The station groaned again, the deep reverberation sending chills through John’s spine. The sound wasn’t just noise—it carried weight, like something massive shifting in the unseen corridors ahead.

  John tightened his grip on his sidearm, glancing at the others. "Alright, so we all heard that, right? Not just me?"

  Ka’rak raised a hand, signaling silence. His reptilian eyes narrowed as he listened intently. Zylen, standing just behind him, barely breathed. Even Vrixibalt, usually preoccupied with his scientific curiosity, had gone unnervingly still.

  The silence stretched. The flickering lights overhead sputtered, casting erratic shadows.

  Then, another sound—this time softer. A wet, dragging noise, followed by the faint clatter of something metallic hitting the floor.

  John exhaled slowly. "Yeah, okay, that’s worse."

  Ryiq turned toward the nearest wall panel, his fingers moving across the cracked surface. "We need a layout of this place. If we don’t know where we’re going, we could end up wandering into something we don’t want to meet."

  Vrixibalt snapped out of his trance and rushed to assist, his eyes scanning the data with urgency. "I’ve managed to recover partial schematics. The central research hub should be two levels down. If we can reach it, we might be able to access more logs."

  John stared down the shadowed hallway. "Let me guess. That means getting closer to whatever the hell made that noise?"

  Ka’rak grunted. "Likely."

  "Great."

  The group moved cautiously, weapons ready. The halls of the station felt like a tomb, the silence pressing down on them. Occasionally, emergency lights flickered to life, casting eerie, shifting glows across the metallic surfaces.

  John kept close to Vrixibalt, who was intently studying his scanner. "So, hypothetically speaking," John muttered, "if we do run into something ugly, what’s the game plan?"

  Ka’rak answered without hesitation. "We shoot."

  John sighed. "See, that’s why I like you, Ka’rak. Always straightforward."

  As they passed a shattered viewport, John caught a glimpse of the void beyond. The station’s exterior was riddled with jagged scars—chunks of metal torn away as if something had eaten through it. He swallowed hard.

  Zylen suddenly stopped, eyes fixed on the floor. "Wait. Look at this."

  John followed his gaze and felt his stomach drop.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Footprints. Not just any footprints—fresh ones.

  John rubbed his face. "Oh, come on."

  Vrixibalt knelt, analyzing the prints. "Humanoid. Larger than us. The depth suggests something heavy."

  "How fresh are we talking?" John asked, feeling his nerves tighten.

  Vrixibalt hesitated before answering. "Within the last few minutes."

  John groaned. "Oh, fantastic. We’re not alone."

  Ka’rak raised his rifle. "Good. I was getting bored."

  The team pressed forward, more cautious than before. As they reached the entrance to a stairwell leading downward, the walls became stranger. The metallic surfaces were covered in more of the organic growth they had seen earlier—veins of something dark, pulsing faintly under the dim light.

  John reached out and touched the wall. It was warm.

  Vrixibalt scanned the growths. "This... isn't just organic. It’s alive."

  John yanked his hand back. "I’m sorry, what?"

  Before anyone could respond, the noise returned—this time closer.

  A low, guttural clicking. A wet scraping against metal.

  Ka’rak raised his weapon just as a shape emerged from the darkness ahead.

  The thing was big. Seven feet tall, humanoid but twisted. Its body was a grotesque fusion of flesh and metal, long limbs ending in jagged, claw-like appendages. Its head was elongated, featureless except for a deep fissure where a mouth should be, emitting the unsettling clicking sound.

  John’s brain screamed nope.

  The creature twitched, then lunged.

  Ka’rak fired first. A burst of plasma hit the creature square in the chest, sending it staggering backward, but it didn’t go down. Instead, it shrieked—a sound so piercing it sent a painful vibration through the walls.

  "Okay!" John shouted, raising his own weapon. "So that’s a thing!"

  Ryiq fired next, aiming for the legs. This time, the creature buckled, its claws scraping against the floor as it struggled to stay upright. But it wasn’t alone. From the darkness behind it, more figures stirred.

  "Move!" Ka’rak barked, shoving John toward the stairwell.

  They ran.

  Downward they fled, the creatures shrieking behind them. The stairwell twisted, the emergency lights flickering as if the station itself was panicking.

  Vrixibalt gasped between breaths. "This confirms—this station wasn’t abandoned. It was sealed."

  John didn’t like the implications of that. "You’re telling me someone knew those things were here and just left it floating out in space?"

  Ryiq shouted from ahead. "Less talking, more running!"

  They burst into a lower corridor, Ka’rak slamming the door behind them. Zylen jammed a control panel, forcing it to lock. For now, at least, they had a moment to breathe.

  John bent over, hands on his knees. "I hate space stations. I hate space stations."

  Ka’rak ignored him, reloading his weapon. "We need answers. And a way out."

  Vrixibalt checked his datapad. "We’re close. The research hub is just ahead."

  John exhaled sharply. "Alright. Let’s find out what the hell happened here."

  Somewhere beyond the locked door, the creatures screeched again.

  Whatever had happened on this station, it wasn’t over yet.