Run Away From Kerry

“That’s game two! The winner is Early, that beautiful man of iron! Round of applause everyone!” Early was cheered up to the stage as he accepted his “reward,” which was just a hastily wrapped bag of food and half-opened drinks, some of which were spilling out of the package. Early snorted as the mixed dark fluid of beers and liquors seeped out of the bag and onto his sleeves. 

“Thank you!” he shouted, causing everyone else to cheer more. Almost everyone here was so drunk or high that they had no clue what was going on. Even I had a bit to drink. Although, I was nowhere near intoxicated enough to let whatever the hell they packed in that bag leak onto my brand-new clothes. “I’d like to thank my mom, Sash, Jim-Jim, all of…all of you pe-” Early vomited on the stage, a hurl of mixed cheeses and seafood that had such a potent odor it permeated my nose immediately. The announcer Jim-Jim and a few others helped Early off the stage, while everyone else continued cheering and laughing. I watched and shook my head as they hauled him through the party room’s doors. 

“Every time I come to these, someone either pukes or shits themselves,” Ama, one of my close friends, said from behind me. 

“My kind of party, always,” I quipped, although she didn’t seem to care much for my joke. “Well, at least it didn’t start like this. I remember the invite saying ‘wear your best clothes, this will be a serious and professional party.’”

“An obvious lie, Jim-Jim couldn't throw a black-tie if he was forced to. Once I saw the drinks I knew this thing was going to shit.” I laughed as she spoke. “Seriously, this makes me so sick of them. For once, why can’t they just go out for a game of cards? We could take a trip to a nice moon resort or something. Instead we’re here on Jim-Jim’s personal ship, fucking floating in the middle of nowhere.” She scrunched her face in frustration, and I smiled at her. She noticed and asked, “What?”

“It has nothing to do with Jim-Jim and his new girl does it?” Ama rolled her eyes and started walking away. I laughed as I jogged to catch up to her. The rest of the party-goers had all but left the main room, aside from a few stragglers who were either asleep in one of the few corners or mingling drunkenly as they awkwardly danced. “You know, this whole party was just to celebrate the two of them getting together. Why did you come?”

“I don’t know, if I’m honest with you. I think some part of me wanted to be here for it, and another just wanted some closure. Maybe some other reasons too, who knows?” There was a person sprawled out on the floor, their blue suit sparkling under the hallway light. He was snoring loudly, and his bottle was nearly empty, hovering over him like a guardian angel. Ama and I stepped over him, giving each other a small smile as we continued, making our way towards the common space, a small area aboard the ship that acted as a recreation area for passing crew and passengers. It was nestled between the medbay and the living quarters, and it only contained a sitting space with a knee-high rectangular table, and two booths for those who wanted to eat in a group. There were also two seats by a window with a small table between them, which gave a nice view out into space. That’s where we chose to sit.

As we settled into our seats, I felt my body tilting from side to side, and Ama seemed to be laughing at me. “What are you laughing for?” I asked her.

“You’re so drunk.”

“I didn’t think I had so much. Maybe I went a little overboard.

“I have to admit, it’s nice seeing this again.”

“The…stars?” I said, struggling to get the words out. She was peering out the window, watching as we flew past the open black.

“I think you might need some Alleviator.” 

“Yeah, that would..oh, god.” I covered my mouth as a vomit-flavored burp escaped my lips. Ama reached into her bag and handed me an Alleviator, and I sloppily scooped the chewable tablet out of her hand, fumbling with it until I eventually got it into my mouth. I sat back in the chair, holding my head in my hands as I let the tears stream down my face. 

“You’re crying.”

“Shut up,” I laughed as she handed me a tissue. Alleviators drained excess alcohol and other intoxicating fluids via sweat and tears, filtrating them through an intense internal process that chemically changed them into what was essentially water. Alleviators were a staple at almost any party, as they were a pain-free and simple way to sober up within a five-to-ten minute timespan. “You think Early is alright?” There was a subtle doong sound somewhere far from us. Ama turned her head to face the noise, looking down the hall back towards the party room. 

“Did you hear that?” I nodded.

“Probably just debris. Loose mineral or something.” She nodded back. 

“Want to know something strange? I heard Kerry whispering some stuff about a fight earlier.”

“A fight?”

“Yeah, he seemed pretty upset, probably something to do with Jim-Jim, I don’t know.”

“Didn’t he just get released from Len?”

“Yeah, but they said he had a full recovery, no more drugs, or whatever the hell he was on when he went in.” She sighed. “I just hope it doesn’t cause any shit.”

