SET Initiative

Addie shook her head, puzzled expression in place.

"I..honestly don't know, last thing I remember, you were driving, then you blacked out..I think we went into a ditch, I don't remember anything after I hit the windshield.. I think that's what I hit, anyway."

At his next words, she nodded. "We can start heading there now.. sooner we get out of here, the better, I think.." She managed to sit up, though not pulling away entirely from h comforting gesture. "I wish we could find you a suit too, might help with your leg."

Austin pursed his lips. That was odd. How did they make it all the way to the checkpoint after crashing in the car and not remember? And without any injuries from the crash?

Apparently they made it, though. And promptly went separate directions and collapsed.

Austin decided he'd worry about it more after they'd made it safely back on the ground.

"A suit would help a lot. I don't think we have very much time to just go looking around...." He trailed off. "Hold on." An idea had seized him.

"Gosh, I'm an idiot." Was mumbled under his breath before he looked at Addie with an excited look for the first time. "If the ship still has power, that means the communications tower should still work. We could send out a distress signal and hold out until someone picks it up. I guarantee if we try and make contact with one of the other two ships somebody is bound to hear us."

It wasn't quite the foolproof plan that "Make it to the checkpoint in Ft. Worth and we'll be saved" was, but it wasn't exactly a long shot. The fact that there were two other SET cruisers combined with the fact that survivors had been rescued prior to total takeover on earth meant that at least somebody had to be out there. A gigantic cruiser's communication tower had to have a little bit of range, especially if it's designed to be in space.

"We could make it out of this nightmare in one piece. No more aimless running. It'll be over." A smile of excitement and hope made its way across Austin's face. It wasn't sad. Not skeptical or forced. He was cheerful. "If we can get to the comm tower, I could get in and try and establish contact with someone else. And of course send out a distress beacon." You could practically see the numbers and logic running across his eyes.

"What do you think?"

She was startled by the sudden change in his attitude. She hadn't seen him legitimately cheerful since..heck, since probably the first week or two when he showed up to help them.

She mulled it over in her mind, studying his face. He seemed so confident that it would work, and, once she really thought about it, it made sense. There had to be someone else out there, right?

Finally, she nodded her agreement. "Alright, let's do it. If you're really sure that you can do it, then I'm in." She couldn't help but smile back, feeling encouraged by him for the first time in a really, really long time. "It's a little crazy, but.. I'm exhausted. I'm tired of running." She confessed, chewing her lower lip as she gave it a final thought, then nodded once more.

"How do we find it? Any idea which way? I'm assuming up, doubt they'd put it in the middle of a ship."

Austin's instincts spoke before he could try to remember: "10th floor."

He was silent a moment longer. Then, "there's probably an elevator somewhere nearby. Can you stand up?" Of course she was. She just told him not more than a minute ago that they could leave right this very moment.

Once they stood up and made their way through the door, (Austin leaning on Addie for support,) Austin looked around the space nearby before they headed onward towards the elevator.

They reached the elevator uneventfully. The glowing number "10" in a big blue font was a very welcome sight. Austin pushed the button next to it and closed his eyes with a sigh. They were almost there.

Addie kept an arm around Austin, under his shoulder to keep him supported. She did her best to keep her limping to a minimum, not wanting to concern the man, but she clenched her jaw shut.

Once inside the elevators, she leaned against the wall, shutting her own eyes. The numbers ticked up, and up, until...

Addie's eyes snapped open. They were on floor 9. Butit was stopped. And there was a very low growling coming from...somewhere. She slowly turned to glance at Austin, and mouthed 'what the hell was that?'.

Before she waited any longer, she pulled her rifle free, handing him the plasma pistol from her thigh. They were so close. SO close, and she was NOT about to let something stop them now.

Austin had just barely taken the pistol from Addie's hand when the elevator lurched downward. He was frozen for a second before looking at Addie and shifting his eyes up at the ceiling, then back at her. He mouthed the word "Infected."

Something was above them.

Their plasma couldn't do much against the metal ceiling of the elevator. Austin waited for a moment before the growling grew louder. This one knew what it had in its claws.

"On my mark, we shoot it."

Addie nodded. She carefully moved to stand beside him, not only for a better angle to shoot at, but because she was suddenly terrified, and didn't want to stand off by herself.

Glancing down at her rifle, ensuring it was reaady, she quickly aimed it up, waiting for his word to start shooting.

The infected began to scrape against the metal ceiling, likely as Austin had planned, and before long, the ceiling began to dip down, and the scratching and scraping grew louder. Any second now, that thing was going to burst through the ceiling into the small metal box they were in.

Austin mentally counted upward as the creature began clawing. This thing was strong. Less than two minutes and it was through.

As soon as the metal was dented enough to allow the creature's weight to carry it through, Austin nodded at Addie and opened fire. Luckily the plasma weapons weren't very loud, otherwise they (or at least Austin) would be deaf.

