A/N: Hello there! Well as you can tell by the title, this is going to be a pretty crazy fanfic. I asked people on the TellTale forums if they thought a fanfic about Walkers in space would be cool and they all said yes. So I listened and decided to write one! It's taken a while for me to finish writing this first chapter so hopefully, you guys enjoy it. If you did then be sure to let me know! As for a release date to the next chapter, I'll post it on May 12th. Anyway, thank you for checking out my first chapter to Space Walkers and hopefully, you enjoy it.

In honor of Matilde

(1918-2017)

I always remembered playing dominos with you every single time I went to Puerto Rico ever since I was nine years old. It was one of the things I always looked forward to. I saw you getting older and older and worse and worse. But I would still always see you. I thought you were a superhero because I thought you would never die. I would see you every single time I went to Puerto Rico and we would always play dominoes. But last year would be our last domino game. I just wish I would've cherished it more. But you're still playing dominoes. But now with my grandfather and my grandmother and not with me. But don't worry. I'll play dominoes with you again someday.

Chapter 1

Coming home to destruction

"The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where the one ends, and where the other begins?"

-Edgar Allan Poe

Space.

It's so beautiful, yet so terrifying.

The stars, shining bright. Over one hundred billion of these lanterns light up the dark, never ending vacuum of space. The planets, dancing in circles, all floating together in an endless sea. The galaxy's, drifting slowly, carrying the planets and stars with them. The universe, constantly expanding, never reaching an end.

What a beautiful sight. But looks can be deceiving.

Space is actually very dangerous. There's no oxygen for you to breathe. If you get lost you can't yell for help. The temperature is a freezing negative four hundred fifty-five degrees Fahrenheit. Black holes can suck you into a place where light can't even escape. Then you'd be split into pieces and be swallowed in complete darkness. There are lots of dangers in space. But there's a danger that's not in space. At least, not yet...

The lights flickered quickly, like as if someone was flicking a light switch back and forth. But the flickering eventually stopped and the lights stayed completely on.

Aurora was coming to life.

The ship's engines activated and Aurora stopped it's ten years drift in space and instead, entered autopilot mode, guiding the ship through the dark, never ending sea known as space.

Suddenly, a hyper-sleeping pod hissed. The shield disconnected from the pure white pod and ascended towards the ceiling. The shield came to a complete stop and the pure white room was noiseless.

Suddenly the occupant of the previously stated pod woke up and sat up rapidly. The man took a deep breath through his nose and exhaled through his mouth. He shivered as the cold air wrapped itself throughout his entire body. He looked down at himself and delicately pulled on his snow-white shirt. The dirty blonde man looked around the pure white room as if he couldn't believe where he was.

In the corner of the room, he saw a man dressed in a lab coat and white matching trousers. But the man wasn't actually a man, nor was he human at all. He was a cybernetic organism.

You could mistake him for being a real human being. But in reality, he was a cybernetic organism with living tissue for skin. Although he would rather call himself a cybernetic organism with living tissue over a metal endoskeleton. He had light charcoal gray hair, jet black eyes, and a light gray beard. He was just like a human. Except he felt no pain, no remorse, and let's not forget that he had a metal endoskeleton.

"Hello there Commander Lyall. How was your sleep?" The cybernetic organism asked as it looked down at a clipboard and checked off something with a pen.

Lyall yawned at the mention of sleep. "It was fine Cedrick. How long have I slept?"

"Ten years, two months, two weeks, five days, three hours, twenty-six minutes, and thirty-nine seconds." Cedrick answered instantly as he looked up from his clipboard.

Lyall sighed and rolled his sky blue eyes. "You could've just said the years."

"I'm sorry sir. Ten years is roughly how long you've slept." Cedrick gave a slight smirk as he corrected himself.

"I thought we were supposed to go back to Earth in five years. What happened?" Lyall asked as he looked around the room as if to find the answer.

"NASA ordered me to keep Aurora in Mars's orbit for ten years." Cedrick revealed as he placed the clipboard on a small table in the corner.

Lyall's eyes widened at that. "Why?" Lyall asked with great curiosity.

"They didn't tell me anything, sir. They just said something classified has happened back on Earth and they told me to let Aurora stay in Mars's orbit for at least ten years."

Lyall tilted his head to the right in great confusion. "What happened?"

