arning! Entering atmosphere at dangerous speeds. The ship shook violently as if responding to the system announcement. The turbulence almost knocked down the medical officer as she ran for her life down Level Four. Her heart pounded in her ears, her gasping breath misting on her helmet, her vision fuzzy. She dodged the debris from a collapsed ceiling and damaged walls piled around her. She paid no mind to the warnings, not slowing down for a moment. She already knew that she didn’t have long. The Star Five military cargo ship was being sucked down by the gravitational pull of the planet. That was the least of her problems.

The captain was dead, all the crew probably the same. The ship's main control system and communications were destroyed. She hadn’t seen her husband Leo since the explosion on Level Two. The thing had quickly killed off the soldiers on Leo’s team. By the end only herself, Leo, and a young soldier were left. They had been completely cornered in the armory. When the thing broke through the doors, the young soldier panicked, shooting his gun frantically in the armory. Leo had tried to stop him, but the soldier hit the rack of grenades. The explosion was fatal to the ship, blasting through five levels, down to the power core, causing essential systems to crash. Half of the ship was locked down, the control systems destroyed, and the autopilot turned off.

The young soldier was incinerated instantly in front of her. Even with the explosion as powerful as it was, it didn’t seem to affect the thing at all.

She’d been chased unrelentingly for three levels. Her lungs felt like they were going to burst if she pushed them much longer. Nightmare images of the creature's face played in her mind, spurring her to keep going.Thoughts of its blank face, tearing her medical team to pieces, their blood all over its white body, kept her going. The look of its large, empty, gray eyes looking right through her, expressionless, kept her going. It had been right behind her moments ago. Its skin was as thin and dry as paper, its black veins showing throughout its entire body.

They never should have taken those bodies from the lab. Everything felt wrong about this mission from the start. This had been Leo’s and her’s first voyage on the Star Five military cargo ship. She was head of the medical investigation, the Chief Military Officer on the ship, commanding an elite team of twenty soldiers. They were sent out to collect the bodies of illegal experiments done on a remote military base. On the very planet she was now being pulled back down toward.

Why hadn’t she just listened to Leo? She’d known better, had the authority as chief medical officer to stop the captain, but letting him have the final say was unspoken protocol. Maybe he might have listened if she had tried harder, then everybody would still be alive. And she would know if Leo was still alive. Everything went wrong after she informed the captain and Leo of what she’d found out about the experiments—that scientists were cloning soldiers, splicing human and alien DNA—the Zee-Threes. Stronger, faster, remorseless soldiers.

All of the communications systems had been destroyed right before one of the Zee-Threes had woken up. Someone in the crew must have done it, not wanting anyone else to find out what was going on in the lab. Now she had to get to the escape pods—the only remaining way to make a transmission. She had to send out her data about the Zee-Threes to headquarters. This was her mission now, her survival beyond that was irrelevant. 

Warning! Damage will accrue if no action is taken.

The hallway came to a stop, offering two ways. She’d never learned ship’s full layout. Most of her time was spent in the medical lab or command deck. Now she wished she’d learned it a little better. All she really knew was that there were seven levels and that the escape pods were on the Sixth Level. She looked at her wrist. The map on her suit showed that the elevator was to the right.

arning! Left wing destroyed. Loss of gravity from rotation. As she ran the ship began tilting around her, making her have to adjust to running on the floor, to the wall, to the ceiling. Debris whirled around her. She ducked, jumped, and slid through it all. Glancing at the map as she ran she saw she was getting closer. A speck of hope came over her—she might actually get away. But that hope was quickly taken when she heard the Zee-Three scream somewhere behind her. It was getting closer, too. The ship completely lost its gravity from spinning fast, and she floated. Acting fast, she grabbed hold of the rail on the wall. She’d have to use momentum to continue going. Using her legs to push herself forward. She felt the sweat from her forehead lift off and float up in her helmet. Making her way to the elevator, jumping from one  surface to another.

Warning! Ships gravity being restored.

She was in mid jump on the ceiling when the gravity came crashing down on everything, throwing her down and against the wall as it settled back. Her helmet shattered with the impact, sending her into darkness. Flashes of memories flickered through her mind, slowly pulled her deeper into herself. Leaving her helpless body behind. 

arning! Fire in oxygen room. Emergency sprinklers activated. Systems moving to backup power to conserve oxygen. The lights went completely dead for a moment, flashed red, and came back to life. The explosion on Level Two had weakened the left wing. While reentering the atmosphere it broke apart. Though the gravity had been restored to the ship, it was still spinning while falling. That would make the crash worse, and make the escape pods have less of a chance of getting away safely with its blast radius.

