A/N: This is my second Dead Space fic. It is written from Isaac's first person point of view, but during his fight with the Hive Mind it switches to third person.
Damn you Kendra! After all I had to go through she still had to up and steal back The Marker from me. Does she not understand what's going on here? These things; these necromorphs had to be contained. Who knows what the Hive Mind could be capable of if allowed to remain free? Well it couldn't be helped now. I had to get out of here before that massive chunk of rock slams into the colony. As I ran a massive tremor shook the hallway and tripped me up. Something big was coming; it could be only one thing. The Hive Mind. I had to move. I just made it to the ship when another tremor knocked me onto my back. Kendra was running up the ramp to the ship when she stopped dead in her tracks.
"Oh my God!" She tried to run, but a massive tentacle swung at her and knocked her onto the platform. Even though I hated her for what she did, I still couldn't help but feel a little sorry for her.
"I'm going to regret this," I thought and using my kinesis module I dragged Kendra out of harm's way; the tentacle missing her by only a few mere inches.
"You just saved my life."
"Don't ask me why otherwise I might change my mind."
Another massive tentacle appeared on the platform; circling around me to separate us from the ship. The Hive Mind rose up and my breath stopped at the sight of its awesome size. I… I didn't know if I could fight it off, but I had to try. I covered my face as it let out a loud roar.
"Bring it on bitch."
"Isaac! You aren't going to fight that thing are you? You'll die!"
"What choice do I have?" I asked her. I used my kinesis module and on Kendra and dropped her behind the giant tentacle. "Don't make another run for that ship; you'll never make it," I told her.
Isaac wasted no time and began to shoot at the Hive Mind's weak points. One of them blew up resulting in the creature letting out another roar; this one of agony. Its tentacles began to madly slam into the platform. Isaac dove to dodge them and began to fire again tacking out two more of its weak points. Suddenly the Hive Mind grabbed Isaac's foot and hoisted him into the air. Isaac struggled to free himself but it was no good. The Hive Mind shook him violently in the air as if it was trying to make him drop his weapon. Isaac gripped his pulse rifle tightly and continued to open fire on its weak points. He destroyed another causing the Hive to swing him around wildly. It began to pull him towards it mouth and Isaac fired once again when he suddenly ran out of ammo and had no time to reload. He switched to the contact beam and began to charge it when the Hive began to shake him again and wouldn't let up. He couldn't aim at all. Isaac took a deep breath, focused, and fired. It was a direct hit. The Hive Mind wailed out loud as it threw Isaac back down to the platform. He collected his weapon as the Hive attempted another swing with its tentacles. Isaac ducked and began to open fire at its other weak spots picking them off one at a time. It launched two other necromorphs onto the platform to distract him, but he managed to maneuver them both into the path of its tentacles causing them to both be destroyed. Isaac dodged one final tentacle strike and then blew up its final weak point. The Hive Mind recoiled and howled out in anguish. It finally fell onto the platform and slid off; its tentacles following unblocking the pathway to the ship.
I wanted to breathe a sigh of relief, but I forgot to take it as I ran up the platform to the ship.
"Isaac! We can't leave without the marker!" Kendra shouted to me.
"There's no time. We have to go now! It's not worth dying over!" I yelled hoping she'd listen to reason. She looked at the ship and then at the marker. "For crying out loud Kendra! Get on the ship now or I'll blast you!" I shouted aiming my pulse rifle at her head. Of course I was bluffing, but given how she thinks I'm mentally unstable she wouldn't want to risk it. To my relief she ran inside up the platform.
I ran inside, shut the doors and leapt to the cockpit doors. Shit it was locked! "Come on!" I shouted pounding on the door. To my surprise it actually unlocked. I jumped into the pilot's seat and initiated an emergency lift off blasting my way off the planet and narrowly avoiding the rock as it plummeted down to the colony. The explosion was quite a sight to behold from space. I finally took that long needed breath as my ship flew away from that hell hole.
"So what now Isaac? Am I your prisoner?" Kendra asked me.
"Consider yourself my unwilling ally," I answered; rifle aimed at her. "Now go crawl someplace while I pilot this thing. And don't try anything foolish Kendra. I've had a long hard day and would prefer not to be in anymore fights to the deaths. Understood?"
