23 Hours, 30 Minutes Post-Outbreak
Curtis and Nicole had calmed somewhat since… everything that happened. They didn't want to think about it or remember. Therefore, they'd combined their brains yet again to become a gestalt intellect of sorts; easier for them to deal with trauma that way. Or maybe not, since they still hung on Kendra's and Isaac's words. Kyne's final breath repeated in their ears, having never really stopped. There was no time to process emotions or think or grieve.
Humanity stood at the edge of a cliff. Every moment they wasted increased the chances of the Marker shoving them off. They hated it, yet no choice remained except pressing onward. Right now, that meant digging through a mess of Corruption in their way. Their hands and claws burrowed into the choked hallway; they were moles constructing a warren in Hell.
"So sick of this," they both muttered. Curtis (the portion of his mind that retained some semblance of individuality) wasn't sure if he or Nicole or their combined halves thought to say this, yet both mouths spoke in unison. Togetherness was their only comfort now. He'd always been so lonely. Now he'd never have to be alone for the rest of his life… which might have approached faster than he wanted.
They broke through to the other side a minute later, bursting forth and rolling over each other. Though bemused, they didn't stop. "We have to keep going" both said, stating the obvious. Had to keep pushing that message. Otherwise, they might stop to have a nap. That sounded great to Curtis right now…
They shambled through abyssal realms. All was silence. All was dark. So many ship systems had failed that the Ishimura lived on borrowed time. Their slapdash fixes earlier bought several hours, yet that period had nearly passed. What sounds or light would have remained were smothered by the omnipresent meat blanket. Life support, too. It began to get cold.
Nicole remembered reading Dante's Inferno in school, and he had played the video game adaptation from EA a while back. Both of them referred to it time and again over the past hours, and Curtis now remembered the end. The deepest reaches of Hell were clad not in fire, but ice. Fire was the heat of life, and none remained once all life was gone. Not that he believed a literal afterlife spilled through to change reality. He merely noted the similarities between fiction and reality, and the fact the latter could mirror the former.
We've seen that a lot, Nicole said. So much stuff I thought was total bullshit, like demons. Now I am one. She didn't say that to insult herself, that was just reality. Of course, "reality" turned out to be much more malleable and subjective than he'd previously thought. To him, she was an angel. Nicole had to relearn basic biology. Raising the dead was easy as pie for the Marker. What happened here violated rules and expectations.
Curtis tried to get his mind away from that and back to something semi-important. He quickly flipped through the situation's pros and cons, trying to see if he could think of anything to give them an edge.
The good news was that the Necromorphs didn't have a head start. Nicole, and vicariously Curtis, felt the army move like molasses through the ship. The Marker must have developed its desperate escape plan at the last second, so the Necromorphs only found out about it and how to stop them at the same time they did. Now it became a race to the Bridge – the place where they could stop the carnage forever.
Some bad news was that Isaac had gone completely AWOL. Curtis tried to contact him a few times for Nicole's comfort, but nothing came through. Maybe once Isaac landed and got within range of a radio antennae could the amplified signal pierce the static, but he didn't count on it. However, he also didn't want to resign himself to the worst, if only for his girlfriend.
There were more aspects he could have listed, but he didn't really have the brain or willpower to crunch the numbers like an actuary. The distraction paid off, though. He'd successfully gone 30 seconds without pondering his crippling pain or dreading the imminent future. That was about enough to get them to the edge of the Mining Deck. The demarcation came up quickly on his map; it wouldn't be obvious in real life anymore. That raised their spirits very slightly. Like, "adding a drop of water to a bathtub" slightly. Still, progress was progress.
Looks like there's a shortcut to the tram station up ahead, he thought. Nicole didn't need to turn her head, since she saw the map just fine with his vision. Want to go that way or keep walking? There was no way the trolley still worked anymore, yet the tunnel would let them go faster than their current marching pace. As of a few hours ago, it was mostly free of Corruption, probably due to its size and the tram tearing it up every time it passed by. Couldn't have changed that much since the train stopped working so recently.
Not quite. She "attuned" Curtis more to her mind, which let him feel the echoes in reality other Necromorphs caused with more detail. He felt their eddies and wakes before, but never this much. It wasn't something that could easily be explained with words. His closest analogy was of gravity and mass warping spacetime. That was something he understood on at least a surface level. More massive objects distorted the universe more and left bigger "footprints", and the effect compounded. A pebble had almost no impact, but a trillion pebbles in the form of a planet distorted reality significantly.
That's what happened here. A very big shift happened somewhere to the left, though it was hard to pick out because of the Corruption all around. Still clear enough to know that's where all the proper Necromorphs were. His skin prickled. Might as well have been a "no trespassing" sign flashing in that direction. The light would have been nice. See? The tunnel is flooded with them. OK, good reason to stick to their current path and hope they arrived first. He sighed, and they continued into Mining. It was the last deck before the Bridge, but a big one.
The slog continued. Hard to say whether the Corruption thickened, but it seemed to go at his legs harder than ever. Got tripped up a few times, which led to them silently cursing out the sludge. It wasn't characteristic behavior for either of them – but they weren't either of them, they were both of them. It had to be both, otherwise they wouldn't have been coordinated enough to win the race; all this digging took synchronicity.
And it was a race. More of a snail race, to be sure, but the game was one of inches. Curtis expected the Necromorphs to gain a significant lead because of friendly terrain and having more room to maneuver, but the two factions kept pace. They're having problems of their own, Nicole told him. First, they've been going at it for a long time. Dead sprints from place to place for the last few hours, trying to find each other. They're as tired as we are. Curtis still thought it a little odd that creatures who didn't need to eat, drink or sleep (Nicole mostly chose to do the latter) could get tired, but he innately understood it, being in her head and all.
I think the Marker being so far away might also be an issue, she continued. Curtis doubted that aspect a little more. Nicole wasn't hurting from it. Because I've already been "exiled". I had to get used to operating so independently, though physical distance wasn't an issue with me. That's true. He remembered it being tough for her, both emotionally and physically, to operate on her own. These ones didn't have the same experience or personal growth, so they ran on empty. Regardless, the effect was that this "sprint to the finish" was more of a death march.
March they did, past relics of an ancient age. That's how it felt to Curtis, anyway. The mining equipment that populated these halls ran smoothly less than a day ago was now as silent as the grave. They felt far older – thousands of years old. He and Nicole explored a temple or shrine from times long gone. He wondered whether anything they built would remain once the Markers were through with them. He hoped so. Humanity clearly bungled first contact with the Markers and doomed themselves, yet he didn't think they deserved to be forgotten. If nothing else, another civilization would know that they weren't alone.