Cedrick turned around from the desk and gazed at the dirty blond haired man. "I told you already sir. They said it was classified." Cedrick repeated like a broken record.

Lyall sighed and slowly got out of his pod. He placed his right foot on the floor and it slightly trembled. He put his other foot down slowly and it trembled even more than his right foot. As Lyall got out of the pod he suddenly dropped but caught himself by holding onto the hypersleep pod. Lyall got up gradually and walked slowly towards Cedrick, almost limping. When he got to the cybernetic organism he looked directly into its eyes and saw red dimly lit dots at the center of its jet black pupils through its emotionless eyes.

"Cedrick, why is it classified? Why are they not telling us what's going on?" Lyall asked while he fell into a deep trance, staring deeply into the red orbs.

"I don't know sir. I'm only telling you what they told me. But they did title the classification as something quite interesting."

"What did they call it?" Lyall asked as he got out of the trance of the red lights.

"They called it Walkers."

"Walkers? What does that mean?" Lyall asked curiously.

"I don't know sir. That's just what they classified it as."

The dirty blond haired man sighed. "This is such a mess. How much longer until we get to Earth?"

"One hour, twenty-three minutes, and twenty-five seconds." Cedrick immediately answered.

Lyall crossed his arm and rolled his sky blue eyes once again at Cedrick. "You could've just said the hours."

"I'm sorry sir. One hour is roughly the time."

"Thank you, Cedrick. Now can you wake up everyone else?" Lyall asked as he motioned his hand towards all the pods.

"Yes sir, of course." Cedrick answered as he nodded. Cedrick walked over to a control panel in the center of the room where it was surrounded by the hypersleep pods that laid on the pure white floor. Cedrick started to press certain buttons while Lyall walked through the pure white room at a slow, almost limping pace.

Against a wall was a massive screen with pictures of the faces of the crew of Aurora and their heartbeats. Lyall's is not showing any heartbeats since he's not in his pod anymore. But everyone else's was beating at a normal rate. Lyall walked over to a pod and looked through its shield. A man with hazelnut skin was sleeping peacefully as if he'd done it for years. And he definitely has. Lyall walked away from the man's pod and walked to a narrow window. He looked out of it and saw thousands of small lanterns shining in the darkness of space. In the distance was a gray sphere that floated very slowly past them. It's giant craters making some of the grays on its surface turn into an even darker, almost black, shade of gray.

"The moon is quite magnificent, isn't it?" Cedrick asked while he continued to press multiple buttons.

"Very." Lyall answered with his mouth almost entirely open in amazement.

Suddenly the soundless room erupted with multiple hisses. The shields covering the crew members of Aurora in hypersleep opened up and ascended upwards. Lyall turned around and looked away from the window that showed only a tiny sliver of their galaxy, the Milky Way.

The shields finished ascending all the way up and the hissing dissolved until it fully vanished. The screen that showed everyone's heartbeat started to make high-pitched beeping noises. Suddenly someone's heartbeat stopped and the same person woke up from their hypersleep. The hazelnut skinned man got up promptly and looked down at his shirt. He pulled on his snow-white shirt and looked around the room as if he didn't know where he was. The man inspected the pure white room and found a dirty blond haired man standing just a couple feet away from him.

The man tilted his head in a perplexed way. "Hey, what are you doing standing up while all of us are still sleepin'?" The man asked completely baffled.

"I had to take care of some stuff, don't worry about it, Dom."

"Alright." Dominick replied skeptically with his black eyebrows raised. Dominick slowly got out of his own pod and placed his feet slowly onto the floor. His feet trembled but he didn't fall like Lyall did.

Little by little the whole crew awakened from their ten-year slumber. They all got out of their pods gradually and slowly walked towards Lyall. They all stood in front of Lyall with their arms crossed and their eyes all staring at the blonde man that was their leader.

"Well guys, I've got some bad news." He stated in a very nonchalant way.

"What's going on?" A man with black hair asked.

"Well, I don't know much about it, Eduardo. But Cedrick can tell you." Lyall answered.

Cedrick started walking towards them as if he already knew that Lyall would call him over. Lyall backed away from the group and Cedrick stepped in his place.

"Well as I already informed Commander Lyall, NASA ordered me to keep Aurora in Mars' orbit for ten years. Then they told me that the mission was canceled. But they didn't tell me why." Cedrick answered.

Everyone groaned and put their hands to their heads.

