Dusk of Defiance (The Era of Ensemble Book 1)

by Woosey, JP

  There was movement from outside the living quarters. Luke bolted upright and listened intently to the noises. It sounded like people moving through from room to room. Are they looking for something? Food? People? Luke didn’t want to risk finding out. He ran to the bedroom door, closed it over and locked it. It wouldn’t keep them out, but it might delay them long enough for Luke to figure out what he was going to do next.

  Luke scanned the bedroom. He searched for anything which could help him. He glanced over to the pistol in Elizabeth’s hand. At least he could use that. He quietly made his way across the room to the pistol. He prised it out of Elizabeth’s fingers. How could she do this to me? He quickly realised the situation he was in. He checked the pistol for ammunition. Nothing. Did Elizabeth use the weapon in a last stand? Luke wished he knew more about what was going on. He tossed the pistol onto the bed, and held his face in his hands. What am I going to do? Luke raised his head and saw the closet across from the queen sized bed. He suddenly remembered.

  Clothes flew into the air as Luke hastily rummaged through the closet. He eventually found a small wooden chest about the size of a shoe box. He rubbed the top of the box, and a small screen flashed into life. There was a touch screen numeric keypad and four blank boxes to be filled in. Luke pressed four numbers in quick succession, two, four, seven, four. It was the year his grandfather died. The box unlocked, and Luke opened it. An old silver gun sat inside on top of lots of ammunition for the weapon and a leather holster squeezed into the corner of the box. Luke lifted out the heavy shiny revolver. His grandfather had collected antique weaponry and this was Luke’s favourite piece. It was in good condition as his grandfather had only bought guns that could be restored to full working order. His grandfather had implored Luke to take the gun with him if ever he went on a voyage and now after his grandfather’s death it was Luke’s property.

  Looking at the gun made Luke think about his grandfather and the good times they had together. Although at times Luke thought him a little strange as his grandfather had such a fear of alien invasions and had prepared many defences at his home back on Earth. Luke missed his grandfather and the farm, he missed his entire family but mostly he missed Megan. He needed to find her. He knew she was aboard the ship somewhere. Are you safe Megan?

  A loud noise snapped Luke out of his reverie. His heart thumped. The pounding on the door to the living quarters made Luke nervous. It sounded as if someone was butting the door with their head. Luke grabbed some ammunition out of the box and loaded it carefully into the cylinder of the revolver. He stuffed some more rounds into his pockets, slung the holster around his waist and placed the box in a backpack, a grey dark one that was rarely used which he found while rummaging through the closet.

  The consistent banging had stopped and Luke said a silent thank you to his grandfather. If it wasn’t for him he would have nothing with which to defend himself. Luke grabbed the backpack and placed it over his shoulders and onto his back. He checked the cylinder to his revolver again just to be sure he had loaded the rounds, and then he made his way to the bedroom door. Luke turned to Elizabeth, reluctant to leave her. An internal battle to hold and caress his love, quashed by a stronger urge for self-preservation. I have to get out of here. He quietly unlocked the door, held his revolver ready, and walked through the opening. He checked his corners. Nothing. He couldn’t hear anything from the corridor. Luke edged close to the front door, the touchpad had an image of a locked padlock upon it. He pressed the pad, and it unlocked. The door slid open. Luke raised his weapon as a person stumbled through the doorway. He lowered his weapon as the body crashed to the floor. There was blood gushing from the person’s head, Luke looked away from the body. The door tried to close but the body prevented it, it continually thudded into the insane man’s sides. Luke tapped the touchpad again and the door stayed open. He pulled the body through into his apartment. Dead bodies, madness, horrible creatures no longer human, what have I woken up to? He steadied his breathing, with an inner urge to survive.

