I wake up to a loud voice.
bStation drop in t-seven minutes. Please make your way to the shuttles marked 'Saber contingency' in a calm and orderly fashion.'/b This wakes me up, as it would anyone, considering what's about to happen. I quickly get up, and then land right back on my ass. There's a great pain in my side. I look down to see a three-centimetre circle of what looks like hive-resin showing through a hole in my coat. It is then that I notice another person with me. I turn my head more, the bruises on my neck burning slightly as I do. I look to find that it's not a person lying next to me, but a Xenomorph. ALthough, this Xeno doesn't look like the rest; 'instead of being jet black, it has a slight grey tint to it. Sara. As I notice this, strangely, I relax. Even though they're the deadliest being in the known universe, I feel safe in her presence. I find it strange how I, for some reason, almost know that it's not gonna hurt me. She stirs. She looks at me before baring her teeth at me, but in a strange way.
'Is it trying to smile at me?' I think to myself. I smile back and she sits on her hind legs. Tentatively, I put out my hand, to which, she dips her head before pushing it into my hand. I let out a surprised gasp at this, not actually expecting anything to happen. after a short while of 'petting', I guess you could call it, I withdraw my hand at the noise of a clearly synthetic voice over the speakers.
b'Station drop in t-six, twenty seconds.'/b
"Fuck!" I shout as I fly to my feet, shocking Sara. I panic for a moment before quickly thinking of a way to save myself. "it's too late to get to the shuttle bays but I might be able to get to Command if and delay the station drop if I hurry," I mutter to myself, already heading in the direction I took to get in here. I don't get far before I lose my balance, only to find a pair of black, clawed hands gently, but firmly holding me up. I look over to Sara. "I need to get to command, do you know the way there?" She looks away slightly, thinking for a moment before looking back and giving a risk nod. With that, she picks me up and races through the hallways, flies around corners and jumps through big holes in doors, all at breakneck speeds.
b'Station drop in t-minus forty five seconds.'/b At this, she seems to speed up, knowing that I want to get there before the time is up. It doesn't take us long to get there and make our way inside the circular room. As we do, we find that the blast door is sealed shut, stopping us from delaying the countdown. Sara carefully sets me down before walking up to the door, inspecting it. After a moment, she takes three steps back and rams into the door. Then again. And again. She continues to do this. I stand and make my way to one of the consoles around the room. With a grunt of effort and pain, I sit down in it. I turn it on, quickly navigating to the cameras. I flip through them, seeing who's left on the station, periodically making my way to the escape shuttles. I flip through one. Nothing. I go to switch to the next, which will bring me to the next corridor over. As I do, I notice movement on the side of the screen but by the time I register it, I've already switched. I flip back to see an all too familiar figure running at full speed to the shuttles. Someone who was one of my best friends not even half an hour ago. Quickly seeing her route, I pull up the door controls for that area and close the one a few cameras down the long hallway. And then, the one behind her.
b*POV change*/b
I stop running in the direction I am going when the door silently slides shut in front of me. I then notice the one behind me close too. With an impatience filled groan, I go for one of the doors lining the hallway I'm in. They're closed too. Then, the intercom crackles to life, speaking an impossible voice.
"Hello, Claire." In that moment, I hear a loud bang coming from the vents. It's far off so I don't pay any attention to it, more concentrated on the voice I'm hearing.
"Shaun?"
b*AAAnd back again*/b
I turn on the intercom eager to talk to the person who left me for dead.
"Hello, Claire." In the cameras, I see the complete disbelief in her eyes.
"Shaun?" She asks as if it could be anyone else.
"Yeah, it's me, Shaun. The one you left to die." Now, Sara has stopped banging on the door and has come over to see what's happening. There's a deafening silence. "You still have time to make it to the shuttles. Plenty, in fact. Enough that you could have easily saved me too." There's still silence on the other end. "you know what? I'm gonna let you go." Now, there is hate seeping into my voice slightly.
"Really?" Claire is confused by this, not expecting me to say that.
"If. You tell me why. Why didn't you save me, Claire?" There' another long silence. I look over to see that Sara is growling at the screen, clearly knowing that the person on the other side left me to die an agonising death.
"Shaun. I-I am so, so sorry. I-"
"That's not an answer." It's strange, the anger I'm feeling isn't right. It feels... foreign. For a moment I consider stopping and just letting her go. I know well why she left me. Besides, there's no way she would've made it here if she had to lug me the whole way. My finger hovers over the keys, ready to raise the fire-doors when another wave of anger washes over me. All thoughts of it go out the window.
