After a few more minutes TJ stopped and hissed to Ali. She moved next to TJ and looked through a grating and down into the hallway below. She saw the human sitting down and fixing his gun. TJ hissed behind her, eager to jump down and kill the human. But Ali raised a hand and TJ calmed down. She was curious as to why this human, who didn't seem to be any older than 18, was here all by himself.

"Stay here and wait for my signal," Ali said as she shifted into a sitting position. She raised her bare feet into the air and kicked the grating away. The boy's head shot up as the grating crashed to the ground and Ali jumped down in front of him. Ali smiled and waited for the boy to take in her appearance: from her dress, torn at the knee, to her long black hair that came down past her shoulders, and finally her black eyes.

Ali grinned and started to run to the boy.

"Ali, please wait," the boy said quickly and Ali froze in surprise. Before she could do anything else the boy flung the gun he had been holding away from him and tossed the two knives that had been sticking out of his pants pockets. Ali continued to stare at him, slightly in shock as he threw away his weapons and from confusion as to how he could know her name?

As if reading her thoughts, the boy said, "My father was the scientist in charge of your cloning."

"But he should be dead. My daughter's children killed him along with all the others in that building," Ali said.

"Yeah, but after he was killed I hacked into his computer and read his journal about the cloning and the Xenomorphs," the boy answered.

"So that's what the scientists call us?" Ali asked.

"Xenomorphs? Yeah," the boy said.

"And do you expect me to take pity on you and spare your life just because you know about me?" Ali asked.

"No," he said, "I want to help you."

"Help me with what?" Ali asked.

"I saw the spaceship outside the orphanage; I'm sure you know what those things are and what they've come for," the boy said.

Ali stared at the boy, regarding him with deep suspicion; if he knew about the thing that hunted aliens he might prove to be of some usefulness to her, "What's your name?"

"Mike," was his answer.

"Well Mike, if I am to trust you, you are going to need to be marked," and as Ali spoke, TJ jumped down from the grating and stood behind her, his eyeless face staring at Mike.

Mike gazed at TJ apprehensively before asking, "What do you mean marking?"

"The last human that came down into the Hive was mistaken for prey," Ali said and she went silent as her eyes became glazed as she drifted back into a memory. But she quickly shook her head and continued, "TJ will mark you with his scent so that the others won't make that mistake again."

"What's he going to do? Pee on me?" Mike asked nervously.

Ali laughed and said, "No, he's just going to leave some saliva on you; a little on each shoulder."

Mike stood still as TJ stepped toward him but Ali could smell his fear as the Runner Alien loomed over him. She watched Mike close his eyes as a long trail of drool slowly dribbled out of TJ's mouth and landed on his shoulder. Then TJ moved to do Mike's other shoulder in the same way as the drool solidified on contact.

TJ hissed in satisfaction before turning and jumping back through the air duct. Ali could hear the sound of TJ's claws digging into the metal of the duct as he made his way back to the Hive. Then Ali turned her attention back to Mike; studying him closely for the first time.

He had sandy blonde hair that came down to his eyebrows. His light blue eyes had been dulled by sadness but Ali could tell that they had once been bright. He stood only a few inches taller than herself and Ali noticed that he was tan and muscular. As Ali stared at him her heart let out a flutter. It was the same flutter she had felt when she first laid eyes on Timothy in her old house. She had remembered the feeling of joy as her hand touched the long, smooth head. But this flutter was somehow different.

Ignoring the feeling inside her for the time being, Ali turned her back to Mike and walked down the hallway. She heard the sound of thuds as Mike jogged to catch up with her. He slowed his pace when he finally reached her and asked, "So where did that thing go?"

Ali spun around, her hair snapping behind her back, and her eyes flashed angrily, "Don't you dare call him a 'thing'! He has a name; TJ!"

"Okay, okay, sorry; I didn't mean to offend you or TJ," Mike said quickly.

Ali calmed down and said, "That's alright. Not many people know how to react when they come across an alien. Anyway, TJ went ahead to warn the Queen that we were coming, so she wouldn't freak out when she saw me coming down with a human."

"Oh," Mike said. He was silent for only a moment longer before asking, "How old are you?"

"Didn't your father's journal tell you?" Ali answered with a grin at the suddenness of the question.

"No, my father didn't know. I was just curious, you don't have t—,"

"How old do you think I am?" Ali asked, interrupting Mike.

"I don't know. Twelve or thirteen?" Mike said.

Ali laughed and shook her head her black hair moving in waves down her back, "That's what most people assume; I look younger than I really am. I'm actually 16; my birthday was a few days ago."

"Really?" Mike asked and Ali was happy to see that he was surprised.