I don't get what's wrong? It's like everyone is ignoring this special edition like there isn't anything there. I'm rather sad. Then I remembered that there was only one chapter posted since May, meaning that I should add a bit more.

That being said, enjoy and review, because all reviews are fuel…

Chapter 2: The Rescue Party

Survival Rule # 1: Always Trust Your Ears

The sound was something different than what he'd initially expected. It was one he hadn't heard in an incredibly long time; a sound that he'd been looking forward to hearing for an incredibly long time. It was the opening of the outer locks.

In the early days of the outbreak, the people in charge of the colony who'd remained had shut them in an attempt to lock them out. It didn't work.

They'd found another way, and to this day, Jake still hadn't found what it was. All he knew is that they came from the direction of the colony that faced the Atmosphere Processor.

He heard some voices from the door. They weren't very loud at all. A normal person, one who wasn't paranoid and used to listening and perceiving the slightest change. It was crazy how quiet it was. During the Colony's heyday, the voices would only be heard close up. Yet the strange quiet produced by the lack of people had allowed them to be heard.

He knew that it was rescue; he was the only person left, and nobody else had been outside in ages. It obviously meant rescue had come.

"Here!" he shouted, waving his arms "Over here!"

Had rescue not come for him now, he would have been insane to shout like he was, knowing the creatures would pick him up and take him away.

He heard the stomping of combat boots growing closer. Turning around to check his back, he saw that the coast was clear for now.

Turning back around, he saw exactly the sight that he'd imagine seeing; Colonial Marines.

Two of them to be exact. Both were tall, medium built, with the usual armor. This consisted of camouflage painted body armor, with names printed at the neck level, combat helmets, and fatigues. One had "Hicks" written across, the other read "Hudson".

Hick's armor had very little decorating it other than a heart with a key-lock padlock on it.

Hudson had a skull with a knife through the eye, a Japanese love-knot with Louise written in red paint along with it.

Both were armed with pulse-rifles, and each had brown hair.

"Where is everybody?" Hicks asked.

"Gone" Jake replied "However, I'm relieved you finally came"

"We found a colonist" Hudson replied into his headset.

After a moment of silence, there was a deep voice through Hudson's headset.

"We've finished our sweep. Looks like we missed whatever ran through here" the voice replied.

"Sure knew how to trash the place" Hicks sighted "And what's with all of the soup inside the panel?" he pointed at the stash that Jake had opened up.

Jake paused, and laughed awkwardly, saying "Kind of a long story. You guy's hungry?"

Ripley

Inside of the APC, she heard Gorman say something into his headset, before turning a moment to look at Burke.

"We're going inside" Gorman announced "You won't believe what we found"

"What?" Ripley asked.

"A colonist" Gorman answered.

Jake

He was currently walking into medlab with Hicks, while protesting that he didn't need medical examination.

"I keep telling you" He repeated "I feel fine."

"Sure don't look like it to me" a female voice replied from behind.

Turning around, he saw a female Marine, obviously the corpsman, judging by the medical pack she carried with her. Her armor read "Dietrich". As far as he was concerned, she was the prettiest thing he'd ever seen, especially since he hadn't seen a woman in the flesh in over 2 years.

"He's all yours Dietrich" Hicks replied, walking away.

"So what's going to happen exactly?" he asked, managing his words.

"You're going to open your mouth" she replied, taking out a small stick to examine "and say 'ah' for me"

He held out his tongue, and she put the wooden piece right on it. He then proceeded to go "Ah" for at least ten minutes.

"Alright" she replied, removing the wooden piece "I'm going to need you to stand on this for me"

She proceeded to put a collapsible scale on the ground.

He slid off the table and right onto the scale.

She took a look at the display on her medical equipment monitor.

"one hundred forty pounds." She sighed "And you're 6'1'', so that means you're right on the money with your weight. A little skinny, yet perfectly healthy."

"I'm hungry" he admitted, withdrawing the can of Chicken Noodle soup from his jacket "Is there a hot plate around here?"

"What are you doing with that?" she asked, confused.

"I had it in my stash" he replied "put it in my pocket right when you guys showed up."

"You're seventeen, right?" she asked.

He nodded.

"As far as I can tell," Dietrich replied "The only thing you need is a good shower"

"I wanted to take one for a long time" he replied "If it wasn't for the creatures"

"Whatever" Dietrich replied, taking her kit and walking away.

On the way out, he spotted two more people, who seemed to be dressed differently than the marines.

The first one was a woman, who appeared to be in her thirties, with long, curly, black hair, brown eyes, a leather jacket, and some flight trousers.