"This is bullshit! Why would they do that? We were supposed to go to Mars!" A bronze skinned man yelled.

"I'm sorry Darius, but the mission is canceled. We don't know why and there's nothing we can do about it." Cedrick replied in a relaxed voice.

Lyall put his hand on Darius's shoulder to try and comfort him. "Hey, it'll be alright man. We'll go to Mars another day." Darius nodded and Lyall walked over back to the place where he originally stood as Cedrick walked away.

"Thank you, Cedrick. Now listen everyone. We're going to arrive to Earth shortly. When we get there we'll get to the bottom of this. For now, let's all have a nice meal. I haven't eaten in ten years."

Everyone giggled and chuckled at the joke Lyall said, making them feel better about the whole situation.

"You know, a meal sure sounds good right now." Lynn replied with a little giggle of her own.

"Alright good. Now everyone put on your jackets and let's eat." Lyall ordered.

Everyone started walking out of the room where they were in hypersleep. They exited the pure white room and entered a contrasting dark hallway. Lyall started to walk out of the room but Dominick stopped him in his tracks.

"Hey Lyall, can I talk to you?" Dominick asked as he blocked the exit.

"Yeah sure, what's up?"

Dominick motioned his head towards the hallway, signaling that they should talk there. Lyall and Dominick both exited the room and Lyall leaned on the wall next to the exit. Dominick stood in front of Lyall and he looked like he was depressed.

"I had this dream and I don't know what it meant." Dominick revealed.

Lyall's sky blue eyes enlarged in curiosity. "You had a dream during your hypersleep?"

"Yeah, I did."

"Well, they say that dreams show you the future."

Dominick's face frowned when he heard that. "That's what I'm afraid of."

"What happened?" Lyall asked with great curiosity.

Dominick took a quick glance towards the end of the dark hallway and then concentrated back on Lyall. He took a deep breath through his nose and exhaled through his mouth. "Well, I was back on Earth, driving back to my house with my car. But when I went in my house…"

Tears started to form inside Dominick's eyes and he looked like he was about to cry. Lyall put his hand on Dominick's shoulder and tried to comfort him. "What happened?" Lyall asked.

"I saw my girlfriend. She was just sittin' there, watching TV. But when I talked to her she didn't respond, she didn't move, she didn't do anything. But when I turned around she woke up and jumped on me. She got on top of me and tried to bite my face like a dog. I tried to get her off me but I couldn't." Dominick answered as tears started to fill his eyes even more. His eyes couldn't handle the tears and they fell down his hazelnut skin like a waterfall.

Lyall felt heartbroken seeing his friend like this and he gave Dominick a hug. Dominick's tears made Lyall's right shoulder start to feel cold and wet.

"Her eyes were all white and her skin was all gray." Dominick sobbed as he kept crying.

"Hey, it's gonna be okay. It was all just a dream man. I bet your girlfriend is alive and well." Lyall tried to comfort his friend and it seemed to work.

Dominick and Lyall stopped hugging and Dominick faced Lyall with his eyes red with his tears and he slowly wiped them off his face with his hands. Lyall felt his heart sink when he saw his friends face.

"You said that dreams can show the future. Are you sure it can't happen?" Dominick asked while he continued to wipe the tears off of his face.

"Yes, I'm positive."

Dominick made a slight smile but there was still pain and depression in his eyes. "Thanks, Lyall."

Lyall couldn't help but feel happy that he was able to help Dominick feel better. "No problem. Now go get something to eat." Lyall ordered.

"Yes, sir." Dominick raised his hand and saluted Lyall. Lyall saluted him back and Dominick started to walk away from Lyall and went towards the room where everyone else went. Lyall could hear him sniffle as he walked down the dark hallway.

His girlfriend tried to bite him? That must've been a scary dream to have. I can't even imagine if I had a girlfriend and that happened, Lyall thought.

Lyall started walking down the eerily dark and very cold hallway. The tears from Dominick that fell on his right shoulder didn't help and only made him colder.

Walking down the hallway was like walking down a long tube, except the tube was in the shape of a hexagon and not of a circle. A bright white light shined at the end of the dark hallway.

It was the center of Aurora.

The black vents on the floor made clanking noises each time Lyall stepped on them. The same dark vents on the floor were also on the sides of the hexagonal shaped hallway. The black screens connected to the top of the roof were pitch black.

