Run keep running don't stop don't you dare stop come on Sully you've got to get through this I can hear them even over my heavy footsteps on the metal grates my friends neighbors co-workers on this stupid tin coffin floating through space reduced to this there was no way out either just them or the cold void outside this vessel I'm dying no matter where I end up these damn things will get to me the RSS Eden a getaway space station sitting along the edge of the solar system has been in operation for a few months now
last night we were due to have our first ever planetary flyby with Pluto finally reaching us on its revolution big event and of course I had to work God forbid we let everyone on the station see it but me and some of the other kitchen crew ended up feeding everyone after some creative scheduling from the boss figures even at the edge of the damn solar system workers get exploited everyone else got to set up on the station Bridge with an unobstructed view of the Horizon reaching all the way to the Sun at the middle apparently
the pass was pretty quick there and gone like a car passing on the highway not that I would know considering we were stealing a smoke break in the walk-in kind of hard to go outs side for one when you're millions of miles from an inhabitable atmosphere so got to take it where you can the rest of the night all I heard was bragging from those that got to see Karen orbiting around Pluto as it passed by all the rich that didn't have to work to keep their place up here talking about how amazing it was
how when you see them up close they're like massive glaciers floating through space apparently there was even a comet trailing not too far off as well just adding to the show must be nice a couple of them even said it looked like they could see through the ice a massive shadow of the planet itself visible thanks to the light honestly the rest of the night was uneventful we closed the kitchen down had a few drinks and all went back to our rooms before we had to be back for prep the next day I was asleep
for I don't know honestly maybe a couple of hours then the screams woke me up I could hear banging all along the corridor outside punctuated by shrieks of Terror and pain my first thought was that some drunk guest started with one of our people hell probably high me down the hall getting caught with another guest's wife so now they want revenge there was every attempt to rationalize it but the screams told a different story the last few hours have been a total blur I stayed in my room as long as I could the screams holding
out the entire time the sounds of heavy footfalls everywhere but eventually I started to smell smoke it began seeping in through the cracks in the door something had caught and the fire was spreading fast I had to leave I had to cover my hand with an old shirt just to pull the door handle and a rush of heat met me as soon as it opened fire on my left a clear path to my right with screams echoing from Beyond The corridor's Curve not much of a choice where to go so I started to run heading
into the screams in favor of Burning Alive beyond the crew living quarters there was a small common area not too much but a few couches a TV with a few gaming consoles and movies pingpong and a couple of microwaves pretty standard stuff except when I entered now it had been given a fresh paint job of deep deep Scarlet there had to be gallons of blood spread and splattered all over the room with no care to where it landed the floor was slick with it almost totally covered in a thin Lair that squelched with every step
all of this Blood yet no body in sight were they taken somewhere else devoured what the is going on I could hear another scream from further down the corridor exiting the crew quarters and moving into the resort area we had probably two dozen guests on board right now has it gotten to all of them where the hell are all of my co-workers at no don't worry about that yet all in time worry about finding out what the hell is going on here it took took a few to get through the common area stepping carefully so
as not to slip in the Slick layer of Blood on the floor when I finally made it Footprints trailing from the common area to the resort guided me to my next destination hopefully whoever left them was still alive but the red tracks began to fade after a while leaving me guessing again there were smears of red sporadically along the wall but nothing to denote where everyone had gone off to the screams from before only echoed sporadically now with the large open area of the resort only making their whereabouts unclear the Sun was shining in the
distance outside the viewing window a brilliant lighthouse in the void of space a low growl broke the silence making me nearly jump out of my skin thanks to the viewing window everything here was brightly lit even the doorway leading further in toward the guest rooms The Shining Light poured in through the door Illuminating a lone figure walking toward the viewing area I resisted whatever urges I had to shout out at it instead backing up to hide behind one of the chairs whoever it was they let out a gurgling noise like they were trying to rinse
