The amount of blood pooling on the ground lets me know I need to figure something out very, very quickly. The flow seems to have slowed, but I know she can't afford to lose much more. I look around, but there's nothing I can use to leverage her weight.
I panic, then remember the touch screen of the chamber.
My hand smears blood across it as I tap through different settings. I ignore 'close,' 'freeze,' and 'open.' When I see 'load' I jab it quickly, then yelp when I lift off the ground.
A quick glance lets me know Silver is also being raised into the air. I throw my arms out, bracing myself against anything I can find, which really just comes down to squeaking along the wall.
Luckily this slows my movement down just enough for the chamber to get Silver mostly lifted into it ahead of me.
Suddenly we're unceremoniously dropped. I bang my jaw on the edge of the chamber, then fall hard on my left elbow and hip. I only allow myself a moment to process the new layers of pain this adds before pushing myself to my feet.
She is only partially in the chamber and I have to heave her legs inside, a small scream trying to bubble up from the pain it causes me.
I don't know how much time she has and so I press 'freeze' as quickly as I can.
The glass door moves sluggishly and I help it snick into place with shaking hands. I take a relieved breath when it fills with a mix of different colored gas. A moment later they clear and I can see Silver resting within.
Blood is no longer flowing and I let out an explosive puff of air.
Then groan from the pain.
"Fuck."
With that task done, my energy plummets and my back slowly slides down the glass of the observation room. I take a moment to yank out the shard of glass embedded in my foot and with that, I complete the only task left to drive me and help me keep it together.
The thought of slimes coming in right now turns my trembling to violent shaking, but for the moment my body is not responding. Recognizing the symptoms of shock doesn't help me overcome it any faster, unfortunately.
Not only that, but I also suddenly realize that I opened my chamber with no idea if the air was breathable.
All I know about bacteria and viruses bubbles up uninvited. My brain burns from an overload of fear and my breathing is ragged for several long minutes.
Eventually I push all the unhelpful thoughts down and slouch in a daze.
I'm not positive how long I take to collect myself, but no slimes come in to check on me. I hope they're all dead, but if they provided us chambers to protect us I highly doubt they didn't have as good of protection, or better.
I really need to get out of here while I still can.
I look over to Silver, feeling extremely guilty. If I couldn't even lift her, there's no way I'll be able to take her chamber with me. There are no doors. Only a jagged hole in the ceiling. I can't figure out how to get her out, but the thought of leaving her is heart-wrenching.
It's just plain wrong.
But there's no real choice. I wouldn't want her to stay because of me, though I would hope that she would return if she could. I'll come back if I can figure out a way to heal her or get her chamber out of this hellish place.
"I-I'll return for you, Silver. I promise."
That decided, I make myself stand, which hurts like hell, but now that I've decided to leave, I don't want to stay here a moment longer.
I can't.
My throat is raw from how fast and harsh my breathing is and I take another moment to center myself. Then I look back up andsee the hatch that has opened dozens of times, bringing torment with it, and I'm locked in place by remembered terror.
My heart is pounding and my vision is blurred.
"Fucking move, bitch," I growl at myself.
I lick my parched lips, tasting the sweat that is beaded on my lip, then pull a shaky hand across my forehead to prevent more of the stinging liquid from getting in my eyes.
I move jerkily, with great pain, toward the edge of the room to a ladder. Before the crash it went to a locked access tube. Now I'm able to use it to raise myself, one trembling step up at a time, just high enough to grab ahold of the shredded remains of the ship's hull.
