Of Wolves and Weasels - Day 604 - Terror on Moonbase Alpha - Chapter 8, Part 1
Hey all, GoodShibe here!
So yesterday I completed Chapter 7, Part 2 of Terror on Moonbase Alpha.
If you're just joining us now, please feel free to get caught up here:
| Chapter 1 Pt 1 | Chapter 1 Pt 2 | Chapter 2 Pt 1 | Chapter 2 Pt 2 | Chapter 2 Pt 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 Pt 1 | Chapter 4 Pt 2 | Chapter 5 Pt 1 | Chapter 5 Pt 2 |
| Chapter 6 Pt 1 | Chapter 6 Pt 2 | Chapter 7 Pt 1 | Chapter 7 Pt 2 |
Without further ado, here's Part 1 of Chapter 8
Terror on Moonbase Alpha - Chapter 8, Part 1
Jacob peeked around the corner, he could feel their eyes upon him all the time now. He knew it wasn't real, that it was this thing messing with him, but it made him jumpy just the same.
He kept feeling his hands on her throat, squeezing. Hearing the moist 'gluuurk' of her windpipe closing off, her final cry of 'J-J_Jacob!' ringing in his ears.
It wasn't his fault. It had made him, had forced him - used him.
And still, no one seemed to care. Her body continued to lie there in the infirmary, now cold and lifeless. Nurses and Doctors and patients stepped around it absently, not noticing it. It was very clearly a warning to him, letting him know just how easily this thing could upend Jacob's life. It was all there, on camera, just needed someone 'curious' enough to look for it.
But there was something new there too - Kara was on the floor, in a half-fetal position. She hadn't moved at all since he'd been watching, she was breathing... but not much. She was also being ignored, but in somewhat of a different way - nurses were still coming by to 'check' on her. Kneeling down beside the bed, checking blood pressure, changing her IV bag... all completely unaware that she was no longer on the bed.
Jacob worked to quiet his mind and tried to formulate a plan, figure out some next steps... anything.
He had to get a warning to Earth, that much he knew. But would they believe him? The communications blackout had already stretched into its second day, they would be looking for something from them.
The needles were there again, in the back of his mind, he could feel them trying to get a grip on him. Jacob punched his fist, his off-hand, into the wall, hard, and winced at the pain. It wasn't enough to break the knuckle, but he had clearly broken the skin. He flapped the skin back over the wound and sucked on the blood absentmindedly, chuckling to himself as he felt the tiny needle legs scamper away into the darkness.
So far, the average person had no reason to suspect him - which meant, at least for the moment, that he had a bit of a tell as to who was under this thing's influence.
He tried to take stock of what advantages he'd had... if any, and, to his surprise he realized he'd had one big one sitting there all along: Home field advantage.
He'd been deep inside the belly of this moonbase, over the last year or so he'd gotten to know it well. There was no shortage of shafts and feeder tunnels between the major rooms. Once he was inside the system, it wouldn't matter how many eyeballs this thing had looking out for him, he'd be off the grid.
With a smile, he knew it could work. Get to the communications array instead of the Comms room, patch a live, raw feed right into the antenna... there's no way it could stop him.
Warn Earth, get them mobilizing a solution down there on the ground.
Maybe there was a way to turn this all around after all.
Jacob heard a scream and he rounded the corner - the nurse was trying to walk away, meds still in her hands. She was screaming, her leg dissolving behind her, but it was autonomic - she was screaming as she gave the meds to a patient on the bed.
The patient took them with a smile as the goop rose up her thigh, dissolving cloth and skin and muscle. She screamed in full-throated, horrible agony as she turned to check the patient's chart and confirm it against the readings on the monitor.
The goop rose up her chest, dissolving her navel and breasts, oozing up her throat.
And then, in the final seconds before her lips and nose were devoured, she craned her head and stared right into Jacob's eyes.
And that wraps up Part 1 of Chapter 8, I hope you enjoyed it!
It's 9:17AM EST and I'm sending positive vibes your way. Have a great day, my friends! Our Global Hashrate is down from ~1220 to ~1190 Gigahashes per Second and our Difficulty is down from ~21882 to ~20840.
As always, I appreciate your support!
GoodShibe
Posted Sep 4, 2015, 1:21 PM UTC · edited