Warrior: Xenomorph Transformation
Epilogue: A New Life
My name is Arthur Jackson, and this has been the story of how I became "Nag and Emerald." I am now twenty-one years old and living in a quiet neighborhood in Old Town Fort Collins. As for my job, I work at Gryphon's Comics and Games, given my appearance. I did my job responsibly and helped with advertisement due to my condition. As you all know, I am a xenomorph, and in an old-school comic store, where there are sci-fi items a plenty, I draw in customers. My manager is a nice and reasonable man and I usually have enough money for some comforts of my own. Emerald is still around, and he lives upon my neck as he did years ago. Every week, I make regular visits to see Mom, Cody, and the kids. College was around the corner, and they expected me to start getting my butt in gear for it. Since the entire incident with Cody four years earlier, life had gone on better for me and my family. Mom and Cody had less arguments, Cody started doing more around the house, the kids started being more respectful of what they were told to do, and I was college-bound. Life was solid and my goals were high. Little did I know that there was a new life that awaited me in the near future.
My alarm rang quite loudly this morning, but I had reason for setting the volume as high as I did. I was going camping with Mom, Cody, and the kids. As soon as I perked up about a minute later, I immediately grabbed my clothes from the closet, a blue-and-grey-striped shirt, some jeans, and my hat. As I ran to the shower, Emerald followed close behind so that he could clean himself of yesterday's muck.
"Arthur, calm down. What's the rush?" he asked curiously as I jumped into the shower.
"Mom and Cody are going camping. They're going to be here soon. Don't you remember me talking to you about that last night?" I replied. With considerable practice and effort, I had finally gained control of my vocal cords and better control over my nearly non-existent lips, now able to actually form words. However, it was easier to communicate with Emerald the good old fashioned way: by thought waves. Emerald's face scrunched in an effort to remember the conversation we had about camping today. Soon after I started the shower, his eyes widened in remembrance, and he jumped into the shower. About ten minutes of cleaning later, we got out and went down to make ourselves a quick breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, and milk. Soon after the rush to make our food, I sprinted back upstairs to grab my laptop from beside my bed and, with the charger in tow, rushed back downstairs to set up the plates for the food.
"Dude! Slow down! You're going to exhaust yourself before we even get out the door!" I merely looked to Emerald and smirked.
"You know what they say? Early bird gets the worm." I sat down and began looking at what was new on my internet life. Nothing seemed new or out of the ordinary. My life on deviantART was still as fulfilling as ever, and I still chatted with Tristan every now and again, but not nearly as often as I used to. I was on Skype more often, but with the amount of groups I had joined, I had to mark all messages as read. Whatever the case, I waited for our parents to show up as we ate. After eating, I started heading to the back room to feed a very special inhabitant of the house: a snake, who I had come to name Iswit. When I had found it, it was clearly domesticated, but was left out and apparently slithered away. When I found it only several years ago, it was dehydrated and malnourished. It was a highly venomous spectacled cobra, but unlike most I had seen from various videos circulating the world-wide-we, it was more calm and willing to be handled than other snakes. Whether this was because of its domestication or its own nature was beyond me, but whatever the case, I took one of my old terrariums that I owned and placed the snake in it. After posting "Does this snake belong to you?" papers across my neighborhood, no one had come to pick him up, so I decided to keep the snake and name it.
"Hello Iswit. You hungry today?" I asked as I walked into the room. The cobra immediately perked up and hooded as I grabbed the specialized snake-hook off the wall nearby and opened a container containing dead, refrigerated mice.
"Yeah, you're most certainly hungry," I delightedly agreed. The cobra immediately started hissing, a fit that it would sometimes have if it woke up in a grumpy mood. I reached in pulled out the cobra with the hook and placed him in his feeding bin before grabbing my pair of tongs to give him the rat. Even if I was immune to his venom, I would prefer if he didn't hurt himself on either my own skin or my acidic blood. Picking up the tongs, I reached into the nearby container and pulled out one of the dead rodents with the tongs.
"Alright, let's get this over with Iswit. I have stuff to do today," I told the cobra. However, as soon as I got the rat even remotely near the bin, the cobra sprang out like a jack-in-the-box and took the rat along with the tongs.
