"Welcome back Roy Hawkins." A robotic voice says when he opens the door. The heavy metal door slides up as Roy rubs his face. You'd think having a job as the holographic mechanic would be simple, but the holograms on Titan Station are sometimes finicky. Not only the Station's holograms, but sometimes individual RIG's malfunction and the holographic images it displays look strange.
Roy walks into his apartment and places his small bag of light weight tools on the ground next to the bed. He sits down on his bed and goes through his RIG's data logs. He spent roughly 10 minutes going through the logs before coming across a video log from his mother. He starts up the video and the holographic screen widens out to 3 feet high and 4 feet long.
"How are you doing up there on Titan Station? You're so far away from home, even Elli misses you! You'll visit some time right? I know you said you can handle yourself now, but you only got out of college a year ago. If anything happens, remember that your sister and I will always be here for you if you decide to come home." The video fizzles as it returns to its original size. The log date states that it was from earlier today. Deciding to send a response back to his mother, he opens the RIG's communicator and starts his recording.
"Hey mom, I don't think you need to worry about me too much, my job isn't that strenuous; I mostly just repair the station's holograms when they start acting up. My first break from work starts next week so I'll visit then. Oh and before I forget, Phil still has some of the movies I let him borrow, if you can, try to get them back for me. I-"A loud banging noise comes from the neighboring apartment. "Um, I need to go see what's happening with Mr. Carten next door. Tell Elli I said hi." Roy stands up and turns off his RIG monitor. The loud banging noise continues but in less frequency.
Stepping outside, Roy walks over to Mr. Carten's door and knocks hard on the metal.
"Mr. Carten, are you alright in there?" There's a heavy bang on the other side of the door followed by a light scraping sound. A man's scream can be heard from within, followed by an inhuman screech. Another heavy bang, this time on the metal door, rings through the walls. The locking mechanism on the door malfunctions. Roy opens the damaged door, but it sparks and stops halfway. Roy ducks under the broken door and looks into Mr. Carten's apartment.
Inside he sees two humanoid figures facing a nearby wall; the one standing didn't even seem human anymore. It has two long arm-like appendages protruding from its shoulders and ending in a long sharp bone-like claw. Its feet appear strange and mutilated. It has a human foot in the back but there is a red mutation of a limb extending from the shin, the end of the mutation foot are two medium length toes ending in a point. The clothes it has on are torn and heavily damaged and the areas in the chest are heavily mutilated and red. Sticking out of its chest are two smaller human-like arms. The figure below the creature is a bleeding Mr. Carten.
Sensing Roy's presence, the grotesque creature finishes off its victim and turns around to meet Roy. The creature shrieks and charges at him. It slams into Roy, throwing him into the wall behind him. It screams at him and charges him again. Roy jumps to him right and picks himself up. He runs to the nearby bathroom and looks for something to defend himself with. Mr. Carten was always a peaceful and calm guy so he never kept anything dangerous in his apartment. Roy looks around and the best thing he can find is one of those poles bolted to the shower wall. He attempts to pull it off and it is thankfully loose enough for him to get it with enough effort.
Roy tugs hard on the pole and a soft grinding noise can be heard from the wall. While in the other room, the creature has quickly realized where its victim has gone. Smashing through the weak bathroom door, it scans the room and finds Roy struggling with the pole. It gives a low growl and stalks up on him. Its large shadow casts over the man as it brings up its left claw. As the claw comes down toward Roy's neck, he finally rips the pole from the wall and the claw narrowly misses him. The claw gets stuck in the wall and Roy sees his chance. He raises the pole up and swiftly brings it down on the left claw, severing it from the creature. The creature wails and backs up, allowing Roy time to come up with a plan.
Gripping the organic blade, Roy pulls it out of the wall and faces his enemy. The creature growls and it's clear to see that it was angry. It shoots its remaining right claw at Roy, in which he brings the pole up, knocking the claw away. The creature lunges at him and he jumps out of the way. He runs back into the main room so he could have more space to block his attacker. The creature charges through the broken doorway and rams into the unsuspecting man. Roy is thrown to the ground, both his weapons fall out of his hands. Roy turns himself around to find the creature standing above him. He looks for the broken blade and finds it partially under a small table. He lunges himself toward the table as the creature's right claw bounces off the metal floor where his head just was.
Roy's hand wraps around the sword and he spins around; the creature looming above. Roy rolls out of the way of another attack and swiftly stands up. He holds the claw-blade like a great sword and gets closer to the creature. It turns itself and stares at Roy, a strangely human-like face looking back at him, it appears to look frightened and its eyes seem to cry for help. But that lasts no longer than a second before its face tightens and it roars at Roy. As it charges at him again, he brings the blade above his head and quickly brings it down, stabbing the creature right in its face. The blade gets stuck as the creature howls. It attempts to slash him with its remaining claw but Roy simple ducks under the now blind creature.
Roy pushes it back, causing it to trip on the shower pole, falling to the ground. Before it can get back up, Roy stomps on its legs and walks over to its right side. He stomps on the hand and takes the dismembered claw, quickly stabbing the creature in the chest. It howls before the damaged limps fall limp. Roy just stares at it with mixed feelings. Even though it had attacked him and Mr. Carten, there was that brief moment where it appeared as though it was… human.
He looked himself over and saw numerous cuts and bruises all over his arms and legs, but nothing that was too big or too deep. He then turned around and kneeled in front of Mr. Carten's lifeless body. He reaches over and closes Mr. Carten's eyes. Roy stands up and walks over to the half open door and ducks under it. As he walks back to his own apartment, he can hear the sound of human screams and the howls of other creatures coming from other apartments.
Closing the door behind him, Roy sat down on his bed and thought things over. If these things are all over the station, then there's a chance he might now get out alive. He's more concerned about what his mother and sister will think when they hear the news of his death. He decides that the best thing to do right now is to send a final note to them just in case he does die. He opens up his RIG and starts a new recording.
"Mom, Elli, I want you to know that I love you both. I say this because this may be my last message. I don't know how or why, but these… things are attacking Titan Station. I know because I can hear their screams even now and I've run into one face to face in Mr. Carmen's apartment. They look almost human, as if they were before, but they have four arms and two of them jut out above their head ending in long organic looking blades. I'm fine right now, just some minor cuts and bruises, but I don't know for how long. As soon as I can, I'm leaving the station. Although I don't know if I can, these creatures are very strong and they seem angry about something… If I make it off the station, I'm sending a message as soon as I can. Elli, you be good for mom, and mom, goodbye." He shuts off his RIG and rubs his face, the distant screams of the horrifying creature ringing in his head.