He will not leave Marie behind.

(This branch will be different from Orchas, due to me wanting to take the story in a different way. I enjoyed his writings immensely, and you should read them as well!)

Nicholas, pistol in hand, moved up to defend Marie. With well-placed shots and Marie utilizing her weapon, both were able to survive the onslaught long enough for the elevator to be swapped out. Once the dust settled, gore and corpses littered the floor around them. For the time being, the ship was once again eerily quiet. Thanking Nicholas for backing her up with a simple nod, Marie clicked into her comm to reach Samson.

"Samson, we swapped out the elevator. Nicholas and I are heading back right now." Samson uttered out an affirmative and the two crew-mates started on their way. Moving through the maintenance tunnels with a surprising spring in their step, both were excited to get back and relink up with Samson and the other crew. While moving, keeping her blade handy, Marie eyed the young pilot that had stood by her.

"Thank you for sticking by me Nick. I know how scary it can be to fight these things..." She trailed off, hoping to improve the morale of her fellow crew-member. However, Nick said nothing in reply, only keeping his eyes open for any enemies. Marie took it as a small victory, and concentrated on getting back to Samson.

Eventually, the duo rounded the corner and met back up with Samson. Happy to see them both, Samson's noteworthy smile lit up the mess hall. The hefty captain clapped both on the shoulder as they moved towards the holographic map still laying on the nearby mess hall table. With the elevator swapped out, the crew could now get to the bridge and find the other survivors.

"Now that we have access, we can move as a team and get to the bridge. Hopefully, the bridge crew are still flying this ship..." Samson didn't finish that thought, and he closed the map as they packed up. Marie was incredibly happy to finally have company, and the four of them were high on morale at this point. All that was left was linking up at the bridge, and then they could leave this nightmare.

Moving with a purpose to the bridge elevator, Marie quietly prayed that her sister was included with the survivors.