Station 4 is Compromised

This story was originally published on Medium.

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The sounds of the space station exploding are distant, but not as distant as they were 20 seconds ago. Tyquan flings the bay door open. Inside, just three more of his colleagues. Red shirts.

“Goddamn it! There isn’t a blue shirt in here?!” Tyquan screams.

“No! But there’s a blue shirt in the bay down the hall!” One of the red shirts, Jenna, responds.

She sprints out of the bay, her crimson hair whipping around. She flings her hand out and her finger points to the end of the hall Tyquan did not want her to point to. The end of the hall closer to the sounds of the explosions.

The sounds of the explosions… now louder.

“Show me!” Tyquan yells.

Jenna takes off down the hall. Tyquan races after her, not even looking back at the other two red shirts, Gregory and Akari.

“Why are all the doors locked from the inside?!” Gregory screams up to Tyquan as they all sprint.

“Fuck if I know!” Tyquan responds. “I’m only a green shirt!”

“I thought you green shirts were more… techy.” Akari utters through heaving breaths.

“Fucking red shirts.” Tyquan grumbles. “No! We need a blue shirt!”

“Up here!” Jenna calls out, pointing to one of the doors.

Tyquan swipes his card in the scanner, punches in his code, and then the light flashes green.

The explosions sound off again. Closer. The floor rattles.

Tyquan whips the door open. A blue shirt and a red shirt lay in the center of the floor underneath a pile of rubble. The red shirt is bleeding from the ears, neck twisted in an inhuman fashion. The blue shirt is struggling.

“Oh my God! Help me out of here!” She screams.

“We got you, Yetunde!” Jenna leaps into action.

Tyquan follows her lead. Gregory and Akari stand dumbfounded at the door.

“Come help us!” Tyquan urges as he and Jenna are attempting to lift the debris off of Yetunde.

Gregory and Akari snap out of it. They rush over and grab hold of whatever they can.

“On the count of three, let’s all lift as much as we can, and Yetunde, you slide out!” Jenna instructs. “One…”

Another explosion, so close, the walls rattle. Picture frames fall and glass shatters on the floor.

“Two!” Jenna continues, unfazed. “Three!”

All four of them lift with all their might. The smallest gap is allowed for Yetunde. She pulls and slides out from underneath the rubble as the four strain and grunt, holding the materials up as long as they can. Yetunde pulls her entire body free and everyone drops the materials to the floor.

“Is he dead?” Akari asks, pointing at the red shirt.

“Instantly. Didn’t feel a thing, thankfully. Unlike us, we’re going to feel a hell of a lot.” Yetunde is brushing herself free of dirt and dust.

“No, I have a pod waiting for us!” Tyquan is already racing out of the room. “We need you to fly it.”

“Sweet, Jesus! Are you some kind of savior?!” Yetunde lets a brief smile flash across her face.

“Nope. Just a green shirt.” Tyquan laughs as he runs. “This is what I do!”

Everyone follows after Tyquan as he runs like a mad man down the hall.

More explosions. The walls shake and rattle.

Tyquan turns left at an intersection. He doesn’t even look back. He knows if the others want to live they will be following him.

They all turn the corner and keep following Tyquan.

“Wait! Isn’t this the wrong way?!” Gregory calls out. “Aren’t the pods the other way?!”

“That’s where most of the pods are!” Tyquan calls back without breaking stride. “But everyone is fighting over those. It’s pandemonium. This is where they keep the emergency pods. Very few of them, but less competition!”

Tyquan turns another corner sharply. Everyone follows. Another explosion hits so hard, the hallway shifts violently and everyone loses their footing and falls. Akari is the first one up. She helps Gregory up. Jenna grabs Yetunde, now running with a limp. She pulls her to her feet and drags her along. Tyquan is up and running before anyone has a chance to look his way.

Tyquan turns another corner. Everyone follows… and there it is. The emergency pod room. Only five of them. Two are gone. Three available. The one in the dead center of the room is guarded by an antsy looking yellow shirt.

“Manuel, we got a blue shirt! Let’s go!” Tyquan yells out to him.

Manuel opens up the door to the pod.

“Wait, we can fit eight people per pod, we’re only six!” Gregory yells out. “It’s our duty to go and get two more people.”

“No can do.” Manuel announces. “After Tyquan left, three more pairs of green and yellow shirts came by here and left to find a blue shirt. If we wait, and they return, they’re taking the last three pods and all six of us could be shit out of luck.”

“I’m going to get two more people.” Gregory is defiant.

“No, there’s no time!” Manuel insists.

“But we can fit eight in a pod.” Gregory urges. “Six per pod is a waste.”

“And five per pod is an even bigger waste, and that’s what will happen if you leave.” Manuel is ushering everyone into the pod.

Only Gregory and Manuel remain outside of the pod. Everyone inside looks on with eager eyes.

“Come on, Gregory! Just get in!” Akari screams.

“I’m going to find two more people!” Gregory yells as he starts to step back towards the hallway. “Hold the pod for me.”

“I’ll hold it for you, but if the station starts to come down or anyone else comes around here, I’m shutting this door and we’re leaving.” Manuel informs him.

Gregory nods and dashes off.

More explosions sound off in the station. The walls shake and the lights flicker. Everyone inside the pod is nervous and anxious. Manuel remains outside the door, standing very still, eyes trained on the hallway. Yetunde is working the control panel, getting the pod ready.

“He better hurry.” Yetunde says. “I don’t think we have much time left.”

No one answers. Loud explosions rock the surrounding area. The walls tremble immensely and the lights flicker so much, the strobing effect becomes sickening to everyone. They all look down at their feet to avoid getting nauseous. Manuel’s head remains up, eyes trained on the hallway.

The sound of footsteps running through the hallway is heard. It grows louder. Louder. Several feet are approaching. Could Gregory have found two more people to save?

The sound of the footsteps is deafening. It is apparent… it’s more than just six feet, attached to six legs, attached to three bodies. Rounding the corner at the end of the hall, 20 people emerge, sprinting. Behind them, another 20 follow. Among them, several blue shirts, enough to operate the pods. Not among them… Gregory.

Manuel leaps into the pod and shuts the door. The sound of hands and faces slamming into the glass and streaking down the sides is unbearable enough to hear. For anyone who glimpses back into the station, the faces on those trying desperately to get into the pod is even more heartbreaking.

Yetunde doesn’t dare look back into the station. Her eyes stay trained on the control panel and the vast blackness of space outside of their pod as she jostles it out of its fixed position and flies it away from the station. She doesn’t dare watch the station as her abrupt departure from it most definitely broke the air seal… as it most definitely would have ended the lives of those not yet in one of the other two remaining pods.

Yetunde keeps her eyes trained on what matters most to her… the control panel… and what lies in front of her… that is how she is going to save her own life and the lives of the four that are with her.

No one dares to look back at the station as they fly farther and farther away. The explosions are so loud, they sound to be right on their heels. But soon enough, the sounds go perfectly silent. There is no more noise, except the heavy breathing of five souls that just barely escaped death’s icy grasp.

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