Author's Note: It took a while but I finally got an update posted. I hope you enjoy.
Disclaimer: I don't own Alien's or Predator.
"Aim for the head. Stay clear of the tail and watch out for blood splatter. That shit will eat a hole right through you." Watts instructed his partner in hushed whispers as they drew nearer to the alien monstrosity. "And Mel..." He paused to glance over his shoulder at the woman. "If anything should happen I want you to haul ass. Get to a ship and get the fuck out of here. Understood?"
Harris nodded, her eyes wide behind her dark face guard and focused on the creature slinking down the hallway ahead of them. "Yes, Sir."
Satisfied, Watts resumed their trek. Amazingly enough, the creature had yet to give any indication that it knew the two Marines were trailing it. Tamarr cursed softly as the beast turned a corner into what had been the mess hall and disappeared from sight. "Shit...Let's just put this bitch down and get the fuck out of here. "
The two eased around the corner as a pair, rifles ready to fire at... Nothing. The monster had simply vanished it seemed. The mess hall was completely deserted except for the mangled bodies of those not lucky enough to escape the initial onslaught hours ago. The corpses were strewn across the tables and littering the ground like discarded garbage.
Nervous now, Tamarr glanced around the eerily quiet room. "Where the fuck did it go?"
Melissa shook her head. "I don't like this. Let's just go. Fuck the bug. We're almost to the docks." The woman had begun to back slowly toward the doorway. Her eyes darted around the room frantically as they searched for any type of movement. Her finger tightened instinctively on the trigger of her rifle. "Please, Tamarr..."
"Yeah..." Watts nodded in agreement. "Yeah, yeah, yeah." He took one last sweeping glance at the room before moving in the same direction as his partner. "Fuck this."
Everything suddenly seemed to speed up. Melissa barely had time to comprehend what was happening. One moment she was looking at Watts coming toward her. The next she was watching the ceiling over her partner practically explode as the bug came crashing down on top of him, knocking him to the ground and pinning him. The fucking thing had apparently managed to haul itself up into the vents.
"TAMARR!" Her trigger finger flexed slightly but she was unwilling to fire out of fear for her partner. If she did shoot the thing, the cascade of acidic blood would spell death for her superior. "FUCK!"
Tamarr struggled desperately under the weight of the alien holding him down. Its jaws snapped viciously only inches from his helmet-covered face. His arms strained painfully as he tried to hold it off. "SHOOT THE FUCKER, HARRIS!"
"I CAN'T!" Mel felt close to tears. "THE BLOOD…." Melissa knew very well the consequences of shooting the monster. She had witnessed first hand what their caustic bodily fluids could do to human flesh. It would eat Tamarr alive.
"FUCKING SHOOT THIS BITCH!" Tamarr barely moved his head out of the way in time to avoid being impaled through his face guard by the thing's thrashing tail.
"GET OUT FROM UNDER IT!" Melissa was crying now. She could feel the tears streaming down her face behind her mask. "I CAN'T SHOOT IT WITH YOU THERE!"
Tamarr tried to roll out from under the beast but it held him firmly. He screamed as the monster raked its claws across his chest, slashing open the heavy body armor and sinking it's talons into his flesh. Saliva dripped from its mouth and splattered across the protective polymer that hid his face. The creature whipped its tail around once more with deadly intent.
Tamarr wasn't fast enough to move out of the way this time. The creature reared up off of him slightly and the barbed tip sank into his abdomen eliciting another agonizing scream from the man.
"Oh, God..." Mel felt paralyzed to do anything other than watch the scene play itself out. If she shot the creature, the blood would kill him. If she didn't shoot the creature, its claws and teeth would surely finish the man off. The urge to sink to the ground and curl up into the fetal position was so strong that she almost dropped her rifle. It wasn't until the creature cruelly ripped its tail out of Tamarr and turned its oblong head in her direction that she was able to move.
The creature hissed at her as it propelled itself forward. Its eyeless head cocked to one side in which might have been an amusing look of curiosity were it not for the exposed razor-sharp fangs and ropes of saliva that dangled from its maw. Throwing its head back, it roared as it continued to advance on the woman.
"Mel..." Tamarr stirred slightly. Blood poured freely from his wound, weakening him with every passing second. "Kill it, Mel...kill the fucker..."
