~30~

A fight erupted on the other side of the screen as everything on my end froze and time stood still.

I couldn't breathe, couldn't move.

They're cutting me off.

My breathing come out in low shallow gasps as I fought to get any kind of air into my lungs

They're abandoning me.

The room began to tilt and spin

I'm going to be alone.

Everything slowly started going dark around the edges of my vision.

"P-please don't...." Was all I was able to beg, in a choked whisper.

Chairs scraped and papers went flying as everyone stopped arguing and looked at me.

I took a breath that did nothing to elevate my hyperventilation and forced out the next words from my dry as fuck throat.

"D-do not....leave me alone out here."

"That's rich, coming from the chick who shot herself into space to get away from us." The burly words of the General, who clearly had no heart at this point, said to me with zero empathy displayed all over his face.

My eyes lock onto him with a vicious glare.

"Don't give me that look, we've done everything to provide you with constant support and keep you safe. But you fight us every step of the way!" He flings his hands out, as if dealing with the most unreasonable creature in existence.

"I'm not a soldier under your command!! YOU help me because you OFFERED to, not because I begged or owed you anything!!" I spat back venomously, pointing my fingers straight at them.

"Well, we don't want to help you anymore!! Doesn't seem to stop you from begging now, does it?" he mocked me right in my face.

"General..." A cautionary voice tried to restrain him, but I was took focused on his smug face to even glance to see who had said that.

"She's been nothing but a pain and nuisance!! Everyone here thinks so and agrees!!" The belligerent man continues to rant, "Hogging up all our essential space resources, and brainwashing pop culture to not shut up about her with her online cult of fans!!"

"You only ever sent me ONE aid package, that you deployed poorly and got it trapped in Mars' orbit for weeks, that I ever accepted!" I fire back. "Now you act like you're the literal reason I'm still alive!!!"

"AND SHE'S UNGRATEFUL TO!! THAT AID PACKAGE COST BILLIONS TO SEND AND YOU STILL USE THE SEEDS IN YOUR INFERIOR LITTLE GARDEN"

"I NEVER ASKED FOR YOUR HELP!!"

His eyes squinted at me with rage.

A moment of pause descended, almost making me believe the worst of it was over. But then-

"Keep talking like that, and you can say goodbye to the final goodwill aid package we plan to send to you later this week."

"What?"

"We are aware of how low your supply is currently. And how you've run out of 98% of the amenities you left earth with and are surviving purely on replenishables." Doctor Lady says.

Then she awkwardly continues, "It would be....cruel. To ignore all that and....."

"Leave me out here to die?" I finish for them. Saying the quiet part they were unwilling to say out loud.

No one responded.

Their silence made me more angry.

I fold my arm, wipe all expression and emotion off of my face as I stare them all dead in the eye.

"Keep your fucking supplies."

That shocked everyone.

"MEL-" Carol yelled in protest from her seat but her cries of plea swiftly gets cut off.

"You're basically dooming yourself to die!!" The General swings upright in his seat, almost launching himself off as he seems to be suppressing a mild heart attack.

The doctor-looking lady for the first time shows the first hints of emotion all throughout the meeting in the back as her eyes widen.

"Yeah, and so what of it?" I shot back with a raised eyebrow and nonchalant expression.

"But you-"

"Fuck you, specifically." I said while pointing a finger square between the General's eyes.

I move forward and shut off their audio feed from my end so I no longer had to listen to a word they said but they could still hear me.

I've heard enough from all of them, and I intended to get the final word in.

"If you're gonna cut me off, do it now. I've had enough of this." All emotion was gone from my voice as I completely shut down and take my final stance with what little pride I had left still intact.

Despite the audio being cut off, I see Carol shoot up from her chair and seemed to yell "WAIT!" while madly waving at the camera.

But Glasses Guy just shrugged, seeming to not care one bit about what was going on or was said, and callously pressed a button without a second thought. Shutting off their video feed.

And my internet.

And surprisingly my lights as well.

I look at my live stream chat as it disconnects in realtime and all chat logs gets wiped as the browser couldn't reload new ones or display the old.

That's it.

This is the end of the road.

I've gone and done it now.

I was truly.....100%.....alone.

I slowly walk away from my monitor as the sickening realization of what was happening finally sunk in and the urge to become violent sick aggressively took hold of me.

I looked around, the sound of deafening silence closing in on me like an enemy force descending on their target.

