Author's Note: I'm SO SORRY I haven't updated in FOREVER! School has been nuttier than a can of Planter's and I've just kinda had writer's block a bit on this. I cured the writer's block by watching some Dead Space trailers and I've started a piece of fanart for the game in my art class. I'll link you guys to my deviantart page when I post it (when I finally get it done). I'm also going to start shortening the chapters so I can update more quickly. These 3,000 to 4,000 word chapters are a pain with school and a second fanfic on my plate so I'm going to shorten them to 1,000 to 2,000 words. Sorry, I know it will be less, but it won't take me months to get one stinking chapter out from now on. So, without further ado, here is chapter 14… FINALLY! Happy reading guys!
Chapter 14
"Where did you get that stuff?" Dendri asked, a bit of suspicion creasing her face.
Noelle couldn't even think of what to say as a wave of guilt and fear rushed over her; it took her a minute to resurface. She felt horrible that she had resorted to stealing from people. She had felt no guilt before, but after having to come face-to-face with the person she stole from, it truly hit home.
"I- I'm so sorry!" Noelle stuttered. She began to eye the long blades on the extra arms on each alien nervously. She feared they were angry with her and might harm her, and just after she had started to slightly trust them.
"What do you mean?" Dendri questioned, looking more worried than suspicious now at Noelle's sudden fearful look.
"I found it in a locker." Noelle explained nervously, barely able to hold eye contact. Her eyes kept sticking to the items she had nabbed and only glancing at the trio of women before her. "I needed it. I didn't think- I mean, I just…"
She wasn't sure of their intentions before and now she was even more afraid of what they might do next. Thinking fast she scooped up the clothing, com-device, and what was left of the med pack in her arms and took a few quick steps towards the aliens. She set the items on the floor and swiftly skittered back several paces so she was even farther away than she had been only minutes ago.
One hand on her blade and the other tight with nervousness at her side, Noelle continually glanced back at the other door. She kept the women in her line of sight. She had forgotten she was no longer on the Ishimura and had stolen from someone; an alien at that! Now they might make her pay for her crime.
How could I be so stupid! Noelle thought to herself angrily, I gotta get out of here or I'm toast.
A short silence, but what felt like an eternity, passed before Noelle heard the same alien woman, Dendri, speak.
"Aw, hon, it's okay." Noelle heard her say along with the sound of feet. She looked up just in time to see Dendri walking towards her with outstretched arms, closing in fast.
Noelle tried to duck out of the way, but Dendri was too close and too fast. Before she knew it, Noelle was caught in a tight hug. She let out a short and sharp yelp and tried to escape, but the woman held her fast. She expected to be cut and slashed at any moment by the sharp blades on the small arms just above her head, but when nothing happened Noelle cracked an eye open. Dendri's head was slightly above hers, proving Noelle earlier assumption that all three women were taller than her.
"See, I don't bite." Dendri smiled at her warmly. Her strong arms were wrapped around Noelle's, pinning them to her sides. Noelle could still feel her heart pounding in her chest, as if it too wished to escape the unexpected hug just as badly as she did.
"Dendri, I think you're scaring her." The tallest, Thren, commented with a hint of humor.
"Yeah, she looks like she's about to… what is it the humans say? 'Freak out'?" The wiry one called Maris followed. She let out a soft laugh. Noelle didn't fail to notice it sounded… normal. Their English was a bit halting and awkward though.
"Oh, nonsense!" Dendri turned her head away from her friends and looked at Noelle, "You're not afraid of me, are you?"
Noelle opened her mouth slightly to say something, but nothing came out. She couldn't think of anything to say that wouldn't hurt their feelings… or seriously piss them off.
"Don't feel bad." Dendri reassured Noelle, "Just ask next time. If you need help we'll be happy to give it."
After her thoughts began unjumbled and she could think straight, Noelle simply said, "Thank you." She could feel a small smile tugging at her face. Relief flooded through her as she saw wouldn't be harmed. These aliens were rather… friendly.
"What I don't understand is why you're injured and you're wandering around the ship." Thren commented.
"True!" Dendri looked around to answer Thren, then looked at Noelle, "The doctors would have never discharged you from the medical deck if you looked like this."
There was a tense pause as all three looked at Noelle, as if trying to solve a riddle that they had never seen before.
"Did you run away?" Thren said with worry, but not shock when she caught sight of the IV still stuck in Noelle neck. It was as if it upset her, but came as no real surprise.
Dendri lifted a hand towards Noelle's neck, as if to touch the IV, but Noelle jerked back and tried to free herself from Dendri's hold.
"Please, let me go." Noelle's voice was taut and low with fear. They were going to drag her back to the medical deck. She just knew it. Or, at least, they could try.
When Dendri still didn't release her, Noelle's vision started to fail her. Images of a Slasher holding on to her and attempting to stab her or snap at her neck flashed before her eyes. The pictures were brief and flickering, but nonetheless terrifying. It was almost like the episode from the elevator. She could feel her pulse in her neck and her breaths came faster and faster. She forced herself not to panic, and since she was more prepared to handle another flashback she was able to hold herself in check.
"Noelle, what's wrong?" The sound of Thren's voice and the calling of her name shook the images loose from Noelle's mind. "Let us call the med deck for you. They can help you. Don't be scared."
"Let me go. I have to get out of here and find my team." Noelle said, then repeated and repeated when Dendri didn't let her go. Thren walked over and picked up the com-device to use it. Noelle started to try and pry Dendri's hands loose, then tried pushing her away when that didn't work.
"Calm down, hon." Dendri's voice held a hint of panic.
"Chill, girl." Maris said, walking towards Noelle and Dendri. "We just want to help."
