Erika had reached her threshold for fear. She’d reached that limit probably when Aymeric shot her. The Carnifex in front of her didn’t scare her; it pissed her off. Of all times the Carnifex could wander the halls, of all times it could show up, it showed up when Erika was injured and exhausted.

  I can’t wait to get off this ship. Erika realized her chances of leaving the Hell’s Ark alive were pretty much nonexistent. She had to think positive, though; that’s what Petra would have done.

  You remember that she fled, right?

  Erika stared at the Carnifex only a few meters away from her. The alien stood ready. It had, sometime, cleaned its tail, because there was no dried blood on it. The creature was smart enough to clean Clive’s blood off, possibly afraid of coming into contact with humanity. But it very much looked ready for another contact.

  The med bay entrance was on the side of the hall. Erika would have to move toward the Carnifex to reach it. She had enough strength to do it, at least she thought so. Her next step could always fail. She had to reach the med bay, though. The alternative was to stand around the airlock until the Carnifex decided to rip her in half.

  Erika stepped forward. The gray around her vision threatened to snuff out her consciousness.

  The Carnifex shifted its weight with jerky, birdlike movement. If the damn thing would stay still for a moment, it wouldn’t be so bad.

  Erika took another step.

  The Carnifex was still this time.

  Erika leaned against the wall. The pressure on her shoulder made the pain flare up. She winced.

  The Carnifex chirped.

  It was going to attack soon.

  Erika hurried to the med bay airlock.

  The Carnifex jerked back.

  Erika opened the door, and slipped inside. The med bay lights stayed off.

  The Carnifex skittered up to the door.

  Erika pressed the button to shut it.

  The Carnifex leapt back, tail poised.

  There was still time for the alien to squeeze through. It would squeeze through.

  The Carnifex tilted its head.

  The doors shut before it could make its decision.

  She felt her way through the darkness until she found an operating table.

  Maybe the AutoDoc is still running.

  Erika ran her hands along the machine in search of a power button. It wasn’t equipment she used often, so she had to dig into her memory to remember how it worked. Her hand ran along a switch, or something that felt like a switch.

  The doors hissed open, and light spilled into the room. The Carnifex’s silhouette stood in the doorway.

  Erika dropped behind the table. She placed her hand on her shoulder, where the bullet was lodged. The pressure stung, but it would slow the bleeding. Erika wished she’d thought to apply pressure before; maybe she’d be in better shape.

  Claws scraped into the room.

  Erika took slow, quiet breaths.

  The Carnifex moved closer. The alien had its arms out, and was feeling through the darkness. It reached a table and grabbed at it. It opened one of the bottom drawers, then felt inside. When the Carnifex didn’t find what it was looking for, it pulled away from the table.

  It moved to the other side of the room, out of sight.

  This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

  Erika let out a faint sigh. She curled herself into a tighter ball.

  The Carnifex moved through the room. It wasn’t going to leave until it searched every corner. Erika really needed a weapon, or some tactic that would kill the bastard. She needed the Carnifex to wander away.

  Erika glanced up. The Carnifex was leaned over the table, and staring directly at her.

  She held her breath.

  In the dark, she might be mistaken for a piece of equipment. Or maybe the Carnifex’s eyesight wasn’t very good, or just on par with a human’s. This wasn’t the end. It couldn’t be the end.

  The Carnifex chirped.

  Erika screamed and scrambled back.

  The Carnifex leapt over the table. Its tail swiped out and scraped along the floor.

  Erika backed into a cabinet.

  The Carnifex turned and stared at her.

  “P-please! No!” Erika held up her good arm. She knew pleading was pointless against the alien, but she didn’t have anything else to work with.

  The Carnifex skittered forward.

  Erika caught snippets of her life. Her fifth birthday party, when she cried because she wasn’t allowed to eat the candle. Her first kiss, hoping she was doing it right. The awe of seeing an alien for the first time.

  Huh. Life really does flash before your eyes. Erika realized that was going to be her final thought.

