Making It Work, One World At A Time

"Brace!" Johnston shouted out as the ships blast shields sealed for impact. The protection mattered as the ship collided in the interior of the Ishimura's docking bay. I, along with everyone else on the ship, was frantically shaken as the hull slammed against everything it possibly could. I had pointed out the emergency stabilizer much like Isaac did, allowing us to survive implosion. When the ship came to a sudden halt, I knew we had docked and thanked whatever gods existed that weren't marker shaped.

"Status report!" Hammond sounded out. He seemed okay and was slowly rising from his seat while collecting himself. 

"Alive and whole" Chen said with a deep breath. Rubbing his sore neck while disarming the blast shields, he looked over to his co-pilot, "Johnston, you good?" 

"Twisted my foot, could be broken" Johnston said with a pained groan. Daniels hopped out of her seat and looked a little frazzled as she walked up to Hammond.

"Jesus, what the fuck happened with flight control? That guidance system's a deathtrap" she said while pointing to the tower in the corner of the docking bay. Hammond ignored her and signaled Chen for ship damage. I listened to the tech babble, understanding every word being said given my engineering, but chose to not care as I simple summarized it to "Were fucked" in my head.

"Looks like will need as much help as the Ishimura then. Johnston, stay with the Kellion, Well send a medic. Everyone else, with me." Hammond sounded out while walking past me. Daniels followed him out, her hand touching my arm in a caring fashion before moving on. I let Chen go next, snorting under my mask at his "WTF" expression he gave me. With a final nod to Johnston, I followed the three off the ship and onto the docking walkway. The sight that greeted me was a better visual of the abandoned docking bay, the destroyed ships exterior, and Hammond and Chen sporting pulse rifles.

"Pulse rifles?" Daniels queried.

"Standard procedure will give them up to security if they prove to be unnecessary. Come on, let's find out what's happened." Hammond commanded while leading us three away from the ship and towards the welcoming center. I gripped my empty hands as we walked, looking at the two weapons with envy. Terrible gun for the threat we would be dealing with, but better than my bare-handed ass right now. Silently betting on my shit luck that the plasma cutter would exactly be where it was in the game, I walked with calm steps behind Hammond and the others. Entering the reception desk and getting signed in was met without hassle while walking into the security check and finding nobody again set Hammond off.

"Damnit, where is everybody!" Hammond shouted as he saw the one place that should never be empty. It was too much of a security threat to not be guarding the docking bay if my implanted memories were anything to go by. I caught Chen looking around with worry as he nodded along with his boss.

"Our entry should have half the ship heading here. To find not a single person is fucking alarming to say the least." To punctuate his point, he shouldered his pulse rifle and started to tense up.

"Nothing is logged for the duty roster and I'm seeing no power flow in general" Daniels chimed in from a check in holo-screen she was tapping away on. Hammond shook his head and investigated the closed off security box inside the checkpoint.

"Alright, I'm done waiting for someone. Scott!" He looked at me before nodding to the box. "I see a working Security console inside there. Get me a damage report and maybe see if you can contact someone station to let them know were here." I nodded and walked to the door, my body tensing up as much as Chen's was. My gaze landed on the nearest vent to my physical self, and I instinctively shifted to give it a wide berth. Feeling a wet squish as I did make me look down to see the dried blood splattered on the ground. Gazing at it for a moment had Hammond shouted in my ear, "Scott! Stop wasting time, get me that report!"

I looked at the man and then back to the blood. In the game the player is essentially stuck following what Hammond commands, and thus the small group is caught unaware when shit hits the fan. Yet, this wasn't a game, and I wasn't compelled to not point out the blood. Taking a breath, I looked at Hammond on the other side of the security glass and shook my head as I tested my freedom of choice. "Hammond, I've got blood splatter back here."

Hammond raised his eyes at my words and looked to Chen. Chen nodded and walked though the same door I did before immediately spotting the blood. "Shit, he's right Hammond. Something happened here and given it's dry means it happened some time ago."

"So, this is a security checkpoint, maybe someone broke a nose" Daniels said looking over to us from her screen.

Chen shook his head and looked at her, "No, too much to not be a serious wound. The fact that's dried as well and not cleaned up is also concerning." Hammond breathed out a tense breath and nodded. Daniels also shifted her lackadaisical expression to a more serious one as she naturally tensed up finally. It made me smile as now everyone was in the right mindset for what was about to happen next. Myself most of all, now that I realized that this wasn't a fucking game world. Logic would shift to more human reactions and not preprogrammed instances. It meant I could die even easier now given random chance just got set to realistic, but that also means I could skip some shit that I didn't need to do.

