Reflex

Chapter 1: 4U

Do not be fooled by fluff, this is a serious fanfiction and I will be writing as such! First time for everything...

Piers Nivans

"Piers! Piers, don't do this!"

Chris yelled, and it hurt. It hurt that I had to do this. I didn't want to die. I didn't want to lose my mind. But more than that, I wanted Chris to live. I wanted him to be free of this. I wanted him to escape without having to go through the pain of killing me.

"Piers! OPEN THE DOOR!"

I wouldn't. I would not allow Chris to touch me again, only to have to kill me. It was better for both of us. It was a wonder I hadn't succumbed already. At least that giant B.O.W. was out of commission...It felt good that the last thing we'd done together was save the world.

"PIERS!"

I looked him in the eyes. I would not take my eyes away from my captain. I put my hand on the lever.

"Piers..." Chris said, tears streaming down his face. "If you won't do it for yourself, then do it for me."

I froze.

"Please...don't do this to me, Piers, I need you..."

My hand came off of the lever. "What did you just say?" I whispered. I knew he'd heard me though. "I...I said I need you, Piers." Chris repeated.

I slowly moved in front of the pod. The base creaked and gave a rumble, but I barely noticed. But Chris...his face...He banged on the door with his fist again, and spoke. "Live, Piers...please, live for me."

"Live...for you?" I said, thousands of thoughts running through my head at the same time. Those words were doing something in my head. They were going against what I had always felt to be true: Chris is important, you are not. Chris must live at all costs, even your own life. Chris must live, you can't. Even though some of it I knew, had to be true, it simply had to be, they weren't holding up right now. Could I live for Chris? Was I really that important to him? Not just to the B.S.A.A., but to Chris?

"Please..."

I opened the pod. In half a second Chris was on top of me, dragging me into the escape hatch and yanking the door closed. A button was pressed, and then I felt the vibrations that meant we were off. And then...something different. Were we floating? But then I had no time or reason to think of where we were, because where I was, was in Chris's arms. His cheek was pressed to mine, his arms were squeezing me incredibly hard...

"Don't you ever...pull any shit...like that again...do you hear me?" he said into my ear. "Yes, Captain." I said miserably. He could have let me go after a few seconds, but he didn't. Not until the monster came.

The crash that shook our pod made us both fall to the floor. Forcing myself to stand, I saw that head. The head without a face. Staring into it, I saw the skull beneath the skin light and show itself as the monster screamed at us. At me.

"RAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOR! HRAAAAAAAAAYOOOOOOOH!"

It was impossible to stay standing for this thing's shaking. Any more of this and the whole thing would be destroyed...

"HAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHH !"

Haos.

Chaos.

I don't know what it was. It was an instinct. A reaction. A reflex. But I drew my arm back, watching the electric sparks fly. And I blasted. I shot a bolt of lighting right at that thing's face. Right through the glass. I couldn't see anything for the white light blinding me. All I could hear was the monstre screaming, and the rush of water fulling the escape pod...

The water! We were still in the ocean! I grabbed Chris, who was slumped against the other side of the pod, and pulled him onto my shoulder the way he'd done to me earlier. It was hard doing it through the water. I couldn't tell which was was up anymore. The water was going red, my vision was shit, and I couldn't breathe. But I found the end of the pod, empty of glass, and forced us through it. We were facing the surface, I think. Chris swam around to my other side and grabbed hold of my mutatued arm, and together we started to push ourselves towards the sunlight. It was closer than it could have been, but still long enough to make my lungs hurt. I chanced a glance down and saw the tentacles, body, and blood of the creature floating in different directions.

We pushed and pushed, until finally, air. Breaking the surface, Chris took over as we treaded water. The radio was ruined, but a helicopter was supposed to be on its way soon anyway.

"Piers...Piers..." Chris said, gasping.

"Chris...this can't be right, I should have lost my mind long before now." I said, sputtering and spitting out water. My right eye still couldn't see, and a few sparks trailed through the water from my arm.

"Don't complain." Chris said. "We don't know much about this virus. You said yourself it could be a different strain."

I could hear a loud whooshing noise, followed by a repetitive thundering. The helo was coming in. As we waved our arms and the ladder dropped down, I turned to Chris. "Hey...what you said. About...needing me...?"

Chris only nodded. And then we were off.

For you, I thought.