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  '...After I got the main power back online the whole ship reset itself.' Said Mark. Still staring blatantly into the computer screen as he spoke '...So I don't think I'm gonna be able to find out what date it exactly is, or even how long we were in those bloody hibernation pods for.'

  I leaned over Mark's shoulder, staring blankly at the scrolling images on the screen with my new faked interest. '...And there's not even any present day records to compare them with.' He continued.

  'Does it really matter anymore what date it is or even how long we were sleeping for?' I said without even thinking. 'I mean time doesn't really seem to effect this place much.'

  'Of course it matters' Snapped Mark. 'I need to know what to expect when we reach home. We could've been drifting out here for years. Decades even.'

  The computer continued to cycle through thousands upon thousands of countless hours of empty recorded digital footage from every single room and every conceivable angle on board the shuttle. There seemed to be no end to these images.

  'How long will this all take?' I asked. I think I was trying to hint at Mark that his time would be better off spent on other skilful tasks around the shuttle right now. Plus I was more than happy to take over his tedious duties of cycling through this mind numbing nonsense just to get a seat and a break from his mind aching words. I actually didn't care one toss about what he could or would find riffling through the recorded data footage from the past anymore. Well anything from before we went into the pods. But for obvious reasons I sure as hell didn't want him stumbling across any of the recent footage of his wife and I, or me and my own damn sister for that matter, being intimate with one another in the shower room. Then me forcing myself upon her. I couldn't predict exactly how he'd react. It would not be with joyful words and cheerful expressions and mannerisms that's for sure. Nor did I wish to find out anytime soon. Whatever his reaction though, bad or even worse than bad. I was pretty sure it was always going to be on the wrong side of good. Big time.

  Mark continued to eagerly watch the screen.

  'I was hoping only just a few hours. But with all the time and date files being reset...' He let out a deep sigh. 'Jesus Christ! It could take forever.'

  'Oh! Really!' I said almost too innocently. I didn't want to be too blatantly obvious as he'd already suggested before that I could do this task for him. I just wanted to jog his memory a little without forcing the issue.

  'Here!' Said Mark getting out from the seat. 'Sit down and I'll show you how to work this specific program. It's pretty simple. Like I said it will even give you something to do for a while. It could help with your memories also.'

  I sat down in Mark's seat as he showed me how to work the Digital footage playback program. It pretty much revolved around me touching the screen with my finger tips and making certain gestures with them. Up, down, left and right, circular, zigzagging! I had to tap and double tap the screen at certain points too when I wished to select a progressing option. Of course I was pretty damn good at this double tapping already. Once Mark was happy that I was confident enough to be left on my own, he gave me a comforting pat on the back and left me too it. He obviously wasn't expecting too much.

  Chapter 17

  For countless, tedious hours I continued to cycle through the digital footage of the shuttle's main computer. After some time of getting to grips with this repetitive chore, it really did get easier and easier for me to cycle through faster and with more confidence. All the screen seemed to show was a continuous array of footage of empty rooms and corridors all over the shuttle. The corridors were always dark and empty. The bedrooms were always dark and empty. The hibernation pod room was also, surprise, surprise, dark and empty. And every single pod lid was closed firmly shut tight.

  It seemed like another lifetime had passed when Mark entered back into the control room to see how I was getting on.

  'Found anything interesting yet?' He asked upbeat.

  I continued to look at the screen in a morbid state. Sleep had her soothing hands clasped gently around my throat.

  'Nothing! Absolutely... nothing.' I replied.

  'I'm gonna grab some food and water for Anna, then probably get some kip. Do you want anything?'

  'No.' I said keeping my eyes fully focussed upon the screen. Yes the task at hand was soul destroying. Even though I felt I had very little of a soul left to destroy. But none the less this tedious task had hooked me in. It kept my mind away from pondering over other certain things, so I was at least grateful for that. Plus, no matter how sleepy I became, I really didn't want to miss the slightest single mundane movement on the screen anymore. A curiosity still burned inside me to see what had really happened to us here and at least solve the whereabouts of Steffi and Ian, or their fates. Besides, it was something useful for me to do here and that in itself was a rare commodity.

