Dead Space: Outbreak_Chapter 4

Dead Space: Outbreak

Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own anything pertaining to Dead Space.  This is purely for non-profit, fan fiction based off the Dead Space series.

Jacob filled his glass with orange juice and took a sip.  He was waiting for Michael to come over when he suddenly smelled something foul.  He set his cup down and started wandering around the kitchen searching for the source.  He eventually followed the smell up to an air vent near the ceiling.  Jacob pulled a chair to the wall and removed the grate to look inside.  He squinted and saw a small ball of something just out of arm's reach.  He was about to search for something long enough to clean it out when he heard Michael's voice call him.  Jacob walked to the door and let Michael in.

"How have you been?"  Michael started.

"Surprisingly well actually.  I finally slept well last night."

"Yeah, that's good!"

Jacob and Michael walked to the table and sat down.  Michael took a bite out of his toast as Jacob asked, "So did you have something specific you wanted to talk about this morning?  It's not often you ask to get together this early."

Michael swallowed his bite.  "Well I'm working the rest of the day and pretty much until tomorrow morning so I wanted to let you know a few things before I went in."  He took a sip of juice before continuing, "First of all, do you remember the P-SEC gal down by the Marker, Natalia?  Well Dr. Sciarello just released her and..."

"Wait, she killed someone right?  They let her back out?"

"Calm down, Jake.  Dr. Sciarello says she isn't dangerous anymore.  She's definitely not cured, but she shouldn't be a problem.  Also, those bodies of the suicide victims you saw in the loading bay; they moved them back to the morgue for holding but they are eventually going up to the Ishimura along with the Marker and a few other bodies from the past few weeks."

"Why?  What could they want with those bodies?"

"I don't know.  All I've heard is that the order came from the captain of the Ishimura, Matthias, but of course he didn't say why he wanted them.  Oh, and the last thing: I'm sure you've heard about the planet crack tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah, I finally got called back to work to help out with that."

"That's what I figured.  Well, just be careful, alright?  I'm glad you've been feeling better but I wouldn't want something to happen while you're out there.  And I’ve never really been comfortable with the idea of breaking off such a large section of a planet’s crust just for the sake of mining."

"Thanks Mike, I'll be careful."

Jacob and Michael ate for a few minutes in silence before Michael contorted his face and looked around.  "What is that smell?"

"I don't know.  I found something up in my air vent but I couldn't see it very well."

"Well it stinks whatever it is.  You say it's up here?" Michael asked gesturing to the vent up in the corner.

"Yeah, I stood on a chair but I just couldn't reach it."

"Let me take a look," Michael said stuffing the rest of his breakfast into his mouth.  He pulled out a flashlight and stepped up onto the chair in the corner.  After a few seconds Michael stepped down and looked at Jacob.  "Well, I can't tell what it is, but it isn't pretty."

"What do you mean?  What could you see?"

"I'm not really sure.  I mean, it looked like a small, dead animal or something but it was all clumped up so I couldn't make it out too well.  It didn't have any fur or anything on it though.  It doesn't make much sense."

"How could it have gotten there?  No one has been in this apartment but me and it's not alive right?  So it couldn't have come from the vents."

"I really don't know.  I'll report this when I get to work today and make a request that you be moved to a new apartment.  Until that happens just keep an eye on it and let me know if anything happens."

"Alright, that sounds fine to me.  Just make sure it's quick; this smell is gonna start bothering me."

"Will do, Jake.  By the way, I should get going."  Michael picked up his plate and cup and put it in the kitchen.  "Thanks for the meal."

"Thanks for the info.  I like knowing what's going on; it helps clear my head."

Later that day Jacob was called in to work at the planet crack site to oversee the gravity tether placement.  He was walking from point to point checking the integrity and strength of each of the tethers but his mind was definitely not on his work.  "The Marker is gone...why don't this feel right?" he kept thinking to himself.  Everything at the site was going well; it seemed to be in complete contrast to the past couple weeks.  At each tether workers were showing all functions were well within regulation standards.  It just did not feel right that everything would be going so smoothly with such a delicate procedure.  Eventually Jacob found Matthew working at one of the tethers.

