The Killer Among Us: Part Four

A lot can happen in mere seconds.

Bernard had tried everything. Ignored everything and everyone until he had finally found the answer. The solution. The answer to end the nightmare hanging over his head for the past twenty-four hours.

They killed Yvette, his darling girlfriend.

They killed Paisley, the only other person who tried to be friends with him.

Which innocent life would be taken next? He would do everything in his power to make sure it didn’t happen.

There was a gun hidden in Oaklynn’s bunk. That’s what concluded his suspicions. He clutched the pistol hard in his hand to stop it from shaking too much. He was going to kill her for all she had done. Pearl was already dead and gone, he had heard. Lost in space. Then from the security footage he found, Oaklynn had stabbed Paisley from behind.

That traitor.

There’s no cameras in electrical. Yvette’s killer wasn’t fully confirmed—it had to be either Pearl or Oaklynn… but something in the back of his mind told him that wasn’t it.

Whoever had cut those innocent lives short, he was going to make them pay. Stoop down to their level. Give them a taste of their own medicine.

Bernard stood in front of the cafeteria, pressing his ear against the door that stood in his way.. Voices echoed from the other side—an argument. There had to be two of them. An easy distinction that it was a girl and a guy.

“Oaklynn.” The word slipped out of his mouth.

Bernard was livid. In despair. Vengeance flooded his mind, there was no denying it. He wanted her dead, he wanted all of them dead. How could someone take another person’s life without explanation?

For him, he had an explanation. Sadness or grief or love or loyalty. None of those quite fit the role. So what was his explanation? Simple—revenge.

Did that justify his actions? Maybe not. Either way, Bernard didn’t care about any consequences. He just wanted the traitor, well, dead. Just like she had caused to the people he knew.

Taking a deep breath, he squeezed the weapon in his hands one last time before opening the door. With a skshhh, he entered.

He pointed the nuzzle at every corner in sight. No one was there. Whatever—whoever— was there before had vanished into thin air.

360.

Bernard was the only one in that room.

He lowered the nuzzle.

A mistake.

Someone came from the side, whacking him in the side of his throat before Bernard could even react. He barreled to the ground, the wind knocked out of him. His heart rate increased as faster than his vision blurred. He hacked, trying to regain his composure before they—

Oh no.

He squeezed the air. Nothing. The gun. It was gone. They had it.

Someone cocked the gun, the second person that had been in the room. The stronger one kicked his side, then his chest, sending him sliding on his back.

His head hit the now closed doors. Pain throbbed throughout his mind. And his entire body. Everything hurt.

Another hack.

I’m going to die.

He was the next innocent person.

The fire of a gun a split second before…

A lot can happen in mere seconds.

***

“Will Bryce be okay?” Levi’s small voice—a surprisingly sturdy one considering what he just saw with his own, youthful eyes—asked me. “Rashida?”

I gave my best attempt at a smile as I ran my hand down the back of his head, a mere attempt of comfort. Sure, it didn’t look like he needed it, but the kid’s still a kid.

To consider his question, I wanted to say yes. More than anything. But the total of, like, five deaths on the small ship in the past twenty-something hours had an effect on my esteem.

Luckily, Cooper finally came out of Medbay to my rescue. He pushed up his glasses with his wrist as he yawned. Then he sighed—it sounded like a sigh of relief. “Bryce is okay. I got the bullet out and patched him up, so he’s resting right now.”

“Thank goodness.” I leaned my head back against the cool, metal wall. “You did a good job.”

Cooper looked down and chuckled. “I try my best.” But from the look of his face, he was tired. And glad. With everything being, well, you know, killed and all, he finally was able to save one.

Levi gave Cooper a big ol’ hug. “Can I see him?”

“Like I said, he’s sleeping. But go ahead.” He opened the doors again, and I was able to see Dumb—I mean, Bryce. Even if it was for two seconds.

His chest rose and fell at a steady pace, his eyes resting peacefully. And even if I only saw him for two seconds, that alone gave me relief.

The doors shut, and Cooper stretched out his arms. “I’m… gonna go sleep now.”

I crossed my arms. “I understand. I… really need to see Garrett.”

He nodded. “Alright. Um, see you.”

I watched him as he disappeared round the corner towards the bunks. I felt proud for that dude, even if he was only a year younger than me. Now it was time for the hard part—Garrett. I knew it was going to be hard for multiple reasons.

I decided to take the long way, avoiding the cafeteria—didn’t wanna see that gruesome sight ever again. I passed by the communications room, which reminded me that I had to try the communications again. I could do that later.

Garrett was the one that mattered right now.

