineers were regarded as 'nerds' by other members of the CEC, a title that Isaac did not appreciate. He didn't go through many hours of rigorous training, studying ship systems and how they worked and how to repair them, going through so many sessions on doing his job without having his head blown off by an explosion caused by an exploding fuse, to be called a nerd. "_Calm down, and go on. You can handle what's ahead. You need to find her, find Nicole…_"

The door slid shut. The hall was made gloomier with the lack of adequate light flooding in from the Security Station. The only light source that banished the darkness came from the built-in light on top of the Line Gin; this was all he had, the only thing that kept a barrier between him and the beings that lurked deep within the darkest corners.

Without any warning, his head started to hurt, and the dark grey walls disappeared from around him.

_Screams…screams of terror, but no one to hear them; dissolving into oblivion, into the overpowering shadows. Struggling to get away, fighting back…must survive. Everything goes dark, inhumane roars of murder coming from the darkness. The slaughtering of the crew, no remorse, no sympathy, no motive; they just kill, it is in their instincts. Their blood, their stolen skin, worn like a shroud. Cannot survive…cannot go on…slash after slash, the burning wounds spread. The walls run cold and red, dyed with the blood of the massacred…written in red, with fresh blood. Life fleeting away. Writing, painting the crude words before the darkness consumes, "Cut Off Their Limbs"._

Those images…images of the Necromorphs, the dying crew, blood dripping down the walls, they flashed in front of him like they were really there. The _Ishimura _wasn't there, and wherever he was…was this real? It couldn't be. Isaac looked around him at the sights, surrounded by the monsters as they attacked the crew members. He was back in the room he found the Plasma Cutter. The Slashers dashed around him, completely ignoring him like he wasn't even there. The blood on his suit, the dying woman on the floor in front of him, spurting blood from the bit wound on her throat…

It all felt so real…

"W-What the fuck is going on here?" Isaac yelled, bashing a Slasher in the face; his weapon caved in its face, killing it, but the others didn't seem to be affected by their comrade's demise. "What is this? Is this some kind of trick?"

A man, resting on the bench, wrote on the wall with his mangled and destroyed hand, "Cut off…" He was missing everything from the stomach down, sustaining attacks from a single mutated mass of bloody flesh.

"What the fuck is this!" He yelled again. There was no way this was real. This all had to be fake!

The Slasher tore out the neck of the spasming woman, the chunk of flesh dangling from its mouth like a piece of meat. Isaac stepped back, his boot splashing in a pool of blood. The lifeless grey eyes gazed into his soul, invading the deepest parts of his subconscious. Still there was no move to attack, but now they were all around him, the Necromorphs having abandoned their victims and leaving them to die by their fatal wounds.

Laughing, a sick laughter coming from below…from the woman. She laughed and sputtered, choking on her own blood. Isaac was too petrified, frozen in place to go down to her aid. Was she still alive? Her head turned, her dead eyes gazing up at Isaac. There was no life, no expression, a cold stare like the monsters surrounding him. She laughed, red spilling down her chin before she started to choke out…

"_Make…us….whole…_"

Everything flashed orange, spinning before him. Isaac grunted in pain, holding his head as it all went away and he was back, in the _Ishimura_, back in the same dark hallway.

"What…what the hell was that?" Isaac groaned loudly. His head pounded, throbbing against his skull. This feeling…this odd feeling… Was everything he just saw real? No, it couldn't have been! The  
Necromorphs were staring right at him, circling around him, but they didn't attack so it couldn't have been real!

But it just seemed so…it felt like he was really there. He could smell the blood, the death, the rotting flesh…he could feel the death. But that woman…the dying woman and her words…

Make us…whole? This felt like one of those very bizarre dreams you have one night, and it was so strange that when you woke up you couldn't explain it, let alone even remember most of the details. This ship was starting to get to him already. Not even two hours into his mission and he's already going mad? No Isaac, you're better than that.

Isaac's shaky hands tried to hold up the Line Gun, but after that event it was proving to be too heavy. He put it away for now and went back to the light-weight Plasma Cutter. That was much better, less load for his already aching body to support. That thumping noise continued to resonate from the dark shadows, somewhere down the hall. He didn't hear anything, but the rafters were knocking above him. He knew at any time he could be attacked, when he least expected it. Every minute, every second he had to pay attention to his surroundings, otherwise he would end up just like the rest of the crew…like Chen and Johnson, or possibly even Kendra. If they hadn't heard from her at this point, more than likely she was already dead.

The wet hard thumping progressed and even though the hall remained mostly peaceful, he didn't let his guard down. Isaac got close to the bend, expecting to see anything. The Plasma Cutter was held up in level with his eyes so he could annihilate anything that came his way. The small lights above him flashed, then went off as he crossed the corner bend, so now the only light came from the Plasma Cutter. He waited, expecting anything. Instead what he got was a loud sparking discharge that nearly made him piss himself, before the lights came back on. Stupid malfunctioning ship systems…

_Thud_…_Thud_…_Thump_…

He was going insane, what was that? He turned the corner, seeing at the other end of the moderately long hall was a small doorway, the wall at the other end a light and almost eerie grey. A spindly shadow moved across the wall, back and forth, back and forth. When it went forward the sound repeated. Whatever that was, it was making the sound. Isaac slowly stepped down the hall, aiming the Plasma Cutter towards the source of the shadow as he got closer.

"Hello? W-Who's there?" Isaac called to the figure, its shape becoming known to him. It was no Necromorph, but an actual human. "Hey...hey you, a-are you okay?"

No response, not even an acknowledgment that he even heard him. The light of the hall bathed him in visibility. From head to toe he was covered in dark blood, his uniform torn everywhere to reveal bits of flesh were torn from everywhere. The light lit him up perfectly, so not only could Isaac see every detail of him, he could also see exactly what the source of the noise was.

The survivor was, repeatedly, banging his head against the wall.

The light illuminated everything perfectly so he could even see the streaks of blood going down the wall. Based on how loud the sound was and the rate at which he rocked back and forth, he was hitting his head pretty hard. Isaac swallowed, unable to believe what he was seeing.

"Hey! Sir, are you okay?" Isaac repeated to him, wanting an answer, anything to tell him he wasn't alone. "Answer me!"

No answer came. No indication he heard or was even aware of his presence. His RIG meter was virtually completely depleted, as if his appearance wasn't enough to indicate he was in critical condition. Isaac got closer, not doing anything else to get his attention. Maybe touching or nudging him would get it. Isaac stepped through the doorframe. The man pulled his head back further than what he'd done before, holding it…

"Hey…hey hey stop!" Isaac shouted, before his head went forward hard against the wall, clearly shattering his skull and spewing blood over the metal and glass panels. He slid down on his knees, his forehead slicking with a loud wet squeak of skin on metal, before bending backwards and coming to rest on the floor. The wall in front of him was drenched with streaks of blood, but what shocked Isaac the most was his chest and stomach were hanging open, his ribs sticking out of his torso. All of his organs were practically missing from his abdomen. In the center of his forehead, a large open wound indicating he'd been hitting his head for some time now.

Isaac lowered his weapon, staring down at the dead body. He had the same blank stare, gazing at the ceiling, completely devoid of any life. There was nothing Isaac could do. Staring would do nothing, accomplish nothing, nothing would get done. That Shockpad needed to be found. As hard as it was Isaac tore his eyes away from the corpse, ignoring the smell of rotting flesh.

The hall extended out to the left a few feet, ending at a wall with a single door. In the upper left corner of the wall hung a circular green-glowing sign with the same x-ray graph of the human body, orbital rings around it like those you would see around an atom. The sign above the door read 'Imaging Diagnostics Room. Warning: Elevated radiation levels'. Isaac's RIG had thick plating that would protect him from exposure to highly radioactive materials. Of all the things to be concerned about radiation was not on the list.

Opening the door, a loud menacing growl echoed through the room. A dark shape crawled, before disappearing out of sight. The Imaging Diagnostics Room was a fairly large room, not as big as the Main Lab but still pretty big. Everything was in a dark orange hue, orange lights spinning like the Quarantine light back at the lab. In the center of the room was a wide track built into the wall (there was also a second floor to this room). To the right a platform sat. The platform had a large glass cylinder built in the center; this probably served as the imaging reader for crew members to slide into. A door to the left, a bench next to the ramp leading up to the reading machine… This room was quite a sight.

Isaac looked around, slowly stepping forward. On the floor he spotted something in the corner of the wall and the track, a log. More clues, more information on what the hell was going on around here; he still couldn't get…that out of his head. Isaac stooped down to grab it, downloading its information too his RIG. The pale blue screen instantly came up, the text loading and scrolling like someone was typing it at incredible speed. This was a long one.

""_MEDICAL LOG  
DR. WARWICK, B. (CHIEF PSYCH OFFICER)  
REPORT OF PSYCHIATRIC OBSERVATION_

PATIENT: HARRIS, B. (Employee #PM-19026-EH) Harris is asleep, after another strong sedative. He seems literally unable to sleep without chemical aid. Most people succumb to exhaustion after 50+ hours of waking, regardless of any desire to stay awake. Not Harris.  
His explanation of events on the colony is also odd, and points to the same paranoia we've seen elsewhere planetside. His guilt is not in doubt-two planteside security officers were present when he took Dr. Sciarello hostage and murdered Nurse Evans-and he doesn't deny his actions. But he insists there was no crime, nor does he feel guilt.  
This is classic sociopathic behavior, but Harris exhibits no other symptoms. He is affable and friendly, able to empathize and offer original opinions. When questioned about the murder, however, he becomes withdrawn and intransigent, displaying schizophrenic behavior. He also undergoes intermittent hallucinatory periods, again similar to those experienced by other colonists. Harris claims he threatened the Doctor because he "had to stop the dreams and the faces", and that he'll kill again to "Make it whole again". What that means, I haven't determined yet. A most intriguing case.""

Isaac closed the log. This information was a lot to take in. Something was happening on the colony? Was there a possibility this originated on Aegis VII? It would make sense if these were an alien race, but how did it get up on the _Ishimura_? The colonists were experiencing paranoia…and hallucinations.

What happened back there…was that a hallucination? No, Isaac wasn't going mad. Even if he was, what was causing it? The horror, the sight of death…what would be causing it? This was so much new information Isaac didn't know what to make of any of it. But the words he saw…'Make it whole again'…they were just like the ones the woman uttered, back there…

He shook his head. He had to get his mind off things. The door to his left was locked, but a Power Node override slot was positioned next to it on the wall. There could be things in here he might be able to use, and he had a node to spare. Pulling one out of the databanks Isaac lined up the tannish battery device with the insert slot, and carefully pushed it in place. The computer inside clicked and whirred, recognizing the node before the red holo-light flipped on to blue.

Inside was a storage room that didn't have much stored in, just a few lockers, shelves, desks, and other medical related supplies. The desk directly to his right had a flat deep-yellow piece of metal resting on it, abandoned. Isaac looked it over with immense curiosity, the metal surprisingly light in his hands. A gold semiconductor by the looks of it. This could be sold for some credits. Not a lot of credits, but a decent amount to get him by. Isaac stored it, then took a few steps back as he looked around the storage room. Something came up under his boot, and he looked back to see another glowing log on the floor. He just came across one, and no there's another? The scrolling sound waves on the front told him this was an audio log. With the information he received from the last one, he was almost afraid to see what this one had in store. But he had to see, he had to know what the crew was saying. He downloaded it, and the log played.

"_You found something down there, didn't you?_" The accent…the Middle-Eastern accent…the man from the earlier log.

"_Yes... we found something._" This voice was also familiar. Terrence, the doctor that talked with the captain. Could this be the Kyne the Middle-Eastern doctor was referring to? Isaac listened…

"_So the texts were right all this time…_"

"_I wouldn't be certain of that. There was nothing divine in what I saw._"

"_We must embrace this. We are the first witnesses!_"

Unitologists.

"_Matthius isn't letting anyone down on the colony. It's under quarantine until we learn more._"

"_To hell with Matthius! He of all people should know that this is greater than him, or the operation, or even the company. This is our deliverance!_"

"_Keep your damn voice down. People are dying down there._"

"_Only the worthless and the unbelievers. But I believe. Do you believe Terrance? Do you?_"

These men were both Unitologists it seemed, but if this Dr. Kyne was one, he was obviously having doubts about the credibility of the deliverance that Unitology believed in so deeply. This was the first time Isaac ever heard a Unitologist speaking rationally, showing no obsession over death. This other man…whoever he was he would have to be cautious of him, if he was still alive. If either of them were alive…

Before heading out Isaac went through the storage lockers, finding a Small and a Large Med Pack inside. The Large Med Pack was basically six small ones strapped together. This would fix anything no matter how banged up he was. With that, Isaac headed back out to the Diagnostics Room.

Isaac went over to the other side of the room, going up the ramp. The diagnostics machine did in fact block the way to the other side of the room, as he could see through the glass cylinder; in the center of that cylinder, two orange beams circling around a dead man set in the machine. This place was gruesome.

The square platform above the tube, upon further observation, looked like it would fit in place in between the gap in the wall; a possible bridge to the other sides of the second floor. Positioned directly above the glass, an upside-down blue pentagon with a picture of a magnet and the words 'Grip' printed on it three times, indicated it could be moved with Kinesis. Isaac sighed and lifted his hand up, flexing out his wrist and grabbing the machine with the white beam of energy. With a left-most flick of his wrist the mechanism smoothly slid over and out of the way down the track. Yes, the more Isaac looked and compared the more it looked like it would fit between the gap in the wall. He slid it in easily, until it was just positioned right and ready for him when he got up there. For once, things were starting to go right.

A pig-like squeal would say otherwise. A dark silhouette moved around in the back, crawling around on the wall before Isaac saw it come down to the floor. The squeal was all too familiar to forget. He knew exactly what it was. He put away the Plasma Cutter, going for the Line Gun.

Leapers. And they could be the first spoils for the Line Gun's fire. Isaac pressed the aiming mechanism on the top of the handle. The red rectangle extruding from the front unfolded into a longer piece, three lights along the leftmost, center, and rightmost forming the radius of the beam. Certainly wider than the Plasma Cutter, but could it prove as reliable? Only one way to find out.

It came into view, running on its hands and flailing its tail around behind it. Isaac hated the sight of these things, they were so ugly and mocking; he hated these things. Hated them more than anything he encountered thus far. Even more than those vile Lurkers…

He prepped himself for the attack, but wouldn't let the creature get a single chance to lay any injuries on him. The Leaper dropped down to the floor, turning until it saw Isaac. Without wasting a single second of opportunity he pressed down on the trigger. The mechanism fired a wide stream of blue energy, hitting the Necromorph in the head and shoulder region. All it did was hiss and twitch, and make it angry. This was a new weapon so Isaac didn't expect it to kill anything with just one hit.

The Leaper reared itself back on its hands and launched itself into the air, aligned perfectly to land right on top of him. A small few-second window opened itself up, and hesitating would close it back up. Acting fast was the key. Isaac blinked the bead of sweat out of his eye and aimed quickly and carefully, pulling the trigger hard. The next energy blast hit the Leaper in the same exact spot, but this time it cut right through the right arm and neck. Now the body parts just flew at him.

Isaac blocked with the Line Gun, punching the thick mass of flesh that served as its body onto the track. Damn, these things don't know when to quit. The engineer waited a few more seconds, but nothing else came. The ceasing of attacks told him it was safe to go on.

The next section of the lab, which was just as open as the previous, contained numerous features such as a door directly across from the one he took from the hall, another door leading to possibly another storage room, and a lift elevator that was offline. The door next to the lift was marked "Chemical Research Lab: Proper clearance required" and in between the two was an empty square slot that went a ways back in the wall. Attached to this was a series of cords that ran down to the lift. Obviously the power conduit was missing.

Funny thing was the battery-like conduit was just laying there in the middle of the floor, glowing blue along the energy cells. Isaac looked at the ceiling, then around him. Was this a trick? Was something going to come out the minute he touched it. Like everything else around here there was only one way to find out. The Plasma Cutter was brought back out to rid him of the extra weight.

Isaac picked up the cell with Kinesis. Nothing happened. Everything seemed okay so far. So far… He swallowed nervously as he carefully lined the power cell with the slot, inserting it in. The two fit together like pieces of a puzzle. Isaac let go of the energy link and with a surge of energy the power flipped on, flowing through the cords and supplying the lift with power. Now he could get up to the second floor. The second storage room however, couldn't be left unexplored. Isaac headed past the elevator, expecting to see another large room with very little supplies; just a waste of space. But instead, he found a small office, smaller than the last room but still decently sized. A few supplies here and there including a Power Node box between a shelf and an air vent.

Behind the desk, Isaac saw…a pair of legs. Naturally he assumed they belonged to someone who was dead; then he saw the left leg twitch. Isaac's insides went hot. Could it be…another survivor? That one glint of hope he got every time he saw a survivor came back to him, but like the times before he knew it would just get shot down. Isaac took a few slow steps forward, his boots barely making any noise on the floor as he approached the downed figure. Strangely, whoever it was wore a uniform similar to the one the Captain was wearing in the video log, the black pants and shoes, and the light blue shirt with a few light-weight plates of armor here and there. There was no way this had to be him…

Isaac's hand grabbed the side of the desk, his fingers shaking. There was no blood on the floor or on the man, nor were here any signs of mutilation. But that didn't mean everything. He wouldn't know until he saw the whole thing for himself.

