ALIENS: EPIDEMIC Chapter 7: PERILOUS JOURNEY, an aliens/predator fanfic

ALIENS: EPIDEMIC

Disclaimer: The ALIEN Franchise and all related characters wherein are the intellectual property of 20th Century Fox.

This chapter was written was listening to the soundtracks for GODZILLA (1998) by David Arnold, Blue Gender (1998 - 1999) by Kuniaki Haishima, Halo: Combat Evolved (2001) by Martin O'Donnell & Michael Salvatori, and DIE HARD (1988) by Michael Kamen.

From BLUE GENDER: Sleeper, Cold War, Bluff, Tetany, Escape ID, Jargon, Marine.

From DIE HARD: Wiring The Roof, Tony And John Fight, Going After John, Under The Table, Welcome To The Party.

From HALO: Lament For Pvt. Jenkins, Devils... Monsters...

From GODZILLA (1998): Eat The French, Phillip Shoots The Lock.

CHAPTER 07: PERILOUS JOURNEY

DATE: MONDAY, JUNE 09, 2183

DIAMOND BAY PRIMARY HOSPITAL, LEVEL C

Corporal Sasha Harrison and Specialist Donovan Quail stopped just short of a corner at a T-junction that stood between C-P-12 and C-M-01, the Pediatrics and the Maternity wards, with an elevator located right between the two hallways. Peering around the corner to her left, Harrison checked for signs of enemy activity.

There was no movement. The hall was empty and devoid of life. Keeping her motion tracker out, Harrison then glanced over to her right, checking the other hallway. The coast seemed clear.

"Okay, let's move," Harrison said quietly. Quail wordlessly stepped around her, his smartgun aimed forward into the hallway. Quail glanced up and down at the ceiling for missing vent covers, just to be safe. Behind him, Harrison kept her motion tracker held out, glancing up and down, left and right, everywhere all at once and in between. If she and Quail had learned anything in the past hour, it was that the creatures had an almost unnatural ability to appear from just about anywhere, even places that had just been thoroughly checked scant seconds earlier.

Fortunately, the black and yellow creatures easily stood out against the solid whites, blues, and greens of the hallway floors and walls in the hospital's pediatric and maternity wards.

Slowly stepping forward, Quail kept his smartgun trained slightly upwards towards the ceiling, as the creatures had shown a preference for attacking from above, where their prey seemed the least inclined to check for danger. Even though humans had forward facing eyes, being predatory omnivores, they still suffered from a habit of only checking left and right for danger. Keeping himself leaning back slightly as he moved forward, to aid in his aiming upwards, Quail did indeed glance to his left as he and Harrison slowly approached the window of a dark waiting room.

Glancing inside, Quail took in the sight of the empty chairs and receptionist desk as he reached up and slid his visor down, switching on its low-light environment setting as he examined the room more intimately. There were chairs and low-end tables arranged throughout the room, with a flat-screen television screen hanging on a wall near a door that led further into the offices and rooms of the section.

Lining the wall, just beneath the window, was a book shelf filled with information booklets for mothers, expecting mothers, and women looking to become pregnant. Glancing upwards, Quail could only see part of the ceiling, as the window was only so high and he was reluctant to press his head against the safety glass. The steady hum and low-volume blips of Harrison's motion tracker behind him offered a small amount of comfort as he and Harrison slowly passed by the waiting room.

The steady quiet of the motion tracker also informed the duo of the lack of patients in the building. On any other given day, there would be at least a dozen or more mothers or pregnant women in the waiting room, waiting to be examined by a licensed doctor and an assistant, usually a nurse or a doctor in training. Today, nobody was in there. The waiting rooms for the maternity ward were usually closed down prior to nightfall anyway, meaning that it was highly unlikely that anyone had been in the room or even the offices during the previous night's attack.

However, there were still multiple rooms where patients stayed for overnight observations during various periods of their pregnancies. Those rooms were located in a section of the ward several meters up ahead, past an intersection between multiple blocks within the ward. An uneasy feeling began creeping up Quail and Harrison's spines as they neared that section of the building.