Don't give up yet, Nicole told him, trying to find any thread of faith to grasp. Curtis wasn't giving up, it just seemed so obvious that humanity would pass away. If not because of the Marker, they'd do themselves in soon. It didn't even seem like despair anymore; nihilism was a fact of life. Everyone knew it, but no one could stop it. Part of the reason for that "eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die" attitude which affected everyone. People lived for the sake of living. Unitologists were the only people left with hope. It would take a mountain of effort to stop the Necromorphs, but nothing short of a miracle could get humanity's collective act together.
I'm sorry for bringing down the mood, he said when he felt his despairing thoughts resonate inside her mind. It's hard for me to be anything but cynical.
I understand. I used to be human, too, you know, she replied with a small smile etched on her face and mind. I've seen bad things in my time, and bad people. You're probably right in your autopsy about humanity. She heaved a whistling sigh while her thoughts veered every direction. Difficult to find reasons to fight at a time like this. I want to believe that people can change, though. Not just individually, but as a species.
That's where she dropped it. Ideas like evolution had become pretty sad to her after learning that Necromorphs weren't as perfect as she thought (with the whole Twitcher debacle). Yeah, this was all something to talk about later. Again, though, it kept them both distracted and not so focused on tedium or pain. Fortunately, they got another diversion soon after.
Curtis' body scraped away a slick sheen of flesh covering a door and popped it open. They hobbled out, still walking while also looking around. The only illumination came from a few emergency lights that managed to shine through the gunk and the LEDs on Curtis' RIG. Enough for Nicole's eyes to see by, albeit not very far. Mammoth machines sat dormant, Corruption overtaking some while others were left bare. Chunks of rock still sat upon those ones, frozen in time. He didn't need to look at his map to tell they were in the Processing chamber, the room that pulverized and compressed rock by the ton.
Interesting, but nothing more. Only working in space for years and years could leave them so jaded about being able to grind whole planets into meal. A few decades of that and it seemed perfectly normal. Of course, it remained to be seen if planet cracking would continue. Even if they won here, people across the political and social spectrum were becoming suspicious of the practice. Eco groups thought it destabilized solar systems, more insular ones thought it better to strip mine asteroids and other bodies within already inhabited areas rather than spending the time to haul so much mass around.
No telling what the mysterious disappearance of humanity's largest, most famous workhorse would do. Strange to think about (especially for Nicole, who was more roped into the thoughts than anything) his industry going through such a traumatic upheaval, but it again stopped him from being crippled by pain. If only there was some way to escape it for a little while, but it was omnipresent as long as he remained awake.
Awake… He pondered this as they crossed the room and entered probably the second half of Mining, still neck-to-neck with the Necromorphs in their two-tortoise race. Nicole could staunch the agony but not stop it. He'd need some hardcore drugs for that, none of which they had on hand. Otherwise, he'd need to be asleep which still walking.
A lightbulb went on in Curtis' head, and he would have jumped if his feet weren't glued to the floor. He had an epiphany. Didn't know if it would work, but he was desperate. His thoughts were also Nicole's in this state, so she immediately agreed to try it. Time was of the essence, but he might have actually been a little faster if this worked since he didn't have to keep cringing.
He surrendered to the veil of exhaustion and was immediately claimed by it. He was asleep, yet still aware and still walking. He only saw through Nicole's eyes now, which was all right; she could see in the dark and had more of them! It freaked him out to see his comatose or zombie body shamble forward through another's eyes. This was an out-of-body experience unlike any other. He could always exert control over himself even when partially melded with Nicole before. Not now – he was asleep, after all.
Understanding the science (via Nicole's memories) of how this was possible somewhat blunted his fear. Some species of marine air-breathing animals (most long extinct) could "turn off" one hemisphere of their brain at a time while they slept. They still rested, yet they remained aware enough to periodically surface for oxygen so they didn't drown. Nicole shut down his body's higher cognitive functions and redirected that effort into his motor and somatosensory cortexes. Might not have been sustainable for long, but maybe it'd let him get a couple minutes of rest.
Meanwhile, he enjoyed being a passenger in someone else's body. It occurred to him that his consciousness no longer existed as a concrete individual. Nicole's experience with a hive mind and knowledge of the brain in general allowed him to flow between them. He thought these thoughts within her brain, which wasn't a brain at all; Necromorphs' minds saturated their whole bodies, the actual brain having been converted to muscle. His temporary brain was the size of a person and the shape of a velociraptor. It made his head… er, body, spin.
It was only temporary. Neither his mind nor her body could sustain such a state for long, but he'd try to appreciate being the only human in history to have access to this unique point of view. That fact tipped his emotions from nervous anticipation to genuine excitement. This is weird, he simply thought.
Feels strange to me, too, she replied. My cells are vibrating… like they're being overloaded. Not in a bad or severe way. More like I drank too much coffee. Now that she said that, Curtis could feel… her (his?) body shaking slightly. Weird. No weirder than the rest of the situation, though. After some effort, he settled into this strange new world, his vision growing hazy from behind his lover's eyes. Soon, he fell into a trance-like state. Not quite sleep… hibernation, maybe. Nicole's thoughts became alien, breaking down, but he still heard the quiet, peaceful music she played for him.
And for once, he was free of the pain.
23 Hours, 45 Minutes Post-Outbreak
Time had passed. It was later. But how much time and how much later? Nicole couldn't answer that, nor did she care to. They just had to keep going. She remembered the directions on Curtis' holographic map, so she didn't bother to check again.
Under a knotty bramble of flesh, over a fallen bulwark like a hill, through a mess of fraying power cords that intermittently shot lightning. She never cared much for those obstacle course gameshows – the type where contestants had to traverse grueling or funny physical challenges to win a lump sum of credits (the government taking a hefty fee off the top) – but they regularly played in the waiting rooms of various hospitals she'd worked at, so she'd seen a fair share. Enough to know whatever prize waited at the end was worth the hassle.
Curtis' unconscious body followed like a dog being yanked on a leash. He sleepwalked, essentially, but that didn't mean he was slow. In fact, being unable to process pain meant he kept pace with her pretty well despite bonking his head a few times along the way. Eh, he wore a helmet. The weirdest thing about having her boyfriend on a psychic chain (really damn weird in itself) was how empty he became. No intelligent thoughts remained in his head; he became a being of pure instinct that could only do what he was told. Kind of creeped her out.
Still, Curtis gave her permission to do this while he "slept" in her body, so she obliged. Speaking of that, yeah, the two of them now occupied the same mortal vessel. Some of him, at least. Without his real brain, whatever stirred within her was merely an echo. But what exactly did she house? Was it – he, sorry – a collection of brain waves implanted onto her distributed neural processing? A radical theory which would change everything they knew about the human consciousness (several animal species, like jellyfish and clams, lacked brains, but they obviously had little semblance of personality or intellect), but at least a scientific one.