Upon sight…he looked dead, just lying there, until he twitched again harder this time. Isaac stepped in front of him. The man lying sprawled out on the floor had a light, almost pale complexion like he was deprived of oxygen. He sputtered slightly, which told Isaac he was alive, but then he noticed a light, yellowish sheen on his lips. Isaac never saw anything like that before, it almost looked like puss. Isaac took a single step forward and the twitching turned into harsh tremoring. The fallen man choked and sputtered violently, yellow fluid oozing up from his mouth and spilling over his lips. Isaac took a step back, his hand shaking over the Plasma Cutter. This he was not expecting. The man spluttered on the bizarre yellow excretion before his movements stopped altogether.

Could he be really surprised? Another possible survivor died, in front of him. The fourth survivor he ran into on this deck, and he wouldn't be surprised if he saw more, more that he could not prevent from falling victim to the Necromorphs. This ship was the embodiment of Hell, and these monsters were the demons dragging unsuspecting victims to the dark abyss. The yellow liquid…had to be related to the Necromorphs. He didn't know how these monsters worked, nor did he want to know.

"God damn you…" Isaac put his hand over his helmet, turning away from the body that was still shaking as the life gradually ebbed away.

The glass door over the small blue box slid open, allowing him to take the Power Node inside. He had a number of Power Nodes in his inventory, but he had to spend them wisely; they cost a lot of credits at the Store and the _Ishimura _probably only had a few to spare.

"I need to save these as much as I can…" Isaac mumbled, looking over the node in his hand before putting it away in his RIG. He knew it was…bad luck to wonder it, but could things possibly get any worse? Knocking in the vents would answer his question. A faint roaring in the distance…or not as distant as he thought. Isaac froze, slowly looking at the vent to his left. Stirring, moving inside the obscuring darkness of the air duct…

The metal burst, scattering in all directions. A bloody form leapt out onto the floor of the office, a blade nearly hitting Isaac in the face as it swung in his direction.

"BRAAAAAAA!" The roar pierced his ears, which still ached from the harsh shrieks of the Lurkers. The arms swung up, threatening to come down and cut his arms off.

"Holy shit!" Isaac yelled, his hand shooting up to catch the Slasher's arm. The other one came down clumsily after its attack was interrupted, the flat end hitting his amored shoulder hard; somehow the blade snapped off its wrist, leaving it clawing at his suit without effect. The Slasher fought against him, trying to break from his hold. Its deformed head snapped forward, attempting to take bites of his neck. Isaac grunted, his heavy boots keeping him from falling down from a simple shove. These creatures were so violent, they would fight if it meant their death; Isaac had the same will, but he had a different reason for his fighting.

The flesh of the arm was rather thin, very rotted. He squeezed down hard and the structure collapsed under his hand. The Slasher roared in pain as the arm ended up in his hand, blade and all. Isaac gritted his teeth and shook his hand, holding the blade towards it while holding it off with his other hand, which still held the Plasma Cutter. With a loud shout Isaac shoved the blade into its upper chest, impaling it on its own blade. Blood squirted on the front of his RIG, the Slasher letting go of his shoulder and staggering back with pain. Isaac pressed the Plasma Cutter against its head.

"Swallow this mother fucker." He fired, blasting more than half the Slasher's face off and sending it into a bloody mess on the floor, its stolen blood staining the walls. Nothing else needed to be said here; he was used to killing these things by now, and by the time this was over he would be an expert at this. Before he left he swiped a clip from the desk.

Outside, everything still quiet except for the whirs of the mechanical devices. Isaac checked over his RIG inventory as he boarded the elevator and rode it up to the top floor. His RIG was getting full, and he wished he had all of the slots that could be available if he had the Advanced Engineer RIG, the highest level RIG available to standard engineers.

At the top his suspicions that the platform would fit between the elevated walls were answered, and he was right; it fit perfectly. Across from him on the wall the word 'Infidels' was crudely written. The meaning of this was unknown to him. Isaac continued down the walkway and over the machine, swallowing as a cold and fearful wave came over him. He brought the Line Gun back out, holding it tightly. A second walkway that lead to a nook with an air vent and another small walkway that would lead to his destination were just to his right. That vent…he had the strangest, coldest feeling…

A Slasher jumped out through the vent, a piece of metal actually flying his way and hitting the corner of his helmet. The metal was big, and dazed him a little; he stumbled back against the railing, his head suddenly hurting. Had he not had his helmet on the impact would have killed him. A wet gurgling roar was sent his way, the Slasher charging his way. Isaac yelled back, aiming blindly and pulling the trigger. The beam cut through the necrotic tissue like it was paper, the right arm and head severed from the rest of the body which collapsed at his feet. Isaac kicked it out of the way then ran to the other hall, leaning against the wall. So many close calls, too many battles with death. This part he wouldn't get used to at all.

The gap went all the way back and separated him and the door he needed to go. At the edge of the platform Isaac grabbed the diagnostics machine with the Kinesis Module and drug it over to him, fitting it in front of him and bridging the gap. Piece of cake, at least this part was. Isaac continued down the orange-lit hall, catching that the door was locked thanks to a live power cell. That could also be easily taken care of with no problem, and with a well-aimed Plasma Cutter shot. The cell burst apart, unlocking the door for him. Smooth sailing for now…

Generic white walls greeted him in the next room, but he was glad he didn't have to look at the harsh orange lights that gave him a throbbing head ache, his eyes begging for something different to look at. The white light wasn't that pleasant a greeting, but it was certainly better. To the right a door which also led to the Chemical Research Lab was present, but that one too was locked. Apparently it wasn't his time to go there…whatever was even hiding within that laboratory…but it gave him a very, very dark vibe. For now, he was glad he wasn't going there. Ahead the door he needed, marked 'Zero-G Therapy Area: Authorized Personal Only'. So close, he felt the same sense of hope and relief he got when he found the Thermite.

Isaac may have escaped the vibrate lights of the Imaging Diagnostics Room, but a new orange pastel greeted him, spinning beside the scrolling sign after he gave the door the command to open. It didn't do so right away like every door was supposed to. Across the front of the blue hologram, the words 'Equalizing Pressure' flashed on and off. That could only mean…

"Oh no…" Isaac choked out, the door finally sliding open as the air in the room was sucked out, his boots keeping him from going with it.

"_Entering Vacuum_"

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Well, here it is and I hope you guys enjoyed it :33 These chapters are pretty long, but I'm sure you all like that~ I hope you did, and stay tuned for the next chapter!


	9. In the Eyes of the Beholder

Heh, yeah another month passes without updating. What's new? I've been so swamped with talking to my friends and trying to do other things I want to do, but I managed to get a lot of free time in to do more work and update.

I feel especially bad for not updating because school is going to start soon, which means I may have less time to update anything, but I will try my best to keep up with what I can.

NOTE: Announcements made by the Ishimura's computer will now be indicated in _**Bold Italics **_to avoid any confusion.

* * *

The color drained from the walls around him, as if it was sucked away with the vacuum of space. Isaac still couldn't believe he would actually be stepping into one, but as the door pulled all the way up his suit suddenly became tighter, the timer for his air meter – a rectangle hologram with large white numbers as the timer with the much smaller letter 'Oxygen remaining' just above – came up from his RIG link, counting down from sixty-two seconds; even showing the milliseconds in little number next to the seconds.

No lights, except for the light from the Cygnus system, which Aegis VII was a part of, being the seventh planet in said system. But I digress from the true subject of this tale. There was no color to this hallway, just the pale blueness of space. The dark-grey metal floor was covered with some weird white encrusting in some areas of which Isaac could not identify. This hall must have suffered some considerable damage; four of the white lights that lined the wall flickered, or what was remaining of the lights, indicating a power failure but not massive enough to make them go out.

Isaac drew in a deep breath, which was so much more amplified than back inside the ship. He couldn't just stand here; he had to get out of this vacuum before he ran out of oxygen. With how little he had, he might suffocate; how ironic, dying by suffocation and not dismemberment at the hands of the Necromorphs overrunning the ship. Could Necromorphs survive in a vacuum? Well, they had an easy time surviving a severed arm and leg or even a severed cranium; who could say an absence of oxygen would or would not affect them?

Shadows fell over the floor and wall from the left, indicating a hull breach, but Isaac didn't need to go up this hall to see that; at his left there was a window, albeit a broken window with a few jagged shards still stuck in the pane, somehow staying in despite the harsh force of the vacuum sucking everything out into space. Through it he could see and confirm a hull breach but he couldn't see a lot of it; he could however see twisted and broken metal from where he stood.

Isaac pressed on up the very short hall – the pounding of his boots on the floor was so loud, it practically hurt his ears - till he was in line with the left turn; there he could see the amount of damage this part of the _Ishimura _suffered. The space-side wall was completely torn away, the only thing that managed to really stay being the light pillars, but even those were completely out, one of them sparking with what little electricity remained in them. At the other end of the hall he spotted the door to the Zero-G Therapy area, but his path was blocked by the large shrapnel, twisted pipes and bent panels, like some demented artisan put it all together. Luckily there was another doorway to the direct left, a little alcove that could lead him to his destination; as he could see through the windows of course.

What really drew the attention of the engineer however, was space itself. Outside of what remained of this hallway he could see part of the _Ishimura's _hull, including two of the many thin arching spires that the planetcracker vessel was famous for, along with the two towers that served as its Hydroponics Deck and the Ore Storage Deck, where all of the spoils of planetcracking were stored.

The one thing that really made Isaac stare - while using his hand to block out the sun that was shining directly into the open hull – was the planet of Aegis VII itself. The Northeastern hemisphere of the planet was visible from where he stood. The planet was outlined with a strange orange aura, like a light effect of sorts. Isaac read a little about Aegis VII, or what little there was to read about it; forbidden planets are given very little information besides their geographical information. The surface of the planet was a perpetual landscape of nothing but grey rock; Isaac could see why the perspective reports called Aegis VII a gold mine of resources, according to Hammond; there was no flora, fauna, or civilization to get in the way of the mining business, much like the case with all moons that suffer from the complex and destructive planetcracking industry. The planet had its own sign of cracking, the massive hole in the surface where a huge part of the planet was unearthed and drawn into space, hanging beneath them now.

Isaac had to continue on; the beeping of his meter was getting louder, indicating he was running out of oxygen. He wished there was a way to fix the hull, because his mouth and throat were dry, and there was a broken pip pointing upward that was spewing out water. His insides hurt at the sight of it, knowing he would have to search elsewhere for something to drink. Tearing his look away from it he turned left, going into the next room.

A few storage shelves, including a rather strange on that had a metal grate on the front; possibly serving as storage for medications; the door was for added protection so patients couldn't sneak in and take any and possibly overdose. There were three storage lockers in between the large cabinet and a desk with a chair attached to it, two of which were unlocked; the strange thing the lockers were perfectly spaced in between the desk and cabinet. Oxygen was running low and he had to get out of here, but he couldn't stop himself from going through the lockers for possible supplies.

As luck would have it, in the leftmost locker he found a dark grey pack that looked much like a medium med pack, but had two nozzles on the front that could be attached to his suit; a medium air can. Only twenty seconds of air remained, the oxygen that was stored in his suit and let out from the pressure change suit was draining fast and breathing was getting even harder. Wasting no time at all Isaac grabbed the air canister and matched it up with the two nozzles beneath his RIG link display, then flipped the switch on the back. The fresh oxygen flowed in rapidly like a discharge of gas and within seconds not only did his air meter max out, he felt more refreshed than ever; that was one hundred percent oxygen he just put into his suit. Now he was ready to go on, after collecting the plasma energy from the rightmost locker.

The light flickering above created a weird and not to mention unsettling flashing spotlight on the floor, which Isaac had to go right past to get out of his mind. In the next very small room, another desk and very strange storage cabinet; nothing of any particular use or interest, so Isaac turned right and exited out to the rest of the path that was blocked off by the debris. Here he could see more of the ship's exterior, including the large words 'USG ISHIMURA', which all ships like the _Ishimura _had. The hull was so dark and dreary, it made this whole situation seemed so fitting; a ship so dark on the inside and out, invaded by bloodthirsty, otherworldly creatures.

What kind of Hell did he step into, and how could it be stopped? The more important question, would he get out of here alive? No one could say, nothing could determine the answer to that question. It all depended on luck, and the skills he learned as an engineer, and the combat skills obtained at the Merchant Marines division of the Earth Defense Force. Anything could be expected on this ship, and Isaac Clarke was ready to face it whether the risks were low, or if they were as enormous as Captain Matthius had said; obviously, they were.

Isaac pressed his palm on the front of the door marked 'Zero-G Therapy Area: Authorized Personnel Only'. The door slid open after a few seconds load time and just like before the air was sucked out from the inside, the powerful suction trying to pull Isaac with it. The force of the suction felt rather unpleasant, but anyone would agree it was much better than being completely pulled out into space. Isaac quickly stepped through the door, getting enough distance to let it close and seal off the vacuum.

"_**Exiting vacuum**_" announced the _Ishimura's _computer as the vacuum dissipated and the oxygen returned. The air meter quickly returned back to its full time and disappeared from the holoscreen, allowing him to breathe the oxygen available in the ship. Even the color returned to his surroundings; not much to his surprise, a dark hallway, with only four long rows of white square bulbs providing any sort of light; unappealing, detracting lights, but lights nonetheless.

Two signs on either wall next to him depicted a man in just boxer shorts, floating in the middle of three white rings against a light blue backdrop. A bit corny to show the Zero-G Therapy room, but whatever worked for the crew, let them advertise it however they want. This sing was longer than any of the ones he saw before, and even though it may not contain any useful information that could aid him in his mission, Isaac couldn't stop from reading.

Next to the man in thin words read, 'You are about to enter the Zero Gravity therapy room'. The words 'Zero Gravity' were in much larger font than the rest. Funny thing is below those words was a white box with a big red header that said 'Caution – Please Read'.

Beneath, the longest part of the poster read, 'Navigating a Zero-G environment is dangerous! Only crew members wearing gravity boots should activate the control panel, and should use caution at all times. Patients should not enter unless accompanied by a CEC medical officer'.

Sounds like pointless information at this time, but now Isaac remembered that his suit had gravity boots, which kept him attached to the floor when the vacuum tried to pull him away; inside the ship it just wasn't something you thought or worried about. With this in mind Isaac went down the ramp and through a square opening that had another sign that was just a duplicate of the three before plastered on at the top. A large round blast door stood between him and the therapy room; the blast doors were usually seen with natural zero-g areas but they could also be seen elsewhere as far as Isaac knew, but what determined their placement was really unknown to him, because they could been seen in a lot of different areas.

Suddenly, Hammond shocked in through the comlink. "_As you know the Ishimura is able to set its gravity locally. Your grav-boots will kick in when you enter a zero-g area._"

Isaac already knew this, but he still appreciated Hammond's help greatly; any and all help was accepted, as long as it helped to improve his mission or get anyone alive out of here.

Standing at the large black blast door Isaac ran his hand over the reader. The silver plating lining the outside of the circular access retracted and the door made a clanky mechanical counterclockwise until the horizontal grey bar lined up vertically, the black plating pulling back into the door frame to allow the red striped door to slide down with a loud beep and whir, giving Isaac access to the therapy room.

As the map showed, the room was large and cylindrical, and of course who could forget dark. At both ends of the cylinder a large hole was cut in the center, with another hole cut in the center of that. The purpose of this Isaac was unsure of. The opening to his left was even lined stained red, a mutilated body resting at the edge of the alcove next to a battery cell. Across from the small platform on which he stood was another, similar platform, powered by two battery cells; one of which was missing from its slot. That could easily be fixed with either of the two cells in the room, even the one already on the platform in front of the live one. Getting the Shockpad would be a piece of cake. As he stepped inside one by one the lights around the alcoves flipped on loudly, sounding like a piece of metal fitting together with another one; Isaac didn't know how else to describe it. His mind was on other things.

On his platform, ignoring the body almost hanging off the edge, there was the gravity control panel showing a holographic display of a white human silhouette with an arrow arched around his back, the usual symbol for a zero-gravity area. Isaac touched the panel with his finger, but didn't pull it away. He looked up, and around the therapy room. This room obviously had air vents of sorts, but it was so weird, it sounded like they were next to a boiler room and a factory; all he could hear was the whir and pounding of a machine somewhere in the distance, and the loud rumble of air blasting through the vents, and even that sounded mechanical at times…and it sounded…like whispering…

"_Jane Gaulthier…_"

Isaac looked up again from the panel, looking behind his back. Nothing. The engineer looked around, but it was just him in the room; he swore he heard whispering…soft whispering, a woman whispering…

"_After graduating she took a security management position in the CEC a deep-space vessel as simply put…_"

It sounded just like the whispering he heard back in the Flight Deck.

"W-Who's there?" Isaac called out to the voice, wanting an answer. "Who's following me? If someone's there show yourself!"

No response, no revealing of whoever it was whispering to him. If it was a survivor, had they followed him from the Flight Deck? No, something like that wasn't humanly possible, was it? Unless the whispers were coming from the Necromorphs…but even that seemed virtually impossible.