  Luke exited the room and checked, to his right, and then to his left. He stepped out into the corridor. It was quiet. He didn’t realise how quiet the ship could be. He was used to being around the loud machinery controlling the air flow in the air plantation centre, where he worked. He remembered his pet project. Elizabeth had helped him manipulate and modify certain plants to provide a more efficient oxygen supply, but it was still early in development. He had treated his plants with tender loving care and they had been thriving. He even called them his babies and said they were growing well. This had made Elizabeth laugh. He was a natural. It was as if Luke had never left the farm. His grandparents’ farm where he had played with his sister. He glanced to his left and found a map of the spaceship stuck to the wall. He needed to get to the opposite side of the ship if he wanted to find Megan.

  Chapter 3

  “Would the nearest engineer please make their way to the engines and power section 32-B and reroute power.” The female computerised voice spoke over the speaker system and Luke ignored it once again. There must still be people like me aboard the ship. They can’t all have lost their minds. He passed a stairwell. A sign above it read ‘Tram’. That’s what he needed. It was the fastest way to get around the ship, and probably the safest.

  Luke entered the stairwell. There were noises from below, but he couldn’t pinpoint them. The darkness left him with a deepening sense of disorientation. Are the noises moving away from me? Or are they approaching me? He listened intently. They were no louder nor softer to his ear. He steadied his breathing. I can do this, or so he kept telling himself. He took tight hold of the railing besides him and slowly stepped down the stairs. He stopped abruptly half way down the first set of steps. A tune was being hummed below him. Luke knew the tune, it was 'Rock-a-bye baby'. He silently made his way down the steps, and then slowly edged around to the next flight of stairs. He saw the back of a woman sitting cross legged, swaying side to side. Luke stepped down one step. “Excuse me?” He took another step towards the woman. “Ma’am?” There was no reply, the woman just kept humming the steady rhythm of the nursery rhyme. She reminded him of the woman he had seen before, who rocked on the bed with garbled words. A strange language that he did not recognise. At least I know this song. At least I’m familiar with this tune. Luke shook away the strangeness of it all. But she hums it whilst cornered in a darkened stairway. Luke checked around the stairwell, he couldn’t see or hear anything other than the woman below him. He carried on towards her. Still she swayed from side to side to the rhythm of the nursery rhyme.

  “Excuse me?” Luke asked again. She didn’t turn to face him. He looked over her shoulder. She was cradling something in a blanket. He quietly made his way behind her, and gently placed his hand on her shoulder. Before Luke could even say a word, the woman jumped to her feet, threw what she cradled in her arms into the air, and then turned to face Luke, she growled. Her blood stained teeth forced Luke to take a step back up the stairs. A severed child’s head crashed to the floor. The woman turned around, whimpered as she watched the head roll onto its side, and then sprinted towards it. She wrapped it up in a blanket and began to cradle it once again. Luke didn’t move. He just watched, stunned at what he had witnessed.

  After several minutes of standing silently, Luke decided to move. He slowly walked towards the next flight of stairs. The woman faced him. She swayed and hummed the lullaby. Her eyes bright blue, but tired. The red veins threaded through the pink toned whites. Close up they instantly flashed a neon warning, a red cloaked danger sign. She snarled as Luke slowly passed her, but sat and returned to her cradling once he had turned away. He sighed with relief, that she was distracted by her own rocking motions. Luke's head throbbed with the tension, but there was a moment when he feared the ferocious flash in her eyes. Could she be capable of ripping a head off...? My head?

  Luke reached the end of the steps and another sign for the tram was mounted above a door in front of him. It glowed in th
e dark stairwell. He made his way forward through the door. His foot knocked something as he stepped by the entrance. The door attempted to close behind him, but it snagged on an object. A small beep emanated from a terminal as it failed to close. Luke heard movement from around him. They must have heard the beep. It pinged again. Luke bent to the floor and picked up the object blocking the metal from shutting. The door closed and Luke felt relieved. He glanced at the object in his hand. It was white with a dried up red black substance clinging to it. Luke’s eyes widened as he realised he held a bone in his hand. He suddenly dropped it. The bone crashed to the dark grey metal floor with a bang sending echoes throughout the corridor. He shuddered with the repulsed shock surging around his fingers. Was it a human bone?