Her eyelids fluttered, her thoughts clearing, only to be hit by the pulsating of her head, trying to push her back into the darkness. She opened her eyes with a jolt,  coughing involuntarily, gasping for breath. The impact had knocked the wind out of her. Everything was a red fragmented blur—the glass of her helmet was cracked, now useless. She took it off, throwing it against the wall in frustration. The violent motion revealed that her left shoulder was hurt, as pain shot through her arm. 

Her attention was quickly taken away from her shoulder to her head. The air stung when it touched the left side. She put her hand to it. Shards of glass had embedded in her forehead. Even in the poor lighting she could see her hand was covered in blood. Darkness called to her. If she would only close her eyes it would be over. But she had to continue—the military needed to know what had happened on that planet. She opened a compartment on her belt. She had pulled all the data in the lab before the Zee-Three had woken up. She’d given one to Leo, in case she didn’t make it. She examined one of the data-sticks, straining her eyes in the red lighting. Her computer had been destroyed early, so this was the last copy. The chip was undamaged so far. She quickly put it back and took a painkiller injection from her utility belt. All military spacesuits had injection-ports in case of emergencies. She injected it into the port on her thigh, and took a deep breath of relief as the painkiller quickly spread through her body, numbing all of its pains. 

Slowly getting to her feet, dizziness tried to take her back to the ground. She aimed for the wall and used it as support as she made her way forward. 

Only a little more.

The elevator was at the end of the hall, her head pulsated with every step.

Warning! Oxygen center collapsed. Oxygen will run out in three minutes.

The oxygen center had been damaged from the loss of the wing. She didn’t have a helmet now. She grabbed the hand-held oxygen from her utility belt, the she always kept for emergency medical situations. She put it around her neck, ready for those three minutes later. The mask was used for short term oxygen for trauma or resuscitation. It lasted five minutes tops as a sole air supply, and that was with short breaths. The sight of the elevator at the end of the hall made her limp faster.

She pressed the button rapidly. It responded, delayed, then stopped completely. The doors were only half open. She pressed the button again. This time it didn’t respond. A piece of what used to be a ceiling beam lay next to her. When she picked it up her shoulder seared with pain. Testing it, she could feel it was slightly dislocated, but the painkillers had numbed most of the pain. She slid the beam piece between the doors. Putting all of her weight down hard in one motion, made the door pop open so suddenly it almost made her keel over. She threw the beam piece aside. 

Red lights poorly lit the horror she saw inside. Crew members who had tried to escape plastered on the floor and wall. Even with her years of military medical experience, the sight made her immediately sick. She pushed down the feeling. If she didn’t get this data out, their deaths would be pointless. The lights were not bright enough to see the controls, so she felt for and switched on her shoulder light. Ignoring the sight around her she opened the panel. Now that the ship had switched to back up power, she would have to use her override code to make the elevator go. The mixture of head trauma, blood loss, and painkillers made recalling the numbers difficult.

“Seven-four-three-five-one,” she mumbled.

Invalid.

Three-five-four-seven-one…

Invalid.

Frustrated with herself she hit the wall. Took a deep breath. 

If she got it wrong again the system would lock up.

Five-three-one-seven....

An unearthly screech nearby reminded her Zee-Three was still coming. She closed her eyes and pressed the last button.

....four.

The elevator started, taking her to Level Six. She’d have to pass through the destroyed oxygen center to get to the pods. The ship shook again. She wouldn’t have long to launch once she got to the pods and transmitted the data.

arning! Oxygen has run out, please put on a helmet. She pulled her mask on, taking a short breath. Her hand slid down to her belt where the data-stick was. Even if she got away after the transmission, she probably wouldn't make it. There was nobody to help her. A tear slid down her cheek clearing a streak from the blood. She thought of Leo’s face right before the grenade had gone off—a look of fear. Not for himself, but for her. The thought that he was dead was hard for her to imagine. If she could survive the blast, then he could still be alive too, she clung to that idea. She prayed God would forgive her of what she’d let happen. She prayed Leo was safe, and to take her life and not his. She said this silently, feverishly, as the elevator plummeted down.

She was interrupted by the elevator shaking. Something had fallen on top. She hoped it was some piece of the ship that came loose, but knew it was the Zee-Three. It wouldn’t let her go easy. But she’d never given up easy. She wouldn’t have long when she stepped out— the Zee-Three had been faster than her before her injuries. Now she barely had a chance. The elevator landed with a jerk. She readied herself to run the moment the doors opened. Her body tensed in preparation, and she focused to slow her heart. 

