Chapter 7: The New Plan
He watched from afar, scratching the last of his new skin off, as a few people opened the front door and found Jolene's body on the front step. He knew they would be a bit shocked, but he hoped the small message that he left with her would be enough to explain. It had taken him a while of looking through dumpsters to find paper and pen, but he had to, to make things right. The message had read: "This woman saved my life in more ways that anyone could know. She was taken from me by men who need to be stopped. Please take care of my love for me."
He watched as two men lifter her body and took it inside the police station. He knew they would take care of his love while he had to take care of things. From atop the hill that was acting as his lookout point the three story creature watched as the only person he knew was taken, gently away from him with nothing he could do about it. His body relaxed as he came to terms with the unyielding fact that she was gone. He still remembered the first time she smiled at him. She should have been terrified, but instead she was thrilled. It was something that would probably never happen to him again. For what he planned next was a rather large gamble and could turn on him rather quickly. He turned and started down the back side of the hill and back into the forest that he came from. He looked over his shoulder one last time.
"Good by my queen, I will meet you soon." As Amun made his way through the forest towards his destination, he finally had time to examine his new body. As he walked, he had to laugh when some of the highest tree branches were brushing against his large, crowned head. If he remembered right, and from what he could feel, it was similar to that of a Xenomorph Queen's crown. Amun found that some things were different from his last body. His hands were proportionately larger than they should be, and contained two dominant fingers and two smaller ones where a human would have a ring and pinky finger.
He still had the two thumb like appendages which made his grip brutally strong. He tested this on a few trees, grabbing them by the trunk and snapping them like tooth picks. He tested out his tail next. It was similar to his last except that the blade on it was substantially larger. The rest of his tail still had the boney section that it always had, along with the larger protruding sections that made a sail like section near the end. After throwing the massive blade through a few trees to release some anger, he noticed something else new. He could not see them so much as felt them. Upon his back where his back spikes should have been, was a void of space. However, Amun could feel something move when he flexed his back. As he tensed his muscles, something began to flip up from his back, they felt like large spikes. When he felt that they could move no further, he used his tail to feel what there were like. Four solid spikes were now projecting from the back of his ribcage! He flexed them in and out a few times to get use to the muscles that moved them.
They seemed to fold down flat into where his natural evolution had made slots for them within his back, which hid them rather well. "Interesting...these could be useful." He thought to himself as he folded down the spikes one last time and kept them hidden. A wave of sadness crept over his emotions. "If only you could have seen this Jolene, you would have loved it." Amun let out a low purr, the Xeno equivalent of a sigh. Amun stomped on through the forest, leaving clear foot print in the ground under his massive weight. After a while he found that he was not moving fast enough and wanted to test out how fast this new body could move. So he started with a light jog, which, given his size, was still around sixty kilometers an hour. As he ran, he found that even with his new size and weight, he could still maneuver quickly around the obstacles in the forest. He remembered that he had run through a few trees when fleeing the tanks at Jolene's farm house. Amun wanted to try this again. Picking up speed to a good running pace, about one hundred kilometers an hour, he lined up a tree and then lowered his crowned head. The tree exploded into a firework of splinters and fragments and Amun did not lose a single stride and barley felt the impact.
Talking a quick glance up, he lined up another and destroyed it with ease. Then he simply kept his head down and picked up speed, cutting a path of destruction through the forest in his wake. After his fun, he came to a spot in a rather large clearing near a river. Amun moved closer to the water and took a moment to relax. He placed his hands down and began to stroll along the river, enjoying the calmness of the water and the warmth of the sun. "Jolene would have loved this..." He thought to himself as he remembered her smile as the two stayed up late chatting. Or how he made her giggle with his bad jokes. Even thought they had only spend five days together, it had felt like a life time. He let lose a low purr and continued his walk by the water, deciding to walk in the water for fun. As he continued he was surprised to run into a large grizzly bear that was fishing in the running water. Amun knew it was no threat so he continued towards it, he watched as the large animal looked up from the water to notice what was coming towards him.
As Amun approached the bear stood up on its back legs and let out a roar, probably to tell Amun that this was his forest. Amun laughed in his head. He then stood up on his back legs, stretching to reaching his full height of about four stories, and let out his own roar that was quite louder than the bears. Knowing that he would not win this fight, the bear took off without another moment of hesitation. "Take that...stupid bear."