The elevator swung around enough to make a claustrophobe scream. The creature was dead, but then again Addie and Austin might share its fate here in a second.

Then more growling could be heard. Louder this time because there was a giant gaping hole in the ceiling.

Luckily it was a bigger elevator. More industrial: a few extra square feet to spare in the tiny space they had. Unfortunately for them, too many Infected would make the size of the elevator matter very little in the next few minutes.

"We need to find a way out of here, now."

Addie glanced around frantically. If they went up, they'd probably run into more infected. But they needed to go up. If they went down, they'd at least have a chance to get away. And who knew what was through the door on the 9th floor. but there had to be stairs, right?

She nodded towards the door. "I think we gotta get out of here and try and seal it off, then we can look for another way up. Otherwise, we're just bait sitting here." She started for the door, glancing back to him.

"If you have any other ideas, now would be a good time to share them, Austin."

Ten minutes. Ten minutes was the amount of time it takes to get a radio message to Mars. That's five minutes for the sending message, and another five to receive a reply.

Our dynamic duo had about 3.

Austin held back the doors with adrenaline-fueled rage, a plasma-powered assault shotgun, and a few heavy objects. He had shown Addison how to use the radio, (relatively simple,) and made her keep the suit for insurance.

But let's back up. We're getting ahead of ourselves here. The elevator, right.

The doors were open already. Floor nine was control as much as ten was. Ten just had more to do with radio transmissions and nine was more command of the ship itself.

Each had its purpose on the ship: Nine was an inevitable obstacle, ten was the goal.

Austin nodded and followed Addie quickly (despite the limp,) out the doors. "Wherever the Infected are coming from, it's in the elevator shaft. They're less likely to be on this floor. Lower floors have more food." But lo and behold, the instant the words left his lips, a growling noise came from the hall nearest to their right.

Way to jinx it, buddy.

Austin just sighed an "Oh, not this again," sigh and rolled his eyes. "C'mon," he whispered before leading the way as fast as he could limp towards the stairs.

... That was painful. Austin promised himself he'd never go up another staircase again. He and Addie had both had to stop multiple times to help each other up when the other was too tired.

Funny thing was, the staircase was only about two stories high.

"I'm an old man..." Austin thought to himself as he felt an ache in his back and his knees pop.

Eventually they reached the top, and surprise, surprise. There was the radio tower. It wasn't actually a tower. Just a room with a set of double doors.