"Jesus. You act like I've starved you!" I yelped. As soon as I regained my composure, I grabbed my spare tongs and grabbed another rat from the refrigerated container, watching to make sure he got his food down his gullet. As soon as he finished, Iswit immediately struck at the next morsel and yanked it out of the pair of tongs. As he ate, I grabbed the tongs from under his coils and put it in the disinfectant bucket. After doing so, I stared at Iswit as he ate. When I was younger, I always dreamed of what it was like to be a snake. I always dreamed of gliding across the ground and having a venomous touch to my teeth. Although, I also had dreams of flying ham and cheese rain, so that could've been easily diagnosed as just dreams. Without even realizing it, Iswit had left his cage and decided to stroll around on the floor.
"Now what do you think you are doing?" I questioned him, and immediately after using the hook to place him in his cage, he made a striking motion. He was either playing or he was in a grumpy mood. Whatever the case, I shut the cage and left him to digest in peace.
"So, how's the snake doing?" Emerald asked as he watched TV from his perch.
"Iswit's in a sour mood today." Emerald merely nodded in reply, and as I sat down in my chair, I heard a knock at the door.
"Emerald, go get the door real quick," I requested. Emerald complied, but grumbled the entire way. As soon as he opened the door, there was no one there, but there was a box with a note that said "for Arthur" on it. The box was wooden and seemed hastily nailed down.
"Arthur! There's a package for you!" As soon as Emerald finished the word package, I had already come to the door to see the box. Immediately, I took the box inside and went back to the back room to get a crowbar to open it up. As soon as I returned, I readied myself for whatever was in the package.
"Whatever's in that box, I didn't order it. Emerald, I need you near the phone for 911, just in case." Emerald nodded in agreement and flew to the phone and readied his tail near the buttons of the phone. I then turned to the box and started taking deep, apprehensive breaths to calm myself before placing the prying end of the crowbar underneath the lid. I then placed my free hand on the box and pushed the crowbar down. Immediately, the sounds of splintering wood resounded and I watched as the lid of the box flew to the other side of the wall, making a resounding smack against said wall. When I looked inside, I saw something that I never expected: a stone, similar to the one that made me who I am, but in the shape of a cobra, hooded and ready to strike. Knowing this was nearly identical to the xeno-stone that made me into a fictional creature, I immediately went into the kitchen and grabbed a napkin before returning to the stone to cover it up.
"What is it Arthur?" Emerald inquired as I picked up the stone and stared at it. Five minutes passed without an answer as I stared into the stone's jeweled eyes. Unlike the xeno-stone, this one was much more detailed, but just like it, it was made from obsidian. Whatever the case, I heard another knock at the door and looked out the window to see my Mom, waiting for me to join her. Emerald immediately jumped back onto my neck and I placed the stone in my laptop bag before going out to greet her.
Camping was supposed to be a time of relaxation, but I was not relaxed. I was tense, twitchy, and constantly on the move, studying the stone and what it could possibly do. My laptop didn't have an internet connection at the moment, so I was stuck without answers and more questions than in a job interview. It was a horrid feeling. Emerald had abandoned me to go and relax, and I was keeping to myself in order to find out more about the stone. What secrets did it contain? What kind of secret did mine contain? What were these stones? Too many questions, too little time to answer. As I looked at the little rock, I didn't notice my mom walking up behind me.
"Hey Arthur…you haven't eaten anything yet and you've been keeping to yourself. Is something wrong Arthur?" I turned to see my mother's white hair and wrinkled face, ravaged by time. She was wearing a short-sleeved white t-shirt and was wearing sandals. She reminded me of my grandmother in many ways at this age.
"No. I'm fine. I just found something before we went camping."
"Oh? What is it?" I immediately started searching for an excuse, as not to worry her.
"Oh, just a rock that I thought would make Iswit a happy snake." Mom wasn't stupid. She knew something was up, but she knew better than to continue questioning me.
"Well, when you're ready, you feel free to come and eat." I smiled and nodded as she left before turning back to the rock.
Time passed by quickly on the camping trip, but each day I found myself trying to find an internet connection I could use. Every day, I would take my laptop and start running down to an internet-connected area, only to be disappointed that half my day went by before I even got there. When I returned, it would be dark out, and I would get called out for running out and away. I may be 21, but that didn't mean that I couldn't be called out by parents anymore. However, there was just one point where I couldn't take it. Cody had drank himself into a drunken presentation for the first time since I used to live at my old home. He was stumbling, fumbling, and holding a can of Budwiser in his hands. I had just about had it with that drinking of his. We couldn't stop it, but he was still setting a bad example by drinking that much.
