Chapter Two: Sector B𝟏𝟐

The station only became more frightening once they started moving.

Anastasia Ivanovna Alekseyava tightened her grip on the flashlight, its white beam trembling across the metal corridor. Red emergency lights pulsed overhead, washing the walls in a warning glow that made every shadow look alive.

Beside her, Leo Clarke walked with infuriating calm, as if being trapped in a derelict station with something in the vents was a minor inconvenience.

Anastasia hated how steady he looked.

She hated even more that his presence made her feel safer.

The vent behind them rattled again.

This time, neither of them spoke.

Leo reached for her wrist and gently pulled her forward.

“Move.”

Anastasia’s pulse skipped.

She should have yanked her hand away.

Instead, she let him lead her.

They hurried into the corridor, their boots echoing through Eos-7.

The air smelled metallic and stale, with something faintly rotten underneath.

Anastasia tried not to think about it.

“How are you so calm?” she whispered.

Leo kept his eyes on the darkness ahead.

“I’m not calm.”

“You look calm.”

“That’s because if I panic, you’ll panic.”

She blinked.

“Excuse me?”

He glanced at her, the corner of his mouth lifting.

“You’re brave, Anastasia. But you wear every emotion on your face.”

Her cheeks warmed.

“You’re impossible.”

“And yet you’re still following me.”

Before she could respond, the corridor forked.

A glowing sign pointed left toward LIFE SUPPORT and right toward RESEARCH SECTOR B12.

Leo studied the map panel on the wall.

“The shuttle bay is inaccessible from here,” he said. “But if we restore life support and communications, we might contact Commander Ruiz.”

Anastasia crossed her arms.

“So we go left.”

Leo shook his head.

“The power source runs through Sector B12.”

“Of course it does.”

She stared at the ominous hallway.

The lights there flickered more violently, and the darkness beyond seemed thicker.

As if it were waiting.

Anastasia swallowed hard.

Leo noticed.

“Scared?”

She lifted her chin.

“Not with you around to act smug.”

His eyes softened for a fraction of a second.

“Good.”

They entered Sector B12.

The laboratory doors stood open, revealing shattered glass, overturned chairs, and floating sheets of data paper drifting in the low gravity.

Specimens in broken containers coated the walls with dark stains.

Anastasia stepped carefully over a cracked tablet.

The screen flickered when her flashlight passed over it.

A video file automatically began.

A woman in a white lab coat appeared, her face gaunt and exhausted.

“This is Dr. Mireille Santos,” she said, voice shaking. “If anyone finds this, do not let the organism reach Earth.”

Static interrupted the recording.

Then the video resumed.

“It adapts to its host. It feeds on neural pathways. It learns.”

Behind the scientist, something moved in the shadows.

The woman turned, eyes widening.

The recording ended.

Silence filled the room.

Anastasia felt cold.

“It learns?” she whispered.

Leo’s jaw tightened.

“That means it’s intelligent.”

The thought sent a chill down her spine.

A sudden crash echoed from the next room.

Anastasia gasped and instinctively stepped closer to Leo.

He immediately shifted in front of her.

“Stay behind me.”

The words were quiet but firm.

For once, she didn’t argue.

They advanced toward the source of the noise.

The adjoining lab was dark.

Anastasia swept her flashlight across overturned desks and shattered incubators.

Nothing.

Then she heard it.

A wet scraping sound above them.

Her light jerked upward.

A black tendril slipped back into the vent.

Anastasia’s breath caught.

“Leo.”

“I saw it.”

The vent cover bulged outward.

Metal groaned.

Leo grabbed her hand.

“Run.”

They sprinted through the laboratory as something crashed behind them.

Anastasia didn’t look back.

She could hear skittering claws, rapid and unnatural, tearing across the ceiling.

Their joined hands tightened.

Leo dragged her through a narrow maintenance corridor and slammed the hatch behind them.

The creature struck the other side with enough force to dent the metal.

Anastasia cried out.

Another hit.

Then another.

And then—

Nothing.

Only the sound of both of them breathing.

Leo still held her hand.

Neither of them moved.

Anastasia slowly looked down at their fingers intertwined.

His hand was warm despite the cold station.

When she lifted her eyes, he was staring at her.

For once, his expression held no teasing.

Only concern.

“Are you hurt?” he asked.

She shook her head.

“You?”

“I’m fine.”

Their faces were much too close.

Anastasia became acutely aware of everything.

The freckles across his nose.

The stray lock of black hair falling over his eyes.

The way his thumb brushed unconsciously against her knuckles.

Her heart pounded for a reason that had nothing to do with fear.

Leo seemed to notice it too.

His gaze dropped briefly to her lips.

Then the emergency lights flickered.

The moment shattered.

Anastasia stepped back, trying to steady her breathing.

“We should keep moving.”

Leo cleared his throat and looked away.

“Right.”

At the end of the maintenance corridor, they discovered a sealed door labeled AUXILIARY CONTROL.

A green light glowed beside the panel.

Unlocked.

Anastasia frowned.

“That’s impossible. The rest of the station is offline.”

Leo placed his hand on the control pad.

The door slid open with a hiss.

Inside, the room was fully powered.

Screens glowed.

Systems hummed.

And in the center of the chamber, a single computer terminal displayed one message.

WELCOME BACK, LEO CLARKE.

Anastasia froze.

Slowly, she turned to him.

The blood drained from his face.

“Leo,” she whispered.

His expression was unreadable.

“You need to let me explain.”

And for the first time since they had met, Anastasia wasn’t sure she knew him at all.

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