20 Years later...
April woke up in a cold sweat. Her cryo tube was opened. She sat up and looked around, panting. The rest of her
squad was still out. She wiped her face with her hands.
"Every cryo sleep, the same damn dream..." She muttered to herself. She looked down, reached into her shirt and
pulled out the dogtags around her neck. It was hers and the ones of the marine that saved her all those years ago.
She noticed movement. She turned to see her team stirring. Private Vinny was the first to stand up entirely.
"Ugh. Nother beautiful day in the corps." He said sarcastically. April put her necklace back under her shirt and got
up.
"Alright people, let's get to work." She said to her dreary team.
"Ai, ai, Sarge." Vinny said with a smile. Corporal Hope stood up out of her tube.
"They don't pay me enough to wake up to your voice, Vincent." She said half asleep.
"Come on Hope, don't call me that." He said. Synthia stretched and yawned.
"Can't we go one drop without you two arguing?" She asked.
"You gotta agree Synth, he is annoying as hell."
"You got me there."
"Hey! Standing right here?!" April walked out of the room.
"Same shit every drop..." She muttered. They all got dressed while the rest of the squad got up. Most of the team
sat in the mess hall and ate before getting ready for the drop. Private Wayne, a young African -American man, sat
cutting his breakfast.
"So what are we dealing with boss?" He asked April. She took a sip of her drink.
"A research station has requested assistance. We were the closest so we're helping." She said.
"Helping with what?" Hope asked. April sighed.
"They found a Xeno egg..." She replied. Everyone groaned and sighed.
"A fuckin' bug hunt." Vinny complained.
"From what I checked on the radio, the colony is still alive," April said, "It may have not hatched..."
"Since when do Facehuggers not hatch?" Wayne asked.
"Alright, let's just calm down. We got this, we always do." April assured them. "Let's just hope for a quick and easy
bug kill." Hope lit a cigarette.
"It ain't never easy when it comes to bugs." She said. Their new recruit walked in. April looked at him. He looked
back and seemed to freeze up. He looked nervous. April smiled.
"Good to have you join us rookie." She said. Everyone looked at him. Hope puffed on her cig.
"There's the newb. What's your name again?" She asked. Before he could reply, Synthia did for him.
"Private Jay Conner. Age 24 . Weight 196. Born Dec, 25, 21-" Vinny cut her off.
"Synth, please. We needed his name not Medic record."
"Detail is in my programing."
Jay just blinked. April waved him over.
"Come sit down and eat, Private. We got a busy day ahead." She said. Jay grabbed a try, walked over and sat
down.
"Why's that sir?" He asked.
"Don't do that." She said.
"Excuse me?"
"Don't call me sir. Or ma'am. Don't refer to me as your superior. Just call me April. Or sarge, I don't mind sarge."
"Yes sir- er, April." She chuckled.
"Now. What was your question?"
"Why's this gonna be a busy day?"
"Bugs."
"Bugs?"
"Yeah, Bugs. You know, Xenomorphs." He looked confused. "Did they not cover this in basic?"
"No."
"Christ! I keep telling then to do this! But do they listen? No! Its like they want to lose marines!" April sighed.
"Vinny. Get the book. Everyone else saddle up. We got a drop to do."
The marines got up and got to work. Vinny walked to his locker and grabbed a scrapbook, and brought it to April
and Jay. He put it in front of Jay.
"There go kid. Do your homework." Vinny said as he walked out of the mess hall. Jay took the book and looked at
the title.
"Vinnys Guide to Bug Hunting?" Jay asked. Synthia sighed.
"I helped." He opened the book. The first page was titled "The basic Bug." Underneith it was a picture of what he
guessed was a xenomorph. It was shiny black, with a long head, no facial features, just a toothy mouth. It was
drooling. A lot. Its body appeared to be almost skeletal, its tail looked like exposed vertabra with a spike on the
end.
"Wow. That brings a new definition to freaky."
April chuckled.
"Kid, you have no idea." She got up and walked to the locker room. "Keep readin kid. And get ready. Multitask if you
can." She walked out, with Synthiea behind her. Jay sighed, and flipped throught pages of the book.