CHAPTER EIGHT

I jumped and turned to see David standing at the door way. His tall form blocked my only exit. "David, I was… bored. There isn't much to do here, so I thought I was going to find Shaw. You know, have some girl talk?" My hands clenched around the notebook. Realisation slowly dawned on me.

Elizabeth Shaw had been in hiding before she disappeared. She had been writing in her notebook while she was trying to get away from David. She was a smart woman. She would've known that this wasn't a very good hiding spot, so how did her journal get back here – sitting neatly on the desk?

David stepped in, sliding the door behind him. "Would you like me to entertain you? You really only had to ask." Now in front of me, he was so close that I could feel his breath on my lips. "You know that I'd do anything for you." His hand rested on the side of my neck, a soft squeeze that made me freeze. He tilted my chin up and pressed his lips against mine.

With Shaw's words still fresh in my mind, I instinctively tried to push him away. He grabbed the book from me and flung it to the side.

I let out a startled whimper and managed to turn my head away, breaking contact. "What's wrong with you, David? Have you lost your mind? Are you glitching?" I had never seen him like this. It was frightening. I felt like I was looking into the dead eyes of a serial killer and I wasn't sure if I was even wrong there.

"Nothing is wrong with me, Cassandra," he replied, tilting his head innocently as if he had done nothing wrong. "I am merely performing what is expected of me."

I shook my head. "Expected of you? By who? Father is dead and even if he wasn't, he would never ask you to go on this meaningless massacre. It's a waste of lives. The potential all of these people had… Father would never!"

"He never specified how he wished for me to accomplish my task," he told me. The smile never left his face. It did nothing to ease my anxiety.

His way of interpreting words…

I would've sighed in exasperation if I hadn't been worried for my life. "Alright, then… I'll just…"

"Shh…" He leaned in and kissed me, again. "Trust me, Cassandra. Whatever happens, it will be the two of us."

I hated how his words made my heart flutter, even now. I knew that there were hundreds of ways to interpret those words, but there was only one I wanted to believe in and it only caused me to hate myself even more.

My head rested on his shoulder in defeat. "Elizabeth Shaw is dead, isn't she?"

He didn't hesitate when he answered. "She has been used for a greater purpose. Please, do not try to get into anymore locked rooms. They are unsafe for you."

And was my safety his number one priority, or was he merely trying to hide what he was doing? Perhaps I, too, had a greater purpose for him. My life was nothing but another ingredient to his plans.

After reading Shaw's journal, it was difficult for me to look at him the same way, again. Where was her body, now? He didn't deny that he had done something to her, but he also never confirmed if she was truly dead or still trapped somewhere. Was I morally obligated to find her, now?

I touched his face, tracing his sharp cheek bones. Who was going to judge me, now? It was just David and I. I felt his features shift as a smile graced his lips. He kissed the palm of my hand.

"Would you like to see what else I found, while you were sleeping?" he offered, getting off his knees and extending a hand towards me.

I accepted it without question.

Come what may.

Whether I lived or died; whether David was going to become my future murderer or not, it wouldn't change the fact that I loved him. At this point, I would rather live in blissful ignorance. It wasn't as if I had much choice.

David led me to a room full of tomes. It was a library of sorts. I touched the pages. It looked similar to the ones we had. The sheets were a tanned beige, the words a darker shade – scribbles that I couldn't read. The texture of the pages were different. The words were slightly raised. I had never felt anything like this before.

"Are you able to read these?" I asked him. How much time did he have, consuming all these knowledge from the Engineers. Had they done experiments of their own? What had he learned?

"Yes, it took many months, but I managed to become completely fluent with their language. Would you like me to read to you?" he offered.

I was about to reject it, but his voice always did calm me.

He grabbed a book and we situated on a plush seat. I was in his lap with one of his arms around me. The words flowed out of his lips like liquid magic. I sighed in contentment.

A few days passed when he brought me back to the control room and showed me the view of the planet we were heading towards. From a far distance, it looked very similar to Earth. I could see patches of white that were like clouds and brown and green that I assumed was land. There were even large bodies of water scattered throughout.

Would it be breathable for humans?

I reached out and touched the hologram. I dreaded meeting the rest of the Engineers. IT was obvious what they thought of us after one of them eliminated my crew – my family.

Would we be overwhelmed by them? David and I were only two. They were an entire colony – civilisation. What chance did we have against them?

"How much longer?" I asked him. A part of me was still excited to get off this ship. I never managed to find Shaw, but I didn't expect to. David had locked many rooms from me. One of them had her in it and by this time, her survival really didn't matter to me, anymore. No, that was incorrect. I cared that she had been a human life, but it no longer affected me the way it would had it been any other time. I didn't have that luxury, anymore.

Was that cold?

I laid in the bed, my head resting on his chest. T he fact that he didn't have a heart beat had always bothered me. It was a constant reminder that out of billions of men, I had fallen for one that wasn't even human.

My hand trailed down his body and I gripped the piece of flesh that was permanently stiff to the touch. When it was not in use, he tended to hide it… somewhere. I was glad. I could only imagine what everyone else would think if they saw the outline of it through his pants.