A long time passed before I found Garrett in the administration office. He paced around the holographic map table, muttering to himself.

He gradually got louder before he ended up shouting, “Oaklynn, you-you son of—” And that’s when he saw me. He scrunched up face when totally blank in half a second. Some blood was still speckled on his face…

“Rashida.” He only stared at me for a second. Then I decided screw it.

Just a few steps later, I was hugging Garrett as tight as I could. “It’s not your fault… it was an accident.”

He wrapped his arms around me. I felt…comforted. No, more like safe. Something that I thought was lost, maybe I could still feel that feeling for a few more seconds. “She wasn’t supposed to die. I didn’t mean to kill her, I swear. I…”

I pulled away from the embrace, looking up at him. “I believe you, Garrett. I always will. You have my trust.” That was the truth.

The corners of his mouth twitched. “Thank you…for that.” He chuckled and punched my arm. “Even if it did sound kinda cheesy.”

I rolled my eyes, turning away. “Whatever. I have to go work on the communication radios, but I came by to check on you. Don’t beat yourself up, okay?”

He didn’t say anything—he only stared at me. The tiny smirk on his lips didn’t match the expression in his eyes. Something was off about him. And not understanding what was going through his mind, it frustrated me.

Then I just nodded.

Then he nodded.

Some sort of understanding, so then I left the room.

Finally, I would give permission to communications to need me.

The way there I walked in silence. My mind blank.

Literally.

No thoughts.

Just empty.

Empty.

Empty.

Walking.

Walking.

Walking.

The sounds my shoes made with each step became my new focus.

That was, until I finally reached communications.

I don’t remember crashing to my knees only two steps through the door, neither did hear the ugly sobs escaping my mouth.

New focus: letting all the pain out, no matter what it looked like.

I’d tried to keep up a brave face in front of others—stay strong despite the odds.

But… everyone’s gotta break down sometime, right?

No one heard me, no one came to comfort me. It was just me, myself, and I. I had my cry, now it was up to me to stand up, grab that headset, find some sort of hope that we might leave this… all of this.

No one else was going to do it.

It might as well be me.

So that’s exactly what I did.

Also act like it never happened—anyway.

Finding contact was the step that I was stuck on. I turned the dial on the radio, waiting to hear a voice. Anything.

Nothing.

I groaned. Each tick of turning the dial resulted in static. I dragged my hand down my face in exhaustion. Is it possible to yank out an entire head of hair when frustrated?

This was getting nowhere—I was on the verge of giving up.

No, I scolded myself for even thinking of giving up.

Continuing to turn the dial slowly for what seemed like an eternity, there was finally some other sound than static. I perked up, inside and out, my heart pounding in hope. Was someone really there?

It was faint, the sound was. But it was enough to make me turn the dial just a little bit more to the right…

The static began to fade away, a man’s voice became clearer millimeter by millimeter. That was…

until I finally heard a clear voice over the radio.

My gradual scream echoed through the empty hall behind me.

We had something! WE HAD SOMETHING OMG OMG OMG.

I repositioned the headset over my ears and made sure the microphone worked.

“Hello? Hello? This is Rashida Eve coming from the Skeld. Is anyone there?” Uncertainty rang through my voice, and time stopped when the line went silent. And yet, I was still glad to not hear that dreadful and scratchy static. Then—

“Yes! Yes, we copy. We’re so glad you finally came through, we’ve been looking for this craft for hours now!”

People exclaimed on the other side of the line, and I put my head in my hands, relieved. They were looking for us. They were looking for us. I took another breath before responding.

“I repeat, this is Rashida Eve coming from the Skeld. Our entire communication and navigation system were destroyed, um…. I dunno maybe a day ago. There have been three murders, but five have died—”

“What?!”

A few seconds passed as I recalled each names. “Yvette Williams, Bernard Farley, and Paisley Grace have been killed by two people known as Pearl Astor and Oaklynn Brooks. Yeah, um, all this happened in the past 24 hours.”

It was silent over the line for about a minute or two—the man on the other side was either processing or giving info or both. “Okay, do you know your location?”

“Well, no.” How was I supposed to know our location? We’re in the middle of space and no planets out for miles!

The man mumbled something on the other line then said to me, “That’s okay, we just found out your last known location. You should still be there if navigation is gone. We’re gonna send a team out there for you, Rashida. We’re glad—”

The line cut off.

Static.

That stupid static.

“What the heck?” I blurted out, twisting the dials and on the verge of panicking. “No, no, no! Hello? Hello! NO!”

I threw the headset onto the table with a loud clang. We—no—I lost contact with them.