"Hey…Arthur? Y-y-you know I love you…right?" he asked. I was irritated at that particular statement. He said it every time he did get drunk, and it eventually began to mean nothing when he said it.
"You know…I love you man…y-y-you may be black…and tall…and…and have no eyes…but you're still my son…" I immediately turned and smiled before just getting up, stirring Emerald from a nice nap.
"That's it…I'm done with this camping trip! See ya. I'm packing up and headed back to town!" Immediately, my Mom walked up to me, and although I was bigger, I cowered. I feared the power that my mother had in terms of being the "wo-man" of the house.
"What the Hell Arthur?!" she inquired, "You don't get to talk to adults like that! Ever!" I immediately shook my head and began to answer her.
"He's drunk off his ass and he's going to be grumpy, hung over, and probably sick to his stomach in the morning, and that's just for me to deal with?"
"You're still his son!"
"I'm 21, mother!"
"You act like a belligerent 14-year old!" I couldn't take it, and I got into my car and slammed the door.
"Have fun with YOUR camping trip that YOU dragged me on! I have a life, mother! A life besides the internet! I've got a home, I've got taxes, I've got a job! I could be spending my time on something more worthwhile!"
"Then maybe you should!" My Mother was very stern woman when it came to this kind of thing. It made me very worried when she yelled. I was a nice guy, but I did have work to do. Work that was, indeed, more important than camping. After she left, I started up the car and started heading out, back down towards town.
"Stupid camping trip…stupid timing…it's all going downhill…" I was grumbling to myself about how this camping trip came at the worst possible time. Emerald had decided to go sleep in the trunk instead of listening to my ramblings. I was angry: angry at Cody for drinking, angry at Mom for dragging me along on a camping trip that I had told her that I couldn't go on, and most of all, angry at myself for arguing with her about something that shouldn't even matter.
"I just wanted to get stuff done Mom…why do you got to bring me on this camping trip when I've got bills to pay and stuff to buy, namely my food…I just…I just wish that I could start it over…have a better relationship…HAVE A PROPER FAMILY!" I punched the horn and immediately the airbag came popping out, to where I braked very quickly. After waiting for the airbag to deflate, I went to pull over on the side of the mountain road, but as I did this, I heard the familiar sound of a hissing snake in a bad mood right beside me. I turned very quickly to see a darting black shape attach itself to my arm, and I screeched in pain. I heard the all-too-familiar hissing of my corrosive blood dripping on something, and when I looked at the shape, I saw it was the stone that I had received. I was immensely wary of the situation, and I knew that it had to be taken delicately, so I grabbed one of the pairs of forceps that I kept in the car at all times and grabbed the rock with them before prying it off. It looked like a striking cobra, with fangs and all.
"Wait a minute…" I spoke to myself. I looked closer at the snake to see that its fangs were still intact, despite being in contact with my acidic blood. Not only that, but it was dripping what appeared to be venom on the seat.
"Oh no!" I yelped as I tried to start searching for my phone to get reception. However, I stopped just as I was about to dial the emergency hotline, I remembered that I was in no area of phone reception, so I started my vehicle and started driving back down, already beginning to feel VERY woozy and sick.
"Shit, shit, shit!" I was saying that one word, that one obscenity the entire way down the canyon until I reached reception. I immediately then dialed the emergency hotline.
"Hello, this is the emergency hotline, what's your emergency?" I then remembered that I had to get Emerald to speak for me. Before I even knew it, I was opening the trunk and getting Emerald out.
"Hello? Is this an actual emergency?" Emerald heard the words and looked to me for answers.
"Emerald. I've been bitten by a snake! The rock! It didn't dissolve, and now I'm…I'm…" I then vomited up the food I had eaten at the camp, then fell over, my vision blurred and my consciousness fading. Emerald then took the phone.
"Look, if this is a prank call, you can get arrested for that here in this county!"
"No! This is an emergency! This is Arthur Jackson! I've been bitten by a snake and I need medical assistance now!"
"Alright, we're sending an ambulance from the nearest hospital to your location!" Emerald nodded before turning to me. My vision began to darken as Emerald came over to help me, and the last thing I heard was the sound of Emerald's voice telling me to stay with him.