Alternatively, had his soul entered and possessed her or something to that effect? A mystical answer, though one she hardly dismissed out of hand now. Impossible to prove, yet the idea of a metaphysical spirit which remembered one's life and morality seemed almost likely, given that her brain – the apparatus that should have governed those things – had been destroyed. Or all that information had somehow been transferred into her new diffused to her new body-wide organ. Another question atop the thousand that she would likely never have answered.
Either way, this wasn't something Necromorphs were supposed to do; the hive had great power, but this was not among them. She and Curtis… evolved.
Evolution was normally a slow process, taking millions of years and 10,000 generations to assert itself. "Adaptation" might have been a more accurate description for such changes occurring in individuals. They met and moved past challenges psychological, social and now biological. Maybe that's what the Bond was in the end: a grab-bag of tools to help overcome problems. She already waxed poetic, though, so she tried to focus on more concrete things.
Still, it gave her hope that Necromorphs might not have been as obsolete as she feared. Discovering that Twitchers and possibly some of her other siblings incorporated technology into themselves felt like a stab in the back. It went against everything she believed made her special. Made her feel utterly useless, a relic soon to be rendered extinct like so many other species. Their Link, whatever it ultimately was, taught her that strength could come from others as well as oneself. That should have been clear from the beginning, yet it had never quite clicked for her, someone proud of all she'd accomplished independently.
Both of them continued through the brush, actually starting to pass the Necromorph horde running roughly parallel. Their collective mental energy was a flare, so she easily saw them beginning to lag. Mostly. A small contingent broke away from the front, the collective having realized they couldn't all arrive before Curtis and Nicole. Whatever elite vanguard waited at the front would have the honor of killing them, or at least the duty of delaying them. Hey, it could have been worse.
A few minutes more, and they reached the Bridge threshold, though there was no way to tell that without the map. Whatever sense of regality the halls once had was long gone. They'd arrive in the Main Atrium very soon. She kept going, yet she began to ponder putting Curtis back in his own body. His consciousness was still asleep, and she didn't know how truly intelligent he'd be when not attached to his actual brain, so she didn't want to wake him without reason.
Most of their psychic interactions were as simple as willing something to happen. This might have been more complicated by being something she thought completely impossible. She decided to give it a shot, obviously. Curtis wasn't staying in her forever; another hour, and her cells would start to decay from this unfamiliar energy.
She turned to Curtis, sleepwalking along, for she couldn't see through his closed eyes. Time for him to wake up. Concentrating, she tried to thread his mind out from hers. So much of this was impossible to explain to herself. It… it felt like passing a strainer through gravel. Some pieces were caught while others slipped through the cracks. That kept happening until enough of him came through to reform. Then the rest of him was sucked out of her like a vacuum cleaner.
Curtis' body jerked back to "life" as he suddenly seized control of himself again. A spasm or two, and the man was back in the driver's seat. "That was bizarre," he croaked out, happy to hear the sound of his voice again. "Not sure I want to do it again."
"Yes, it felt very strange," she repeated. She almost ran out of words, for the final challenge loomed ahead. The universe would be either doomed or saved in less than 15 minutes. That made her more serious. "We're almost there, you know."
He nodded. "I know."
Their enemies had also nearly arrived. They marched up the last stretch of tunnel just a few hundred feet away. Perhaps they could have heard war chants with their ears if they stopped to listen, but they of course did not. The scouting force had already arrived, so they would still have some sort of fight on their hands. Speed would be of the essence instead of strategy. Get in, kill them, deactivate the gravity tethers… get out?
The rest of the army would already be at their backs by the time they turned off the system. It'd take a few minutes for the newly formed asteroid to break atmosphere and hit the ground. Unlike last time, she suspected the Marker would have its forces fight them to the death if its own demise was ensured. So maybe they couldn't survive, but there were worse ways to die than saving the human race. Curtis agreed.
She would have said that they "kept going", except they never stopped. All their conversations and thoughts had been done while keeping a reasonable pace. It paid dividends. The final lap was a sprint (more like a speed walk) to the finish. Their enemy tried to catch up to no avail. Wails and lamentations played loudly in their heads, yet few came from the room ahead. These Necromorphs believed a few dozen could stop two. Maybe they were right… but they'd never been before.
Curtis had his Line Gun drawn, and Nicole unsheathed her claws. Everyone was in for one Hell of a fight as they stepped into a world different and very much the same.
Nicole didn't know what it was about the Main Atrium, but it changed every time they arrived at this once-great seat of power. They'd been several times in the last 24 hours, and things got more twisted each time. This one took the cake.
It was very dim, for one thing. Corruption had finally overgrown the massive windows, creating a complete cage of flesh, but the stuff was translucent enough to allow some radiance through, enough for Curtis to see by. The sunlight was red, and this unsullied meat was largely red or pink, so the illumination was the deepest, darkest red she'd ever seen – a saturated crimson that would have been more welcome as a filter in an arthouse film than a real-life hue.
The color barely compared to the actual sights within that veil. Firstly, the landscape differed from anything they'd ever seen. They often commented on Corruption, the omnipresent Necromorph biosphere: its thickness, density, various organs and how it evolved over time. Their perspectives on it always varied, one of the greatest differences in their natures. Of course humans were repulsed by something so visceral, and of course Necromorphs appreciated their natural habitat the same way people of the old world enjoyed any scenic landscape of Earth.
To her, this meatscape was the most gorgeous she'd seen yet. To Curtis, it was the most horrific. The clash of perspectives shook both.
The elevator column, which was in the process of being devoured when they last visited, had been completely overtaken. In its place was a pillar of victuals as thick as an apartment. Tendrils grew off of it, sending their own extensions down into the mud. It reminded her of a banyan – a plant that strangled a tree and sent its roots into the ground to support its own weight. A parasite, yet it presented a prosperous abode for other life. Eyes and other sensory organs sprouted from it.
Curtis would have flipped his shit when all those eyes blinked in unison if she hadn't masked them from his view; just haphazardly threw black censor bars over them. Other columns had finished forming, but none so vast. The ground was more active here than other places, writhing beneath their feet.
Nicole could tell that the environment neared maturity. It began as sprouts, then saplings, and now it was a full-grown forest in the span of a day instead of the decades it took Earth-based habitats to develop. Hopefully they'd never see it mature more, but she admitted it was sad for her. So much beauty would be gone forever…
The most important things lurking within were neither the lighting nor the landscape, but the figures flitting between foliage. Glowing eyes peered out of the dark, yipping sounds and the stench of hatred sputtering out. This was it.
Are you ready? she asked, already knowing the answer.
