Overwhelming Fear

Posted on Sat Nov 1st, 2025 @ 10:41pm by Lieutenant Malcom Hunt

527 words; about a 3 minute read

Mission: Vinyl and Void
Location: Hunt's Quarters

Walking down the corridors of a Federation that felt familiar yet was alien to him. The faces of the crew he saw in passing were strangers. This was followed by the overwhelming feeling of something tragic was about to take place. But Malcom had no way of expressing that to the strangers around him. The further he continued down the corridor the more and more crowded it become. It was filled with civilians, enlisted, officers and there were even children among by passers. Something was definitely wrong. The lights in the corridor suddenly shutdown. Screams could be heard from all those who had around him. Then abruptly the screams turned into silence.

The Lieutenant stopped moving as the silence turned into a moan that was followed by another, then another. Moans coming from all directions and then the emergency lights came on which gave a flickering red glow of the corridor. The moans were coming the people around him. They went from quickly moving about their day, to a slow dragging among the corridors. Malcom tried not to stare directly, but he couldn't help himself. What he saw completely horrified him. They were all dead yet walking around. Moments ago, they were all going about their business. But now they were all dead. Completely covered in burns, some missing body parts. The condition of the ship was damaged. It looked as if some explosion had taken place, but somehow the ship remained intact. A small child reached his dead had to him grabbing on to his leg. Without think, he kicked the hand away of the child who growled in reaction.

Hunt realized that other dead were reaching towards him, pushing his way through the crowd of the dead. The man tried to find safety, but the more he ventured through the corridor the more dead he found himself fighting through. Several emotions overwhelmed him all at once: fear, empathy, sorrow. "I'm sorry." These were the words that came out of his mouth over and over again, right before he found himself screaming. Completely swarmed, Malcom continued to scream as he was pulled down the floor.

Malcom sat up in the middle of the night, completely covered in sweat. Located in his bed, he breathed hard with his sheets also wet. Looking around, he hoped the sheets were only covered in sweat and didn't actually piss himself from the nightmare. Being the sole survivor, there was quite a bit of guilt he felt when the Arcada rescued him. But he had no clue that it would be this bad. Climbing out of bed, he went over to the bathroom and turned on the sink allowing the water to run warm. Cupping a handful of water, Malcom rubbed it all over his face.

At the first opportunity, Hunt would seek out the counselor. The last thing he needed was another night like this one. Returning back to the bed there was a bit of hesitation. Malcome opted to sit on the couch and avoid rushing back to sleep. This seemed like the right time to catch up on some peaceful reading.

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Lieutenant Malcom Hunt
Chief Helmsman
USS Arcadia

 

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