  Luke tried to refocus, he waited... and he heard nothing. He was surprised, but then a collection of noises sounded. He held his face in his hands. Why did I have to make so much noise? He quickly stopped feeling sorry for himself and took tight hold of the revolver that was holstered around his hip. He checked his cylinder for a round, and then placed his finger on the trigger, ready to fire. He stood alert. Ears straining to identify every sound. His trigger finger attentive. His eyes widened. His pupils dilated. His breathing raced.

  There were screams, shrieks, squeals and thuds. Each thud made Luke jump. His hand shook. If one of those humans… No, not humans, things, creatures, beasts, savage cannibals... Luke could have extended the list. If one of those things came for him, he didn’t know if he would be able to hit it. The revolver trembled violently in his grasp. The abominations were getting closer. Luke stepped back against a wall and leaned on it for support. It eased his legs and his body. His breathing increased in volume and in speed as the noises from the feral beasts approached his vicinity. Luke gulped at the dryness in his mouth, the hairs stood tall on the back of his neck, and if he wasn’t already leaning against a wall, he probably would have collapsed by now. He shook his head. I have to focus.

  One of the things jumped through a door at the other end of the corridor. Luke squinted and focused on the abomination. It glanced around the corridor until it spotted him. It shrieked loudly in a deafening high pitched tone, and then ran at full sprint in the direction of him.

  “Stay back!” Luke shouted at it. The savage didn’t reply, it never strayed from its collision course. “I’m warning you!” Luke continued. “Stay back or I’ll fire!” The thing ignored Luke’s warnings and continued its sprint towards him. He closed the eye closest to the revolver in anticipation of the bang that would surely ring throughout his ears. He fired wildly, more of a warning shot than actually trying to hit the abomination. Luke felt the recoil of the revolver. He should have prepared himself better. The thing squealed loudly in an even higher pitch than before. It turned away from him and ran back from where it came. He could hear the squeal for a while before it slowly faded away. Luke closed his eyes and breathed slowly to regain some control. He couldn’t stop wondering whether he had hit the abomination or not, he didn’t know if the blood on the walls, floor, or ceiling was from the thing he fired at or from something totally different.

  After he had regained his composure, he carried on following the signs to the tram. Although he took extra care to be quiet this time. He cautiously checked every door, and crept stealthily. Unfortunately the metal soles of his shoes didn’t help this endeavour. He knew he wasn’t far from the tram. Memories of using it started to flood back. He remembered the first time he had used it with his sister, Megan and his girlfriend, Elizabeth. They were checking out each others living quarters. Megan was ‘seriously impressed’ with theirs. They couldn’t say the same thing about hers though. Her apartment was small, Elizabeth later described it as 'claustrophobic'. She was exaggerating, it was fine... Cosy if anything. He missed his sister. They were so close growing up. Their parents were on a voyage of their own, and they left Luke and Megan on their grandparents’ farm in the country. They spent most of their time playing games together, or exploring the nearby forest. Back when things were simple. He sighed deeply, and then regained focus on making his way to the tram.

  He made his approach to a balcony that led away from the corridor. The balcony overlooked one of the many tram stations. Luke smiled briefly, as he had nearly reached his destination. He glanced to either side of the balcony and looked for a way down to the level below him. A door opened to his left, he ducked and stared over to it. There was nothing. The door closed. He made his way to the right hand side of the balcony, away from the door which had just previously opened. He checked the nearest door to him. It was an empty office. He checked the next few. All offices, all deserted.

  Luke eventually found the stairwell that would take him down to the level below. He slowly walked through the doorway, checked his corners, and then lowered his weapon once he was satisfied the flight of stairs was clear of the savage brutes. I can’t wait to find my sister. It was the only thing that spurred him on.