Swinging wildly in every direction to look around the room to find a distraction, and unsuccessfully finding any, I began to hyperventilate.

I run over to my landing gear and begin slapping buttons in a blind state of hysteria to generate SOME sound, ANY sound-

Do something! Make some sort of noise!! PLEASE!!!

My mind was going in a frenzy, as I desperately fought the onset of an inevitably incoming panic attack.

I decided to start lowering my ship back down to the waters.

I'd been up in the sky too long and I worried for my dwindling reserve battery as I had no idea how much I'd used at the moment.

Engaging my engines created a vibrating sound that softly emanated through my ship.

I didn't notice how much so before, but I was currently SO grateful for the low hum, and the soothing vibration that raced through my floor and up my legs right now.

I'm here.

I'm present.

I am real.

I am not nothingness.

I tried to regulate my breathing so I didn't fully fly off the handle.

I'm okay. I'm fine. I will survive this....

I look around the room again to desperately find something to anchor myself to in the here, now and present.

Books?

Video games?

Fuck it! PORN!?

I scuff in frustration as I turn away from all of them as I systematically shot down every idea.

I truly can't find something!? ANYTHING!?!?

But I still fail to find anything that even mildly piqued my interest or would be a worthy enough distraction, and the panic of having nothing to do was beginning to set in again.

The dark descending spiral that I'd been holding off slowly began. I gradually sank down onto the floor, when a small square object caught the corner of my eye.

The box.

The gift that I was sent by the boys caught my attention, and I scramble madly towards it.

Salvation.

Purpose.

Hope.

I race across the room like my life depended on it towards the small object that seemed to be the only thing left my sanity could cling to.

But right before my hand touches it, all the lights come back on.

BLAM!

I freeze in utter shock.

The bright light momentarily blinds me and I get stun locked.

My computer monitor screen then kicks back on, and my chat starts flying by at mach speeds. Hungrily and desperately trying to catch up with one another as the devoured each previous comment posted.

"Wait- what???" My voice dies in a croak.

I was so confused as I looked around.

But before I could even get a moment to figure anything out, I immediately get distracted by my video feed coming back on, and seeing Carol beating the shit out of the General!?

"You worthless PIECE OF SHIT!!!" She screamed as she pulled and ripped at the older man's hair, while he desperately tried to fend her off.

The Doctor Lady also desperately tried to pull her off, but Carol had gone full feral gremlin mode.

The Math Nerd on the other hand was trying to balance a pencil between his lips and his nose, and was the only one who saw me come back online.

"WHAT THE-" He yelled and got up from his chair.

Everyone else looked up, pausing Carol's assault as a look of relief washed over her face.

"YOUR BACK!?" She cried out in delight, on the brink of holding back tears.

"HOW THE FUCK!?" The math guy cried next, holding back tears of his own. But from fear, not relief.

I just give a simple shrug as a response.

"SEE!? SHE'S A DANGER!!" The General tried to argue. "SHE'S BYPASSING OUR HIGH-TECH INTERSTELLAR GOVERNMENT SECURITY FOR PLANET EARTH!!!"

"She doesn't have the CAPACITY to do that!!" The other man argued. Hiding behind his chair and looking at me like my mere presence on the screen was pure witchcraft. Which honestly speaking it might as well be at this point.

"Then she obviously has help," Doctor Lady concluded.

"So she'd in cahoots with the enemy!! Fraternizing with those sea demons!!" General screeched back, spit flying everywhere as he seemed to be losing his mind along with everyone else.

That's when I bellowed.

"THEY ARE NOT SEA DEMON-"

BAM!!!

My words get cut off when a loud bang slaps against my door and shakes my whole ship.

The sudden shock caught me off guard as I didn't brace for it and tip violently to the side.

In my attempt to not crash into the floor, I accidentally knocked the package sent to me off my desk, with the intense jerk of my ship sent it rolling further under my desk.

"For fucks sake, what now!?" Me and Carol surprisingly say in unison.

Another loud slam hit my door, sending a fierce shockwave through my ship, as I just stare uselessly in that direction as it finally got kicked in.....and Leo comes tumbling through in a barrel roll.

Unrestrained joy slams into my chest at the mere sight of him.

"L-"

I couldn't even get the first syllable of his name out of my mouth, when he pulls out a high-tech gun that was wrapped around his shoulder, and aims it directly at me.