Assault in Darkness

Ken craned his ears and listened, his eyes useless no thanks to the light sink that was taking away all forms of visible radiation. The space station was deathly quiet, and it was extremely unnerving.

There was no good reason why this was the case, but things were the way they were. Ken didn't have much of a choice. He was taking a nap in his room when he was radioed to check on the section of the space station that had gone completely silent.

And there he was right now. Trying to figure out just what was going on. In the darkness.

Of course he had a torchlight. But the problem was it would make him the single most enticing target for anything that could see, without him being able to discover where they are from. His immediate goal was to make his way to the tactical operations room of that section to get hold of an infra-red visor. At least that would mitigate the darkness a little.

A loud clattering noise came to him from behind. Instinctively, he turned and aimed his pistol in the direction he thought and waited.

Nothing. Nothing stirred. Nothing moved. Nothing at all.

Ken started to break out into a sweat. He touched the surface of his watch and glanced at the dim backlit display -- the tactical operations room was about ten metres straight ahead.

Keeping as low a profile as he could, Ken reoriented himself and made his way cautiously towards the tactical operations room. The fact that there was no one else in that sector even though it was one of the more highly populated ones normally was jarring---it made absolutely no sense. The sooner he could get hold of the infrared visor, the better he would feel about it.

A quiet rustle from his rear kept him on his toes, but he pressed on. He gained no tactical advantage in engaging whatever it was before he could see anyway, fighting against every instinct to turn around and fire wildly in the direction he thought that the sound came from.

A loud growl and a sudden rush of wind promptly made Ken regret his decision as he felt a sharp pain through his abdomen. He fired his pistol wildly in front of him, and in between the flashes, he saw the unhuman visage of his assailant, howling as bullet after bullet found their mark but somehow did not manage to slow it down a bit.

(Based on an exercise generated by WriteThis - 2014-07-09 14:46:00)