Amun enjoyed the small victory, even if it was short lived. Crashing back down onto all fours, it was then that something caught his vision. Looking over to his left, right on the tree line, was a yellow mist surrounding a small human body. Amun froze and did not know what to do as he realized that it was a child that was not looking at him. It was strange thought because the child was not running and the yellow mist was slowly turning a teal color. Were they becoming excited? Perhaps Amun was lucky enough to have found another person that knew about Xenomorph's. He decided to press his luck and slowly walked towards the child. Amun attempted to soften his footsteps so he did not scare the child, which was rather difficult.
It seemed to work because he was now staring down at the small child that he could now see was a boy of maybe five or six. He brought his large head down right in front of the boy to see what he would do. He watched as the pheromones around the boy began to turn yellow once more, but he still did not run. So Amun laid upon the ground as a dog would to let him know he meant no harm. To his surprise the boy took a few steps closer towards his large crowned head and placed a hand upon Amun's dome. Like a queen, Amun's new body had a smaller section that looked like the smaller Xeno's domed head that was underneath his large crown.
The child giggled and began running both his hands along the large creatures head, feeling every bump and lump. A snap of a twig from the forest put Amun back into defence mode and from his position on the ground, began to scan the trees for a threat. It was relatively easy to see the two humans running towards him through the vegetation, but because they had not slow down he could only guess that they had not seem him yet.
"Charles! Charles where are you?" One of them yelled. Amun guessed that the small child was theirs and had wondered off from a camp ground of vehicle.
"Mommy! Come look at the monster!" Replied the child, Amun decided to stay still and let this play out. he may be able to use this to his advantage if they did not run away upon seeing him. However, as expected, when Amun came into the adults view, they came to a sudden halt. The mother let out a loud scream and fell to the ground.
"Baby don't move! O god what is that!" She screamed as Charles smiled at her from in front of the giant creature. Amun decided to make the first move and lifted his head from the ground and sat comfortably like a cat on the ground. He watched as the two adults ran quickly towards the small boy who still had not moved from in front of Amun.
Amun raised a hand and held it palm out to stop them, which they did. He then gave them a friendly wave which confused the two parents. Amun then moved his hand down to the dirt between himself and the mother and father of Charles. He began to write a simple message to them as he felt Charles begin to climb up his tail and back. Amun made sure his back spikes were well tucked away and continued to write. He retracted his hand when he has completed and let the parents make the next move. Thankfully, the father moved forward slowly to read what had been scratched into the dirt.
"WHICH WAY IS THE CITY FROM HERE?" Was all it said and was all that Amun needed to know. The father's head moved from the message up to look at Amun. With a trembling finger pointing to his left, Amun now had a direction. Amun tilted his head forward and reached his hand to the back of his neck where he produced a smiling Charles who had made his way up Amun's back. Gently placing the child into his father's arms, Amun turned and began his walk.
Thankfully the river was flowing in the same direction, so he decided to follow it as long as he could. He also remembered that the city had a river flowing through the east side of it. Perhaps this was the same river that he now followed. It would matter not because the closer he got, he was sure that the human activity would increase and it would be a dead giveaway. Once his feet and hands were back in the river he took a quick glance behind him, thankfully the family had disappeared back to where they had come. So he walked on, staying in the water because it felt good on his feet and hands. Amun was surprised that walking on all fours was as comfortable as it was, it must have something to do with how his spin and legs were built. For two days and nights he continued his walk with the flow of the river, not seeing much of anyone else until he came upon someone fishing.
Thankfully the man had not seen Amun, so he quickly ducted into the forest and moved around without being seen. He took it as a sign that he was getting closer to the city because the man did not look as if he was out camping. Amun had to be cautious from now on, only moving at night so he would not be seen. His plan counted on him not being known until the very last minute. It was on the third night that he came to the top of a hill to look out upon a sea of building that he saw perfectly with his vision that cut through the darkness of night. Amun sat and relaxed from his safe vantage point, taking a moment to clear his head. The next part of his plan could take multiple paths from here depending on what happened. Thankfully, he had come up with multiple plans that he had gone over and over during his walk to the city. it was time to see which one he would have to use. He calmed his mind and reached out, as far as he could, looking for that presence that once guided him.
Emilia...Emilia can you hear me? There was no response, but he would wait, he had all the time in the world. Emilia please, I am here to help you and to end this nightmare. He waited once more and let several minuets go by. It was not until a tingling sensation flooded his mind that he knew she could hear him.
Amun?...Amun is that you? The female voice was weak, as if she was in pain.
