Dead Space: A Short Story Read Online Free PDF Page B

breathing pure oxygen for a while, he would experience decompression sickness, very similar to what divers experience when they ascend too quickly. He could pass out, which wasn’t an ideal situation when floating around in space. It was already bad enough that the airlock had not been decompressing at least 24 hours prior. Of course, 24 hours ago, the astronauts had no idea that any of this would be happening to them.
     
    Avery took it. “Alright, but I’ll give it back you in a few minutes.”
     
    They were only a few feet away from the Quest airlock. Avery started the process of decompressing the inner hatch. The chamber would probably not reach the desired ideal pressure, but they had to go with close enough.
     
    “Let’s get you donned,” Avery said.
     
    He looked beyond Samantha and could hear the growls getting closer. It sounded like Willmore had either untied himself, or bit his way out of the cables like Samantha predicted. The zombies were disoriented because of the microgravity environment, which slowed them down, but Avery knew that sooner, rather than later, they would make their way to their location. He couldn’t even imagine how fast those things would be on Earth, where gravity was king.
     
    The Quest was only big enough for one astronaut to enter at a time. Once that astronaut entered the pressurized airlock, he or she would have to wait until the pressure was gradually decreased. One the desired level was reached; he or she would open another hatch and reach the unpressurized payload bay. From there on, the astronaut would go out to outer space.
     
    “You go first,” Avery said.
     
    “You need to don your suit, too,” she said.
     
    “I need to deal with the zombies,” he replied.
     
    “You need to put on your suit, or I’m not putting mine on,” Samantha said.
     
    “Sam, we don’t have time for this,” he said.
     
    “We do,” Samantha said. “I can put on my suit by myself. We can get through the airlock quickly and we can both get out of here alive. Let those things burn.”
     
    “Fine,” Avery said. “Start putting yours on.”
     
    “What are you gonna do?”
     
    “I’m going to buy us some time.”
     
    Avery started pulling cables and extension cords from all sides of the ISS. Up, down, left and right. In less than five minutes, he had created what appeared to be a poor man’s rendition of a spider web. He also tied four laptops and the large 3D printer to the web, thus using them as a barrier.
     
    “It won’t hold on forever, but we don’t need forever,” he said.
     
    “I knew all these cables would be good for something one day,” Samantha quipped.
     
    Avery helped Samantha put on her SAFER jetpack. Then he let his crowbar go so he could don his spacesuit.
     
    Alexei came first, roaring, gnashing his teeth and looking straight at them. As expected, he got caught in the amalgam of cords and cables that Avery had prepared. He started smashing the 3D printer, pure rage in his blank eyes.
     
    “It’s going to give any minute now!” Avery yelled at Samantha, but without taking his eyes off of Alexei. He then stepped to the outer hatch and turned it open.
     
    “You gotta get in there!” he told, Samantha, still looking at Avery.
     
    Avery didn’t see it coming. He almost blacked out from the sharp pain across his head. The impact was so hard it launched him into the Quest airlock. He turned around slowly, touching the back of his head, searching for bite marks. And then he saw what hit him.
     
    Samantha was standing in front of him, crowbar in hand.
     
    “What are you doing?” Avery asked, still in a haze.
     
    “I’m sorry that I had to hit you, but it was the only way you would get in there,” she said, trying to hold back tears.
     
    “What are you doing?” Avery said. “Get in here!”
     
    He tried getting out of the airlock, but Samantha pushed him back inside.
     
    “The bite on my arm,” she began, “it’s getting worse. I