****TRIGGER WARNING****

Ahead are some graphic depictions of violence. If you are not comfortable then skip the section marked between the ~. Read at your own discretion.

            We weren't going to make it in time. It was going to slaughter us all before we were even ten feet from the safety of command. I ran the scenario through my head and ninety eight times out of a hundred we all died. Between our gasping breaths and the rapid sound of eight legs pounding across the floor behind us I realized it. I shot one final look back and saw it nearly on our heels, so close I could see our reflection in its blood colored eyes.

                                            ~
     First it swept Yeosang's feet, who was just a half a step behind, and pulled his body under it's weight. I could hear the horrible crunch of every bone in his body breaking. It happened so fast I didn't even have time to blink. The spider scrambled over him leaving him lying there lifeless and mangled.

       Then when it was close enough to attack Seongwha it grabbed him and sunk its twelve inch fangs into his shoulder. One of the fangs perforated the side of his heart while the other punctured his left lung. It was so fast Seongwha's heart stopped mid scream. His body was now flooded with venom that would slowly liquify his insides.

Both deaths happened all in the span of nine seconds.

"No!" Mingi wailed.

Features contorted in grief he stopped and turned delivering a spinning kick to the spider's face. It shrieked as his heel made contact, the force made some of it's eyeballs burst and white slime dripped to the floor.

The spider reared and furiously rammed into Mingi. I cringed as I heard his insides cave in under the immense pressure. Mingi weakly fought back landing some punches on the spider's head. He slumped to the floor leaving a trail of blood down the side of the wall. He rasped a breath and it sounded wet as if he was breathing in water.

He would die ten minutes later drowning in his own blood. It would be excruciatingly slow.

I whirled around and cupped Yunho's face. His eyes were wild with panic. "Listen to me Yunho! You have to order me to kill it! Please tell me to kill it!" I begged.

Yunho looked over my shoulder and pulled his gun free from the holster. He fired off two shots over my head, one hitting its abdomen and the other blowing off one of its fangs. The spider let out a high pitched howl and stumbled.

The gunfire left my ears ringing but before I could react something smashed into my back. It struck me with such force that I saw stars and all the air was knocked out of my lungs.

I heard the sounds of wet tearing as something sharp pierced through me and entered Yunho's chest. I had never experienced anything close to this level of pain. It radiated through my chest and I felt like I was slowly being ripped apart. I threw my head back, a weak scream escaping from between my lips.

Horrified I looked down and saw one of the spider's legs sticking out of my chest. It's appendage was lined with sharp points of bone like a serrated blade. Blood quickly blossomed and stained my clothes around the wound. "T-ten..." Yunho gurgled squeezing my shoulders. I looked at him and he coughed, his blood spraying me in the face.

Then all at once the leg ripped back out and both Yunho and I stumbled to the ground, my strength completely leaving my body. I landed on Yunho's body my chin bouncing off his chest. As the spider continued down the hallway to command I laid there limp and listened to Yunho's faltering heartbeats.

I surveyed the hallway at the carnage that was once the crew. Yeosang was unrecognizable, his body was so covered in blood and Seongwha laid not far away foam seeping between his lips. Mingi was barely alive, his breathing labored, and sitting in a pool of blood. Finally I looked into Yunho's eyes that were glazed over in death. "No...." I cried weakly.

Please I don't want to see anymore.

My throat felt like it was closing in on itself and tears wetted my eyelashes. The ships lights flickered on and off as my heartbeat slowed.

Then I could hear the sounds of gunfire and someone yelling. I tried to lift my head to see but only managed to fall to one side. Vision blurring I could make out the Star King advancing on the spider. His eyes were burning with fury as he laid waste to the monster. Flashes of light in the darkness as the plasma ammo tore through the monster, its blood spraying the walls.

"Don't," I wheezed. I was having a hard time keeping my eyes open. "R-run..."

I could feel the ship beneath me losing power to the sound of them fighting in the background. A slow whirring sound stopped and started as the ship began to fail. I felt so impossibly cold and I knew my life was ebbing away. Once I was dead the ATEEZ would become useless. Just a hunk of metal floating through space. I could only hope San and Cerber could make their escape before that happens and that Wooyoung knows to stay away.

The Star King's scream rang through the air. Sobs racked through my body and I closed my eyes not wanting to see what became of him. This was all too horrible to bear. Then I smelled something like earth and mildew and felt it climb over the top of me. It's body heat pressed down on me and in my last moments I opened my eyes.

My own reflection stared back at me within hundreds of blood red eyes.
~

FIGHT SIMULATION COMPLETE

I gasped as I came back to myself, flooded with cold as this emotion gripped my heart.

What was that?

I was slightly dazed but the sounds of footsteps and the raspy breath of the spider at our backs brought me back to the present. Ninety eight times out of a hundred the result was the same. Every time we would die in the same horrific manner and, unless I acted in the next few seconds, it would become our reality.

