The Soul Eaters (The Thin Hex Line Book 1) by Gwyndolyn Russell (e reader txt) 📕

I wasn't sure what to think of it. I didn't sense danger. Just curiosity. I still felt some strange ethereal tug towards it, like its voice echoing in the back of my head.

It was an office with all of its contents strewn about haphazardly. A busted computer was spilled across the floor and crushed. A desk was crumbled beneath a broken air vent.

Every so often I caught the brief sound of scratching. The same sort of sound rats made when they scurried inside the walls of a house. Their little squeaks and rustles coming from everywhere. I followed the trail of black blood to the next door. Sparrow had stopped to stare into the vent, the others fanning out.

"Maybe they found some crazy alien and thought they could put it in a zoo?" Ruby suggested, looking over a few books still on a half broken shelf.

"I don't think fleebeeron are the type to enslave animals." Mjolnir snorted.

"We only know what they show us."

"Could say that about any government." Reaper stepped between them.

Sparrow suddenly screamed. The vent rattled, and she hit the floor on her ass.

Ruby grabbed her by the handle on her back and dragged her from the vent. Reaper and Mjolnir checked.

Even I could hear the hiss from across the room.

"There's something there!" Sparrow squealed, clinging to Ruby's arm.

A clawed foot, maybe a hand, dug into the outer rim of the vent. Whatever it was, wanted to come out. All the movement caused the smoke to waft upwards. The creature growled, scratching the vent as it backed away.

"Strange…" Reaper watched it. "It's afraid of the gas."

"So, stay in the smoke and we're safe?" Ruby looked to Sparrow, who was still positively freaked out.

"Its head... its head was just teeth!" She said.

"Keep it together, private." Reaper turned to her.

He said it in such a way; I saw her visibly relax. If Reaper wasn't afraid, then there was no reason to be afraid.

I moved on. We were wasting time admiring every little thing. I had no idea if our time was limited, or not, but the sooner we got out of here, the better.

We walked through another trashed room and finally into the hall. Took a turn. Doors were open, rooms destroyed. There were even a few air locks that had been opened.

Mjolnir finally pointed out one odd detail that was easy to miss.

The only bodies they found were of innocent people.

Entire rooms and halls were destroyed, caved in, yet there was no evidence of something having done it. No monsters, aliens, or known enemies of the Alliance were seen trapped and dead where people were found.

"To tell you the truth," I said, "I've been following the gas."

"Is that a good idea?" Reaper asked.

"It hasn't led us astray yet."

"Maybe we should get a sample for the good doctor?" Mjolnir suggested.

"Well, if you find a jar intact, get some." Reaper agreed.

I did not think it was a good idea. We knew nothing about the gas aside from its temperature, color, and weight. It did no harm to us, but who's to say if it took effect slowly?

We had been walking through this ship and incidentally through the gas for well over an hour. We were nearly to the bridge. Yet the one door we had to get through was sealed shut. Ruby couldn't get the damned thing open. Black blood was smeared across it, streaked weirdly.

We studied it for some time. A hand print, but not a human. Bigger than Mjolnir's hand, a forefinger, a second finger nearly the same size, then a surprisingly short third finger about twice the width of the others with two claws, finally a thumb longer than a thumb would normally be.

We had to step back to see what it was meant to be. An arrow. Maybe not. It almost looked like a sick abstract piece of modern art.

"Maybe it's wanting us to follow?" I threw it out into the open.

"Couldn't it just say it?" Reaper scratched his cheek.

"It's a trap!" Ruby chimed in. "It’s leading us into his lair where we can’t escape so it can feast on our bodies."

Sparrow visibly shivered, then stared at him with daggers.

"You've been watching too many movies, pukebucket." I shook my head.

"Pukebucket?!" Ruby cried. "Don't you dare!"

"Nope!" Sparrow stopped him. "That's what you're called now! Pukebucket!"

"This shit is going to take months to clean out…."

"Don't worry, I'll get you an oatmeal bubble bath started when we get back home."

"If we get back…" he huffed. "I don't wanna die covered in this!"

"No one's going to die. Relax." Reaper held a hand up. "Jackal, are you sure that's what that creature wants?"

"Naw." I shook my head. "I don't know what it is. It's worth a shot. If it decides to eat us, we'll shoot it dead."

We moved down the hall in the direction the arrow pointed. Blood was left smeared over the floor. Still fresh, it stuck to the bottom of my boots. The further we traversed, the more the bodies piled up. They looked partially eaten. Bones snapped in half, the marrow sucked out without so much as the smell left behind. The only thing untouched was the feces and whatever was covered in it. Claw marks dug deep into the panels and parts of the bodies. Whatever did it had a voracious appetite and did not care about waste.

I can't recall any animal that killed for sport. Animals killed because they had to, whether they took joy out of it didn't matter. They killed to survive. Whatever did this, clearly did it purely for the fun. It snacked on the way, but all it wanted to do was slay whatever it saw move.

Left in the middle of the hall was a man, a doctor possibly judging by the white lab coat. He was laid out on his chest, reaching out with a horrific, twisted look on his face. Cause of death? Crushed. A distinct three toed footprint was left on his torso, the pressure of which so immense