Skip to main content

HMSS Pangolin Prime Chapter 7

Chapter 7
It was surrounded by bodies and entrails of the old crew, the walls were painted with blood, as well as large floating orbs of it around the room. The creature resembled a hole in the wall, filled with teeth and surrounded by tentacles, all of which was a dark pink colour, whether that was a natural colour or if it was stained with blood I did not know. My fellow crewmates that I had arrived with, floated motionless in the room, attached to the walls by some sort of umbilical cord, their helmets had fogged up indicating that they were still breathing. I darted back around the corner and prayed that it hadn't seen me, let alone smelt me. I backed away from the corner trying to not draw attention to myself, and yet one of those tentacles followed me round and slowly came towards me. I span around and pushed my way down the corridor, attempting to put as much distance between myself and the incoming tentacle. No matter what I did, the tentacle continued towards me, I could tell it was following my scent as it just bumped off of the floating debris. I kept moving away until I came to a door which was stuck shut. “Shit” I said under my breath, I tried forcing the door open, but to no avail. I turned around to see the tentacle coming towards me. Damn, I felt like a redshirt in a movie, nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, all I can do was wait for the tentacle. I started to think about what it was going to do, I guessed it would drag me to the mouth in the wall, but any more than that I had no idea. The thought of the slimy red thing touching me gave me shivers, I just had to hope it wouldn't try and get into my suit...bleugh…
I was too occupied with the thought, that I didn’t notice how close it had gotten. I got as close to the wall as possible and when it got to me, I pushed off and tried to get back around it. Unfortunately with a sudden burst of speed, the tentacle made a u-turn and wrapped around my ankle. “NO!” I shouted to no-one in particular as it started to drag me down the way we came, I tried to grab onto anything I could, but nothing gave me enough purchase to stop. As I flailed hopelessly the tentacle dragged me through the corridors, every so often I would bounce off one of the walls, definitely giving me some bruises, and cakeing me in the slime that coated them. There was a slight pause while it adjusted its grip on me, the tentacle wrapping further up my leg, now it had a grip to above my knee, I tried to free myself, but it gripped tighter. It dragged me all the way back down the way I had came, back to the blood filled room and back to the mouth in the wall. All I could think about was that this was just like a horror movie, and how everyone was going to die, until the saviour ex machina arrived. But no-one was coming, so this meant I had to be the hero, great. I decided enough was enough and pulled the knife from its sheath, and plunged it into the tentacle, a light blue goo spouting from the wound, I pulled the knife from the tentacle and it coiled away, leaving me floating. The mouth opened and closed and I guessed that it would have been roaring if there were any air. The little joy I felt with being freed from the grasp of the tentacle, quickly vanished as five or so tentacles shot at me and grabbed me on each limb and around my middle, I couldn't move to get at any of the tentacles off me and it slowly moved me towards the mouth. As I got closer I could see that the creature had breached through the wall, and must extend out beyond the wall, as the area behind its mouth was at least a metre in depth. There was jagged metal from the bulkhead around the mouth but it had sealed the hole with its mass, the tentacles came from small holes dotted around its mouth, the one I had injured had returned within the creature, leaving the five remaining tentacles to hold onto me. It tried to eat me feet first, but when it let go of my legs to avoid eating itself, I just straddled the hole, pressing against the force of the tentacles with my legs, I was not going to be space monster food today! The tentacles let go of me for a moment, and I pushed off the mouth, but they quickly grabbed me again, goddamn thing won't give up! It had me by the middle, all the tentacles pushing my from my back into the mouth front first, I was pushing myself away with both my hands and feet, but the slime was making me slip. It pulled me from the mouth and I lost my grip, now being at the mercy of the tentacles again. They wrapped around me, all around pinning my arms to my sides, preventing any movement and shoved me head first into the mouth. The last thing I thought before I entered its teeth rimmed domain, was that I really hoped I wasn't supposed to be the hero.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Soldier, Sunny Side Up - Part of the Bag of Beginnings

This is the story of Corporal Jash Masterson, and how he survived world war 3. A Smoothie of Comrades- I was tucked into my bunk when the first bombs fell. The ground trembling around me, I heard loud noises from within the compound as some of the ceiling caved in. I flung myself from my bunk, and legged it down the corridors. The corridors I knew so well, rushing past me as I charged forwards, the piercing wails of the alarms cutting through the chaos. I was one of the first to make it to the kit room, a few others made it in before the ceiling collapsed outside the door. The hardened walls and roof of the kit room, made us all feel better. In the room with me were; Captain David Hams, Lieutenant Laura Barnsley, Corporal Gregory Smithers and Madam Cornblower, one of the Compounds cooks. We all stayed silent for the first five minutes, except for the still screaming alarms, recovering from the sudden start, breathing heavily. I stood up and made my way to one of the cases and ...
1 comment
Read more

Artificial Ignorance - Part of the Casual Collection of Catastrophes Volume 2

It was my 143rd birthday, the holo cake still managed to fit all of the candles. I stood in the lounge with my friends and family, my parents came all the way across the ocean to my habitat just to celebrate my birthday. They had to hire a special drone to fly them across, they did live 50 years before the singularity after all. My sister made the joke that they are nearly more nanomachines than person at this point. The act of giving gifts at birthdays phased out a long time ago, since everyone lives so long now, even my grandmother, who lived most of her life before it happened, made it to 203rd birthday! I mean, they cured cancer within the first five years after the singularity. The year is now 127 PS, PS standing for Post Singularity. The oceans have risen and most of the 12 billion people of the earth live on habitats which float on the surface of the ocean. The lunar bases are restricted to qualified professionals ever since the “Grey Lung” epidemic of 120 PS and the few space...
Post a Comment
Read more

OLD - Week 1 Day 1 Evening

After finding a suitable spot in the forest, Seth parked the cart and turned the engine off, pressed a button on the panel next to the steering wheel, and a layer of canvas sprung up creating a roof and walls for him to sleep in, he untied his hammock and climbed in. He replaced his filter and with a quick look around, he pulled his hat down low over his eyes. As the evening drew to a close and Valther got drunker and less coherent Ellyn’s job ended as Valther was handed over to the night maids. Ellyn went down to the basement where the servant quarters are, and the familiar journey to her room never seemed more comforting. As she entered her room she smelled that familiar scent and saw the familiar scene, of her posters that adorn the walls, her random artefacts that litter the shelves and her bed, still unmade from when she rushed out of it that morning. Ellyn pulled off her uniform and changed into her nightdress. She took down her hair so it hung about her shoulders. Ellyn...
Post a Comment
Read more