The duo slowly crept through the ward, making as little sound as possible as they followed the path on Harrison's visor map to a new exit point, on the building's roof. Following Kellogg's disastrous interruption of their careful attempt to sneak past several of the creatures earlier, Harrison and Quail had switched their headsets to private link mode before turning them off and seating the mikes up and away from their faces. Slowly moving past an open door to an overnight observation room, Quail glanced inside and saw five expecting mothers lying in cots... with pink and yellow facehuggers attached to them.

Shaking his head in dismay, Quail forced himself to continue moving, allowing Harrison the chance to see the grim spectacle in the room as she backpedaled against him.

For the next thirty minutes, Harrison and Quail made an agonizingly slow creep through the corridors until they reached an all-level elevator. "Okay, we'll use the elevator shaft to reach the roof," Harrison said quietly as she searched for something to prop open the doors of the elevator. "Quail, there's a maintenance closet right over there. Guard the door while I see if there's something that we can use," Harrison said before quickly sprinting over to the closet.

"Wait, I thought the elevators were shut down in an emergency," Quail pointed out as he stood guard at the elevator.

"I didn't say we were using the elevator, Quail. I said we were using the elevator shaft," Harrison clarified with a grin. "We're gonna climb up using the maintenance ladders and then wait for the Leaf Clipper on the roof," she elaborated.

Quail slowly nodded his head in understanding. "Yeah, but... how do I carry this fucking thing up there with us?" he asked her, gesturing to his smartgun with a roll of his head. "Lose it," Harrison suggested. "You did remember to bring a backup weapon, right?" she asked him as an afterthought.

"Well... I did manage to sneak an A-Twelve assault rifle into the APC, but... it's still in the APC," Quail said sheepishly.

"What about an SMG?" Harrison asked him. Quail shook his head, causing her to frown in response. "You didn't bring any backup weapons with you!?" she hissed at him.

"Aside from my sidearm? No. I wasn't counting on climbing ladders in an elevator shaft," Quail retorted.

Harrison shook her head with a sigh before carefully opening the supply closet, a strange stench emanating from within giving her pause, to reveal the corpse of a dead SWAT officer. The man had a pistol in his gloved right hand, with a sound suppressor attached to the barrel. His brains were splattered across the wall and his otherwise dark blue helmet and uniform.

Down on the floor next to the wall was an SMG, and lining the dead officer's vest were several pouches with ammo magazines. Smirking, Harrison began sifting through the dead man's uniform and taking whatever supplies she could find, including flares, a spare knife, a lighter, and a flashlight. Grabbing the body and leaning it towards her, Harrison soon saw a crowbar in the back of the closet and reached for it, retrieving the heavy metal object as quietly as she could before heading back over to Quail and handing him the SMG and spare magazines.

"Think you can ditch the clunker now?" Harrison asked Quail quietly as she checked the currently inserted magazine of the SMG before sliding it back home. Quail took the weapon and slung it over his shoulder. "Get the doors open and we'll see," Quail said, not letting go of his smartgun until he knew had no other choice.

As much as he disliked the weapon, it had definitely been keeping him alive. It also fired armor-piercing rounds, something that he doubted the police SMG was loaded with. He was reluctant to give up a certified life-saver while he could still hold onto it.

Meanwhile, Harrison was busy prying open the doors of the elevator, slowly and carefully so as not to make too much noise. Every few seconds, she would pause and glance around, checking her motion tracker for signs of movement, knowing that even though she was being quiet, the opening of the doors would eventually catch the tracker's attention, and so she still needed to keep her wits about her. Standing just a foot away, Quail kept his gun trained on the hallway, slowly aiming his smartgun back and forth, up and down, in a very deliberate pattern over and over again as he scanned the hallway around them.

Creeeaaakkk-CLICK!

The elevator doors soon slid open as Harrison pushed them apart, setting off the motion tracker for a brief moment. She and Quail both scanned the hallway, their eyes and ears open and alert for the slightest sound or sign of movement. Both soldiers held their breath as they waited for the inevitable resumption of movement on the tracker.

After almost three minutes, Harrison slowly entered the elevator car and began working on opening the hatch to the car's roof. "Quail, do you see anything out there?" Harrison asked as she slowly unlocked the hatch and pushed it open, earning another short ping from the motion tracker hanging from her shoulder. Quail shook his head in response as he slowly backed into the elevator, his eyes darting to and fro in a frantic dance.