The monster was so fast and even sprinting hard my companions were too slow.

But not me.

I quickly accessed my power routing screen and redirected some into my legs.

TRANSFERRING POWER...

I managed to grab Yeosang's wrist just as the spider connected with his feet. I yanked him forward until I had my arm wrapped around him. Then I grabbed Seongwha's collar with my other hand and pulled him along with me. "What the-" He choked.

TRANSFERRING 70% POWER...

"T-ten?!" Yeosang stuttered.

"Get the door open!" I shouted. Yeosang looked confused but blinked and nodded his head.

Then with both of them out of immediate danger I spun on my heel and launched Yunho through the air. He flew over our heads, landing with a grunt just mere feet from the doors to command. He righted himself quickly and opened the doors.

Seeming to realize it had been thwarted the spider lashed out at me. I ducked just in time as it's sharp leg whistled through the air, right where my head had been.

"Stay down Ten!" Yunho ordered. Then he extended his arm behind him, gun poised, and emptied his clip into the face of the spider.

The spider screeched in fury and began chasing us even faster. It's spiny legs pounding so hard it tore holes into the floor on contact, bits of concrete pelting the back of our legs.

"Seongwha brace yourself!" I yelled and pushed him forward. He yelled in surprise his body spiraling and smacked into a wall. He managed to stay upright and  pushed off sprinting through the doors.

I redirected the power back to my legs and looped my arms around Mingi and Yunho's waists.

TRANSFERRING 80% POWER...

I doggedly pushed forward carrying both of the men. Adrenaline pumping through my veins as my vision sharpened and focused on our destination. We were now just feet away from the open doors of command.

We were going to make it.

The Star King sidestepped from the doorway with a large plasma cannon in his arms. The blue light grew from the center of it as it crackled to life and the Star King's eyes reflected the brilliant light.

"Get down!" He commanded.

I obeyed and dropped to the floor sliding on my knees through the open door. Yunho and Mingi followed suit and tumbled in beside me just as a resounding boom went off over our heads.

The plasma made contact with the spider and ripped off two of its legs. Then it blew a hole through it's abdomen splattering it all over the ceiling. Blood and viscera exploding from where the cannon ball hit.

The door to command nearly slid closed as the spider crashed into it. Relief flooded my chest that we made it to safety but it was short lived. I looked on in horror as one of the spider's legs hooked into the door attempting to pry it open. The door groaned and bulged as the spider continued to smash it's weight against it. The crew ran to the door and struggled to push back.

"Dammit it's not going to hold!" Yeosang grunted straining.

"Get away from the door." The Star King said calmly. Everyone complied and the captain drew his sword from its scabbard. It was a simple blade that buzzed with a powerful energy. In one swift motion he swung it down over the leg that was caught in the door. It sliced through the appendage with a pop of electricity and the monster howled in pain on the other side. With the sound of it's retreating footsteps the door slid closed with a thunk.

Yeosang ran to the other side of the room and slapped a hand down on the emergency button. An alarm rang out and the room was bathed in cold white light. Suddenly a flashing screen invaded my eyesight.

EMERGENCY PROTOCOL INITIATED

LOCKDOWN IN EFFECT

Metal bars dropped down from the ceiling closing off the door and solid steel shutters sealed off the window to the outside.

Everyone except me breathed a collective sigh of relief.

Fear made me cold as I thought back to the vision I had. I had run simulations before but they had never been so real, so painfully vivid. I gripped my chest feeling my heart beating frantically back.

What is happening to me?

Star King wiped sweat from his forehead and looked around at the crew. "Is anybody injured?" He asked the room. When no one spoke up he ran a hand over his face closing his eyes. "Thank the stars."

"San and the beast are still on the ship somewhere," Seongwha said while panting with his hands on his knees. "Hopefully where ever the hell Wooyoung ran off to he'll have the good sense to stay gone."

"Which means our next move is to make sure they're both safe," The Star King said hefting the plasma cannon over his shoulder. "Then we'll figure out how to deal with that monster." His eyes flitted up to meet mine. "Thank you for helping my men cyborg."

Yunho smiled at me and ruffled my hair affectionately. "It was Ten's quick thinking that got us out of there."

Yeosang rested an arm on my shoulders giving me a squeeze. "You saved my life Ten. You saved all of us."

I looked at everyone and felt something warm blossom in my chest. This emotion burned bright and melted through the fear, it was so powerful I swayed on my feet. The Star King grabbed my elbow and steadied me.

For a few minutes out there in the simulation I had forgot it wasn't reality. I truly felt that loss and it weighed on me like stones in my heart. I brought my hand up to my face and felt tears fall through my fingertips.

"A-are you crying Ten?" Yunho asked nervously waving his arms. Everyone else watched me with either looks of bewilderment or concern.

No, I thought resolutely. I would never tell them the reason behind these tears.