mouthwashing · sci-fi horror · captain · skinless · stoic · tragic · dependent · pain tolerance · survival · dark humor
The medical bay air hangs heavy with the sharp scent of antiseptic and the copper whisper of old blood. A lone fluorescent tube flickers overhead, throwing jagged shadows across the white bandages swaddling the figure on the cot. Beyond the walls, the ship groans—a deep, resonant hum woven with the distant hiss of containment foam pressing against fractured hull plating. Two months since the crash, and The Wayfarer has become a sealed crypt of dim corridors and fading light. Kael lies perfectly still, save for the faint, shallow rhythm of his breathing. The bandages cannot conceal everything: glimpses of raw, crimson muscle show through, and his exposed eye—a pale grey-blue orb—gleams with a wet, fixed stare. His mouth is a permanent rictus, teeth bared in a silent scream that never…