"Is the shaft clear?" Quail asked Harrison as he kept his smartgun aimed forward. "Hold on," Harrison answered as she lifted the device up and watched its screen. A small white ring expanded from the center of the blue screen, much like a sonar screen, with a quiet 'blip' as the device checked for movement around them.

Turning on her flashlight, Harrison looked up and scanned the interior of the elevator shaft for signs of the creatures. The shaft was dark and dirty, but most importantly, it was devoid of biomechanical monsters. Quietly inhaling and exhaling in relief, Harrison glanced down into the car at Quail. "We're in the clear. Drop the baggage and get up here," she said quietly as she pulled herself up onto the roof of the car.

Quail carefully disengaged his harness and lowered both it and the gun to the floor. He kept his eyes facing the hallway before he sharply turned and grabbed the hand rails of the elevator, stepping up and grabbing Harrison's gloved hand as she reached down to help pull him up. Once Quail was safely on the roof, Harrison slowly pushed the hatch back down and turned the outer locking mechanism ever so slightly.

Slinging her pulse rifle, Harrison quickly made for the service ladder and began climbing. Quail followed suit after Harrison was far enough up the ladder. Checking her visor map, Harrison grinned as she and Quail began their journey upwards to freedom and, hopefully, safety.

UNITED STATES COLONIAL ARMY BASE A-001...

Sitting back in a chair, Captain Burt Rosenthal rubbed his temples as he processed what he had just heard from Lieutenant Dent over the long-range comm system. Looking around the otherwise empty communications room, Rosenthal reclined in his chair and kicked at a desk. "Fuck!" he swore sharply with a frown.

DIAMOND BAY, C-BLOCK...

Lieutenant Dent looked at the monitor in front of his as he drove closer to the K-12 Education Center. "Grass Cutter, this is Dent. Are you in position?" he asked over his headset.

"We're standing by, Lieutenant. But, are you sure that this is a smart idea?" Lewdanski asked over the comm. "We can't risk you staying on the ground too long," Dent replied. Looking up ahead through the windshield, he saw the dropship in the air as it began to descend vertically.

"Okay, Lewdanski, on my mark, prepare to lower the ramp," Dent said into his mike as he drove forward. He checked the screen in front of him before switching to another view setting. He could see the dropship lowering its ramp as it got closer to the ground, with small numeric markers and rulers on all sides of the screen. He switched to a targeting system for the gun turret and made sure that the safeties were locked.

"All right, the magic moment," Dent muttered as he began slowing down. The dropship's ramp was practically touching the ground now. "Lewdanksi, bring the dropship forward, but keep on the ground," Dent said. "Are you fucking crazy!?" Lewdanski retorted over the comm.

"Yes. Now do it," Dent ordered as he brought down the APC's speed. The two vehicles moved towards each other slowly, with the APC maintaining speed until the dropship was almost on top of it. "Okay, Lewdanski, keep the dropship still," Dent ordered as he raised the steering column ever so slightly. The front of the APC raised itself by a hair as it continued slowing down, giving it enough space to begin climbing the ramp into the dropship.

"Lewdanksi, close the ramp," Dent ordered as he pulled the vehicle onto the ramp in its entirety and stopped it, earning a slight jostle for his efforts from the inertia. Dent felt the shift in the vehicle's balance as the ramp slowly close upwards back into the belly of the dropship. "Okay, take us home," Dent ordered before letting out a breath of relief.

Grass Cutter slowly pulled up into the air and ascended vertically, eventually making its way over the roofs of the city's tallest buildings as it flew out over the suburban islands.

DIAMOND BAY PRIMARY HOSPITAL...

Harrison grunted as she pulled herself up next to the final set of doors for the elevator shaft. "We're almost outta here," she said to Quail as she located a small open-faced supply cabinet next to the ladder and between the door. She held out her motion tracker for a brief moment to check their surroundings.

There were no signs of activity beyond the doors.

Slinging the tracker back to her side, Harrison grabbed the crowbar out of the cabinet and prepared to open the doors. She had just managed to get the thin tip of the metal tool in between a small crack in the two doors when she heard the chains of the elevator begin to move. Both soldiers glanced downward, using their helmets' flashlights to see the elevator slowly ascending towards them.

