A/N: I've been having some trouble putting together chapters for my main story for a while now, so I thought I'd write an unrelated one-shot in order to hopefully shift whatever it is that's affecting me. To anyone waiting for the next chapter of False Masks: Spectre, that story is still my main priority and I will get it done, it's just going to take a while at my current pace, sorry.
With that out of the way, here we go!
Encounter
A light fixture a few metres ahead of her suddenly flickered before cutting out entirely for a moment, causing Amanda's heart to stop before it weakly sputtered back to life, illuminating the corridor before her once more. Swallowing heavily, a bead of sweat running down the back of her neck, she raised the bulky device she held in her left hand and looked carefully down at its screen. The soft green glow of the motion tracker was something she would never forget if she managed to get off this damn station, so often had she already used the device during the few hours it had been in her possession.
Just as impossible to forget would be the pale lines that dominated the centre of the screen, the shape they formed similar to a fan with its narrowest point nearer the bottom of the screen and its widest point closer to the top. The display could give her a fairly accurate idea of whether anything was moving near her current position, with a decent range to boot. It had already saved her life twice. The first time had been when it had alerted her to the approach of a group of three other survivors armed with pistols and shotguns, and the second was when it had detected a Working Joe that she had then barely managed to escape from only a matter of minutes ago.
Amanda shuddered as she remembered how the android had reached out to her, its expressionless mouth somehow just as terrifying as its glowing red eyes as it approached at an unhurried pace. Its voice had been every bit as calm as its footsteps as it addressed her, one hand reaching for her throat as she began to whimper in fear.
"You are becoming hysterical."
Her whimpers had been replaced by a scream as she managed to duck past the primitive synthetic, which had then begun to give chase. Amanda had thrown any attempt at stealth to the wind as she tore through the seemingly endless corridors that made up Sevastapol, that instinctive desire to escape from danger that every intelligent lifeform possessed having completely taken over. As a result, the Working Joe's eerily calm voice had quickly faded before vanishing completely, the android incapable of moving at anything faster than walking speed. Soon the only sounds Amanda had been able to hear were the ever-present groans made by the machinery of the station, the pounding of her shoes against the metal flooring of the never-ending corridors, and her own shallow, rapid breathing.
After however long it had been, five minutes perhaps, though she honestly wasn't sure, Amanda had finally stopped, sweat pouring down her face as she leaned against the nearest wall. All of her equipment, from the motion tracker she held to the revolver on her hip, felt as though it had doubled in weight during her flight, and it had taken all of her willpower not to simply slide down the wall and pass out from exhaustion. But there were other threats aboard the station, and staying in one place was tantamount to suicide. She had forced herself to keep moving, which was how she had ended up where she was now.
Shaking herself out of the memory and silently cursing for allowing herself to lose track of her surroundings, Amanda refocused her gaze on the motion tracker, calming down slightly as it beeped every few seconds as normal. She had by now learned to differentiate the constant, less frantic sounds the device made regardless of whether anything was nearby from the more frequent, sharper beeps the tracker made when something was moving near her position. The latter kind of sound only occurred faster and louder as another being drew closer and closer to her, which meant it had nearly been heard by the group of survivors Amanda had encountered earlier, only her instinctive decision to switch the motion tracker off saving her from discovery. Right now, though, she could only hear the ever-present kind of beeping, signalling that there was nothing moving in the immediate vicinity.
Taking a moment to glance around and ensure that there was indeed definitely nothing near her, Amanda lowered the tracker and began to move forwards at a calm, measured pace. The creature that had already caused so much death aboard the station had an excellent sense of hearing, and it also possessed lightning speed. If it found her, there was no way she could stop it or outrun it. Unbidden, her free hand moved to her side before closing around the grip of her revolver. If it had just been the isolated bands of survivors and the occasional Working Joe that she had to contend with, the weapon might have given her some small measure of comfort. As it was, though, Amanda had seen from a distance what that… thing was capable of. Aside from maybe military level firepower, she doubted anything could do it any serious damage.