their throat but just couldn't get it back out when they finally stepped into the viewing room I finally got a clear look I don't know who they were originally any defining features were gone ripped away along with every inch of skin on their body completely naked glistening in the sunlight coming through muscle and Li ements were the only thing visible on their body all moving in a grotesque mechanism to guide them closer to me every muscle every tendon the slightest movements were bare to the naked eye as they moved closer blood smearing along the floor
as they walked despite my best efforts to not make a sound a small scream escaped my throat alerting the skin creature it snapped too facing toward me with lifeless eyes twitching in the exposed sockets for a brief moment it GED L staring in my direction before taking off toward me limbs were flailing wildly at its side as it ran closing the distance between us with next to no effort while I was slipping just trying to find some semblance of safety I fell in the Slick visera struggling to get back up as the life force below
me slipped and splashed it just got closer bearing down on me blood steadily dripping from the stripped muscles as teeth Beed above me God why what the was happening it lifted a hand toward me fingertips of sharpened bone ready to peel my skin off making me just like it bang the thing fell off writhing on the ground next to me in the doorway ahead one of the security guards was standing gun raised to fire at the thing again as I struggled to stand holding hands above my head as he aimed at me next whoa whoa
I'm not I'm not like that I said looking down at the writhing creature and sliding my way further from it he just stared at me gun leveled right at my Center Mass and finger on the trigger anyone alive back that way he said pointing to the direction I had just come from I shook my head there's a fire taking the place over probably need to seal it off before it spreads I said not that any of us could do that it required management level clearance just to run the damn garbage ejector much less seal off
an entire damn wing of this place that fire would have all of us making a decision soon either burn to death or contend with rapid depressurization in the cold void outside rasping next to me nearly made me jump before I realized it was the damned thing laying on the ground a few feet away now I wasn't going to wait and around with that and looked over to the guy motioning to the skinless being nearby not to be ungrateful or anything but can we get away from this the guard Lo his gun motioning for me to
come with him quietly we went down the hall toward the spa area I was just following him at this point hoping he knew what the hell was going on here but I get the feeling he's as in the dark as I am I'm Sully I said breaking the silence and looking toward him I extended a hand withdrawing it once I got an actual look and realized I was covered in blood from my fall earlier he only grunted Mick so is there anyone else alive what the hell's going on I asked everybody went crazy was his
only response I don't know I just clocked in around 3: this morning for my shift then some comes running by holding a knife he probably stole from the kitchen taking parts of his skin off Jesus I whispered under my breath have you found anyone else just you so far he mumbled checking around a corner to see if anyone was lying in weit we go through here and head up it'll put us up near the bridge going to call in for help dude it's going to take way too long for any kind of help to get
up here we're literally at the edge of space I said getting a little loud now it's setting in that if things are this bad that means we're not going to have long alone up here God knows how many of the staff and guests are like this now how many of them have you seen so far dozen or so couple in the process of skinning themselves I guess found some going at with a pair of scissors one of them snipping away at the other like it was some crafts project found another one just going to town
with fingernails bringing their own skin off in Little Bits piece by piece okay I'm going to stop you there I might throw up I said seeing a skinned person was one thing but hearing about how they got that way has my skin crawling he was describing it so damn casually too sorry spent some time in war zone so I forget I'm a little numb he mumbled again we turned a corner into the pool room olympic size all the way up here at the edge of the solar system and nobody living to swim in it not
that it was up to standard anyway I realized as we stepped in red clouds floated sporadically in the water with bodies visible below one close by near our end of the pool looked like it had a huge Cape billowing behind it as it floated through the water a moment later I realized it was the remains of the body's skin not quite separated all the way I wanted to puke right in the pool then and there looking away to try and Abate my disgust didn't work too well considering I hurled right onto the floor within seconds
the people in the pool at least seemed to be dead dead not taking any kind of notice we were there we hurried through the pool room coming out in a small maintenance area situated behind it pumps and tanks hummed with water beginning to Sosh from a small overflow as we walked through I caught sight of one of the filtration systems someone's face caught in the screen for debris I'm not sure who they were before but a little bit of hair was clinging to the scalp empty eye sockets screaming out as the water pulled it to