"Understood," she said with a nod.
"There should be some med supplies in the back of the ship," I informed her referencing the cut on her face from when the Hive Mind attacked her.
"Thanks," she said heading off.
I looked back down at the massive crater created by that chunk of rock. Hopefully the impact destroyed the Hive Mind as well as the Marker meaning that anymore necromorphs would die off without their leader still breathing. It was all finally over. But damn it. Damn it all. Nicole. I wish I had got to see her, really see her again. But she had taken her own life. God knows why. It was probably because of the dang blasted marker. That hellish object ruined so many lives and took a whole lot more. Hammond, Temple, Elizabeth, Kayne, Nicole… Nicole. I honestly didn't know how I would go on living without her. She was my life. My reason to keep on going after that engineering accident cost me my voice originally. I would've given anything to see her again right now. To see her smiling, beautiful face, but that wasn't going to happen now. Not now, not ever again. And to think I was going to ask Nicole to marry me once the mining operation on Aegis 7 was over with. One thing's for certain. Neither the Church nor the government was going to get away with everything that proceeded today. Once I get back home I'm exposing this whole damn thing and nobody was going to stop me. I set a course for Earth and then Nicole's message began to play on screen. She looked so sad and had a right to. She was about to take her own life after all. I… I couldn't bear to watch that scenario all over again and terminated the message. May you rest in peace Nicole. There was suddenly a noise. Hell no! One of those necromorphs couldn't have stowed away on the shuttle. Plasma cutter in hand I slowly turned my attention to where the noise was coming from. My heart nearly stopped as the form of an infected Nicole jumped out of the shadows and attacked me. I reacted and hit her in the head with my plasma cutter. She fell to the floor and growled at me as she recovered.
"You. You're not real!" I shouted out. Why am I seeing this! This can't be Nicole because the necromorphs are all dead! She dashed at me again and I dodge d her attempt to tackle me. "Stay the hell away from me!" She ran at me and tackled me to the floor. She raised his fists in the air and attempted to strike me. I caught both her fists and held them back. "Get out of my mind! You aren't real! You aren't Nicoleeeeee!" There was a flash of light and then I was alone.
"Are you ok?" Kendra asked rushing into the cockpit.
My whole body was shaking all over. It really was only a hallucination. But how? The marker couldn't have survived. The asteroid hit right where I left it. That thing should be nothing but space dust now. I got back up to my feet and dusted myself off. I wasn't sure if I could deal with this madness again. I'm only human for fuck's sake! I sank back into the pilot's seat when I saw something rather odd on the view screen. There was another ship near me, but why? Next thing I knew I was being hailed.
"Ishimura shuttle 25. This is the crew of the USM Blood. You are to immediately dock with our ship and then wait for further instructions. You have one minute to comply."
You've got to be joking; another military class ship. What the hell could they be doing in this system? I gave Kendra a stern look.
"Isaac. You have to believe me. Those guys aren't with me."
Yeah right. Not wanting to take any chances I docked with their ship and then shut off my ships engines. I waited a few moments until my ship's comm. activated again.
"A boarding team is outside. You are to let them in."
I had a bad feeling about this, but none the less opened the shuttle doors. Several marines stepped inside and approached me.
"Isaac Clarke?" One of them asked me.
My eyes narrowed. "Who wants to know?" I replied back.
"I wouldn't go for that plasma cutter if I were you Mr. Clarke," One of them threatened raising his pulse rifle; the others doing the same. "We have been authorized to use force if you attempt to resist in any fashion. Now, put your hands on your head." I did as I was told and then two marines walked behind me forced me down and cuffed my hands.
"You too Ms. Daniels." She did the same and we were taken off the ship.
"Where the hell are you guys taking us?" I asked as we walked away from the shuttle.
"To a place where you can get help, Mr. Clarke."
"Where is that?"
"The Sprawl. A space station not too far from our location. Once there, you'll get the help you need."
"I don't need any help," I thought to myself. "What I needed was to get back to my shuttle."
Isaac. Isaac. It's me Nicole. Please help me. I love you. Please.
"Stay the hell out of my mind!" I thought shaking my head a bit.
