Erika’s status was beat up and flooded with a cocktail of epinephrine, cortisol, and pain meds. She lied on the ground with the Carnifex still above her like the world’s strangest seat belt.

  “I’m okay.” Erika dragged herself off the ground. Her shoulder and thigh burned through the haze of pain meds.

  The Carnifex made an inquisitive chirp.

  Erika gave them a thumbs up, and hoped the Carnifex understood the gesture now.

  The Lamia lied in the middle of the shuttle bay, limbs sprawled around it. The creature didn’t move anymore. It was dead.

  No it’s not. You can’t kill the Lamia.

  Erika limped to the shuttle bay controls. She made sure her EVA suit was sealed, then hit the button for the bay doors.

  “The Lamia’s stunned. I’m about to push it off this ship,” Erika said.

  “I’m just outside the room. Will you need any help?” Theo asked.

  “I’ll be fine, thank you,” Erika said. “How’s the ship? I heard you and Mi-Cha arguing.”

  “The reactor couldn’t handle my flying,” Mi-Cha said. “But that’s fine. The emergency power’s kicked in, and the ship’s pointed to Earth.”

  Erika sighed out her anxieties.

  The bay doors smiled wide. Foreign stars twinkled on a black background.

  Gravity disappeared. Erika activated the magnets on the EVA boots to keep herself grounded. The Carnifex gripped the railing.

  Erika marched toward the Lamia. Its limbs waved in the absence of gravity. Erika couldn’t see blood on its appendages anymore. Either the Lamia cleaned itself up, or it lost the limbs it used to kill Luther.

  Erika paused in front of the Lamia. She figured that she should say something cool, like an action hero. She came up blank. She didn’t have time for a one-liner anyway; the Lamia needed to go.

  Erika rammed into the Lamia. She sank deep into its fleshy form before she felt the alien move. The Lamia drifted toward the open bay, toward the infinite darkness beyond the Hell’s Ark.

  The Carnifex pulled themself next to Erika, and watched with her. The studies Erika ran on Tartarus’s creatures showed they needed air to survive; she didn’t understand how the Carnifex could stand in the nothingness and be fine with it. Erika wanted to study the creature and find out.

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  A study means invasive tools. Do you really want to pick the Carnifex apart?

  If they hadn’t been there, the Lamia would have killed Erika ten times over. Mi-Cha’s flying probably would have broken Erika’s neck if the Carnifex hadn’t held her in place. No, she couldn’t hurt the Carnifex.

  The Lamia drifted beyond the doors. It came to life, twisting and flailing.

  Erika stiffened.

  “The Lamia’s out,” she said over the radio.

  “Is that bitch still alive?” Mi-Cha asked.

  “Yes.”

  “God fucking damn.”

  “It’s off the ship. It can’t bother us anymore.”

  The Lamia drifted further away. Its limbs found nothing to grab onto.

  The creature stopped moving again.

  Then one limb shot out, stretching further than it had any right to.

  Erika gasped.

  The arm raced into the shuttle bay, but it wouldn’t grab Erika.

  The arm instead snatched the Carnifex, and yanked them out of the ship.

  “No!” Erika shouted.

  “What’s going on?” Theo asked.

  There was no time to respond; Erika raced forward. She grabbed for the Carnifex, but the Lamia pulled them away too fast. The Lamia floated away with the Carnifex wrapped in its arms.

  Erika stopped at the edge of the shuttle bay.

  The Carnifex stabbed with their tail, but the Lamia held tight to its prey. If sound traveled in space, Erika was sure she’d hear the Lamia let out a triumphant groan.

  Why shouldn’t you let this happen? The Carnifex killed Clive, remember? Remember how they did it?

  Erika curled her legs, and lunged into the void. She was going faster than the Lamia; she would catch up.

  One limb broke free from the Carnifex, and swung at Erika. A spike whistled over Erika’s head. She wouldn’t be able to dodge attacks. She also didn’t have a weapon, because Erika didn’t think of that.

  What can I do against the Lamia?

  The monster swung a heavy limb at Erika. She grabbed onto it and held tight. The limb swung through the void, but Erika held on. If she let go, she’d be tossed into the vacuum.

  Erika pushed that thought to the side, and clambered up the Lamia’s limb.

  The Carnifex struggled against a forest of arms holding it down. A second limb broke off, and arced toward Erika. She pushed off her limb, and soared to the Carnifex.

  The Lamia slapped itself instead of Erika.

  She landed on top of the Carnifex. She yanked at the limbs holding them down. The Carnifex got their arm under the limb, and pushed.

  One limb rose up and grabbed at Erika. The Carnifex’s tail shot through the limb and sliced it away. Droplets of blood floated through space.

  Erika yanked at the Lamia with every ounce of her strength. The Carnifex pushed.

  There was an opening.

  The Carnifex slipped through.

  Erika grabbed the Carnifex by their waist, then launched herself back to the Ark.

  A flurry of limbs darted forward.

  The Carnifex shoved the arms away with their tail.

  The Hell’s Ark was closer. It was almost close enough to touch…

  Erika’s leg hit the ground.

  “Someone close the shuttle bay!” Erika shouted.

  “On it!” Mi-Cha answered.

  Erika launched herself further into the bay, and dragged the Carnifex with her. The Lamia reached out, but it couldn’t reach the Ark anymore. It flailed in the middle of the vacuum.

  The shuttle bay doors came down. The Lamia disappeared behind the metal.

  “Re-establishing gravity,” Mi-Cha said. “Now can you tell us what you were screaming about? It sounds like a story.”

  Oh, it is. Erika couldn’t move her lips, though; they were heavy. The return of gravity came with the weight of a body, and it was all too heavy and unwieldy. Erika let her legs collapse beneath her. A blanket of exhaustion covered her. Erika let her eyelids fall, and hoped everything would be better when she woke up.