Nobody knew how to turn them on.

Orange light bulbs were connected to the roof and they were the only things that weren't dark in this menacing hallway. But nobody knew how to turn them on either. There was no button to press, no lever to pull, no switch to turn, there was nothing they could do to turn them on. Lyall really wished that they could be turned on so that the hallway wouldn't be so dim.

Lyall started sliding his hand along the pipes that ran throughout the top and bottom of the walls of the hexagonal hallway as he continued walking. Lyall shivered as he got closer and closer to the bright light at the end of the hallway. The light got brighter and brighter and Lyall eventually got completely engulfed in it. The light blinded him and he squinted his eyes so he could see.

Lyall started to open his eyes slowly as he got used to the brightness. The center of the ship reminded Lyall of the room he was hyper-sleeping in. With its pure white walls and floors. Lyall walked around the ladder in the middle of the room which, when climbed up, led to the very top of the ship where the cockpit, dining room, and rooms were. But, when climbed down, led to the very depths of Aurora.

In the corner of the pure white room was a big, circular white door that led to where the jackets were. Lyall took out his Aurora mission card and inserted it into a small machine that was connected to the wall next to the big white door. There was a red light at the bottom of the machine and when Lyall took out his card the light quickly turned from red to green.

The door hissed and opened slowly, rotating counterclockwise like a coin rolling on the floor. The door made a loud bang as it finished opening. Lyall entered the room and it reminded him of a locker room, but without the terrible smell. The whole room was pure white just like the center of Aurora.

"Darius, Dominick, Rolf, Elwynn." Lyall read off the names of the crew members that were engraved into shelves as he walked past them.

"Lyall. Here we are." Lyall said as he got to his name. A snow-white jacket hung from a hanger. The white on the jacket was a little darker than the pure white room it was in. The white jacket's back was turned towards Lyall. The word Aurora was written in bold and Lyall rubbed his thumb on the letter A.

Lyall grabbed the hanger gently and took the jacket carefully off of the hanger. He held the jacket with his right arm and hung the hanger back up gently with his left hand. Lyall grabbed the jacket with both of his hands and it felt cold as snow and as well it should be. It hadn't been used in over ten years.

Lyall turned the white coat around, revealing a light gray zipper that went through the middle of it. Lyall rubbed his left thumb on the left of the jacket where it had Lyall's name along with Aurora in bold at the top of it. On the right of the jacket was a patch with NASA's symbol. The zipper made a little noise as Lyall gently pulled it down to the bottom of the snow white jacket. The zipper pulled apart, revealing the snow-white inside of the jacket. Lyall put his right arm into the jacket and his arm entered the coldness that was the inside of his ten-year unworn jacket. His right hand popped out the sleeve and he then put his left arm in the opposite sleeve. The sleeve felt just as cold as the other one and his left hand popped out of the sleeve. The zipper made the same noise again as he gently lifted the light gray zipper with his right hand.

Lyall walked over to a very small mirror and saw a dirty blond haired man with hair gel and sky blue eyes that stared back at him. Lyall studied his reflection, touching his chin and his hair.

It's been ten years and I haven't aged a bit. Lyall thought.

"Hey, Lyall! Hurry up man, we're waiting for you to get here so we can eat!" Darius faintly yelled from upstairs.

"Coming!" Lyall yelled back.

Lyall stopped gazing at himself and unhurriedly walked out of the room. The door hissed as it slowly started to close. Lyall got to the metal ladder at the center of the room and put his right foot, as well as both of his hands, on the frigid ladder. Lyall tilted his head to look back at the intimidating, dark hallway. Lyall shook his head and looked upwards as he climbed the metal ladder. The metal felt cold every single time Lyall put his hand on the metal ladder as he climbed. Lyall got halfway to the top of the ladder and jumped off of it and landed on a solid, pure white floor. Lyall looked down at his cold hands and saw the marks of the ladder in the middle of them.

Lyall put his hands down and walked down the pure white hallway. Lyall looked at the windows to his right and saw even more of the thousands of stars in the dark, never ending sea of space. Lyall took his attention off of the windows and looked to his left, where there were doors that lead to the dorms of the occupants of Aurora. The white, bright hallway that Lyall was walking in, to Lyall, was better than the dark, menacing hallway that was just below him.

