The Death Memory

Kaori dug down, prepared to fight, but she knew it was going to be a hard one to live through; The more plausible outcomes being dying now or to sickness. 

The Raptor's hands, mutated to have sharp claws instead of fingernails, curled around the side of the door frame; its nails clicking against the metal like the start of a tune. Then its rotting head appeared, it's eyelids and nose gone, but its eyes bulged out while its pupils were focused on Kaori. 

A Raptor is a further mutation of an already mutated zombie. Before a raptor it's a zombie called a roach; both being able to climb upon any surface. A Raptor, however, is much faster, stronger and has its deadly, durable claws. 

And Kaori just so happened to be lucky enough to have its undivided attention. 

She readied both weapons, sickle and dagger, and as the raptor made its full appearance by climbing out of the door frame onto the wall just outside of the cockpit, it was like time stood still. She was trained to fight anything, but mutations always scared her. 

They were predictable, but their sheer power was nothing to ever mess around with. 

Its claws scrapped against the metal walls as it crawled down it and onto the floor on all fours, staring at the woman in a gas mask as it made an animalistic guttural growl. 

1 step...2 step.... 3 step.... closer and closer it inched to her, all the while the zombies that she was originally fighting were closing in on her rear. 

"Kaori, baby?" a man's deep, southern twang interrupted her thoughts over the intercom. (Author note- Changed him to southern instead of being Cajun.) 

Her ears perked up. It was Jesse, "I'm happy to hear such a lovely voice," she smiled, though her heart breaking. "Have you made it to safety?" 

"Yes," he wasn't upbeat, but somber. "Everyone made it to the Calvary Bus, I'm just in the control room now gathering the last of the power shards, but I'll leave 1, baby girl." 

When a ship was considered a complete loss, rescuers secured the ships power shards, the power house to keeping a ship running. Without them, they will quickly drift out of orbit and into the depths of space; rarely do they fall to Earth. 

"No!" she quickly interjected, "I don't think I'm getting out of this," she finally admitted. "You'll need it more than me." 

"Kaori-" 

"There's a raptor here, and I still have most of the horde...." 

There was a brief silence. "I'm coming to get you." 

Kaori chuffed, "and do what? Join me in death? It's okay, Jesse, this was a sacrifice I had to be willing to make to be a rescuer." A tear fell from one of her eyes. "Are the cameras working?" 

"No, but there's a code in here, 0378. I think it's an override one. I'll wait a few minutes. If I don't hear from you, I'll take the last shard." 

"Thank you-" Kaori cut him off, she was running out of time. 

She charged the raptor, anticipating to gain the advantage, but it was of no use. Almost like a cricket, it leaped from the floor, and onto the ceiling, it's drool and blood dripping down to the ground as it snarled, baring its teeth at her. 

Before she could try and get out of its way, it jumped down just as fast, directly on top of her as she went crashing to the ground hard. A loud metallic thud rang out as her back slammed against the floor, sending a vibration out around her. 

The air was knocked from her lungs, and as she fought to keep its mouth away from her, the sickle's blade snug against its neck, it continued to push itself down to get to her; paying no mind to the fact it was digging into its neck, separating its head from its body slowly. 

Kaori was panicked; she didn't know what to do. Unlike the regular zombies, a raptor had strength, and she was forced to use both hands; one on the handle and one on the back of the blade, in order to hold its head away from her. 

Though, it used this to its advantage. It quickly took a swing at her face, barely missing her flesh though ripping the mask off of her effortlessly. Lucky for her there weren't any spores floating about from a Petri Zombie, otherwise she was dead the moment it came off. 

But she knew it was over the moment the raptor pinned her. It took its other hand and swung its claws down once more, this time managing to slice her neck, barely missing her jugular, but succeeding in producing a large amount of blood. 

Out of instinct, she let the grip of one of her hands go to cover the wound, allowing the raptor to push down hard, sliding off the blade, and breaking it in the process; its own flesh ripped open, before its teeth sunk into the exact area it opened on her neck. 

No point in keeping myself too safe anymore, she let out a weak laugh, as she immediately sent her dagger into its neck, causing it to fall to its side; just long enough for her to frantically get to her feet and hobble her way into the cockpit, leaving both of her weapons behind. 

When she went through the door frame, blood gushing through her fingertips from the wound, she hastily typed in the code. At almost the same time the code was successfully entered, the door slammed down just as the raptor leapt at her; Its body crashed into the door, though no damage was done. She could only listen as the zombies began to surround the other side of it, desperate for a snack. 

As she gasped for breath, her consciousness fading, she pressed the intercom button to connect to the control room. "Jesse, you there?" Her voice was weak and fragile; raspy with the sound of blood filling her lungs. 

"Hey! You made it!" he cheered, happy to hear her voice coming from the cockpit. "I'll leave-" 

"No," she cut him off once more. "I'm not making it out of here alive. Take all the shards, they'll be of more use at The Accular." 

Kaori's body began to viscously twitch as she went in and out of being alive and turning into a zombie. 

"Kaori? You're still talking, I'll come to you!" His voice was full of pain, as he wanted to believe she would be alright. 

She chuckled, "send these mother fuckers to the sun. Make sure they can't hurt anyone else....." Kaori paused for a moment, coughing up blood, "make sure I can't hurt anyone."