***

ELODIE PUSHED HER HAIR out of her face and looked around at the other prisoners. There were fewer than ever before and it felt odd to have the cells on either side of her and Gunner’s empty. His was empty now too.

She caught the eyes of the prisoner across the hallway from her. She didn’t know him, only knew his face, and that he was a quiet type like herself. He nodded at her before turning away.

The lights faded out.

Her breath softened. The sounds of the brig all at once quieted and the hush of uncertainty spread like smoke.

No one knows about Gunner besides me and they place their hope in him anyway. Elodie knew Gunner didn’t do it out of altruism, and even knowing that, she had let her barriers down for him.

Her body responded to him. Her skin rose in gooseflesh from his whispers alone. She dropped her hands to her groin and pressed hard against it, eliciting a shiver. It wasn’t right. It isn’t right. The creeping want and lurking lust spread through her nerves.

She pulled her hands off herself and sank against the wall, feeling helpless, and once again, alone.

The dark pulled out her most wicked desires.

Elodie clenched her muscles.

Closed her eyes.

And wished he was still next to her.

He makes me feel safe. And that safety is lulling me into a dangerous position. Gunner also made her feel like a woman—made her feel feminine—and feeling that safety and acceptance was like a drug.

Elodie rubbed her face hard enough until it burned.

The lights flickered on overhead and she stiffened, her eyes lifting, catching quick glances of the brig. It went dark again shortly after, but not before the androids stationed throughout began to make their circuits. The sounds of their clicking metal and forced out air filled her ears that she didn’t notice when the brig door opened, the sounds muffled.

Only the shock of a distant scream and three shots going off had her upright in fear. The door closed. The sounds blocked out.

Gunner...

The lights flickered again and the other prisoners were poised, wide-eyed, watching, and waiting.

The silhouette of a man made its way toward her.

***

GUNNER DUCKED THROUGH the hallway and into the first side room he found, taking off his boots and setting them aside. He was on the move toward his target a moment later, recalibrating his systems to project nothing but silence, as though he were nothing but air.

He dashed through the halls like a wraith, one that couldn’t be picked up by any of the five senses. His body was nothing more than a static blip throughout the many security feeds he passed under.

There was only one man stationed nearby and Gunner swept past him without notice. He eyed the man’s back, sensing something about him but moved on when he realized the empty bottle dangling from his hand had knocked him out.

The androids that were littered throughout the level, guns cocked, were distant brethren. A simple connection, a brief code, and they allowed him passage without objection.

He pressed his back into the wall when the elevators opened and a trio of pirates came out. Their bodies reeked of stale tobacco and alcohol.

“Fucking waste of time,” one of them slurred. “It’s not like the prisoners are causing the chaos... Fucking waste of all our time checking on them.”

“Don’t be so sure about that,” another responded. “None of this shit went down until they were brought on board.”

“There’s no fucking way they can get out of their cells, let alone make it through the ship unseen.”

“That new guy with the tattoos is a twat with murder in his eyes. He gives me the creeps.”

Gunner smirked. How cute. They’re complimenting me.

“So what? Still can’t get out. If anything it’s one of the new recruits making his move. And if he creeps you out, I heard he’s pretty friendly with his cell mate. We can have some fun tonight.”

Gunner stiffened, his hands dropping from the wall to clench into fists at his side. Elodie. He was going to make his way to Ballsy sight unseen but now...his codes scattered. He felt his territory being threatened.

The men drew closer, each heavy booted step snapping a little bit more of his control. The jackal screeched and howled at the thought of these men getting any closer to Elodie.

They know we’re close.

He hadn’t hidden it—hadn’t cared enough over the days they huddled together and talked. Suddenly, the idea of anyone—anything—with eyes on them, even if it was the ship’s AI made, him furious. Others would’ve caught on. Kallan came to mind. His moments with Elodie were his and his alone. He needed to make sure they stayed that way.

Gunner jerked and twitched, his control commands dying in his head, his mission wavering as the stench of the men thickened.

“Which is why we’re being forced to check on them,” one of the men said.

“Ballsy’s dead after this shit show is under control. Can’t break the codes of that twat’s ship, and can’t find the prick who’s painting the floors with blood.”

“Maybe... But Juke doesn’t have another to take his place.”

“Hah! Any one of us could take his place. How fucking hard is it to maintain the ship feeds? All you gotta do is watch the fucking holograms for blips and send the androids to investigate.”

“I heard the ship has a virus.”

“Ships can’t get fucking viruses, Ghet. If anything, Ballsy’s the murderer and a damn piss poor one at that!”

The men drew nearer and Gunner lowered himself into a crouch, eyes glazed, his jeans shredding ever-so-slowly as his claws sprang forth.

The jackal panted, excited. Territorial.

“Don’t know. But the systems could corrupt, I’ve heard stories. Whatever the fuck is happening, if Juke doesn’t gut Ballsy, I will. We were supposed to be on Elyria but now we’re headed off to fuck-knows where and I can’t stand the sight of you guys anymore. I need some fucking women. Damnit, I need some fucking sunlight.”

