Saying Goodbye (GURO WARNING)

 

"Thank you, Isaac..."

Nicole's voice seems to echo through the Ishimura's halls as Isaac navigates his way through the darkness. What was supposed to be a standard repair mission has quickly turned into a nightmare, one where survival is looking more and more like a pipe dream. The crew is dead, along with most of the repair team, and Isaac remains separated from the surviving members with an ocean of alien freaks between them. Repairing the damage has long since stopped being a priority, just making it out alive would be a miracle. 

Gripping his plasma cutter with a trembling hand, Isaac takes a deep breath before cracking the door at the end of the hallway, looking through the gap for any sign of necromorphs in the room beyond. The damage to the walls and furniture appears to be recent, but there aren't any visible bodies in the immediate area. 

"There's no way I'm this lucky." Isaac mutters to himself, dragging himself through. Giving a cursory look to check for any hidden surprises, he moves to the far wall lined with lockers, pulling them open one by one and grabbing any supplies left inside. Deep gouges line the walls, but with little blood around them, leaving Isaac to wonder just what happened here. Did part of the crew manage to survive and hole up somewhere? Would they be able to help? Shaking his head, Isaac pushes the thought out of his head, focusing on the task at hand. Extra hands would always be welcome, but it would be best not to rely on false hopes, he thinks to himself.

Making his way to the opposite end of the room, Isaac freezes in his tracks as the sound of something scuttling through a vent rings out overhead. The noise seems to emit from every ventilation shaft in the room, making it impossible to pinpoint and driving Isaac into a corner, plasma cutter raised and ready to fire at a moment's notice. Scraping metal shrieks to Isaac's right, and he turns on a dime to face the fan grate, the trinity of lasers emitting from the plasma cutter training on the center just before it bursts open and a heavily deformed creature comes screaming out at him. 

Jerking on the trigger in a panic, Isaac's first shot catches the monster in the shoulder, ripping flesh apart, but not enough to detach the transformed limb. The blast does nothing to slow the snarling space zombie's stride, its strange meaty legs covering the distance between it and the terrified engineer in mere seconds. Unable to line up a second shot in time, Isaac swings the plasma cutter at the necromorph's head, catching it square in the temple and knocking it to the floor just before its spear tipped arms pierce through his chest. With a loud grunt, Isaac lifts his metal lined boot and brings it down as hard as he can on the creature's leg, severing it clean off with a sickening crunch before angling his plasma cutter toward its upper arm, letting off a shot. Discolored blood and tissue flies up at Isaac as he methodically dismembers the former crewmate, each shot of the plasma cutter tearing off another limb until the monster lies motionless in a puddle of gore.

"Fuck, I hate this goddamn ship..." Isaac growls, stepping away and releasing his helmet with a hiss. Sweat pours down the engineer's face as he takes a seat on one of the few remaining intact chairs, catching his breath. He'd long since lost count of how many of these things he's taken apart, but it never really gets any easier, especially knowing these were regular people just a few hours ago. 

"Isaac, are you alright? You've stopped moving."

Kendra's face pops up on the holofeed in front of Isaac, waving at him from her remote location inside the Ishimura.

"Yeah, Kendra, I'm just- I just needed to take a breather." Isaac sighs, looking up and re-equipping his helmet.

"I get that you're running ragged, I really do, Isaac. But we're running out of time up here, and if we don't fix the ship's autoguns, we're going to get ripped apart by all this space debris." 

Hammond's face flashes over Kendra's as he takes over the comms, reminding Isaac of the stakes. The reminder that these two are still relying on him Isaac's manages to drag Isaac back to his feet. Nobody's coming to their rescue after all, and Nicole might still be alive somewhere. 

Nicole...

He probably wouldn't even be on this repair mission if it wasn't the ship Nicole was assigned to, god knows there were other engineers available. But being able to see his girlfriend again was too good to pass up, and he jumped at first mention, a decision he's now severely regretting. 

"Alright. I'm on my way." 

Acknowledging Hammond, Isaac closes the holofeed and shakes out his limbs, steeling himself for whatever horrors lie beyond the room. The plasma cutter shifts in Isaac's hand as he inserts a new energy cartridge, sliding back into place while the door in front of him creaks open.

"Isaac... Make us whole..." 