Lyall got to the big, open circular door at the end of the hallway and entered the room. The rest of the crew was seated in chairs that surrounded a big pure white circular table with plates of food in front of them. They all stopped their conversations and looked at Lyall with smiles on their faces.

"Look who's finally here!" Darius yelled as he got up and put his arm over Lyall's neck. Everyone cheered and applauded.

"Shut up guys." Lyall said with a little chuckle of his own. Everyone laughed and Lyall took a seat next to Darius and Dominick.

"What are we eatin' today?" Lyall asked as he sat down.

"Pancakes with eggs and bacon." Dominick answered as he looked down at his plate.

"Looks delicious." Lyall said while he looked at the delicious food.

"It is." Kostas said before he took his fork and ate a piece of the pancake.

"Of course you know it's good. You've already eaten some of the food!" Darius replied as he pointed at him.

Kostas laughed and almost choked on his pancake. He swallowed his food and drank some orange juice. "Sorry, I couldn't help myself." Kostas replied with a big grin on his face.

"Come on Kostas, we were supposed to eat together." Lyall reminded Kostas.

Kostas just smiled and shrugged.

Cedrick walked towards everybody and carried a plate filled to the brim with pancakes, bacon, and eggs. "Bon appetit." Cedrick said as he placed the plate of food in front of Lyall.

"Thank you, Cedrick." Lyall replied as he looked down at the mouthwatering food. The smell of bacon and eggs overtook the smell of pancakes and Lyall started to get hungry.

"Well, I have to go guide the ship now. Have a nice meal everybody. Let me know if you need anything." Cedrick said as he walked towards an elevator that led to the cockpit.

Everyone thanked Cedrick as he entered the elevator. Cedrick stood in the middle of the elevator and the doors closed.

"Come on Sterling! Give us a speech!" Lyall ordered.

Everyone cheered in agreement.

"Well if you insist." Sterling said as he got out of his seat. Sterling pushed his chair towards the table and stood behind it, smiling as he looked at everyone who was waiting in anticipation.

"Well my brothers and sisters, we have gathered here today to have a delicious meal. Now I know that we didn't get to Mars but that's okay. It isn't about the destination, it's about the journey. Even though we slept for most of it." Sterling said with a little chuckle.

Every laughed and snickered in reaction.

"But I wouldn't have chosen anyone else to have rather gone to space with me then this grand crew. Now if everyone could please raise their glasses."

Everyone grabbed their glasses filled with orange juice and they rose them to the air.

"May God look over this beautiful ship and may God look over our souls. Thank you God for this wonderful meal and thank you God for letting me do what I love. Sincerely, from the bottom of my heart, thank you, God."

"Amen." Everyone said in unison as they tapped their glasses with one another. Sterling sat back down and wiped a tear from his eye.

"Well everyone, let's eat!" Lyall ordered. Everyone without hesitation started eating their food.

"This is so good." Darius said with a bit of pancake in his mouth.

"He cooks better than my mama!" Dominick joked.

"This is the best pancake I've ever eaten!" Lyall agreed as he took another piece of pancake with his fork and stuck it into his mouth.

"Hey, Lyall? What're you gonna do when we get back to Earth?" Dominick asked with great interest.

Everyone looked at the dirty blond haired man with wide eyes. Lyall swallowed his piece of pancake and started to think of an answer.

"I don't really know. I guess try to get on another mission to Mars."

"We're all going to try to go back to Mars." Darius said.

"Actually, I don't think I'm going to." Dominick revealed.

Everyone stopped their feasting and looked at Dominick with puzzled faces.

"Why not?" Kostas asked.

"I'm going to get married." Dominick answered with a big smile on his face.

Everyone whooped and cheered. Kostas got out of his seat and walked towards Dominick. "Ohhhh damn! Dom's gettin' hitched!" Kostas said as he high fived Dominick. Everyone cheered for a while but they eventually quieted down.

"What are you gonna do when we get back to Earth Lynn?" Dominick asked.

"Oh, nothing. I'll probably just go to my home and just watch TV." Lynn answered while she looked down at her food.

"That sounds very interesting!" Kostas sarcastically replied.

"Shut up Kostas." Lynn said with a little giggle.

"How about you Rolf?" Lynn asked as she looked at the man with the black beard.

"Same as you." Rolf answered with a grin.

"Darius?" Rolf asked as he turned his attention to the man with bronze skin.

"I don't really know. I guess just live a normal life until I get another mission to Mars." Darius answered.