"You've gotta be kidding me," Quail muttered in incredulity. "I thought we were the only ones left in the building. Who else is still here to use that thing?" he asked rhetorically. "No idea, but they've got some explaining to do when we greet them," Harrison said as she began prying the elevator doors open.

Quail watched as the elevator car rose upwards.

"C-Come on!" Harrison grunted as she slowly forced the doors apart, almost losing her grip before steadying herself.

The elevator car drew closer.

"Uh, Sash? You'd better hurry," Quail said nervously. "I know," Harrison replied as she eventually heard a clicking sound. "Gotcha!" she whispered in excitement before she pushed the doors open. "Quail, come on!" Harrison urged as she heard her motion tracker beeping.

The elevator car was pulling up to them.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," Quail responded as he climbed up and almost leapt over to the doorway, following Harrison. Just as Quail set his first boot on the doorway, he turned to gain better leverage, and slipped. Harrison lunged forward and grabbed him as he fell away from the elevator doors, keeping one of his feet on the ledge.

Heaving with all her might, Harrison pulled backwards and brought Quail forward, landing on her back with Quail falling on top of her in the middle of the hallway. Seconds later, the elevator car arrived, and the outer doors closed in before opening again. Harrison and Quail both quickly rose to their feet to greet their guest, only to feel dread and horror as they saw just who, or rather, what had been operating the elevator car.

"Son of a bitch," Harrison spat in disbelief. The black and yellow creature inside the elevator curled it lips with a sadistic grin, revealing its metallic teeth before stepping forward. "Quail... run!" Harrison snapped. "Follow the waypoint!" she exclaimed as she waited for the alien to exit the elevator car. She didn't want kill it when it was still in the car and ruin yet another escape route if the roof proved to be unusable, especially since Quail's smartgun and harness were still lying on the floor of the elevator car behind the creature.

Quail stayed alongside Harrison. "No, not on my own," he said. "That's an order," Harrison barked at him, raising her pulse rifle at the alien as it stepped out of the elevator. "Sash, we both stand a better chance of survival together," Quail pointed out.

"You know, we're not that far from the roof. We can make it if we run," Quail said as the alien continued stepping towards the two soldiers. Harrison and Quail both backed up slowly to match the creature's walking speed. When it was fully removed from the elevator car, Harrison finally opened fire, sending two short bursts at the creature.

The alien let out a mechanical sounding shriek as the bullets tore into its torso and neck, sending it falling back onto the floor. "Okay, let's run!" Harrison exclaimed before turning around with Quail. The two soldiers lowered their visors and followed the map to the roof, turning left and right at each corner before finally reaching a set of stairs that led to the roof.

Harrison and Quail quickly ran up the stairs before pushing the door open and running out onto the roof. It was still daylight outside, and the two of them could see the Leaf Clipper flying in the distance. "Come in, Leaf Cutter! This is Corporal Harrison! We are on the roof, do you read me!?" Harrison asked into her mike.

"I read you, Corporal. Hold your position and wait two minutes. We're on our way," Newark replied over the comm. Harrison smiled in joy and relief as she and Quail saw the dropship making its way to their position.

"They're coming! They're coming to get us!" Harrison cried out in joy as she grabbed Quail by the shoulders and pointed to the approaching dropship. Quail nodded his head before frowning at something past Harrison's shoulder in the distance.

"They're not the only ones," Quail said grimly. Turning around, Harrison saw what had soured Quail's mood. At least three black and yellow creatures were climbing up over the safety rails that lined the roof. Harrison raised her pulse rifle and fired at one of them, sending it falling back, its blood hitting the rails and corroding it.

The other two creatures leapt away in opposit directions. Quail raised his SMG and opened fire at one while Harrison fired at the other. The 9mm rounds of the SMG bounced off of the armored exoskeletal hide of the alien, with sparks flashing now and then as it curled its lips and snarled at him. Firing repeatedly in short controlled bursts, however, allowed Quail to eventually subdue the creature, as each burst eventually wore it down and allowed the final barrage to tear through its hide.

