Another chapter! This one's kind of long, I just couldn't find an easy stopping place. I don't own Samus, and don't forget to leave a review!
Surferljb- Glad you like it! I'd be interested in reading that fic if you ever write it.
Slythergrl- You don't understand it? You mean my fic, or a review that I left on one of your fics?
Pixiegirl- I absolutely love cliffhangers! I intend to end every chapter with one, so be prepared! And you'll see what the pirates want eventually: Be patient!
Death
They had to get out of there, fast, and Samus knew it. She immediately surveyed the area and noticed the door behind them. Samus had no idea what was behind it, but anything was better than where they were: Capture would be inevitable.
Samus opened the door, still facing towards the direction of the footsteps, and jumped into the room backwards, tugging Caern in with her. They both sat, tense, listening to the footsteps just on the other side of the wall. They came closer and closer – Caern gave a small whimper. Samus shot him a look that he knew meant "Shut up!"
The footsteps had reached the door now, and for a few intense moments, they seemed to linger in front of the door. Then, to the relief of both humans, they receded and began to move away.
Both humans exhaled, glad that they were still intact. It was then that Samus turned around and saw the grisly scene behind her.
A pirate and some other creature both lay dead on the ground. The other creature was of a species that Samus did not recognize, but it was clear that it had been mauled pretty badly. The pirate had a makeshift knife in its chest, and the other creature seemed to be missing an arm. Caern looked at the bodies in shock, but Samus quickly realized that this could be used to their advantage.
She quickly relieved the pirate of both of his guns and his retractable wrist blade. She searched the other creature for weapons, but found none.
"What do you think happened?" Caern muttered, almost as if he didn't believe what he was seeing.
Samus hadn't thought much about it. She looked again, and said, "Not sure. It looks like this… thing, attacked the pirate with a homemade knife. It was probably a prisoner." Samus searched the body closer. "There are burn marks on its chest and one here on its leg," she said, pointing them out, "and they're probably from these guns," Samus suggested, indicating the guns she now held in her hands. "My guess is that this prisoner tried to make an escape, and this pirate tried to stop him. The pirate shot at him, and he came after him with this knife. The pirate relieved him of one of his arms, and then this guy stabbed the pirate in the chest. The pirate probably fell over then, judging by the way he's laying, and then shot this guy here, killing him," Samus pointed to a large hole in the thing's head.
Caern looked sick, and asked, almost as if he really didn't want to know, "How do you know all of that?"
"We have an entire subject on forensics at school," Samus answered matter-of-factly. Just then, the sound of footsteps was heard in the hallway again, this time they were running.
"Here!" Samus whispered, tossing a gun to Caern. He caught it, but looked like he didn't know what to do with it. "If we get into trouble," Samus said, "Don't hesitate to use it." Samus fastened the wrist blade to her left hand and retracted the blade. She held the gun with both hands: her right hand on the trigger, her left hand beneath the front of the gun. Simply holding the gun made a wave of calm go through Samus. She felt safer when she had a grip on the situation.
The sound of shooting was heard right outside the door: There was fighting going on outside. A shout was heard, and then a roar. It sounded like somebody had taken down a pirate. A thump was heard on the door to their room. Slowly, a pool of green liquid began to seep under the door.
"Get ready," Samus muttered, poising her finger on the trigger, aiming it at the door, poised for something to burst through. Caern followed suit numbly, as if he were in a trance. Samus doubted he would be much help if things got dangerous. She would have to rely on her chozo-taught reflexes in the event of a battle.
Judging by the sounds, the scuffle seemed to get more violent. There was a scream of pain and a roar of triumph. Samus grimaced: It sounded like the pirate won this time. After a few moments, there was silence again.
Carefully, Samus went to the door. She tried to open it slowly, but there seemed to be something pinning the door shut. She pushed a little harder and managed to open it enough to squeeze out.
She told Caern to stay where he was for now, and then slid out of the door, gun first. After she was confident that the hallway was safe for the moment, she relaxed her shoulders and lowered her gun. The thing that was keeping the door shut was the dead body of a space pirate. It had several wounds all over it, inflicted from a medium-level blaster.
The next thing that Samus noticed was another dead body. She was almost caught off guard to realize that it was a human, like her. She had not seen many humans before (except when she was very young) and she had now seen two others today. It was almost unbearable: She realized that there were others out there like her; there really was a species out there just like her.
Upon closer inspection, Samus saw that the human was clutching a medium-level blaster, probably stolen from a space pirate, and had several large, bloody wounds all over. There was a stab wound to his stomach, and several welts on his arms and legs. There were gaping wounds all over his arms and legs, probably caused from blasters. His face looked almost a combination of anger and peace: He had died fighting for his freedom, Samus was sure of it.
Coming to her senses, Samus picked up two more guns off of the bodies, and another wrist blade. She pushed the pirate's carcass away from the door and took the weapons in to Caern. She shoved one small gun through her belt, and handed the other gun and blade to Caern. He took them gingerly, as if he was afraid of them.
"Haven't you ever held a weapon before?" Samus asked, almost frustrated at his ignorance.
"Well, I did learn how to shoot from my father, but I've never killed anything before…" Caern muttered, as if having trouble thinking. Samus sighed. She had gone hunting many times in the past, but she had only killed dumb beasts. This was different, although she hated to admit it. The creatures that they may have to kill have feelings. They have mothers and fathers, and they have lives. They were going to have to be willing to kill intelligent beings if they wanted to escape.
Samus tried to hide her own inner-turmoil. "Here, you put on the blade like this," Samus strapped the blade to Caern's wrist, saying, "You make it come out with this button," Samus pointed to a long, green button on top of the module.
There was a long pause, and then Caern said, still seeming dazed, "Now what do we do?"
Samus thought about it, and then made a statement. "Well, anything's better than hanging around here, waiting to get caught." Caern nodded and sort of seemed to come back to his senses. It seemed that Caern needed a lot of time to process things.
Samus led the way out into the long, stretching hallway. They would have to find their way out without the aid of a map of any sort, so Samus just decided to pick a direction. Samus, with Caern following close behind made their way blindly down the passageway, hoping to find an exit. It would not be long until they were noticed, so they had to make quick ground.
-X-
Meanwhile, the chozo were combing the cliffs of Chozodia fervently, but no trace of Samus was found anywhere.
"Toré," Great Master Yurh muttered, obviously not looking forward to what he had to say, "It's time to call it a night. We can't keep looking for her. I can't let everyone else endanger themselves: it's dangerous here in the dark." Great Master Yurh sighed. "Obviously I can't force you to come back, but I would highly recommend it. You need your rest. We all do. We'll look for her some more tomorrow."
Toré looked around dejectedly, his heart aching. The light was dimming, and nobody had seen anything of Samus. It was beginning to look like a lost cause. Painfully, Toré turned around and started to head back to Chozodia. He would never give up, but he did see the wisdom of Great Master Yurh's suggestion. He would return tomorrow, with renewed zeal, and he would find her, if it was the last thing he'd do.