As much as I'll ever be. With that in mind, both raised their weapons and plodded in, ready to kill or be killed. The rest of the Necromorphs were minutes behind, so they needed to finish this quickly. The trouble began when the doors closed.
A familiar grumbling noise filled the space, almost causing them to seize up. Nicole's demeanor swung from hopeful to horrified. A streak of gray crossed her vision, zooming between bits of cover while its siblings cheered. They thought they'd gotten rid of all the Twitchers, but one apparently made its way aboard (or was always here, made of somebody wearing a better RIG). Now it came to eviscerate them.
It charged, fading in and out of reality in the dark. A faint trait of blue-shifted energy trailed behind, giving it a literal aura of death.
Curtis! she shouted to snap him awake. A half-second of pause was more than enough for these things to take advantage of. Nicole leapt and twisted away, yet the Corruption caught her foot. An unpleasant tingle shot from her flank as the Twitcher cut a good gash in her side – it would've chopped off her arm if she'd been a tad slower.
He shot a bolt from his Line Gun as soon as she landed at his feet. A miss, but its path to the opposite wall showed the whole room in its flash. Now everything else came for them. Too many. The "good" news was that no Brutes were there… or the Graverobber. Everything was human-sized or smaller. The big ones took up too much space to move quickly.
Oh fuck! her boyfriend thought. He wasn't exactly chock-full of ammunition anymore. Still, this was their last stand, so the time came to throw everything at the wall! Curtis shot a mine, his usual area-of-effect trick, yet the landscape came prepared this time. As soon as it hit the ground, a Corruption tendril lilted down, grabbed it and flung it back! Fortunately, the thing didn't have great aim, having never done this before, so the power cell soared over them and exploded upon hitting the back wall, raining detritus upon them. OH FUCK! he repeated.
Those really were the only words for the siege. The Necromorphs surged forward in waves, making the two fall back. Fear rattled Curtis. He had been so sure they were going to win. Now, death lunged out of the dark. Corruption kept tripping them up, and it took everything they had not to tip over and be immediate killed. Nicole's recourse was to prod for holes in the floor (the meteor swarm that came through a while ago left a lot of them) while her boyfriend unloaded his dwindling supply of plasma upon the crowd. It was trembling and imprecise instead of with his usual eagle eye, merely trying to keep them at bay.
Their backpedaling took them between the gigantic tree-like structure and the wall, which at least kept them from being flanked… or so she thought. She didn't count on death to come from above. Not until one of the flesh-vines seized Curtis by the neck.
"No!" She jumped up, defying gravity and mucus trying to keep her grounded. Caught him by the ankle (with the duller parts of her claws) as he was yanked higher into the branches. She dared not look to see what waited in the canopy, though she imagined it similar to a giant carnivorous plant, a Venus flytrap or sundew that tore apart or bound its prey before digestion. "You won't take him!" She sprang up and sliced the branch off; the tree screamed while they plummeted.
Curtis remained cogent enough to get a few blasts off with his Line Gun before they hit the ground, making the forces beneath them scatter. A moment of weightlessness before they touched down in the mud, a fall of nearly 10 feet. At the very least, the Corruption soft to land in. They would've been the goo if none was beneath them. That didn't mean they did well, Curtis especially. Both ached, muscles burning and perhaps a couple bones fractured, yet Curtis still needed to breathe – and he'd just had the wind knocked out of him. It'd take several seconds for him to be able to move again, which they didn't have.
She felt his terror. His life flashed before their eyes. Many unpleasant memories mixed with a few good ones. The ones with her were among those he cherished most. She would make sure he had more of them.
She grabbed the Line Gun with one hand before it was eaten by the floor and blasted away with the last dregs of ammo. She'd never fired the thing before, yet Curtis' knowledge let her wield it just as well. Her primary focus was keeping the Twitcher at bay; easy to see with its energy streak.
Then she seized Curtis by the neck with her other hand and hauled him back while her brothers and sisters spat mental venom. A small aperture in the wall caught her eye during the plummet. Didn't know where it led to, but anywhere else was better than here! T-thank you, Curtis meekly thought.
Don't mention it. They got through the gap a second later, which was almost exactly the width of the Line Gun's barrel. That meant they could keep shooting out and be safe unless the Necromorphs found another way in. Seemed unlikely given that all the vents had been covered by Corruption multiple feet thick. What had been a bane for so long became an unwilling ally. Of course, that safety only lasted as long as the tool's supply of cartridges. Not many of those left. They were dead once those ran out, and the room didn't offer any escape routes.
Curtis took back the gun and ran back to lay down that suppressing fire. Fear was upon his fingers and lips as the Necromorphs played chicken, feeling increasingly likely about victory. The duo got themselves out of sticky situations before, but Nicole admitted that things looked grim. She centered herself and looked around the room for any hope of salvation. Unexpected solutions often presented themselves – that hidden escape hatch in the Comm Array, for example. Just a matter of finding them.
Most things had been overgrown, of course, but things like monitors and a desk were visible, along with some lockers in an adjacent room. It looked familiar, yet she couldn't quite place it over the gunfire and roars. Neither could Curtis, though his attention was rightfully elsewhere. Then it came back to them in a burst of color and memory.
This was the Bridge Security Room; the place Curtis obtained his current RIG. Used to be power cells compatible with the Line Gun here before he took all of them. There should still have been regular guns around, though. A lot of them.
You know what I'm thinking! Curtis mentally shouted as a statement instead of a question. Yeah, she knew.
Nicole ran into the small adjacent armory while Curtis spaced out what few shots he had left. Around 15, he guessed. The gun racks had been mostly overrun, but a couple weapons were still on and looked clean enough to fire. While she knew little about firearms, there was one both recognized. An M41 Pulse Rifle hung there, plus a whole crate of bullets for it. Hammond really meant it when he said the 400-year-old gun was still in heavy service. OK, they could turn this around.
I'll load it and then get it to you! she thought, trying to figure out how to pop in the bullets. This was foreign to her. She'd never worked with a weapon of war. She was a doctor, though. If she could do open-heart surgery, how hard could loading little pieces of lead be? Better figure it out fast, or else the Necromorphs would resection them.
Blam! Blam! The shots from his mining equipment ticked the seconds by. How many bullets left? 11 or 12? She fumbled with the unfamiliar equipment. The cartridges were too small for her claws to get a good grip on. So many knobs and buttons to play with. Maybe it wouldn't have been so tough if she had a minute, but only seconds remained. How's it going? Curtis asked. It wasn't from snark; he paid too much attention to his work to read her mind.