  The Carnifex stopped in front of Erika. Its tail was poised at Erika’s chest. It chirped twice.

  Erika shrunk back as far as she could. She was still in sight of the alien and its tail.

  The Carnifex chirped again.

  Erika had heard the creature doing the same thing in the wild, but she never figured out what it meant, no matter how much she’d thought about it.

  The Carnifex chirped once more, and this time, it lowered its tail. It moved its arms in swift, jerky movements. It made Erika think of a victory dance.

  The Carnifex repeated the motion. It kept its tail lowered.

  Erika let her arm drop.

  The Carnifex repeated the motion again, then chirped.

  “What…”

  The Carnifex made a new, garbled noise. It sounded like it was trying to imitate Erika.

  Erika made her best attempt at a Carnifex chirp.

  The creature made a series of chirps back.

  “Oh my God,” Erika breathed. The Carnifex was intelligent enough to communicate. It was trying to communicate with Erika.

  Either that, or you’re losing your mind.

  The alien chirped again.

  “I’m sorry, I don’t…” Erika realized that her words were as meaningless to the Carnifex as its words were to her.

  She’d read studies about people overcoming language barriers through body language. People who didn’t share a language could often use charades to communicate.

  Erika patted her chest with her uninjured hand.

  “Erika,” she stated.

  The Carnifex tried to say her name, though it was a jumbled mess.

  Erika repeated her name, and the Carnifex tried the same. It was a little better this time.

  Erika gestured to the Carnifex. It put a hand on its chest, then made a couple of chirping noises. Erika tried to imitate them. The Carnifex made the same series of chirps again. Erika repeated.

  It killed Clive. Remember, it killed Clive. Maybe it was something Erika could ask about, if she got better at communicating.

  She aimed a finger at the Carnifex’s tail. It moved the tail forward and held it in its hands. It made a chirp.

  Erika pointed to the tail, then at herself: do you plan to kill me?

  The Carnifex jerked its tail behind its back: I do not plan to kill you. At least, that’s what Erika interpreted.

  She pressed her arm against her chest: I don’t plan to hurt you, either.

  The Carnifex chirped. Erika thought it understood what she tried to say.

  She picked herself off the ground.

  The Carnifex watched. It didn’t move back or forward.

  The edges of Erika’s consciousness blurred, but she stayed up.

  This has got to be a delusion. There’s no way I’m talking with an alien. Right now, in reality, I’m dying. Erika couldn’t bring herself to believe that, though.

  She shuffled to the door. The Carnifex followed a step behind, like a grotesque shadow. Erika hit the light switch. Now that the lights were on, she could see how much gray took up her vision. Her arm and chest were slicked red from blood. She needed to patch herself up.

  The Carnifex stood in her way, though. It held its arms out, then rose its tail, miming an attack.

  “I don’t understand,” Erika said. Then she shook her head.

  The Carnifex repeated the motion. It chirped, then pointed at a computer on the table.

  Erika moved to the computer and booted it up. She had full access to both the ship and lab systems. That shouldn’t be the case, though with all the tampering done to the Ark’s systems, it wasn’t surprising that the security partition on the server crashed.

  The Carnifex gestured some more. It pointed to itself a lot, so Erika pulled up the file for the Carnifex. The scientists managed to get a lot of photos of the alien in the wild.

  The Carnifex chirped at those, then shook its insectile head. It held its arms wide again.

  Something like the Carnifex, but bigger. The Carnifex wanted to know about another alien. The Aranea was small, so it was referring to the Lamia.

  Erika pulled up a photo of the Lamia.

  The Carnifex nodded. It took its tail in hand, then pointed at the Lamia.

  Erika frowned. She leaned all her weight on the table to keep herself upright. She really needed to patch herself up.

  The Carnifex repeated the motion: I want to kill the Lamia.

  “No way.” Erika pointed to herself, then the Carnifex’s tail, then the Lamia picture.

  The Carnifex repeated the gesture, then nodded: I want to help you kill the Lamia.