I hope you like the new chapter, here's a cookie!
Monstrous
Sergio, although he didn't know it, he had spent a little over two weeks inside the chrysalis. The transformation had taken place at a breakneck pace by anyone's standards and William was very pleased. He monitored the large, translucent, copper colored orb obsessively, waiting for it to hatch. He knew more than anyone, the creature that would ultimately be the fruit of his labors. He was not at all scared, he was excited, this was the creature who would write his name down as one of the most brilliant scientists in history. His way into immortality was clear.
The creature inside the unnatural womb floated comfortably whilst suspended in its amniotic fluid. His dreams varied wildly, from Tear, to William, to floating in a river on some distant planet. Or resting at a grove in his own home world. Even in the surreal, dream-like state Sergio was in, he knew some of the dreams weren't his own. He didn't voice it, or was even aware that he himself was aware or existent for that matter. He just knew that some of the things he was seeing didn't belong to him, and weren't birthed from his imagination. But he felt as though he himself was living, and reliving them. He was feeling, but not aware of the kind warmth that was wrapped around him he was effectively unaware of himself. As he changed he shifted his position occasionally, he was getting too big for the large womb.
One night, a particularly dreadful nightmare came upon him. It was the dream of when he was being hunted, and his family and friends were being hunted as they tried to escape the soldiers. This was close to the time when he ended up on the ship that took him to his torment at the hands of William. Sergio remembered the desperation, the fear of when someone is trying to kill you. He remembered the look on Ivan's alert eyes when they, after being blown back by a stray tank round were flung into a shop via the window, landed on the ground. Sergio was embedded on the ground, or at least he felt like he was. Broken bits of glass, dug maliciously into his pale flesh, the smell of gunpowder and pulse rifle exhaust danced in the air. He tried to rouse Ivan into action as his best friend lay limp on top of him, it was only when Sergio rolled his friend over did he notice the large piece of shrapnel sticking out of Ivan's back, and making its end known by the small point that stretched the skin on his chest where his heart was. The slick shine on Ivan's eyes faded.
The whole hive woke up at the same time, all were frightened and edgy from the dream they had had. All of them were in a state of confusion, unsure from who exactly had the dream come from. Then the Matriarch spoke up and quieted them. "Don't worry. It's just the host, he is ready to hatch", she said, her voice was very motherly, in a strong and powerful sense. It commanded respect. Even when she seemed winded from the might of the nightmare.
Sergio struggled and fidgeted inside his womb until he woke up and remained perfectly still. He heard a voice that told him to awaken. He didn't know exactly where it had come from, he didn't really care at the time, mostly because he couldn't breathe. He tried to stretch out only to meet with the cramped walls of the chrysalis, he tried to stretch out again but to no avail, he was running out of air, he set his feet awkwardly on what he felt to be the floor and smashed his head as hard as he could into the top of the womb. The same stretched and cracked slightly but held, with renewed vigor he smashed his head again into the wall, this time around though, he broke through.
His vision was blurry and his whole body felt weird. He tried to cough but only a weird hissing came from his mouth in intervals. The air outside the womb was warm and steamy but not as pleasant as the warmth of the womb but for some reason he felt obligated to crawl out of the chrysalis. He managed to roll out of the womb and tried to roll onto his back, only to find he had something, or rather some things attached to his back so he couldn't lay on it. He rolled into the fetal position, his mind was blank and groggy but he did notice that when he rolled his legs and arms into the position something that was on his lower back rolled too. He noticed but it didn't hit him, his whole body felt alien and strange to him. Still he didn't care, he wasn't aware that he was in the hive where he was left off, he wasn't aware that the change must have been completed, he wasn't aware of anything, he was barely aware of himself. Then a black shape came into discernable view, a black elongated head that when he just made out the silver maw. The good feelings and grogginess instantly wore off and he reacted instinctually and violently. He lashed out at the face, trying to slash it although he didn't know why he didn't try to punch it instead. The creature dodged it almost casually, as if it was from a nuisance. Then he began to hear the voices.
"At least it hasn't lost any of its aggressiveness has he Sky?", "No, strange though how he has changed", the second voice Sergio recognized as the one that he had heard when he was in the cell with the Xenomorph. Sergio sat up and as he did his vision cleared, he wasn't sure why but he wasn't frightened, even as he was indeed surrounded by Xenomorphs he didn't feel as though he was in any real danger. He could feel a presence behind him, he instantly recognized it as the giant xeno that had greeted him earlier. "Greetings" he heard the same say, at that point Sergio turned while still being unable, or rather unwilling to stand on his new legs, Sergio regarded the massive creature quietly. This time the same was off the webbing and standing before him, but crouched at eye level. Sergio was sure now that he was insane, he thought for a moment that this was a dream, it all felt like a dream to a degree even though the surreal feeling was ebbing away. Sergio tried to say hello but instead a shrill grunt came out of his throat, he instinctually grasped his neck, he found to a sick realization that his throat felt more like the chitin on the walls than like his skin. He slowly began to realize that William's experiment had been a success. "Can you hear me?" asked the same voice, "I'm insane" thought Sergio silently as he felt like crying but felt nothing on his face, no eyes, no tears. "No, you are not mad little one" said the same voice sweetly, Sergio looked at the Xenomorph again this time without thinking anything. He could swear that the massive monster was looking at him tenderly, "My name is Matriarch" she said. Sergio looked her over and then looked at the rest of the xenos, "My name is Sergio", "You have a name? How strange are your lot; the hosts", the same creature regarded the xenos behind Sergio and the same turned around, "They are my children" she said proudly.