"_Snap out of it Isaac,_" he told himself in his head; maybe it was just his head messing with him. "_Don't let it get to ya…_"

Mainly, he was referring to that…weird incident that happened in the hall. Make us whole again? The meaning of this phrase, or even the purpose, was something he couldn't understand. Necromorphs, Unitologists, this whole ship was one incredible mess. Isaac finally released his hold and the blue hologram turned organish-red, now displaying the words 'Warning. Offline'

Everything in the room, the bodies, the fuel canisters, everything floated up in the air as the gravity disappeared; the body next to the terminal was at least seven feet above his head now. Only his grav-boots kept him in place, but he wasn't locked to the floor; he could move around just fine, like there was still the force of gravity present. Isaac rubbed the back of his shoulder, still aching from the Lurker's attack. It still haunted him, the sight of those dead and mutated babies…it was possibly one of the most horrifying and nightmarish things he ever saw.

Now, time to see if this would work. Isaac's training at the Earth Defense Force included learning how to jump from place to place in zero-gravity areas. Hopefully as he expected, all that training would pay off in the long run. Looking at the slanting wall above the door, Isaac held the Cutter tightly and braced himself. This wouldn't be difficult if he relaxed, and didn't do anything stupid like change his mind at the last minute. A deep breath, a crack of his neck, and Isaac set his sights on the wall.

"Here goes something…" Isaac bent his knees and leapt forward, his boots disconnecting from the platform. Normally he would've gone tumbling off the platform if there was gravity, but the lack thereof meant flying through the air. And he did just that. The weightless feeling came back to him, not having felt it since his days of training. It was sensational, like his whole body had a huge weight taken off. The zero gravity jump, which was basically Isaac just floating through the air like an otherworldly entity, was slow but Isaac was greatly relieved he was alone; had there been any Necromorphs that had particularity good aim, he would be a sitting duck; he couldn't shoot at anything while jumping, leaving him defenseless.

Isaac watched as the covered electric circuits lining sections of the wall illuminate as a light passed through each one in sequential order. Those were live circuits but they wouldn't hurt him if he touched them. How he knew this…well, just take his word for it. Isaac stretched his body all the way out, given enough space to do so in the chamber and prepped his body for the landing; zero-gravity jumps could be dangerous and possibly fatal if not performed correctly; the worst that could happen would be your wrists or arms breaking when you touched down. That's what made Isaac fear the worst when it came to these jumps.

His heart pounded in his chest as he suddenly but very slowly spun around, which made landing this jump more dangerous. The wall came in fast and Isaac only had a few seconds to keep his wrists straight but not too tight. He braced himself as his hands suddenly touched the metal; no broken bones yet, but he wasn't done there. The magnet in his grav-boots kicked on, drawing them down to the wall. Isaac opened his eyes and looked around. Everything was okay; he was okay, just…everything now.

"Heh…I made it…" Isaac chuckled out loud as he straightened up. Even though he was standing on a wall, the lack of gravity meant there was no pressure acting on his body; he could stay here all day if he wanted too. But of course, he wouldn't. The door was right below him. Isaac took a few steps back from the door to make adequate distance between him and the platform, then jumped down gracefully (depending on your definition of gracefully).

His previous observations were correct; the door was locked, the culprit a missing power cell. This task wouldn't be too difficult, for floating right next to the platform was a single power cell. Why was this cell removed? It wasn't like there was anything of major importance in there besides the Shockpad. Maybe there was something someone didn't want anyone else to see; something related to the secrets of Unitology? – who even knew the secrets of Unitology? His mother tried to learn those secrets… Isaac shook his head, trying not to think back to the painful memories of his childhood. It would only make things worse. He didn't want to think there would be a Necromorph locked in there; he didn't hear any knocking so maybe there wasn't. But there was only one way to find out.

Isaac drew the motionless power cell to him, moving it over with Kinesis. To fit it in place he shifted it around in midair until it was perfect to slide right in the large slot. The cell sparked as it made a connection with the electrical workings in the back, the red light above it turning pale green/blue, and unlocking the door in the process. Isaac swallowed the dry lump in his throat. His lips were dry, he was thirstier than he thought. He couldn't stop himself from thinking back to that broken pipe spewing out wasted water, further whetting his thirst.

"_Isaac, knock it off…_" He scowled in his mind. "_Mission now, water later…_" Isaac opened the door, forcing his thirst to the back of his mind once more before putting up a barrier to keep it from crossing his train of thought.

"**Exiting zero gravity.**" The _Ishimura's _computer chimed in that…computer-like voice as Isaac stepped inside. His body felt heavier with gravity acting on his body once more.

The door led to a very small storage room, at least fifteen feet by seven feet. Storage shelves and lockers were here of course; two of which were unlocked. Isaac was able to find a credit in the storage box on the wall as well as one on lying helpless on the dark floor next to it, totally to two thousand credits. Not a lot, but it certainly was something. Isaac took note of his very limited surroundings: racks of dirty and cracked vials here and there, an abandoned microscope that belonged back in the Main Lab, and…baggage? There were also three suitcases on the shelves; kind of strange and weird for those to be there. Aside from this and the blood spatters dried on the walls and litter-lined floor, there really wasn't much to see.

Except to Isaac's left…there it was. Sitting by itself on a single desk against the wall was the Shockpad. Basically it was a white box that looked a bit like a very old video game console, but with two diagonal slots were the shock paddles went. The clean device looked so out of place amidst the dirty storage room, like someone placed it there to lure him there…would someone do that? Isaac didn't give it another thought, not wanting to think about the possibilities there could be another threat on the ship besides the Necromorphs.

Isaac set the right paddle back on its holder and picked up the defibrillator which surprisingly wasn't as heavy as it looked. That wasn't a bad thing though, obviously, he didn't need to carry around by hand or in a tote of sorts. Finally he had it; you wouldn't believe how happy and excited he was even if he didn't show it on the outside. Now after what felt like hours he could blow through that barricade and get the Captain's RIG codes. Then…finding Nicole would be one of his top priorities. Isaac held the device to his RIG display. The computer scanned it and downloaded it to the virtual memory storage where it would be safe and sound with the Thermite. It disappeared from his hands, out of sight but not out of mind.

Objective Complete.

"_Great, you got a Shockpad,_" Hammond's voice came in as Isaac placed his hand on the lock mechanism of the closed door."_Combine that with the Thermite at the barricade to destroy it_."

"When I get a hold of those RIG codes, promise me you'll look up Nicole's." Isaac said firmly, serious about finding her.

Hammond didn't hear him, as his voice became a low whisper; as if something was close. "_Shit, I can hear more coming; moving through the vents. Stay safe Isaac!_"

"Hammond! Hammond wait!" Hammond cut out, the connection ending. "Damn it!" He hit his fist against the wall, his teeth gritted together. Hammond couldn't have been doing this on purpose; they were all under a lot of stress, now that they were possibly the only ones alive on this whole ship, and the only survivors of their small repair crew for that matter.

Isaac drew in a few deep breaths to calm himself down. "Don't worry Nicole, I will find you…I promise…" He waved his hand over the door, the mechanical whirring almost drowned out by the sounds of the air shafts knocking and the machines in the distance. The door slid up and he went back into the Zero-G Therapy area.

"_**Entering zero gravity**__._"

The therapy room felt…there was…something odd that Isaac now could not point out. It looked the same but in that small amount of time he spent in that storage room, it all seemed to change in an instant. This was also something he did not like; not even the therapy room, a place where stressed crew members could go and get away from the daily troubles on this ship, was safe. There wasn't anything to indicate it was except for the fact that he was alone, but that didn't mean he was out of these woods of complete darkness. Isaac strengthened his guard. He came to far just to be another casualty, a face with no name.

Isaac scanned the perimeter, looking above and below for any disturbance, any sign of life… A chill went up his spinal cord when he heard a knocking in the vents. It sounded deep, so forceful, but above all other things, it sounded close; very, very close. Isaac's heart pounded, the pulse readings in the corner of his visor's display gradually going up. Anything could happen at any moment. When he least expected it…

The banging in the ventilation system grew louder, becoming a hollow din that echoed throughout the chamber. Across from him on the slanted wall one of the rectangular panels flipped open; Isaac could barely see it, including the fleshy form emerging from within, two clawed arms and a single long tail. Not more of these…Isaac was getting tired of seeing these things; no one could even accurately guess, he was that tired already.

The Leaper crawled across the dark-colored wall, the faintness of its pig-like squeal echoing through the chamber, sending a shiver up Isaac's spine. He watched the Leaper, keeping his sights lined directly on it in-case it tried something. He knew damn well that he should shoot it before it was given that chance, but it was a good distance away and he didn't want to waste his well-earned ammunition.

He watched it, seeing the monster turn towards him, wiggling around like a fish out of water. Isaac held onto the bottom handle of the Plasma Cutter before taking careful aim; the beams of the cutter didn't look like they reached, but if it didn't move he would have to trust his own skills and hope he hit it. But as it turned out he wouldn't have to, for the Leaper leapt off the wall, flying through the air with its arms out like Isaac had done; as if trying to mock him.

Isaac grimace at this. He couldn't be sure if it was or not, but either way he was not one who enjoyed any sort of mockery. He quickly line up with the left arm and quickly pulled the trigger to severe the arm, the Leaper going off course with a loud distorted roar. The arm spun around in mid air, flying off and away from its owner. The Leaper made a quick recovery decision by going for the wall, clinging to it as if for life.

Something suddenly came over him. In a way he didn't understand, he almost…felt sorry for it. Why should he though? These things killed most if not all of the crew, including three of his comrades and several attempts on his own life. These monsters already proved from the second they came into the picture they deserved no sympathy, but the more he watched it crawling sluggishly on the wall, its remaining claws grasping for some sort of aid while blood came out of its massive wound, it reminded him of an injured animal back on Earth. He didn't lower his gun but that slight sympathy he felt was still there…Isaac wasn't a killer, he had no natural instinct to end the lives of other living creatures, a practice he thought of as cruel most of his life, but he knew what he had to do. He turned the cutter to its horizontal setting and laid a shot on its neck, decapitating the Leaper and killing it instantly.

Isaac lowered the Plasma Cutter to his side. He watched its body float off into the air, limp and devoid of any life. He stood to watch it, an unusual wave of sorrow flowing over him. Never in his life did he imagine he would have to pull a weapon's trigger, killing what used to be human beings. It just…never really rang in his mind when this mission to stay alive first began; he was simply too busy trying to survive the horrors of this ship to make it out alive…

"Come on Isaac, there's nothing you can do…" The tired engineer said to himself, tearing his eyes away from the dead Necromorph. "Better them than you, or anyone else…"

Isaac set his sights on the wall right above the door across the room, then took a long jump over, floating through the zero gravity environment until he pulled himself up on the surface, drawing in a slow, deep breath to calm his throbbing nerves, then leaping down to the bottom ledge. That much shorter jump actually made his arms hurt a little, the pressure from having to stop his landing putting a good deal on his arms, especially his wrists. Isaac ignored what pain was there, then pushed his hand against the rounded door, heading out of the Zero-G Therapy area, leaving it behind him for good.

"_**Exiting zero gravity**_"

His body felt much heavier now that he was back in the presence of gravity. He felt rather uncomfortable with the added weight, but he would get used to it again after a while. He just hoped he wouldn't get gravity sickness, a minor short-lasting illness that people got when they couldn't fully adjust to the shift in gravitational force; kind of like sea sickness or motion sickness.

Isaac dragged his heavy boot up the ramp, his hand shaking over the Plasma Cutter. He knew pretty soon his fingers would start to cramp, but he was afraid to let it go, fearing if he did he would never get it back again. Sure he had the Line Gun, but he couldn't abandon the weapon that got him through the horrors of the Flight Deck and the first quarter of the Medical Deck. And it helped him now. He would never let go of the things that aided him, whether it be people or the simple tools that helped him get through his everyday life as an engineer.

Beads of sweat dripped on the inside of his visor, which immediately dried up by the helmet's computer, designed to neutralize body fluids and reduce the change of smear or glare. Isaac looked up at the sign above the door: 'Return to Imaging Diagnostics Room. WARNING: HULL BREACH DETECTED'

Well isn't that funny? The reader above the door that lead him to the vacuum didn't say anything like that. What a fucking joke. If Isaac didn't have a RIG suit on he would've died. Isaac sneered in disgust and slammed his hand against the holo-symbol, drawing the door up. The color was sucked out, along with the air, by the vacuum of space and his RIG's oxygen supply kicked in, counting down from the same sixty-two seconds.

"_**Entering vacuum**_"

Isaac took a long, amplified breath and continued on. Through the wreckage blocking his immediate, straight-through path he barely caught a glimpse of something fleshy-pink move to the right. Isaac straightened up, looking behind his shoulder at the now closed door. Did a Necromorph follow him out here? Did it know he was here? The thought of these things knowing where he was no matter where he happened to be, knowing his every move and ready to anticipate it made him shiver, but he was ready to fight back.

He took a few careful steps forward, his boots pounding on the metal floor no matter how silent he tried to be. Keeping his eyes on the room to his right, he swallowed nervously, waiting for the creature to come through, Plasma Cutter pointed at the doorway. Even then, he almost felt like he was being watched. Isaac swallowed, slowly turning his head to the open space. Amidst the wreckage, a dead crew member, floating on the very edge of the ship's interior like a speck of worthless matter. The man floated there, a blank non-expressive look glazed across his face. The eyes, filled with nothing, no life of any kind, like that he saw in the eyes of the dying woman in the bizarre vision, and the eyes of the Necromorphs. It was haunting, something he couldn't get used to. Death surrounded him, and he couldn't escape it until he got out of here or he was among the ranks of the countless victims.

Isaac closed his stinging, burning eyes and went back to focus on the still-empty doorway. He didn't know how fast these things were at walking, the Leaper certainly proved to be pretty fast, but as for the Slashers…he couldn't say. Isaac cautious proceeded into the next room, breathing up his oxygen supply like a drugging mist to calm the tension in his body. Isaac knew what to expect: another possible run-in with death. His finger shook and twitched on the trigger, his lips dry and cracked in some places. He saw more of the right side of the room the further he got in front of the door, until he stopped. Why did he stop? Certainly the fear hadn't made him freeze.

"_Stop being a pussy Isaac_." He told himself in his head. "_Just get in there and kill the bastard. It's wasting your time and your oxygen!_"

Isaac clenched his eyes shut, then took one long step in front of the doorway. Lumbering and swinging its clawed arms the Slasher slowly came his way, silently roaring into the dead of space. The sunken in gray eyes stared a hole in his helmet as it to paralyze him with fear, leave him a sitting duck to a relentless attack. Its strangely shaped feet stomped at the floor without a sound, the ends of its two toe-like growths curling up on the left foot. Isaac bit down on his tongue as he flipped the Cutter's head vertically and aimed, shooting its arm off between the shoulder and the elbow. The Slasher jumped back, its blood spraying the wall and lockers, before it pressed on like they normally do. Isaac quickly grabbed the blade of its severed arm with his Kinesis gun, taking careful aim. Why the Slasher wasn't charging like an angry rhinoceros was beyond him but it gave him plenty of time to line up his aim.

Isaac flicked his wrist and sent the sharp projectile forward like a speeding bullet, and at the speed of light the blade impaled the creature directly through its head, tearing it right off its neck in the process. The head split in half, blood and other decayed matter scattering across the room. To be safe, even as it stood there shaking on its deformed legs Isaac cut off its other arm with a single blast, sending it on the floor in a tangled, bloody mess. Isaac came through the doorway, witnessing the now-stained walls, just like those of the rest of the ship. There was so much blood he was on the verge of becoming sickened by it all.

His oxygen on the verge of running low, Isaac continued on his twisted metal path past the body he would soon leave behind, like everything else on the _Ishimura_, cold and long forgotten. He couldn't look at the wasted water spilling from the pipe; it would only make him thirstier, mocking him with a cool refreshing drink he could not have to cool his overheated body. Isaac forced himself down the rest of the hall, opening up the door that lead to fresh, infinite supplies of air.

The air in the small room was sucked out, rushing past him with immense force that could knock him off balance if he wasn't secured by his heavy magnetic boots. Isaac immediately rushed through, allowing the door to close and the air pocket to seal with a tight suction, the room misting as the oxygen returned, shutting off his auxiliary oxygen supply, the now-deep orange dim hue returning as well.

"_**Exiting vacuum.**_"

Isaac breathed easier, taking several deep breaths of the limitless oxygen, albeit filtered by his suit to rid it of the necrotic material floating in the air. He felt safer back in the ship, but safe wasn't that accurate of a term; more like safe from the danger of dying of oxygen deprivation. He still wasn't out of the woods; he wouldn't be for quite some time. Isaac took one last breath before he went for the other door, when the air vent directly above it burst open in front of him. Before he knew it a Slasher jumped down and with a swing of its arm the flat side of the blade caught him in the neck; no cutting or decapitation, but it made his throat hurt now. Isaac staggered back with a grunt of pain and surprise, glaring at the snarling Necromorph.