Uh, almost done! Nicole thought back to Hammond. He didn't go into great detail about this weapon, but he held it up to the holo-screen and performed a few functions to show off. One of those was loading it. Now replicate that. People learned by mimicry. She closed her eyes and let her hands go through the motions the soldier demonstrated. They moved automatically over the course of six more plasmatic bursts. Curtis' despair began to eat his soul when she finished saddling the gun. I got it.
Is the safety still on? Shit, she forgot about that, and Hammond never demonstrated how that aspect worked. Five or so left. Not enough time for rational experimentation, so her body kicked into overdrive. Hands lightning fast, she initiated her plan – press every button on the thing until bullets came out! Nope. No. That one wasn't right, either. Curtis wanted to scream, and her "siblings" frothed at the mouth while savoring her fear before the end. Damn it, I have two –
He was interrupted by a stream of bullets pinging off the wall behind him, mere feet from his head. Made him jump in the air as his penultimate round went wild. You almost blew my brains out! he thought, equal parts frightened and sarcastic. Nicole admitted she should have practiced better gun safety. In her defense, though, such laws only applied to humans. She wasn't human anymore, was she? You're human to me. Can I please have that gun now?
Such a polite guy. It would have been more cinematic to throw it to him, but she opted for caution this time. Curtis popped the last shot before tossing aside the tool that helped him through everything and replaced it with something new. Sometimes, you needed a big change. The Necromorphs never saw it coming. They thought him tossing the old aside meant he was good as dead and began to charge. The hail of bullets coming their way made them think twice and yelp in surprise, though some continued to push forward. Also, she gave him knowledge about how to reload and a few magazines so he could do it himself.
She read their minds: "what's the worst regular bullets can do?" Not easy for Curtis, who'd barely held a real gun in his life, to dismember somebody with tiny metal beads… if he aimed for the center of mass. Maybe he'd never used a gun, but he knew how to shoot. That would have to be enough. And shoot he did. A Leaper's arm was ripped off in the hail of bullets, followed by an Infector getting one of its nice wings shot full of holes. It gave them pause, though they still kept coming. Much easier to dodge individual bullets than a line of plasma.
Meanwhile, Nicole concocted a plan of her own. Her claws served them well heretofore, yet they now no longer made the "cut". Dashing around and chopping off limbs wouldn't work here. Therefore, she ran back to the armory and tried to find a weapon for herself. While she didn't see another M41, a different shape on the wrack caught her eye. It was an SWS Motorized Pulse Rifle, the more modern model familiar to her. Both guns used the same low-caliber, non-piercing ammunition, according to the ammo box: 10x24mm caseless.
Good enough! She grabbed the gun with one hand, the crate with the other and hauled both out of the room, much to the Corruption's chagrin. The floor did its best to keep the latter firmly glued to itself. She saw the horde press closer through Curtis' eyes, experiencing his sense of impotence, too. Bullets held it back, but the wave did not break. That's why she needed to add more bullets to the mix.
She let the container slam into the ooze next to Curtis so both would have easy access before sidling up to him. Nice day at the range, huh? she asked while pumping in a clip of her own. This make was more intuitive to load than the last, and it featured far fewer buttons and dials. A more elegant weapon for a civilized age… she got that quote from somewhere at the back of Curtis' mind, though she had no idea where it came from.
What she did know was that the time came to join the fray. Safety off, she peered down iron sights at a Slasher barreling toward them. Still had remnants of ratty clothes on, along with strands of ratty hair hanging from its head. More than its appearance, its thoughts were what put her off.
Nicole, I loved you! I'd do anything for you! he roared. And you threw that love away! Now I'll kill you for it!
Oh god, it was this guy. Her Necromorph stalker (heh), her biggest fan. Like Mercer, he always followed them around and looked for a moment to "claim" her. Interesting that his sheer lust for her still managed to overcome the Marker's hostility, even if their intentions were the same. Her nerves relaxed. This would be satisfying.
A string of pops rattled her body, but her arms were strong and steady enough to counter the muzzle climb. Her aim was true, too. Individual bullets didn't do enough against, muscle, tendon and bone to chop off a limb. Those injuries compounded, though, and the 15 that ejected every second were more than enough to punch clean through one leg. He tumbled to the ground. The arms were next. That was enough to put him out of his misery. A lot easier to kill than Mercer, that was for sure.
Curtis pitched in, too, taking all the tentacles off a Lurker. Let her have the satisfaction of that particular kill all to herself, though. Their enemies were confounded, for the tide began to turn. Even a Twitcher couldn't safely come at two assault rifles firing 900 rounds per minute if they knew where to aim. Still, despite murmurs of dissent (loud murmurs, since they were heard over deafening gunfire), the consensus was that they merely needed to delay. Even if these fleshy forms died, their memories and experiences were forever preserved in the hive mind.
That made dying much less traumatizing than for humans. Parts of them lived on. Not that they wanted to perish (again), but they would if necessary. As they were prepared to do now. Nicole ceased firing for a moment, but only to reload. Her arms felt like jelly from being rattled by recoil. Anyway, one good thing about being such cerebral beings was that thoughts could be perceived no matter how cacophonous the surroundings. She knew the dozens left planned to bite those bullets and rush them regardless of casualties. The main body was still a couple minutes away, though she also felt their presence through barriers.
Do you have any ideas? she asked Curtis after revealing the situation in a snap.
Yeah, one. It took a moment for Nicole to process the concept. Clever. Whether it worked was another matter, so they'd better find out fast. She kept firing while Curtis held back for the right moment. Both went stiff from fear as the Necromorphs finally rushed them, eager to get their claws into some fresh meat. The Twitcher spasmed in the back, seemingly happy to let his underlings get the job done.
The Necromorphs were just a few feet from the entrance when Curtis sprung the first part of his trap: a ball of stasis to the Slasher in front. Now, a stasis module could only stall one creature or object for a very limited time. Slowing down time was phenomenally expensive. However, the side effects of such a deceleration could be exploited.
The one at the front effectively stopped, which ones behind didn't expect. They slammed into it and toppled over like dominos. This resulted in a pileup several bodies deep – and a lot of frustrated screaming while they picked themselves up. The second half of Curtis' plan kicked in before they could.
Both fired in unison at the gigantic Corruption tree that nearly hung Curtis when they entered the room, which was located directly behind the stalled wave. This better work! Their bullets shredded pounds of flesh away by the second; they were butchers shearing fat from the belly. The Necromorphs let their guard down for a moment and actually took a second longer to rise than normal. The two must have gone senile if they couldn't even hit their many targets five feet in front of them. Good, underestimate us. That's gone so well for you before…
They struck metal right as the first of the zombies hauled themselves to their feet. The sound of pinging rounds was enough to prove that, and the sight of a shiny, meat-free patch was their prize. Nicole felt Curtis smirk under his helmet as he extended his right hand. Kinesis didn't work on animate tissue, be it alive or dead. However, if something animate was attached to an object, it would come along for the ride.