I sighed, feeling guilty that none of their deaths, except Meredith's, truly affected me. I still had my one constant, while they all lost everything.

A hand suddenly landed on top of mine, reminding me that I was still holding his column of synthetic flesh. I immediately tried to jerk away, but his grip tightened on mine. "Did you want more?" he purred.

My treacherous heart skipped a beat and I let out a moan when his other hand brushed the nub of nerves that made all the heat pool between my legs. "David…" I didn't need to say anything for him to know what I wanted,. He really did know me far too well.

With a swift shift of his hips, he was perfectly sheathed within me. The sudden intrusion took my breath away, but it didn't take him long to pull me into a pleasurable rhythm.

We stayed in bed until the entire ship emitted an odd sound. "We've arrived," he told me, a smile on his face. There as something in his eyes that made me wonder what he was thinking.

He had been busy elsewhere while I was lounging, trying to study the alien language with the notes he had given me. I spent hours and hours in the library, trying to decipher what everything said. It was difficult grasping all the different, new rules, but not impossible. I loved languages and this one was no different.

Whenever he appeared again, we would converse in their language. Now, I was going to have a chance to see if that was going to pay off.

I put on the suit, sans helmet. The oxygen tank had long since ran out and there were no ways to recharge it here. The suit would at least provide me with some physical protection.

David was rapidly pressing buttons in the control room by the time I was ready. A large hologram of the planet appeared in front of us. The distant view had been impressive, but close up and seeing the crowd of Engineers, it was a spectacular sight. All shapes and sizes, but all the same pallor, were gazing up at us in confusion. I wasn't surprised. This ship was meant to kill another planet, probably never to return.

"Dr. Elizabeth Shaw told me not to do this. She begged me to spare them," he started. "But what would happen if I released their own weapon on their planet, instead?"

A smile graced my lips. This was karma. Assuming that they were truly our creators and they were heading to Earth to kill us all, I felt a sick satisfaction in knowing that it was going right back to them.

I sat down on the arm of the chair and kissed his cheek. "Do it, David." Other than self-satisfaction, I justified my desire for genocide by thinking that if we didn't do this, they were eventually going to send another ship to Earth. I was only looking out for everyone else.

"Of course, Cassandra. Whatever you wish," he chuckled. 'Come, put your helmet on. T His deserves to be observed first hand."

Excitedly, I put on the stuffy fish bowl and followed him to the hatch. The Engineer looked at us, pointing and shouting. Some had looks of fear on their faces. Some were merely curious. These were the beings who were going to see what we were truly capable of.

I never thought there was such a vindictive side of me, but this expedition was really starting to show a side of me that I never knew.

David stepped behind me, his arms wrapped around my waist, keeping me steady as the strong wind whipped around us. "Are you ready?"

"I'm ready."

He reached over and pressed a single button, releasing a swam of black mist that descended upon them. They were still gazing up in confusion for a few seconds. When the first Engineer was hit, they saw what it could do, and they ran. Some trampled over their comrades. Some huddled behind huge boulders. Some tried to protect their own. None were particularly successful.

I took off the helmet once the mist settled down. I comfortably leaned into David, watching how the parasite affected them. It was instantaneous. Their flesh turned black. They crumbled to the ground. There were a few who grew stiff. Their darkened skin dull. They were like statues leading to their stronghold. Many had retreated there.

"Are we going to get them all?" I asked.

"Of course."

Once the air above cleared and the parasites seemed to only be simmering on the ground, he led me back in. I wasn't going to be able to leave it for a while, but he assured me that that would be resolved soon.

I believed him.

He had taken another blood sample from me and went to his laboratory where he wouldn't let me enter. Shaw was probably in there. I wondered what he had been doing to her all this time.

I laid down in the empty bathtub. As each day passed on this ship, I felt my grasp on reality slipping further and further away. It almost felt as if I was in a video game where killing had no repercussions. It was merely something that needed to be done for the best ending, whatever that may be. Was I losing my mind?

Suddenly, the ship rocked and I was snapped out of my thoughts. Did we hit something? Did something hit us? As far as I knew, we were still hovering about the planet.

I got dressed and quickly made my way to the control room. I turned on the outside images to see a small group of Engineers had gathered below. They had some form of medieval gear that made me scoff. Here, they had a spectacular ship filled with technology and there they were, stuck using metal armour and spears? That was pitiful. No wonder they had to use some sort of pathogen to try to eliminate us. IF they only knew how far we had advanced in warfare…

A body leaned against my back. Long arms reached over to press a few buttons and the hologram disappeared. "I'll take care of them. There is no need for you to worry." Soft lips brushed against my ear.

I closed my eyes. "I wasn't worried."

"I'll be back." The warmth of his body disappeared. "I've written some new notes for you to study."

"Where are you going?" I asked him. He was always off somewhere, lately.

"I'm in need of more resources. I'll be down there for a bit," he said, running his hand through his hair. I noticed that it had grown a little during my time in hyper sleep. His dyed blonde hair ended just above his chin.