Suddenly the intercom turned on and it made a beeping noise.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we're approaching Earth. You might want to get up here quick." Cedrick said through the intercom.

"Thank you, Cedrick!" Lyall yelled so that Cedrick can hear him. The intercom beeped again, signaling that the intercom has turned off.

Everyone ate their food quickly and they went to the ladder leading to the cockpit. They climbed the frigid, metal ladder one after the other and then jumped off when they got to the entrance of the cockpit. Lyall took out his card and stuck it into the machine next to the big, circular white door. Lyall took out his card and the door hissed as it rolled counterclockwise slowly. The circular door stopped hissing as the door finished rotating.

Everyone walked through the doors and they all walked towards a massive window at the front of the cockpit. At the other side of the window was their beautiful home planet, Earth. Everyone stared with their mouths wide open, gasping and their eyes reflected the mostly blue planet in front of them.

"Alright, everybody. Get to your stations." Lyall ordered.

Everyone stopped gazing at the beautiful planet and they separated, heading towards their different stations. Lyall stayed and looked at the marvelous planet.

"God damn." Lyall said as he stared with his sky blue eyes in wonder.

The planet looked so big as they headed towards it. He could see North America, South America, and a whole bunch of fluffy, pure white, spiraling clouds.

"Magnificent." Cedrick said as he walked and stood next to Lyall.

"Hey Cedrick, can I ask you a question?" Lyall asked while he continued to look out the window.

"Of course sir, that's what I'm here for. To answer questions and to search for extraterrestrial life."

"What do you think happened? Why do you think NASA just canceled our mission to Mars like that?" Lyall asked as he still continued to look at the big planet in front of him.

"Now that's a question that I do not have an answer to. The name Walker's is really interesting me though."

"Do you think everything is fine over there?" Lyall asked as he turned his attention toward the cybernetic organism to his left.

"On Earth? Of course everything is fine. Nothing bad could've happened while we left."

"Sir!" Sterling yelled from his chair.

"Yes, Sterling?" Lyall asked as he turned around.

"I'm trying to contact Houston but they aren't answering."

"What?"

"Come over here, sir." Sterling said as he waved Lyall over with his right hand. Lyall walked over to Sterling and stood next to his chair. Sterling picked up a small microphone and put it close to his mouth.

"Houston, this is Aurora. We need coordinates to land. Houston, do you read?" Sterling asked through the microphone.

"See?"

"Something's not right, keep trying." Lyall answered. Lyall left Sterling and he walked slowly back towards Cedrick who was still looking at Earth.

"Something wrong?" Cedrick asked as Lyall got to him.

Lyall sighed and shook his head in disappointment."Yeah, Houston's not responding to our messages."

"That's very peculiar. They should be answering."

"Commander Lyall, what do you want me to do with Aurora?" Sterling asked.

Lyall turned around and saw that Sterling and everyone else was looking at him. Lyall turned to look at the big planet in front of them as he started to think of an answer. When he found one, he turned around and faced everyone.

"Move the ship towards Earth. We're going to land, even without their consent."

"That's against the rules. Are you sure?" Sterling asked with uncertainty.

"Yes, I'm sure."

"Alright, sir." Sterling replied as he walked quickly back to his seat. Cedrick sat down in a seat while Lyall walked towards his own seat, which was next to Sterling's. Lyall sat down and he and everyone else strapped the seat belts connected to their chairs over their chest and stomach.

"Approaching Earth. Entering Earth's atmosphere in T minus, forty-five seconds." Sterling announced.

"How's the ship looking?" Darius asked as he looked at Eduardo.

"In great shape!"

"Locking down all doors." Lynn said as she pressed a green button in front of her.

Lyall looked at the small screen on the control panels in front of him and it showed the layout of Aurora. In between the doors was a green line, signaling that the doors were accessible. Suddenly, the line started to turn into red lines and eventually, all of them were red, signaling that all were no longer accessible.

"Thirty seconds." Sterling announced. Earth started to get bigger and bigger as they get closer.

"Hey Darius, see if they can hear us." Lyall ordered. Darius looked at his computer and picked up a small microphone.

"Hello Houston, this is Aurora. We're approaching Earth as we speak. Houston, do you have our landing coordinates?" Static answers\ed him and he slammed the microphone onto the floor. "God dammit! They're still not answering!" Darius yelled

"Twenty seconds." Sterling advised.

