Redlightingpulsedintime with the klaxon, washing every surface in a color that made the ship look like the inside of something bleeding. Levi’s hand was in Asher’s, his boots too loud on the metal floor, and they were moving.
His body objected to the very concept of movement, but his mind felt sharp for the first time since he had first died in the forest. He noticed the air recyclers cycling harder than usual. The smell of something electrical underneath a metallic taste. Crew members passed them in the corridor, some in uniform, some dragged from their bunks by the alarm, faces tight with confusion.
They passed damage. A corridor with scorch marks along both walls — a purge that had already run, the metal still ticking as it cooled. A sealed bulkhead with heat distortion visible through the viewport, the air on the other side shimmering like summer asphalt. And then something else: gouges in the wall. Deep,parallel, the width and spacing wrong for any tool Levi could name.
More gouges in the next corridor. Different depth. Different angle.
More in the one after that.
That’s not one creature.
Levi’s sternum caught the vibration before his ears caught the sound. Low, almost a pressure — the same frequency he’d felt in the lower corridor before they’d seen the first one. The same hum that hadn’t changed while it pulled out Zoe’s spine.
It was closer than the lower corridor had been. And getting closer.
His hand tightened on Asher’s and he pulled — sideways, with no explanation, through a doorway he’d clocked two steps back to a supply closet. It had shelving on three walls, industrial cleaning supplies that stank of ammonia, a mop handle digging into Levi’s shoulder blade, and barely enough room for both of them standing. The door had a narrow viewport at head height, but it was the best they had, so he pulled it shut, leaving a gap at the hinge where the red alarm light bled through.
Asher’s weight settled against him immediately. The shelving pressed into Levi’s shoulder blades and Asher pressed into everything else, one knee between Levi’s legs. In the dark, with the red light cutting a line across Asher’s jaw.
The vibration climbed. Not louder — deeper. Like it was settling into a lower register, finding the resonant frequency of Levi’s ribs.
Asher’s mouth found his ear. “You pulled me into a dark closet.”
“Shut up.” Levi’s whisper came out thin. “One of the creatures is nearby.”
“Kill the monsters, take me on a date, pull me into a closet.” His hands found Levi’s waist through the jumpsuit, settlingthere with the warmth of someone who had been given access and intended to use it at every opportunity. “I’m starting to see a pattern, baby.”
Levi’s face flushed in the dark. The vibration in his sternum was worse now — a sustained hum that made his molars ache.
“Asher. It is getting closer.”
“And I’m right here. So you’re safe.” His hands slid from Levi’s waist to his hips, then lower — one palm pressing flat against the front of Levi’s jumpsuit. Levi’s teeth clenched against the sound that tried to come out. “You’re shaking,” Asher said.
“I really don’t want to get my spine ripped out because you can’t keep your hands to yourself for two minutes,” Levi whispered.
“I can help you stay quiet. You can always just moan into my mouth.” His palm pressed harder and his mouth moved from Levi’s ear to his jaw. “I like when you do that.”
“Asher—” Levi grabbed Asher’s wrist, trying to still his movements, but he just ended up holding it in place. “We’re hiding. This is hiding.”
“You’re holding my hand where it is.” Asher muttered. “If you wanted me to stop, you’d move it.”
The vibration dropped another register. Levi felt it in the backs of his eyes. The red light from the hinge gap flickered — something passing between the alarm strip and the door and Asher’s hand went from Levi’s jumpsuit to his sidearm in one motion, his weight shifting, his shoulder dropping to angle himself between the viewport and Levi. His free hand found Levi’s and held it.
Through the viewport, Levi clocked the movement.
The height of it filled the corridor. Levi could see only a section — the middle third, shoulder to hip, or what would have been shoulder and hip on something built the way things were supposed to be built. Metal fingertips trailed the wall and thesound of them on the bulkhead was a thin, continuous scraping that Levi felt in his back teeth.
Tck..tck…tck…
The scraping stopped. The footsteps stopped. The vibration in Levi’s sternum peaked so hard his ribs ached and his vision blurred at the edges, and through the viewport the creature’s midsection rotated and bent— the whole torso turning, orienting, until the dish filled the glass. Levi glanced only once at the tiny dark openings, cycling in sequence, each one clicking at a different speed.
Tck-tck-tck-tck-tck-tck.
Asher’s hand crushed his. The bones in Levi’s fingers ground together and he didn’t pull away. He didn’t breathe. His jaw locked so tight the muscles in his neck spasmed.
It’s right there. It’s looking right at us.
The apertures slowed.