Yes Emilia, it is Amun. Listen I nee-
You should not be here! She cut him off suddenly. They are monitoring my brainwaves and can see when you are talking to me. You have to leave before they realize you are close.
Actually I am counting on that. Listen, I have a plan to get you out of there but I will need your help to do it. There was silence, Amun knew that she would be a bit sceptical.
Ok...but how? I am still underground. And I do not know how far down I am, it might be impossible to get to me!
Don't worry about that, I have a feeling that once they know we are talking to each other, and once I locate the building you are under, that they will bring you to me. They are a corporation, like any other, and they will want to protect their investment. So I will expose them and force their hand into relocating you. Then I will intervene. He explained to her and she silently listened. Amun could feel a light bit of hope coming from her and took it as a good sign. However, he them felt fear flood his mind and knew it was from here. Emilia...what is wrong?
Why Amun...why come back for me? I was helping them, I...nearly trapped you down here with me. Why would you come back and help me? Amun had to help suppress her fear with feeling of comfort and happiness.
Because I want this to end, I want a normal life that I can live in the light, not one that I am forced to live in the shadows. And I would never be able to live with myself knowing that I left someone behind to be tortured.Images of Jolene flashed through his mind and he was over whelmed with sadness. being new to having his mind linked with someone else, his sadness overflowed to Emilia.
Who...who is she? He was surprised that she knew that his feelings had been towards his love.
She...she was my reason for living. She accidently helped me escape from the lab when I was stuck. She took me in when I was afraid that no one else would. She...made me feel human. Our time had been brief, but she went through hell to help me when she had no reason too. We...became close.
She sounds wonderful. The comment struck him harder then he thought it would, and his anger must have peeked through because it caused Emilia to fall silent.
She is gone. Through the silence he felt her feelings of comfort. Please don't, just...let me deal with this my own way. Please. To get his mind off the topic, Amun began his small walk towards the city. Emilia, I will need your help to locate you. I have a feeling that you will be able to send out some sort of telepathic locator beacon for me. Maybe not right away, but we can practice.
You want me to what? Her confusion was expected, he just had to explain it a bit better.
Kind of like a sonar blip. You might be able to use a strong wave of emotion towards me as one. Why don't you give it a shot? Amun was now coming to the first paved road on the outskirts of the city, he would have to be quiet and attempt to avoid any cars that might happen to come his way.
Amun, I have no idea if I can do this. talking to you is one thing because I can feel your presence and send a message. But I have no idea how to send a sonar blip. Amun paused and repeated what she had just told him within his head.
You said you can feel my presence?
Well, yes, sort of. When you started talking to me I could kind of tell what direction you were. but that`s about it.
No Emilia this is good, we can work with this! I am going to walk down town, let me know if you can feel me getting closer. Amun looked towards the tall towers that were still a bit of a distance from him so he kept walking. He could feel Emilia's fear growing once more. He thought that chatting with her might calm her down.
So I have to tell you a story that happened a few days ago. I scared the living day light out of some campers when they found their son climbing on my back. I asked them which was the city was and they looked whiter than ghost's! It was priceless!
Ha ha O my, that must have been a sight indeed. I'm surprised you let a child climb on you, it must have been a bit awkward.
O not at all, I could barley feel the little guy, he must have been no bigger than a mouse in comparison. There was a pause and he felt her confusion once more.
A mouse...Amun...how big are you? She asked, concern smothering every word. It dawned on him that he had not yet told her that he had changed his form to mimic a king Xenomorph.
O, right I apologize, I did not tell you. I'm about three stories high when I stand on my back legs, a bit less when I am on all fours. I used metamorphosis to transform myself into a King. I thought the extra fire power would come in handy.
Interesting, I had no idea that we could do that. And a king you say, what does that look like?
Neither did I, Jolene actually taught me that. She actually knew a lot about Xenomorphs...
I'm sorry Amun, I can tell she meant a lot. Her sympathy was touching.
It's alright, it was not you, it was the company. They will get what is coming to them, I promise...can you feel anything yet?
Yes, I can tell that you are getting closer, but by how much I do not know.
Good. Just then, a car turned onto the street that he was currently walking down. O crap, one second. He really had nowhere to go, so he ducked between two houses. Thankfully the car went by and did not notice the dark creature between the buildings. Once it was past, Amun relaxed his body. That was until he noticed the yellow mist gently creep into his vision. He followed its path to an open window that he had not noticed beside him. Looking out at the massive monster were five teen girls at a slumber party.