Give and take situation sure, but good enough for me. Looking to Hammond still, the man took another breath and holstered his pulse rifle "Shit, alright, Chen be ready for possible hostile crew." Chen nodded while Daniels gave Hammond a look.

"Hostile crew? Shit Hammond, this could be just an isolated injury or something. We should just contact someone in charge before getting ready to shoot first."

Hammond flicked his head over to her and waved a hand to me. "That's what we're doing Daniels but given the facts presented such as no security, enough blood on the ground to signal a possible death, and communication system damaged leaving us isolated I'm going by the books procedure to ensue a possible riot or pirate invasion of the Ishimura. Now be ready yourself incase the worst happens!" Daniels scoffed but her tense shoulders showed that she had taken the order to heart. With all that said Hammond turned back to me and I nodded before walking to the security console and ran a diagnostic report on the Ishimura. Chen, unfortunately, had left me to guard the two others as he assumed I would be safe in the bullet proof box.

As the report came up showing near absolute systems failure done by both the remaining survivors and necromorphs, I sent it over to Hammond. "It's bad, comms and guidance for sure, but just about everything is in the red."

"Seriously? With that much damage I'd say we may have a mutiny on our hands, Hammond." Chen said while rechecking his plus rifle was ready for combat as he continued to talk. "Pirates couldn't even begin to damage the Ishimura to that extent without retaliation." Hammond nodded and then looked up as we all heard the ventilation system kicking on.

"Power is flowing again; we should start to have fresh air now and I'll get the elevators soon-" Daniels started to say with a smile when the lights turned red, alarms blared, and doors were locked down with blast shielding. Chen and Hammond both held their pulse rifles ready as the ship's system sent out a warning.

"Warning, warning, quarantine protocol activated! Please wait for security and medical for evaluation!"

"Shit, what the fuck happened!" Daniels said as she started to tap away at her console. I was already ahead of her as I tapped away with my rudimentary knowledge of the advanced code language that the ship used. I needed my blast doors to the security elevator open, and I couldn't trust Daniels to do it fast enough, like she did in the game. As I worked along with Daniels, I heard the bang of the vents on the other side of the glass above Chen and took a moment to glance up to see Chen already aiming his rifle.

"There's someone up there!" Chen shouted. I knew what was going to happen next, but had to shake my head as I kept typing as fast as my knowledge base would let me. I needed to save myself before saving them if I could, selfish I know, but I never said I was a good person. It proved the right move as I started to make good progress with Daniels and was nearly finished with the doors. That thought was when the blast of the pulse rifle hit my ear, I didn't look up as I knew Chen was attacking the Necro above him. Still, with how much longer I needed to get through with the code I gave the man a chance.

"Chen, behind you!" I shouted out in hope to save the man. I knew how this scene played out and thus was aware of the hidden necromorph behind him. However, as I looked up to see the situation, all I did was allow Chen a chance to see his death coming as he whipped his head around to see the necromorph stabbing through his lungs. With a gurgle cry of pain Chen was lifted off the ground before the Necro twisted it's blade like arms to kill the man all the quicker. I frowned and finished up the code before I had the chance to join him.

"Chen!" Hammond shouted as he fired on the necro morph in a futile attempt at revenge. I started to curse as I heard the vents in the box start to bang and scrape as well. "Almost done, just need one more-GOT IT!" I mentally cheered as the lockdown was shut off and my way out was secured. I didn't waste time as I moved, Daniels and Hammond following my own tactic as we split up from the threat. It was in the nick of time when I found a necro crashing down from a vent in the box, as I ran through the door to the tram control station. This of course was when all hell broke loose as I heard the crunch and crash of metal from every vent in the eerily lit hallway as necromorph after necromorph crashed though to take a stab at killing me.

"Fuck me, this is worst then the fucking game!" I shouted from fear as I ran down the hall, just missing each vent before it was ripped apart by bone blades. I then found I wasn't running fast enough as a few vents in front of me burst open to allow necromorphs to block my path. With a strangled war cry I pumped my legs even harder as I ran towards the blocking gore monsters. As I got close enough to be stabbed and mauled, I let my martial talent take over and guide my body.