The doors opened. 

Before she could take a step forward water flooded in, pushing her back. The sprinkler system had flooded the oxygen center.

Not letting herself rest, she picked herself up and waded through. Water poured down on her, rinsing her head and suit. Dodging the bodies that floated in the knee deep water, she heard pounding from the elevator. She didn’t need her map from here—she knew how to get to the pods. Pushing through the water made her legs weak, reminding her of how thoroughly tired she was. A crash and shrill cry close behind made her turn around for the first time since the armory. She watched as the Zee-Three threw itself in the water, contorting as it tripped over bodies and debris. 

Fear made it hard to look away. She took a breath and let her training take over. She wouldn’t be able to outrun it now, she looked for a weapon of any kind. One of the bodies that floated in front of her had a holstered gun, but it would make her have to get closer to the Zee-Three.

She threw herself toward the body, took hold of it and pulled at the gun. With a second tug the gun came free. She dropped to her knees and shot twice at its long bony legs. Black blood exploded outward, but only slowing, not stopping it. She raised her aim, unloading the rest of the clip into the ceiling, right where it was about to be. It gave way, crashing down right on top of the Zee-Three.

Exhaustion and pain made her wish she could give up here. The thought of Leo and the data chip made her push through the debris and bodies. Blood and water mixed in her eyes. Noise from the debris told her that the Zee-Three wasn’t dead yet. Shakily she got to her feet, limping the rest of the way to the escape pods. The door to the pod bay hung halfway off its hinges. Water poured down her next path like a waterfall. The stairs had been knocked out, but with her shoulder light could see the bottom, and it wasn’t that far. Climbing wouldn’t be fast enough with all her injuries. She was disoriented, and the painkillers were long flushed out from her adrenaline. She wasn’t going to last long now. There was only one way. 

She secured the mask on her face and threw herself down. She went limp like she’d been trained, her thigh taking most of the impact. Her oxygen mask was filled with water. The darkness called louder, but she pushed it away, lifted the mask, draining it out. 

Almost there. 

The water was lower down here, only up to her shins. She dragged herself toward the escape pods, her thigh stiff from the fall.

There was a splash behind her.

The door to the pod was fifteen feet away. Using all the strength she had left, she broke into a limping sprint to the door, ignoring all pains. She reached the door and hit around the wall for the button to close the door.

The Zee-Three smashed against it with anger, shrill in its tantrum. 

The escape pod had its own oxygen supply. She lifted her mask and turned to the small observation window on the pod and looked at the humanoid creature. Saliva poured down its teeth-packed jaw. It tried breaking through by smashing its head against the glass. She tapped the glass and looked into its eyes—it stopped and looked back at her. It really did seem like it was trying to stop her from her mission. She found it hard to believe this thing was part human, that they shared DNA. The Zee-Three resembled nothing of humanity, showed no remorse for the horror it caused.

She turned away, feverishly limping to the chair and buckled herself in as her antagonist began smashing its head harder, now with a truly animal mania.

arning! Go to escape pods. Impact imminent. The strap being put across her body made her flinch with pain. She punched in her ID code into the panel and flipped the switch sequence.

Chief medical officer Kiran Davis recognized.

She took the data-stick from her belt. Bleary vision made it hard to slide it into the transmission port. Using two hands she inserted it; it was uploaded in seconds. After the transmission was sent she turned the switch sequence for pod-launch.

Three...two...one.

The pod shot out of the ship. It flew upwards relative to the destroyed ship at first, then hurtled toward the desert planet. The turbulence shook the pod hard, making her head rattle and throb. She looked at her picture on the screen, seeing her reflection on the side of the panel. She looked nothing like herself. Her short black hair was matted with sweat and blood, her brown eyes were exhausted. The left side of her face had swollen—the glass shards in her forehead had cut deep, contorting her forehead. Her eyes just made out the desert landscape, out of focus, its pale white sands moving closer with every moment. She knew someone had woken that thing up, but she didn’t know who it could’ve been.

One of the other escape pods had been released. Someone could be down there.

She would find out soon.

Parachute deployed.

There was a sudden jerk. This time she barely felt any pain. She slowly let the darkness take her now. Blood covered the side of her face.  She smiled. Leo’s body was nowhere to be seen on the ship, so maybe he’d gotten away. Thoughts of him having landed safely on the planet, waiting for her, made a gentle sleep take over. Peace came as she fell from the sky. She had completed the mission.

WARNING! PREPARE FOR IMPACT.