"Right as they're in the middle of a revolt?" I snorted. Could he have picked a worse time to go down exploring?

"There is no need to be concerned with my welfare. I shall return shortly." He smiled at me as if he was merely going to take a stroll in the park.

"Who says I was worried about you?" I huffed. "I'm looking out for myself. I don't know this ship well enough to survive long in it."

"I know."

And when he was gone, I couldn't help but wonder if he was going to be okay. Just one Engineer had been enough to rip off his head. Who would put him back together when that happened, again? I doubt that I would be able to get anywhere close to him before I would be flung off into oblivion.

I tapped my fingers on the counter. What was I going to do, now?

For an hour, I had decided to listen to him and read over the notes he had left behind for me. His writing was as neat and elegant as ever, but try as I might, I couldn't concentrate on anything it said.

In frustration, I tossed the notes to the side and paced. What I wouldn't do to have my guitar, now…

My feet wandered the ship. I was feeling unbelievable restless. Before I knew it, I found myself in front of Elizabeth Shaw's room, again. Her journal laid haphazardly where David had thrown it. The legacy that she wanted to leave behind to warn others – to warn me.

I picked it up and placed it neatly back on the table. It was unfortunate that no one was ever going to see it and I was already beyond saving, but maybe I could at least find her body. If not for her, then for me. I'd finally be able to get rid of the nagging guilt that still resided at the back of my mind.

Since David started teaching me the language of the Engineers, I figured that I should also be able to unlock the doors that he deemed off limits.

With my suit on, I began my search. My first few doors led to large rooms with the urns. I promptly locked them back up and moved on. Some of the rooms held hundreds of jars with strange creatures in them. I didn't know what they were, but I assumed that they originated from David's experimentations. As long as they weren't going to keep growing and break out, I wasn't going to interfere with it.

I must've been wandering around for an hour before I found what I was looking for. At first, I didn't think there was anything different about it. Glass containers lined the shelves, some were scattered on the table. As I was about to reseal the door, I noticed something unusual from the corner of my eyes.

Bare feet… Just peeking from beyond the table.

I walked in, rounded the corner and saw her. She was motionless with her eyes closed. Her deathly white face was marred by the black spider-like pattern that ran beneath her skin. The same arbitrary patterns were on her hands and body. There were patches on her skin missing. It was far too precise to be from decay. Someone had cut those rectangles out. David had been taking blood and tissue samples, but what for? And why did he infect Shaw? Hadn't he already seen everything he wanted with Charlie Holloway?

Poor Elizabeth Shaw…

What was I going to do with her body now that I had found it?

"I apologise for keeping you waiting."

I froze. My heart was in my throat. Was he going to react like last time when I found the journal? Was he going to be angry?

Slowly, I turned to see him only inches away. His eyes looked down at me as I swallowed, wondering if I should make an excuse. "I – I was just…"

"I shouldn't have kept you waiting." His eyes remained passive as his lips quirked into a smile. "But it appears that you've found company."

I bit my lips. "What happened to her, David?"

He sighed, almost sadly. "She reacted poorly to my treatment. The infection was never meant to kill her. Unfortunately, the cure I had made did her no good. It was far too slow, while the parasite quickly travelled to her brain. I'm sure there are still living cells in her, but nothing that could reanimate her body." I was guessing that these living cells were not ones that were native to her body.

"And… were you the one who infected her in the first place?" I asked. My hands were shaking as they clenched on to the fabric of my suit. "What did she die for, David?"

"Yes, I was, but she died for a greater cause," he told me. 'Granted, her death had no been necessary, I had grown tired of waiting to arrive here. I had hit a wall in my progress and she was the only one I had."

I shook my head. "I don't understand you, at all. You speak in riddles. There is so much you're not telling me. Why? It's not as if I have anyone else to talk to and haven't I already showed you that I have accepted all the other heinous acts you've done? Why can't you trust me?"

"And do you trust me?" he shot back. His posture was stiff. His eyes were slightly narrowed. There was that underlying anger, again. "How many times do I have to tell you that I mean you no harm? Your life is of utmost importance to me. You are my connection to humanity. You are the one who shall be by my side forever."

Somehow, that felt like a confession, perhaps the closest one I was going to get from him. 'I'm sorry. What else am I supposed to think when everyone has died around me – some by your hands? You're not someone I can easily understand."

He crouched down beside me. "If I can't convince you, then perhaps you should listen to your own heart." He placed his hand above my pulsing organ. "What has it been telling you? Surely, your own feelings wouldn't leave you astray."

That was low. To use my love against me… I knew without a doubt that I had fallen hard for him, but that wasn't synonymous to trust. I was going to love him even if he pushed me off the ship or threw me into a vat of the black parasites. That wasn't something I could control. Trusting him, however, was a completely different story. I wasn't going to stand by if he did any of that. I wasn't go to…

I wasn't going to…

"Good girl." He kissed my forehead when he saw my defeated face. "Why don't we go somewhere a little more suitable for you?"

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Thank you Zerousy, MageVicky, Love Fiction 2017, vampgirliegirl for reviewing!

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