Soon I felt a budding three-dimensional awareness of my adjacent surrounding form in my minds eye, allowing me to duck and weave past my death more than once. With each attack a hair's breadth from my body I managed to make it through the gauntlet of bone blades and slammed into the wall that signaled the turn. Breathing fast yet feeling strangely calm, likely due to the stress defense upgrade I selected, I pushed off just in time to dodge a blade from stabbing me through the back, much like Chen, and started my second run to the elevator. Thankfully there weren't any more vent openings to the elevator and so I had no necro morph in my path as I crashed into the elevator and activated the holographic up button.

I had cut it close as another three bone blades came at me as fast as lightning, only to be cut off just short of my heart, head, and dick as the elevator slammed shut with conviction. It severed the limbs, cascading them at my feet as the elevator started to climb down to the next floor. With weak legs I shuffled back to the elevator cabin's back wall and used it to keep me on my feet. Breathing heavy as the adrenaline rush subsided a bit, I did my best to check to make sure my suit wasn't damaged from the dance of death I had to go through just a moment ago. Not seeing any damage, I then just took a second to shake my legs out as the run and slight acrobatic display pushed them a bit. Thankfully the peak human body I was gifted with my healing felt like I could go all day even pushing as I did already.

Still, the slight reprieve the elevator gave me allowed me to calm my heart and relax my muscles before the doors opened to the floor below. Seeing the situation, I gazed around and nodded at the empty room with a very noticeable workbench with a blood-soaked message "cut off their limbs" was scrawled on the walls. Everything was as it should be, thank the non-gore gods, and as such I looted the crates nearby for ammo before walking up to my new best friend. Grabbing the safety yellow colored plasma charging blades and trigger frame, I used my years of familiarity to reattach both pieces and modify their output to make the one and only plasma cutter.

Shifting around to face the opposite wall I took aim, letting me see three blue dots hit the wall before depressing my middle finger and having the three dots shift to a perpendicular aim at the wall. Under my mask I felt the smile and relief wash over my face as I was now armed and ready to put up an actual fight. As I loaded the energy cell into the frame, I heard banging on the door that led the rest of the way to the tram control station.

"Please, someone help me" a scared masculine voice shouted out as it banged on the door. I didn't waste time and hurried over as the man continued to wail. "Oh god. Let me in. Where's-? I need to find the rest of me…Please, anyone…I'm all over the deck…let me in…" I slowed a bit as he continued, realizing that the marker madness had already started to warp his mind.

"No real point to save the man if he's already brain dead" I mumbled out. Still, I made it to the door and saw the electrical locking system armed. Unlike the game it wasn't a robust, opened aired, filament-like design right next to the door just waiting to be bashed to move on. No, instead my engineering years told me that to disarm the door I needed to carve open the side paneling next to the door and rip out some wires. The good news is that my plasma cutter had a torch option that didn't waste the battery like sending blades out at something did.

With simple thumb press I switched the trigger to produce a shot stream of constant plasma that I aimed at the correct spot and started to cut.

"Who's there! Oh, got please help, help me! They're in the walls, the vents! Please god help me!" the man on the other side screamed as he heard my cutting. I didn't waste time as I carved out an opening in seconds, before pulling my cutter away and pressing my opposite hand on the cut. With a gesture command I activated my suit's magnetic glove and tore off the scrap metal, before reaching in and ripping out the security controls entirely. With that the holographic display shifted from locked to open command, which I pressed immediately while taking aim. As the door opened, I found a blond-haired crewmate looking desperate and absolutely in the early stages of madness staring back at me, before running past me as a vent creaked before being blown open by a necromorph.

I smiled in my suite as I took aim and fired with mediocre skill. Thankfully at this range I didn't need to be a master to hit, and soon I blew off one of its bladed arms before having to dodge back at its other arm's reprisal for being so close. Feeling my body move on its own, I shifted my weight while bringing the plasma cutter closer to my core, both helped keep my center of balance but also allowed me to take aim at the creature that was far too close. With a second shot I took its other arm, and with my next two took its legs. When the creature fell, I lifted my metal plated foot and stopped down on its head, leaving it nothing more than a twitch torso.

"Right, forgot these things don't actually die" I said before turning back to find the deranged crewmate. This though only showed the elevator doors closing and sealing the man's fate given what was likely still on the floor above. I didn't let it bother me too much as it wasn't like I could have really saved him given there wasn't a safe place on this entire ship to leave him. He wasn't even worth any capture points, if I could or would do that, as he wasn't a named character. Sighing at the loss of life, I simply turned back around and aimed my gun down the hall and started my way to the tram control room.

