0-SA (The Last Ship Series)

Chapter Three: The Invited and the Uninvited

"Alright, yeah, there we go! Done." Raven climbed off the ladder after finishing up the net. She put her hands on her hips, "It might not hold him, but at least we'll be able to take a shot."

Jacques looked over the netting, "Looks good. Let's get to one of the rooms to rest for the night. We'll work in shifts." The male started down the hallway.

William rubbed his face, "I can't wait to get back to base and take this damn thing off my face. He groaned a bit. The male looked at Raven, then back at Jacques and Sage, "They act like this is gonna be so easy." As they walked down the hall, William came to a halt, his tablet had started beeping, "Woah, Woah we got movement."

Sage pulled her gun off her back, "Shit, Shit!" She whispered in a frustrated tone, her index already on the trigger.

Raven flipped the switch on her belt, a small pistol in her holster quickly snapped out of the locked position, "What do we do now Captain?"

"Move to the room, now! We don't know if it's him. Get a move on, now!" Jacques gestured towards the door. A loud screech could be heard. He glanced back at them, quickly urging them in before closing the door. The room had a curtain, more so a office setting. "Get back, against the wall, all of you." The roar could be heard again, only now it was much closer. Two of them. Both infected, "Shit, it's not our guy."

Raven peeked out the window, her body tensed a bit as she watched the creatures moving down the hall, "We need to kill them."

"No no, we'd risk making the healthy one back off. For all we know he's close. We've gotten way to far to risk backing off now."

"So what? We wait? Until it not for fact, only by chance, decides to show up? We put ourselves in a cornered room with not one, TWO of them, and if he does show, that puts us up to fighting off THREE of them for all of us to deal with." William didn't agree with any of this by any means.

"There's four of us." Sage spoke up.

"Yeah, and one of them is hard for two or three of us to kill sometimes without the truck." Raven shook her head, "This is a death trap."

Another roar was heard, but this one was different. Raven looked out the window, suddenly gasping out, "Shit.."

"What? What's wrong?" William moved over slowly.

"It's him. The Irinaut we've been looking for. It, it looks like he's wearing a tank, and a mask." Raven tilted her head to the side as she watched him with the other two Irinaut's, who were very obviously upset with his arrival.

"Let me see." Jacques peeked out, looking at the Irinaut. The alien was in a dark blue cloak that was hooded over his head. The full face mask over his face. His canine like feet had blackened talons, and his skin was a dark amethyst color, a few streaks of golden light could occasionally be seen peeking out. The male nodded his head, "Yeah, that's him."

"Why isn't he helping the other Irinaut's?" Sage watched out the door window.

"Considering they are looking pretty pissed off at him, I don't think this is a happy reunion." Raven watched him step back as the other two approached him, even holding up his hands oddly enough as if he were trying to calm them both down, "What the hell..? Oh shit, look out!"

Suddenly the masked Irinaut slammed through the glass and back into the wall. The male hissed, struggling to stand as it seemed to be checking it's mask in a frantic manner. As if looking for cracks.

"Move! Move now!" Sage ran out of the room, pointing her rifle at the infected and taking the shot, but not doing much damage, "Fuck! I left my other ammunition down the first wing we cleared. All I have is tranquilizers! Shit.." Her eyes locked with the beasts. It's skin white, a black sludge dripping front it's mouth and those red spots swelling and covering the being's body. Some in giant masses. Sage suddenly backed down the hall, "You two, knock him out!" The woman suddenly bolted down the opposite hall of Jacques, glancing back frantically as she saw the beast following behind on all fours.

As she ran past her bag, she grabbed it rather quickly, "Shit, shit!" She put herself against the wall, trying as quickly as she could to find ammunition to defend herself and the others.

"No! Obtain the target! Kill the infected!" Jacques began to shoot at them, leading one to the trapped wings, "Keep shooting it! Knock them out!"

William pulled on Raven, "Raven, Raven we have to go. We have to go now!" He looked at the hooded Irinaut, "What the hell are you doing!?"

Raven and the Irinaut had locked eyes. The two frozen as they stared at each other. This bright, golden hue could be seen beneath it's blacked out mask.

"What are you doing? Run!" He stumbled out the door, seeing Jacques was fighting one at the door, and the other, Sage had managed to trap one in the net at end of the hall. All the while, William was dragging Raven with him, "Get out of there!"

Raven had snapped out of it as he pulled her from the room. Her ears were ringing as she looked down the hall. Just as she did Sage had taken the shot on the beast that had been netted, "William! Help Jacques!" Sage screamed out, quickly making her way back down the hall herself, "Where's the target!?" Sage was running back down the hall, all the while trying to reload her weapon and get back to Jacques.

"In the room! It's in the room!" Raven looked towards the other live infected. Her heart was throbbing. Everything was moving so fast.

"Ah! Get the target! Fuck! Sage shoot this fucker off the door!" Jacques had braced himself in the room with a table flipped up on it's side. The man yelled out, "Come on!"

Sage suddenly locked the mag in place, aiming at the infected, "What the fuck do you think I'm trying to do!?" She took the shot at it's back, and continued to fire.

All the while, Raven had her gun pointed at the other Irinaut, "If, if we shoot the tanks we'll kill it."

"Then you better have a damn good aim!" The Irinaut that was pursuing Jacques was on the ground, gasping for air, her weapon quickly turned to the last Irinaut, her gun pointed directly at him.

The Irinaut just, watched. It slowly cocked it's head to the side before standing. Jacques had gotten out of the room and was now with the other three troops. His weapon pointed at the Irinaut, who oddly hadn't even attempted to attack them. He looked at Sage's gun, then the body down the hall. The beast was breathing heavily before letting out a low screech. The barrel suddenly began to turn on Sage, her arms fighting her, attempting to turn the gun on her.

"W-What the fucks going on?" Sage looked at the estranged Irinaut, "Someone take the fucking shot! Someone help!" Jacques was tugging on the gun, all the while the Irinaut just, watched.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Raven suddenly started to unload her gun into the Irinaut's leg, the tranquilizers injecting into his veins. It roared, suddenly throwing it's hand towards Raven; sending her slamming back into the wall. She gasped out as the wind was knocked from her lungs, her head was spinning. Words couldn't escape her mouth. The woman pulled herself to the corner, watching the Irinaut run down the hall, but clearly seeming to slow down. She struggled with the remote on her sash, hitting the button.

The net in the north quarter fell. The weights slamming down on the floor. The Irinaut stumbled, falling down into the net and beginning to kick, but slowly stopping, seeming to lose consciousness after the rows of tranquilizers in it's left leg had taken effect.

Jacques walked over to the Irinaut, staring down at the sleeping beast, "We got him..fucking hell we got him."