Vanya felt like he was banging his head against a solid wall when it came to Nubela’s analysis. He ran test after test, doing everything he could think of, even since the captain was brought to the medbay. Each result only left him more confused.

  As a man of science and medicine, Vanya refused to accept that the cause for Nubela’s rapidly deteriorating state was of unnatural origin, but with each test he ran, that possibility became more and more real.

  On one of the monitors, the data page about the history of human, folklore and occult rituals still stood open. The images of wolves stared from the screen almost as if to taunt him. While the Flarian doctor sat in his chair and went over the results for the 6th time, back turned to the unconscious captain lying in one of the beds, Nubela shifted in her sleep.

  Vanya was too engrossed in his work to notice it: whispers, numbers counting up in a language that never before graced Flarian lips. The hum of the medbay equipment was just loud enough to drown them out.

  Nubela rose from her bed into a seated position, the whispering becoming louder and louder until the sound finally graced the doctor’s ears. He turned around in an instant, pushing his chair further away from Nubela’s bed.

  The captain’s eyes were wide open, staring into the distance, far beyond the confines of the medbay, far beyond the ship itself. She wasn’t looking at him, but rather staring through him.

  “Captain… How are you feeling?” Vanya asked meekly.

  His question caught Nubela’s attention, her head snapping towards him with unnatural speed. The counting stopped.

  The Flarian doctor slowly stood up from his seat, his left hands quickly typing the alarm command on the PDA, readying it to be sent to the bridge immediately should there be a need.

  “Nubela? Nod if you understand me.”

  Her eyes were now on him, only him. Their blue colour muddled by shot blood vessels, giving her even more of a deranged appearance. Vanya knew better than to try to approach her, glancing at the table to the right of him and the sedative administrator that was on it.

  Nubela noticed. And she disapproved. Her jaws opened slowly, muscles visibly straining to push the mouth open as wide as it would go, a movement equally as mechanical as her head turns, like she had no control over them.

  A blood-curdling howl, unlike anything Vanya had heard before, rushed from the pit of her throat, damaging her vocal cords. It was overwhelming, forcing the doctor to cover his ears and step back, his head ringing in tune with the monotonous, never-ending noise.

  Bodies shook and trembled, emaciated Flarians rising from their beds as if to heed the call of their possessed captain. None of them stood upright, instead moving in fast twitching motions on all four just like Nubela. The light of awareness was completely gone from their eyes.

  As soon as the howl stopped, Nubela leapt from the bed, clearing half the room in a single jump. Her jaws were open wide, sharp teeth seeking flesh of kin.

  The doctor leaned back, grabbing his chair with his larger right hand and swinging it full force towards Nubela’s head as soon as she got close enough. Metal and skull met, yet somehow the former broke first.

  Nubela stumbled only for a moment before once again charging the doctor, now accompanied by a pack of her emaciated crewmen.

  ***

  Baland cursed to himself as he ran through the ship.

  “Why did the medbay have to be all the way across the vessel from the cargo bay?”

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  He wasn’t even halfway to his destination when every light aboard the Solar Echo turned red, and the warning alarm began blaring.

  “Fuck me! Vanya!” The Flarian Chief Officer growled and pushed himself to run even further, bulldozing through the hallways and knocking over anyone who didn’t move out of his way in time.

  Hallway after hallway, corner after corner, all he could think about was his brother and the avatar of unholy hunger that was once his captain. Baland counted every corner he took on his way to medbay as if that would somehow shorten the distance.

  Just as he was rounding the final corner, Baland collided with something coming from the medbay. The force knocked both him and whoever he ran into onto the floor, but he was quickly back on his feet, weapon drawn and set to kill.

  “Whoa, Whoa, Baland! It’s me!” Vanya shouted, raising three of his four arms to his chest in a gesture of surrender.

  “Oh, thank the stars.” Baland exhaled and lowered his weapon, walking over to his brother and helping him up, only to notice Vanya’s clothes being stained by blood.

  “What the fuck happened?”

  “She almost tore my fucking arm off, Baland. Something is seriously wrong with Nubela. The others are up too. This shit is beyond medicine, at least aboard this ship.” The doctor replied, looking down at his arm, which had a gash along its entire length.

  The Chief Officer rubbed his forehead and looked at the hallway behind his brother.

  “Where is she now?”

  Vanya turned around, pointing towards the door of medbay with his larger left hand.

  “I managed to lock them inside. I doubt she can remember the override code in her current state.”

  “Good, good.” Baland patted him on the back.

  “Listen, haul your ass to the bridge. Inform Orvina of the situation. I’ll stay here to guard the door in case they try to break through.”

  Vanya nodded and began moving immediately.

  “Alright, stay safe.”

  “Oh! And tell anyone you come across to set their weapons to kill and come provide some backup over here!” Baland shouted after him.

  “I will!”

  As soon as Vanya rounded the corner, Baland moved towards the medbay. Not even the blaring alarm could muffle the sound of growling, snarling and incessant banging on the door. At first, the banging was erratic and hysterical, but quickly turned rhythmic, syncing up to the alarm.

  The force of each strike shook the wall and bent the door, bulging it outwards. Then, without any warning, the banging stopped.

  Baland strained his ears to listen, but heard nothing from the other side. Curiosity burned within him, but he knew better than to open the door.

  It didn’t take long for two more Flarians to appear at the end of the hallway, weapons ready, and run over to him.

  “What’s the situation, Sir?”

  “No clue,” Baland replied, reaching for the panel on the wall by the door and punching in the override code.

  “Ready yourselves. Shoot to kill.”

  The door hissed and groaned, struggling to slide open as it was too deformed. Baland and the other two men each took a few steps back, pointing their weapons at the door. Yet, nothing came bursting at them from the other side.

  They waited a full minute before the Chief Officer stepped through the half-opened door.

  Baland could not mask his gasp at the sight before him.

  “Oh no…”

  “What is it, Sir?” One of the Flarians asked, while the other was already pushing himself through the door after Baland.

  The medbay was empty. Nubela and her pack were nowhere to be seen. On the ground, surrounded by fresh blood, was a large hole.

  “They’re on the lower levels,” Baland mumbled, not daring to approach the hole.

  He touched his communicator, wanting to alert the bridge, but was met only with static.

  “Fuck!”

  Without missing a beat, the Flarian Chief Officer turned to the crewman still on the other side of the door.

  “They’re on the lower levels, the short-range comms are down. Get to the bridge and inform the Vice Captain. We have to contain them down there before they spread through the ship. Keep your head on a swivel, now run!”