  'Okay, I'll leave you to it.' Said Mark turning away. He left my side just as quickly as he'd appeared. As Mark was about to exit back into the main corridor, Anna's distant but horrific chilling screams could be heard shrieking out from the other side of the shuttle. Mark turned to me for an instant with the most horrific look. Almost as if he were looking for some kind of reassurance that he wasn't just imagining these screams. I turned, glancing at him too. Both of us looking completely startled by this unexpected shrieking.

  'Anna!' Said Mark anxiously. He then bolted through the control room doorway and out into the main corridor. I too stood up and hurriedly made my way into the corridor right after him. Quickly I moved in the direction of Anna's shrieks and hollowed sobs. In the next corridor I saw Mark running desperately into the shower area where the sound of Anna's frantic cries seemed to be coming from. Finally I reached the shower room coming to a sudden halt right outside the doorway. I froze in absolute mortified shock. I almost gagged as the vomit hit the back of my throat but thankfully never came up any further. I tried to gather my erratic senses. In front of me I was brutally confronted by a bloodied and hysterical Anna at the far end of the shower area. Blood was smeared all down her inside thighs and groin. Her hands were covered in blood too as she cradled her stomach in great pain right beside the toilet.

  'Oh my god! Oh my god.' Cried Mark equally hysterical as he rushed to comfort Anna who continued to howl, scream and sob. Mark hugged into her hard, staring down at the toilet seat and into the bowl which was smeared with more blood than I cared to see. He scrunched his eyes up with a torturous look and turned painfully away from the contents of the toilet bowl.

  'Oh Christ!' He cried. 'Oh Jesus Christ.'

  'What's happening to me.' Anna sobbed. 'WHAT IS HAPPENING TO ME?' She screamed over and over.

  'It's okay my love. It's okay.' Said Mark softly and hugging her even tighter.

  'Is she okay?' I quietly asked which was probably the dumbest thing I could've said in that moment. Of course she wasn't okay. She was in another galaxy altogether from okay. Anna continued to moan and sob into Mark. Mark began sobbing too as he comforted her with all his love and warmth. Tears were streaming down his face as he turned to face me.

  'Just go back to the computer David, okay! There's nothing you can do here... Please... just go.'

  I continued to watch the bloodied Anna sobbing in sporadic bursts of hysterics. I glanced again at the blood stains and smears upon the toilet seat and bowl. I tried to fathom just what the hell had happened. Then I remembered the baby! Maybe this was something to do with the baby inside her.

  'David please!' Screamed Mark. 'Just go back to the fucking computer will you. NOW!'

  Mark's angry outburst brought me back to the reality of the present. Jerking me violently from my state of deep thoughts. Heeding Mark's angry pleas I turned away from the doorway and made my way back down the corridor to the control room.

  Chapter 18

  Two sleeps had passed since I witnessed the bloody events in the shower room. I had done as Mark had asked making my way back to the control room to resume my duties with the recorded computer footag
e. But even after two sleeps my mind was still awash with the horrifying images of Anna all bloodied and freaking out like she'd finally gone insane. When I saw the blood on her thighs, hands and all over the toilet... Then the way she clutched at her stomach like she'd lost some part of her soul. I think I knew right away what had happened. Her baby, that tiny little living creature she must have been carrying inside her belly. A baby she herself in her present state of mind knew absolutely nothing about until a short while ago. It was dead. I kind of knew instinctively how babies should come into this world, but not like that. Something bad had gone horribly wrong inside. Now her baby was gone.