This was the case with the fragment of the elevator shaft Curtis pulled from the wall. The column had been cracked by the Corruption's squeezing pressure into several smaller chunks, all just small enough to be tactilely manipulated. This was proven when he yanked his clenched fist back and half the pillar came to meet them, trailing tendrils and thorns along with it.
Nicole was supposed to be the smart one, but Curtis hatched ingenious plots more often than he admitted. The Necromorphs never saw it coming. The shard accelerated and smashed into the wall before them with the force of a freight train. It took a second for their teeth to stop rattling, but their stomachs turned and hearts lifted once they saw the tenderized steak dripping from between the doorframe and Curtis' massive improvised weapon. It wiped many minds off the map, and the ones that remained had no idea what happened.
Keep going! she said, and he didn't need to be told twice. Curtis tossed the chunk away before grabbing it on the rebound. Huge objects were impossible to zigzag around without the inertia and acceleration tearing one's arm off. He was great at Z-Ball, though, so he could grab it, reel it back in and toss it at a new target without much problem. She supplemented this by mowing down anyone lucky enough to escape.
Horrified screams filled the room as they fulfilled their bloody task. Some of them sounded nearly human. She still beheld their final thoughts as they were snuffed out. Most were vengeful, but some were scared, confused, or flashbacks to a brief life many enjoyed. Nicole knew what they did was necessary, but also that it wasn't right.She'd never forgive herself for doing this. Nothing larger than a doorknob remained in the end.
As they stepped out, the broken elevator column groaned and collapsed without the component Curtis used to bludgeon Necromorphs. Took the remnants of the "tree" down with it into a pile of metal and sludge. She momentarily panicked about the Twitcher, but she spotted it quickly. Not shredded to bits or even missing a single limb – dead by a few hundred bullet holes in the body expelling most of its biomass out the back. It must have moved so quickly that they didn't realize they shot it with five, ten bullets at a time. Just to be safe, she raised her rifle and gave it one more in the head.
Nothing. It was dead. They were all dead.
Nicole wanted to fall to her knees, but she knew she couldn't. The wave was only a minute away. They had 60 seconds or fewer. However, Curtis was not oblivious to the pain this caused her; he put his arms around her as they worked toward the Captain's Nest. I'm sorry. He felt her pain more deeply than anyone ever could, and she did the same for him. It will all be over soon. Then we can cry. There would be much of that when the bill came due.
Arm in arm, they practically carried each other across the room and down the stairs. The landscape yelling at her didn't even make sense anymore. Just hissing white noise or static. She wasn't sure whether she'd gotten so desensitized or if the ground did. Down the stairs and to the wide doors, now sealed tight. She didn't even remember how they broke through, yet they somehow managed.
They breached the inner sanctum, the seat of power from which planets could be annihilated. Nicole remembered the last time they were here. That was when Hammond tried to restart the ADS… it was so hard to recall. But she did remember the place being filled with colorful holograms before; those were now long gone from Corruption overgrowing the projectors. Still, it was brighter than most places from the windows. Red light leaked in from the suns, painting the room with blood.
They'd seen it all before: stars, space, planet. Never ceased to amaze her, though. Now the last of the three would have to be destroyed. Not just all life on Aegis VII, for there was none… well, one person, but she didn't want to ponder that. Nicole winced. Regardless, the planet itself would likely be gone in a flash. She didn't know the exact tonnage of the tectonic load the Ishimura dragged under it, and it shrank substantially from pieces breaking off the main mass or being blasted off by solar wind.
With basic number crunching and Curtis' knowledge of the field, it was clear that something so big (she'd given "a few hundred miles wide" as a rough estimate of size, maybe even something rivaling the Australian Sector) accelerated so fast into the mantle – for it would impact near the crater it was gouged out of, bypassing the planetary crust – would be absolutely catastrophic. She'd read the pre-mission brief that Aegis VII experienced rabid vulcanism and geological upheaval before being torn open; mineralogically rich worlds tended to also be very active.
She doubted the world would be able to hold together for long after they did this. It'd be the biggest planetary disaster since Wanat, but at least this time (almost) everyone was dead beforehand.
They kept desperately digging through the goo with the Marker screaming in their heads. It made their ears ring in unison as actual yells and roars reached them in reality. It'd reach them within the minute, so they focused everything on finding the button. They dug and toiled across the control panel for the switch that could save humanity.
Curtis' hand alit across something with 30 seconds left, and they both knew this was the one. Nicole rushed over while her other half tore the quavering flesh away to reveal a big, red button. It was exactly what she imagined. 25 seconds or so. A few footfalls already reached the stairs. Really, they had more like 15 seconds, since they needed to get out of the Captain's nest to have some space to maneuver. He pressed it.
Nothing happened.
Shit. Nicole's access codes as CMO didn't work. They must have needed the captain's authorization; not just anybody could destroy trillions of dollars and thousands of lives so easily. Fortunately, they had exactly the right thing on hand. Mathius' codes were still stored in Curtis' RIG from when they looted his corpse long, long ago. The man who arguably caused all this would end up fixing it. Curtis uploaded the data. 20 seconds – or 10. Then he slammed it again.
They heard the Marker scream before, but never like this. Their minds filled with static, symbols and runes flashing in their vision. Nonsense to Curtis, yet Nicole saw what she always had: elegant instructions for the building blocks of life, a genome not-quite human. A hollow roar filled the room, almost deafening them both. Might've been the engines or a broken AI trying to tell them about the drop. In short, their senses all went haywire. It made them completely helpless combined with the Ishimura's reeling from the emergency detachment knocking them on their butts.
Every cell within her shook from the noise. It felt like her DNA came apart… which it would once the rockball made landfall. She stole a peek out the window, perhaps the final glimpse of space she would ever see. The gravity tethers which held the piece of planet several miles below had finally been cut. The chunk plummeted planetside, a faint orange glow beginning to form around it as it struck gas. Such mass easily overcame feeble air resistance from Aegis VII's already thin atmosphere, leading to a high terminal velocity. She gave it three or four minutes until impact.
The Marker was finished no matter what happened to them. Even the toughest, strongest material known to man couldn't withstand a continent falling at supersonic speeds. The pressure would flatten mountains and turn organic matter to diamond, while the impact site would burn hotter than the sun. Pride surged in her chest. They'd just killed her "god", and it knew it. That still gave it a few minutes to cry at them as they headed up the stairs, ready for the grand finale. The final nightmare.
THIS IS NOT THE END! MY SIBLINGS WILL DEVOUR YOUR WORLDS!