Therefore, the best course of action at the moment was to keep putting distance between herself and where she had been attacked by the Working Joe, but to ensure she was as quiet as possible as she did so from here on out. Assuming the creature hadn't heard her encounter with the synthetic, it might be some distance away, though probably not too far given how bad her luck had been since she had arrived at Sevastapol. In the more likely event that it had, though, then it would no doubt be combing the area, determined to find her. While she had never seen anything like it before, Amanda had noticed straight away that it was more intelligent than a mere animal. Its use of the ventilation system to quickly travel through the station as well as its ability to tell the difference between the noises made by humans and Working Joes had made that clear. Just how intelligent it truly was, though, was something Amanda could only guess at.
After a couple of minutes of walking, the corridor began to curve to the right and Amanda glanced behind her, catching one last glimpse of the faulty light fixture as it vanished from sight. Turning her gaze back in front, she let out a small sigh of relief as she saw that the corridor soon straightened again, with all of the light fixtures ahead of her working perfectly. Relaxing her grip on the motion tracker slightly so she could flex her fingers, which had begun to ache after so long spent carrying the device around, Amanda continued to press on at the same pace as before.
After another minute or so of making her way down the corridor, she reached a junction, with the option to go either left or right. Frowning at the fact there were no signs on the wall opposite her that could tell her where either path led, Amanda glanced in both directions, noticing that the route to her left was the better lit of the two. Silently praying that was a good omen, she began to head in that direction, checking the motion tracker again as she did so just to be safe. As she had hoped, the device still indicated that there were no other living things in the area.
The corridor she had entered was much like the one she had just left, and by extension it was almost identical to the countless others she had already traversed during her time on Sevastapol. Coloured mainly grey and white, it certainly wasn't interesting to look at. In fact, had the station not been full of so many different dangers that it beggared belief, Amanda would have paid her current surroundings no attention whatsoever. With Sevastapol having done its level best to prematurely end her life multiple times already, though, her brown eyes scanned the plain walls constantly, alert for anything out of the ordinary.
As she edged her way further down the corridor, a door soon came into view on her left, a perfect replica of one of the types she had already seen plenty of. Simple and unadorned, built to do what was required of it and no more than that, it was coloured a dull white, with two lights positioned next to each other perhaps a foot down from the centre of the slab of metal being the only remotely visually interesting feature it possessed. The light on the left was currently on, its bright green glow signalling that the door was accessible, while the one on the right was coloured red and currently off. As Amanda reached it, the door slid open of its own accord, rising upwards smoothly and leaving an empty doorframe.
Debating for a moment whether she should investigate the room or keep following the corridor, Amanda decided on the former course of action. Looking for anything useful in the countless abandoned rooms that dotted the station had already proved vital to her survival. It was, after all, from doing just that she had acquired her current equipment. Drawing her revolver from her side carefully, Amanda kept the weapon at the ready, barrel pointing towards the ground but ready to raise in an instant, as she moved into the room, crouching down to reduce her profile as she did so.
The light from the corridor illuminated the room only slightly, and it cut out as the door closed behind her with a hiss, leaving Amanda in near total darkness. Removing one finger from the grip of her revolver, she flicked her head torch on, causing a circle of light to spring into existence on the far wall. Turning her head from side to side, the young woman scanned the room for anything that looked out of the ordinary. She wasn't worried about the creature or any survivors being in the room with her; if either had been then they would have attacked as soon as the door had opened. No, if there was anything that could pose a threat to her in here, it was one of the Working Joes. Amanda had learned by now that they had a nasty habit of waiting behind cover when damaged, appearing deactivated aside from the glow of their eyes until they struck.
Having ascertained that she was indeed alone and currently in no danger, Amanda straightened up and began to examine her surroundings more closely, looking for anything she could make use of. The centre of the room was dominated by a large desk which faced the door she had entered from, a simple chair sitting on the other side of it to where Amanda herself currently stood. A primitive, blocky terminal, the same kind that seemed to be universal on Sevastapol, sat on top of the desk and in front of the chair, its positioning such that whoever had worked here would have barely needed to move their gaze from the screen in order to see someone else enter the room. Whoever it was that had worked here, they had presumably taken their job seriously. That was something that couldn't really be said about many of Sevastapol's other occupants given how the station was practically falling apart at the seams, and had been for a long time, though the higher-ups at Seegson likewise deserved a lot of the blame for its sorry state.
