The corpse sagged and Gunner lowered it softly to the floor.
“Lenny, you there? This better not be some trick!”
He stepped over the body and began to laugh.
“Shit, man, what’s wrong with you? Turn the lights back on. Ballsy’s going to kill us for this!”
No, I’m going to kill you for this.Gunner continued laughing, cackling as he moved closer to his prey. The bones in his face vibrating, hoping for another shift again. The darkness couldn’t stop him. He knew where his victim was without night vision, without lights.
“Stop laughing, Lenny...”
It only made Gunner screech and chuckle louder, moving in a steady circle around the guard, disregarding the chairs and toppled supplies in his way.This is fun.His laughter became genuine. Freshly expelled sweat thick in the air, and the stench of fear replaced everything else in his head.
“I’m going to kill you for—”
Gunner roared with laughter. He closed the distance and grabbed the man before he could slither farther away and bellowed the noise into his terrified face.
It drowned out the struggle as Gunner pulled the man upright and let his own eyes bleed red with light. An angry moment of recognition.
The guard punched him in the gut before reaching for the gun hanging off his side. Gunner expelled air and covered the guard’s hand with his own. The man’s finger pressed over the trigger, and Gunner pushed his own over it, crushing it and wrenching the man’s wrist to face away.
They twisted to the ground, filling the room with bellowing threats and grunts, and, of course, laughter. Gunner straddled him on the floor, gaining leverage. He kept the gun pointed away, pressing into the man’s broken finger bones to subdue him, with only the red of his eyes to illuminate the scene.
With his other hand, he slammed the guard’s head into the floor and fought the gun upward. His prey kicked out his legs and rammed his fist into Gunner’s nose.
“You don’t give up, do you?” he chuckled through the momentary sting.
But time was ticking and he’d already spent far too long outside his cell.
The ship’s sirens blared off as if fate itself watched the events unfolding and knew his thoughts.
“I’m going to kill you! I’m going to fucking kill you!” the guard screeched.
Gunnertsked,“I told you that you to watch your skin.” And with one final sickening giggle, he crushed the bones in his grip and pushed the barrel of the gun into the pirate’s mouth, silencing what he no longer wanted to hear. The gunshot was muffled but echoed enough to alert any others who may be nearby.
Before Gunner could watch the guard’s last twitch of life, he was up and leaving the room, picking up his boots in the hallway.
But stopped when he noticed the extra rations lying about. Gunner scooped them up and pocketed them.
He blinked the red glow away from his eyes and whistled his way back to the brig, hearing the sounds of running feet somewhere far off in the ship’s hallways. The darkness stayed with him until he passed through the brig’s doors. The lights remained off, shrouding the units in its perpetual pitch.
The blaring sirens hid the sounds of his passage as he slipped into Royce’s unit and killed him swiftly and silently. He pulled his jacket off the body and hung it over his shoulder.
Four dead tonight.
Gunner dragged Royce’s body to the cell door, clawed the man’s wrist and hooked his arm around the bars, letting his blood drain over the lock. He pushed the cell door closed, checked Ely’s lock, and re-entered his own cage.
With one final laugh escaping him, he rested his back against the chilly wall, right next to where Ely crouched on the other side, and leaned his head back.
Fuck patience.His palm ran over the firearm hidden under his pants. He seeded back outside his body and triple-checked the security feeds, sending another surge through the system, and adding more confusion to the already growing chaos. He wasn’t on any of them, and regardless of any crumbs he may have left behind, he couldn’t really bring himself to care.
He rested his arms on his knees and flicked his half-grown thumb with his middle finger, letting the satisfaction flow over him, and the feel of his gun on his thigh was like a lover’s caress. Exhaustion settled in and his body pulled him down into the throes of sleep, reminding him that energy was neither created nor destroyed but it sure as hell had left his systems.
Seventy-nine occupants left.
