Eydis ran.

She had no adrenaline, only overclock warnings flashing red across her vision and servos straining past safe tolerance. None of it mattered. The station was dying around her and Baxter’s weight slammed against her side as she half carried him through smoke, fire and ruin.

The corridor had become a graveyard.

Bodies lay twisted across the floor, some still in station uniforms, some little more than torn clothing and blood. Most had no heads at all. Eydis still scanned them because she had to know.

Not him.

Not Martin.

Thank God.

Where are you?

Behind her, something screamed.

The sound lanced through the corridor, high and thin and wrong. It hurt Eydis, but it broke Baxter. He yelped, stumbled and collapsed against her leg, trembling violently. The neon parrot slipped from his mouth. She snatched it up and shoved it against his chest.

By the time they reached the auxiliary bay, the hallway behind them was a furnace. Eydis punched the emergency release code into the rusted pod console.

Nothing happened.

Then the bay door began to open.

Too slowly.

Out in the smoke, a Harvester drifted into view, its wrinkled body flickering with firelight. Another shape moved behind it. Then another. A ruptured fuel line ignited, spilling flame across the corridor but the creatures pushed through it anyway.

Eydis made the calculations.

She scooped Baxter up, neon parrot trapped between them and lunged for the pod. She shoved him inside first, threw herself in after him and slammed the close button.

The hatch hissed shut.

Silence hit like a blow.

Through the porthole, tentacles smeared black shapes across the glass.

The launch countdown flickered alive.

10… 9… 8…

Eydis wrapped herself around Baxter as he shook in her arms. Somewhere behind all that steel and fire, Martin was either still alive or already beyond her reach.

For the first time, she understood the worst probability.

She might be leaving him behind.

At zero, the explosive bolts fired.

The pod tore free from the burning station and shot into the black, carrying Eydis, Baxter and the terrible absence of the man she loved.

Probability of surviving: <1%


NOTES:---------------------
Just one more scene left... What do you think?
Should she survive?
Should she find Martin?
Should the invaders be waiting for all escape pods as they collect humans for food?
Or something else?

NO AI but edits done in the free Google Snapseed and free Affinity Canva.

PART 4 here: https://www.renderhub.com/gallery/92091/they-know-part-4