"Oh, you're gonna fight like that huh?" Isaac challenged the creature, tightening up his fists. "Then how do you like this?" He slugged the Slasher across the face with the Plasma Cutter, tearing the fragile rotted skin at the base of its neck. "And how about this!" A punch to its chest, tottering back from his hard punch. Isaac felt his blood boiling with adrenaline and anger, fueling his punches to its face, neck, and chest, mutilating it further beyond any facial recognition. Isaac swung his left fist forward one more time, pounding in its face to the point it caved it, blood staining his glove. Fueled beyond the max he grabbed it by the right forearm, forcing it behind him with some difficulty, dismembering it by the arms.

Isaac looked down at the corpse, throwing the arm down at the pile. His heart pounded like never before, his hands shaking like mad. Never in his life did he experience a rush like that; it felt rather…dangerous. Now he wanted water more than anything. Standing there in the dark room, he was given the chance to examine his surroundings; that's when he saw the markings on the walls. On the wall off the small alcove to the right, bizarre shapes, spirals, symbols and patterns were etched in white and red, like an alien language he could not understand, did not understand, but in the middle of these shapes, sketched in English:

'the marker will save us'

The Marker. Isaac had a feeling in the pit of his stomach he would be hearing about this 'Marker' a lot, Unitology bullshit, but he still had no idea what they were talking about. Whatever it was, how would it save them? Isaac gazed to his left, where a single writing was left beside a dark dried blood spatter:

'What are you willing to give up for your life?'

These words made sweat trickle down his face. What would he be willing to give up? For his life, he would save Nicole. If it meant losing his own life in the end, he would get her off this ship as safely as he could, no matter the cost. The same applied to Zach Hammond, his only living ally. These words went through Isaac's head, even as he returned to the Imaging Diagnostics Room.

The X-rays…the diagnostics pinned up over the light trays on the wall drew his attention as he passed them, each depicting a different change someone went through, the first steps to becoming one of them; Isaac still did not know how these monsters worked, but something told him he would find that out soon enough.

Isaac walked over the scanning machine, round the corner and passed the dead Slasher he killed much earlier. The gap he could not get across now, but that was fixed by simply drawing the machine in front of him. He headed towards the lift. Behind the air vent across from him, something stirred. Isaac knew exactly what to expect, but something made him switch out to the Line Gun for a change. The box-shaped gun felt heavier than ever, his hands going tighter around it. The metal grating was sent away from its frame in broken shrapnel, the Slasher leaping out with a loud roar. Isaac pressed down on the aiming button and shot fired a single shot of long plasma energy its way, which did catch it in the chest but did no damage. Isaac quickly fired again. This time the outcome was different.

All in one blast both arms and even its head were cut off, the body flying backwards into the air shaft, while the remaining limbs laid discarded on the cold, unforgiving floor. Isaac was amazed, the Line Gun really did get the job done. But he was too tired to hold it like this so he took the Plasma Cutter back out, then headed down the lift. He wanted to forget the previous events, put it all behind him, but they pervaded his mind like sick, twisted thoughts.

Even in the semi-silence broken by the whirring of machines Isaac could not find peace or comfort. So many things were happening, several thoughts going through his head as he stepped off the lift and slowly dragged through the room. Isaac remained silent the entire time, only taking deep breaths to calm himself down as he passed the bodies of his previous Necromorph encounters. Nothing seemed to help, except the thought of finding Nicole, but even then in the bleakness of his future, he didn't know what to expect. He could live, or he could die. Even while he opened the door to the dark hall leaving the Diagnostics Room, the darkness overpowering, one single thought came to his head and stuck there:

_Will I get off this ship alive…or will I become one of them?_

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I hope you enjoyed, and don't forget to review on your way out!


	10. The Darkness that Lurks

I guess my last chapter wasn't that good, so I hope I do a better job on this one. The supporting reviews is what keeps me going, so if hardly anyone reviews it tells me I didn't do a good job :(

I hope this isn't too long; I want to give each Chapter at least five chapters, and this being the tenth I thought this would be a good place to end Intensive Care.

* * *

Ominous…

It was rather ominous how the only light in the small hallway shone on the body of the man laying parallel to the blood-smeared wall. Isaac closed his eyes, still able to hear the wet pounding of his open skull on the wall. _Thump_…_Thump_…_Thump_. The splashing if blood, his unresponsive body slipping down, the life drained from his veins. The pale orange light shined like a flickering, dying spotlight on the dead protagonist of this tragic play, on the stage _Ishimura_.

He had everything with him now, the Shockpad and the Thermite, so he could make the Thermite Bomb to blow through the barricade blocking the Emergency Wing. He had something to look forward to, but still it provided him little solace. That thought, that one question, kept going through his mind; it lingered to the point it blocked out all other thoughts but two: his focus on the mission itself, and…Nicole. Isaac put his hand over the front of his helmet, his burning eyes screwed shut.

"_Don't do this Isaac Clarke…don't be like this, not here_..." He told himself over and over not to give in to the sorrow, no matter how – like the smell of rotting flesh – overpowering it became. The welling tears made his eyes sting and vision became blurry. He quickly blinked away most of the moisture, but a few trickled down his face to the corners of his dry lips. The salty tang of the ocular secretions only reminded the fatigued engineer how he craved water.

Just thinking about it made his head throb like two giant hands were pounding on his cranium like a drum. But he didn't let it go to waste; he licked the wetness up, which just barely gave his mouth a little quenching but did nothing for his dry and almost sore throat. If he didn't find a sink or something soon, he was going to pass out. Hell, it could even be a fucking toilet if he wanted to stoop that low to something _that_ disgusting; after all…desperate times call for desperate measures. But if he was lucky enough to find a drinking fountain that would be wonderful; the only place he would really find any beverage would be the Crew Deck, but there was no telling what kind of shape that part of the ship would be in. In fact, based on the map in the Tram it was practically below his feet, but if the mission called for him to go there soon, that would be more than great; he was getting hungry as well.

After that much needed mind-stimulating thought, Isaac stepped inside the hallway. The door slid down and shut behind him, the small room getting just a bit darker. Anything could be around the corner…anything. This vessel was full of surprises he unwittingly uncovered; no matter how much he preferred they remain hidden in the shadows where they belonged. Two more steps in and Isaac stopped. Every time he heard something new he had to stop. Anything could be around the corner, and he knew that's where it was coming from: past the blind corner he could not see without getting right up close to it and putting himself in immediate danger.

He listened to the ship's ambience; deep humming from somewhere in the hull, knocking in the air vents but not immediately around him thank God, sparking from broken panels and other machinery, and just other sounds that he could not distinguish from others. One particular sound though…it sounded like trickling water. But there was a distinction between this and actual dripping water he saw elsewhere. This almost had the sound of…tiny little feet paddling on the floor.

Could it be a Lurker? It was too frequent to be sure; it sounded like there were quite a few feet coming his way. Isaac toted the Line Gun with tight grip, drawing in light breaths so he wouldn't set it off too early. His foot scooted back on the metal floor, a scratching noise breaking the silence.

"Shit..!" Isaac hissed quietly, standing more alert than ever now. The Necromorph, or Necromorphs, would surely know he's here now. From them he knew what to expect: the most gruesome attack that any man would ever see implemented by any creature, living or dead, and after facing death itself the times he has, he was more than ready to counter whatever they threw at him.

At least he hoped and prayed.

The pitter-patter got closer, but along with this he heard a soft squeal-like sound, almost like the Lurker's shrieking cry. Was it a Lurker after all and it just made a noise he hadn't heard before? It was possible; he only encountered three of the deformed babies so far. Isaac held up the Line Gun and shined the light on top of the tool on the door, the wide aiming bar extended. He kept his gaze on the frame, until the source of both sounds showed themselves. It wasn't what he was expecting.

Isaac blinked in disbelief, lowering his gun's line of fire to the base of the door. Flooding in from the hallway, Isaac couldn't really describe it. The "Necromorphs" if that's what they could even be called, were as small as a large toad, but looked nothing like one. Little tendrils walking along the floor connected by swollen segments of swollen fleshy-pink substance made up these small creatures, whatever they were. The little creatures growled and hissed, pattering across the floor like lurking shadows, coming towards him.

"Stay away…" Isaac practically growled, stepping back from them. "Whatever the hell you are."

When they didn't stop which Isaac expected them not to, he pulled the trigger and unleashed a bar of blue energy on the little creatures, taking out the middle portion of several. The beam cut right through them, splattering blood across the floor and bits of fried flesh going here and there. They obviously took that as hostile, to which they responded by going back the way they came to escape him. Isaac wouldn't give them that chance and shot again, taking out a few more, at least five, leaving six of the original who knows how many; the first blast took out a large majority of the group.

They were everywhere; crawling across the walls and floors, creeping towards him like little parasites. Isaac's frightened state got that much worse, his hands shaking around his gun. He felt the urge to yell at them, make himself look bigger to make them go away. Hell, he even wanted to go over there and stomp them to death like little cockroaches but there was no telling what this new creature would do if he got close enough to them. He didn't want to know nor would he ever like to know sometime in the future.

"Get back now…" Isaac growled out again, pulling the trigger and taking out a few more, then shooting again. The small horde was mutilated by the heat and cutting power of the beam, blood splattering every which way, including on the body that just lay there, long forgotten by his fellow crew members. Isaac took a few deep breaths, listening to the now-silent hallway. No other sound was present besides the ones echoing throughout the ship; knock knock, and a roar from a Necromorph in the distance. Isaac quickly switched out to his Plasma Cutter, again for the difference in weight. Sure the Line Gun was pretty damn powerful, but he still couldn't get over the weight difference between the two weapons; both were very reliable but the Plasma Cutter just proved to be that much more so. With the creatures now gone, all he could do was press onward down the hall, leaving the body and that part of the ship behind him for good.

"Those…those things….what were they?" Isaac mumbled to himself, trying to discern what those things could possibly be. He didn't take the time to examine what was left of them; he could always go back and look, but backtracking in these conditions really did not seem like the best thing to do. They looked like they were made of little pieces of flesh; pink and swollen, veiny in some places and coursing with plenty of blood. Until he saw what they were truly capable of however, he couldn't properly name them, but if he didn't encounter them again they would have to go unnamed.

But something told him, deep deep down on the inside that this wouldn't be the only time he would come across these things. His mission was only beginning and he knew it would be no easy task to get off this ship in one piece; there would be more blood, more run-ins with death, and more harsh and harmful events that would test his sanity.

Make us whole again… The meaning of this phrase has no place in Isaac's mind and it was something he could not figure out, but he knew….he knew he would find out soon enough.

By the time Isaac reached the door that would lead him back to the Security Station he was getting sick of walking. The only real break he got was back in the Tram Control Room and the Tram itself; even his nap didn't give him any relief. The events unfolding in front of his straining and stinging eyes were sapping the energy right out of him like a blood-thirsty vampire. He was convinced he would pass out right in the middle of a mission and leave himself susceptible to attack. Isaac didn't want to die; not for his own sake, but for those around him. He wanted to get out of here alive too, that was a given, but when it came to his life and the ones he loved, the fate of his own skin came last.

Isaac waited for the wide door to open. He could feel his stance already breaking, swaying a little bit on his feet.

"_God come on Isaac, pull yourself together…_" He told himself in his mind, shaking his head and forcing himself to straighten up his posture. That fixed it a little bit but he could still feel the effects of his pending exhaustion seeping through his suit, sinking into his brain and gradually making him crave sleep; crave laying down on his back, or just sitting down and stretching out his legs. He longed to be back at home in his soft bed, the cool air hitting his fatigued body like it did in the dream… Isaac's shutters started to wane, slouching on his feet, slowly plunging into the bowels of dark, deep slumber. Before it could completely overtake him however the door opened up with its loud mechanical whir.

"Gah!" Isaac exasperated, nearly falling off balance. He groaned in despair, his eyes wide open to keep himself awake. "What's happening to me…m-must stay awake…must…s-stay awake…"

Isaac forced himself into the Security Station and the first thing he saw in the dim and destroyed room was the dripping water from the pipes above. Water. Oh my God, water. He almost forgot about that! Isaac's expression lifted and he immediately took his helmet off, his sore and throbbing throat begging for something wet and refreshing. He lifted the latch on the back of his helmet and threw it right off, ignoring the smell of rotting flesh as he stood under the dripping water, opening his mouth wide to let it in. The water was clean; he could taste anything bad about it even though it didn't really taste all like tap water, but it was so, so very refreshing. His sore throat was quenched, a good portion of aching in his body taken away.

It was like he regained something he lost. The water flowing down his throat and into his upset stomach felt so good, he gulped to his heart's content, not wanting to leave the only accessible source of relief he could find within miles. Isaac let the water splash over his face and hair, washing the sweat away as well as cooling his overworked system off. That felt so good; for a single moment he forgot about his troubles, his concerns, everything around him until he knew he had to stop; his stomach was getting full and if he drank too much he would eventually have to take a piss. So he stepped out from under the torn ceiling and leaking pipes. The blood-stained walls and broken flashing lights brought back the fact he still had more to go through; more to experience. The Captain's body wasn't going to wait for him forever, and time was of the essence…

Taking a deep breath, which was actually much easier thanks to the water, Isaac picked up his helmet and slid it back on, hooking it into place. He gave the water one last look, shaking his head and closing his eyes.

"I needed that…but I have to continue…" he told himself, focusing his attention on the barricade. He had the Thermite Bomb and it was time to blow through that sucker. Isaac stepped directly in front of it, looking all over the chaotic structure. It was composed of all kinds of metal, from different colors and materials but it was all thick and very durable; no amount of his firepower would get him through, it was fastened securely by thick bolts; the doing of a Rivet Gun, but Isaac had no such weapon; hell, even if he could get his hands on one more than likely there wasn't even one on this deck. So it would be too much of a hassle when he had a bomb that could blow right through it.

Isaac kneeled down and let the bomb digitize into his hands; it wasn't so much a completed bomb than it was the two parts just separated. Great care would be needed for this process; Thermite was a very combustible and dangerous material. This much of it could blow through ten inches of polycarbonated steel for God's sake! Sweat running down his forehead already Isaac unscrewed the cap from the Thermite canister. Inside was the reddish powder that was the Thermite itself. Isaac's heartbeat increased tenfold. Sliding the white box in front of the barricade Isaac carefully set the canister on top of it.

"Here we go…" Isaac turned the red dial from 'off' to 'on', the defibrillator humming to life. That made Isaac even more tense about this whole situation. He hoped and prayed Hammond knew what he was doing. If this didn't work and it ended up killing him they would both be up shit creek without a paddle. Isaac wrapped his fingers around the paddle handles, pressing the small buttons and starting up a charge. Like he would with someone who was dying, he rubbed the paddles together and looked at his subject, the Thermite. Quickly setting down one of the paddles Isaac grabbed the canister to spread a little bit of powder on the box before setting it back in place. Isaac closed his eyes and drew in a slow deep breath, his shaking hands facing the bomb. It was all or nothing; the only way he would learn if this worked or not was to go through with it. Isaac scooched away as far as he could before swallowing his fear and following his given orders.

"Clear." Isaac forced out his lips, pressing down hard on the buttons. Sparks of electricity erupted from the paddles and hit the Thermite powder. Almost immediately the chain reaction went off into a flash of light and a loud explosion dinned through the room. Isaac felt the paddles forced out of his hands as the explosion knocked him off his feet, sending him back and painfully skidding across the floor. For a split second he couldn't see or hear anything; everything went quite, like the universe came to a standstill. As quickly as it went his sight and hearing came right back. He could see the dim ceiling and hear the sounds of the dripping water; even the shockwaves from the blast he could pick up as they kept coursing through his body.

"Oh…m-my God…" Isaac groaned and rubbed his head as he sat up on his ass. He looked ahead of him and no longer did he see a complete barrier, but a large hole in the middle of the structure, the door unlocked and now completely accessible. He couldn't believe that it actually worked. For the most part he thought the explosive reaction of the Thermite wouldn't be enough, but it worked; there wasn't even a remainder of the canister or the Shockpad left to be seen; the blast completely annihilated them. Either way it wasn't like he would need them; they did their part, and he was even grateful to them. Isaac pulled out his Cutter and stood up, which was rather difficult due to the effects of the powerful shockwave. "Whoa…that was more powerful than I thought it was…going to be."

Objective Complete.

Before going to his destination Isaac turned around and went for the Store. He almost forgot he needed to clear up some room in his inventory. The holopad flipped down at Isaac's command and the screen popped up. Isaac sighed to himself and tapped on the 'INVENTORY' tab and selected the things he wanted to put away. He selected the medium air canister and the large Med Pack for storage, and sold the Gold Semiconductor, adding three thousand credits to his wallet that he would need for later. With that done Isaac turned off the pad and turned his attention back to the Emergency Wing door. Three more spots cleared up in his inventory; he was good to go. Hopefully he was...

Isaac half-walked to the barrier, a limp in his walk. As he stepped through the barricade he wondered what could possibly be so bad that the crew had to block the door. Something told him he didn't want to know; if what they were trying to stop was still in there, he would have an even closer brush with death than what he bargained for.

Isaac almost forgot he needed to contact Hammond like he said he would, but right in the middle of establishing a connection with his access point, his commanding office chimed right in.

"_Okay you're through, should be clear from there to the morgue._" Hammond spoke at a rushed pace, like he was still apprehensive about what was going on."_Remember, the codes are on the Captain's body._"

He cut off the connection before Isaac could ask any questions or make any comments. He hated how distant Hammond was being. He needed to talk to someone before he went insane; a stimulating conversation about anything would be very, very well appreciated, but Hammond seemed to be more focused on the mission than anything else. Isaac understood that, but he was in worse condition than his commanding CEC officer.

