The Gorison Traveler Incident - Laurann Dohner Page 0,2
she heard loud moaning. A hiss sounded, and she held her breath, peeking around the corner.
The sight that met her gaze almost made her scream.
A Ke’ter was crouched over someone in a white medical uniform that was stained red. Their stomach had been torn open, their intestines ripped out and piled on the deck floor. The alien leaned in close to its victim—and Vivian heard wet smacking sounds.
The alien was eating the crew member.
She saw the victim turn his head. He was still alive!
Her horror grew when their gazes met and his mouth opened. Another moan came from him, and he lifted his hand, reaching toward her.
The alien kept chewing, but he might notice his victim’s actions at any moment.
She had no time to think. Big M and Mikey had trained her to defend herself.
She lunged around the corner and jumped on the Ke’ter’s back.
He was solidly built, like hitting rock, but she hooked her left arm around his throat and squeezed hard with her thighs around his middle. Using all her strength, she rammed the knife into the back of his head near the base of his skull.
The blade penetrated and the alien under her screeched.
He tried to fling her off, but she pushed the blade in deeper and twisted.
He stilled…and then slumped.
Vivien scrambled off him when they hit the floor. The poor crew member stared at her when she looked at him, his mouth still open, eyes wide, and another moan sounded.
She crouched next to the man. He wasn’t someone she knew. “Hold on,” she told him. “I’m getting help.” She tore her gaze from his and looked down at his stomach.
Bile rose. The Ke’ter had torn the man open from the bottom of his rib cage to his pelvis, shredding his uniform and skin open a good ten inches. She was no doctor, but it looked as if the alien had pulled out the man’s intestines to feed on his internal organs. It was a gory mess.
A low hiss came from the alien, and she almost fell on her ass in startled surprise. The Ke’ter’s hand twitched, the bloody claws and fingers curling.
She lunged at it, going for the weapon strapped to its hip, and jerked it out of the holster. It felt strange in her hand, the grip weird since it hadn’t been designed for humans, but there was a button. She pointed the muzzle at the alien and pushed it.
It blew a hole in the Ke’ter’s uniform and green blood oozed out onto the floor.
She rose up, pointed at its head, and fired again.
The alien jerked, but she doubted it was still alive. A fist-sized hole had blasted through its skull.
She walked closer and used her left hand to grab her father’s tactical knife. It wouldn’t come free of the alien’s head. She released it when the crew member moaned again in pain. She turned her head to look at him.
“I’m getting help. Hold on.”
She ran toward Control One. It was manned twenty-four/seven by operators who worked in single-person shifts. She knew the ship’s protocols better than most security officers.
The doors were sealed. She buzzed but no one answered.
Fear had her staring up at the camera. “Open up, damn it!”
The doors remained sealed.
A faint scream sounded from somewhere down one of the corridors, and she quickly used her left hand to type in the override code. She wasn’t supposed to know it, but Big Mike had entrusted her with the numbers.
The doors slid open—but the desk sat empty.
Shock slapped her again. No one should have left that post unattended. It was against ship protocol.
She entered, the doors sealing at her back.
She put the alien weapon on the desk as she slid into the seat, her fingers quickly manipulating the controls to pull up the debriefing room.
The sight that met her gaze made her cry out in grief.
Mikey’s body lay partially in view, blocked by chairs. He wasn’t moving. She couldn’t see Big M from the camera’s angle but she did spot his boots. He wasn’t moving, either. There were no Ke’ters in the room anymore. They’d fled the scene of the crime.
That meant they were all on the move inside the ship.
She reached under the desk and blindly felt for the cap that protected the emergency control. Her hand trembled as she popped the shield off and pushed the button.
Red lights flashed above the Control One doors and a piercing alarm blared.
She reached up, turning on the ship-wide coms. It was imperative that she warn