  In a delayed moment of anger I slammed down upon the keyboard in front of me with my fists. I wasn't really paying any great attention to the screen. My mind still all over the place regarding Anna. But as I let out a deep sigh and held my head with my hands, the computer program must have skipped somehow to another part of the recorded footage caused by my random banging outburst. When I finally glanced back at the screen an out of place image from the corner ceiling view of the control room camera, quickly came to my attention. Jesus Christ it was the lone figure of Steffi. She sat randomly upon the last of the flight deck seats at the very front of the control room. So completely still. Just sitting there for no good reason at all. She looked so peaceful just staring out obliviously into space. More time passed and still no movements from her. I couldn't tell whether she was dead or alive. It chilled me to my very core to see her motionless body just sitting there, doing nothing. Just so still.

  'Steffi!' I whispered. I reached out touching the screen. I didn't feel to much emotion for this woman. Yet it didn't stop an unexpected single tear spilling from my eye, rolling down my cheek. It was such a sad, lonely and pitiful sight to see. I peeled my gaze away from the flight deck seats upon the screen and glanced over towards the ones in my reality. They were only a few yards away in front of me with the skeleton remains below them. I turned back to the screen and frantically cycled through more footage. I wanted desperately to find anymore live action images. I was horrified at the amount of time I scrolled forward through this footage and the image of Steffi remained seated, exactly where she was. It must've been a few hundred sleeps, a thousand even. By Christ much, much more.

  More time passed. I think I was scrolling far too fast in my anxious state. Suddenly new and various other speedy images emerged onto the screen. I caught a quick glimpse of my old self occupying various camera angles. While other footage seemed to be filled with lots of active commotion and movement. Violent outbursts. Screaming and face to face confrontations. I stopped the footage and saw myself in the control room with Ian and Steffi. We were all in some kind of confrontation with each other. I scrolled back further and began the playback right as my old self entered the room where both Steffi and Ian were working. It seemed to be right at the point before the heated arguments had commenced. I watched the screen with great fascination at seeing myself. This cold and sinister looking character was clearly a younger version of me. But he was also someone I did not recognise. His body movements. His facial expressions. His actions. His clean shaven good looks. Everything about him was just so foreign to me. The only thing that seemed familiar was his naked upper body and those white sleeping trousers I wore still.

  On the screen the old me was eerily standing beside the control room doorway. He seemed to be waiting and watching without anyone knowing he was there. It seemed like the old me had been standing there for quite some time.

  I scrolled forward a little touch on the computer, just until the man who looked like me finally stepped into the room and towards the direction of Steffi. He'd been clearly building his nerve up to this action. In front of him Steffi looked completely engrossed with her work. Running more data through the main computer. The very computer I happened to be seated at right this very second. I watched the screen with great intensity as something bad, something very, very bad indeed was about to unfold here.

  Ian sat, working humbly away with his back turned away from Steffi working at another computer across from her. The man who looked like me stepped a little further towards her. Suddenly he stopped. Took a deep breath and spoke.

  'The perfect happy couple aeh.' This man said with a chilling callous. He seemed cold and upset. Steffi turned with a startled expression.

  'Jesus Christ you scared me! What the hell are you doing here David? I thought you were in your pod with Anna and Mark?'

  'Are you okay David?' Asked Ian concerned as he turned to face the man who looked like me. The man ignored Ian and made his way smugly towards Steffi again. I noticed that both his hands were strangely placed around his back like he were holding or concealing something underneath the back of his shirt. Maybe something heavy or awkward of which he did not want the others to see.

  'Looks like we have the whole shuttle to ourselves now, aeh Steff?' Said the man grinning wildly as he finally reached within inches of the startled Steffi. He leaned into her, touching her shoulder with one hand while keeping the other firmly behind his back. On the other side of the room Ian remained seated watching this bizarre scene unfold with great curiosity.

  'Fancy a quick fuck then for old times sake?' Said David into Steffi's ear. But it was loud enough for Ian and the control room cameras to overhear. Steffi closed her eyes looking completely distraught. She looked like her whole world was about to come crashing down. The man who looked like me then began kissing and caressing at Steffi's neck like it were the most natural thing in the world. Across the room Ian stood abruptly to his feet.

