Last Glance

• Savannah Burke, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2013

As the artificial wind whipped through her earthy brown hair, Luna felt something tickle the back of her hand. At first she thought it was rain, but it dose not rain in a highly technical space craft. No, scrap that, it does not rain in space at all.
As she lowered her head, one of her tangled curls slipped in front of her eyes. For a silent moment, Luna had found herself wishing that the drip on her hand had indeed been rain. Over the past 18 months, she had found herself missing all the wonderful things that earth had supplied more and more.
Looking at her hand, she saw a thick emerald green gunk entangled itself around her bony fingers. Confusion set in before anything else. Luna found herself lifting her hand to her face. She spun her wrist around, letting some of the goo drip onto the silver plated ground. The sound of the gunk hitting the floor seemed to echo through the whole space ship.
Luna's brain realized that whatever the unknown gooey substance was, must have come from up above. She raised her head and ushered the curl out of her eyes.
On the roof of the space craft, a sliver of the goo had been magnetized along the roof. Fowling the line of gunk along the roof with her eyes, Luna saw that it disappeared behind the door of the main living room.
She swallowed a gasp in her throat as she saw a dark red substance seeping out from underneath the sliding mechanical door. Willing her legs to work, she began to take minute steps forward. Luna pressed her square thumb to the scanner near the door, allowing it to open. It sluggishly pealed open, revealing a gruesome scene before her. This time, Luna didn't bother swallowing her gasp. He jaw fell open as she gasped at her three former crew members. Now dead and scattered on the floor in front of her.
Luna fell to her knees in front of Ethan, a particular member she had become very close to over the voyage. His med-section had been completely ripped open, his internal organs removed and scattered around him. Luna's grey tack pants were instantly soaked with the blood of her best friend.
"Ethan..." She sobbed.
A damp tear slid down her delicate cheek as she looked at his handsome face. Looking around at the other two members of her crew, Cassie an Andy, she realized that all of their faces hadn't been touched by whatever creature did this to them.
Luna saw a murky shadow moved in her peripheral vision. She whipped her head to the side, searching for what had caused it. Her eyes landed upon the most disgusting thing she had ever seen. She slowly crawled backwards, hoping it hadn't seen her. She was out of luck.
The animal curled its green lips back into a snarl, beginning to growl at her. It's black soulless pits that were eyes looked straight at her, looking into her heart. She screamed as it charged at her. One of it massive claws amputated her arms right off. She creamed out, falling over Ethan's dead body. The creature loomed over her, its revolting breath causing her the cough. It moved closer the her face, almost sniffing her, before shrieking, and digging its crawls into her body...