AN: Alternate ending to The Thing 2011, because it would be so much scarier if It had acted more human. Or because I'm a very sadistic person who thought this would be cool. Reviews please
Disclaimer, I own nothing, making no profit from this.
"No, you'll never be alone
When darkness comes
You know I'm never far"
Whispers in the Dark, Skillet
"Earring, huh?" The Carter-Thing asked, shaking it's head ruefully.
Kate ignored him, raising the flamethrower, already bracing herself for the screaming and acrid stench of burning flesh, human or alien. Ignoring the thing imitating Carter, as it raised it's hand in a calming motion.
"Kate-" It didn't look worried, the seconds she took to steady herself, made no movement to change and attack her. Just sat in the driver's seat of the snowcat, hands half in the air, watching her curiously.
The flamethrower stayed cold.
Kate looked down in panic, shaking the metal nozzle that should be bursting with flames, before staring, horrified at the Carter-Thing.
"Outa gas, Kate?" The Thing shook it's head, giving Kate a pitying look. "Yeah, he wanted to warn you about that." It glanced sideways, where it could see a shaky distorted reflection of Carter in the windshield.
"Bastard."
"Who," Kate asked slowly, automatically as the useless flamethrower dropped to the snow, shrugging off the straps holding it to her back, screeching as it hit part of the cat on it's way to the cold snow. Kate was past panic now, realizing she had no other way to kill it, no way to kill herself; before it chose to absorb her.
"Sam," It gave Kate, Carter's half grin, lips quirking in apparent amusement. The hands, motionless in the air, moved. One resting against the dash, while the left hand went to tug on the earring less ear.
"He's still here," It confided smugly. "Screaming at you."
Kate gazed at it in mounting horror.
"It was a rush job, you know?" It was still half watching the windshield, only occasionally glancing at the real human. "Didn't have time to absorb him properly." One finger from the right hand, resting on the dashboard, wiggled.
The paleontologist watched, mouth drooping open as the finger stretched. Reaching out and tracing the distorted reflection.
"But-" Kate stammered, cold numbing her lips. "You-…Carter, helped me! Why would you kill the other-" Kate broke off, hugging herself, trying to protect against a cold more insidious than the thing in front of her.
"Like I said; rush job." It shrugged at her, but grinned brightly at the tortured reflection. "A few more minutes, and he had no control." The finger slowly shrank backwards, to a normal human size, leaving the Thing smiling in admiration at the shadow of reflection. "I didn't even notice the earring fall out."
"No." Kate moaned, there had to be someway to-
"Shit, Kate. Get in the cat before you freeze."
She glared at it, receiving a bored look in return, and hugged tighter at herself.
"Smart girl," It murmured, after Kate had finally climbed in, shutting the door behind her.
She glared out the windshield, not doing anything, saying nothing even as the Thing wrenched the keys from the ignition, letting the cat go quiet and cold slowly started overcoming the small amount of warmth that had gathered.
"Now what?" Kate whispered in the darkened, quiet snowcat.
"Guess we wait."
She couldn't see the thing anymore as the lights had fallen dark. But she could feel the fingers, wrong, wrapping around her throat. Kate screamed inside her head, to proud to show the Thing her fear, waiting for the sudden bursting tentacles to spear through her; taking her over from the inside.
"Wait?" She whispered again, when the tentacles failed to come, when nothing happened but the stretching wrongness of those fingers wrapped firmly around her throat.
"Yeah." The Thing agreed, still sounding amused. "It's too bad you couldn't tell Sam, about the Cavaliers."
A snap echoed through the cabin.
The Thing never once glanced at the human falling limp next to it, letting the oddly stretched fingers return while the lifeless human, the dead human slide down in the passenger seat. It's gaze stayed on where the reflection of it's host had been.
"We wait." It told the dead human, briefly looking at where it was in the dark. "You and I wait, Sam."
A smug grin widened, fingers once again tapping at the front windshield, as it imagined the pilot's earring.
The human part, the part still Sam Carter, had gone silent as the Thing killed Kate; screams dying off. But the Thing could feel Sam's fear as it spoke. The Thing grinned, using Carter's mouth, as it wrapped itself around the last little bit that was Sam. Only Sam. That last, tiny little spark of a human that It could, or would not destroy.
"It's just you and me, Sam."