Wrote some more horror :D

I often struggle with making it too dark, then I make it lighter since I don't want it to scare anyone. 

But this time I didn't dial it back.

Tw: Gore, violence, death, dark themes.

It was a dark and stormy night.

They didn't know though, since they were on a cruiser floating in space.

"He's dead," Tech said as he removed his fingers from Cody's neck, not able to find a pulse. "There's nothing we can do."

"It happened so fast. What killed him?" Hunter asked.

Looks like it was a knife," Tech hummed, pointing to the slash to Cody's throat. 

"A knife?" Omega gasped and turned her gaze to the vibroknife sheath on Hunter's forearm.

Everyone backed away from Hunter.

"Oh, come on," Hunter said and crossed his arms. "Wrecker has a vibroknife too. And besides, we have no idea how recent the attack was."

"It was fairly recent," Tech chimed in. "I can tell because the blood is still wet  and hasn't set into his clothes yet."

"It must've happened when the lights went out," Rex said, blinking the tears from his eyes. "When we all got separated."

"Who has access to knives?" Echo asked.

"Wrecker and Hunter have vibroknives," Tech answered, shutting Cody's eyes with his fingers.

Wrecker held up his knife. "I didn't do it. It doesn' have blood on it."

Hunter sighed and took his vibroknife out. "See? My knife is clean too. No bloo-"

His vibroknife was covered in blood.

"This doesn't prove anything!" Hunter cried out. "It was planted on me!"

"When would someone have done that?" Echo crossed his arms. "It never leaves your side."

"There's a note sticking out of his pocket," Crosshair observed and pointed at Cody.

Tech plucked it from his pocket and read it aloud. "It says: 'You are in direct violation of order 66. You will be terminated.'"

"We all got our chips removed!" Hunter looked up at Rex. "You were there!"

Rex pinched the bridge of his nose. "Anyone aboard this cruiser could be responsible. No one leaves until we figure out who it was."

"Hunter, I'm scared," Omega nervously said to Hunter.

"It'll be okay," Hunter assured her.

"I can't believe someone could do somethin' like this," Wrecker sadly said.

"Hunter, I don't feel safe," Omega told Hunter, anxiously tugging on his hand.

"Here," Hunter told her and handed her his Vibroknife. "Use this in case you feel scared. I've taught you how to use it, and I trust you."

"Okay," Omega reluctantly took it.

"I'll run through the security footage to see who did it," Tech declared and went off to compete said task.

"Hunter, we need to talk," Rex firmly said.

Hunter nodded and followed him out of the room, where Rex scowled at him.

"Who could have done this?" Rex asked.

"I don't know," Hunter sighed. "The chips obviously have to do with this, and Crosshair and Wrecker are the ones with bad chip experiences in the past. Maybe it left a permanent mark on their brains? You'd have to ask Tech."

"Let's do that then," Rex decided. "It's best to rule out suspects as fast as possible."

"He's looking through security footage, so we'll ask if he saw anything even though the lights went out. Then we can suggest our idea," Hunter said and began to walk.

"Hopefully something will show in the footage, even though the lights going out most likely screwed with it," Rex grimly said.

"Tech?" Hunter called out as they reached the cockpit. "You here?"

"Maker!" Rex yelped and scooted away from Tech.

"Tech!" Hunter cried out and hurried to his brother's side.

Tech's eyes were glassy, staring up at the ceiling. His blacks were in tatters, revealing crude lines spelling out words that made Hunter's stomach sink. Blood spilled to the floor, staining their boots.

"You are in direct violation of order sixty-six," Rex said, reading what had been carved into Tech. "You will be terminated."

"This is sick," Hunter spat out, fists curling. "I don't care who did this, but we need to do something."

"Look!" Rex said and picked up the datapad from Tech's grip. "He managed to type something out before he died!"

"What does it say?" Hunter inquired.

"It's only the letter E," Rex told him. "Perhaps he was trying to give us a clue?"

"Or maybe the killer planted it?" Hunter suggested.

"Tech is- was-" Rex corrected himself before continuing, "-smart. He'd leave a clue that the killer wouldn't have known was a clue. They would've thought it was him accidentally clicking a button."