All of them were frozen in fear, Amun decided to have some fun. Just inside the room, he noticed a bag of something that smelt rather delicious. So, with the window open, he slowly reached into the room and grabbed the bag. Feeling the crunch of the foil bag, Amun could only guess that he had taken a bag of chips the girls had been snacking on. Without missing a beat, he took a hand full of chips from the bag, placed it back in the room and gave the girls a thumbs up before he took off into the night. Snacking on his trophy of chips.
Amun...what just happened? I have an over whelming sense of joy from you? Amun almost spat out his chips.
Ha ha, nothing much, just confused the hell out of a pack of teenage girls at a sleep over. I took some potato chips right from their window.
Amun! Are you sure that was wise letting someone see you? As she asked, Amun could feel how fearful she was.
It will be fine, it is part of my plan anyway if but a bit premature. No harm will come of it. He continued on chatting with Emilia and walking towards the city center with not much more altercations taking place. A barking dog, someone drinking beers on their front deck, all things that were easily avoidable. Once he neared the upward stretching building of the city, Emilia let out a mental gasp.
You...you are close. I...can feel you...I can tell how big you are. I can feel your steps. Amun began to quicken his pace.
That's a bit creepy but also very handy. Can you tell me where to go? I cannot feel your presence like you can towards me.
Go right as soon as you can. Amun was a few strides away from an intersection. Taking care not to destroy the traffic lights, he took a right. Yes, keep coming this way, you are getting closer...I think...yes take a left. He did as she asked. Keep on this path for a bit. Amun gave her a mental nod, but with his distraction he almost stepped on a taxi cab that had been cutting across the road. A last second leap sent him over top of the vehicle without harming it. Slow down Amun...you are close. Take another left. Slowing to a brick walk, he did as she asked. Wait...I think you are her. It feels like you are almost right above me. Yes, yea you are! Amun, please get me out of here, I don't want to be in this lab any longer! Her excitement almost made him break down the glass doors that instant, but his better judgment stopped her feelings from taking over his actions. He looked the building up and down and noticed that he had not gone unnoticed. There were several guards that were running around in the lobby. He knew he would not have long to memorize which building this was. However they had made it easy with a logo upon the outside glass of the building.
Weyland research and development...who the hell are these guys? I have never heard of them.
You haven't heard of anyone, you lost your memory when you came out of your cocoon remember, I was there.
Right, that makes sense. He had actually forgotten that it was not long ago that he had been stumbling around with her as his guide.
You going to get me out of here? She asked with drooling eagerness.
Patience Emilia, I have no way of getting you out right now. My plan will work and they will bring you out to me, you just have to trust me. As he finished his statement, a flood of guards entered the lobby from within the building which was his queue to leave. First, he steadied himself, and let out one of the loudest roars he could. As drool and air flew towards the glass of the building and collided, it also caused it to break and shatter over the guards that had been attempting to take up defensive positions. Amun...was that you I just heard?
Good, that just means we have the right building. Was all he said before turning and sprinting down the street. I've got to wait until morning for the next part of my plan alright? I'll keep you company till then ok?
That sounds good, it is rather nice to have someone to talk to rather than someone cutting something off of me. His anger grew as she made the statement. I won't even tell you what else they have done. Just...just try to hurry and...o no. She fell silent.
Emilia what is it? He could feel her fear growing. Emilia what is going on? He stopped in his tracks on the street and turned to look behind him.
They are here, we have to stop talking, they will know that we have been chatting all night and they will come for you...O God please no don-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! A scream of pain cut into Amun's mind as Emilia let forth feelings of pure pain, feelings that she could not hold back from transferring to Amun. The pain was beyond what he had ever gone through and he could tell that she was being electrocuted. The pain caused Amun to fall to his knees, grabbing his crown and letting out a roar. Suddenly it stopped and he was left with his body shivering from the attack.
Emilia...they hurt you...why? He asked, not exactly sure what answer he was looking for.
To cut...us off from one another. They...will put me to sleep...soon. Freeze me...so I... Her words were weak and fragile. He could tell that she was far worst that he was. They...will...sleep...
Emilia...Emilia! Damn it! Amun could not wait, he had to put more distance between himself and the hidden lab or they might find him before he could get his plan into action. So he ran, he did not know to where but he ran as fast as he could. His clawed feet destroying the street beneath his footprints as he went fast into the night.