Sergio looked at each of them and as he looked at them one by one each said its name. "Sky" said the one who was with him in the cell when they first met. "Hopper" said one of the smaller drones, "Fang" said the one who had dragged Sergio into the hive, the way he said it though, Sergio could detect a hint of disdain from him. "Fish" said another who looked a lot more streamlined and aquatic, "Talon" said one who was perched up on a ledge overlooking the scene, "Stalker" said the last one who was looking at Sergio curiously. "What does Sergio mean?" asked Fish as she, or so Sergio assumed it was a she by the sound of her voice, "My name means", "I know what it means" answered Sergio in his head picking up that communication was mental. Fish's tail dropped unenthusiastically, "My name means servant", the group looked amongst themselves curiously, "That's a funny name to give someone" said Fish again, "Did your Matriarch give it to you?". Before Sergio could answer Fish's childish questions he noticed a shine coming from the corner near what he remembered to be the elevator. Sergio looked strait at the mirror that had been dropped there days before and his blood went cold, the creature that was staring right at him, Sergio knew it was him.
Sergio stood upright with his new legs. The joints popped as they were being used for the first time, they looked just like his old legs in shape save for the new joint that stretched from where his foot would be. His legs looked like Hopper's who's host was quite simply a dog. Sergio strode, unaccustomed to his new height to the mirror. The eyeless creature that stared right back at him, tendrils dangling from the back of his head, quill-like spines slinking from his back, his barbed tail, clawed hands. His large, menacing jaw, his sand colored skin. Sergio could not believe what he had become, his first instinct was obviously the most predictable in a human in his predicament; rage. Sergio roared in anger and frustration throwing the mirror like a small stone into a wall, flailing his arms and smashing his fists into the chitin, shattering it. He clawed into cables and metal and tore it apart in anger. His tail whipped about, whistling as it cut through the air, his tendrils squirmed angrily, reflecting the anger of the being they were attached to, the quill spikes stood on their ends. Occasionally the beast grabbed onto its skin and vaguely tried to tear it off but to no avail.
As the grotesquely menacing creature continued to maim anything and everything about him, the hive looked at him quietly and unafraid. The little ones were mostly waiting for the Matriarch to say something, the same looked at the being as she tried to understand what was angering the creature so. She could guess, she couldn't know exactly what he was feeling as he was never one of her own, but she could guess, based on the dreams he shared with the hive. The best thing to do she concluded would be to let him calm down. She silently thought and the hive listened, the xenos stood by their matriarch and left him be until the large, almost ten feet tall monster began to breathe heavily from sheer exhaustion. The same strode away, out of view from the xenos and laid in a corner, brooding and slowly accepting what had happened. The hive's younger tenants were confused as to what they had just witnessed, the host turned into one of them, went crazy then left them alone.
After almost an hour, Fish was the first to approach the creature. She crept up to him quietly, she stopped short though when Sergio said "I know you are there Fish". She dropped her tail unenthusiastically again, she went up to him fearlessly and sat next to him looking at him while her tail swung from side to side happily. "Why are you angry?" she asked, Sergio almost didn't answer the curious xeno, "Because another man named William changed me into this", "What's a man?", Sergio thought for a moment then said, "A male host of my species". Fish seemed to roll her eyes, or make the equivalent of that expression thoughtfully as she understood. "Why did he change you?", "Because of an experiment", "What is an experiment?", "The act of doing certain things to see what happens" he said. "Oh, but why are you mad to be one of us?", "Because I wasn't one of you to begin with, I am not one of you now", "Yes you are, you look like us and you are connected to our brood, you are one of us". Sergio was irritated now, he stood up abruptly and strode away, Fish didn't pick up on his mood or his hint and followed eagerly. "Where did you come from?", Sergio turned around almost angrily and looked down on his smaller sibling and said "Why do you want to know!?", Fish again was ignorant to his mood, "Because you are my sibling now, as my little brother I want to know more about you", "Why?", "Because you are interesting" she said, Sergio could tell she was smiling. The creature sighed and stood silently for a moment, "I was born on a planet called-", "Carkalo, there was trouble there so you left with your hive" interrupted Fish. "Ok since you know these things why do you want to talk to me?", "We all know a few things about you, when we have dreams they can be shared by the entire hive" she said happily, "Most of your dreams were scary, there was one about another host, a female but we never caught her name", Sergio shrugged sadly remembering Tear and what he was now. "You liked her didn't you?" asked Fish latching onto his arm, pulling herself up to look at his expression, Sergio's melancholy was broken by the feel of Fish's touch, the carapace wasn't unpleasant, there was kindness behind it. Sergio sighed visibly, despite what these creatures seemed like to him they had a family structure, and Fish was actually worried about him.
"What I want to know is what you like, dislike, and specific things about you" she said resuming her sunny disposition. Sergio smiled awkwardly with his new mouth. "Ok, what do you want to know?" he said. The Matriarch smiled at the end of another eventless day, save for Sergio's rebirth, she and the rest of the hive sat quietly as Fish eagerly retold everything she had learned from the host who became one of them. Fish was very pleased with her new little brother, even if he was almost twice her size. The hive was fascinated with him, they gave him his space at the queen's request as he slept alone that first night. The next day, Matriarch wanted to have a word with him, she sensed that something bad was about to happen, the other hive that was on the ship was restless, having this half-breed would perhaps prove to be a blessing in the coming storm.
R&R if it takes your fancy!
