Science Fiction Short Stories (Once Apart of Wattpad's SmackDown Competition)

1.1 ~ Alone

He must have heard her crying, for he called her name. 

Before she could respond, the music immediately ceased. Darkness engulfed the whole ship.

Crescent turned in her chair with wide eyes and listened to the murmur of the power winding down.

After a moment of deafening silence, the backup power roared. The lights returned a bright red. Instead of music, the comms reverberated with bassy alarm.

“Cr—s—nt are—okay?”

As she fixed her gaze down the hall, her next breath rolled across her tongue like razor blades. 

“He’s here. He found us.”

“Who’s—”

She pushed off her headset. It crashed to the floor by her feet. The little voice continued to sound from them, but she couldn't hear it. 

She took a deep breath and marched forward to the beat of the siren. Everything was red: the walls, her hands, the door. 

When she arrived, she looked through the window and saw Star. She didn’t take her eyes off of her as she pressed her hand up against the scanner.

But the scanner buzzed and the door did not open. Her heart dropped. She tried again. Her eyes turned desperate. She slammed her hand so hard into the scanner, it tingled with splintering pain. 

She then traced the wall to the metal box beside the door. Prying at it was no use, it was secured shut. 

Stepping back, she focused on taming her heavy breathing. Then she remembered. 

She rushed to the cockpit and smashed the safety glass with her elbow. When she returned, she charged at the metal box with a fire axe lifted high above her head. It split the dusty lock in two. The lid came swinging open, and she hastefully put her hands to work on the exposed wires. 

She chewed at the red one and then combined it with the other—but to no avail. After trying a different combination, the door still would not open. 

When she looked, there was a stranger behind the narrow glass—a man. She was too late.

Crescent rushed to the door and pounded at it. 

“You stay away from her!!”

The man looked at her. She held her breath. She knew right then: that was no man. 

Tears rapidly pooled in her eyes. Her breath fogged the glass, but she could still see his crooked smile. 

“No!” She slammed her fists into the door.

He reached for his belt and retrieved a curved blade. He held it up, before her sleeping sister. He made sure she saw it. With his other hand, he raised a finger to his lips.

Crescent screamed at the thick glass. 

From her waist, she whipped out her electric blades and lunged for the box, stabbing the wires. She screamed in pain as the flesh of her hands endured the burning blue heat of the overflowing current.

The heavy metal door sprang open.

Her fire axe led her charge. She saw the back of his head and swung at it. 

But with near unnatural speed, he turned and caught her arm mid swing. 

Her eyes widened. The jagged blade dove to meet her side. She caught it before it did.

The very next second, he threw his head so hard into her own, she stumbled back, dropping the axe along the way. 

Without any time to recover, he had mercilessly pursued her and landed a fierce blow to her stomach. She struggled for air. 

“You’re pathetic,” he hissed.

While hunched over, his knee came up and stuck her in the chin. She choked on something thick and hot.

“You want to be just like them don’t you?”

The taste of sweat, tears, and blood riddled her mouth. She calculated his next swing and blocked it with her forearm. She moved quick, and with her other arm, pierced the air before his chest with the tip of her electric blade.

His hand wrapped around her blocking arm and gripped at her hair. He twisted around before her blade could reach him. 

When he was already behind her, Crescent cried in pain, instinctively reaching for her burning scalp. He yanked her head back. 

“Well now, you can."

Ripping pain tore through her side. She gasped. Shock flooded every corner of her body—so much so, she couldn't react: all she could do was stare, wide eyed, at her sister she failed save.

“You can join them!”

The blade retracted quickly, and her body heaved dramatically. She hovered her hands before the gushing chasm in her flesh and collapsed to the floor. The pain was so extraordinary that it completely consumed her mind as she coughed and sputtered on the floor.

“The legacy of the human race is pain and weakness and death. I just gave you the full experience. Consider it a parting gift.”

Crescent attempted to speak.

“What was that?” 

She swallowed the blood and repeated: “Traitor.”

He closed his eyes, looked away, then smiled. "The traitors are the ones who choose the humans over us.”

Crescent lifted her head to him with hateful eyes.

“Let me show you what happens to traitors," he said.

He turned his back to her and started for her sister, his curved blade dripping with her blood.

She grunted painfully as she reached for her side and felt her other knife. With all her might, she pried herself from the floor. Splintering pain—like a thousand cuts—tore through her side as she wound her shoulder.

The short, electric knife shot through the air, right past him. He looked back at her with a mocking smile. But the moment he saw the determination in hers, fear crept into his face, like he knew the blade wasn’t meant for him.

When he turned around, he met Star’s open, yellow eyes in his final moments.

Crescent collapsed once more and as she was dying, she felt—she felt...