Author's Note: Sorry it took me so long to update. Finals are next week so I've been spending all my time getting ready for them. It will take me a while to get the next chapter up and I apologize that this one is a bit shorter. Hope you liked the last chapter. The ball will really get rolling in chapter four! Happy reading!

Chapter 3

Noelle walked out the of the office last. They had called in the team and discussed the news. Her story was met once again with gaping mouths and shocked faces. Her plan was met with no protest or debate, only ideas about what the aliens could want. She walked out last as she watched her team leave one by one. She ran her hand over the scroll bar on the text holographic in the middle of the table. Rereading her statement and the statements of team she was mixed with hope and dread. It made no sense, but she prayed it would soon.

Oh well, Noelle thought as she walked out, Eventually this will have to end one way or another. She started thinking about how it was going take time to get used to people following her plans directly when a gruff voice caught her attention.

"So what were you and our overlords talking about?" It was Wolfgang, one of the actual soldiers on the ship. More precisely, soldier-in-training. Having read his file she knew he had never passed because of 'self-control issues' and 'chronic insubordination'. 'Overlords' was one of his favorite nicknames for George and his team, Noelle included.

"You know more than anyone that it's none of your business what we discuss." She spoke shortly and stiffly without looking at him. She continued walking as if he hadn't spoken to her but he followed, much to her annoyance.

"Don't pretend like nothing happened while you guys were out," he was nearly next to her when Noelle stopped to whirl around and face him, "I'm not stupid."

"We never said you were. The majority of the group, meaning pretty much everyone but you, voted us to take charge."

"How do I know this isn't something political?" His look had a loaded accusation in it, "Or worse. How do I know you guy's didn't have something to do with all this?"

"Finally we get to the center of all the round-a-bout shit you throw," her eyes narrowed and her voice grew hard, "Humoring you for no reason, what in the hell makes you think we specifically started the Infection? Sounds like you just want someone to blame."

"So you think it was the Unitologists?"

"No," she hesitated for a moment, not wanting to tell him too much, "It don't think they started anything. They may be a group of crazies but that doesn't mean they're murderers."

"At least we agree on one thing."

"Not that we should. Where do you get off on giving my team crap for doing their job?"

"Which is what?" he raised his voice near a yell and pointed a finger at her, "To pull the wool over our eyes and screw us over while you feed us some shitty story that you're trying to protect us? We're dying, starving, exhausted, and almost out of options and what do you guys do? Nothing!"

"We just risked our lives by going out and hunting down food in a ship filled with corpses that could kill any of us with just the swing of an arm," she didn't raise her voice and kept it even, "And that's your idea of 'nothing'?"

"All you're looking to do is lure us into thinking we're going to survive this," he lowered his voice a bit, his anger building by a fraction, "And then you're going to let us die!"

"What the hell are you talking about? Even if that was our plan what would be the point? Leading you on would be a waste of time to people looking to kill you."

"If you sick enough to let something like this Infection loose on us you're sick enough to lead us on," his eyes darkened and Noelle grew nervous of his temper, "All you need is enough video and audio logs to prove we survived for a while so it will look like you tried to save us, let us get picked off or die on our own, then claim you're the only ones to make it out alive."

"You're crazy," she started to walk away and looked over her shoulder to say, "And you'll be the death of the us, not the team." As she strode away she could hardly hold in the words that would completely destroy his idea. The fact that aliens were on the ship and seemingly willing to help and that the team planned to accept. It would prove the teams intentions were nothing but good, and that he was just looking for someone to blame for the situation they were in. But she knew she couldn't, which only made her blood boil more.

Noelle tried to calm herself down as she made her way to the room in which she slept, knowing she would never fall asleep if she stayed as upset as she was. She tried to be happy with the fact she didn't have to check the sick and wounded on the stage, since Nicole was taking over for the night. She looked at her watch and the light bounced off the narrow hall she was in. Dammit, she thought, One o'clock. And I've been up since five this morning. Tomorrow morning is going to be just fan-tastic.