Aside from the workstation, there wasn't much else of interest. A large locker, as tall as a person, stood against the far wall, its design as practical and cost-efficient as everything else aboard Sevastapol. Much like the desk, chair, and terminal, it too was something Amanda had already become used to seeing. It was mainly coloured a flat white, the primary exceptions being a metal handle at the same height as her waist and a few metal slats just below knee-height and also at eyelevel, the latter ones allowing an individual to see into the container somewhat without having to open the door. There was nothing else worth commenting on in the room. The design of the walls was the same as it was in virtually every other part of the station, white and grey being the main colours on display.
Feeling a small sense of disappointment that there weren't any boxes or drawers she could rifle through, Amanda walked over to the desk before spotting something that had escaped her notice until now. Allowing herself a small smile, she moved round to the other side of the desk, stowed her revolver at her side, and picked up the pile of scrap from next to the terminal, the small pieces of metal shining in the light of her head torch as she slid them into one of her jumpsuit's pockets. By combining them with a few other things she had found during her time on the station, such as sensors and charge packs, hopefully she could cobble together something that might increase her chances of survival.
Turning her attention to the terminal, Amanda decided to search its files for anything that could be of use. Passcodes for locked doors, indications of where any supplies might be, and even information about who had worked here were all things that could be of some benefit down the road. And given how simplistic the terminal itself was, checking it wouldn't take long anyway. In fact, she noticed as she booted it up, there were only a few files that seemed like they were worth reading.
Selecting one at random, Amanda quickly scanned its contents. The man who had worked here, it transpired, had seemingly spent much of his time on Sevastapol complaining about how no-one else was pulling their weight and so he wanted to be transferred off the station. The document was a message from a superior, a reprimand about how continuing to voice his complaints would not result in them transferring him any faster.
Closing the message, Amanda opened a second file, this one related to a lack of maintenance supplies, only to let out a huff as she saw that it didn't make any mention of where any useful items might be. She absentmindedly shifted her weight as she selected another file, causing her right foot to move slightly. Unexpectedly, the tip of Amanda's shoe nudged something heavy under the desk, causing her to blink in surprise.
Amanda looked down at the mystery object, expecting to see a box or folder of some kind, only to let out a scream as her head torch illuminated the face of the room's owner. The middle-aged man didn't react in any way to her cry, his wide, unblinking eyes staring vacantly into space. His mouth hung slackly open, dried blood running from one corner of it down his face and neck. A pool of congealed blood, almost invisible due to how dark the room was, surrounded his body. All of that taken together made it clear he was long dead, but Amanda found that her gaze was transfixed by another part of the scene. A part that was somehow even more horrifying than the rest of it.
The centre of the man's forehead had caved in, the flesh and bone having been shattered by an immense force that had killed him instantly. Amanda jerked her gaze away before she could focus on the fragments of exposed brain, swallowing heavily as she fought down the urge to vomit. She had already encountered a few corpses like this one and knew they were the work of the creature, but she had not as yet discovered how exactly it inflicted such a grotesque injury. Not that she ever wanted to find out.
Shaking her head vigorously in an attempt to clear it as her mind began to ponder the possibilities of its own accord, Amanda tried to focus on what she actually knew. The man had been dead for a while, hours at least by her reckoning. There was nothing she could do for him now, and she doubted she could have done anything had she been there when the creature had attacked. If she had been present then, she would almost certainly be dead as well.
Looking back over at the corpse but refusing to look at the grotesque injury itself, Amanda knelt down and carefully closed the man's eyes before then straightening back up and taking a step away from the body. All she had to go on were the files on his terminal, but the man hadn't seemed like a bad person based on what she'd just read. He had been someone who just wanted to get off Sevastapol as soon as he could. She could sympathise.
