<Author's Comments> Yes, readers, another one. This'll probably be shorter, so don't fret. Maybe I'll even put it all in one chapter [probs not]. AND WHY IS THE SPACING SO FUNKY??
I am the eighth of twelve.
I could feel myself stumble out of the machine, fully thawed. As soon as I could see, I noticed a man in the middle of the chamber breathing heavily and holding some sort of pad in his hand.
“You’re out now.” He sounded dazed; insane. I stumbled backwards as he approached me. His face was soon inches from mine. His breath reeked of human flesh. “So,” he chuckled, “Charles Lovve. Haven’t seen you in a long time.”
“Sayn Mann?” I remembered his name. “What are you . . .?”
“Doing?” he cocked his head to one side. “Thinking? Planning? Becoming? Eating? Let me tell you,” he licked his chapped lips and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a knife.
My muscles were weak. This was proven as I reached up to clock Sayn in the face. The bones in my hand and the muscles in my arm screamed with pain as Sayn and his knife hit the hard ground.
“. . . Once the controls are taken, you may steer the Maknae 257 towards your selected destination . . .” I noticed a robotic female voice playing in the background. I realized it was trying to remind me of my mission, but I had already remembered what it was. I was in a spaceship, floating aimlessly through the universe with a cannibal laying unconscious on the floor.
I took a good look around. I was in a circular chamber, with a chair and control panel in the middle. Built into the front wall was a thin window that stretched across the plain, revealing the stars beyond. On the opposite wall were twelve tube-like pods. Eight of them were empty. Four had opaque yellow glass over, revealing no secrets. All of the chambers had names above. The one I came out of read Charles Lovve.” One of the others had Sayn Mann across the top. I approached the unconscious body of Sayn Mann.
It was a human! A real human! He might have been an insane one, but still. A human.
“Bloody hell,” I rolled the man onto his back with my foot. Under him was that pad he had been holding. I picked it up and poked the screen. It instantly lit up, showing twelve different little buttons. Eight were red, the other four green. I tapped a red one, and nothing happened. Pursing my lips, I pressed a green one.
The button I pressed flashed yellow, and then glared an angry red. The green chamber closest to the one with my name on it hissed and formed some mist. The dense yellow glass popped out a few centimetres, then slid to the side. Out stumbled a girl of no more than twenty years. Her short black hair was a mess; dark green eyes lined with tiredness. Her flesh looked mottled. I saw by the label on her chamber that her name was Jennifer Paige.
As she opened her eyes and looked around, I said, “You’re out now.”
“Who . . .?”
“Charles Lovve,” I stepped up to her and stuck out my hand for a shake. When she grasped it, her hand was cool. It felt strange to have a human touch me. “And you’re Jennifer Paige?”
She thought for a moment, and then nodded. “Yeah. Jenny Paige.”
Two humans now. Unconscious cannibal and confused woman. I was beginning to feel claustrophobic.
She let go of my hand and looked out the front window at the stars, her skin going back to normal as she warmed up. Her hand went up and gently touched the glass.