Above the long door the sign read. 'Ishimura Clinic: All patients please proceed to Clinic Waiting Room'.

A clinic? At this point he would need to speak to a psychologist; some shock therapy would be nice as crazy as that sounded; he needed something to stimulate his mind. Isaac couldn't explain this pounding in his head, like his brain was trying to escape the confines of his skull. It was driving him up the wall and it took a lot of strength just to ignore it. As he waited for the door to open up for him he wondered if it was really just a headache from the physical strain. Could it be much more than that? That bizarre hallucination he experienced back there seemed to point to something else…what that was Isaac had absolutely no idea.

When the door opened Isaac was greeted by another lit-up sign with the usual friendly appeal that all the signs had in this place. This one had a nurse and a doctor standing before a plain red background, smiling as if to say they had the best job in the world. Between them was the CEC symbol but with a white cross on the red circle set between the silver C. Above it the sign read 'Welcome to the Ishimura Clinic" while directly below the CEC logo a little phrase was printed: 'Healing Away From Home'.

This was so ironic; there was plenty of healing needed around this ship, but with no doctors around or even alive, this task could not be accomplished. Sad, yes…ironic? Even more so. Isaac could feel the shadows encroaching over this one signal of hope even if it was a fruitless one, threatening to overtake and expel it to the deepest regions of space. Isaac cringed, shaking these shadows off to clear his mind and finally see the log beneath the sign. A message…a sign of life in this deathly ship. Isaac immediately scooped it up in his hands. Halfway straightening up a loud bang pulsed through the metal walls. Isaac froze, and looking to his right he saw the big dark hole ripped into the wall closest to the floor, the metal sheared and going off in every direction, an ominous fog hanging around it like that you would see over the ocean in the early morning. A few more pounding noises and from the distance a faint roar hit his ears.

A roar not like the ones of the Necromorphs; this one was more beastly, deeper and came from…something bigger. Much, much bigger. Isaac slowly stood up straight, finally coming to the conclusion that whatever made that noise came from that opening and the crew barricaded the door for a reason. Isaac's heart pounded violently, sweat pouring down his face. He had to get his mind off things. He transferred the log to his RIG, hoping to find some kind of release or answer. And that, he did.

A video scream erupted to life in a series of static pixels, and the face of a young woman came into focus; but not just any young woman…

Nicole.

"N-Nicole!" Isaac practically yelled out, involuntarily reaching to the screen as if to hold her, but his hand went right through it. He knew, he knew she wasn't really there; it was just a recording of past events.

"_This is Senior Medical Officer Nicole Brennan, transmitting ship wide. We need more help. We don't have the resources to deal with this many cases_" Her words were calm at first, but as she went on she got more impatient, more impatient with what was going on; it seemed this log was recorded around the time of the initial infection."_Nobody will tell us what's happening! These wounds...we're not equipped to deal with this many..._"

In the background he could hear a man struggling, yelling something he couldn't hear, clearly in pain.

"_God...Get him to the table._" Nicole told someone off screen._ Hold him! Nurse, you hold him down!_" As the cries of pain and the struggling got harder, the said nurse trying to restrain the patient, Nicole shook her head and gave one last look at the screen, her eyes meeting Isaac's. "_Christ…end recording._"

"Wait! Nicole don't go!" Isaac said frantically, unable to stop the ending. As the log shut off the pained screams got louder, cutting off completely. She was gone, just like that he couldn't see her face anymore, but her voice was clear in his head; the voice he loved to hear so much, that he thought he would never get tired of hearing…

"_That was Nicole, right?_" Hammond shocked in.

Isaac nodded, a deep sigh escaping him. "Yes, that was her Hammond…" He stomped his foot angrily on the floor. "God damn it, I have to find her!"

Hammond let out his own sigh. "_Isaac, I can't tell from here when that log was made. I'm sure she's around here somewhere…_" End transmission.

"I hope…you're right Hammond…" Isaac said. "No…I know she's around here. I know she's safe!"

Don't lose hope Isaac, it's all you have left; or what remains of what you had left. Isaac took another deep and very slow breath to calm himself, holding his weapon close as he went up the small ramp, cautiously passing the opening as he went down to the next door. Above the long door read: 'Ishimura Clinic: Please speak to a Clinic Technician before taking a seat'.

Obviously he wouldn't have to worry about that. He stood after waving his hand over the locking mechanism, the thin blue line cycling to the right to indicate the loading process. Some doors took longer than others to open; the wider doors were more known for this than the smaller ones. No one knew exactly why this was; most say it's due to a glitch in the system but even with the most flawless system there were always bugs; and this door was one of them. Isaac stood and waited, looking behind his back for anything that could be creeping up on him. A very slow minute passed before the door finally opened. Isaac sighed and shook his head. If this door did this all the time he would be screwed if he needed to get away quickly.

Isaac stepped inside and looked around the waiting room. Ahead of him two dirty windows that looked into a small room, an empty shelf next to the leftmost one, and a few blood-stained orange seats against the walls. Blood was everywhere, on the seats, windows, floor, walls, everywhere. Isaac came in a little more to get a better view. To the left there was more of a waiting room. A green storage box rested on a seat, but something told him to get it later. To his right there was the door he needed. One thing Isaac found rather interesting were the white papers on the walls scattered in no particular pattern that had the simple words 'Sorry we're full' printed across them. Isaac quickly dismissed the reason for this, not wanting to linger on anything that could cause more stress than what he needed at the moment.

He headed on forward through the door that lead to the Emergency Room. The second he looked upon the new setting his face fell. From what he could see there were blood stains everywhere; on the beds, the chairs, just about every surface was dirtied and tainted by dried darkened blood, including the luminescent X-rays above a blood-soaked bed, the patient laying dead. Not one inch of the _Ishimura _was clean; the mark of death was everywhere, taking over every part of the ship it could possibly reach. Isaac went inside, and nearly shit himself when a loud ear-splitting roar hit his ears, a Lurker side-stepping across the floor and out of sight.

"Shit, another one?" Isaac checked the Plasma Cutter's ammo, popping out the old empty cartridge and sliding a new one into place. The cutter's head flipped horizontally so he could get a better shot at the tentacles. Holding it in both hands Isaac breathed softly, slowly taking a few steps diagonally from his spot. He walked slowly, struggling to stop his hands from shaking so much. He didn't know why he was so afraid, he proved he could handle these things with no problem…so why was he filled with fear? Just suck it up; suck it up and kill the little brat.

The Lurker that disappeared behind a wide column came back into view, its tendrils dragging across the floor. Its eyes glowed in the dark room, staring at him before leaping up on the wall next to an air vent. If the infants could travel through the vents he was a bit screwed. He wouldn't however, give it a chance to do such a thing. Isaac followed it with the light until it turned in his direction, hissing loudly. The three tentacles emerged from its back, arching upward as if preparing to shoot its barbs at him. Isaac aimed with his shaky hands and shot at it, just barely missing the tentacle.

"Damn it!" Isaac scowled angrily, immediately adjusting his aim a little bit to the right and shooting again, hitting the tentacle this time. The Lurker screeched in clear pain and Isaac could feel it transfer over to him. He felt its pain, but he didn't know why… He gritted his teeth and shot off the middle tentacle. With a harsh screech the infant released the wall and fell to the floor in a bloody heap, wriggling for life in its own blood before lying dead. Isaac looked away before it could sink it; he didn't want to feel sorry for it, although no matter what he did he always felt sorrow for the small Necromorph. It felt like he was killing a baby, even though the creature truly was just a horribly deformed version of a real baby.

Isaac looked around the Emergency Room to take in his surroundings. Only a few small lights actually lit up the wide room, the lit X-rays actually supplying a little bit of light. At the center of the room thick cords hung from the ceiling like drooping tapestries from a party that ended hours ago. The bulbs flashed heavily, making it look that much more menacing; the notched circle in the center of the ceiling where the cords came out was the actual source of the flashing. On and off, on and off at a constant rate that started to drive Isaac mad. He was too focused on that annoying light that he didn't see the Lurker crawling from the other side of the room; he only saw it when it shrieked at him.

"Oh damn it, what now?" Isaac stood at attention, waving his light around in a mad search for the little creature. The white light fell on it, directly across from him. The Lurker stood on the very edge of the light's radius. It growled, and when in the strobe-like effect of the light, Isaac was washed with a feeling of despair. The way it stood there, its little hands gripping at the floor made the engineer literally shake in his boots. The light illuminated the red flesh of its tentacles; the flashing however made it difficult to aim. Isaac shot twice and both energy shots missed.

With a rearing of its legs the Lurker flicked its tentacles and launched its barbs his way, zipping through the air before he could have any chance to react. Isaac felt a pain in his hip, a pain that made him yell out loud. Two of the missiles missed him but the middle one got him. And damn it, the pain was incredible. Sweat pouring down his face Isaac bit down on his tongue, his mouth suddenly very dry again. He aimed for the Lurker as it moved his way and shot it in the face, taking a good portion of what was its head away. That stopped it right in its tracks, enough to draw out its critical weak points. Isaac did what he always did and shot two of them right off, spraying its blood across the already-bloody floor. In its dead state, it looked that much more frightening; devoid of life, without the ability to move. Isaac had to look away. He couldn't look at it; he had to focus his attention elsewhere; firstly, on the pain in his side.

Isaac reached down and pulled the barb out, looking at the bizarre shape before crushing it in his hand. He wasn't sure if he needed to use a Med Pack, but with the projectile out the pain wasn't as intense. For now, he would ignore it until further attention would be required. Now, the mission…

According to the map he needed to go through the wide door at the other end of the room, but the red outline and the locking mechanism showed it was locked. Normally this would be a problem but to the right of the door a deep notch was made, where a power cell could go. Now all he needed to do was find the cell. Behind him there was another locked door, but based on the design this one led to an elevator. Isaac looked closely at the slow-scrolling words above it. 'Elevator to Morgue'.

Damn it that was a major letdown. If the elevator was unlocked he could easily go down to the Morgue that way, but just by looking around the room he couldn't see a way to open it. With a sigh, knowing he would have to pass it up, Isaac grabbed a few Line Racks from the side table next to a blood-stained bed, then started his search. The search itself didn't take very long; Isaac found the blue-glowing power cell in a wide alcove next to a small bucket of what looked like either internal organs or vomit. He went closer and looked carefully at the pink contents. Why this bucket concerned him he didn't know, but he shook his head and looked away before he could start gagging. Isaac picked up and carried the cell with Kinesis, moving it over to the opening in the wall. He took a deep breath and slowly slid it in until it could go in no more and released it.

It snapped into place and not only did the door unlocked, but the light circle in the center of the ceiling hummed loudly as it turned on, filling the room with light. Isaac felt that much better when the light fell over him, a loud sigh of relief coming out of him. Now he could move on…move on to the Morgue. He was so very close he just feel the Captain's RIG in his hands. But he had to stay on his toes, ready to intercept whatever came his way.

Isaac opened the door marked 'ER Hallway A: Patient Beds 001 – 006', and was horrified by what he saw. The hall was very dark to where he couldn't see the patient beds from where he stood, but he could see the thick layers of blood caked on the floor. The left side was worse than the right; Isaac shined the flashlight over the beds and like the ones in the ER, they were also covered in blood. He couldn't get used to seeing this much blood, it was inhumane what these strange, infected monsters did to the crew. Isaac took a few shaking steps into the bloody hall. A loud hiss pierced his ear drums and a small form scurried to the right, out of sight.

Lurker.

Isaac stopped and stood in place, his heart beating quickly as he aimed the Plasma Cutter for where the Lurker vanished. These things tried to get the upper hand but he did his best to counter them, always expecting the unexpected. But that wasn't always an easy task; the unexpected came without warning and only a few seconds separated you from life and death. Every second mattered here.

The Lurker came out from its hiding place, scampering behind the cart in the middle of the walkway. Isaac kept his eye sharp. It stayed hidden for a few moments before pushing the cart down on its side, coming his way. Isaac watched with wide and focused eyes, waiting for it to expose its tentacles. In the middle of its scurry the Lurker stopped, and suddenly hissed as it reared on its back legs, lunging at him.

"Holy shit!" Isaac swore and nearly ducked, shooting at its underbelly like mad. The Lurker cried in agony, falling on its stomach and rolling around on the floor. Staying on his knee he shot it twice more, a shrill shriek indicating he killed it. Isaac got up on his feet and reloaded the Plasma Cutter with a fresh cartridge. He was about to continue on his way when a dark, dreary feeling blew past him like a howling wind. He suddenly felt colder, like the temperature dropped several degrees. Something told him to bring out the Line Gun, but according to his inventory he was low on ammo for that weapon. Sticking with the Plasma Cutter Isaac continued on down through the hall.

Another sound hit his ears, though this one was different. A Slasher ran out from the hidden end of the hall, a female Slasher, its arms arched up and ready to strike. It made a sharp turn to the left and came right at Isaac, hissing and roaring at him. Not wasting a second Isaac cut it off at the leg to hinder its progress before swiftly severing its right arm when it was down. The vents started to knock violently, the ceiling pounding above him. More were coming…coming his way. Isaac's body told him to run, run as fast as he could, and that he did. He hoped to make a mad dash for the Morgue but the vent burst above him when he made it into the vicinity of the next hall, a bloody Slasher dropping down in front of him.

Isaac screamed as it suddenly grabbed his shoulders, pulling him into a tight hold and going straight for his neck. The sharp teeth just scraped him his hands pushing at its head to keep it away. With the strong will and determination to survive he pushed it away, shooting away its left spindly arm, then the other. A roar sounded directly from his right, another Slasher suddenly appearing as if out of nowhere.

"Don't you fuckers ever give up?" Isaac yelled as he switched out to the Line Gun, firing at the Slasher and vaporizing its head and shoulders, cutting them to bloody ribbons in an instant. As its last dying roar echoed through the hall, everything went quiet. Isaac turned around quickly and examined the room like mad, searching for any other Necromorphs. There were none. Isaac relaxed his aching and exhausted body, a Line Rack appearing in his hand which he slid inside the ammo slot on the back of the Line Gun. Then he switched it for the lighter Plasma Cutter.

He didn't know if he was getting paranoid or what, because as he tredded down the hallway he swore he heard whispering…much like the ones he heard before. Was the ship playing tricks on him, or was it something much more than that? As he entered the next hall marked 'ER Hallway B: Patient Bed 007 – 012', a hard thump in the vents jolting his heart, he saw he had two options for a path. The one to his right led to the rest of the patient beds, while the one directly ahead lead to the Intensive Care Unit; this path being the one that would take him to the Morgue the best course of action would be to go this way. However, something to his left caught his eye. A log. An audio log. Isaac didn't know what to expect from these abandoned logs; each one seemed to leave him with more unanswered questions. Picking up the panel from the corner, he downloaded the data and played the log.

"_Hello? Can anybody hear me?_" A woman was speaking."_My name is Eileen Fisk; I just woke up in here and everybody was gone I don't know what's happenin'. Why did they all leave? I'm going to try and find someone; if you can hear this, please come for me...I hear scratching in the walls..._"

In the background of the log someone groaned.

"_Hello? Who's there a-are you a doctor? Why is everyone...wait, I know you. You're Harris, the prisoner from the colony...you killed that nurse...help...somebody help me...please! PLEA-"_

The log cut off in the middle of her yells for help. Isaac clenched his fist. He recognized the name Harris from the text log he found earlier, but this didn't give him very much information; just more sorrow for the woman who more than likely ended up slaughtered by the Necromorphs. As God as his witness, he would do anything to stop this.

Ignoring the other hallway for his own safety, Isaac headed inside the Intensive Care Unit. The minute the doors parted he saw a woman standing inside one of the clear surgical pods.

"H-Hey! Nurse are you alright?" Isaac called to her in a clear voice. Her clothes were stained with blood. She stood in front of the surgery table; a man laid on the table, his body cut open and mutilated.

And he was still alive. The nurse's hand moved rapidly across his stomach, bits of flesh cascading on the floor; she was cutting him apart. The dying man cried out in agony, withering on the table before he suddenly stopped, succumbing to his wounds. Isaac watched in horror as the woman stopped slicing him apart, just standing there before starting to laugh, as if happy with herself for what she just did. She lifted the bloody cleaver she used to kill the man into view, a satisfied sigh coming out of her as she looked back at Isaac. Her face…her face was bloody and mutilated; as if she survived an attack and went…completely insane. Isaac couldn't see the small spreading across her face, a smile of pain as if begging for a release. She made a sick hissing noise as she flipped the blade to her neck and with a swift stroke, sliced her throat open. Isaac felt faint as he watched her collapse to the floor, gurgling sickly as the last ounces of life dwindled away.

Another one…gone, just like that. Isaac wanted to fall to his knees, fall down and just escape from this horror. He didn't want to think this was becoming too much for him to handle, he was stronger than that, but these visages were appalling; burned into the back of his retinas until he couldn't eliminate them from his mind.

"_Get up Isaac, you have a mission to complete damn it._" His mind told him with scorn. "_You're so close to the Morgue_."