Thud.
Amanda froze, her heart seeming to stop in her chest at the sound. It was distant, barely audible even, but she still recognised it. The impact of something heavy against a thin metal surface was unmistakable, and it meant the creature was currently in the ventilation system somewhere nearby. Moving very slowly, Amanda looked down at the motion tracker, only to find to her immense relief that there was apparently nothing moving in the immediate vicinity. No blips occurred on the screen to signify she was no longer alone, and the only sound the device made was the regular kind of beeping that indicated it was currently on.
Amanda slowly exhaled. Sneaking around Sevastapol while trying to remain constantly vigilant was naturally taking a toll mentally. Being paranoid was completely normal. It had probably been a random noise; a sound made by a decaying station that seemed as though it was only one more disaster away from falling apart entirely. Either that or she had imagined it, being as tired as she was.
Thud.
Her heart stopped again. She definitely hadn't imagined it this time, and what was worse was that the sound was louder than before. Glancing back down at the tracker, Amanda felt faint as a pale circle, such a light green as to be almost white, flashed into existence right at the edge of the device's range before vanishing, a sharp beep accompanying it. Before she could so much as blink, the blip reappeared, accompanied by a third thud.
Then there was a fourth thud. Then a fifth.
The motion tracker began to beep rapidly, the amount of time between each sound getting smaller each time as the pale circle suddenly began to move at an incredible speed, racing from the top of the screen towards the bottom. Directly towards the tracker itself.
And directly towards her.
Tearing her eyes away from the device, Amanda whipped round, desperately scanning the room for anywhere she could hide. Her gaze fell onto the locker she had noticed earlier and the young woman sprinted towards it, flinging the door open before slamming it shut behind her as quickly and stealthily as she could as the motion tracker seemed to practically scream at her. Swearing under her breath, Amanda switched it off, cutting the tracker's beeps short before also turning off her head torch, leaving her in pitch darkness inside the locker, alone aside from the sound of blood rushing in her ears.
A series of violent crashing sounds suddenly erupted from the corridor outside the room before stopping as quickly as they had started. Silence reigned for the briefest of moments before a low hissing noise reached Amanda's ears, the sound dripping with murderous intent.
The silence returned as the hissing ceased, only for it to be broken a second time by several heavy footfalls just outside the door opposite her hiding place. The door slid open as if on cue, allowing a huge shadow to fall into the room.
The creature was so immense that it blotted out almost all of the light behind it as it swiftly entered the office, the door then closing behind it and reducing the level of illumination in the room to near total darkness once more. As it moved closer to her hiding place, Amanda shrank back as much as she could, putting as much space between herself and the slats that allowed her to see out of the locker as possible. Despite how dark it was, she could still make out some of the creature's more prominent features as it drew nearer. The flicker of movement on the ground as its heavy tail dragged along the metal surface, the motion of its legs as they propelled the monstrosity along, and the occasional turn of its immense head as it examined its surroundings, clearly looking for something. Looking for her.
Reaching the desk only a few feet away from her, it crouched down, a loud sniffing noise reaching Amanda's ears as it examined the corpse of the man it had killed earlier. After a moment, the creature rose back to its full height and sniffed again, this time even more loudly than before, and Amanda watched in horrified disbelief as its mouth slowly opened, a smaller but no less terrifying mouth emerging from within instead of a tongue. The smaller set of jaws casually opened and closed a few times, making the nightmarish being appear as if it were in no rush whatsoever.
The creature sniffed for a third time, its jet black skin shining just barely in the almost non-existent light as it slowly turned to face the locker, its head tilting to the side slightly in a disturbingly human gesture of curiosity. Despite how every instinct she possessed screamed at her to stay still, Amanda couldn't help flinching as the being opposite her seemed to stare into her very soul, its lack of visible eyes somehow making it even more terrifying than it would have been had it possessed a pair that she could see.