The man's voice snapped her back into reality. Rage overtook Harris as she let loose a blood curdling scream and clamped her finger down on the trigger. Her scream however, was drowned out by those of the monster as the rounds made contact with its armor-like flesh.
Acidic blood spewed forth from the holes the hollow-tipped rounds punched in the creature. The caustic substance immediately went to work melting a hole through whatever it made contact with. The stench was almost enough to make Harris retch but still she kept firing. She fired until her clip was empty. She fired until the creature fell to the ground and stopped moving.
Her shoulders heaved. Her head pounded in time to her furiously beating heart. She crept toward the immobile beast and nudged it with the toe of her boot. When it made no move to rip her leg off she quickly moved to her partner's side.
"Oh, God...Tamarr..." Melissa pressed her hands to the wound on his stomach in a vain attempt to staunch the flow of blood. "I'm sorry...I'm so sorry..."
"No, no, no..." Tamarr, despite his dark skin, had paled considerably. He managed a weak chuckle. "Don't be sorry, Mel. There's too many sorry motherfuckers in the world as it is...This was my fault...should've...should've just...got to the ship..."
"I'm gonna get you out of here. We just have to make it to the docks..." Melissa tried to pull the dead weight of the man up off the floor. "There's another research outpost not far from here. They have a full medical team. They'll fix you..."
The sudden sound of scurrying feet approaching caused the woman to jump quickly to her feet. She clutched her empty rifle to her chest. "Oh, shit..."
"There's more coming..." Tamarr let out a racking cough that brought up blood. "Get out of here."
Mel looked down at the man desperately. Her mind worked feverishly to come up with some sort of plan that would save them both. "I can't leave you...they'll kill you."
Watts laughed weakly and motioned toward the gaping hole in his middle. "I'm already dead...I'd...never make it. I'd just slow you down..."
"No." Melissa shook her head. She didn't believe she would be able to survive on her own. Not alone. Not like this. Not in this place.
"I'm not asking you to leave me, Harris..." The man's eyes fluttered as he struggled to remain conscious. "I'm ordering you. Get the fuck out."
The sounds outside the mess hall drew nearer. The sound of claws striking tiling and the snapping of teeth echoed down the hallway announcing the approaching monsters. The woman looked desperately from the man to the doorway. She wanted to leave more than anything, but was reluctant to abandon the man that had gone through this hell with her.
Tamarr gripped the woman's ankle. "What the fuck are you waiting for?"
Mel looked back down at him. She wished they weren't wearing their helmets so that she could see his face. A hissing sound caused her head to snap back toward the doorway. Her heart leaped into her throat. Two bugs, in all their horrifying glory, stood imposingly in the door frame.
"GO!"
She turned and ran at the sound of Tamarr's voice. The clattering of the monstrous beings giving chase spurred her on faster as she ran full tilt toward the galley area where the cooks had once held domain. She skid around a corner and turned down a narrow passageway. There was an open area a little ways down just passed a walk-in freezer that led to another exit. She just had to get there.
Her breath came in labored gasps. She could hear the creatures getting closer. She could almost imagine their hot, rancid breath on the back of her neck. As the exit came into view she imagined that the doors glittered as they beckoned her to safety. Pushing herself to move faster, she rushed toward the doors at full speed, prepared to fling them open and make her escape...
It was like running into a brick wall. She looked up in a daze as she suddenly found herself sprawled on her back. The glittery, shimmery shape that hovered over her shifted slightly allowing her make out the faint outline of what looked like a man...an extremely large man.
"Oh, my God..." Recognition flooded through Melissa as she realized she was looking at the 'thing' she had glimpsed on the monitors before the power had gone out.
A clicking growl issued from the shape. Mel didn't have time to scream before she felt herself being hauled roughly to her feet and slammed into a wall. The feeling of a large hand encircling her throat caused panic to rise in her. She squinted her eyes to try to get a better visual of the phantom that pinned her to the wall through the shifting kaleidoscope of colors as they moved.
A screeching sound caught the attention of both the captor and the captive as the bugs came sliding around the corner. They paused at the end of the hallway for only a moment as if assessing the situation before rushing toward the terrified Marine who seemed to be suspended from mid air.
Melissa was certain her time had come to join her fallen comrades in death. Between the ghost-like thing that held her and the two monstrosities running towards her there didn't seem to be another option. She closed her eyes and waited for the inevitable.
To be continued...
I hope to get the next chapter up a bit faster than I did this one. Till next time...
Amentet