Dallas woke up in the Morning to Belle humming. Her head throbbed with a bad headache that she had since yesterday. Holding her head she lamented

"Ugh, my head hurts like hell. Belle what time is it?"

"0600 Mommy!" The little AI replied happily. Dallas smiled and stood back up. She went over to the pile of supplies and began going through them.

"Ammo, some MRE's, emergency medical equipment, survival packs...I can make this work." She set about sorting through the stuff and categorizing them.

She had to get her mind off of the current predicament and take it one step at a time. She remembered from training that dwelling on a bad situation was likely to make you panic, and when you panic you start getting desperate leading to poor decisions and likely getting yourself killed.

After getting the equipment categorized she stood up and walked back outside. "Let's go collect more."

She got up and headed back outside. The wind blew sand and dust across the vast landscape of broken and destroyed ships. She wondered how many lives were lost, and more importantly where did the blast come from?

As she stepped out onto the flat ground, a chill went up her spine and she shuttered. Something about this planet didn't sit right with her...And it wasn't just the thousands of dead human bodies within the wrecked ships. It was something different. A feeling that you got when hearing the music of the old science fiction horror movies.

She kept walking heading to the closest of the downed cruisers. No doubt there would be more supplies in there. She sighed "Time to go walking 16 klicks Belle."

The little AI giggled

After spending two hours walking through the dust and sand, Dallas made it to the crashed cruiser. The whole thing was mangled up badly having crashed headfirst into the ground then collapsing over on its side, leaving only a broken silhouette of the once mighty ship. Dallas stepped through a giant crack in the hull of the ship. "Belle, pull up the schematics for this type of ship."

"Yes mommy!." The AI chirped and brought it up.

"Thank you Belle." Dallas turned on her flashlight and walked deeper into the ship. Looking around, the place was in a total wreck. Everything was scattered all over the floor. She glanced up at the map, looking for the med bay and the emergency supply room. "Alright...Should be down this way." her footsteps echoed throughout the cruiser, striking against the metal.

As she walked down the halls she noticed something...Where was all the bodies? Shining the light on the floor she saw it. Blood, smeared across the floor as if something was drug across it. More chills went up her spine.

Heading up to the Med-bay she shoved a bunch of crates out of the way and entered. Grabbing everything she could off the floors and what little was left in the cabinets and placing them in the large duffel bag. She zipped up the duffel bag and picked it up. She turned around and headed over to the door and walked back out into the hallway.

"Now for the weapons and emergency supplies." She looked up at the map. "Second floor. Room 301." she headed over to the stairs, noticing more and more drag marks. Her heart started to beat quicker in her chest and a wave of uneasiness came over her.

"It's okay Dallas, there's nothing there...They're all dead." She told herself as she crept up the stairs the distinct thud of her boot metallically locking onto the floor as she ascended.

Getting to the second floor she noticed a large pool of blood with a body in the middle of it, it looked to be a middle aged man. An engineer of the cruiser.

"Jesus..." Dallas walked over and bent down checking out the man's identification. "McGill, Scott K. Chief Engineer." She searched through his pockets and found his wallet. Opening up she saw a picture of the man with a woman and two kids. She sighed sadly. She then reached up and pulled his dog tags off and stuffed them in her pocket.

Standing up she headed over to the room which held the crew armament and emergency supplies. Picking out all that she could and putting it back in the duffel bag. Two assault rifles and plenty of magazines and ammunition. Multiple flares, a few survival kits and most of the emergency supplies she then slung the duffel bag over her shoulder. Looking she found a signal broadcaster "Huh...Maybe I can use this." She tried switching it on but all she got was static. "Damn it." She cursed when she heard it...Scuffling. Her hair immediately stood on end and she quickly pulled out her gun and aimed it out of the doorway

"Hello!? Is anyone there!?" She yelled out down the halls, her voice echoing throughout the ship. She gulped and took a deep breath, leaning out and peaking into the hall. She immediately felt cold all over....The Engineers body..

Was gone..

Her eyes widened "Belle...Is there anything there?"

"No life signs detected mommy."

"N-no...That can't be right." She stepped out slowly into the hall. Her heart was racing as she ever so slightly made her way down to where the body was before. She saw the blood trail lead off into the deeper parts of the ship. She decided not to follow it as she quickly headed down the stairs and into the main hall and out of the ship. It was still daylight out.

Looking back at the ship she hated to think of what just happened...Maybe she was going insane. But she wasn't going to stay and find out. She took off running, making the two hour trek back to her ship. Once she got inside she slung the bag down on one of the seats and went over and manually close the ramp. Walking over she collapsed on her makeshift bed.

She would sleep with one eye open that night.