A sharp pain shoots through Isaac's brain as Nicole's voice rings in his ears. Clutching his head, he waits for the aching to pass before moving on through the demolished ship, stumbling past dismembered limbs and bloodied furniture. Bodies sit silently along the walls, some slumped over, others thrown haphazardly, but they all appear to be dead. 

"Don't get up on my account." Isaac mutters to himself, nudging one corpse with his foot to see if it reacts. Having learned the hard way that death is merely an illusion with these freaks, his caution slowly turns to paranoia as he eyes the rest of the remains.

A loud metal screech shakes Isaac out of his hyper focus, and he turns his head to see an Infector climb down from a broken ceiling light, gliding toward one of the corpses at the far side of the room. Cursing under his breath, he tries to get an angle on it, but the necromorph drags the body out of sight behind a metal desk, the sounds of breaking bones and grotesque slurps emanating throughout the room as it transforms the cadaver into a new monster. The room falls silent for a moment after a few seconds, but it's quickly broken by an inhuman scream as a Slasher with blackened skin dashes towards Isaac. 

Aiming the plasma cutter just below the necromorph's pelvis, Isaac fires off two shots that cleave its legs clean off, stepping back to create space. The Infector manages to grab hold of another body in the commotion, and soon Isaac learns that the newly transformed necromorphs are hardier than their pale brethren. Dragging itself forward on its arms, the first Slasher swings at Isaac's ankles, causing him to stumble and fall backwards, a second dark skinned monster already sprinting toward him. Raising his hand instinctively, Isaac lets a blast of stasis loose and catches the running necromorph, buying him a few seconds to readjust his aim and remove all remaining limbs from the first monster.

Unfortunately, the stasis fades before Isaac can pick himself up and the necromorph falls directly on top of him, its bladed arm spearing through his RIG and into his left shoulder. The creature's garbled screaming fades into a low hum as adrenaline floods through Isaac's bloodstream, any pain he might have felt all but numbed. Focused on the necromorph's head, his hand whips the plasma cutter beneath its chin, skull fragments embedding themselves in his suit as he sends a round through it. Before the necromorph can begin swinging wildly, he angles the cutter at each shoulder joint and dissects them, kicking the sundered torso off into the wall.

Lost in his tunnel vision, Isaac doesn't see or hear the Infector until it latches itself onto his shoulders, a long pointed proboscis extending from what might be its mouth and diving towards Isaac's forehead. The dismembered slasher blade still lodged in Isaac's shoulder prevents him from moving his left arm, forcing him to drop the plasma cutter and grab the necromorph's needle tipped appendage. Struggling fiercely, Isaac grunts as he attempts to push the Infector off with one hand, eyes going wide inside his helmet as the monster eventually wins out and pierces the metal casing, boring into his skull. 

Isaac's body turns cold as the Infector drills into his braincase and injects its bile, some of it spilling down Isaac's visor. With the helmet just barely keeping the creature from fully completing its task, Isaac searches blindly for the plasma cutter, curling his fingers around the handle and aiming it at his own head. As his finger closes on the trigger, his wrist jerks to the side, turning the cutter towards the Infector and slicing it in two. 

Dry heaving inside his suit, Isaac rolls over and releases the seal on the helmet just as the first stream of vomit erupts from his mouth, splattering on the floor. Warm blood pours down his face from the hole in his head, and when he brings his hand up to feel for it, another wave of nausea overtakes him. After emptying the contents of his stomach, Isaac wipes the blood and sweat from his eyes, pausing as he notices a strange yellow liquid mixed in. Touching a finger to his forehead once more, he finds the same substance.

"This must be what it uses to transform bodies into more of those things." Isaac realizes, "But why didn't it work on me?"

Wincing in pain, Isaac decides to focus on more immediate problems and drags himself to the desk, leaning against it and taking care not to jostle the necromorph forearm stuck in his shoulder. With his adrenaline faded and gone, the wound makes itself known with the slightest movement. Gritting his teeth, Isaac grabs onto the arm as high up as he can without cutting himself, taking a few deep breaths. On the third breath, he pulls the bladed appendage out as straight as possible, spit flying from his lips as he screams through his clenched jaw. With the obstruction removed, stopping the bleeding is the priority. Fumbling for his plasma cutter, Isaac aims it at the far wall and fires, letting it cool for a few seconds before pressing the business end onto his open wound. 