Isaac struggled to his feet, blinking his stinging eyes before pressing forward; he kept himself from looking at either body. His boots pounded hard on this floor, the sound louder than any other before. He passed two more ICU pods; one of them shattered open and completely destroyed. He could only imagine what broke out of there, but the thought quickly left his mind when he spotted another log on the floor. Isaac sighed; even bending down to pick them up hurt, so he just used the Kinesis Module to pick it up. He downloaded it to his RIG and a screen popped up, displaying scrolling text and two pictures to the right; one was of a chart of some kind, and the other was just jumbled static.

""FROM:DR. KYNE, T. (CHIEF SCIENCE OFFICER)  
ATTN:CAPTAIN MATHIUS, B.  
Benjamin -  
Further to your previous conversation, I ask that you delay bringing the Marker up from the planet for a day or two.  
You know I'm as keen as anyone to study it in detail, and I understand your sense of urgency given the events on the colony, but that's why I ask-what's happening down there is just too unique, too unprecedented, to cut it short without proper time to study the causes and effects.  
In light of a discussion I had with Dr. Mercer, I'd like to meet with Drs. Sciarello and Welland planetside to get their observations.  
-Terrence""

Isaac blinked as the screen disappeared. More information on the Marker, from this Dr. Kyne character. What exactly was happening on the colony was still shrouded in mystery, as was this Marker. As of now he did not really understand everything that was going on, but as time went on things would become clearer; he could feel it deep, deep down in his gut.

The next room, serving as a foyer of sorts, had two doors branching off it. Isaac looked to the one at his right. Locked, but above it slow-scrolling words read out, 'Dr. Mercer's Office: Proper clearance required'. If he was to find more information the other doctor, Mercer, would certainly know a few things. If he couldn't find Kyne maybe he could locate Mercer; if either doctor was still alive.

The other door however was what he was looking for. The door marked 'Morgue: Authorized Medical Personnel only'. Bingo, this was it. The door to the Morgue. Isaac felt his spirits lift up a bit, knowing he was getting closer to completing this long, horribly tiring objective. But in the end it would be all worth it. The door opened to a long dark hall and a log on the floor. Another one? Isaac appreciated the information, but getting this many logs to read and listen to did leave him in a bit of danger.

Isaac took two steps inside the hallway and the room started to shake. A deep wind roared throughout the walls, the glass panels furthest away from him suddenly shattering and working their way down, the walls rocked as if by an earthquake until they were all destroyed, broken glass and metal lying on the floor.

"What the hell was that…?" Isaac's eyes were wide with surprise, the unexpected and very sudden event leaving him rather confused. Nothing else happened after that, so the engineer drew the log his way, playing it in his RIG as he tried to figure out what just happened.

"_Science log, __Chief Science Officer__ Dr. Kyne reporting. The __colony's__ problems concern me greatly. I have no doubt they are somehow linked to discovery of the__ Marker__, but the exact nature of that connection is still unknown. Almost 40 percent of the colonists are experiencing a form of dementia. The obvious symptoms are acute depression, insomnia and hallucination. Incidence of violence and even murder also indicate extreme paranoia._"

Isaac listened carefully to the log. Those symptoms…that much of the colony experienced that? Never in his life had he ever heard of such a thing…

"_Dr. Mercer__ has advised that I bring some of the affected on board for study. Dr. Welland, the planetside psychiatrist, has reported that his own analysis has been fruitless. I'm hesitant to rely on Dr. Mercer at this point, but I need his expertise. We need solutions…and we need them quickly._"

Paranoia, hallucinations…murder? This was truly, truly bizarre. The Marker, was it linked to what was going on down there? Isaac couldn't answer that question; not until he learned more about what the hell was going on around here. He went down the hall, glass cracking under his feet when he heard a gurgling hiss, a shadow falling across the floor. The shadow was small, so he knew what it was. The Lurker emerged from the left much like the one before it, its tentacles out and standing tall.

"You've got to be kidding." Isaac shook his head and grinded his teeth, immediately shooting at a tentacle. The Lurker couldn't save its middle tentacle before drawing them back in, but that didn't stop Isaac. The gun-toting engineer shot it in the body, the second fatal shot sending it into a back flip, shrieking just before expiring. This one Necromorph Isaac was getting really tired of seeing. He hated feeling guilty for killing them, and their overall appearance sickened him; above all he could not forgive them for what they did to that man in the Bio Lab…

Isaac went to the end of the hall, kicking the Lurker against the wall before turning himself to the left. There it was, the elevator that lead down to the Morgue. Above and to the right a round glowing symbol marked it, a white coffin in the middle of a red and black circle; the sign above the door sported a similar design. Isaac swallowed, the fog billowing around the door sending shivers up his spine. Be strong…be brave… Isaac forced himself forward, opening the door with a very loud whirr. Going inside the small elevator he turned around and pressed his fingers against the blue console, closing the doors and taking him down….into the bowels of Hell.

The ride was short, only lasting a few seconds. He was greeted by another wide door when the elevator opened up. Isaac swallowed his fear, straightening his posture before giving the door the command to open. The Morgue spread out before him. The storage room was bigger than the Emergency Room, just as dark except for a bright light at the back. Throughout the Morgue gurneys sat on a bloodied floor, a few bodies here and there. A few of the containment pods where the bodies were stored were open, while most were closed. Isaac swallowed nervously. He could feel the chill of the room seeping through his suit, the hum of the air conditioning vibrating against his helmet.

It was then he realized, at the back of the Morgue where the light was, a body was laying out on a table in a separate but viewable room. Based on his clothes, blue shirt and black pants, this was Captain Mathius. There he was…his RIG codes were ripe for the picking. Without giving another thought Isaac walked past the gurneys blocking his path, only to freeze when the creaking of a storage door sounded through the room. It opened up all the way, revealing the body it had inside, the cold steam pouring out and slowly making the room that much colder.

"_Search and Rescue…_"

The whispering…he could hear it again. The whispering in his ear. He held his helmet, trying to ignore it all. What was going on, why was he acting so…strange? His head pounded, his ears buzzing. He couldn't take it. He had to get out of here. Isaac rounded the gurney and got a better view of the Captain's corpse. There was something strange about it. He had no visible injuries, but…there was something cylindrical sticking out from his eye. What in the world… Isaac wanted to get a closer look.

A vent burst open from the ceiling in the room. Out from it, a creature Isaac never saw before came in, flying like a bat towards the Captain.

"Hey stop! Leave him alone!" Isaac yelled to the unknown creature, both angered and shocked by its appearance. It even looked like a bat, with a strange looking antennae coming out of its body. "I need those codes!"

The creature hovered above the body, hissing as a tentacle-liked appendage wrapped around his chest and pulled him off the table, like some sort of sick hug. It dropped down on the floor with the Captain in its clutches. The sharp end of the proboscis stabbed into his forehead, splattering blood on the window as it dug into his skull. Isaac almost dropped his gun as the creature arched over its victim, slimy tendrils wiggling around from under the base of the proboscis. Thick yellow fluids shot out from the end inside his head, as if it was pumping him full of the stuff. The Captain's body moved around in its hold, as if he was still alive…

Before his eyes, he watched as the Captain's clothes started to tear in certain areas, his face reconstructing into new features. Two long bladed arms sprouted from his shoulders, his skin turning deep blackish-blue. His whole body shifted and changed, legs growing out from the front of his calves, a deep and loud roar erupting from the newly-changed Captain Mathius. The creature lifted him up on his knees, fluids splashing on the glass as its antennae tugged at his head before flying off across the room, the new Slasher falling down on all fours before slowly pulling itself to its knees.

Isaac was petrified. The new monster turned his way, its arms pulling back and smashing through the glass as if it were paper. Now, nothing stood between him and this new creature. Just like that at the speed of light it ran his way, leaping in the air before Isaac knew what happened.

"Holy fuck!" Isaac yelled, blasting it with Stasis and slowing it down in midair. From the room the infecting Necromorph crawled out, getting directly under the newly enhanced Slasher. Isaac didn't know if it had any weak spots, but he didn't have time to look for any. He shot it like mad, the thing just twitching before it whirred shrilly, curling up on the floor like a dead spider. As for the new Slasher…

Isaac blasted its right arm, but a single shot did nothing. Another, and nothing. Stasis was wearing off and Isaac only had so much Stasis he could spare without having to use a recharge pack. He quickly backed away and fired again, this time severing its arm as it returned to normal. Isaac backed into a gurney, shooting its leg next in an attempt to slow it down. That knocked it down to the floor, but with it being rather close to him it raised its blade up and slashed downward, cutting Isaac down his upper leg.

Searing pain gripped him as he fell to the floor, wincing and shouting out his pain. He could feel the skin bubbling in the heat of the cut beneath his suit. The Necromorph roaring in pain and anger as it tried to crawl his way. There were only a few shots left in his current clip. He had to make this count. Gripping his leg and trying to crawl away, Isaac bit down on his lip hard and shot its arm right off. The Slasher roared in pain and…almost as if in defeat, rolling on its side.

Isaac practically roared in his own pain, his leg throbbing all the way down to his foot. Without medical attention he wouldn't be able to walk. He reached up to his RIG and grabbed a medium Med Pack, pressing down on the top. The healing mist went over him, washing over his wounds and fully healing them. Only dull pain was left. After he reloaded the Cutter he stood up, only to kneel down to this…Enhanced Slasher, rolling it over on its stomach. Amidst the changed and rotten flesh he discovered the Captain's RIG. Grabbing hold of it on one side he managed to pry it off his spine. His own RIG scanned it. He looked at the other creature, the one that made him this…the infectious monster, it almost seemed to spread the infection…it all seemed to easy…

Infector.

Hammond shocked in over the com. "_Codes received and they look good; thank God._" He sounded more relieved than ever. "_I'll start accessing the captain's records right now. Head to the Tram Station, and I'll contact you there. I'm going to find out what the hell happened to this ship._"

"Hammond wait! What about Nicole!" Isaac said frantically, but Hammond cut off transmission before he could hear him.

"God damn it! You promised Hammond!" Isaac yelled out in the middle of the Morgue. "You promised you would help me find her!" He stomped the floor hard, tears going down his cheeks. With or without Hammonds help, he would find her. He would do anything to get her off this hellhole. He wouldn't let her die, but if Hammond could find out what happened here, that was still good news…

Before leaving, Isaac did some investigating and found a few credits, a small Med Pack, and a Power Node in the room the Captain was held. Not only that, but near the gurney barricade he found another log. Isaac picked this one up with his own hand and downloaded it.

""MEDICAL LOG  
DR. DOMUSS, G. (MEDICAL EXAMINER)  
REPORT OF DEATH ON SHIP  
SUBJECT: CAPTAIN MATHIUS, B.  
It is my sad duty to officially pronounce Captain Benjamin Mathius dead. Reports of the exact circumstances surrounding hid death are conflicted, and beyond the scope of my role. I can only report on the body.  
The subject was in generally good health for his age, though a cursory blood test indicates his leukocyte count was very low, with eosinophils in particular almost non-existent. His preflight physical exam showed no such problems, indicating rapid onset; however, it is unlikely this had any effect on his death.  
Multiple contusions on the arms and hands, indicating a brief struggle pre-mortem. Slight contusions around the ribcage, suggesting his chest was restrained in some way. Cause of death was a single prolonged trauma to the ocular body which continued on through the cavity wall, and finally into the frontal lobe, causing rapid neurotrauma, seizure and death.  
The force required to puncture the ocular cavity in this manner is great, and the possibility of self-infliction correspondingly low.  
I therefore have no alternative but to record a preliminary verdict of UNLAWFUL DEATH. Whether deliberate or accidental is beyond my jurisdiction.""

After reading the rather long autopsy report, Isaac looked back to the Captain's body. There was something sticking out of his eye, but he didn't get a chance to see what it was…maybe he would never know, but it was clearly the cause of his death. But the question was who did it? A Necromorph certainly didn't. That only left someone on the crew…

He had to get out of here, he couldn't be here anymore. Isaac found an elevator across the way he came in, quickly sliding in and leaning against the door with pure exhaustion as he rode the short ride up. This elevator took him back to the ER; in fact it was the same elevator that was locked before. At least he had the shortcut back up… Isaac staggered out from the elevator. His whole body felt so tired, so strange…it was almost a hassle getting to the door. Somehow he managed to do it, looking around the waiting room as if he forgot where the door was. The Tram Station was so close, he could finally rest when he got there… Isaac pressed his hand against the long door marked 'Return to Security Station: Please collect any belongings you brought to the Clinic', the twisted metal hole right where he left it. Just before he got within a foot of it, Hammond appeared on the video comlink.

"_Isaac! Somehow one of the found a way down to the Captain's Nest I managed to contain it in a damaged escape pod..._" Hammond was out of breath, sweat visible across his dark complexion."_Lifting the executive lockdown now... I found the deck logs... Whatever is happening around here, it came from the planet when they cracked it open. It spread to the colony and reached the ship. Isaac, this isn't an infection. It's some form of alien life!_"

Alien life? This thing was an alien that came from the planetcrack? Isaac realized they were dealing with more than what they previously thought.

"Hammond don't go this time! Look up Nicole's RIG number right now!" Isaac said firmly as if giving a command. The link erupted into static, his words not reaching Hammond's end. The static cleared and he came back on.

"_Shit we've got bigger problems! The ship's engines are offline and out orbit is decaying! Get over to the Engineering Deck ASAP, while I stay here and figure out what the problem is._"

Transmission ended, and Isaac was left without Nicole's number. Isaac wanted to scream. He couldn't take it. If he didn't get to make any contact with Nicole he would go insane. Obviously Hammond forgot, but with all the shit going on around here how could you blame him? Isaac almost tumbled down the ramp, weakly walking past the door to the Security Station. He took his helmet off, his face covered in sweat as he got under the water once more to wash his face and take a long drink. Once more that helped. He felt so much better, but a nice long nap would still really be needed.

Putting his helmet back into place Isaac headed out to the hall he went through when he first came to this cursed deck, following the blood trail back to the station. How ironic, the sign said 'Thank you for visiting the Medical Deck', yet he got more than a warm welcome. He was just glad he was leaving, and hoped he would never see this place again…

The two bodies he came across, the woman in white and the corpse of McCoy, were gone. All that remained was a group of maggots in the middle of a dried blood pool. Disgusting… Isaac gathered all his strength and managed to climb on board the Tram, suddenly feeling ten times safer. He gave the light blue rectangle on the screen a tap. The hatch came to a close behind him and the Tram started up, roaring on the rails as it slowly pulled away from the Medical Deck.

Isaac sat down on the same chair he did when leaving the Flight Deck. He set the Plasma Cutter next to him, closing his eyes and letting the vibrations of the Tram massage his aching body. As he quickly drifted off to a restless, dreamless sleep, he knew things wouldn't get any easier. It would only get more difficult. Secrets would uncover themselves, and so would the lurkers in the dark…

_Make us whole..._

**Chapter 2: Intensive Care, Complete**

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I hope this chapter wasn't too long and I really hope you enjoyed it.

R&R


	11. Course Correction

I wanted to get this done a while back but I've just lost the spirit to write stories. I have all these ideas and I want to write them, but I just can't get myself to write them. I hope that wears off soon…

I need to ask everyone this: Is the story getting dull, or not at all frightening? It is pretty hard to make each chapter of this story suspenseful and full of horror/terror, but part of that has to do with the fact that Course Correction isn't that exciting of a chapter compared to like Environmental Hazard or End Of Days. But I want to know, is the story not as good as it used to be?

Also, despite my noted hiatus, I really don't think I'll be taking a break from this. I know that sounds selfish, but…I've worked on this story for a while, and I think I just need a break from writing lemons for a little bit.

Anyway, please enjoy this update.

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**Chapter 3: Course Correction**

_Orange lights flashed before his eyes. Not manmade, artificial lights, but from an unknown source. Mysterious symbols spun around him, flashing like a strobe light and dissolving into the scene before him. Dark silhouettes kneeled in a circle, as if they were praying._

_Other figures surrounded them, their features not hidden by the shadows. Necromorphs. They surrounded the kneeling people, slowly closing in on them. They weren't fazed by their presence; the presence of death itself._

"_Take us…we are ready..."_

_Their arms rose above their heads as if praising God. They remained on their knees even as the monsters closed in around them, overtaking and beginning to slaughter them._

_"To join…is to survive…" They chanted in unison, their voices without pain, without fear; just cold and emotionless_

_Surrounded on all sides…no escape; no hope; no regret. Their blood sprayed, staining the distorted faces of their assailants. Blades covered in blood like a butcher's knife, cutting them apart like ill-fated animals, spreading their limbs around. Their blood pooled at his feet, their very essence as cold as ice._

_"Keep us whole...Unity is forever…" The words droned throughout his head, his mind buzzing like a hornet's nest. The pain was excruciating, his brain pounding violently against his skull. "One mind, one soul, one flesh…"_

_The blood ran like a river, the smell of death and despair powerful in the air. They were cut to bits, what remained of them pulled away by the infectious monsters, spreading their infection…_

_"One mind…one soul…one flesh…"_

He lurched to the left and everything disappeared. Isaac gasped and cried out in surprise and despondency, disoriented from his dream as he almost fell out of his seat. His whole body was drenched. Isaac took his helmet off to take in hard, deep breaths.

