CHAPTER 1 THE DROP

A voice pierced my consciousness "Hey, rookie. You still with us?" "Huh, yea" I mumbled. "Eyes open marine!" a voice yelled. My eyes shot open to see my squad looking at me strangely. "Sorry sir, I just needed some shut eye." I said. "No excuses marine!" the commander yelled. "Sir Yes sir" I shouted. The commander continued, "Strap in and stow your shit marines."I sighed and grabbed my pistol and slid it into my belt.

I made my way through the other marines and sat down heavily in a seat of the drop ship and reached up and pulled down the straps and shouted, "Ready for the drop." Ten other voices joined mine, "Ready to drop!" The commander yelled, "All right marines, we've lost contact with planet 4-A67. I raised an eyebrow and waited for him to continue. The commander continued, "It seems that the planet sent out an SOS for a brief moment before it was cut by an unknown source." I asked, "Do we know if there are any survivors?" "DO NOT SPEAK UNLESS SPOKEN TO MARINE." The commander yelled.

He spoke again, "civilians are unlikely considering the amount of communication equipment in the colony." We will be going in as first recon. We will then gauge the threat and wait for orders from HQ." SIR YES SIR, my squad shouted. I thought, "Recon, I joined to shoot shit. Not to explore an abandoned colony." The pilot yelled to us, "Dropping in five seconds."

The commander took a seat next to me and yelled, "HOLD ON MARINES!" I closed my eyes and swallowed. "I hate dropping in through a planets atmosphere" I thought. One of my squad mates called, "Come on rookie, it's just like the rides at the amusement park!" I ignored him and grinded my teeth and thought, "Like an amusement park ride, yeah right buddy." The pilot yelled, "DROPPING NOW" I clenched the straps on my seat and the ship fell. I felt weightless for a few seconds and then the boosters kicked in shoving me into the back of my seat.

I clenched my teeth and waited to hit the atmosphere. The ship crashed through the first layer of the atmosphere and I felt like I had been kicked in the stomach. I opened my eyes and looked around to see the emergency lighting kick in and I noted that my squad mates weren't fairing any better. The ship broke through the last layer of the atmosphere and started to glide more evenly. My heart slowed down and I sighed in relief. The lighting returned to normal and the pilot yelled, "Approaching the landing site!"

I wondered what had happened to the colony and thought, "This better be worth the time of sending us." The pilot pulled back on the throttle and the ship decelerated. I turned my head and tried to see through the front windows of the ship and saw only darkness with the occasional flash of the exterior lighting. I yelled, "How long till were at the landing zone?" The pilot yelled, "back ten seconds!"

I waited for what seemed like hours but finally the ship lurched to a stop. It slowly lowered and with a loud crash and the landing gear hit what sounded like metal. The commander yelled, "EVERYONE UP AND OUT THE RAMP!" I fumbled with the straps and shoved them away from my head. I grabbed the side rail and followed my squad out the back of the ramp. I raised my hand to shield my eyes from the drop ships exterior lighting and observed the planet. I looked around and saw that we had landed on the top of the colonies main building. The commander yelled, "ROOKIE, YOU COMING?"

I turned my head and saw my squad fanning out and securing the rooftop. I joined my squad mates and said, "Rooftop secure." Other voices confirmed my analysis and I looked for a rooftop exit and called, "There's a door over there." The commander motioned for one of my squad to secure it and I saw that my squad mate with the call sign blackwater move to the door. I pulled out my motion tracker and joined him. I panned the motion tracker around and noted with satisfaction that there was no movement other then my squad in the area. I called, "Clear" My commander walked over and punched in the code for the door and it opened with a whoosh. I took out my pistol and said, "I'll take point."

My squad mates nodded and I pushed forward and observed the hallway. It seemed to press in on me and the wires and conduits didn't help ease the feeling. I put my hands on one of the walls and with a jolt realized I had touched some kind of goo. I pulled my hand away and wiped it on my paint leg and continued down the hall. I pointed my pistol ahead of me and a pipe burst next to me spilling co2 into the hall. I pushed through it and called, "Clear up ahead." I looked behind me to see my squad drawing closer to me. I clicked on my flashlight and panned it around looking for clues to why there was no power and no people. I noticed there were no metal grates covering the vents and that there were strange scratches along the walls.

I pulled my motion tracker out and was about to call clear, then it beeped an eerie sound growing more high pitched and I spun around and saw my squad had stopped and was pulling out there weapons and I pulled my pistol out and desperately tried to find the position of the disturbance. I looked down at my tracker and was jolted with surprise when I saw the dot that spelled death for us was inside the walls. I reached out my arm and tapped on the walls and heard something skitter inside them and yelled, "HOLY SHIT, THERE"S SOMETHING IN THE WALLS!" I pointed my gun and pulled the trigger, the bullet leapt from the gun piercing through the walls and I heard a screech.

I was unexpectedly hit in the side of the head knocking me to the ground. My commander was standing over me yelling, "NO SHOOTING UNLESS I SAY SO!" I shook off my headache and yelled back, "THERE WAS SOMETHING IN THE FUCKING WALLS! WHAT THE HELL WAS I SUPPOSED TO DO?" The commander yelled back, "YOU FOLLOW ORDERS THAT'S WHAT!" I shook my head and got up. Then I picked up my motion tracker and was frozen in shock.

There were contacts everywhere. I yelled, "CONTACT!" The commander yelled, "NO YOU DON'T" Then a claw came out of now where and grabbed him by the throat and pulled him into the ceiling. I was frozen in fear and saw my squad slowly disintegrate into the darkness with the occasional flash of gunfire. There was screaming and I caught a glimpse of something pull one of my squad mates into the vents. I yelled, "COMBAT FORMATION." It was useless and I saw that only six of my squad was left and something pinged of the pipes next to me.

I thought, "Shit, they don't know what they're shooting at" I ducked beneath one of the pipes and glanced at the tracker to see that my squad was down to four marines including myself. I thought, this is going to end up worse than Acheron and that weyland facility a few years back.' I pulled out my radio and yelled into it, "My squads almost all dead!" I heard a calm voice reply, "I know, I can see the cams." You're in the middle of a xenomorph infestation." A chill went down my spine as I realized I had almost no chance of coming out of this alive.

I yelled, "Is the landing pad clear?" The pilot replied, "No, tracker has movement all over your area. I can extract you from the other side of the facility." The pilot yelled, "Movement is right on top of you marine, GET TO THE LZ." Panic seized me and I jumped from my hiding spot and ran. I heard a scream as the last marine went down and bought me the few seconds that saved my life. I ran and slide over pipes and machinery rapidly approaching end of the hall. I jumped through the door and slammed my palm on the lock mechanism.

The door began to close and I heard a growl and a black claw erupted from the closing door and stopped it. I screamed and madly fired my pistol into it and the claw exploded into green blood. The door began to steam and melt as the acid ate its way through. I got up and ran out of the small room. I had no clue where I was going but I didn't care, I was alive. I wasn't going to die that easily.

(Continue, or discontinue. You guys can decide in a PM or review. Will the marine survive the night? Find out next chapter if I do end up continuing it.)