It said this with all the conviction and grandeur of someone getting tossed out of a dive bar for indecent exposure. Again, this was Curtis' metaphor and not hers; his sense of simile was more refined. Amazing it didn't stammer.
WE ARE LEGION AND ETERNAL! YOU THINK THIS A VICTORY?! IT IS THE SMALLEST OF SETBACKS! WE HAVE STRIPPED GALAXIES BARE FOR LESS! AND IF WE DO NOT… THERE ARE OTHER POWERS AMONG THE STARS. YOU KNOW THIS NOW.
Its threats fell on deaf ears. They were weighty words, to be sure. Some of what it proclaimed might even come to pass. She and Curtis would face it together. Even if it wasn't enough, they'd done more together than she ever thought possible. Maybe they did have a chance to make history and break the cycle… assuming its proclamations of eating whole galaxies was accurate. The Marker was a hyperbolic type.
Possible, though. Its mind extended beyond her reach. Much harder to fathom the scale if the Necromorphs indeed originated in some far-off corner of the universe and carved a bloody path across it. She chose to ignore the exact size for now and round it to "big". However, it did possess one critical point of leverage that she could not ignore.
THOUGH PERHAPS I SHOULD COMMEND YOU. AFTER ALL, YOU HAVE GOTTEN YOUR FIRST BELOVED KILLED. AN IMPRESSIVE FEAT!
Curtis held her hand while the accusation battered her brain. She cringed but could not defend herself. It was true. To save the universe, she had to kill the man she loved. No way around it. He'd be incinerated the second it hit the ground. She had to live with that knowledge for the rest of her unnatural "life". Would the sacrifice be worth it? Only time would tell.
The rumbling became a semi-coherent series of ideas and roars as they mounted the last flight. Whatever waited at the top was out for blood – that of the last human alive on the whole Ishimura. She snarled and held him tighter. They wouldn't get it. Curtis was a little freaked out by the gesture.
AND NOW, I LEAVE YOU VERMIN TO YOUR DEATHS. TRUTH BE TOLD, I WOULD ALMOST PREFER YOU SURVIVE! HOW MUCH MORE PAINFUL FOR YOU TO SPEND YEARS, PERHAPS YOUR WHOLE LIVES, FIGHTING A BATTLE YOU CAN NEVER WIN! EN GARDE!
With that, the Marker went quiet. Nicole knew that would be the last time the Red Marker ever spoke to them. She wasn't sure what to think. The Marker did great evil and killed thousands, but it also brought her back to life. It was her father. She hated it, yet… it was complicated. Something much simpler now waited: survival. With her hand in Curtis', they climbed the final flight of stairs into the future.
…
Curtis rarely felt overwhelmed by size anymore. Everything was big on the largest starfaring vessel humanity had ever built. Just a fact of life. And death, it appeared. His stomach was in his feet as he surveyed their challengers.
Every Necromorph on the ship was before them. They'd had such encounters before, but never in such a large space. Everyone was here, filling the place wall to wall with monsters. In contrast to his fright, Nicole felt envious. If she was still part of them, this would have been the biggest party in the universe. The décor was exactly as they liked it.
Between the many creatures they'd already killed (especially the giant ones like the Spider/Slug), more damaged corpses being integrated into the Corruption and some people being lost to space, he guessed several hundred bodies were left – far fewer Necromorphs than that, since the larger ones were made of multiple people. It seemed like thousands to him.
At their head was the Graverobber, looking worse than ever. Speaking of heads, that's mostly what was wrong with it. He believed the last time they saw it was right before their final encounter with Hammond, where he fought it to a standstill. He must have done more than that, for its "head" (made of human heads fused together) was half-missing, with muscle tissue sloughing out and its jaws mangled to shit. You hit it good. Then he blinked, almost certain he saw Samuel Irons' face among the jumble of body parts on its back.
All these observations happened within a few seconds as the two sides stared each other down. The tables had turned. Now it was their enemies who felt what he had – fear, shame, disappointment, loss. They were minutes from death. The question now was whether he and Nicole would succumb to it, too.
Before, it was a question of whether standing their ground or running would give them a better chance of getting through the next 120 or so seconds alive. Now that they saw their competition, the answer became clear. They wouldn't last long against sheer mass in the best of times. They'd gotten lucky with the terrain when holding their ground against the strike force, which wasn't even five percent this size.
They turned tail and sprinted back down the stairs.
It wasn't a courageous move, but they could afford to be cowards for the first time! They had no world-saving objective or innocents to protect. Why go out in a blaze of glory when they'd already won?! Nicole and he were shoulder-to-shoulder as they jostled down the steps.
The Necromorphs didn't like that, as the numberless crowd swarmed after them, hot on their heels. He also gleaned through Nicole that they didn't expect it. Most Necromorphs didn't get cold feet. They knew fear (even though they also knew "God"), yet that was largely a self-preservation instinct. They'd throw themselves into danger if there was a decent chance of success. If not, they retreated, for wasting troops was not a good expenditure of resources.
The Graverobber was particularly aghast, or at least its "voice" drowned out everyone who wanted to sling abuse at them.
WHY DO YOU RUN?! COME TO US AND MEET YOUR DEATHS!
A real tempting offer, but they decided to pass. The ground shook as they took the stairs two at a time, quickly ending up back in front of the Captain's Nest. No safety in there, for it was a dead-end. Around them, though, was a different story. This area housed escape pods for Bridge personnel who couldn't make it to the FTL-enabled shuttles in time. They'd passed by groupings before, but this was the biggest collection they'd encountered. Had to really protect the assholes in charge, right?
A Necromorph ejected from here inadvertently doomed the Valor. Hopefully their flight wouldn't be as tragic.
Corruption covered almost everything, but they spotted one hatch that was mostly free of the stuff. Fending off the quicksand trying to trap them, they hustled over and piled in as the Necromorphs reached the bottom of the stairs! It was a tight squeeze; these were designed for one, but two could fit in a pinch. Nicole could also contort to fit into small spaces, so that wasn't a problem. The pounding on their door very much was, though.
OK, OK, how do we eject?! Curtis thought, nearly pissing himself as a Puker slammed its face against the porthole and ejected its vomit. These pods were tough, even stronger than most walls and bulkheads. It could take a few hits, but not enough to last all the time they needed! The ultra-dense transparent substance already began to boil, and the walls rocked with the force of an earthquake.
Like this! Nicole yelled. Her hands shot up and grabbed a pull cord on the ceiling. A yank, and the pod rotated around. He felt butterflies in his stomach. A good thing, but he still felt like he'd throw up. A long tunnel with stars at the end awaited. Freedom.