With a loud hiss, the fiery hot metal of the plasma cutter's barrel sears Isaac's flesh, staunching the blood flow and almost knocking him out in the process. The agony coursing through Isaac's body, combined with the smell of cooked meat, drops him onto his hands and knees once more, his stomach attempting to wretch but having nothing left. 

"Alright." he gasps, gradually pulling himself to his feet, "Let's keep moving..."

Tying a long scrap of fabric over his forehead, Isaac forces his feet forward, carefully making his way to the main atrium of the Ishimura. Stepping through the door into the open area, takes a second to stare up at the clear canopy, Aegis VII and its debris floating just outside. White stars twinkle beyond the fractured planet, filling Isaac with hope that he might yet make it off the doomed mining ship with his girlfriend. 

Isaac's daydreaming slows his steps, and as a result saves his life, as a car sized chunk of rock punches through the hull above him, ripping through the deck and at least two others below. Caught off guard by the sudden meteor strike, he barely notices Kendra's vid call about the hull breach. A dull ache spreads through Isaac's head as the computer specialist rambles in the background, causing him to drop to one knee and clutch his scalp. 

"Kendra, I got it. Just let me- I need a minute." Isaac grunts, hunched over. Sweat rolls down his face and stings his eyes as the pressure in his skull intensifies, rendering him immobile. Leaking through the makeshift bandage, dark yellow sludge drips onto the floor from his head wound, relieving the pressure in his head as it escapes. 

"Fuck, I need to find a medical bay..." Isaac groans as he picks himself back up on shaky feet. Circling around the atrium, Isaac digs through the various boxes strewn about in search of anything useful and immediately activating any medical supplies he comes across through his RIG. Isaac lets out a grateful sigh as the painkillers and muscle relaxers take effect, taking a deep breath and straightening his posture before continuing his task. He manages to reach the port side of the observation deck without any further issues, taking stock of his inventory when something slams into the locked door beside him, deforming the metal and causing it to jut out. 

Stepping backwards, Isaac watches cautiously with his plasma cutter raised as a second impact twists the door further, the third shattering it completely. With a dreadful howl, a massive necromorph comes barreling through the newly formed entrance, its eyes locking onto Isaac and slamming the floor with its gorilla-like arms. Before Isaac can react, the Brute charges forward and knocks him to the ground with a bony fist, roaring as the engineer scrambles to create distance. 

Grabbing onto Isaac's ankle, the creature pulls him back beneath it and bares its chest cavity, a shower of acid raining onto Isaac's already tattered suit. The secretion eats through the remaining fabric clinging to Isaac's body, burning his skin as he fights desperately to free himself. Panic sets in, his limbs flailing wildly but doing no damage to the Brute's hardened carapace. Turning over, he manages to slip his foot free of the Brute's grasp and prop himself up on his hands and knees just before the monster brings its fist down, crushing the plasma cutter and Isaac's right hand with a sickening crunch. 

The Brute's triumphant roar deafens Isaac's screams, a large phallic appendage unfolding from its waist and dripping a familiar yellow bile. Keeping Isaac pinned to the floor, it hunkers over his prone form and forces its member past Isaac's anal ring and into his bowels, driving as deep as possible with no concern for its victim. Frozen in shock, Isaac can only endure the Brute's cruel violation of his insides, the intense pressure building in his stomach radiating pain throughout his body. Yellow slime pours from the Brute's length into Isaac in unnatural amounts, his stomach rounding out more with each new gush, the monster's savage thrusts forcing it deeper. 

The last remains of Isaac's RIG pour a cocktail of morphine and other drugs into him before giving out, sending the engineer into a medically induced haze as the Brute continues to violently rape him. Yellow bile mixed with blood spill from Isaac's ruined hole, the monster's supply seemingly unending as it continues to pump more into his guts. Too drugged to feel any pain, Isaac simply lies still and grunts every time the Brute impales him on its oversized member, his body shifting against the floor and smearing blood with his skin. 

Finally satisfied that it unleashed all its alien discharge, the Brute lets out a blood curdling scream before removing itself from Isaac's broken body, yellow slime dripping from the beast's phallic length. Grabbing the stupefied engineer by the head, it forces its heavy arm down, cracking Isaac's skull on the metal tile and crushing his bloodshot eyes inside his head. As he's lifted up into the air by his shattered skull for a final slam, Isaac regains a moment of lucidity and whispers his final words to the doomed ship.

"Nicole... I'm sorry..."