Despite the fact that she was going to get little sleep having facing another early morning, she tried to relax. She walked in the large room, stood by her bed, and dropped her weapons to the floor. Her bed was a simple mattress snagged from a room in the first week. It was stained from the journey to the base but was comfortable to sleep on. She sat down on the corner and put her pounding head between her hands. The combination of stress, fear, and cold mixed to form one hell of a headache.

She could hear footsteps coming down the hall and waited as they sounded off the walls in the room. She looked up to see Jared and Merrilee dropping their weapons by their beds. Jared flopped down face first on the mattress while Merrilee sat down next to him. Their's was right next to Noelle's, but she felt like talking was unneeded as well as unwanted.

"You okay, Noelle?" Merrilee asked over the sound of Jared's snores.

"Yeah," she laid back on her thin pillow, "Wolfgang got on me again. Turns out he thinks the team is behind the Infection."

"Doesn't shock me. George already knew that. I'm surprised he hasn't gone after you with that accusation before."

"Oh well," Noelle closed her eyes despite the gut urge not to, "No need to dwell on it."

"Yeah. He's a bloody moron. Pay no mind to him."

"Thanks."

"No problem, girl."

"Good night, Merr."

"Night, Noe."

Noelle tried to let her mind drift into sleep, but every creak was a monster creeping towards her and every beat of her heart threatened to be her last. Her whole body screamed for her to sit up and remain alert, despite the knowledge that she was safe, at least relatively, in the base. Her argument with Wolfgang gave her a bitter, foreboding feeling in the pit of her stomach and it was getting hard to ignore. She knew that it was only a matter of time when his threats turned from only verbal into something more. Her mind slowed as she tired. Eventually the pull on her eyelids outweighed the fear and she reluctantly drifted off into sleep.

"Noelle!" the voice sounded far away. She wasn't sure she had actually heard it until it sounded again, this time closer.

"Noelle, get up!" She jumped up from her bed and whirled around to see Jared and Merrilee standing in front of her mattress. The murmur of worried voices came from down the hall. It sounded like everyone in the base was awake and talking at once.

"What wrong?" her heart jumped when she saw they were already armed and ready to go, "What happened?"

"A necromorph got in," Jared was practically panting, his breath coming out in white puffs, "And we know why."

"Fill me in," she demanded.

"George already took care of it and we're posting a few guards for a few hours," Merrilee explained.

"Okay, but how the hell did it get in?" she was wide awake now, "We have blocks in the vents and the doors are locked. Right?"

"The power dropped suddenly," Jared dropped his head in defeat, "We've hardly got enough to keep the lights on and the power to the door locks are coming and going. If we lose power completely it would be easy for them to pry the door open with the locks completely ineffective."

"God," Noelle rubbed her temples, "So we're either going to be killed or freeze to death."

"What are we going to do?" Merrilee looked at Noelle with the same scared but expectant face the team had given her when looking for her lead. Jared looked defeated, knowing as well as everyone else that contacting help was now out of their reach. It terrified her, but they needed her as much as she needed them. They had supported her when she had lost hope and now was her turn to return the favor. Shoving her fear aside, she pummeled it to a pulp so she could say what she wanted without her voice shaking.

"We fight."

"Pardon?" Merrilee looked confused.

"We fight," Noelle said shortly again, "We fight for all we're worth. Yeah, it looks like we're screwed but who cares. We passed screwed about a mile ago when all this shit started. The halls are filled with frigging zombies with blades and barbs and fangs. The ship is shutting down. We're running out of supplies. All that never stopped us before. What's holding us back and making us give up now? Fight. We do what we've been doing. We dig in our heels, hunker down, grit our teeth, and fight off anything that comes through those doors. We're going to survive." Noelle looked up after her speech to see her entire team standing in the doorway listening. She could feel her face warm with blush and she looked at George for an answer. His face was proud.