Another dream…there was another dream. Not like the one before; this one…he couldn't begin to describe what he saw. He looked at his hands; his shaking hands. He brought one to his forehead, the firm material warm against his cold skin.

"What the hell…?" Isaac sat back against the seat. He looked at the different advertisements for products and services around the Tram, the bright colorful posters out of place in the rather dark-colored interior; almost like an eyesore. Like in the dream and back at the Medical Deck his head pounded, the pain never ceasing. If this persisted he was going to go crazy; he could hardly think straight.

The Tram had come to a stop; obviously the source of the lurch. The covering panel was drawn up, so he was at his destination. Isaac didn't know why the fear was gripping him so hard. It was like a giant fist was squeezing every ounce of his valiance and determination and left him a withered, spineless shell of his former self. That was another fear he had; not proving himself as a man, especially to Nicole. He wanted to be the one without fear, the one that could handle any situation. He didn't want to be like his father Paul, a coward who leaves his wife and young child and never comes back. He promised he would never in his life do such a thing.

Even here, alone in the USG _Ishimura_, he had to be strong. He couldn't run from his task because things seem to be out of his favor. Though he might die, he'd rather die fighting than cowering in fear of the adversaries and impediments around him. Isaac knew what he had to do: suck up his fears, and fight to complete his mission. Fight, for Nicole.

"For Nicole…for Nicole." Isaac grinded his teeth as he struggled to his feet, feeling his strength and energy replenished, if at least somewhat. That was good enough for him; he didn't need it all back to go on. He slid his helmet back over his head, exhaling deeply as he turned to the Tram's exit, slowly emerging from its safety.

The grey-hued station showed signs of wear-and-tear, the glass windows of the waiting area covered with muck and grimed around the edges. Steam rose from underneath the Tram, flowing over the dark grey floor and stopping right at the large font silver letters that spelled out 'ENGINEERING DECK'. Isaac took a quick look around, one foot inside the Tram in-case he needed to take quick cover. To the left and the right, nothing but the inky blackness of the Tram tunnel. From within those depths Isaac could almost hear the howling of Trams roaring down the tracks…almost as if one was heading his way…

"_Genealogy and background report complete. Sources verified subject Gaulthier, Jane…"_

"Who's there?" Isaac shouted out, looking all around over the ceiling and walls, the muscles in his chest tensing. "Show yourself God damn it!"

"_Please review the following information to increase chances of survival…__"_

Isaac still wasn't sure if the _Ishimura_'_s _PA system was malfunctioning or if someone was following him; the latter seemed too farfetched to be true, but the ominous whispering brought another possibility, it being neither a deranged crew member nor the PA system. He didn't know what that third possibility was, but it was there.

Shaking his head and blinking a few times Isaac manage to shake off some of his drowsy state and stepped off the ramp. The second her did the static-filled video display popped up from his RIG. Hammond appeared onscreen, his face reflecting a manifestation of the apprehension that they both possessed.

"_We've got two problems, and we're working on borrowed time here. First, there's no fuel in the engines._" His eyes shifted focus from Isaac to the display screens in the Captain's Nest. Hammond tried to hide it with a serious demeanor which he could hear in his voice, but Isaac could tell by his face that he was getting more and more anxious. Hammond continued."_Second, the gravity centrifuge is offline which means there's a couple of trillion tons of rock pulling us down. I need you to get that centrifuge operational. Refuel the main engine and fire it up so I can stabilize the ship's orbit._"

Static, then the screen closed before disappearing.

No fuel? How was that possible on a ship as big as the _Ishimura_? Isaac went further away from the Tram, passing the waiting booth to look upon the orange tint of the next hall, the color coming from a red sign above the doorway displaying either a cutting tool or engine of sorts. 'WARNING. This is a dangerous environment! Sync your RIG regularly! Safety begins with YOU!"

In this state the dangerous machinery was the least of his problems; he worked around these kinds of machines in his field and Necromorphs were not part of that environment. The marker above the door read: 'Control Room: Days since last accident: 0'. Well that number was about to go up to 1 before too long. Another sign of irony that Isaac could not help but find funny in a sick way.

Isaac went through the entryway, the dim hallway leaking brown steam from the crevices at the base of the wall, dispersing when he walked through them.

"_I find it hard to believe that the Ishimura ran out of fuel_..." Isaac said in his mind, thinking over the information Hammond gave him minutes earlier."_They haven't been on mission long enough for that. Either the fuel lines are disengaged or something very bad has happened_…"

Rounding the corner Isaac grunted in surprise and covered his eyes, greeted by two sets of three bright, blinding lights. Not exactly the best way to greet crew members coming to the Engineering Deck, but he waited for his eyes to adjust to the intensity of the light. It wasn't so bad when they did and he could go further in to the control room. There was a lot to be observed; in the center was an opened booth where all the control panels were, four windows overlooking what appeared to be a smaller room. Next to the control booth was a locked door and to both sides were a door to his right and another hall to his left. According to the map the right path lead to the refueling stations, while the left way lead to the centrifuge; that was also marked by the pointer above the doorway. There were other things scattered around the open room, lockers and such, but Isaac held a few of these things with no importance to his mission.

Curious, Isaac went to the control booth and saw the corpse sitting in the left chair. Not as mutilated as some of the others he ran into so far, but he could still see several large wounds and blood through and on the thick body suit. Only his hair and cold grey ears could be seen; his face was completely covered by a safety mask. Isaac approached cautiously, only to feel something under his boot. A log. He blinked and looked through the glass, not knowing why he felt a dark sensation spreading through him. There was a walkway beyond the glass, and it was dark but Isaac could still see past it. On one window had specks of dried blood on it, but he couldn't tell if it was from the inside or the outside. There was something…strange about it. Something made him look closer at it to get a better look, when a fleshy shape ran up and across the glass. Isaac jumped and yelled out in surprise, watching the tail whip over the window before disappearing out of sight. A blotch of red suddenly appeared at the top of the glass and fresh blood trickled three fourths down, adding to the blood stains already present as if the creature that just passed was killed, or killed somebody…

Leapers…no matter what they managed to scare the living shit out of him, even if they didn't know he was there. Did they? The thought of the Necromorphs always knowing where he was…it took away all possible feelings of safety he had within him. Stay alert Isaac, and remain calm… Picking up the log, Isaac played it.

"_Personal log... acting Chief Engineer Jacob Temple. It's been two days since they pulled the planet open...since the captain died._" Word of Mathius's death spread rather quickly; Isaac didn't know the whole story, so he didn't have much to say. While the log played he observed the orange display of the planet at the right wall, the _Ishimura _and its rock load orbiting above a small ring of asteroids most likely brought up from the planetcrack."_The panic, the riots…they were nothing compared with what came after. Our friends, our co-workers…started coming back…changed...coming back to kill us, drag us away. Rucker disappeared this morning and I have to assume he's dead. My crew they're…starting to crack. I'm trying to keep an eye on them but right now I have bigger problems. We're hemorrhaging fuel and the primary engine is laboring. Danvers and I are going to try to reach the fuel depot to see if we can fix it...Temple out._"

The trouble was everywhere he went. Not a single corner of this ship was safe from the onslaught of the Necromorphs. Isaac recognized that name, Jacob Temple. He was a skilled member in the CEC engineering department from what he heard; he even had some combat training just like Isaac, but who could say he survived this mess? With the engines still offline they obviously didn't succeed; either they died along the way or…the engines weren't fixable. If that fear became a reality things couldn't possibly get any worse.

Isaac looked around the control room to get better acquainted with it, taking note of the Store to the left of the way he came in. The supply lockers would come in handy, but he was just about out of space and who knows what he would run into on the way that would be useful; schematics, semiconductors, the works. Isaac came out from the control booth and noticed to his left two Sun soda machines, both having the brand's slogan "Taste the Sun" on the side. He wasn't thirsty, but it would've been wonderful if the Medical Deck had one of those. What's done is done though, and other more important things had to be done; there was no telling how much time he had before the ship would start to fall down to the planet.

Isaac pulled open his not-very detailed map of the area. A ways beneath him there was a room shaped like a ring; this was the Centrifuge room. But as he suspected before he needed to take the door to his left, through the door marked 'Machine Shop: Reminder: Please sync your RIG regularly'. Isaac passed the Shop and the storage lockers, heading through this door.

The next room immediately opened up to a mesh platform that went down in a series of ramps, several feet above the floor. All around the room extra machine parts laid out on racks, most of which were turbines that were replacement parts for the engine. Isaac went down the first ramp and came on a single square landing; the rest of the platform branched off to his left in an L shape, the next square sporting a single blood stain. Isaac slowly went down the rest of the platform, looking to his left and to his right, both hands gripped tightly on the Plasma Cutter. The minute he came down to the main floor he found a dark trail of blood that lead to two different directions to his right; one of them a changing room for engineers, and the other lead to the rest of the shop through a small doorway. And underneath that doorway a single Slasher in blue overalls laid there on the floor in a mass of blood as if someone put it there.

Isaac looked at it, not sure what to make of that. It didn't look like it just died there; it was too well placed. His spine shivered and his chest went cold. Before going that way, he decided to check out the changing room. A single flickering light from the corner produced a long shadow that danced across the floor in a sharp jittery manner, almost as if produced by a living being. Before he got within a few feet of the room a cylindrical storage canister rolled across the floor from the right, making a short distance before coming to a stop. He swallowed and slowly peeked around the corner, to see if he was safe. The room was devoid of any life, the blood spatters on the floor marking the forgotten presence of now-dead crew members.

Engineer suits hung from the wall like strung-up corpses, watching him with all life and emotion sucked away. Isaac tried his best to forget about it, taking his eyes away from the suits and investigating the other side of the room. There were a few chairs and storage lockers, more canisters on the floor as well and even two discarded lunch pails and a thermos, but what really drew his attention was the blinking schematic plate and a log lying on the floor. First Isaac grabbed the schematic which contained information for Flame Fuel. He didn't buy the Flame Thrower yet, but that was because of the cost; eleven thousand credits was quite a lot. Then, Isaac picked up the log, moving it around his hands before downloading it to his RIG.

Instead of hearing a voice reporting the name and rank of the owner, a hollow pounding played through the log followed by a grunting shout.

"_What in hell is going on here? Danvers!_" The voice…it belonged to Temple.

"_It's, it's Henderson... He's crazy!_" The second person in the log had to be Danvers."_Pulling his own teeth out!_"

The pounding continued as did the insane yelling of Henderson; he sound like he was in pain, like he was trying to rid himself of an unknown force.

"_Henderson! For god's sake!_"

"_UWAAA UNHH!_" The cry of despair came from Henderson. Then there was a sudden bang from what sounded like a gun, followed by soft thud. All sounds stopped.

"_Oh god, is he dead?_" Danvers said in anguish, as if he just witness the death of his co-crew member.

"_Relax, he's alive. But he hit that door pretty hard._"

"_Man... Why would he do something like that! I don't get it._"

The log cut off. Jacob wasn't kidding about the panic in his last log; they witnessed the building insanity of a worker, a friend, and Isaac could see that whatever was going on around here these aliens had something to do with it. But what did the Marker have to do with it? There was some connection between the condition of the crew, the Necromorphs, and the Marker, and it seemed to center around the planetcrack, and it was very obvious that the twisted religion of Unitology itself was playing some part in all this. The nature of these connections Isaac could not make out right away. He would need more evidence before he could make any conclusions.

Leaving the changing room behind Isaac saw the Necromorph had not left its position on the floor. It laid almost identically to the one he saw in the Flight Deck on his way to the Maintenance Bay. Could this one be attempting to fake him out, draw him into a trap that would lead to his death? Isaac licked his drying lips and carefully went towards it. It wasn't reacting to the sounds of his boots pounding on the floor. If it was alive, it was really waiting for him. He had to get past; it was his only way to get to the engines. When he was within a few feet, the Necromorph jumped to its feet like a spring-loaded toy, its back curving back sickly as it straightened up, roaring as it came face-to face with the engineer.

Isaac screamed in surprise; all that went through his head was how could he be so ignorant and stupid. That went through his head as it grabbed his shoulders, but the forceful grab made his hand swing up and hit it in the head; the hand holding the Plasma Cutter. The Slasher gurgled and roared in pain as its iron grip suddenly disappeared and Isaac was thrown back against a large metal shelf, a grunt of pain escaping him. The Slasher was above him, now lacking a head and slashing blindly at the air. Isaac's left shoulder ached, the muscles throbbing, but despite the uncomfortable pain he raised his gun to lay out two blasts over the Slasher's body, the second one making a lucky hit and taking off its arm. It fell back on the floor with a sick burble of incoherent sound, spraying blood in every direction.

Isaac struggled to his feet, wincing and grabbing his shoulder. The monster was stronger than he gave it credit for; the throw did a number on his shoulder. The pain wasn't that intense but it really would bother him as long as it lingered.

"These things…can't get enough of me…" Isaac chuckled to himself in an attempt to break the dark feeling of the atmosphere built around him; his only sense of relief from the events around him would have to be from himself. As he continued down a narrow path made by long work benches, Isaac ran his Cutter across the metal to produce a small scraping sound, his eyes on the mining tool until it suddenly hit a log. Isaac sighed and looked over at the rest of his path, which was only a few more feet away. The more information however, the closer he was to solving this complex mystery no matter how tiring it was getting these logs.

The large blue screen of his database came up. The log was a bit short, but on the right the two photographs were rather interesting. The top one was of Captain Mathius with the word "DECEASED" printed in red across the picture. The one below it Isaac recognized. The white signs back at the Medical Deck Security Station with the words "Evacuate this area immediately" written in sharp red print.

""DECK LOG  
HALLOW. F. (AB)  
Don't know what's going on around here. Someone said the ship's been attacked. Who the hell would attack us out here? First the Captain dies, now we get attacked? Carmack says someone on Bridge staff killed him. Can't believe that.  
Goddamn chaos now. Can't get through to the Bridge. Can't get through to anyone. Everyone's running. Getting the hell out of here. I should probably join them.""

The information from this log Isaac didn't find all that useful or informative but it did give him an idea of what the crew was feeling. Communications were down everywhere; most likely due to the busted Comms Array, but there could be several other factors that contributed to this.

The next spot he hit were the Refueling Control Stations; exactly where he needed to go. The room he came to was tighter cramped like a regular hall, but the lack of walls and proper flooring made it all look skeletal; leaving room for smaller Necromorphs to attack.

"_This is getting ridiculous._" Isaac said in his mind. "_This whole goddamn ship is like one death trap._"

A single body of an engineer lay on the floor. Isaac didn't look at it. He didn't want to feel the anguish of their deaths; it would make him weaker, unable to continue. Events like these were enough to drive a person to his whit's end. It was amazing he had his fingers wrapped so tightly around his sanity. A scream echoed from somewhere in the room. It sounded like the scream of a little girl. The realization that children could've been on this ship brought a wave of despair to him.

The Necromorphs were killers; brutal killers who didn't care if you were a father or a mother, or even someone's child; to them you were just prey laid out on the table for slaughter.

Isaac came to a path that lead left and right, but when he looked down he saw one crawl across the underside of the grate. His hands jumped up and followed it, but the Leaper disappeared out of sight down the right path. His chest pounded violently. He wasn't sure if it would come looking for him, but the fear of it froze him in place. He was on a platform; this fact became known to him when he saw the darkness that stretched out past the railing, only broken by a single white light that bathed a tail curved spire that rose from the smoke-covered blackness below. The loud creaking of parts of the _Ishimura_, the screams of unknown victims, and the howling coming from the darkness was all the interrupted the silence.

He chose the right path, unsure why because of the Leaper, but on the wall across from him he found a container on the wall with a blue sign that read "Emergency Supplies". While he expected a med pack, he found eight hundred credits. Isaac collected these before he went on. Rounding a few tight corners Isaac's nerves were tested by the darkness alone; if it weren't for the few lights along the ceiling it would be completely dark.

"God, was this deck always like this?" Isaac whispered his voice low and deep. The mesh floor creaked below his feet as if his weight was too much for it to support.

This felt like a horror movie; the blood, the dark and macabre settings around him, and he was the ill-fated actor that would not get another take when he died. It was so unnatural and evil to the point that this no longer felt like the fabled USG _Ishimura_. It was hard to believe this part of the ship would be so dark, even before the attack. Was the ship designed in such a way? The mining vessel couldn't possibly have been made with scaring the shit out of the crew in mind.

Isaac came out from the small hallway onto a platform that continued to the right, just in time to see a Lurker crawl out of sight and into the shadows. He froze. His hand muscles tightened up, the pulse in his palm beating against the Plasma Cutter. The intensifying fear was taking over but Isaac stood firm. The lights flickered behind, the wind howled through the Engineering Deck and Isaac could feel the deep abyss beneath him; if the floor fell away he would fall into the darkness; the never-ending darkness.

Isaac could barely see what was in this small square "room", except for the shadows that covered every shape and made them dark silhouettes. Isaac stepped out of the light and into the darkness, as if he was crossing the path between worlds; as corny as that sounded, the line between light and darkness was growing thinner and thinner with every step he took – and one step after another, one step could be his last.