The men cackled and they came into view. His spine bowed, his canines pushed out, his long-pointed ears shot out.

His eyes bled neon red.

The men weren’t getting any closer to what was his.

“The captain’s locked himself in the bridge and hasn’t come out since the fourth body was found. Makes you wonder,” one of them said.

“Wonder what? He’s losing control. He keeps wanting to replace his men with prisoner scum.”

“Wonder if he’s afraid.”

A burst of sadistic laughter. “Cunt should be! Any day now, he’s gonna have a knife in his back.”

Gunner grew and his shape distorted, his fingers stretching apart and sharpening. His legs and arms broke and straightened, and his malleable skin pulled into his beast, now hidden behind his metal mainframe. His nose and jaw lengthened into a snout, and a low, hungry growl brewed deep in his throat. The pain was delicious, soothing, euphoric.

And then his nanocells made him numb.

At the corner, the men stopped, one of them holding out a hand for him to see. “Do you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“That!”

The snarl deepened, lengthened, vibrated and spread out from his vocals in low, piercing waves. A monster in the dark. Gunner drew his lips back as his tail dragged out of his spine to thump against the metal, ringing throughout the passageway.

“What the fuck is that sound?”

Gunner scraped his claws across the floor, slinking out of the darkness like Anubis from the bowels of the underworld. All three men drew their guns.

His nostrils flared at the smell of piss and he pounced on the first click of gunfire.

“Sound the alarms!” one of them screamed. The bullets ricocheted off his outer metal frame. He dropped the closest man to the floor, tearing out his throat and cleansing his beast’s mouth with blood.

The next second his teeth were ripping through the cloth, skin, and tendons of the next guard, slamming him to the ground. The guard screamed as Gunner tore off his leg. The third man—the smartest of the group—turned away and ran toward the elevator.

Gunner dropped the half-severed leg with a hiss and crushed the remaining wails out from the man under his paws, walking over him and killing him with his weight.

The third died on a lunge, hitting the open shaft just as Gunner brought him down.

A shudder. Gone. The jackal stretched, grinned, and receded.

He rose up as a man, taking the guns off his kill with him, and kicking the corpse out of the elevator’s way. If Ballsy was a dead man, then he’s my dead man.

***

ELODIE SUCKED IN A breath when the shadow stopped in front of her cell door, and for a brief moment, as the lights flickered again, she hoped it was Gunner, that he was already back. That she had lost track of time and the gunshots she heard were only in her head.

“Boy,” the man grunted and she recognized his voice.

“Da—Chesnik?” She caught herself and scurried forward, clutching the bars.

“Is that you, Chesnik?” Someone else asked.

Grumbles and questions filtered through the space. She couldn’t believe it. Couldn’t believe it when the lights went back out and a flashlight switched on. Her dad’s face came into view.

“We don’t have much time,” he muttered, looking down at the lock. “Gotta get you out of here.”

Her hands shook as she reached through and tried to touch him. “You came back,” she whispered.

He grunted, “It wasn’t easy. Isn’t safe still.”

“Look at me, please.”

He lifted his wrinkled, tired eyes, having aged even more since she last saw him and she couldn’t hold back the tears that sprang forth.

“Don’t go doing something stupid like that, boy, we don’t have time!”

Elodie drew her hands back. “What do you mean?”

“I’m getting you out of here.”

“What? How?”

Her dad produced a keycard, one of the ones she had seen dozens of times used on the cells, and pressed it into her door. A ping sounded and it opened. The barrier was gone.

Elodie didn’t care and rushed into his arms.

“Boy...” He tensed as she buried her head into his chest, wiping her tears onto his vest, and heaved a sob. She didn’t care who saw or what the others thought.

She held onto him tight and shivered in distress when his arms banded around her in an embrace. “Dad,” she choked out and breathed in his smell, creating more tears in the process. “I never thought I was going to see you again.”

“There, there, boy. I wouldn’t leave you behind.”

“But you did! You did leave...”

His eyes drooped, sad, and she reached up to smear the dew on her lashes away. “I didn’t want to give you hope when the odds were bad.”

Elodie sniffled and nodded, understanding, but hurting. Something inside her splintered as he clutched her hand and turned away, pulling her. She tugged back, heart pounding.

“We gotta go, boy! What’s the matter?” he asked, pulling her again.

She couldn’t move. Her feet planted on the threshold of her cell. Her throat was tight and dry as her eyes drifted to the empty cell beside her. The other prisoners spoke out but she didn’t hear them.

Gunner has a plan. I sent him out there. His empty cell loomed, harrowing.

“Boy! For fuck’s sake, what’s the matter with you?”

Chesnik grabbed her arm and dragged her out of her cell, her feet trailing behind him heavily, her pulse racing. She twisted to keep her gaze on Gunner’s cell as he led her to the door, the flashlight a beacon in the dark.

Her safe place vanished into the gloom.

The space she shared with him. Her throat constricted.

“Ely,” her dad roared. The brig door zipped open, and she paused to see if the lights would flicker once more, begging that they would, so she could see her spot one last time.