and fro I shivered turning away and continuing down the back hallway toward a maintenance elevator some of the service guys used should be a lift somewhere around here Mick mumbled moving down the hallway steadily making Mak sure to check gun first around every corner a loud bang came from the maintenance room behind us something hitting the door before scraping along the metal floors coming closer to us Mick swore ushering me to move faster behind him I made the mistake of looking back there in the dim lights of Maintenance a skinless man was making his way
toward us brandishing something that was already glistening with blood much like him the Screech he let out was inhuman and I could see tendon and muscle stret ing on his face in the Eerie light as he did turning I powered on behind Mick as he ran ahead desperately searching for the maintenance lift eventually it appeared on our left and he smashed the button so many times I'm surprised it didn't just pop right off the lift began moving slowly coming down the sign above it flashed Six coming down slowly to where we were at floor one
time slowed to an eternity as the skinless man made his way down the hallway getting closer with every agonizing step he took Mick pushed me aside raising his gun and firing off one shot hitting the thing in the center Mass it stumbled rasping for a moment but got back up it didn't seem like the first one took much back in the common area but I don't know if they're all different it just kept coming at us now screaming louder as it got closer like it was trying to signal to the others around the station looking
back at the lift it was only down to floor four by this point not good Mick let off another shot this time aiming for the head and hitting his Target right in the left eye part of the things' skull blew away exposing brain as skull fragments were blasted off the brain moved swear to God I thought I was crazy at first but the huge hole that was just torn in this thing's head was teeming moving every which was like it was itself in pain the way it was moving reminded me of how shellfish look when
they're still alive moving in like a fluid way but very obviously out of their environment struggling to live either way it was making things difficult for the body which started to trip and stumble every which way into the walls around it ding fluorescent lights welcomed us into the lift and we both nearly threw ourselves against the back wall desperate to get as far away as possible from that I pressed the eight putting us all the way to the top where the Captain's Quarters and Communications room would be situated I had seen it when we got
on boarded a while back they gave us this huge tour of the ship and explained where everything was done the main ship officers would be up here able to give us an idea of what the hell was going on and how we could get out of here everything was about to get better just have to keep telling myself that I don't even believe the lie as the lift goes up further Mick checks his gun taking stock he looks to me after reloading the magazine six left save one for me if things go bad up here
please I asked nodding he gave an affirmative flashing two fingers smart one for him one for me the door opened making us think that those two bullets might be our best bet at this point there was nobody visible on the main Bridge just the massive glass Dome that gave a view of the vast empty all around us space dark as could be with Pluto floating off one way the sun blazing like a far off Paradise a long ways p past it and the big dark abyss Beyond it smeared on the glass going toward the captain's
Chambers was dark red blood already dried on the cold window a handprint that showed someone was either grasping for support or being dragged away against their will streaking along the cold panel and through the doorway we walked over to one of the doors on the far side leading to the communications room that was our best bet after all opposed to what may be waiting in the quart on the opposite side nothing in here seemed out of place most of it was still pristine monitors on measurements coming through constantly that checked on the outposts oxygen and
other important functions I made my way to a terminal looking through to find what I was after thankfully I spent most of my off time playing around with the comms in this place figuring out how to get messages out past the pretty strict sensors they had on our internet can't have people knowing there's a secret rich people Resort out past Pluto after all especially when nobody even thinks FTL travel is possible at this point God if I make it back to Earth I'm either getting rich off spilling these beans or getting put in the Damned
looney bin maybe both there the comms began to light up as I placed a call back to Earth HQ the that ran this entire show you're through Eden what can we help you with a voice came over the other line oh thank mick swore making whoever was on the other line Yelp a little not very professional Eden you're usually a bit nicer when you call she responded indignant look professional is the last thing on our minds right now there's a big problem up here I said talking over Mick who was getting ready to swear at
her again who is this she asked again you don't sound like Lynn where's he Mom if I knew I'd put him on like I said we have problems up here and need someone to come get us I said again something happened people have gone crazy it's a bloodbath a blood bath you can't be serious how she asked again Jesus Christ just talking to her made me want to just get Mick to shoot me he piped up then listen here ma'am I know your fat ass back on Earth ain't worried about what's happening outside your atmosphere