The other was a man, with brown hair, which was curly and cut short; a polyster vest over a brown-plaid shirt, and some black slacks.

Dietrich stopped and talked to both of them.

Jake watched them for a moment, confused. He was wondering what Dietrich could be telling them about.

After about five minutes of them talking, he decided to take out his journal from his vest and write down what happened.

He then felt a hand touch his shoulder out of nowhere, and he jumped three feet from the table.

"You're really jumpy kid" the woman noted.

Turning around, he saw the other woman had entered, and that both her and the man were seated across from him.

"Who are you?" he asked.
"My name is Carter Burke" the man replied.

"Mine's Ripley" the woman added.
"Burke, Burke…" Jake repeated, confused "That name is familiar. I can't remember where I heard it from"

"I don't think that's important" Burke replied "I need to know exactly what happened here"

"Why do you care" Jake retorted "You guys got here a bit late to do any rescuing. Why don't you just cut your losses and we all pull out of here, nuke this place. I just want to get out of here"

"Can you please just tell us what happened?" Burke sighed, putting his fingers around the bridge of his nose and closing his eyes.

"Marcus Jorden went out past the Illium Range one day, his wife takes him back with something attached to his face. Four more people go out, two come back with the same things on their faces, and then things go to hell. Something manages to come out of their chests, and then as people disappeared, they began to multiply"

For a brief moment, he didn't even notice Ripley leave the room while he had been talking, because she came back with a cup of something warm and handed it to him.

He took a sip, and after recognizing that it was hot chocolate, began to drink more of it. It felt good to be able to have cocoa again; he'd been wanting to find a packet of it for a while.

"What else happened?" Burke asked "Where are the others?"

"The hell I know" Jake replied sarcastically "I only stuck to one area after most of them disappeared. No way in hell am I letting them take me with them"

"So you're the only one left?" Ripley asked.
"As far as I know" he replied "Something had been stealing all of my food for a while though."

"So this is the one survivor that just appeared to be here" a man stated at the door.

Jake turned his head, to reveal a marine wearing a jumpsuit, commander's hat, and with a pistol at his side. He had short brown hair, and brown eyes.

"Why can't we just leave already?" Jake asked.
"Is there any way you can tell me what happened to the other colonists?" the marine asked.

"We already tried Gorman" Ripley answered to the man.
"Says they all were taken" Burke replied.

"I want to know why you guys haven't nuked the place yet" Jake retorted "They're all dead anyways. Why not just cut our losses and pull out" he slid off the table and started to walk out of the room.

Ripley

"Why that little…" Burke grumbled, getting up to follow the kid.

"Leave him alone Burke" she replied "He's obviously been through a lot."

Jake

He went out of the Infirmary and into Colony control. He figured he'd needed to get away from those people from The Company anyways.

He found Hudson at the schematics terminal, looking over everything. Another Marine, this one a blonde man with a SMART gun and bones hanging from his armor. A look at his chestplate revealed "Drake"

"Who are you?" the voice from Hudson's headset asked from behind.
Jake spun around. This revealed the Sergeant Marine, wearing the typical armor. He was black, and had a cigar in his mouth, that he was chewing on.

"Jake Essex" he replied. He paused, looking around "I see you guys are starting to get settled in fast."

"You the survivor that Hicks and Hudson found?" the Sergeant asked.
Jake nodded "Took you guys long enough for a rescue."

"Name's Apone" the Sergeant replied, walking up to Jake and shaking his hand.

Jake was taken aback by this. He'd never expected that kind of reaction.

"This place was my hell for two years" He replied, "Can't wait to just leave it behind."

"You call this hell?" Drake asked "Hell's got some fire going on right now. Hell's when you're out of ammo and they've got you pinned down. Hell's where you've got nothing but a…"

"Easy there Drake" Apone replied "He's obviously seen something down here."

Jake simply fell into one of the Colony Control seats, spinning around on the swivel. "Today's the daytime anyways" he replied "Just wait until it get's dark. Then Hell comes to you."

He saw Burke walk in and take a seat next to Hudson, and the two began to look over the display.

Jake simply started to look out the window. Blue-black light shone in from the windows, casting the planet's natural color into the room. It seemed that everything became cold as a breeze blew into the room.

The dark shadows were cast all over, and someone coughed, causing Jake to flinch.

Jake's stomach began to growl even further, echoing across the room.
"Somebody get this kid something to eat!" Hudson yelled "Sounds like he hasn't eaten in days."

