(Flashback)

"Nadwe, come on, this isn't funny."
Joocie said, walking slowly down the hall. Nadwe was supposed to be at the meeting, but no, he just had to be off doing 14-year-old things.
"Oh hey Joocie! Whats up?" The child said, emerging from comms. "Nadwe! Did you forget about the meeting?" Joocie asked.
"Oh yeah! Sorry Joocie!" He called the last bit over his shoulder as he bolted toward cafeteria.
Joocie couldn't help but smile. Nadwe was... difficult at times, but mostly Joocie found it pretty funny.
He made his way back to cafeteria, yawning a little. He hadn't gotten much sleep, which was pretty normal at this point.
After a few minutes, he reached caf and sat down at the... he still didn't know what the table was made of. It was his biggest question about the whole trip.
"'Ello Joocie! That's everyone except Tb." Laff said, tapping his finger on a serious-looking piece of paper.
"I'm here!" He heard Tb shout, tripping on the entrance as he jogged up to the table.
"Sorry. I-I may or may not have overslept." Tb laughed nervously. Laff rolled his eyes and set down the paper he was holding.
"Good news. We're just a week away from Polus!" Laff announced.
Everyone murmured excitedly. The sooner they made it to Polus, the sooner they could get this overwith and head home.
That was really the only notable thing about the meeting. Everything else was just going over procedure, reading over manuals, the typical boring stuff you'd expect from a meeting.
The meeting ended about an hour later, and everyone left the table and headed off to do whatever it was they wanted to do.
Joocie decided to head to his room and rest, since it was already late afternoon and he hadn't gotten much sleep since takeoff.
How hard was it to put a decently comfortable bed in a spaceship?
He paused infront of admin as a hissing sound came from inside. He stepped in, not seeing anything at first.
Then he looked at the vent.
Arising from it were jet black, ink like tentacles. Joocie backed away from it at first, but his curiosity got the better of him.
He stepped closer to the vent, lifting the metal top.
Inside he could see something similar to the tentacles moving around. The second he opened the vent, two glowing red eyes turned toward him.
Joocie screamed.
The creature lunged.
'What was that?'
Socks wondered, hearing a scream from admin.
He turned the corner, stepping into the dimly lit room, stained in green from the light of the admin table.
His eyes landed on the vent.
He gasped in horror.
Joocie was laying on the vent, his mysteriously glass head cracked and mostly shattered.
All the liquid had splattered out, coating the corner of the room in a deep yellow.
Where there wasn't spilled juice, there was blood.
Socks backed against the wall, trembling at the sight of the body. "Socks?" What're youse-" Laff said, stepping into admin.
"Oh my dears." Laff mumbled, staring at the gruesome sight.
Laff pressed a button on his watch, and a hologram appeared from Socks' own.
'Emergency Meeting'
Laff left Socks in admin and headed to cafeteria, presumably to tell everyone what'd happened.
Socks melted onto the floor, still staring in shock at the scene infront of him.
"WHAT?!?" Nadwe shouted from caf.
The child ran into admin, looking around frantically.
His eyes locked on the body.
"No... Nonononono this can't be happening..." he mumbled.
He couldn't stand the sight.
He ran out of admin and all the way back to his room.
The second he got in, he lept into his bed and pulled to covers all the way over him.
He shivered, the image of Joocies body fresh in his mind.
Just an hour ago Joocie was telling him off for not being at the meeting, and now...
He sobbed. How could this happen? Why? Why Joocie? Why not him?
He heard a knock on the door.
"Hey." Muffin said, opening the door a little. "Can I come in?"
"Mhm." Nadwe mumbled, barely loud enough for Muffin to hear.
"You ok?" He asked Nadwe, sitting on the foot of the bed.
"No! I'm not Ok!! Joocie is dead, Muffin! How could I be ok?!" Nadwe sobbed.
"It's going to be alright. I'm here for you. I always will be." Muffin said reassuringly.
Nadwe sat there for about an hour, sobbing until his cries turned to snores.
Muffin sighed with relief, pulling out his task list and reading down toward the bottom.
'Storage: Fuel Engines' was the only one not marked off.
Muffin left Nadwes room as quietly as he could, not wanting to wake him.
He was beyond ready to get his tasks done, he had enough to think about without having to add his tasks to that list.
He stepped into storage and grabbed the gas can, dragging it along beside him as he went toward Upper Engine.
He was too focused on the gas can to see Blaza running for his life infront of him.
They crashed, both falling onto the floor.
Muffin was about to yell at Blaza for spilling gas everywhere, but then he saw the creature.
Muffin screamed. What was that thing?
He looked to Blaza for help, but didn't catch his gaze. That maniac was staring the monster straight in the eyes like a madman.
Another creature came from the vents, this one with its eyes locked on Muffin.
Muffin screamed again as tentacles came from the creatures back, holding him up by his arms.
Muffin could see another tentacle coming from it, this one ready to pierce him.
"I'm sorry Nadwe." He whispered, a tear streaking down his cheek as something pierced his stomach.

———————————————

EEEEE HOW DID I DO SUCH NOT TERRIBLE POV TRANSITIONS THAT HAS TO BE ILLEGAL-
R.I.P. Muffin, officially saddest death so far

993 words