but we're in real danger here people are killing each other Mick was going off I almost wanted to cheer for him at this point but he continued now you either put me on with someone higher up that can get us a rescue ship or you get your ass on one and fly up here yourself understood the line went dead for a second I legitimately thought he had just made this woman hang up killing our hopes of getting a ride out of here it continued on for another few minutes dead air coming through in stusy bursts
as radiation through space and countless thousands of miles interrupted the signal after a moment a man's voice came over the line this better be good he said sounding like he was already fed up with us what's happening up there that you're waking me up who the are you mix spat out now oh God here we go now it's just going to become an argument instead of ARR resue CEO Mitchell farmer of Eden excursions who the are you he spat back it took everything I had not to stop a groan escaping when I heard his name
God knows this Rich wasn't going to listen mix Berry guard on your can of a resort there are people up here tearing each other's skin off and killing everyone we need to get the hell out of here Mick was shouting now I looked back unsure of if he would attract any more of the skinless ones you sure the voice was more sober serious now how many of you are still alive me and this kid that's it far as I know Mick mentioned look I never saw like this and I've been in war zones the hell
is going on not sure listen I'm very sorry about what's happened to you hope you find a way out have a great day he said honestly if I expected any better from someone with the CEO title I would probably be pretty mad as it stands though I'm unsurprised and more focused on how the hell I'm going to get myself out of this mess the line went dead nobody on the other end anymore in me Mick whispered moving to the console and pressing a few buttons waving me aside the core wouldn't go through again though instead
being immediately picked up and denied they're just going to forget about us and go on like an happened great so we get killed by one of those things or die from old age starvation disease whatever I said slumping down and rubbing my eyes everything was catching up to me now my entire body achd from falling over in that blood puddle earlier and I was absolutely filthy there are emergency ships right there's one emergency transport ship yeah that might work he said standing up and typing something in on the console after a moment of mumbling to
himself and crouching over it he stood up straight it's docked and set right now needs at least Vice Captain clearance to let it loose though I looked at him for a moment both of us communicating something neither wanted to speak as I looked back towards the Captain's Quarters the blood smeared on the glass seemed to reflect the light of billions of stars outside confirming my fear that we would need to go in there all right if it's our only option I said standing now and walking over to the comm's doorway he stood following and drawing
his gun once more I flashed two fingers at him just remember save to he nodded taking point and moving across the bridge quickly we paused in front of the Captain Quarters taking a deep breath before he kicked the door in going in gun drawn and leveled in front of him moments after he went in I entered behind hearing his words right as the stench hit me holy death was thick in the air here the heavy metallic scent of blood mixing with the more biting odors of excrement there was blood smeared all over the walls with
tatters of Flesh hanging from the ceiling as we stepped through I could hear something coming from the room up ahead a tearing noise along with deep guttural grunting Mick kept his gun trained in front as I grabbed a bottle from a nearby table it was thick glass though still half full of some kind of spirit it took a lot to resist taking a swig then and there but I didn't want it to Sosh around and give us away I held on to it tight though waiting to take a swing at anything that may come as
we approached the doorway I could see further into the room beyond all the lights had been covered with strips and SES of human skin casting an eerie red glow over everything around there was one person sitting in the middle of the room skinless just like all the others other skinless bodies were scattered around and in front of the sitting one was another still having its own outer layer removed bit by bit Mick accidentally bumped a table making a cup tip over and shatter on the floor the skinless sitting in the middle of the room turned
eyes bulging bright against exposed muscle on its face and screamed leaping forward at Mick who fired off a shot it fell back momentarily squirming at the bullet now somewhere in its chest I could tell Mick was trying to be careful with his shots considering there was a relatively large window on the opposite side of the room I took my moment stepping forward toward the skinless one and hitting it with the bottle right over the head causing it to shatter as I did it screamed a strong alcohol hit the bare muscle and nerves unguarded thanks to