“I don’t think it will. Last I remember he was trying to come off it, and doing pretty good with it too.” She nodded. 

“Also, yes.”

“What?” 

“Yes to what you said. About Early?” I nodded my head, closing my eyes as I felt my head clearing. 

“Yeah, I think so too. He threw up so much. Did you see the color? It was like a yellowish-blue. What the fuck did he drink?” Ama giggled. 

“Some of that rich-boy shit. Top shelf.” I took my hands off my eyes and looked at her with clearer vision. Her wavy red hair draped over her shoulders and settled on top of her glittery red dress. 

“Since when are you wearing red again?” She rolled her eyes and looked back toward the party room again, where another doong, this time louder, caught both of our attentions. “Should we check on that? They could need help.” Ama nodded and sighed as she zipped up her bag. I stood and pushed in my chair, and we walked together back towards the party room, where the double doors were slightly ajar. The guy in the blue suit was still laying on the floor, with his bottle by his head. We looked ahead and saw that most of the people who were dancing had disappeared from the dance floor. I motioned for Ama to enter first, and she gave me a curt look as she pushed open the door. 

Upon entering, Ama screamed at the top of her lungs, and I quickly shoved the door open, looking with her at what had terrified her. There was blood everywhere, and people were sprinting to the other side of the room. A masked gunman was shooting people as they fled, and he noticed us, aiming his gun at Ama and I as I pushed her out of the way. His shot hit me in my shoulder, and I cried out as I ducked out of the room, running down the hall to grab the emergency firearm. Every hallway had an emergency sidearm or rifle in case of boarding or an event like this. I tripped over the blue suit guy’s leg and he sprung awake, yelling as I scrambled for the gun. “Get the fuck up and run!” I yelled at him, as I heard the door slam shut and Ama sprinting down the hall. 

“Miko!” She shouted for me, but I was focused on finding which section of wall hid the firearm, searching for the small yellow label as she neared me. The blue suit guy slowly got up, looking for his bottle. “Miko!”

“What?!” I found the yellow label and pushed it into the wall, releasing the lock as the compartment extended from it. 

“There were so many, so many, Miko,” She was sobbing, her hands shaking violently as she kept checking the door for any signs of the gunman coming. The compartment was empty, and I slammed my fist on it, crying out as I felt a twinge of pain in my shoulder. 

“There’s no fucking gun!” 

“Gun?” The blue suit guy sat up as he looked back at the party room, then at Ama and the blood all over her. “Oh, what? What the fuck is happening?” He rubbed his eyes and winced, most likely from the alcohol that was on his fingers. 

“I can clean your wound, Miko, but we have to go.” 

“He took it. There’s no gun here, which means there probably isn’t one anywhere.” The doors burst open, and a bunch of people covered in blood sprinted out of the room, screaming as gunshots sprung from behind them. Everyone ran down the hallway, except the blue suit guy. Someone was shot and had fallen onto him as they tried to flee. “RUN! This way!” I tried to lead the rest of the people towards the shuttle bay, which was a straight shot through the medbay, but half of them scrambled towards the living quarters. Shots rang out, striking people in their arms and legs, some of them headshots, spraying blood over everyone else as they tried to escape. I turned to go back, to try and help those who would be trapping themselves, but Ama yanked my arm hard, pulling me to the medbay. As soon as we got inside, the gunman quickly let off a few rounds before stopping to reload, putting down whoever else was going to make it through those doors before we shut them. 

Ama and I threw some medical beds and a cabinet down in front of the door, attempting to build some sort of barricade. Only a few people made it in with us, all of them lathered in the blood of their friends and crew members. All of them were sobbing hard, and I couldn’t help but shed tears as well, as I remembered the faces of those terrified people running towards the living quarters making a call that would cost them their lives. My heart was thumping, and I felt like it was going to burst from my chest if I didn’t calm down. I clutched my shirt as I took some deep breaths, trying to tune out the horrified whines and moans of the people around me. Ama was searching for bandages for the people with us, while everyone else was panicking and trying to figure out what to do next. The combined sound of all their noise was stressing me out, and I quickly walked over to the unbarricaded door, opening it and looking down the hall. It was quiet and empty aside from the open gun compartment. I bit my lip as I tried to strategize how to escape. A hand touched my shoulder, and I flinched, turning to see Ama’s worried face. She was scared, and visibly shaking as she tried to provide a bandage to my shoulder, which had bled so much that my shirt was half red. 

