At that moment, the ship’s nose tipped forward, causing us all to hit the floor and slide into the bridge. Elias, thankfully, tumbled away from Anna.
Gray light filtered through the massive windshield. Anna crawled on her stomach toward the pilot’s seat. Michael and I forced our way to Elias, who crawled after Anna. His face was pale, lifeless. He was like a Howler, only…different. I couldn’t decide if he was dead or alive.
Michael raised his handgun and fired a couple of times, hitting Elias in the abdomen. Elias wailed at the pain, but he didn’t desist in going after Anna. I fired a few times, hitting him with each bullet. Elias, almost reluctantly, turned toward us. He knew he had to get us out of the way before he could stop Anna.
The ship dipped further downward as Anna continued crawling for the pilot’s seat. I could see the tops of snow-capped peaks slowly approaching. Aeneas was now angled forty-five degrees toward the Earth.
Elias gave a sudden lurch, his yellowed teeth flashing. His body struck Michael. Together, they slid down the floor toward the windshield. Michael’s boots squeaked on the deck.
This was going to be a tricky shot, but it had to be made. To the side, Anna had just seated herself and was pulling the control stick upward. Since the power was out, it didn’t respond.
I reached for my radio. “Ashton — power the ship!”
Immediately, the deck was bathed in light. The mountains were deadly close, now. Below, a gray lake in a mountain valley reflected steely light. Anna pulled the control stick back, the ship’s hull groaning with the effort. The G-force pushed me to the floor, made my consciousness darken for a moment. I forced my eyes open, keeping myself focused on Elias. I couldn’t let him get to Michael.
In the chaos, Michael had managed to roll away from Elias. Elias was forcing himself to his feet. I realized that shots to the body had done nothing to stop him.
So I aimed for the head.
I fired, three times. The first two bullets ricocheted off the windshield while the third hit the deck. Michael and I both aimed and fired at Elias, who now charged for Michael. He hissed as the bullets entered his chest once more, spewing additional globs of purple blood. Elias went into a crouch. I braced myself for his assault.
Anna had now steadied the ship, but Elias was going to do the unexpected. He shifted his focus toward her, aiming to take the ship down again.
“No you don’t,” Anna said, angling the ship upward.
With a screech, Elias fell backward, along with the rest of us. Anna righted the ship once more, standing up and pulling out her katana. She cried out and ran toward the cult leader.
Elias turned to face her. He shrieked again as he charged. I yelled as I got two shots off –
That last of which went into his head.
Elias’s body went rigid as Anna reached him. With a roar and a flash of the blade, Anna swiped his head cleanly off his shoulders. A fountain of purple goo shot upward from the severed neck like a geyser. Elias toppled to the floor in a heap, finally dead.
We all backed away to the door, expecting that body to swell. But nothing happened.
I stared at Elias’s corpse as my heart raced, not yet willing to believe that we had finished him. I almost expected him to grow another head and resume his attack. But after watching him for another minute, I was convinced. The leader of the Community was dead.
“Ashton,” I said, using the radio. “He’s dead.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah. He’s right here on the deck. No casualties.”
“Get him off board,” Ashton said. “I don’t want him infecting anyone.”
“I’ll do it,” I said. “The Elekai virus makes me immune.”
“And grab a sheet to drag him with,” Ashton said. “Don’t want his blood getting everywhere.”
I still wasn’t entirely sure of my immunity, but the Wanderer had told me the Elekai version of the xenovirus was the dominant form. It was hopefully enough to protect me.
I headed aft to find a sheet. Before I got far, an Angel met me in the corridor, holding a large, white sheet that must have come from one of the cabins. He panted, as if he had run. He must have overheard my conversation with Ashton, who by now had returned to the anteroom.
I grabbed the sheet and took it to the bridge. I laid it on the deck at Elias’s feet. I grabbed the former cult leader’s boots, sliding him onto the sheet. I then wrapped his goo-covered corpse as tight as I could. Purple splotches soaked through the sheet — it wasn’t a perfect solution, but it was better than smearing the purple, virus-ridden goo all over the deck.
I started pulling Elias’s corpse from the bridge. I would come back for the head later — I didn’t want it rolling out of the sheet, as much as I wanted to finish this in one trip.
It was a long haul dragging the headless Elias down the corridor. When I entered the anteroom, there was a collective gasp among the women. The Angels protected me, but to my surprise, the women gave no reaction. They just stared, dumfounded.
I found the blast door button and pressed it. It opened, revealing the cold gray sky outside.
I pushed Elias off ship. His body entangled with the sheet as he spiraled downward. The sheet came loose, floating and spreading in the gray air even as Elias’s form continued to tumble. The corpse became lost in cloud.
I shut the door and without a word returned to the bridge. There was no way Elias could survive that fall — not that I believed he was still alive.
I returned to the bridge to retrieve the head and walked back into the anteroom. Once more, I opened the door and lobbed the head out. I quickly shut the door before it even had the chance to open fully.
I went to the galley to give my hands a good, long wash with plenty of soap. I then returned to the bridge, going over to Anna. She was slumped forward in her chair, her breathing heavy. I thought she might be hurt.
“Anna…?”
She turned slightly, grabbing me around the waist and pulling me closer. I felt her body shake against mine.
“You did good,” I said, stroking her back.
She still shook a little bit, saying nothing.
“Sit still,” I said. “Relax.”
“I can’t stop shaking.”
She didn’t meet my eyes. I rested my hand on the top of her head and began to stroke her hair. She pulled me close so that we were both sharing the seat.
“I don’t know why,” she said, her voice quiet. “But this has affected me far more than anything else.”
I listened. It looked like she wanted to say more, but couldn’t find the words.
“You’re just stressed,” I said. “We can finally rest.”
Anna said nothing. I held onto her, as if my holding might be able to stop the shakes. So far, they hadn’t.
I’d expected Ashton to have made it up here by now. I clicked the call button on my radio.
“Ashton, location?”
“Amidships, with the prisoners. Something’s going on.”
“What?”
“I don’t know, they seem to be…lost. Dazed. Like they don’t remember a thing about…anything.”
I frowned. Apparently, it wasn’t over yet.
Anna squeezed my hand, intertwining her fingers in mine. Her hand quivered.
“Come on,” I said, softly. “Let’s see what’s going on. I promise. This is almost over.”
She nodded. I wasn’t sure if she’d heard me. She tried to unstrap herself from her seat, missing the button a few times before her finger connected. She stood. Then, she suddenly lurched toward the control stick and pressed a button.
“Stupid,” she said.
“What?”
“I…forgot to put it on cruise. We might have crashed into something.”