"Bridges, can I see you for a second," Jacob called out.

"Site Manager Fuller!  They said you'd be checking on things today."

"I guess so.  I hadn't been to work in a while so it was a shock when they called me in at such short notice.  I've been inside the colony so long it's strange to be outside again.  It's taking a while for me to get used to this RIG suit again.  Anyway, everything working over here?"

"That's affirmative, Sir.  It's one of the easiest cracks I've set up."

"Let me see the specs."

Matthew handed Jacob a small pad with the technical performance of the tether.

"Sure enough, everything checks out."

"If everything's going so well then why do you look upset?" Matthew asked as he took the pad back from Jacob.

"It's just...I don't know.  You said this is one of the easier preps for you right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well doesn't it seem a little odd that a crack this big would go so well; especially when we're dealing with the Marker?"

"Now that you mention it I guess it is a little odd.  I suppose I've just been trying to stay optimistic since that thing left."

"I just have a hard time accepting that everything would go back to normal so fast and so easily."

"Come on; everything started suddenly because we discovered this 'Marker' thing.  Doesn't it make sense that everything would go back once it left?  I thought you were the one that wanted it gone anyway."

"I did...I just thought there would be more to it. I suppose you're right, it makes..."

Just then Jacob thought he saw someone with short blond hair duck behind one of the far gravity tethers.

"Rachel..." Jacob whispered to himself.  He closed his eyes tight and shook his head swearing under his breath.

"Everything ok, Jake?"

"Yeah...no.  I don't..." he glanced around again but did not see her.  "Sorry, I gotta check the rest of the tethers."  Jacob walked off and left Matthew alone and confused.  "I knew it.  Even though the Marker is gone it's still messing with me.  This isn't good."  Jacob checked the rest of the tethers quickly and left the site as soon as he could.

Jacob was almost back to his room when he saw Rachel again out of the corner of his eye.  She glanced at him longingly and she walked around a corner.  He did not know why, but Jacob decided to follow her.  He turned the corner but Rachel was not there.  He glanced over his shoulder and turned back but could not see her anywhere.  Finally he heard her voice calling his name very faintly down the hallway in front of him.  Jacob broke into a run glancing down each intersection.  He heard Rachel's voice again off to his left and followed it.  Jacob eventually found himself back in Union Square.

He tripped on something and fell into a puddle of blood.  Jacob quickly jumped to his feet and saw he had tripped over Deacon Abbott's arm.  He was surrounded by the bodies of all the suicide victims from that day.  In horror Jacob stepped back and kept tripping over more and more bodies.  Blood was splashing all over his face and arms as he struggled through the massacre.  Jacob looked around only to realize he was now in the middle of the Square with bodies spread out in all directions.  Back towards the entrance in front of him Rachel was standing with her finger held up to her mouth as if hushing him.  Jacob froze in fear as he heard something crack and shift behind him.  He turned quickly to see Rachel standing directly in front of him within arm’s reach.  Her head was bowed and her blood stained hair was hanging in front of her face.  Again, Jacob heard something behind him.  He turned slowly to see that all the bodies were now standing with their heads hanging limp.  Suddenly something grabbed Jacob's shoulder and turned him around.  He was staring right into an evil face.  It was Rachel's face but her jaw was missing and sharp teeth were jutting out in all directions.  Jacob heard the same high pitched shriek from the day of the mass suicide as all the creatures closed in around him.  Rachel raised her arm as a long fleshy spike grew from the middle of her hand.  Rachel thrust her arm down on Jacob as he heard an ominous cold voice whisper, "Fear...".

"Jake!  Jake!"  Michael was paging him through the comm. link.

Jacob jolted awake and sat straight up in his bed.  He did not remember how he got there.  "Mike, what's going on?  Why are you..."

"Jake?  Good you're awake!  Stay in your room; I'm on my way."

"What is going on, Mike?!"

"Don't open your door unless it's me.  There's something going..."

At that moment there was a loud rumble and Jacob's room shook.  The lights then blacked out and Jacob was left in complete darkness.  For just a brief moment the dark though flashed in Jacob's mind.