"Turning on heat shields." Rolf said as he turned a knob above his head. The diagram of the ship on the screen in front of Lyall now had a green outline around it, symbolizing that the heat shields were on.

"This is gonna suck." Lyall thought.

Suddenly a woman's voice started to talk. It was Aurora, talking with a voice that sounded authoritarian.

"Entering Earth's atmosphere in t-minus ten seconds."

"Nine, eight."

"Hold on everybody!" Lyall yelled.

"Six, five."

The Earth looked so big now. The deep vacuum of space couldn't be seen anymore.

"Two, one."

Aurora blasted into Earth's mesosphere. Everyone lunged forward in their seats but the seatbelts pulled them back, which stopped them from ejecting out of their seats. In the front of the window were tons of clouds blocking the window. Aurora started to have turbulence and the ship started to bounce around.

"Shit, shit!" Lyall thought.

Suddenly all the whiteness disappeared and instead, water and land appeared in its place.

Everyone yelled and cheered while Lyall exhaled a deep breath from his mouth.

"You okay sir?" Sterling asked with a grin on his face.

"Yes. I'm fine."

Darius picked up his microphone off the floor and put it close to his mouth.

"Houston, we're through the stratosphere. I repeat we're through the stratosphere. Houston, do you copy?"

Still no answer.

"God dammit." Lyall thought.

Aurora went through the air and got closer to the land below them. Eventually, tall buildings could be seen towering over the land.

"Is that New York City?!" Lyall asked with wide eyes.

"Yes sir, it is. The big apple, as you humans call it." Cedrick answered as he stared at the buildings.

"Oh shit!" Sterling suddenly yelled.

"What's wrong Sterling?" Lyall asked with worry.

"Look out the window, sir!"

Lyall took off the seatbelt covering his chest and walked slowly towards the window. Lyall looked out the window and his mouth dropped open.

Rotting bodies of humans lined up the streets. Small pools of dark red blood surrounded their rotting corpses. Cars were in the middle of the street, completely abandoned and left to rot. Boats were out on the water. But nobody was in them.

"Oh dear." Cedrick said as he stood next to Lyall.

Everyone slowly got out of their seats and walked up and saw the destruction that laid below their spacecraft.

"Oh my god."

"What the fuck?"

"Holy shit."

"What happened?"

"I don't know man."

Everyone stopped talking and stayed silent, gazing at the devastation and destruction that laid outside the window.

"Wait a minute. There are skyscrapers everywhere. Where do we land?" Sterling asked.

"We could land on the runway at JFK airport." Dominick suggested.

"That's actually not a bad idea." Darius agreed.

"So Lyall, are we landing on JFK?" Sterling asked the dirty blond haired man.

Lyall looked at the chaos that wasn't what New York used to be as he thought of an answer. Lyall made up his mind and turned towards Sterling.

"Let's land on JFK." Lyall answered.

"Right away sir." Sterling replied as he walked toward his station.

Aurora started to turn slowly and flew slowly towards John F. Kennedy airport.

"Everyone get to your seats. We don't know how soft this landing is going to be." Lyall ordered. Everyone ran to their seat and put on their seat belts again.

Lyall sat down in his seat next to Sterling and strapped his seatbelt over him. Aurora got to JFK airport and started hovering over the runway. Lyall and Sterling both started to lower Aurora towards the runway

"Steady, steady." Lyall said as he pulled the throttle level of the hovering ship down gently.

"Putting down the landing gear." Sterling advised as he pressed a red, square shaped button.

Aurora suddenly started to shake as the landing gear started to lower. The landing gear dropped all the way down and was now in place. The diagram of Aurora on the small screen in front of Lyall now had a yellow line underneath the ship, signaling that the landing gear was down.

"Landing gear down." Sterling revealed.

"Let's land her." Lyall said as he pulled on the lever even further down, lowering the spacecraft even more.

"Landing in ten seconds." Sterling advised as he was looking at a countdown timer in front of him on a little screen. Lyall pulled the lever even further, making Aurora get further and further down and getting closer to the runway.

"Five seconds."

Lyall started to pull the lever up slowly so that Aurora wouldn't slam into the ground.

"Three, two, one."

Aurora landed onto the ground with a thud. The ship rocked back and forth but eventually stabilized.