  'What the hell is wrong with you David? Take your bloody hands off my wife. What the hell's gotten into you man?'

  Hearing Ian's voice Steffi opened her eyes and snapped out of her frozen, distraught state.

  'What the hell are you doing David? The shuttle's shutting down in ten minutes and you do this now!' Yelled Steffi upset. The man continued to stare at her with great intense, cold eyes. Finally he spoke.

  'How about it then sweetie? Time for one last quickie before we hit the pods. Maybe over your desk here like we did for our first time when you practically raped me. Or that time in the lift when we pretended to be stuck for twenty minutes. Or the countless times down in the dark cargo bay when everyone was up here sleeping. Man we were like crazy insatiable wild animals down there. On the cold floor. Up against the walls. On top of the crates. Inside the damn crates...' The man grinned wildly. Steffi shook her head in disgust. Ian continued to stand where he was, confused as hell. He looked like he couldn't believe what he was hearing or what the hell was going on.

  'You stupid fuck.' Said Steffi trying to contain her emotions, but it looked like an impossible act for her. 'You are such a stupid dumb fucking asshole! Why are you doing this now? Why?'

  'Steffi! What the hell's he talking about?' Ian said raising his voice. 'What the hell's going on with you two? Is there something going on with you two? Tell me?'

  The man who looked like me continued to stare hard and intensely at Steffi. He wouldn't take his eyes away from her for a single second. Finally he spoke.

  'Me and your sexy little vixen wife here Sir... Ian... Captain... Mate! Well... The short tale is... We're in love.'

  'Don't listen to a word of his lies Ian. He's a sex pest! Been coming onto me this whole trip, like my own personal space stalker. Begging me to have sex with him every time we found ourselves alone. He just won't take no for a goddamn answer. He's obsessed with me. Completely and utterly obsessed.'

  'Is this true David?' Ian said rather calmly. The man who looked like me ignored him though like he wasn't even there. Instead he tried to tenderly kiss the left side of Steffi's neck again.

  'Hmmm! You smell so fucking delicious Steff.' Continued the man. Steffi tried to struggle from her seat and away. Desperately trying to push the man away. He was doing a good job of holding her down though with just one free arm. Ian then rushed towards him. Attempting to somehow stop him from touching and holding
down his wife. Oddly though, the man who looked like me still had his other hand firmly placed around his back... And then... in a moment of sheer and utter insanity... I watched with disturbing horror as the man who looked like me suddenly pulled out an axe from underneath the back of his shirt. And swiftly swung it straight into the top of Ian's skull as he approached. It took a few surreal moments for Ian's lifeless body to fall back, hitting the solid floor below. But he was most definitely dead. Killed outright from the brutal axe blow to his skull. Some of Ian's blood splattered over Steffi's face. All she could do for that moment was watch the horrendous scene in absolute shock and speechless terror as it unfolded before her. The man who looked like me grinned down insanely at Ian's lifeless, bleeding body. Steffi started shaking all over. Finally, after what seemed like a timeless age, she let out the most harrowing and hysterical scream. The man who looked like me came to his senses turning his attention back to Steffi, away from the dead Ian. As he did, he pulled out a small but sharp looking needle syringe from his front pocket. He grabbed Steffi forcefully by her hair. He held the syringe close against her neck while she continued to scream.

  I watched the maddening action unfold before me on screen in a shocked awe of disbelief. On the screen the man continued to yank Steffi's hair while holding the prick end of the needle syringe right against her throat. Her screams turned into desperate pleas of murmured moans of mercy.

  'Please David! Please, I beg you. Why are you doing this, why?'

  'I'm so sorry it had to end like this my love.' He said coldly before injecting the needle end of the syringe deep and hard into Steffi's neck. She squealed in pain. Frantically trying to push David away, but he was too damn strong in his maddened state of insanity.