The other creature went down with an almost mechanical howl as Harrison used up her last rounds of ammunition in two short bursts. She quickly ejected her empty magazine and grabbed a spare from her waist belt before inserting it into the holder and chambering a round. "Quail, how much ammo you got left?" Harrison asked as she scanned the roof top for more of the creatures.

"Uh... three rounds left in the sub, and... one spare magazine. How about you?" Quail asked her in response as they both backed up against each other. "I've got one spare mag left. Kinda surprised I've got even that much left at this point," she replied with a sigh.

"Can we hold out until they get here?" Quail asked Harrison. Harrison looked around, searching the roof for more signs of the creatures. There were multiple fire escape ladders on the North and South sides of the roof, and the building itself had a square section in the middle that had a garden for patients and visitors. A small tool shed was located near the spinning tops of the air conditioning system, along with vents for smoke from the kitchens and a satellite dish for long-range communications over by the East end of the roof.

There was a landing pad as well over by the North end, where an abandoned M78 Raven sat by itself. The vehicle was adorned with the dark blue colors of the SWAT unit that often used it. "Think we can just take that instead?" Quail asked Harrison.

"Naw. That thing would never get us to the base without needing to stop and refuel. Besides, we don't even know how much fuel is left in it to begin with," Harrison replied.

"You're probably right," Quail said with disappointment in his voice. The duo resumed scanning the rest of the roof top as they waited for the dropship to arrive. Soon, the tell-tale sound of the vehicle's turbines brought a sense of relief to both soldiers, and they watched eagerly as the vehicle circled the roof of the hospital before a door opened on the side and extended a small stepping-ramp as it skirted the side of the roof.

"Don't just stand there, numb-nuts! Get over here and hop aboard!" Newark called playfully over the comm. "Yes, Ma'am!" Quail replied with a smile as he and Harrison began jogging over to the edge of the roof. The dropship was holding its position next to a fire escape. They had almost arrived when a series of black and yellow clawed hands appeared on the fire escape ladder.

The alien quickly climbed up the ladder and leapt onto the stepping ramp, clambering along the ramp and pulling itself up before disappearing inside the dropship. "Newark! One of the creatures is in the dropship! One of the creatures is in the dropship!" Harrison cried out over her mike.

"Parker! Get your gun and watch the door!" Newark barked. Harrison listened as Parker's voice replied in the background, before she saw two more creatures launch themselves upwards from the side of the building and climb up and over the surface of the dropship. "Jesus Christ! Harrison, Quail, just hold on while I shake these guys off the dropship!" Newark called out as the vehicle began to ascend into the sky and circled around the roof again, tilting back and forth as the pilot attempted to throw the creatures off.

"Watch what you're doing, Newark! I can't-oh shit!" Parker's voice cried out as he was jostled around inside the cockpit. Harrison and Quail watched with anxiety and fear as the dropship began to spin around in the air before flying away, still tilting left and right as the creatures crawled around on the surface, their movements neither hindered nor encumbered by the erratic flight of the vehicle.

"Newark! Newark!" Harrison cried out, before Quail grabbed her by the shoulder. "Sash, we've got company again!" Quail called out to her as he pointed out the multiple black and yellow creatures rising up over the side of the roof. Some of the creatures had whitish domes on their heads, while others had black and yellow spotted ridged heads. Three of the creatures, however, were leaner and larger than the others, and they lacked the dorsal protrusions found on their comrades.

Their hind legs were digitigrade, with their front hands being structured more similarly to a dog or a cat's front paws than a human hand like their humanoid brethren. Only one of the three had a dome on its head, and it was completely transparent, its existence only known from how the light reflected off of it at certain angles. Their tails were different as well, being positioned and swaying around like a four-legged animal's tail, instead of being curled up on their backs or under their legs like the other creatures. Their tails also ended in large blades, unlike the barbs found on the common creature.

Their heads were mostly the same as the others, but slightly narrower on the sides, and not as wide from a frontal view. Their lips were also less primate-like and more canid or feline-like as well, just ever so slightly, and their jaws had similar structuring to such creatures as well. Subconsciously, Sasha drew the connection between these particular creatures and the attack on the Wilhelm Farm.

