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Authors Note: Many thanks to my friend Kevin, who I have been bouncing ideas off of and who basically told me to write it already.
Anyway, this is the second installment of the story, and needless to say it has been vexing. Despite the fact that this story is labeled AU something inside of me clings desperately to cannon.
Anyway, as you read this story, I am sure you will notice a lot of similarities to the movie but also many differences. Also, there will be events from the movie that are missing because this is from Hailey's point of view, and obviously she's not around for everything. This chapter is alsowhen things really begin to change.
Oh, and the powers that be (that's me!) have decided that Goat shall live. His death leads to an important discovery in the movie yes, but that will be taken care of—fear not! And I don't really feel like calling Sarge "that man"so I'm just going to call him Sarge.
Disclaimer: Only the characters that you don't recognize belong to me. There are a lot of familiar lines in this chapter—they are from the movie. That won't be happening much more after this chapter.
Warning: For language. They like to drop the F-bomb.
Chapter Two
"Jesus," Hailey breathed, as she stared at the empty, blood spattered gurney that had held Dr. Carmack only moments before. "Where did he go?"
"I don't know," Samantha replied.
Just then the nanowall dissolved and the RRTS team burst through the door. Reaper and another, more muscular man were leading the way, two other men that Hailey did not recognize were following after them, and they appeared to be dragging something behind them.
"What happened?" Samantha demanded.
"Doctor, you are going to tell what the fuck is going on up here!" Hailey glanced at his insignia—Sergeant.
Samantha looked perplexed, "what?"
"Get over here," the man demanded, and when Samantha didn't comply he only yelled louder. "Come here!" Samantha took a few steps forward. "This is what." Hailey saw the green bag that the two soldiers had been dragging and watched asSarge yanked the bag back.
Samantha cried out, covering her mouth in disgust.
Hailey screamed, and then she choked. She bent over and retched. That… that thing, it looked like a piece of decaying flesh and its eyes… it had too many eyes and gaping mouth of bloody fangs. She felt her knees buckle and she fell to the floor.
"Ah shit!" She heard someone exclaim.
"Kid," Sarge barked, "clean her up." Sarge turned to Samantha, "I want you to tell me, have you ever seen anything like this on your dig?"
Hailey shook her head, no, if she had she would have remembered! Bones they had found bones, partially intact skeletons and Lucy—the fully intact skeleton. Pots, they found pots and rudimentary tools. No fucking six foot hulking monsters with eight eyes.
Hailey felt hands touching her shoulder and she flinched back.
"Hey," a voice spoke to her, "its okay."
Hailey laughed, it sounded hysterical. She pointed blindly in the direction of the Thing. "You call that, okay?" She felt something soft being pressed into her hands, it was a towel. She wiped at her mouth and then dropped it onto the floor.
"Take a drink," Hailey looked up and into the face of a kid. He looked younger than she was and he was trying to smile and he was holding a black canister. Hailey snatched the container out of his hands and took a drink. "Go slow—" Hailey ignored him, and took another swig, gulping it down.
"Portman, shut up!"
Hailey looked up.
Samantha looked angry, "oh yeah," she scoffed, "like an alien?"
"Look at that thing!"
"Portman, you need to shut the fuck up!"
"No."
Hailey knew that voice, it was Goat. He was staring down at the Thing, his face looked stoic, but his eyes gave more away. He looked away before Hailey could place the emotion.
"Goat's right," Reaper said, "that's not what we shot at in genetics."
"You mean to say there are more of these things?"
"Oh my God," Hailey blurted, "Doctor Carmack!" She looked at Samantha, who had a stricken look on her face.
"That's the civilian?" Sarge demanded.
"Yes," Hailey replied, "my name is Hailey Ralston, ID 4326—"
Sarge cut her off, "What the hell is she talking about?"
Samantha took a deep breath, "Dr. Carmack went missing a few minutes ago."
"Missing?"
"He disappered."
Sarge closed his eyes for a moment, trying to gather together the few shards of patience he had left. "Look," he said giving up on Samantha for the moment and turning to Hailey."They are evacuating everyone," just as he said that a clear female voice came over the intercom.
"All personnel please make your way to atrium for evacuation. This is not a drill."
"Kid," Sarge said, "Portman, you take Miss. Ralston to the Atrium."
Portman had the sense not to groan, even though he did roll his eyes. Kid offered his hand andHailey took it and stood up, albeit shakily.
"Let's get this over with," Portman snapped.
"You're not coming?" Hailey asked Samantha.
"No," Samantha answered, "I have to stay here and retrieve the rest of the data."
"Oh," was all Hailey could think of to say, she looked at Duke, "thanks again." She said before Kid laid a hand on her shoulder, gently pushing her forward.
"Come on!" Portman yelled.
"Alright," Hailey snapped, "I get the idea." Hailey walked to the key pad and entered the code, the nanowall dissolved and Portman pointed at Kid.
"You take the front, I'll take the rear." Hailey caught a very pointed look down and took a deep breath.
The three of them stepped out into the empty hallway. Hailey could hear the Sarge barkingmore questions.
Hailey took another shaky breath, she stepped forward and clutched onto the back of Kid's jacket.
"Ain't that precious," Portman snapped. "Look here, the Atrium is just down the hall to the left. We should get there in five minutes."