"Might as well" Jake sighed, reaching into his jacket, and pulling out a ration bar, and opening the wrapper.

He then began to eat the prefab food like it was his first meal in years. The peanut butter and apple paste on the inside of the chocolate shell had really had begun to hit the spot. It was like lunch was somehow incredibly sweet.

There was a commotion from down the hall, which Jake had started to ignore, focusing more on his ration bar. There were gunshots, then a yell of pain, before some clunking around.

Jake then turned around in the chair and looked down the hall. As far as he could tell, there was something going on.

"Found another one" Ripley's voice called out.

Jake got up and walked down the hall. In Ripley's hands was a face he thought he'd never see again. Wearing messy overalls and with matted blonde hair, was Rebecca "Newt" Jorden. In her hand, was the head of her doll, which she'd named "Casey".

"Jake?" she asked.
He didn't answer immediately, but instead followed Ripley as she set Newt down on the table.

"What are you doing here after all of this time?" Jake asked "I thought they'd gotten to you"

"I thought they'd gotten you too" she whispered. She turned to him "It's useless anyways"

"Rescue's finally come for us though" he replied "I don't get why they aren't leaving with us, yet they've come to save all of us"

"They're dead anyways" Newt whispered "If we aren't leaving now, then I doubt we'll leave soon"

"I don't think so" Jake replied "I bet you a dollar that we'll get out of here and go home"
"I bet it won't work" Newt replied, taking out an old American Dollar from 2012.

No one had used a greenback in years. He was amazed at how she'd have gotten her hands on one. It may be in terrible condition, but it was still worth face value, and as far as he was concerned, her bet.

"Alright" he replied "I only hope for the good of everything that you're wrong." He paused "I'm going to listen to my music now that rescue's come"

He then pulled out his music player, a late model of the Apple iPod. It was the standard model that Apple had released, and they never bothered to mess with it.

He put his collapsible headphones, which were Walkman-style, over his ears, and began to play his Retro's music. He was one of those people who liked to buck modern trends and go with what was popular in the past.

His music was from the days when mankind was just starting to go into space. Rock music from the 1960's, 70's, and 80's, with a little bit of pop from that era mixed in.

He figured that there was just a delay, and that they probably wouldn't go to the Atmosphere Processor.
He knew that everyone else wasn't in the complex, and that left only the Atmosphere Processor as the place where they went.

He'd never seen them get taken, but he had a pretty good hunch that they were there.

He went into Colony control and took a seat back in the chair. He figured that it wasn't too bad. As long as they left soon, things could be a bit nice.

He continued to see Burke and Hudson standing over the terminal, and it was driving him crazy to know what they were doing.

He got up, paused his music, and walked over to them.

"What are you looking for?" he asked.

"The colonists" Hudson replied.

"All of the adult colonists who came had Personal Data Transmitters implanted." Burke explained.

"If there within twenty clicks" Hudson explained "We'll find them. So far, zippo"

"Still looking for them huh?" he replied. "Why don't we just leave?"

"Hey" Hudson called out "Stop your grinnin' and drop your linen, found 'em"

"Huh?" Jake asked, bending over and looking at the display.

At first glance, it showed what appeared to be all of the colony inside of the sublevel basement of the atmosphere processor. All of them were clustered around one place also.

"Like a god damn town meeting" Hicks noted.

Jake's stomach fell. He knew that the last thing it was had to be a town meeting. If anything, it's obviously where they made Their House. Unless they were just storing them there, it was obviously where they brought the colonists.

"Alright Apone" Gorman called "Let's saddle up"

"Alright ladies, let's go" Apone called out "They ain't payin' us by the hour"

"Don't go in there" Jake warned "That's where their house is"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Gorman asked.

"The people who went in there never came back" he warned.

"Crazy kid" Burke whispered to Gorman

"Alright, let's go, assholes and elbows" Apone shouted.

All of the colony was emptied at this point, the Marines, Company Reps, and the two survivors went out of the south lock and into the Armored Personnel Carrier. This was a vehicle built on a squat, rectangular frame, with two guns riding outside, and a door on one side that was similar to one on a minivan.

Stepping into the APC, he followed Ripley and Burke, sitting down, and looked pale. He prayed that they're really going to be picked up by a dropship, and that they were not really going in search of the dead colonists.

"You okay kid?" Hicks asked.

"We'll be going into the Atmosphere processor," Jake inquired "Right?"

"Don't I know it" Hicks replied "However, you will be staying in the APC with everyone else. You'll be safe."

"I hope so" Jake sighed "Because nobody has ever come back after going in there..."