Rex was running, his feet echoing across the deck of Resolute. The ship was empty, he was the only one left...
A flash of red laser exploded around him, screams coming from inside the debriefing room. Rex ran in, his eyes widened and twin blasters raised.
But it was empty. All that remained were two lifeless bodies, charred black blaster marks spread across their streaky armour in spirals; they were growing bigger and darker with every passing second.
He ran over to them, bending over the body nearest him and turned it over.
It was Fives.
Next to him lay Echo, both of their mouths open in pain and shock, before the black tendrils covered them and they changed...
...Into a pile of ashes.
Rex yelped and leapt up, his mind spinning, he turned and staggered out of the door. A series of screams cried out, calling into the gloom of the dark ship, the red flashes growing stronger.
Rex ran towards them, shooting in the direction of the blasts, but they melted out of sight, leaving the blast door to the mess hall in front of him shut.
He tried to hold himself together, not everyone could die- could they?
No. They would be fine and he would discover it was a holographic image to scare the tinnies...
He took in a shuddering breath, and the door opened.
Rex screamed.
Throughout the mess were bodies, lay strewn across the floor, mouth open in piteous silent cries.
Blood covered the walls in horrifying splatters, and as he watched the cafeteria exploded, twisted pieces of metal flying everywhere, blood dripping out of the hole and shadows appeared, a black mist unfurling around their hideous bodies, drawing rasping breathes through a lopsided mouth dribbling black blood and saliva.
One looked at him, raising its arm menacingly.
Rex, acting on instinct, lifted his blasters and fired twice, but they had no effect- the creature brushed them aside as if they were mere insects.
He ran.
Rex fled the mess, sprinting through the halls that had become laden with bodies, twisting and turning to escape the rattling noises that may well be the last thing he heard, never the sound of his brothers voices, not the generals cheery meeting or Ahsoka's voice again...
Ahsoka.
He couldn't leave, not without her or the survivors, there had to be someone, not just charred remains of men that he had joked with and fought besides mere days ago...
Rex staggered to a halt; he was at the bridge. The rasping had gone, replaced by an eerie silence, so like that after a battle, men not knowing what to do or say, friends dead, so many lost for such a little cause...
He opened the blast door, and a smell over powered him. Rex clutched to his face, bile rising in his throat.
Rotting and death filled his nostrils. There were the blackened bodies of brothers lying in piles at the side, blaster marks spread over the navigation and hyperdrive. Rex felt his eyes fill with tears mingled with sweat, tears contained for over a year of bloody battles and death.
But a single, lifeless form lay at the window, arms by its side and elegant head-tails spreading around its head...
He sprinted over too her, and kneeled down at the head. The body was not black, or dead as he had first thought- her chest heaved up and down rapidly. The reddy-orange skin was pale, stretched taut against the prominent cheek bones.
The breathing stopped, and a strangled cry escaped Ahsoka's lips, before her eyes flew open.
The eye sockets were empty. The place where they would have normally sat were black and rotting, grey veins spreading from them down across her face, which started to age rapidly, before the chest exploded, revealing a gaping hole and her exposed, pulsing grey heart.
Rex leapt up and started to run, willing him to leave the ship, never come back and start a new life, but the body had pulled itself up, arms dripping with black mist, and floated gruesomely after him.
He pulled his blasters out again, firing nonstop as her ran, but the figure twisted and changed, writhing as though it had been replaced by live snakes, then let out a rattling breath and caught up with him...
Rex fell; the figure grabbed his arm with scabbed, slimy skin and pulled him down, then reached out with a hand and touched his face. He let out an anguished cry, and then tried in vain to throw the creature off of him, but it brushed him aside and moved its filthy hand onto his chest, then pushing down with the strength of a rampaging nerf.
Rex gave one last yell, before falling head first into darkness; down...down...
Rex gasped sharply and bolted upright, his head throbbing, the bitter taste of dirt and blood in his mouth.
It was a dream...
He was still on Resolute, and had been so for two days already, travelling halfway across the galaxy to Skahtra'en to take out a huge army of killer droids and lead his men to their death, as usual.
Rex reached out weakly, his arm shaking ever so slightly and the taste of death still in his mouth. It was the taste of a battle, blood and nausea mixed with dust and debris, chocking as the men bravely powered on. It always appeared after a nightmare, but usually at the end of a mission, not the start...
He got up, steadying his breathing and left the barracks silently, leaving 11 men sleeping peacefully behind.
The bridge was the best place to go.
Rex had always liked the bridge. The moving flashes wiped away the pain, as though he was leaving behind his dark thoughts and ill feelings behind like the stars, as they streaked past, planet after planet in its' own system with its' own race and unique culture.
It was typical, he decided, for the dreams to come and haunt him, the feel of distress settling across his stomach as he fought to remain quite in the room, so not to disturb his brothers, avoid the questioning looks they gave him.
Rex sighed and moved through the corridor, hairs prickling on his neck and worry flickering in his chest. This was not normal... at least the feeling was, anyway.
He had never experienced something like that; normally it was of battle fought and brothers dying, reliving the most terrifying memories he had had, waiting for his moment to be struck down and go, leaving a screaming Ahsoka in his wake...
Rex shuddered and entered the deck, going to the window and standing with his arms folded behind his back.
But never before had he seen this. This was a new extreme, even if the other men's nightmares were included, like with the usual zombies-eating-out-my-brains-on-Geonosis dreams told by the 212th and 41st.
Never before had he been that alone- the only survivor... for a while anyway. Before being practically eaten by a hooded horror, that was leaving the remains of its meals in small heaps of black dust and silent, empty halls.
What had the blasts? What were the creatures themselves? How did they get around so quickly and silently... and how had he come up with them?
Was it just a random thought multiplied to the extreme, from the comments he had overheard from a transmission to General Kenobi from Coruscant? Or was it a warning?
Rex Shook his head, wishing the thoughts would leave him alone, and started to pace.
Thud- thud – thud - swivel! Thud - thud...
He tried to collect his mind, concentrating on the dull noise from the durasteel floors. A red light flashed from the navi-computer, making Rex jump and spin around, fist raised.
Kriffing hell, I'm going mad... fanbloodytastic.
Nobody was there.
Oh I hate this. Stupid deep space, playing its pathetic mind games... like that 'Force World' thing. Bet it's one of those again.
He continued his pacing; up and down until the early hours of the morning, mind mulling over what he had seen.
Should he tell the General, and admit to be going crazy, but warn then about a potential threat?
Or should he keep it to himself, forget about it and move on? I was only a dream, still.
With one last glance towards the streaking stars, Rex sighed, and made his way back to the barracks, before the first man woke for duty.