"Mike...Mike, are you there?"  Jacob tapped on his comm. link and fumbled around for his flashlight swearing to himself.  After a few second he found it and looked around his room.  Several things had fallen off shelves and his desk.  "Mike, can you hear me?" Jacob tried the comm. link again.  "Lights are out and comm. is down..." Jacob thought to himself.  "Is that what Mike was warning me about?"

Jacob forced open the door to his dining area to wait for Michael.  As soon as he stepped out of his room he caught a stench as if something was rotting.  He glanced up to the vent he and Michael had search earlier only to see that the blob they found had grown and was now oozing down the wall.  Jacob took a step back and braced himself on the table.  He heard a small crash and felt his hand in something warm and wet.  "What the..."  Jacob stepped back and realized he had knocked over a glass of orange juice onto a plate of toast.  "Wasn't that Mike's?"  Jacob thought to himself.  Just then he heard someone just outside pounding on his door and yelling.

"Mike, is that you?"

"Someone please, please let me in!"  The voice sounded manic with fear.

Jacob felt the dark thought whisper to him, "Kill..."

Jacob tried to shake it off and respond to the man outside, "Who are you?  What's going..."

"Just open the door!"  Jacob heard him scratching the door.  "It's coming...it's coming!  Open the door!  I can't...Oh God, NO!"

The man started swearing and screaming inaudibly.  Soon his screams changed from fear to pain as they were drown out by an inhuman bellow.  It sounded like the man started wrestling with something outside as his cries became muffled and eventually fell silent.  Jacob heard some shuffling and the sounds of footsteps in a puddle but eventually even that disappeared.  Jacob was breathing heavily but tried to keep as quiet as possible.  He could feel the dark thought in his mind as if it were there in the room with him.  After a few minutes that felt like hours, Jacob finally heard Michael's voice calling to him from the other side of the door, "Jake, are you in there?  Please tell me you're still there?"

"Yeah, I'm here.  What in the world is going on?"

Jacob opened the door and froze in terror as a man's hand loosely flopped through the entrance.  Jacob stared as a pool of blood slowly grew around the grotesquely dismembered body at the entrance to his apartment.  Again he could hear the thought in the back of his mind, "Death...". 

"What...what is..." Jacob started breathing heavily unable to speak.

"Come on, let's get out of here."  Michael reached out and grabbed Jacob's arm pulling him away from the apartment.  "Whatever did that may still be close by."

"What do you mean?  What happened?"

"Something just massacred that man and we need to leave before it comes back.  Now keep your voice down."

"What it?  What are you talking about?"

"I don't know!  Just follow me and keep quiet.  We need to make our way to P-SEC Head Quarters."

Jacob and Michael walked quickly but quietly through corridors and plazas.  The only thing that could be seen was the glow from their flashlights.  The only thing that could be heard was their footsteps echoing through the empty colony.

"Where is everyone?" Jacob finally asked.

"I don't know.  I haven't seen anyone in a while," Michael whispered glancing back and forth.

Soon they heard the sound of shouting and gunfire up ahead.  Michael swore to himself, "Sounds like they're already here."  He handed Jacob his pistol, "Take this and find Captain West.  He'll take care of you."  With that Michael ran off ahead and disappeared around a corner.

Jacob slowed down unsure of what to do.  He knew there was something ahead of him that he did not want to encounter but he did not want to be alone either.  He stood still for a moment trying to collect himself when he heard a low growl behind him.  Without turning to look Jacob ran off toward the fighting.  Before long Jacob saw P-SEC guards running his way glancing behind their shoulders in fear.

"Captain West?  Where is Captain West?" Jacob kept asking the passing guards.  Most of the guards just ran past without even looking at him.  One of the men finally stopped and grabbed Jacob by the arm, "Come on we have to get out of here!"

Jacob fought back, "Where's Captain West?"

"He's back there.  But you'd do better to come with us; they're closing in."

"I have to see him!"  Jacob broke free from the guard and took a step back.  The guard just swore and ran off leaving Jacob in the chaos.