It was only then she noticed the feeling of dampness against one of her knees. Swallowing heavily, Amanda looked down, barely able to see even as far as her legs in the darkness. Squinting, she could just about make out that the material of her jumpsuit was sticky with some kind of dark fluid. Even though she couldn't see it clearly, she instinctively knew what it was as she looked back out of the slats and down at the body underneath the desk and the puddle in which it lay. The blood must have soaked into the area around her knee when she had knelt down to close the man's eyes, but it hadn't managed to reach her skin through the thick material until now.
Taking a deliberate step closer, the creature sniffed yet again, the sound making her skin crawl. It then took another step, thick streams of drool beginning to drip from its maw as its excitement began to build. Desperately, Amanda tried to draw her revolver, only to scream silently as she found herself unable to reach it within the confines of the locker. The monstrosity took a third step, releasing a low hiss as it began to lean towards the door of the locker, about to peer through the slats. There was no way it wouldn't see her, even though she had backed up as much as she could.
Amanda tried again to reach the gun at her side, her fingers grasping nothing but the material of her jumpsuit a few inches from where the revolver was but unable to get any closer to it than that. She just couldn't reach it. She would be able to once the creature tore the door off, but she had seen first-hand just how fast it could be. She wouldn't even have a chance to point the weapon in its direction before it killed her.
The creature hissed again, its inner mouth beginning to emerge, before it abruptly froze, its face only a matter of inches from the slats. Not daring to even breathe, Amanda watched petrified as it slowly turned around before tilting its head as it had done a few moments ago. A very faint, almost inaudible shout reached her ears from the same direction she had come from, the sound one of rage as one person screamed at another. Her lungs threatened to burst as the creature hissed for one final time before heading for the door, the dull thud of its footfalls the most beautiful sound she had ever heard as it departed. The door slid open and then closed behind it, a series of far louder thuds following a few seconds later as the creature leapt back into the ventilation system.
Amanda gasped as she finally allowed herself to breathe again, inhaling huge lungfuls of air as her body tried to make up for the precious oxygen it had been starved of. Despite how loud her heaving breaths were, she could still hear the creature as it moved away from her position, as the metal that bore its weight groaned in protest. Amanda suddenly felt a stab of intense guilt as she realised it was now heading towards the voice she had heard a few seconds ago, before she forced herself not to dwell on it. Even if she tried to make it to whoever it was in order to warn them, she had no guarantee they were friendly and wouldn't simply shoot her on sight. Furthermore, she almost certainly wouldn't beat the creature there, and she still had no way to either harm it or drive it off.
After taking a minute or so to get her breathing under control, Amanda carefully opened the door of the locker before stepping out of it, wincing as her back clicked loudly. Her left arm ached as she switched the motion tracker back on and raised the device to eyelevel, a wave of relief washing over her as she saw there was currently nothing nearby. That gave her a chance to get a head start in case the creature returned to investigate some more.
Glancing down at her right leg, Amanda shuddered slightly with revulsion at the dark red patch on her knee. There was no time for it now, but she would need to either scrub the blood out or cut the soaked area of fabric away as soon as she was somewhere safe. Sheer blind luck had saved her this time, but somehow she didn't think it would again if she tempted fate by continuing to smell of blood.
Checking the motion tracker again, she then quickly but calmly made her way to the door that led back out to the corridor, forcing herself to remain as silent as possible despite just how desperately she wanted to leave the office behind. As the door slid open, Amanda turned to look over her shoulder, taking one final look at the room that had come so close to being her grave. Even though she knew she would never see it again, she still felt the need to ensure that every detail of it was burned into her brain. That way she would never become complacent while she remained on the station. Never forget just how close her life had come to being ended.
Turning her gaze back in front of her, Amanda stepped out into the corridor, releasing a deep breath as the door closed behind her. A final glance at the motion tracker confirmed that there was still no other life nearby, but she still took a moment to scan her surroundings carefully for anything that looked different to before. Unwilling to delay any longer, Amanda cautiously set off, following the corridor just as she had before she had decided to investigate the office, a look of determination on her face.
She would overcome everything Sevastapol had in store for her, no matter what obstacles the station threw at her next.