4. Russ Jorden

Russ Jorden was fine until he wasn’t. He didn’t remember much past walking into that derelict ship and that suited him just fine. The techs had told him that he’d been brought in with some kind of organism attached to his face, which he took to mean that they had no idea what it was. Apparently, it had fallen off on its own and died a short time later. It was an incredible story to say the least, impossible on a good day. But when he woke up there it was floating in stasis like a dead octopus with fingernails. The dread that ran through his body when he saw it was a cold electric shock and he vomited despite himself. That had been unpleasant. Soon enough he was feeling more-or-less normal again, and that was a fine thing. Hungry with a bit of a nagging headache, but no worse for wear.

 He'd been cleared for light duty and on his way to the motor pool when what must have been heartburn flared up in his chest. Probably ate too much too fast, Russ. Denial is a powerful thing. What happened next is hard to say because the only person who saw it was the Jones boy, who would later say through hitching sobs that Russ Jorden was trying to throw up all of his internal organs at the same time. When the medical team arrived they found the small service corridor covered in an impossible amount of gore and Russ Jorden in the center of it, a gaping hole in his chest.