Hailey swallowed, and made a face. She had a very bad taste in the back of her throat. It was strange to be going home. Just like it was strange how she had gone to bed the night before feeling happy that she had found a job where she felt challenged only to wake up and have her entire life thrown into madness.
It would have been a lie to say that she hadn't heard rumors about a little pet project going on at Olduvai, but that was all she knew. A few whispered rumors that had been through so many mouths Hailey had laughed at how absurd they had sounded. If she had of had any idea how true to form those bizarre rumors would turn out she would have clocked out of her shiftand taken the first Ark home running.
She wondered…
Hailey shook her head. She couldn't think about that right now. Who mightstill betrapped inside the facility. On some far recess of another floor—if she thought to hard about that she would sit down and never get up.
She had to keep walking, one foot in front of the other.
An eerie sound floated down the corridor, Hailey froze in her spot and Portman who was glancing behind him, gun at the ready plowed right into her.
"What the hell?" He muttered indignantly.
Hailey covered her mouth with her hand and shook her head frantically.
"What did you hear?" He was talking close to her ear, Hailey shrugged. Whatever it was, it wasn't good.
Portman gently pushed past Hailey and began sweeping his gun light down the hallway. He stopped when the light flashed on the face of what looked like a Pit Bull. Hailey jumped, letting go of Kid. Something wasn't right about the dog… his muzzle was open, his tongue was lagging and its face was blood red.
"Jesus Christ." Portman cursed, he stepped back and his flashlight jerked up to reveal the twisted face of one of the creatures. Whose hand was presently yanking the dogs intestines from its belly.
"Oh shit!"
The monster moved faster than any of them anticipated. Portman took a step to the left, and Kid went the opposite direction leaving Hailey unprotected in the pathway of the creature that was now barreling towards them.
"Get down!" Portman yelled, charging in front of Hailey, just at that moment the monster leaped. It cleared two yards before landing in front of Portman.
A scream tore from Hailey's lips as the monster tore into Portman's neck. Hailey ran to the left, trying to get out of the way but Portman fell backwards, pinning Hailey to the concrete wall behind her. Something warm spurted against Hailey's face and she blinked, startled.
"Mother fucker!" Kid roared, firing off a round of bullets. The noise was amplified in the small hallway and Hailey's ears rang. The creature screamed, and jerked back as the bullets tore through its torso.
"What is your status report?"
"Portman's down! Portman's been hit!" Kid cried, shouldering his gun.
Hailey was pushing at Portman, a metallic smell filled her nostrils and she pushed at him again. Kid finally pulled himback and then put an arm under Portman's shoulder.
Portman cried out, and tried to speak but it only came out as a bloody gurgle.
"Hailey! Take his other shoulder! Come on!"
Hailey struggled under Portman's weight, and her hands slipped on his bloodied clothes.
"Move!"
"I'm trying!" Hailey shouted back. Finally Hailey bent low, she hooked her shoulder under Portman's arm pit and wrapped her right arm around him in an awkward half hug. She leaned back and began pulling with all her might.
"We have to get him to the infirmary," Kid said.
"Okay," Hailey replied. She felt Portman's blood seeping down her neck, and down the front of her lilac T shirt. Portman was dead weight and it was not an easy task half carrying and half dragging the man to sickbay.
"We're coming up on you!" A voice cracked over Portman's intercom. It was only a manner of seconds before Goat and Destroyer rounded the corner, guns ready.
"Did you neutralize your attacker?"
"Yes! I fired, it fell, and we ran."
"Are you hurt?" Destroyer asked, taking in Hailey's blood spattered face and the large stain down the right side of her body.
"N-no," she replied. Destroyer laid a hand on her shoulder and Hailey ducked out of the way, transferring Portman over to him.
"We can't take any chances." Goat said, he pressed a button and the clip from his gun fell onto the floor. He quickly loaded another magazine and cocked the trigger. "We have no idea how many are still out there."
Hailey glanced frantically behind her. She wasn't sure if it wasn't the shadows playing tricks on her mind but she could have sworn she saw something flash past the dull light in the doorway at the end of the long hall.
Hailey was suddenly aware of a loud clanging over head.
"We're right above you!" Sarge yelled. "We'll cover you! Get Portman and Hailey back to the infirmary." The end of his sentence was drowned out by a round of gunfire.
Someone was screaming.
"Hailey!"
Someone shook her sharply and her head snapping backwards brought her back to reality.
Her throat was burning, finally she managed to sputter: "We're going to die!" Hailey's stomach swooped up into her throat as she felt Goat heft her up off her feet. He had one arm secured around her knees and he flung her arms around his neck.
"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: For thou art with me;" Goat whispered into her ear, Hailey was bouncing around in his arms. "Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies—"
Hailey saw as the nanowall dissolved and Samantha run out.
"Get him in here!" She cried, "Hurry!"
Hailey felt a rush of cool air as they passed through the field into the lab. Goat dropped her down onto the closest surface he could find. Hailey let out spurts of breath, and Goat placed a hand on her head before whispering:
"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the House of the Lord forever."
Hailey nodded blankly and it was then when she finally burst into tears.
This story will be continued in Chapter Three.
End Note: The horror genre is not one that I foray into very often, and neither is military action and adventure. I hope that this chapter was okay anyway! Thanks for reading.
Please review and let me know what you think, but no flames please!