Jacob turned around and started toward the growing noise.  Before long he came upon a small group of guards crouching down behind a make-shift barricade.  There was one man in particular shouting orders to the rest.  Everyone else kept calling him Captain so Jacob assumed this was the man Michael told him to see.

"Captain West?" Jacob shouted out approaching the man.

West glanced quickly over his shoulder before giving another order, "What are you doing here?  This area is off limits to civilians!"

"I was told by a P-SEC officer to come see you."

"Sorry kid but I don't have time...get down!"

There was a loud crash as a piece of the barricade broke free and pinned Jacob down.  Another guard came to help Jacob life the desk off his leg but something shot out of the rubble and impaled the officer through the head.  Jacob recognized the object as one of the fleshy spikes from his dream, except this time it was attached to a vulgar creature.  The spike came from one of two arms growing out of its deformed shoulders.  Two other arms came from the middle of its abdomen.  With these the creature started lifting itself over the rubble.  Jacob lifted his pistol and started firing madly into the creatures vivisected chest.  The beast stumbled back slightly before continuing forward.  In a panic Jacob grabbed the pistol of the dead officer and shot at the creatures head.  There was a short moment of relief as it exploded but somehow its limbs continued thrashing blindly.  Fortunately it smashed the desk and Jacob was able to crawl away as another officer shot off the alien's arms and legs.  Jacob stood up shakily gripping his bruised leg.  He did not have much time to reload as three more of the creatures started crawling over the barricade.

Captain West called out in a hoarse voice for everyone to fall back and regroup.  Jacob and the four soldiers turned in retreat.  One of the men screamed as he was stabbed through the stomach and lifted into the air.  West took several more shots to hold off the creatures as his men ran past.  He turned and ran alongside Jacob at the back of the group down the nearest corridor.  Jacob could hear one of the things closing in behind them.  Just up ahead he saw several of the guards run into a room off to the right.  West and Jacob dove through the entrance as one of the guards closed the door on the creature behind them.  Captain West calmly stepped forward and shot off its arms.  He then crushed its head with the back of his pistol.  One of the guards was shaking violently and mumbling to himself.  The other two were more collected but still visibly shaken.  There were still several creatures outside pounding on the door.

Jacob turned to West, "Captain, one of my friends is out there.  We have to..."

"I'm sorry but there's very little chance anyone else is still alive."  West turned to his other men and started giving orders.  "We have to try to contact someone, anyone else in the colony.  We need to see if this situation is...look out!"

Another beast dropped out of a ceiling vent and started tearing into one of the officers.  Everyone else drew their weapons and unloaded their clips into it.  The shaky officer dropped to his knees and crawled back into a corner breathing heavily and sputtering, "fear, kill, death...kill...fear, death...".  He fumbled around and put his last clip into his pistol and raised it to his head.

"Come on, Daniels.  Don't do it.  I need you on this team.  We're gonna get..."

Crack

Daniels’ body slumped to the floor smearing blood on the wall.

West cursed quietly and sighed.  "Turner, grab that chair next to you and put it here under this vent.  We're gonna use it to get out of here."

"The same vent that thing came out of?" Turner questioned.

West turned toward the door where the beasts were still pounding.  "We don't really have a lot of options do we?"

Turner positioned the chair and jumped up into the vent.  He helped West who, in turn, helped Jacob.

"The friend that I mentioned earlier is a P-SEC officer," Jacob mentioned to West as they crawled, "is there any way you could try and contact him?"

"It depends on whether the comm. system is still down or not but I can certainly try."  They turned a tight corner.  "What's his name?"

"Jeffereys, Officer Michael Jeffereys."

West glanced back with a concerned look on his face.  "We don't have anyone stationed here by that name."

"Here we are," Turner shouted back to the others as he kicked out a grate.

"That can't be...he was transferred here a year ago," Jacob replied.

Turner helped both West and Jacob out of the vent. 

 "That's not possible, son.  I'm one of the men in charge of background checks of all the officers that are assigned to this colony.  I would know if there was a Jeffereys here and believe me, there isn't.