"You're not listening to me. I don't need your help!" Noelle said more forcefully, even getting slightly angry. "I don't have time. I have to help my team. There are people on this ship that want to kill me and the other crewmembers and if I don't stop them we're all gonna die!"
"What are you talking about?" Thren gasped.
"Don't be ridiculous," Denri looked concerned, and Noelle suspected it was more about her mental health than what she had said, "No one's out to kill you. You're safe here."
"You're not listening to me," Noelle was starting to become exasperated. She almost continued and warned them that these men were killing witnesses, but she realized in telling them that she was putting them in the crosshairs of a war they didn't belong in. This war had gone on long enough, and Noelle saw no reason to drag more innocent bystanders along for its final battle.
"What are you not telling us?" Thren asked, staring Noelle down. She had obviously caught the hesitation in Noelle's voice and wondered what was wrong.
"Come on, hon" Dendri started to pull her towards the door, "We're taking you to the hospital and you need to tell the ship officers where your friends are so they can help find them too."
"Wait a damn minute!" Noelle's spinning mind came to a standstill at hearing Dendri's words, "How many others have escaped besides me?" She had been prepared to charge back into the medical area, guns blazing to rescue her team and as many crewmembers as possible. She hadn't really considered many others had been as lucky to be roaming free around the ship as she was.
"At least ten now since you're here," Thren said slowly with apprehension.
That means the entire team could be out. Noelle thought quickly, It's not likely they're all free, but at least a few surely are running around. Well, now I think it's time I started looking for them.
Thinking fast, Noelle abruptly collapsed her legs and allowed her weight to fall to the floor, breaking Dendri's hold. Before the alien woman could even react Noelle was back on her feet and darting to the other end of the room.
"Stop!" Thren called after her, "Let us help you!"
"I don't need your help!" Noelle called back over her shoulder as she made a dash for the other door. She tried to find a panel to open it with like the last one, but could find nothing.
Shit, shit, shit, shit! She kept thinking as she desperately searched for something to open the door with; a button, a knob, anything.
"Is everything alright in here?" A familiar voice sounded from the other side of the room just after the swish of the door opening could be heard, "I heard yelling-"
Noelle turned just in time to see a blue-eyed alien male halt dead in his tracks and stop midsentence when he saw her. She startled violently when she recognized him instantly; it was the same male from the hallway in the Ishimura, the theatre, and the foreign medical room.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" Noelle didn't yell, but her voice was harsh enough to call attention to herself.
"Oh my God." The blue-eyed male was staring at the floor where Noelle's blood had scattered from her freshly reopened wounds. He then looked up at her with anxiety.
"What happened?" He looked to the alien women for answers.
"We found her changing her own bandages." Thren explained carefully as she watched Noelle, as if that would keep her from bolting the first chance she got, "She started bleeding when she tore off the gauze and tape."
"Noelle, this man is a doctor so he can help you." Dendri implored her, "You shouldn't be afraid."
"Did you say 'Noelle'?" The man asked. He looked surprised and thoughtful.
"Yes." Dendri assented, "Why?"
"That name…" he paused and seemed to think hard as if trying to remember something, "rings a bell." He said the phrase like he was trying it out for the first time; awkward and a bit unsure. Speaking of ringing a bell, Noelle could have sworn just as the alien man spoke that phrase she heard what sounded like two chimes of a small bell; one very close and one very far away. The sounds seemed to come from nowhere, like phantom noises that trick the brain and ears, but they rang deep in her chest. They were not imagined, but they were something profound and important. Something deep inside her, deeper than the pit of her chest in which the sounds had buzzed, told her they were unfathomably important.
"What's wrong?" the blue-eyed male asked her. Noelle didn't answer him. She was staring off at the wall to her right, sensing that was the direction from which the distant chime had come. She was thinking, but not about the chimes. As long as she had them fooled that something had caught her attention they would probably stay away. While they were distracted by her supposed worry she could think up a way to escape.
Noelle knew she couldn't make it to the door she had come in through. She was normally much faster, but her wounds hampered her enormously so any four of them could easily grab her before she even made it halfway across the room. It had to be the second just behind her, but how to get it open was the question.
Maybe I could- Noelle started to think when a familiar voice, a human voice, rang out from what sounded like behind the door.
"Fire in the hole!" the male voiced boomed not once, but twice. All reaction, like a learned reflex, Noelle dove to the side and away from the door. She covered her face and her ears rang with the deafening explosion that followed. She looked up in time to see the door that had stubbornly blocked her escape come crashing to the floor in a pile of dust left over from the detonation.
A cloud of debris consumed the new door-shaped hole for a few seconds before a hazy figure appeared. Coughing and waving his arms to disperse the smog, Jerry trotted into the room exclaiming, "And the cavalry has arrived!"
"Noelle!" he exclaimed with delight when he saw her, "Thank God you're okay!"
"Jerry!" Noelle could feel a big smile on her face. It felt like she hadn't smiled in real relief or happiness in forever. "How did you find me?"
"No time to explain," Jerry glanced with alarm at the aliens across the room, "We gotta go!" With that he grabbed her wrist, helped haul her up off the floor, and dashed her out of the room.
Author's Note: So, I hope that was well worth that super long wait. Like I said, I wouldn't stop writing for this story without telling you guys. I don't like to leave people hanging. ;) Our little blue-eyed crusader is back (much to Noelle frustration may I add) and Jerry, the bomb-making wonder, has swooped in to save the day. Could use some inspiring reviews to keep the chapters flowing ;) Thanks a bunch for all the support so far on this fanfic guys and if you're a Transformer fan you can check out my new one. You guys are the best! Happy reading!