I lost contact.

Now I was determined to pull out each strand of hair.

Please, no.

No, wait.

They said they were coming for us. They had our location. We were going to be…

Rescued.

Another deep breath. I had to tell Bryce and Cooper and Levi and—

A heavy footstep echoed from the other side of the room, making my head turn towards the sound. An echo… from a vent.

Another loud clang reflected into the room, and that motivated me enough to search for that vent. They way this ship was built, the vents were usually built into the floor, and except for the light coming from the hallway, the communications room was relatively dark.

I stomped on the ground in multiple places, probably looking like an idiot. But it wasn’t until the stomping went to the darkest corner of the room metal clanged under my feet. I hit it again, but the responded sound didn’t sound all that hollow.

Something was in there… or maybe even…

Someone?

Then the grate lifted under my feet. I jumped back, letting out a yelp. I stood in the light of the hallway that streamed into the room, and that made it light enough to help me see a figure coming out of the vent. Then whatever was in his hand flickered in the light.

A knife.

His voice was low and gravelly, and I could tell he had a sickening grin when he spoke. “You better run. I’ll give you a five second head start.”

I swore under my breath, then took off down the hallway. At that moment, the lights turned blood red and alarms blared through the ship.

I didn’t care where I was going, another FREAKING KILLER WAS ON MY HEELS!

Oh God, when was the nightmare ever going to end?

Left.

Right.

Right?

No, left.

No, this couldn’t be happening.

I was being chased by a killer.

The walls and turns I’d come to know betrayed me, turning into a maze. It was constant thoughts of:

This is the way to safety.

Please don’t jump-scare and then kill me.

These lights are so ominous…

YOU STUPID FREAKING—UGH!

At this point, my mind couldn’t make complete thoughts.

Random memories played through my head, people I knew, stuff that I did.

Is this what the term “Life flashed before my eyes” meant?

Turning a corner, I found myself in navigation—a dead end.

Probably shouldn’t have used that word. There was nowhere to go. Suddenly, the lurking figure entered the room. I could feel his deathly smirk in the back of my head.

Was this the end?

Frozen, literal death lurked behind me.

There was a swish and—

Bright, white lights filled the entire room, tossing me to the ground and blinding me for two seconds. The killer shouted.

I turn my head and find three light figures, like ghosts. And in there light, I saw the killer’s face. My heart dropped. I screamed.

“GARRETT!”

He tried to fight the ghosts, but instead they shielded me. Guarded me. Protected me from his grasp, and he fell back, blinded. But for how long?

The ghosts faced me. I found a girl with a smile as bright as the sun. Next to her, a tall guy who sought for justice for the people he knew. And between them both, someone who I’d barely knew yet come to miss so dearly.

As quickly as they appeared, they vanished. I only stared at Garret in silence. He groaned. Then his evil green eyes glared at me. The knife was raised, the tool to seal my fate. Suddenly:

BAM!

Garrett’s cruel face scrunched up in pain and surprise, making him cross-eyed, and then he slumped to the ground after two seconds of being weird.

Him falling revealed Cooper with a fire extinguisher in his hand, standing there wide eyed. He muttered some like, “I did it” under his breath, then looked at me. Cooper glanced behind him, and Levi rushed in the room to strangle me with a bear hug, something I’d never expected from a kid. Then Bryce hobbled in, still not used to being active after almost dying.

I stared at them in disbelief, then silent tears started to fall. I didn’t know the exact reason why I started to cry. Was it because I’d been betrayed? That they saved me? Or was it just a mix of it all?

As the alarms constantly reminded us of our doom second after second, Bryce and Cooper each took one of my hands to pull me up, both silent in doing so. Levi clung to my waist while the two others held onto my arms, and I hanged onto them.

Nothing needed to be said, I was just glad they were here. Our breaths fell into sync, helping the whole group calm down. The four of us here gave me the relief I needed.

The four of us.

Maybe it was just because we were all trauma bonded, but I could say that’d I known them for all my life. Whatever came next, I felt comforted knowing they cared enough to safe my life from being murdered by someone I called my friend.

The lights were crimson like blood… until they weren’t.

A powering on sound ran through the ship as each room flooded with normal light. The doom signal ceased into silence.

The four of us still held onto each other—silent—but instead our faces were confused.

Steady trudging grew closer, only this time I wasn’t afraid. At least I wasn’t afraid as I once was.

The heavy steps stopping in front of the navigation doorway. I couldn’t tell or describe who it was, but he seemed surprised to see us as much as we were him. Then he announced:

“We found ‘em! They’re safe!”

THE END.