  As he walked down the first few steps, a smell made him gag. He stepped down another few steps, the smell only got worse. Is it another half eaten, rotting body? He pinched his nose with his fingers to mask the stench, but he began to get an unpleasant pungent taste as he breathed through his mouth. He turned the corner of the staircase as it spiralled around a motionless elevator, and saw a pile of unrecognisable bones; they could have been from anyone or anything. He averted his head away from them as he passed. He pressed the device to open the door. Nothing happened. He pressed it again and again. He couldn’t hold his breath for much longer. The door eventually opened, and he fell through gasping for air.

  Luke rose from his knees, and dusted himself off. He looked up towards the tram station. There was no tram, and he hadn’t heard one. He began to grow nervous. What if something has happened to the tram? It would take too long to get around the ship on foot. He didn’t know if he’d be able to get around just by walking. It’d be too dangerous. He made his way to the side of the tram track. There was an information stand. It was dimly lit, but still visible. Luke stepped in front of it. There was no information apart from a message which scrolled across the bottom.

  “Would the nearest engineer please make their way to the engines and power section 32-B and reroute power.” It was the same as the automated computerised message that was spoken over the speaker system.

  Luke sat down on a nearby wooden bench. Words were carved into the wood. They just looked like random words, none of them made any sense. He checked his holstered revolver, and made sure his ammunition was still present. Once he had finished resting, he stood up straight, and walked towards the power section of the ship. Looks like I'm going to have to restore the power myself.

  Chapter 4

  The passageway looked empty. It was difficult to see across the small room with only the shallow glow of the backup lights. Luke walked slowly, he was on edge, and he had a strange feeling about the cramped passageway. He had tiptoed to his targeted destination with a steady caution. The noises had at times surrounded him, but he never felt immediately threatened. His vision, although inhibited, was adjusting to the darkened shadows. The creatures seem to be preoccupied. None of them have hunted directly for me.

  There was a rattling noise to his left side. He turned quickly. It stopped, and then rattled again. Luke anticipated an altercation. He tried to prepare and envisioned a battle plan. Stay quiet. Keep alert. He told himself as the fine hairs pricked at his skin like rows of spiked needles standing to attention. Perhaps I spoke too soon when I thought they were not hunting me. Luke snatched the revolver out of its holster and aimed it at the wall. The noises were coming from the other side. He stuck his back against the opposite wall, and edged one foot at a time through the passage.

  Luke abruptly stopped as his foot was blocked by something on the floor. He kicked at it. It felt softer than he had anticipated. He put his foot on it and pushed it. A body rolled over slowly. He kneeled down next to the body, and checked for a pulse. The neck was cold,
the man had been dead for a while. Luke sighed as the noises along the wall appeared to have stopped. He waited. No scratches, no discernable movements to either side. He placed his gun in its holster. It hung in readiness as he freed up the use of both his hands.

  Luke checked the man’s body for anything that would be useful. He found a few things. A fresh bottle of water that was unopened. He placed it into his backpack and continued to frisk. More suitable boots, luckily enough in his size. “Forgive me.” Luke mumbled, as his fingers momentarily struggled with the elaborate lacings. They fit a treat. He felt a shudder of guilt envelope him for a second. He wore a dead man's shoes. The boots would help him run and had a gripped sole. The dead man must have been a part of the security force, a man with a military background. There weren't many of them aboard. Mostly there wasn't much need for them because of the mood elevating drugs. It had been presented in the brochures as an unnecessary role amongst the recruited establishment. A police style security role was added as a political move so there was a visual representation of law, so all citizens would keep the peace. They are glorified baby sitters. Luke's fingertips searched further and he also found a UCSC wrist device, more advanced than the standard device assigned after deep sleep. He rotated the device around and looked for the restore to factory settings switch. He pressed it, and then placed the device onto his wrist. It flashed on. A blue light beamed out of the device and it forced Luke to turn away. His eyes had adjusted to the darkness of the ship and weren’t ready for the brightness of the device. It scanned for a moment, and then processed information, before an image and details about Luke Mason appeared on the small screen. He checked the radio on the device. It wasn’t working. Just my luck. Thankfully, some intranet services were still available. He could still send and receive calls.