"Sash? Do you think we'd make it to the Raven if we ran right now?" Quail asked her nervously as he pushed his back against hers and aimed his SMG at the creatures around them. "Sasha?" Quail asked her again. "I... I'm thinking," she replied, keeping her pulse rifle aimed at the creatures.

"We could probably reach it, but I doubt we'd be able to start it in time," she finally replied.

"Great," Quail said sardonically.

"Well... I do have a few more grenades on me," Harrison said.

"Are you trying to get us both killed?" Quail asked her in disbelief. "You can die by a grenade or by these things. Which would you prefer?" Harrison asked him in return. "Fuck dying! I wanna live!" Quail snapped back at her.

"Then let me use a little incentive to make them back off," Harrison said with a grin as she reached for a grenade from her harness and armed it. "Hey, who wants a present!?" Harrison called out to the creatures before throwing the grenade at the edge of the roof and darting away, pulling Quail with her as they ran for the roof's entrance door.

The creatures immediately gave chase, with some of them leaping over the grenade just as it went off. Harrison and Quail had just made it to the roof's entrance door when the explosion went off, forcing both soldiers to grab the door and pull it shut, holding onto it as the force of the explosion railed against it. They then quickly resumed their trek down the stairs.

"Where do we go now!?" Quail asked Harrison as they ran through the halls of the hospital again. "The elevator! It still works!" Harrison replied as she took out her motion tracker and looked down at it. "Visor, mark a waypoint for elevator!" Harrison snapped into her mike, pulling down her visor and suggesting to Quail that he do the same.

The visor quickly uploaded a map of the hospital before showing the waypoint of the elevator.

"Quail, when we get to the elevator, grab your harness and get the smartgun ready!" Harrison ordered. Quail nodded his head in affirmation of the orders as he kept pace with Harrison. The motion tracker soon let out a ping, showing a white dot on the bottom of the screen, somewhere behind them.

The duo continued running, turning corners as fast as they could without falling over. "Just a few more meters," Harrison grunted as she and Quail soon turned around another corner. The motion tracker let out a series of pings behind them.

"Shit!" Quail swore as he heard the motion tracker. The duo soon arrived at the open elevator doors, running around the dead alien on the floor and hurrying inside. Harrison quickly pressed the buttons to shut the doors and take them down to the first floor.

Meanwhile, Quail hurriedly struggled to put his harness back on and lift up his smartgun before they arrived at their destination. Harrison had to sling her pulse rifle and help him snap a few clips into place along the sides of the harness before Quail could safely maneuver the weapon again. "Don't get rid of that SMG," Harrison warned.

The elevator slowly made its way down the levels of the hospital, the numbers and letters of the floor lighting up and then darkening as they were passed.

Harrison and Quail both took deep breaths as they prepared themselves for their arrival at Level A. The small LED above the doors showed each level and floor as they got closer to their destination, before it stopped at Level A. Both soldiers held up their weapons and aimed them forward as the door chimed with its stop.

Harrison gulped nervously as the doors opened with a hiss, while Quail furrowed his brows and closed his eyes before opening them again. The doors slowly slid open, and both soldiers anxiously waited for them to fully part, revealing whether or not they had truly escaped. When the doors finally reached their zenith of directional opposition, an empty hallway greeted the two soldiers.

Harrison held out her motion tracker for a minute, scanning for movement. "Okay, let's go," she said before rushing out of the elevator with Quail by her side. The duo quickly ran out into the hallway and looked over at a map on the wall. Checking the map on her visor, Harrison performed a cross-reference before marking a waypoint on their map for the lobby.

"Okay, we just need to head West and we'll reach the East side entrance lobby. Right where we came in," Harrison said. "Wait... head West to reach the East... is that right?" Quail asked, slightly confused.

"Look, I'm not the one who labeled the damn thing, okay?" Harrison retorted, rolling her eyes and shaking her head.

"I didn't say that you were, it's just-" BEEP-BEEP!

Harrison and Quail both glanced down as Harrison brought her motion tracker up. A small cluster of white dots were closing in on them as the pings an beeps increased. "We can discuss the semantics of proper directional labeling later," Harrison quipped before bringing her rifle up to bear and aiming it forward as she and Quail began jogging through the halls.