the skin being peeled off I still had hold of the neck of the bottle though now ending in a nice Jagged Shard of glass and ran it down one more time tearing through his eye and making him go still for a moment I pulled it back out readying for another strike but could see the squirming of something from behind the eye socket the brain in this one was moving around erratically just like the one downstairs desperately trying to get out despite the harsh environment Jesus mick whispered looking around the room at everything I couldn't help
but agree with his sentiment once I took everything in as well there was drawing on the walls with blood it was like some up futuristic cave drawings red viscera smeared in the images of people watching as a massive Planet passed above them in the distance small stick figures looking on in awe but further down the wall the planet passing over suddenly had this thing drawn inside it the entire planet picture was filled in with viscera and blood to color it but right in the middle there was more Focus something like a mass at the core
slumbering oh holy I whispered pieces of the puzzle fitting together in my head Karen did this the moon Mick asked still looking around the room he was going over tables and looking in the pockets of any clothes he found laying around desperately trying to find the key card we could use for the Emergency ship something in it caused all this I began before Mick cut me off again with a loud shout of Victory he was holding up the key card showing me the sirly captain's face printed right on it I can't help but think that's
who was lying here on the ground beside me responsible for this up little remodel with skin all over the walls to be honest with you Sully I don't care what caused this I care about getting the hell out of here he said the man spoke sense even in the middle of this hell that looked like Ed gain's wet dream I nodded we weren't able to leave the room before Captain came back screaming as the thing in his head suddenly began to leak out it wasn't a brain anymore if that's what it was in the first
place this thing was round gray like brain matter but slithering along the ground like a sea creature desperate to find a new puddle to live in Mick lifted his gun firing at it it split pieces moving faster toward bodies on the floor and propped on the walls number no don't shoot anything else I said said pulling on his arm and running to the door everybody touched by part of the thing suddenly began to jerk and move around writhing on the ground as they began to stand to their feet each one was letting out a low
rasp guttural sounds like they were learning to speak for the first time Mick got the hint and started running clutching the key card as they began limping after us skin still hanging off of some in strips and patches I swear they were all smiling as they came after us maybe it was just just the exposed teeth in their cheeks making it look that way but their evil grins almost had me Frozen in fear we made our way to the lift desperately pressing to open the door on it again as it did we clambered in once
more slamming the door shut by pounding on the button until it actually cracked the skinless were just feet away when the ding finally came their Barren grins disappearing as the doors came together tight sealing them out I hate it here I said bending over to grab my knees and try to stop myself from puking again sour bile in my throat was the only answer acid burning on my tongue as I nearly choked Mick gave me a pat on the back as I stood wiping my mouth we're getting out of here one way or another he
said five left I nodded as the elevator dinged down looking at our destination we came up from floor one but there was a garage level just below us and that's where we were headed the emergency ship would be there already gassed up and prepared for any type of medical or personal event that may require someone to be shuttled through space at a little over light speed to get back to Earth now it was just a matter of getting to it without setting off every skinless in this place no such luck for us the door opened
with a ding on the basement level giving us a full view of the garage area I could see the windows on either side giving us a clear view Beyond as the emergency transport sat there in the hanger skinless bodies Milling around it stars were shining in the distance taunting us that we were never going to get out of there the ding of the elevator was all they needed to turn in our Direction ever single one of the damn things focusing right on us run Mick told me I took off going to the right and hoping
to get some distance between myself and those things Mick ran to the left trying to draw them off with a gunshot four left now they all began Milling toward him instead of me so I was able to try and take a stealthier approach hiding behind ship containers and other transport crates to make my way to the emergency vehicle there was one damned one though who was just I don't know broken he wasn't following Mick but was instead just waiting for me in the shadows of a shipping container close by when I walked by it jumped
out grabbing me by the arm I could feel sharpened finger bones digging into my skin scratching and running furrows through it drawing blood right near my elbow I screamed kicking at it to no avail the claws dug in further with another hand reaching for me to render more of my skin from the rest of my body I made a desperate plunge forward feeling the claws in my elbow tear even deeper shredding muscle now as I let out a scream of pain it was enough though and I made it far enough away that I was able