Dark metal broke from the ceiling with a crash and a bang. A black silhouette dropped from the opening it created; almost completely obscured by the darkness, Isaac only knew it was there due to the loud roar that came through its rotted deformed lips. The light from his helmet provided little light, but he could see the split down the middle of its face, where the physical traits of human and alien clashed. Isaac screamed as it charged his way, blades slashing at the air like its namesake.

_Thump...thump...thump_…his heart pounded dangerously against his chest. Isaac didn't have enough time to take aim, it was too close and it closed in. Without even thinking Isaac swung wildly, no clue as to where his punch would land. The Slasher roared, hissing out sickly and gurgling on its own blood. Isaac felt something soft and fleshy hit his boot; one crucial element missing from its shoulders. A gusher of blood drenched the floor, its rotten form pressed back on the iron railing of the catwalk. A blast of energy lit the darkness for a split second, then a second time followed after that. All he could see of the Necromorph in those short moments was its blood covered visage, still fighting to get to him despite the mortal injuries he inflicted upon it. The monster's silhouette slumped down on the floor, falling down to its side.

Isaac's breath came out long and hard. His sharp increase in body temperature made the inside of the suit humid and uncomfortable; he found relieve when the RIG systems cooled him off with a fine blast of mist. Had it not been for that Isaac would boil in his own suit. The ship was already hot enough from the festering heat coming off the bodies littering the ship. One could only envision but never dream of taking in the smell of death that flowed through this ship.

The screams echoed through the Deck, the slaughtering of innocent lives at the blade of this alien threat; the deep clanking of the unseen mechanisms everywhere around him, pounding on his ear drums so resonantly he could practically feel them bleed, taking his very life away with it.

_Keep us whole_..._Unity is forever_.

To the left where the Lurker disappeared, the catwalk continued, coming to a dead end directly in front of him but another walkway to the left between two wall plates, but Isaac could barely see past the wall furthest from him it was more of a ramp, rather. Below the ceiling against the dead-end wall two signs were set up, one pointing to the left and the other to the right. Aside from the bright white lights scattered across the Deck, they did provide some of their own well-needed and really appreciated light. The topmost marker pointed to the North Refueling Control Station, while the bottom one pointed to the South Refueling Control Station. A blue holopanel was against wall at level with Isaac, a marker of its own indicating a gondola was stationed there. Indeed accessing the south station via the gondola was possible, but the gondola was not there; instead, it was out in the middle of the track, lying dormant as if sitting there for a very long time.

'Malfunction! Kinesis Required' was what the panel currently displayed. Kinesis would do well, but right now he had direct access to the north station. The best bet was to start there, then come back and put the gondola back in place.

Isaac looked up at the ceiling as the _Ishimura_'s computer made an announcement, albeit in a different language. His natural curiosity made him wonder what the computer was really saying; mainly, because he wondered if it concerned the attack; an evacuation order, or anything along those lines.

A few steps were taken to the left path and Isaac's stomach churned. He staggered, feeling very cold. The Plasma Cutter fell from his suddenly weakened clutches.

"What…the hell…" Isaac's words came out in a faint mumble. But as quickly as it came, it went like a quick flash. He looked at his hand, his shaking hand. Something was going on…the lights, the visions; was he coming down with a strange sickness, or was there something else at play here?

At the Refueling Control Station…the refueling was controlled by a lever on a tall panel, which could be moved with Kinesis. What looked like the fuel containment chambers stood out in front of the station, composed of three cylindrical attachments on the end of a larger containment pod. Obviously the levers would bring the two halves together. Isaac hooked his Kinesis on the lever and dragged it down to the bottom, attaching the ends with a soft click.

"_Refueling sequence activated. Please standby._"

The pod hummed to life as it spun around in a slow motion, coming out to meet the other end halfway, shattering the horrible silence. That was one down, and one more to go.

Isaac gazed down at his thick heavy boots. Then at the Plasma Cutter. The macabre appearance of the deck didn't improve his inner feelings. Everything looked so threatening, so unnatural…what did he get himself into? Nicole…that was the only reason he volunteered for this mission. He could bear to go another four months without seeing her, feeling her soft skin…

Isaac brought up a broadcasting channel. The hazing hum blasted his ears for a second before he selected Hammond's RIG code for the transmission.

"Hammond, Hammond do you hear me? Did you find Nicole's code yet?"

No response, nothing but static.

"Hammond? Damn it Hammond answer me!" The channel didn't clear even the slightest, consumed by static and noise. "Fuck!"

He closed the channel. If Nicole died because he couldn't reach her in time Hammond was going to lose a few teeth. He couldn't be sure, but was it possible Hammond was ignoring his promise for a reason?

Isaac didn't want to think so, but at this point the question wasn't all that crazy.

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Don't know why this took me so long to finish. Maybe I can get up more soon, but I can't promise anything.

R&R


	12. Better Chances

Sorry it took me so long to update, but the recent events have kept me really busy. Rest assured I have not stopped writing this story, and you can look forward to more updates :)

Review once you finish reading, you know it would really help me~

* * *

They were down there. Stragglers, survivors fighting got their lives just like him. Their plight was no different from his, but he had a much better chance of survival; that simple statement did not make it any better; innocent people having their limbs shredded off mercilessly, while he stood here, at less risk of suffering the same demise.

Far from understanding the motives of these monsters, – their nature was practically plastered on a big red sign that blinked – looking and thinking back to the carnage caused by the Necromorphs their motive, if they even had one, was unknown and shrouded in a fog of mystery.

Shaky fingers pressed on the holopad. The gates closed and the lift dragged across the smoke-covered chasm. The body at his feet made him quiver. He could see the lifeless eyes through the mask, burned with fear and shock. Ever brutally dismembered corps he came upon sapped his chances away from him. He was tired, thirsty, and not to mention very, very hungry; his stomach felt tight, begging for something to fill it. He wanted to sleep without his dreams becoming plagued with nightmarish visions. Would he make it out of her alive, or would he be another random casualty, his torn face worn by one of these dead creatures.

Isaac Clarke closed his weary eyes, hoping to ease if only some of the strain. His thoughts went to a nice soft bed, curling up under the blankets and sleeping for a near eternity. Even as he stood he started to nod off, his fingers slipping up on the Plasma Cutter. The lift closed in on its destination and before Isaac could fall asleep where he stood, a roar ended it all.

Once tired he was now alert, spontaneously switching out to the Line Gun. The south side was not safe. A sound he was more than used to hearing; the silence filled with roars and hisses and other threatening dins. The obscuring smoke ahead cleared and the engineer's eyes laid upon the Necromorphs waiting for him.

The gondola came to a stop and the bars opened up for him. Isaac needed no other sign when they move toward him and started shooting. The beam cut through them like paper, spraying the floor in blood. Arms and severed heads fell, bits of rotten skin and splashes of blood spraying his protective suit. Isaac's hands went tight around the tool as he fired blast after blast of energy, the acrid stink the Slashers let off made his nose and back of his throat sting sharply.

Across from him a dark shape came down the ramp, emerging from the haze. Yellow eyes and dark blue skin; just like the one that attacked him in the Morgue. It charged, barely giving Isaac enough time to react and hit it with a flash of Stasis, then shoot it all over with heated energy until it fell apart in a pile of limbs. The Line Gun was empty of charges.

Isaac stumbled off the small tram and took the Plasma Cutter back out, kicking the body parts at his feet. Even as they lay dead their eyes shined with bloodlust. They carried death with them like a woven black cloak, spreading it like a disease.

The other fueling station had to be further back, Isaac thought. All he needed to do was refill the engines, reactivate the centrifuge, and finally turn the engines back on so Hammond could restore orbit. He had no idea how much time he had until the fraction of the planet tethered to the ship would drag them down to Aegis VII. He had to hurry.

"Hammond, Hammond can you hear me?" Isaac tried to patch through communications to reach Hammond, going up the ramp to a more open area. "How much time do I have until our orbit fails?" All he got from the other end was the blazing of static. Isaac smacked his hand against his helmet. "Hammond? Hammond! Damnit!"

He closed the channel. "Communications is still bad. Could the busted Coms Array be causing some kind of interference?" Isaac scanned every channel available and all but one was bad. The one that was clear picked up now recent signals that he could detect. Isaac couldn't even pick up the source of the channel or use it for that matter; the channel was encrypted. "An encrypted channel…weird…if the Array isn't what's jamming my signal, then what the hell is?"

A lone body lay on the floor beside another ramp and a few explosive tanks, cut off at the limbs. An audio log was clasped in its hand. Isaac had to pry it from the cold dead fingers locked around the pad to retrieve it, then downloaded the information.

"_Never should have let him live…never should have let him live…_"

"_Shut it, Danvers! Shut it! Engineering log. Temple reporting. Someone has shut off the fuel lines to the primary engine, and damaged the valves in the process. They need to be repaired before I can re-open them, but we're running out of time. With the engine offline, orbit decay will begin in less than ten hours. I just can't understand who would do this. If it's one of those crazy __Unitologist__ bastards I'll break their neck!_"

"_Henderson said they were coming! We never should have let him live_."  
_  
_**"**_Shut up Danvers! Help me with the tools_._ Temple out_."

They managed to get this far. Isaac praised them for it, but upon examining the body that lay before him there was no doubt about the fate of Danvers. But as for Jacob Temple, there was no sign of a second body. He must have made it further. He sounded like a smart man; anyone who hated Unitology as much as he did was a friend to him. Hopefully Jacob made further progress through the _Ishimura_, but as for the log itself, there was strangely no time recorded on it, so Isaac could not see how long ago this was recorded. Time was running short, that's all he knew at this point.

The further into the ship he went it seemed to get darker. Every noise and movement set him off He knew people would call him crazy for going on this fool's errand and putting his life at such great risk, but he just wanted to get out alive. He, Nicole, and Hammond. He had to get them out.

At the top of the ramp a silhouette tore off a vent in the wall. It didn't see Isaac, nor did it look around for any potential prey; it just slid its way into the vent, and out of sight. The engineer didn't want to admit that he was scared for his life; that would just make things harder for him. Twists and turns of dangerous corridors put him at risk of an attack, until he found himself overlooking the chasm and the refueling station. He gave an exasperated sigh, and then relaxed himself a bit; the schematic he found laying on the floor helped a bit too. He latched onto the magnetic lever with the Kinesis Module, then dragged it down the small tower with a click as it hooked into place.

"_**Refueling sequence activated. Sufficient fuel to fire primary engine.**_"

The fueling mechanisms roared to life, sliding over and attaching to the other ends of the machine, slowly spinning as they filled the engine.

"_Whatever you did it's working Isaac._" Hammond suddenly shocked in. "_I have a reading. It's only a quarter full but that's enough to restore orbit once you bring the engines online. What the hell_..." Hammond was silent for a moment. "_False alarm, thought I saw something_..."

Isaac was relieved to hear Hammond; he wasn't alone in this mess; he had someone to go through all this shit with him. Isaac opened a blank journal log and cleared his aching throat.

"Okay, I managed to get the engines refueled. Now I need to go down to the centrifuge and get it operational again." Isaac took a pause and drew in a slow breath, pursing his dry lips. "God only knows what's lurking down there…"

Soon the engines finished refueling and the mechanisms came to a standstill. Time to go Isaac, time to go. He didn't know how much more of this he could take. A man could only take so much. Where would his breaking point be? At this point he seemed far from it; at least he hoped…

Isaac wasn't sure what he was more afraid of; the Necromorphs, or the _Ishimura _herself. There were plenty of machines that could kill him if he wasn't careful and it was a known fact that on these kinds of vessels the Engineering and Mining deck were the places a crew member was most likely to have an accident. The threat of the Necromorphs ripping him apart did not make things any better.

Isaac forced it out of his head. He had to stay alert and stay confident. But…was he getting paranoid? For a second he swore he heard a faint hissing. Was his mind playing tricks on him? He took slow steps down the corridor he just came, but the hissing stopped. There was something near, hiding in the shadows. The creature leapt in the air with a shrill scream, going for his head but clinging to his arm instead. He heard the scream before he felt the pain as he looked into the beady yellow eyes of a Lurker. Tentacles bashed against his helmet but didn't pierce the armor, but Isaac reamed his arm against the wall as hard as he could before it could try another attempt.

The infant jerked and gurgled, its tiny claws grasping for something to hold on to. Isaac gritted his teeth, and repeated the process of pinning the Necromorph between the wall and his arm several times before the harsh shrieking finally ended. The Lurker went limp like a ragdoll, puking yellowish blood before it slid off on the floor.

Isaac ran.

He ran as fast as he could to the lift. They were no longer human. They were aliens infecting humans, why should he feel bad for killing something that's already dead? Isaac Clarke was no murderer, but he knew this would get easier as time went by, and that's what truly scared him the most.

He was out of breath when he made it back to lift and he was off. Pain throbbed through his arm but his RIG meter was down only a small fraction; he could only find and use so many med packs so saving them for when he needed them most was vital. His overall hopes were low but he had to try. Isaac opened the channel Hammond used to communicate with him.

"Hammond…Hammond do you read me?" Again there was nothing but hissing and a lot of static. "Hammond are you there?" The screen flashed before the signal vanished all together. "Damnit what's wrong with this thing?"

Isaac had never witnessed this big a failure in the comms system before. Somebody had to be causing the obstruction, but he couldn't imagine who would be behind such a thing. While it seemed a little farfetched that someone on the ship would purposefully tamper with their mission, somehow Isaac couldn't dismiss it.

When the lift finally came to a stop, Isaac forced himself to get off. There was just the matter of the centrifuge and the engines, he kept telling himself. He made it further than he ever though he could, but how much further until he would collapse from exhaustion, or fall victim to the Necromorphs?

He went up the next ramp where the north refueling station was and turned left up another steep ramp. Just as he could see the next platform a panel in the floor flipped open and two blades pulled up a grotesque form. The sounds of little creatures came with it, the ones he saw on the Medical Deck. With no hesitation Isaac switched to the Line Gun and tore through the tiny Swarmers, then did the same with the Slasher. Gurgling and collapsing its body parts fell down the open hatch, a single arm staying behind. Picking up a few credits along the way Isaac ran up the next few ramps. That was behind him, and somehow he knew he would never lay his eyes upon that corner of the Engineering Deck for the rest of his days.

Eventually he saw a wide window and he knew he was just outside the control room. He side-stepped in front of the window and headed for the door, but he stopped.

A bat-like torso crawled across the floor. He hoped he wouldn't have to see another one of them again, but he couldn't fool himself. The shapes and sights of the hellish Morgue suddenly played through his mind like a recording as the creature hovered in the air, its tentacle wrapping around the dead corpse sitting in the chair over to it. In a flash of a second the sharp proboscis stabbed through the forehead and dug into the skull. Yellow ooze gushed out until the body moved, a deep roar as arms shout out from the bones of its shoulders, legs elongating as most of the uniform tore away. The infectious Necromorph flew off its new comrade which hunched over on the floor, struggling to its feet.

Isaac stiffened in fear. The head turned just enough so when the mask fell off, he could see the face beneath. The dark Slasher stood there for a short while before lumbering away from the station. Both Necromorphs disappeared out of sight toward the Tram Station, and then everything was quiet. Isaac didn't want to move, but he swallowed the hard lump in his throat and passed through the door to the control room.

But he wasn't safe.

The Infector came crawling back around the bend as soon as Isaac stepped inside. Three shots was all it took to make the small beast fall apart but in a split second the Slasher came running in with no warning, thrashing its arms maniacally. The Plasma Cutter flashed with each shot. Bits of dead flesh flew from its shoulders and torso before it collapsed unceremoniously to the floor. Splashes of blood stained the floor, running down the wall. Everything was happening so fast Isaac couldn't see how he could keep up with the intense speeds these corpses seemed to possess. But the control room was quiet after that, and he prayed for a few minutes of safety as he prepared for the next part of the mission.

Isaac activated the store. Another weapon might help; what could he expect down there? A new type of Necromorph? Some other kind of hazard? One couldn't be too careful…

He scanned through what was currently available and his eyes rested on the Pulse Rifle. He thought back to the gun, and how it seemed ineffective against the Necromorphs, but so far it seemed to be the only military-grade weapon available.

"I could use the rapid fire…" Isaac thought aloud, his finger trembling above the panel. "What the hell, I can afford it…" The gun was downloaded into his RIG, then he took the weapon in his hands. This wasn't an alien thing to him; he used a Pulse Rifle plenty of times during his training days at the academy, so he could say he knew how to use it. Many memories were brought back; his dreams of valor when he was just a young adult, the stories people used to tell of the greatness and distinction from all others who strived for the same…

What would his father want of him? The greatest dream for a man in these times was watching his son become a proud member of the Earth Defense Force. Would he want that? Wherever the man was, Isaac didn't care. Nothing could change the fact that he left, and never came back…

Isaac held the handle of the rifle tightly in his hands. Focus, don't let distractions get the best of you…

Before heading out he purchased a few pulse rounds, just in case. The cylinder was warm in his hands and he hoped this would be as reliable as the Plasma Cutter.

Everything was silent around him, save for the ambience created by the hull of the ship. He stood before the door of the rusted elevator in the nook tucked away in the corner. The door slid open with a strident hiss, and Isaac stepped inside the empty, hollowed lift. The elevator descended into the depths of the _Ishimura_.

But it felt like he was falling into the dark gates of Hell.

* * *

R&R


End file.