"Put him in a holding cell with the others," One of the marines ordered.
"What about the girl?"
"Take her to the captain's office. Captain says there someone there to see her."
The soldiers behind me took me to the holding deck while Kendra was hauled off to the to see the captain. They threw me into a cell with three other people. Two of them were male; one was missing a hand. The other was a woman.
"What are you in for?" I asked trying to make conversation. The woman shook her head.
"I wish I knew. One minute we were literally escaping from hell and then the next we were being picked up by these guys."
"What were you trying to get away from?"
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," she said with an almost chuckle suggesting that she might not believe it herself.
"Try me," I said since I've seen virtually everything tonight.
"My friends and I were part of a space colony. We unearthed something that unleashed a horror beyond imagination. So many people were killed…" The woman stopped and tears began to roll down her cheeks. My boyfriend was among the first killed. That damn marker drove him insane!"
"Wait a minute!" I interrupted. "Did you just say that damn marker?"
"Yes why?" She asked a little confused.
"Aegis 7. Hive Mind. Necromorphs. Any of that sound familiar to you?"
"How do you know of any of this?" The man with one hand asked.
"Because I just went through all of that not too long ago. I was part of the emergency maintenance team of the USG Kellion."
The woman's eyes widened in shock at that name. "You were part of the Kellion's team? I thought you all died for sure."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"I received your message when you hailed the Ishimura. We had just taken off in Ishimura shuttle 23. I tried to warn you to stay away, but the signal wouldn't go through. When I tried to figure out a way to contact you one of the necromorphs attacked us. I managed to kill it, but spotted your ship slam into the Ishimura. I thought you all died."
"We barely managed to make it through. Only two of us survived though. Three of the security guards were killed by necromorphs. The other survivor is being taken to see the captain. Name's Clarke. Isaac Clarke."
"My name is Lexine Murdoch. These are my friends Nathan McNeill, and Gabriel Weller. You must be Nicole's Isaac."
"You knew Nicole?"
"I ran into her a few times whenever I got hurt on the job. She never shut up about you. When she died…" Lexine stopped talking for a moment and I could understand. I felt like crying myself when I discovered that Nicole wasn't alive. In fact I would have if it hadn't been for the threat of imminent death.
Meanwhile in another cell, another lone prisoner sat curled up against the corner slowly rocking back and forth; back and forth.
"Isaac," she thought. "No Isaac Clarke is dead. You thought you heard his voice, but it isn't possible," The broken figure of Nicole Brennan continued to repeat over and over again in her mind. If she had only stayed with Isaac when she first came across him trying to send out a distress call. She had never been so happy in her life at that moment. She truly thought she'd never see Isaac again. Especially after she made that video log. She never wanted to record that message, but she was held at gun point by Doctor Mercer, who had gone completely insane following the Marker's removal. After the message ended she attempted to make her escape; twice. Shortly after her meeting with Isaac she actually found one of two working shuttles. She couldn't reach Isaac and didn't want to leave him. She knew he was a fighter, but what if he didn't find the other shuttle? Did she really want to take that chance? Nicole made her choice and took the Ishimura shuttle 24 praying that Isaac somehow would survive.
She stayed in the orbit of the Ishimura for a while just in case Isaac found the other ship, but as time passed she doubted that would happen. She took the ship and plotted a course for Earth when her ship picked up Ishimura shuttle 25 taking off and heading down to the colony. That could only have been Isaac, but why would he go down to the planet? As her ship flew through space her ship lost the signal of Isaac's shuttle. Apparently one of the massive space rocks plunged right into the colony. Nicole silently cried as she had to accept the fact that her love was dead. Why oh why did she leave? If she stayed she could've gotten him to come with her. She didn't grieve for long because soon the USM Blood picked up her ship and threw her in this cell. Nicole continued to rock back and forth in her cell; unrelenting tears streaming down her face.
"Isaac. I'm so sorry. I love you. More than you'll ever know." Her voice cracked in between sobs.
A/N: Lexine, Gabriel, and Nathan all appear in Dead Space: Extraction. Also the first time Isaac sees Nicole she's the real thing. Every other time it's because of the Marker. Any and all feedback will greatly be appreciated.