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

Engineers called for help from any able person. Even the children, under strict, specific instructions, were sent into the kotoli tunnels to help. Most of the security force was assisting in repairs and ration handling led currently by Mjolnir.

Everyone was doing their part to the best of their ability. All of the wives had banded together to help take care of the children and provide for the hard workers. It was a time of unity and every bit mattered.

So, when the rumors spread about the cause of the damage, fear of the unknown took their hearts hostage. The lead engineer, Torch, determined the cause was a solar flare, but that did not explain being pushed out of the warp tunnel. It could have been a nasty combination of anomalies stemming from the solar flare. Torch did not know. In his short life, he had never witnessed an incident quite like this at all. Being hit by a flare like so was a one in a million chance.

These rumors completely dismissed Torch's knowledge and diagnosis. They had an ethereal stranger among them who somehow did not require being put into liquid stasis. This creature had free reign of the ship while they were all asleep for the journey. People were falling ill and experiencing hallucinations ever since the creature arrived. It brought an overwhelming sense of doom with it. It's very name made them tremble. The rumor of its title made them avoid it at all costs.

The rumors claimed that it was this creature, who slept against the nuclear reactor of the ship, forced an overload of the system. Fried the hardware. Set fires to the maintenance shafts. Destroyed what kept the ship functional. Then proceeded to tear apart the stasis pods to feast upon, not just the bodies of those asleep inside, but their very souls. They believed that these poor, defenseless people would arrive to no afterlife, just a bottomless black pit of suffering. They believed it happened on the Utopia. That these devoured souls would be spat out to grow as mindless husks of starving monsters that would wreak havoc across not only the Syndicate, but anyone else who happened by.

The rumors spread like wildfire. Took hold with deep roots. Their minds possessed by fear and paranoia. Who would be next? How could they let anyone else suffer? Folk sabotaged repairs to delay the inevitable. They especially attacked outgoing signals to prevent SOSs from attracting more potential prey for this demon aboard their home. They accepted that perhaps they were already lost, but at least they could stop anyone else from falling for the sham of a helping hand from that black beast.

The people could not take it any longer. They gathered in protest. Screaming into the void of space, their plea for mercy and the power to do what must be done.

Many piled into the halls, blocked the door of the bridge. They banged on the walls, and chanted.

"Cage the wolf! Cage the wolf! It must answer for its crimes!"

Luckily, Jackal and Fenris had already been in the bridge. Jackal wanted to tell Reaper of the semi-good news from his checkup. A little over two weeks had gone by, and while he was still blinded, at least his eyes were healing. Others had already recovered. Some received permanent damage and would either be blind forever, or require implants the ship had no way of providing. At least Jackal would not yet be turned into a cyborg.

The ruckus outside made everyone in the bridge fall silent.

"Cage the wolf! Cage the wolf!" The people chanted.

"What in God's name is going on?" Reaper looked to the door.

"Oh, no... They really meant it." Willis stared wide eyed.

"Meant what?" Jackal questioned.

"I overheard some guys in the mess talking about protesting."

"You didn't inform me, why?" Reaper looked at him.

"Thought it was just another dumb rumor. You know how people love complaining, but never do anything."

"What wolf…" Reaper wondered.

"Fenris." Jackal answered. "They mean Fenris."

When they looked to Fenris, they saw the wolf sitting there. Ears dropped, tail curled at its side. Its head low. It knew this would happen.

"Your people wish Fenris gone. They are afraid." It announced.

"Well, they'll just have to put up for a while more." Jackal crossed his arms over his chest, floating across the room aimlessly.

"Why would they? You've done nothing wrong." Reaper leaned back in his seat.

"No need to stay. Remove self from Syndicate."

"Absolutely not!" Jackal snapped from across the room. "They're just being dumb!"

"Liam," Reaper had more to say, but he wasn't going to let it be said.

"No. They are. It's cabin fever. We've been motionless for how long? There's not much we have. Our rations are running low. Everyone is panicking. They're afraid. They're being stupid. They want to blame the new guy for all this fucked up shit!"

"We all know he didn't do it. It was a solar flare. It can't be helped." Reaper sighed.

"Tell that to them!" Jackal said.

Reaper watched him for a while. Studied him. Jackal had been changing ever since the Utopia. Perhaps it was the restrictions he was on. The injuries kept him less active. His demons were surfacing and more so while he was sober. Jackal was an open minded man who stood strong on all of his opinions even if he was wrong.

Reaper wanted to defend Fenris, too. While he may not have known Fenris well, he still had a good idea what sort of person it was. He understood some of the valkyrie's choices and the way it acted. An innocent, misunderstood dog. Dealt a bad hand, given a bad owner, yet still trying to wag its tail and hide its teeth.

Reaper pushed out of his seat to open the door.

The chanting repeated a few more times before the crowd hushed.

One man spoke out from them.

"That thing is a monster, Captain! We have to stop it!"

Reaper was quiet, thinking of something to say.

"Sir, I came as soon as I heard." Mjolnir said it softly, slipping right to his side.

"Crowd