"You heard her," he turned to the team, a smile still plastered to his face, "Let's post a few guards at the doors. Everyone else go back to sleep." The team shuffled out of the room quickly, but many looked back at Noelle with looks of pride and respect on their faces. Noelle looked at her watch.

"But George it's five in the morning. Shouldn't we be getting ready to get up by now?"

"No," he was halfway out the door, "We're splitting up the work so we can have guards twenty-four hours now. Everyone's pretty riled up now and I think if we have too many people keeping watch they'll be even more worried. Get some rest. I'll come get you three when we need you." Noelle nodded along with Jared and Merrilee, but it was weak and halfhearted. George patted her on the back as he passed and they shared a small smile. Internally, she beamed. George's praise was few and far between, making it all the more inspiring when she had earned it.

After George left they looked at one another, shrugged helplessly, then went back to bed. Noelle had a considerably hard time falling back asleep after all the excitement. Her hands were shaking slightly so she clasped them together. She unconsciously pulled off her high school class ring and rolled it between her fingers. Her hands grew a mind of their own when she was nervous or bored, the latter being the emotion that drove them now. Her hands were rarely idle being that when she was on Earth, and sometimes on the ship before the Infection, she often sat on her porch or at a large window and painted on canvas with the best oils she could afford. The memory stirred those of the feeling of the breeze running its cool fingers through her hair and across her skin. The chirps of birds and rustle of trees filling her ears. The soothing flow of paint on woven canvas under the brush held expertly in her able hand.

She sighed thoughtfully as she unintentionally lulled herself to sleep with her comforting memories. Noelle's eye was caught by the blue gem in the center of her ring, its color intensified by the lights above her head. Despite being a dark blue the color was warm and comforting, especially now. The past seemed her only escape from her present, which was nothing but terror.

She looked at her ring, realizing she was holding it. The white gold was slightly tarnished from years of daily wear and tear, yet it still looked smooth. The gem in the middle was smudged from her fingers so she wiped it on the thin material of her suit. When she held it up to examine it the dark blue gem shone brightly, despite the dim lighting. The color was considered a winter one yet it never failed to fill her with a warm feeling, like she was arriving home after a long departure. It was her only piece of her Earth home with her… besides Uncle Isaac.

She sighed sadly, trying to push the negative thoughts out of her mind, but she wasn't quick enough. She found herself thinking at length about if her uncle was safe, if she would ever see him again, if the rumors of him being alive were even true. As she tried to sleep, she drifted in and out as nightmares swam through her head. They were like thundering horses that ran across her mind like a shallow pond, causing disturbances and stirring up horrible images like muck that lingered persistently. One overtook another, bringing with it a new theme or dark idea for the endless film reel behind her eyes. She woke frequently and eventually gave up on even the thought of sleep. She looked at her RIG's clock and realized she had only been trying to sleep for two hours.

Oh, well, she thought with frustration, Looks like I'm still starting my day early. Noelle pulled on her RIG, locking the straps that went across her ribs and shoulders. She looked over and saw that Merrilee and Jared had somehow managed to fall asleep. She felt happy that at least others weren't as unlucky in that department as her.

She could feel the hollowness in her stomach had grown more pronounced. Her head felt clogged and was throbbing to the beat of her heart as she walked down the hall to the main theatre room. People were already up and moving and just as George had said there were guards posted at every door and every vent. Just as she was eyeing the crowd to make sure she wouldn't run into Wolfgang again Jerry came sprinting up to her.

"Noelle," he sounded breathless, "I was just looking for you in your room. Thank God I found you."

"What's wrong?"

"Nicole needs your help. Will isn't doing so well."

Author's Note: I know, I know. I torment my readers with cliffhangers. :) Things are getting interesting now and I promise it will get even crazier next chapter. Also, I apologize for any typos or other misspelled things in my story. Please let me know if you find something that could change the meaning of a sentence so I can fix it. Can't have any confusion. Btw, "Die Erste Nacht" means The First Night in German. Remember, reviews are love!