Owen had to scramble to get all the tools he'd need for repairing the surveillance farm. Truth be told, he didn't have to repair the cameras themselves, just salvage the footage that had already been recorded. Something that was, admittedly, a lot easier said than done. The culprit really did a number on this thing.
It didn't help matters that most of the systems in the security room were old and severely out of date. Then again, that had never been a problem before now. Hell, he couldn't even remember the last time anyone had to come in here for any reason. Most of the hardware in here had started to collect dust. Something else that really wasn't helping the repair job along.
Still, he was determined to get that footage. Owen wanted to know what was going on here just as badly as the Captain did. It felt like their ship had acquired a ghost. Some sort of phantom stalking them in the halls. Even just walking down here, he could feel eyes on the back of his head.
Come to think of it...he could still feel eyes on the back of his head.
"Any luck?"
The engineer jumped out of his skin, banging his head on the metal casing above him. He groaned in pain before cursing under his breath and turning around. Samantha was standing behind him, leaning against the doorway to the security room. She looked around at everything, noting the dusty old room they barely used was covered in large boxy computer equipment and deep blue lighting. Owen had seemingly gutted one of these machines and was in the process of swapping out parts and crossing wires.
"So this is what it looks like in here. I was always curious," she admitted.
"Aren't you supposed to be helping Chris look for the others?" he asked while turning back to his work.
"Just thought I'd come check on you." Samantha checked over her shoulder before approaching him. "So...what all have you managed to recover?"
He shook his head. "Nothing yet. But if I can splice these two systems together, we should have something."
"Well, that's good to know." Her hand rested on the grip of her pistol. "Man...Jess really did a number on this thing."
The engineer chuckled. "Yeah, maybe. But it was clear she didn't think to..." A thought occurred to him, and he turned around. "...hold on. How do you know it was, Je..."
He was answered by the barrel of a bolt caster aimed right in his face. Owen lowered his head and sighed in frustration.
"Well, shit..."
"Sorry, Owen," Samantha apologized with a condescending grin on her face. "But I'm gonna need you to go ahead and step away from that hard drive for me."
"It was you two?" he asked incredulously while slowly standing up with his hands in the air. "Why, Samantha? Why did you want Kevin dead?"
She snickered maliciously. "Well, admittedly, I didn't. That was entirely Jess's plan. I hadn't quite been added to the equation yet, so to speak."
He just glared at her in confusion. "What the hell does that mean?"
"Oh, you'll find out soon enough," she assured, her reptilian eyes glowing yellow. "See, once Master is inside you, everything just starts to make sense. Your life, your job, your reason for living, all of it becomes so beautifully simple."
He took a step back, horror etching into his features. "Jesus Christ, what happened to you, Samantha?"
"I evolved, is what." A shiver of pleasure ran up her spine. "Master has so much to offer. Especially to jaded bitter lonely women like me and Jess. But even you have a place in the family, Owen. You just have to embrace it the way Jess and I have."
A figure emerged behind her armed with a fire extinguisher. They placed a finger over their lips. He didn't so much as look in their direction.
"You know what? I think I'm good," he insisted. "My cultist days are well and truly behind me, I fear."
She laughed at his response. "Oh, we're hardly a cult, hun. When I say Jess and I are family now, I mean it. We share the same genes. Master's genes, specifically."
The figure behind her crept a little closer, being especially careful not to make a sound.
"And who is this Master of yours, exactly?"
"Sorry, but I'm not quite at liberty to give out that information just yet. Rest assured; all will be explained once you meet him for yourself." With a firm grip on the pistol, she then added. "And before you ask, no, there isn't a choice being offered here."
He smirked at her. "Who said anything about needing one?"
Samantha narrowed her gaze at him whereupon her instincts kicked in. She spun around...
...only for Rebecca to smash her over the head with the fire extinguisher in her hands.
She was knocked flat on the ground, dropping her gun in the process. Owen quickly snatched up the weapon before aiming it at Samantha, who appeared to be out cold.
"You alright?" Rebecca asked.
He nodded. "Glad to see you're not dead."
"Not yet, at least," she admitted, looking a little pale. "Owen, I think there might be something wrong with me. I keep having..."
