Chapter Two: An Old Friend

I continued to stare as the blood slowly grew as it slithered across the ground, my stomach churned and my mouth fresh with the taste of vomit. I slowly got up and took a step back from the body, the hall echoed with the step for a moment then the alarm covered over it, then another step, then another, before I knew it I was running down the hall far, far away from the body which was now a white and red dot in the distance. My breathing grew heavy, and my body ached once again, my sweat flew back and forth as my arms swayed in a running motion.

I reached my room's door, it was bleak and grey with spots of red blood dripping down its side like tears on a face ,the numbers "042" written in red were all but unreadable with the coat of blood freshly splattered over it. I was scared now, shaking with fear about the idea of what lurked inside, or what was lurking out here, my knees shook and my teeth clattered my voice whimpered as I breathed rapidly. My hand made its way to the open button with the nervous shaking of a mental patient. The door swooched opened and my eyes closed shut, the blood that dripped down the door flew to the side, and the faint sounds of moans drifted over the ear piercing alarm that continued to scream its high pitched song. My right eye open with much resistence, the room was dark, the moon no longer filled its hallow walls with a white light. I sniffled a little, still overwhelmed with fear as the low pitched moan once again drifted in the dark.

My arm shaking with fear, patted its way along the rooms wall, searching for the light switch. My hand hit the switch, and my fingers wrapped around and began to slowly pull it up. The lights bombarded my eyes, my face looked down and my eyes quickly closed in response. I opened my eyes and squinted as they examined the emptiness of my room. CRACK! the sound filled my ears as a strong pain overcame my head, my body fell forward and hit the ground in one large thump. My body fell to the cold metal floor as an intense pressure began to push down on my back. Crcckkk Crunch, the pressure got stronger and stronger. My eyes opened as I screamed in pain, my face lifted from the ground as my arms clawed at the cold metal ground.

The moan turned into a soft laughter, then a cough. My eyes, squinting from the pain, set forward to see a injured stormtrooper laying against the wall, blood slowly dripped down his armor from deep cut on his shoulder which poured out blood. The pressure lifted, and I felt something grab my right should, I was soon flipped over to be meet by a stromtrooper standing in door. He pointed his E11 to my face, polished to such a shine that I could see the blood that was dripping out of my nose. The trooper laughed a bit and his gun bobbled about. He soon went back into his position and his radio crackled a bit.

"The Intelligence said you 'Shadow Knights' were supposed to be unstoppable warriors, guess once again the intelligence is wrong"

The stormtrooper in the corner laughed and moaned a bit as he said

"When are they ever right?"

They both began to laugh but this stopped when the wounded stromtrooper began to cough and moan once again. The stormtrooper in the door shook his head at me and continued to stare at me with the empty black tinted stare his helmet provided. The stormtrooper's radio crackled once again.

"Say your prayers, rebel scum"

My eyes closed and I began to whimper like a huurton pup out in the cold. My ears were soon overwhelmed with the sound of a blaster bolt, then another went off. My arm burned with pain and my eyes opened wider then ever as I screamed in agony. The stormtrooper hovering above me stood motionless as his E11 emitted smoke that calmly danced in the air as it disappeared one bye one. The stormtrooper slowly fell towards me like a statue pushed over by some unnatural force. OOOOFF! I grunted as the stromtrooper fell ontop of me, its helmet now rested on my chest, and its body lay motionless ontop of me. I scurried from under this faceless corpse as a voice boomed over the alarm.

"Your pathetic, Jesse. Get up before more stromtroopers come."

I got up and began to shake again, my breathing now a soft pant mixed in with a rapid sniffle. The same voice boomed again over the alarm

"Suck it up and lets go already!"

The source of the voice walked forward into the room, it was a tall zabrak, his horns petruding through his grey composite helmet which now forced a glare into my eyes. His body covered in thick composite armor glistened in the light, and his pistol smoked lightly as he cocked and reloaded his weapon. My fear sooned turned to relief as he took some more steps forward. I sighed with relief as I said.

"Thank god its you, Selusa. I thought I was a goner"

The armored zabrak responded as he shook his head at me in a negative fashion

"Yeah, yeah, just be lucky I was here this time, I don't come around here to deliver supplies that often."

I gave serious stare while I grunted with a low tone under my voice.

"Yeah, I know considering the fact we have to do serious food rationing to make sure we live till your next visit"

The zabrak laughed and pointed his gun in my general area. My breathe began to pick up speed again. I began to stator when I said

"Wh-Whow hold up dude whose side are you on!"

The gun fired and the sound echoed in my ears, my hands quickly flew over my head and pushed it down as I fell to my knees. A gurgled grunt loomed silently over the alarm, the zabrak spoke again.

"Get up fool, I shot the stormtrooper behind you, not you"

I got up slowly, my hands throughly examining every bit of my body for holes. The zabrak put his hand on his head and shook it again in a negative way. He sighed as he said

"Come on, before I decide to really shoot you."

He extended his arm and flattened his palm as to offer to help me get up.

"Come on, lets go, before their reinforcements show up."