Little did either of them know that it was about to become the set for one of the most cliche and overdone horror movie scenes ever.

~~~~

"... And if you hear any responses, lemme know. I'll be on guard at the doors."

Dun dun DUNNNNNN.

Addie sat. And waited. And waited.

She knew they couldn't sit there forever. They didn't need forever, though. Ten minutes was all they needed. It couldn't be that bad, right?

Oh, it definitely could be.

Austin was guarding the doors, and from the sound of things, it wasn't going well. This was their last chance. If they were going to live, after everything they had been through, every single hope rode on that magic number.

For a moment, she just shut her eyes, and listened. Even though she knew they could have responded yet, maybe there was a chance they had.

Years passed. Decades. Centuries. The sun might as well have imploded.


Austin's muscles were straining, and he only took a break to grab his gun and shoot back the Infected who we're getting too close for comfort. Everything hurt.

Luckily there were transports being launched from Europe. They had intercepted the transmission.

"This is Daniel Jackson with the SET Initiative, does anybody copy? Over."

The first hit to Austin's side took him by surprise. An Infected had gotten lucky enough to reach its unnaturally long arm through the slowly widening crack in the doors. They were automatic and designed to take a hit, but the Infected had adapted beyond that. Austin felt himself becoming obsolete.

"Addie?!" He asked anxiously. His left leg was suddenly going numb. The growling noises increased to an unbearable volume- They knew there was new flesh to add to their ranks.

Addie practically jumped up.

"This is Addison Scott, I'm with Austin Ross with the SET Initiative. We are on board transporter.."She scanned the screen in front of her. "25A, we're about 80 KM from your current location, and we are about to be overrun. Please respond, over."

For a few moments, there was nothing. Addie pushed down to talk again.

"SET operative and civilian in immediate danger, please send back up, over."

She glanced back to Austin, looking like she was about to cry.

"There's someone theree but I don't know if they're coming."

Austin's back was to the doors- The Infected's attack had slowed to the point that he didn't need to press back anymore. It was weird.

He didn't worry about that for now, though.

"What'd they say? Who was it?" This was it. It had to be.

Then the ship rumbled. Austin was thrown off his feet.

The power went out for a very brief, very horrifying second. And then the backup generators came on. The artificial gravity was dead, and now they were floating in a giant room with no way out.

"I copy, Ms. Scott. Boarding now, over."

It was only a matter of time...

A relieved look washed over Austin's face before the doors were ripped apart suddenly.

He was without a weapon.

The first one was smart. It jumped right up and grabbed him, landing on the ceiling. It was skinny and tall, and had long fingers.

Austin landed a good punch to the face and hoped for the best.

Addie felt her heart leap. They were coming for them.

If they could make it in time.

The doors ripped apart, and beforeshe knew it, Austin was pinned to the ceiling by a long-fingered, skinny one. Though she was now spinning through the air, she reached out to grab something, anything to balance herself. She had to get a shot off, she had to get that thing off of him.

She finally held on to a lever on the wall with one hand, and aimed with the pistol from her thigh. God, she couldn't hit Austin. She held her breath. There was no way she'd be able to not hit him. What else could she do?

Addie propelled herself off of the wall towards them. Since she had the boost from the suit, she grabbed on to the thing, and with aa bit of effort, wrenched Austin away, throwing him in the direction she came from.

Austin was desperate to make sure he didn't sustain any more cuts. The problem here was that he was in the hands of one whose fingers were like razors.

Ouch.

Thank God for Addie. She saved his life for the umpteenth time, unceremoniously tossing him back at what was the floor.

He landed with an 'umph' and looked up to see more Infected getting in.

The ship shuddered again.

"Ms. Scott, be advised that the creatures have found their way to the generators. We recommend you find a suit for yourself and your operative if he isn't wearing one already." Came the man's advice. If Addie were wearing her helmet, she would be hooked up to the radio system and hear it. If not, they were both screwed.


Addie's troubles with the lankier Infected were over quickly- It was easily disabled with plasma fire.

Unfortunately, there were a ton of other monsters trying to make their way in the doors. The lack of gravity wasn't a big deal for some of the lighter and quicker forms, but the heavier ones were finding it hard to move around in the zero gravity environment.

"Addie! Beneath you!" Austin said belatedly; Another Infected- This one a little bigger than the one she tackled- jumped up and tried to pin her to the ceiling. Austin looked around frantically for a weapon and something to launch himself off of.

Thankfully, Addie had been wearing her helmet, so she shouted at Austin. "Get a suit!" She reached to her back and tossed the plasma rifle in his direction, just moments before ahe found herself pinned to the ceiling.

Grunting, she thrashed, trying to free herself, reaching desperately for her pistol, but it was spinning just out of reach, knocked out of her hand by the impact of the infected.

She didn't know if Austin had that rifle. She couldn't wait to find out. She had learned by now that she was going to have to save herself. She wasn't so sure she could this time. Bending, she got one leg planted against the thing's chest, and pushed x as hard as she could.

Unfortunately for her, even with the suit, it was stronger.

It pushed right back x and there was a sickening crunch as her femur gave out with the pressure. The pain was unbelievable, and she screamed, wrenching and arm loose in the sudden adrenaline rush from having a broken limb, and punched, as hard as she could. Hopefully it was enough.

Austin sighed. The Infected found the generators. He was without a suit, and Addie just told him to grab one. What, was he supposed to just make one out of scrap?

Maybe if he had a few months.

Now wasn't the time to worry about that, though. He barely caught the rifle in time to hear Addie scream in pain.

He probably set the world record for the most plasma shots sent off in a five second span at a single target.

After that, what happened was a blur. The lights went out and were replaced by red flashing ones- an airlock had been opened and was left open. The air was going to go out fast.

Austin was doubled over in pain with the cuts and slices on his torso, letting go of the rifle.

And then something odd happened: The infected retreated. Austin doubted it was out of fear. There were supposedly other SET Operatives on board now, after all. The few that stayed behind had seen their friend fried. They held tentatively back at the doors, watching. The airlock was open, so these two would die eventually.

Austin kicked off of the floor towards Addie and caught her.

"Where does it hurt?"

Addie clutched her leg. Even through the suit, it was just at a really unhealthy angle. She bit her lip. The pain was almost too much. "My leg." She squeaked out. There wasn't time for her, though. "Austin, we have to find you a suit before you get.." She shook her head. With a cry of pain mixed with effort,she pushed away from him, to the rifle.

"C'mon, we gotta snag one of the dead operatives. Try ans see if you can close that airlock from here." She turned towards the infected. They were close. They were so close to being rescued, and she was NOT about to let Austin suffocate. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned and all that, and Addison Scott was definitely furious.

With her good leg, she braced herself on something, and just fired into the remaining few infected by the door.

After two of them were fried like their friend, they seemed to scatter, and Addie shoved off ti the door, wincing. She felt like she was about to pass out from the pain..

No. Austin. She had to find him a suit.

Austin nodded, and then shook his head.

"Okay, shh.. We're okay. I'm okay. It's over. We've got a rescue team on the way," He said as he tried to hold her back from moving. "Just keep still."

He tried to keep the rifle out of her reach- The infected weren't moving right now anyway- but she managed to get it anyway. After they scattered, he just hugged her tight. "Alright, they're almost here now. Any minute..."

And speak of the devil: There they were. The makeshift transport crew-turned-rescue team.

Austin turned back and waved, then looked at Addie. "Here they are. We're safe."