Large spacecraft had inertial dampeners installed so the crew and cargo didn't experience the full forces of acceleration. He'd been an idiot when experiencing his first jump to shockspace by not bracing himself, but it could have been so much worse. Like right now. There was no room to install such equipment on very small craft, so Curtis had to sit back and enjoy the 10 gs pressing his eyeballs into his brain. All he could do was moan and hold Nicole's hand while magnetic force fired them into the black.
No matter what happens, I want you to know that I love you, he thought to Nicole. Tears streaked out of his eyes, falling against the back of his helmet instead of down. Some were squished out by inertia, others by genuine passion. Things were about to change so much. He hoped it would be for the better. Nicole squeezed his hand back.
I know. And I love you, too. The stars approached.
Then they stopped. Completely stopped, not just that they'd ceased accelerating. His body flew forward against the harness, rattling his teeth. "What the fuck?" he muttered while checking to see if this was some sort of illusion. He pressed his head against the porthole and found that their sudden halt was indeed real. A thick layer of Corruption grew around the exit. A small aperture let them see starlight, but it wasn't large enough for the whole pod to fit through.
Whatever. They'd still put distance between them and the Necromorphs. Though judging by the faint yet increasing vibrations, that wouldn't take long. The last 60 seconds would have to be spent dancing on the hull. You ready for this?! he screamed in his head while stuffing a couple of emergency O2 bottles in his pockets just in case.
Nicole's actions spoke clearer than her thoughts or words could. She punched in the door-opening sequence (it was a series of buttons instead of one so somebody couldn't accidentally space themselves), and the hatch slid open a moment before the harness released. The rumbling was already another quake, so Curtis grabbed Nicole's arm and blasted out of there before quickly returning to the "ground". He'd been scared shitless at the prospect of spacewalks before, but he'd been through enough to not pass out when he did one.
Then they ran as fast as they could (not very) toward the bow because there appeared to be fewer obstacles that way. They "heard" roaring a few seconds later as superhuman strength dislodged the pod and the swarm headed for them. It terrified him for an army to be at his back and have no sound to help him place it. They could be one to 100 feet behind him, and he'd never know.
The view was beautiful, at least. Not the star-filled sky, though that was also aesthetically pleasing. The true allure came from Aegis VII. He'd seen all the planets of the solar system, and none ever looked like this. Fire in the sky meant the tectonic load broke atmosphere. It would make landfall in seconds while the planet itself already began to burn. He couldn't imagine what this was like for Isaac.
The ground shook again as they neared the very front of the ship: the Captain's Nest. It was built into the bow's apex, more of a position of power than practical. He thought nothing of it until Nicole sensed a mind behind the tremor and shouted to swerve, but it was too late. The Graverobber burst through the windows they'd peered out of minutes before. There was no time to grab his gun before both of them were pinned by paws as big as his torso.
The scythe rose while a mutilated maw soundlessly roared into their faces. Rows upon rows of teeth greeted them. This was the end. I love you, Nicole, he thought. He was afraid of what death held. She feared the oblivion that she suspected would follow.
I love you, too.
They shut their eyes, locked in a mental embrace as the axe fell.
1 Day Post-Outbreak – Terminus
The first thing Nicole heard was the scream. She practically heard it with her ears, as if miles of empty space meant nothing. If any other human psychics existed, it could be heard a galaxy away via shockspace. Lexine surely writhed in pain. That meant…
She opened her eyes to see the Graverobber's flesh boiling. Collagen burbled and popped, melting into formless goo as the Marker ceased to exist. Its power was what animated them and held them together, for they were things which should not be. Without it, she suspected they returned to the primordial soup of enzymes and cells they came from. Except vacuums abhorred liquid, so meat sublimated into gas.
It couldn't think, much less attack, as it writhed. They scrambled out from beneath its decaying paws and turned to confront the army at their backs. The same thing happened to them and the Corruption. The noxious green and brown fog quickly dissipated in the aether, spread farther by individuals who lost their grip and floated away before succumbing to the same fate. She felt what they did as their minds disintegrated along with their bodies. It was as if they were being entombed in sand… at least it wasn't painful.
The same change attempted to happen within her own body, but something prevented it. As one influence waned, another waxed to replace what was lost. The Black Marker kept her alive. She was moved. Truthfully, she doubted the entity would uphold its end of their bargain, but it did. She nearly fell to her knees, for it turned out she would be able to stay with the man she loved. Thank you, she silently whispered to the unknowable force at the other end of their metaphysical chain. A small, warm congratulations was the reply. It made her happy.
Curtis recoiled at the sight of something yet unseen, and she spun around to see what the matter was. It should have been clear from the beginning, yet a Necromorph army crumbling before them proved distracting. Still, a fireball engulfing the planet below was nothing to scoff at. It had fanned a thousand miles in moments, covering half a hemisphere before transitioning into a shockwave that flattened mountains. All this apocalyptic imagery was plain from high orbit. It was the end of the world.
Isaac… Curtis held her hand.
They stood there, watching a dissolving army and a world on fire until the Marker's death throes came to a stuttering halt. Just like that, the only voice in her head was Curtis'. The thousands of others, dim though they were from her exile, had been silenced. 24 hours from first to last, for she was the last of her kind… but humanity would get another chance. For a little while, at least.
…
It's almost over. Only the epilogue is left, and I expect that to be fairly short. I thought ASaF was big, but Ordination proved much longer. Length isn't quality, and I feel this story got too bloated at points, but man, it was so, so much fun. I hope you guys had as much fun exploring the world of Dead Space as I did.
Several people were introduced to the franchise through my story, which is one of the biggest praises a fanfiction author can receive. The fact my story, which wildly deviates from the source material in some aspects, made you guys want to check out a series so dear to me is a tremendous honor. It's an immature fantasy, but sometimes I imagine an EA exec being among you and thinking "hey, we really should give that Dead Space series another chance" because of this. I like to think we all have those kinds of daydreams.
I'll discuss the future of the series as well as the status of my other writing projects in the epilogue, for I don't want to jump the gun if my plans change. Also, I totally forgot to credit CelfwrDderwydd for his help with the last chapter, and really throughout the story. He's helped me formulate a lot of story beats, and some of his lines have made it in verbatim. Speaking of which, thanks to JasonVUK, Accelerator7460, the aforementioned CelfwrDderwydd, Steven and Notsae for reviewing recently.
One thing I'd like to try again is a Q&A session. I did that in my previous story, and it worked quite well. Ask me some questions via PM or comments, and I'll reply in the final A/N. It can be about anything, not just the story, though that's a perfectly valid topic. Just don't make it about my social security number or address, and we'll be all good. I admit that I'm not an extremely communicative author, so I think this is a fun way to build a sense of community here.
And… that's it. I thought I'd have more to say, but I guess not. Anyway, I'll see you all for the grand finale! As it's quite short, I hope to have it out sooner than usual. See you then!