Food for all of us

She was sitting next to the small table playing with one of the small plastic models we had lying around. She had an empty box, that used to contain food, and while examining the model, looking for cracks or parts that needed fixing, she involuntarily searched the box for something to eat. I watched her for a few minutes before I had the courage to talk to her.

“Walk with me.”

She looked at me with her blue, weary eyes waiting for an explanation - I didn’t give her one. We silently put on our bio suits while getting curious looks from the others. Going outside to the surface of the red planet was our only way of having some private moments.

We walked a few hundred meters before I turned on the suit’s short-range radios. “You alright?”

“Guess the same like everyone, too hungry.” She gave me her answer in a similar, very rudimentary style. We lost the luxury of being happy and careless the same day the hydroponics burned down. “Do we still have a chance?”

I wanted to reassure her that everything is going to be okay, but I couldn’t. I received a message from NASA a few hours ago, explaining what happened to their Orion rocket, and how much more time would it take to get here. We all would be either dead that time, or unable to move anymore because of starvation.

“Turn around.” I told her, and stepped behind her. “I just want to check your oxygen reserve.” I looked at her suit’s life support system, but as I’ve expected everything was perfectly fine. I opened a small stash on my suit and took out a knife.

As I grabbed her shoulder, I felt her muscles stiffening and heard her heavy breathing. “Why?” She asked.

“We need food to survive. The Orion rocket lost half of its fuel due to a micrometeorite. They had to start the deceleration maneuver earlier than expected. That means one more month waiting time for us.” This time I had to answer her properly. She deserved that.

“A true leader would have sacrificed himself for his crew.” She answered, but now with anger rather than fear.

I stabbed the knife into her backpack, from where most of her precious air ran out in a few seconds. I silently watched her as she suffered and suffocated to death. It was neither easy, nor as fast as I’ve expected to take on.

“I’m not a hero.” I said to nobody, and dragged her body back to our dome. We feasted that night.