“You’ve lost a lot of blood, Miko.” She applied the bandage, and I sucked in a deep breath as the pain skyrocketed. I kicked the door hard as she tied the knot, trying to alleviate any of the pain but failing. Ama wiped down my left side with a damp, bloody cloth, grazing over my breast and reaching down to my hip. There was a dark stain of blood on my skin, and I felt weak enough to pass out, but I held my gaze on the shuttle bay doors, just at the end of the hall, past two other doorways. More gunshots rang out, signifying that he had breached the living quarters. I couldn’t hear their screams but my brain made me listen, forcing me to play it out in my head to remind me that I didn’t help them, or step in front of the gunman for them. The guilt was eating at me, but the rest of the people with me distracted me from that thought, as well as Ama’s doctoring, which stopped the bleeding on most of the survivors.

“Alright,” I said through pained breaths, “can everyone walk?” The majority nodded, and those who couldn’t had someone to support them. “We’re gonna get out on a shuttle. Follow me this way.” We all moved together, watching our backs in case the barricade was broken. I led the group, holding my bandage to help stop the bleeding. Ama moved in front of me to open the door, and we quickly entered the larger area, looking for a shuttle big enough to fit all of us among the fleet of smaller ships and transports. 

“Can anyone here pilot?” Ama asked as she opened the doors to a silver shuttle. 

“Yeah, I-” Bullets pierced the air as the gunman erupted from a side door. He missed, but everyone scrambled away from the shuttle, except for Ama, who had managed to get on the ship. The gunman howled, releasing a guttural roar of rage. 

“FUCK ALL OF YOU!” He fired a few more shots into the crates and containers that we hid behind. “YOU!” He fired another shot, and it pierced the wood of the crate I hid behind, nearly hitting me in my side. “I DID EVERYTHING RIGHT!” 

“Come here, motherfucker!” Another voice boomed as the gunman was tackled. We looked up from our cover to see the guy in the blue suit struggling to fight the gunman, holding the gun down with both hands as he tried to steal it from him. I erupted from my cover, and a few others did too, to try and help, but the gunman reacted faster than we could, and he fired shots at us, killing two more as he was getting punched in the face, his mask breaking apart as the blue suit guy tried to disable him. I pushed forward, rushing to do what I could to aid the guy, and I managed to reach before the gunman fired again, punching his wrist as hard as I could and pulling at the gun. But he was stronger than me, and even though both of us were there, he was still lifting the gun, forcing it towards the blue suit guy. 

I tried to leverage myself, pulling back with all of my weight, but the gun was still moving, and the others were too scared to come help. I turned and saw Ama, looking down from the shuttle doors, and she looked so sorry, so hurt and betrayed, as if I wasn't supposed to help, as if I wasn’t supposed to protect the people. I didn’t understand the expression at first, or the sadness in the eyes she pleaded with, but I got it fully when she closed those shuttle doors, and the ship started up. “AMA!” I called out to her, and the others started running to the shuttle, banging on it as they tried to escape, their bloodied hands leaving imprints and scrapes on the shuttle doors, but she ignored us, all of us, and she took off, blasting everyone back with the shuttle’s liftoff. 

The gunman had lost his gun, and the blue suit guy was getting pummeled by his gloved fists, his broken mask revealing his rough and bloody face, his unkempt blonde hair that hung down over his eyes, and his crooked nose, which was leaking blood onto the blue suit guy’s face. I recognized that it was Kerry. When he cocked his arm back for another punch, he revealed his eyes, which were bleeding black blood, and his pupils were extremely dilated. He was on Ex-Rev, a lot of it, and that punch he delivered was going to be stronger than anyone could stop. Someone picked up the gun and shot him, but he kept punching, harder and harder as bullets penetrated his skin. He forced himself through the pain to try and kill his target.

Eventually, a bullet pierced his skull, and he fell back, his arms twitching violently as his body emptied itself of the drug. It seeped out from all of his pores and openings, covering his skin in black blood as he died. The shooter dropped the gun, putting his hand over his mouth as he collapsed onto his knees. I stood on shaky legs as I looked down at the blue suit guy, who was still breathing thankfully, and then out of the port at Ama, whose shuttle was gradually flying away. I was seething, my shoulder was leaking again, but I didn’t care. I felt like my skin was boiling, and I was watching with hateful eyes as I fell to my knees, and released a loud scream. I let everything go, and the tears came soon after, as I watched the shuttle escape into the darkness of space. I looked over again at Kerry’s body, and then at the survivors, and I sucked my teeth and gathered myself, shuffling over to help them return to the medbay and try to assist whoever else we could onboard.