"Yeah, and he would've tried to leave us a hint as to who the killer is!" Hunter said, following off Rex's train of thought.

"Now what does the letter mean?" Rex thoughtfully said.

"Perhaps the killer has an E in their name?" Hunter theorized.

"Echo?" Rex suggested.

"Echo wouldn't have done it," Hunter shook his head. "And besides, he doesn't have a Vibroblade."

"Wrecker?" Rex hummed to himself. "Could be him."

"Let's go ask him," Hunter said.

"Wrecker, we have some questions to ask you," Rex said, shaking Wrecker awake. "Wrecker?"

He rolled Wrecker over, revealing his bloodied chest. He also had the words, "You are in direct violation of order sixty-six. You will be terminated," sliced into him.

"At least we know it wasn't him?" Rex cringed.

Hunter felt like he was being suffocated with grief.

"Wait," Rex paled. "You lent Omega your knife to train her with before the light went out. What if she slipped it back into its sheath while everyone was distracted? And you gave her the knife again!"

"It can't be," Hunter shook his head.

"Omega's name has the letter E in it," Rex reminded him.

"Fine. We'll ask her about it, but I promise you it isn't her," Hunter crossed his arms. "She never had a chip."

"Hey, I don't want it to be her either," Rex comfortingly said. "But we need to figure out who it is."

They hurried to find Omega, horrified by what they saw.

Omega's limp body was sprawled across the floor, Crosshair's corpse next to her. The same words they had found everywhere were written on the floor in blood.

"I'm losing everyone!" Hunter choked out.

"At least we know who did it," Rex bitterly said. "Echo. It all makes sense. He never got his chip removed since we thought it got fried when he blew up. He could've used his scomp to carve those messages as well."

"We need to find him," Hunter furiously said. 

They sprinted down the hallway, searching for Echo. The good news was, they found him. The bad news was, he was dead.

"That rules out all out suspects," Hunter sighed and examined the wound that had went straight through Echo's head, and the note that had been left next to him. "This note says the same thing as the other."

The blood drained from Rex's face. "Hunter... your name has an E in it."

"And?" Hunter asked.

"And you have a Vibroknife... one that was covered in blood," Rex backed away from Hunter.

"Rex, it wasn't me," Hunter put his hands up.

"Prove it!" Rex shouted and raised his blaster. "Give me solid proof that it was t you who murdered our brothers and sisters, and I'll let you live!"

"I- I don't have any proof, but it wasn't me!" Hunter insisted. "I swear it wasn't me!"

"That's not good enough!" Rex shook his head in disbelief. "Hunter, how could you?"

"Rex, I didn't kill them!" Hunter yelled. "I swear it! You have to believe me!"

Bam.

And Hunter fell to the floor, a blaster wound going straight though his head.

His chipless head.

"I'm sorry, Hunter," Rex softly said. "I'm sorry I had to do this, but you left me no choice."

"Nicely done. You did some of my work for me."

Rex's head snapped up to see who had spoken, his veins filling with icy fear.

"But of course, I'll have to kill you."

Rex raised his blaster with shaking hands. "I thought you were dead!"

"You're in direction violation of order sixty-six," Omega said, lifting Hunter's Vibroknife up threateningly. "You will be terminated."

"Omega, didn't you die?" Rex asked, keeping his blaster level with her chest.

"I faked my own death so you wouldn't suspect me," Omega sneered. "There was enough of Crosshair's blood on the ground for me to cover myself with."

Rex gagged, nausea striking him suddenly.

"And the moment you left the room, I went for Echo," Omega twistedly smiled. 

"But you didn't have a chip!" Rex sobbed. "You didn't have a chip that would've made you kill everyone!"

"Are you sure about that?" Omega frowned. "Because I'm fairly certain I do. In fact, why don't we scan my brain right now? I'll prove that my chip was painfully inserted into my skull years ago, after I came out of the tube."

"Omega, I can help you," Rex reasoned. "Don't you feel bad about killing your brothers?"

Omega considered it for a moment. 

"No."

Then she lunged at him, shoving the knife into his chest.