Rebecca dropped the fire extinguisher and clutched at her chest while grimacing in pain. He ran over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"What's wrong?"
She pointed to the comatose Samantha. "That bitch put something in me. I can feel it..." Another sharp pain hit her, and she coughed violently. "...fuck, it hurts so bad!"
"We need to get you to the medbay," he insisted.
She gestured to Samantha. "What do we do about her?"
Owen chuckled confidently. "After that blow to the dome? I don't think she'll be getting up any...time..."
His voice trailed off, and they both slowly backed away as Samantha lurched up from the ground and stood, popping her neck with a loud crack before turning to face them. She smiled, revealing a set of razor-sharp canines.
"So you're finally awake. Guess that broom closet I stuffed you in wasn't as secure as I thought."
"What did you do to me?" Rebecca demanded, trying to hide the tremor of fear that had formed in her voice at the sight of Samantha's reptilian eyes.
She snickered at her devilishly. "It was just a little kiss from the lips between my hips, Rebecca. I wanted to show my gratitude for how good it felt having your tongue on my pussy. So I thought I'd leave a little piece of me inside you."
Rebecca's skin turned deathly pale, and her blood ran cold.
"She'll be waking up soon," Samantha insisted sardonically. "The only way this doesn't end in your death is by coming with me."
Owen aimed the gun at her. "I'm warning you, stay back!"
She rolled her eyes at the threat. "You really don't get what you're dealing with here, do you?"
Without warning, Samantha dashed towards him, moving inhumanely fast. She grabbed his wrist and purposefully placed the gun against her own forehead, much to Owen's utter astonishment.
"Well, go ahead. Do it," she insisted with wild eyes, a psychotic smile stretched across her face. "Put a bolt through my head, Owen. I fucking dare you."
He was paralyzed at that moment. Whatever this inhuman creature was, it was not the Samantha he knew. She chuckled at him sardonically.
"What's the matter? Too chickenshit? Here." She wrapped her thumb around his trigger finger. "Let me show you something neat."
The gun fired, sending a bolt of superheated plasma straight through her skull and then out the back. Samantha fell back to the ground, that same psychotic grin on her face as blood pooled out the back of her head. Owen and Rebecca both slowly backed away.
"What the fuck?" she spoke in a low, horrified tone.
"Crazy bitch is certifiable."
Suddenly the blood pooling out the back of Samantha's head turned black. It began moving in the opposite direction, filling up the hole in her skull before sealing it shut. Owen shook his head in denial, the gun in his hand lowering to the ground.
"No...no way. I refuse to believe it."
Samantha lurched up, bearing her razor-sharp teeth at them. "What do you think? Pretty slick, huh?"
He unloaded on her, pumping round after round into her chest cavity whereupon they both turned and bolted for the door. Samantha was already rising back on her feet, her wounds regenerating.
"Mira, emergency quarantine procedures now!" the engineer shouted.
"Confirmed. Isolating contagion. Sealing compartment."
A thick metal door slammed shut from above moments before Samantha could give chase, trapping her in the security room and cutting her off from her quarry. She smiled at them from the other side of the glass, ears growing into points, talons extending from her fingers.
"You think this will stop me?" she spoke from the other side of the reinforced glass. "Better start running, little manthings."
Samantha leaped up into the air, vanishing from sight. An alarm started blaring as the bulkhead began to rumble.
"Alert! Quarantine breach in security room. Unknown biological organism is breaking through containment."
"She's using the vents!" Owen shouted before taking Rebecca by the hand and tugging. "We've gotta move!"
They sprinted towards the direction of the cargo bay, alarms sounding off overhead. Once they were on the other side, Mira sealed off the next deck. From there, Rebecca and Owen began navigating through the maze of metal crates and containers toward a maintenance hatch that would lead them back to the crew deck.
Rebecca only made it a few yards before dropping to a knee in pain, coughing up into her palm.
"You still with me?" he asked her worriedly.
She stared down at the blood on her palm, a grim look on her face. "Owen...maybe you should just leave me here. This is looking pretty bad."
"Like hell!" he responded sharply. "Come on. We're almost at the medbay. Worse comes to worst; we can put you in cryofreeze."
"If you think that will save her, then by all means, go right ahead."