#####

-On another part of the Ishimura-

"Fuck me, they *Hah* just keep *Hah* Fucking *Hah* Coming" I spoke out in gasps as I held a reopened wound. It wasn't the worst pain right now as new and fresh wounds burned across and deep in my body. I stood over the last seven creatures that had come from every hells damned direction since I started making my way through this fucking dreary spaceship. I flinched as I gripped my hell blade tighter at a creak in the distance and looked down, finally noticing I was missing my middle digit. "Fuck, down to three, but at least I can still get a grip" I mumbled as I grabbed my ripped-up pants leg and tore off a strip of cloth.

With a hiss I rapped the already blood-soaked material around the missing finger and pulled tight to stop the blood flow from making me woozier than I already was. As I did though I flinched and flicked my head down the other end of the hallway I was in, as a whisper and creak made my blood boil for the next fight. Yet after a moment I found nothing there. Not seeing or sensing a threat my adrenaline started to lower, and I felt my wounds burn hotter. With a growl I bit my lip and quickly used my good hand to hit one of the wounds on my thigh. Pain flared through me but so did another dose of adrenaline and with it a dulling of the extreme pain I knew I was in.

"I need rest and time to heal" I muttered as I started to shuffle down this hallway. Yet saying that didn't mean I would find such a place. So far, every room has been locked, every hallway a hidden death trap if I stay to long, and every fucking groan of the ship a paranoid flinch of possible combat. Still, It wasn't like I was moving aimlessly as not to long ago a rather thunderous bang shook the ship, and even sent off a few of the gore monsters away. Which meant it was important somehow given those things seemed pretty one track minded. Sure, the fact I was moving towards where those things left for was stupid given my wounds, but maybe I would find someone or thing not ready to kill me if I went. 

Slowly I shuffled my right leg pulsing in pain with every step, while my left just felt dead to the world, but still listened to my command. the silent halls echoed out every single step I took, while the vents creaked and lazily spun a dull noise. Each one I passed I braced for a threat, then calmed down as I moved on to the next. Eventually I made it down the hall and opened it to reveal a larger and more open space. Shuffling out a found what I could only assume was a bus stop waiting area to my left, while a metal rail hung in the air Infront of me. 

"Really? they have fucking rail transportation in a spaceship!" I breathed in anger. This threw out finding where that bang came from, as it could be fucking miles away depending on how massive this fucking ship is. Still, maybe I could find a more secure location, like the captain's quarters. "Ships have captains, thus spaceships should have them as well, right?" I said to myself as I shuffled over to the free-floating rail. When I got to it, I looked down to see at least a ten-foot drop, then gazed left and right to see that both sides ended in distance darkness, meaning this fucking place was just as massive for my three-foot tight ass as I feared. sighing out I looked around to spot a terminal that when I tried to interact, found myself once again seeing an "Error" Message about getting registered.

"Please head to security to register with the Ishimura" Rang out once again making me growl deeply

"OH!?, I would love to do that Robo woman" I said sickly sweet. "Yet, every time I ask you were the fuck that is you say the same damn fucking thing!" I roared out down the dark tunnel of the massive open hall.

"I cannot answer that question, please find security to register with the Ishimura" The stupid Robo woman voice said like every other time I have asked that fucking question. Continuing to growl out I looked around to find some kind of fucking map to tell me where I was and thankfully did see an actual printed out map. It even had a "You are Here" arrow thank hells as I limped up to it. 

"Let's see...I'm in Hydroponics? whatever the fuck that means, and the captains' quarters would be...Oh!" I mumbled out while dragging my good hand across the air to follow the map when I found something much better than a place to hide. "Flight deck, maybe a way off this fucking nightmare" I said with a smile before flinching at a twinge of pain from a cut on my body. "Mmh! fuck, I hate to walk it, but it looks like it's right around the corner and I've got no choice right now" I sighed out before taking a breath and limping back to the drop off of the massive hallway. With a groan of reluctance I tensed my body before grabbing the edge and slowly scaled down the metal wall to the bottom of the hall.

It was excruciating to say the least as every wound flared up when I flexed for the next hand hold. I soon dropped to the bottom and sighed as I was able to walk more gently. though, the slight shake in my vision told me my body was nearing its fucking limit with the wounds and pain I was in. I tried to slam a wound again, but all I got was pain and a halfhearted pump of additional adrenaline from my taxed body. Still, it shook off the coming vertigo and numbed my wounds slightly. "Come on bitch, home stretch, you got this" I silently told myself as I limped quickly down the dark hall.