D E A D S P A C E 2 : S E V E R E D
You and the Baby
Written By: AwesomeMcGeeofCaledonia
Rated T+ for some strong language, and gritty details
Disclaimer: Dead Space is owned by Visceral Games, which in turn is owned by EA Games
NOTE: SPOILERS for the Dead Space 2 DLC "Severed" are ahead. I recommend you play it first before reading.
xXx
TITAN MEMORIAL MEDICAL CENTER DOCKING BAY, THE SPRAWL
Gabe Weller knew these were his final moments. After escaping the USG Ishimura three years earlier, he never thought he'd run into another Necromorph outbreak; and yet, here he was, bleeding out on the floor of the Sprawl's medical docking bay, his wife, Lexine, hiding in an EarthGov gunship to his right.
Lexine will make it out, though… she'll make it out. I'll make sure of it. Telling himself that he would get his wife off of the Titan Station was the only thing keeping Gabe conscious.
Only seconds earlier, Gabe had been in a struggle with the last man he'd ever thought would betray him: Victor Bartlett, his superior officer. In an attempt to kill Gabe, Victor held a live grenade between the two of them, the resulting explosion killing Victor, and leaving Gabe critically injured, his right leg now but a stub at the knee cap, and his Security RIG severely damaged.
Fucking bastard… I'll never get to see my child… never get to see Lex again…
As his vision blurred, Gabe knew he had only minutes, if even that, before he would succumb to his injuries.
Suddenly, his RIG Link crackled to life, and Lexine's voice rang in his ears.
"Oh my God…" she cried in disbelief.
Gabe struggled to remember what he was doing.
Bulkheads… I have to shoot the fuses, get Lex out of here…
"I'm not gonna make it honey…" Gabe breathed, balancing himself on his right arm, fumbling with his pulse rifle.
"No! That's not possible!"
"I can blow the bay doors for you from out here… and you can get away… you and the baby. I love you, Lex."
Checking his pulse rifle's ammo count, he immediately felt sick. "10" was displayed in blue.
I can't afford to miss… my aim is going to be shit from here…
"Gabe…" came Lexine's whimpering voice.
"I love you," Gabe promised her, and the audio feed was cut.
One of the bay door's bulkheads slid back to reveal a fuse.
Gotta hit it…
Before he could squeeze a shot off, Gabe heard a blood curdling screech and knew he now had only seconds to act.
Aiming down his sights at the fuse, Gabe shot and hit his target. Sparks shot from the now destroyed fuse.
Three more… God dammit… three more…
It appeared so quickly that Gabe reacted instinctively: five of his pulse rifle's rounds were placed into a Slasher's arms and head.
Can't afford to do that… I only have four rounds left!
Another bulk head slid back to reveal the second fuse. Once more, Gabe hit his mark.
"NYAGH!" another Necromorph yelled.
Shit! It's one of those fucks that explode!
And sure enough, creeping towards him from the right of the bay door was an Exploder.
He couldn't waste any ammo.
A third bulk head slid back to display another fuse.
Two birds, one stone.
Gabe shot at the Exploder's pustule, tearing the Exploder apart, as well as destroying the third fuse.
With two rounds left, Gabe knew his entire idea was now riding upon these last few seconds.
And then his vision began to blur like never before.
"No… NO! You have to stay awake! FOR LEXINE! FOR THE BABY!" he yelled at himself.
Just as he did this, five more Slashers appeared, all blocking his view from the final fuse.
"You mother fuckers!" Gabe screamed.
The Slashers slowly crept towards him, wasting his precious time, Lexine's precious time.
I've failed you, Lex.
As Gabe cursed himself for running out of time, he noticed something peculiar: one of the Slashers looked like it could fall over dead with the slightest of ease.
Aiming down the pulse rifle's sights for the final time, Gabe squeezed off his two, and final, rounds, shooting the legs out from under the completely mutilated Slasher, its falling corpse now giving him the perfect view of the final bay door fuse.
He slammed his pulse rifle to the ground, raising his hand towards the fallen Slasher as the other four slowly, but surely, made their way towards him.
One claw left? Gabe noted. Using his kinesis module, he ripped the Slasher's only remaining claw from its arm. The claw now floated a foot away from him.
I've got one shot at this…
Gabe positioned his arm towards the fuse.
Only one shot…
One of the Slashers suddenly broke into a run, flailing its arms wildly as it attempted to reach Gabe.
And he fired the arm at the fuse. It connected, the fuse now spitting sparks all over the floor. The bay door opened, a sudden gust attempting to pull everything out. The four remaining Slashers were pulled out into space, as the body of the fifth one was caught on the wall.
Gabe could feel his body being pulled as well. Thinking fast, he grabbed a floor-mounted cargo door's lock, fighting off the vacuum of space as it tried to pull him out. He watched as Lexine's gunship took off, leaving him alone in the docking bay.
With the last bit of his strength, he opened his RIG's audio feed.
"Goodbye, Lex… I love you." he said aloud, hoping the audio log made it to her.
As the emergency system took over, sealing off the now gaping bay door, the vacuum stopped pulling, and Gabe slumped to the ground, everything going black.
But he had succeeded.
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Author's Note: Well, I'll be honest here: I was definitely saddened by Severed's ending. Though, despite how much I had hoped Gabe would make it out with Lexine, and they would be allowed to start their family together, I couldn't help but notice just how epically cinematic Gabe's final stand was. Even with a missing leg, this man was still amazingly bad ass. But alas, he was not to survive. I just had to make a narrative version, though. Hope you enjoyed it!