"I- There's no way I would've made it here if I had, Shaun."
"Yeah? well, what about the oath we took, huh? To never do any harm? You should've at least tried." Now, whatever sympathy I had has now boiled down into white hot, searing hatred for the woman on the screen. Then, I hear a loud bang through the speakers, and Claire looks behind her, and then back with a look of pure terror on her face. From this, I know exactly what she saw.
"Shaun, open the door," Sarah sternly commands, fear in her voice. I catch myself on my words, a part of me still dreading what I'm about to say.
"No." With that, she turns back around to the creature before slowly backing away. Her back hits the door and she turns back to the camera, one eye still on the thing in the locked hallway with her.
"Shaun. Please." Her voice is a terrified kind of calm. And I'm loving every bit of it. I don't say anything, the silence speaking the words for me. Shaun, open the door." Again, silence. She turns, trying to pry the three tonne, airtight door open. "SHAUN, OPEN THE DOOR." I press my finger onto the mic button.
"I don't know if you can understand me. Bu-"
"SHAUN, OPEN THE DOOR!" By now, she was crying out her words.
"But, The person you're about to kill, left me for dead. Make her regret it." With that, I let go of the button and, for a moment, listen to her screams of agony and sobs. Then, just like that, All my hatred for the poor woman was replaced with horror at what I just did. My stomach turns as blood splatters onto the door. I get up, turn around and make it three steps before I empty the contents of my stomach onto the floor.
Sara had started hitting the door again but stopped as soon as I throw up. now, she's holding me up as my knees tremble. I can't block out her screams, nor can I stop the sobs as they begin to wrack their way over my body. I stay like that, with Sara holding me, for quite a while. I don't even notice the warning over the intercom until the final countdown.
b'Station drop in t-ten, nine, eight, seven, Secondary thruster clamps detached,'/b At this, there's a thunderous clang, accompanied by a huge shudder, bFive, four, three, two,'/b I wait for the inevitable free fall to take over my body, sending me hurtling toward the ceiling. Seconds pass, it confuses me.
b'Remote countdown deactivation codes authorised. Secondary thruster clamps re-engaged.'/b With that, there's another thunderous clang, accompanied by another huge shudder. I get up, regaining Saras' attention. She quickly comes to my aid, which I thank her for, and we make our way inside.I let go of her, confident in my ability to walk by myself again. Besides, two people can't fit through the second security door, which is also open, at the same time. I sit down in the main command chair, furiously typing away at the keyboard. It doesn't take me long to re activate Carl.
"Hello Shaun," He says In a monotone voice.
"Carl, can you tell me why the Sabre Contingency protocol has stopped?" I ask.
"TheCountdown deactivation codes were authorised, did you not hear it on the intercom?"
"I knew that. But who sent them."
"I don't know. But there's a Class four Weyland Yutani Hauler on its' way here, so it's likely it was them." I let out an amused chuckle at this. Greed had saved his and Saras' life. The only reason that ANY high-class Weyland Yutani ship would come here is if they were specifically ordered to, no less, a class four Hauler. They came here for their precious specimens.
"Typical. How long do we have until they get here?"
"Approximately 2,191 days, or three months."
"Well, thank you. And bye." With that, I turn him off, setting his isolated data processors and memory banks to destroy themselves. A precaution that was set in place after an incident with an AI going rogue a few years ago. I swing the swivel chair around and, now facing my new, near jet black companion, and let out a tired sigh.
"So. We have three months to get the fuck out of here. Brilliant."
'As long as I'm with you, I don't care,' Says... a voice in my head? I notice the strange look Sar was giving me.
"Did you just talk?" She then looks at me, confused, when a sudden burning, agonising pain fills my head. And I can feel it, the same pinching feeling in the back of my head, but over and over again, accompanied by an agonising burning feeling spreading out from that point. I'm on my hands and knees now, crippled by the pain. Then, I hear the voice again, this time nearly smothered out by everything else.
'SHAUN! Hey, concentrate on my voice. Don't listen to anything else, just my voice. It is full of panic now. I try to do as the voice says, but the darkness that appears in my vision sends me spiralling into unconsciousness.
AAAAAAAAAAnnnnd, I'm back. Would ya look at that two chapters in one week, and this one wrote all in one sitting! Now, I know what you're saying, 'That's very unusual, that shouldn't happen', but I quite enjoy writing this one. And it's gonna be quite short, compared to my previous one. This time, I'm not gonna add in some random crazy maniac who tries to rip families apart. No. I'm gonna add in two! XD But seriously, I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. See ya. *Brisk wave.