But it was lost in the dark.

The door closed.

“What’s the matter with you!?” Her dad shook her and she snapped back to reality.

“Everything,” she breathed.

“We don’t have fucking time for a meltdown, Ely. I heard gunshots from the shaft and the crew’s in an uproar! They could be here anytime!”

“What about the others?”

“We can’t save everyone.” He led her down a series of passages.

“But we can’t leave them!”

“We can and we are! They can take care of themselves. I need to get you out of here before the security systems reboot. Oh my...”

Her dad stopped and she peered past him. She broke out in a cold sweat. Two bodies, mangled, broken, and spitting blood lay on the floor. The acrid scent of death was fresh and it wasn’t bullets that claimed their lives.

Elodie stepped around him and took in the scene. Blood was everywhere; on the walls, pooling among the floor grates, and splattered on the ceiling. A man’s leg was half torn off, his clothes soaked in blood, and his face frozen in pain for all to see.

“Elodie, we need to get out of here,” Chesnik urged.

She stepped between the bodies and looked at them, the iron smell of them stifling. She recognized both as men who had come into the brig before, men who had taunted and beaten them, recalled their enjoyment and their grins as they pressured the prisoners with all the power they had—and with pain.

Her stomach dropped, and she retched. She felt nothing for their deaths and couldn’t even bring herself to care for the pain of their passing, but the gore still caused an involuntary heave to pass through her.

Chesnik wrapped his arm around her shoulder and moved her past them, stopping briefly to loot their bodies of their weapons and shiptech. They were met with another corpse at the elevator with claw marks down its back.

“Fuuck.” Her dad inspected it and visibly trembled. “It ain’t a man who killed these men,” he said. “He was racing toward the shaft.”

Not a man...

Elodie glanced around them and tried not to think about it, but it didn’t stop the unease making its way into her. “What did this then?”

“An animal, a beast, a monster, who knows. But it took down three armed guards.” He turned toward her. “We don’t stand a chance if we come upon it.”

She stared at the claw marks that were still oozing. “The murders?”

“You heard about them?”

“Yeah. The guards mentioned it in passing during a routine visit.”

“They started after me and those two others were recruited.” He placed his hand on top of her head. She was tall for a girl but her dad was taller. “They suspect us.”

She lifted her eyes. “They do?”

“Yeah. We can’t go up. I was going to hide you in my quarters until I got you some new crew clothes from the replicator but we can’t anymore.” He looked around.

Elodie was in a daze, looking around her, turning in full circle. “Why not?”

“Whatever did this...came from down here. These men weren’t down here when I snuck to this level. I’m lucky to be alive, but the shaft is above us now and the blood trail leads into it. Whatever did this, is up, and if it’s locked in the elevator, I sure as hell ain’t calling it down to us.”

“Take me back to my cell,” she suggested, turning, but was stopped.

“Ely, I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Kallan told the crew you were my son. If they suspect me already, they’ll use you. If they get close enough, they’ll find out about you. I was going to wait to get you out, wait until the ship landed, but there’s no time for that anymore.”

She shivered and banded her arms around her middle, pulling the lapels of Gunner’s jacket further over her body, wanting to drown in it. His eyes caught her movements and narrowed.

“Where did you get that jacket?”

Her hands dropped. “I got it from one of the prisoners.”

“I don’t remember any prisoner wearing a jacket like that near us.” Her dad reached out and gripped the sleeve. Elodie pulled away, not wanting him to touch it.

“Someone new showed up. He offered his jacket for information.”

“And you gave it to him? I heard there was a new prisoner, don’t remember seeing him when I got you.” The suspicion in his voice was evident. It made her wary. Why did she feel guarded? Bringing up the existence of Gunner, and everything that had transpired between them, was something secretive and hers. She and her dad had never been forthright with each other but they had also never withheld pertinent information. Regardless, her throat closed up.

“For the jacket, yes. It was either mine, Royce’s, or Kallan’s.”

He narrowed his eyes further but knocked his chin and let it drop.

I can’t go back. She looked at the ceiling and where the holes in the pipes were—where she now knew the security feed was.

“Do you think they can see us?” she asked.

“I don’t know. The system’s been on the fritz, everything is haywire.”

Elodie didn’t know if they were watching her, didn’t know if he was seeing her, but she hoped he was. Chesnik turned the body over at her feet and it was another man she recognized. Another cretin.

“Is there a place we can hide?”

“Follow me,” he said after a moment’s thought.

They made their way down another corridor, in the direction they came from, until the hallways went from smooth walls to pipes and metal rods, thicker grates, and puffs of steam. A latched door was at the end that clicked open with her dad’s keycard. She knew it for what it was: the engine room. A place she had made her home in countless ships, on countless jobs.

With her belly roiling, and her heart hurting, she followed her dad down into the machines, hoping that she wasn’t making a mistake.

Her gaze stayed on her dad’s back.

She knew it was Gunner who had killed those guards.

She knew she’d made a deal with the devil.

And he would find her.