"We made it. Welcome to Earth. Or at least, what's left of it." Sterling said.

"Unlocking all doors." Lynn advised as she pressed a button. The screen with the layout of the ship changed the doors from red to green.

"Turning off heat shields." Rolf advised as he turned the switch above him back into its regular position. The green outline of the ship disappeared on the diagram of the ship.

Everyone got out of their chairs and met up in the center of the cockpit

"Well, what do we do now?" Darius asked.

"We need to figure out what the hell is going on. Darius, stay on the ship and see if you can contact NASA." Lyall answered.

"You got it." Darius replied as he went to the same place he sat before.

"Eduardo and Elwynn, stay and keep an eye on this ship. Make sure nothing broke when we landed." Lyall ordered.

"You got it." Elwynn replied.

"The rest of you, get your guns, we're gonna walk around and see if we can figure out what's going on." Lyall ordered.

"Alright, let's go!" Kostas replied.

"Hey wait!" Eduardo yelled.

"What's wrong?" Lyall asked.

Eduardo ran to a cabinet next to where he sat and took out two jet black walkie talkies. He ran back with them and handed one to Lyall.

"Just in case things go bad. We'll also look through Cedrick's eyes from our computers and tell you if we see anything weird." Eduardo said.

"That's a good idea. Thanks, Eduardo." Lyall replied as he took the jet black walkie talkie that Eduardo handed him.

Lyall, Dominick, Rolf, Kostas, Cedrick, Sterling, and Lynn got out of the cockpit and went down the ladder towards the very bottom of Aurora. When they all finished descending the ladder to the bottom of Aurora, they got off and are engulfed in almost complete darkness. The only light they had was the light coming from above them where the center of Aurora was. Lyall and his group walked down the hallway which was just like the menacing and eerie hallway he walked through a couple minutes prior. The vents made clanking noises as Lyall and the rest of the group stepped on them. Lyall slid his hand on the pipes that ran throughout the hexagonal walls and then stopped at a big, ink black door. Lyall took out his card and tried to find the machine to put it in. But the red light wasn't working and he couldn't see where the machine was.

"I can't see where the damn machine is." Lyall said.

"Allow me, sir." Cedrick replied as he held out his hand for the card.

Lyall handed Cedrick the card and Cedrick found the machine in a second. He inserted the card and took it out. The big door hissed as it slid counterclockwise.

"How did you find it?" Lyall asked as the door slid and hissed.

"I have night vision." The cybernetic organism answered.

"Oh. Good to know."

The door came to a complete stop and suddenly a light shined bright.

"God damn!" Dominick yelled as he covered his eyes with his arm.

Lyall squinted his eyes and walked into the room. Lyall slowly got used to the light and opened them up slowly. The room was more inviting than the dark hallway that they passed.

"Holy shit!" Kostas yelled as he ran towards a wall lined up with weapons. Kostas grabbed a flamethrower from the lineup of weapons and looked at Lyall with a grin on his face. "I can work with this."

"Kostas, put that down. Hopefully, we're not going to need to kill anything." Lyall ordered.

"Why do we need weapons if we aren't going to kill anything?" Rolf asked as he looked at the weapons.

"Never know. This place looks like a wasteland and anything could be lurking around." Lyall answered.

Everyone grabbed an assault rifle. These assault rifles weren't your regular type of assault rifles. The bullets were specifically made to work in any condition on any planet. If the gravity was too high or too low it didn't matter, the bullets would move just like normal. You just had to switch the type of bullet to shoot out from the right side of the gun. Everyone walked to a big jet black door and Lyall put his card into the machine.

"God please look over us." Lyall thought.

Lyall breathed in through his nose and exhaled through his mouth as he took out the card. The light turned green and the door hissed loudly. On the other side of the door was the wasteland of what used to be Earth. The jet black door started ascending upwards and a platform started to eject from the floor of the room and towards the outside world, making a ramp for them to walk down. The door continued to open and Lyall started to wonder about what could've happened to Earth while he was away. But he was completely clueless. The big door finished ascending and Lyall looked outside from inside Aurora. Big airplanes were connected to terminals next to the airport. Some looked in good shape while others looked in ruins. The sky started to look slightly dark as if it was going to rain soon.

Lyall started walking from the safety of Aurora and onto the ramp that led to what used to be a busy airport.

"Time to find out what the hell is going on." Lyall thought.