to break out of its grasp though I believe it took some of my flesh with it Mick was on the other side of the hanger still mobbed by at least six of the Damned creatur creat es when he shot off another bullet popping one right in the head three left I could see the writhing mass as it stumbled forward knocking into one of the others and nearly sticking to it the bodies began to almost congeal together as they made contact forming into this Unholy mass of blood muscle and bone that was still trying to get
to Mick finally I was at the ship but he was still at least three dozen yards away I heard him yell my name as I ran forward trying to find some way to help him out of the deadly predicament as I got closer though I saw him hold up the metal key card with the captain's face on it motioning for me to catch I haven't seen anyone throw a card like that since Gambit in Old X-Men cartoons but damn his aim was good I was able to catch it as it whizzed through the air nearby
coming right toward me the mass of bodies was pressing in closer to him as I turned back intending to get the doors open so he could make a run I swiped it by the ID reader open opening the small side door and stepping in turning back to look for him the bodies kept running into each other and congealing all mixing into one massive being arms and heads all waving wildly while screaming in an Unholy chorus one arm had his leg another was exposing claws that were being sunk into his back now and no matter how
many times he tried to break free it was useless one hand lost a grip two more took its place keeping him bogged down I was in the doorway of the ship screaming for him to get over here so he could just close the door instead he started moving the other way further down toward the hanger door close it dumbass he shouted at me now I didn't want to theer I had only known the guy a few hours but he had already saved my ass countless times no way I was just going to leave him to
this skinless Cham that kept grabbing hold of him now he screamed again claws rening the Flesh of his shoulder causing blood to spray out over the amalgamation of bodies they almost delighted in it dancing as the blood hit them Mick raised his gun toward the hanger window shouting again now pop two shots left the hanger window cracked a little where the bullet hit a small chip appearing in it this stuff was thick though and wasn't going to give easy pop one shot left our deal was off I guess my arm stung pain searing from my
elbow outward as I hit the button inside the ship closing myself into the small shuttle the spider web began to spread on the glass moving quickly through the long pane toward either end once it broke this ship would probably be pulled right through out into the void of space hopefully it held together long enough to let me set up the autopilot back home pop the last shot did it hitting right on one of the already branching fractals of the cracking glass Mick let out out a cheer as another of the amalgamations hands ripped at his
throat causing another Blood shower to come down finally killing the man that had saved me barely hours ago his last deed was enough because before I knew what was happening the glass gave into the pressure differential inside and outside bursting into millions of shards that spread Out Among the Stars in space every single body in that hanger was ripped out though the ship didn't budge I was still sitting securely on the hanger Port watching as the amalgamation of bodies was thrown Far Far Away reaching toward the farthest void of space floating the opposite direction of
the sun eventually I stopped looking Mick's body must have been torn apart immediately when the window came down because I couldn't see him anywhere the amalgamation was still writhing as it went though whether of its own valtion or that of space I'm not sure when I finally got to the cockpit I realized the magnet anchors were on keeping the ship steady in place during all of that it took a little searching but I was able to disengage them watching out of the front windshield as the ship began to float gently above the ground steadily ever
so steadily I managed to maneuver it out the window the rest was simple an autopilot system that would aim it right at Earth not like there was anywhere else this thing was fit to go I keyed everything in and sat back letting the computer do the rest think I'm going to find that guy when I get back what was his name that's right Mitchell farmer maybe I'll get enough bullets that he can have one for everyone that was up here maybe I'll give him two for mix memory Eden faded behind me the dim lights inside
shining through huge Windows giving the appearance that the space station was still thriving despite all the death on board it wasn't a bad job while it lasted honestly definitely going to be a pain in the ass getting used to being on Earth again God it's going to be a long flight back but this message will probably get back to Earth before I will if you see Mitch down there well give him a message from me don't even tell him who it's from just give him a nice little scare to get him ready for me tell
him he's going to lose his skin
