Escape

"No," she rasped, stumbling backward, hand clutching her belly protectively even as bile rose in her throat.

You can't fight this. You have to get out.

The tendrils slithered toward her, but she was already moving, ducking beneath a crashing girder and sprinting for the far access hatch.

The corrupted captain's voice followed her, a guttural purr that vibrated through the ship itself:

"You cannot run from what is inside you..."

Ignoring the scream of her abused muscles, she shoved herself through the maintenance crawlspace, heart hammering in her ears. Every inch of her body ached, every step sent shudders of sickening fullness through her—but she kept moving.

Somewhere on the ship, there would be an escape pod. There had to be.

If she could reach it—

If she could eject into the void before whatever this was completed itself—

Maybe she still had a chance.

Maybe she could outrun the monstrous future that had been **** into her body.

She would find a way.

She had to.