Heat…an immense, burning sensation that I hadn't felt in a long time. Sweat was another product of the heat that I hadn't felt in a long time. I groaned and started to try and open my eyes; but, there was a problem. They had been caked in what felt like coarse, rough sand. However, after rubbing my eyes and opening them, I found that I was in what appeared to be an immense plain of sand and sun: a desert. "Is this in my mind?" I thought, "Is this real?" I looked around to see nothing but sand and blue sky. I then took a deep breath and practically coughed out my lungs and heart. The air was crisper, purer, as though it hadn't experienced polluting elements.
"W-where am I?" I moaned I slight discomfort. It was then that I realized something was wrong. My voice sounded younger. Like I was in second grade again. That couldn't be right. I was 21, and the last things I remembered were the stone, calling 911, leaving the campsite so abruptly…my mother and me arguing. Whatever the case, I tried speaking again,
"Fish, and chips, and vinegar!" I immediately covered my mouth, but as soon as I did, I uncovered it to see something that I never thought I would ever see again: skin. I had skin…and hands that didn't end in claws…I also didn't feel anything on my back or ass. I had no tail, no dorsal tubes, and my head felt lighter in the back than ever. I then looked down to see that I was wearing small Velcro shoes, a pair of jean-shorts, and a plain, sky-blue shirt. I was…human…something that I didn't really want back, but also remembered as having fun experiences in. As I looked around, I realized the situation I was in: I was a child, alone in a desolate wasteland, without any form of contact or the evolutionary powers granted to me by my former xenomorphic physiology. I began to breathe faster as my heart rate increased; a sign of stress and anxiety. I was in the desert, and I would probably die out here if I didn't find a city soon. At that moment, I began running: running towards what I perceived to be the west.
"If I continue on this route, I may survive yet!" I yelled to myself in my mind; however, it didn't. I spent over two weeks in that desert. As I crawled across the boiling ground in the day and hid as close as I could to warmth at night, I was dying. I had no food, no water…nothing. It wouldn't be only two days after the start of the third week that I would find what would become my salvation.
"This is it…I'm going to die…I'm going to die without apologizing to Mom…without seeing Iswit again…and I'm going to die alone…Emerald! WHERE ARE YOU?!" I screamed at the heavens. I was falling apart from the inside. However, as if someone up above heard me, I looked up to see what appeared to be structures in the distance. Civilization…I had finally found civilization in this desolate wasteland. It was then that I began to run. My eyelids were caked with sand and my mouth was as dry as the desert below my feet, but I ran. I ran until I could no longer run, and when I could no longer run, I walked. That didn't last long, and I eventually began to crawl. This city was in my sight…I could see figures at the edge of the city. Blurriness swirled my vision; dehydration was a bitch. As I crawled the farthest I could, I began to try and call for help from the figures at the entrance to this civilization that I had found. The cries were weak though. They were weak and terribly weakened by the lack of food and water.
"H-h-help!" I managed to finally choke out an actual cry for help, rather than choke on the dryness of my throat. As I collapsed and began to fall into the void of unconsciousness once more, I saw several figures run over to me. To me, it seemed as though their skin was different in color and texture. However, the last thing I felt as I slipped away was the cold, hard feeling of scales on my torso as I was lifted up into the air. Was I dying?
"Immediately, I gasped a breath of air as I sat up. However, as soon as I did, I looked around to see a dark room, but the darkness was different. I could see in it. I then started feeling my body to find cold chitin instead of warm, soft skin. I then felt the back of my head and felt the elongation and ridges that ran across it. I was a xenomorph once again. As soon as I realized this, I started taking in my surroundings: a room with white walls and a window overlooking the town of Fort Collins, several IV bleeders and tubes were in the room, and I was wearing a sea foam green hospital gown. I was at Poudre Valley Hospital: I had been saved. I then turned to see a remote that had a multitude of buttons on it, and I began jamming the one for a nurse or doctor. I needed to know what was going on, and what day it was. As soon as I pressed the service button my 24th time, a man in a white uniform entered the room.
"Oh…you're awake…we didn't think you'd be…" I interrupted him very quickly.
"What day is it? What year? When did I get here?!" I yelled at him telepathically. I could see the startled fear in his eyes before he cleared his throat and began to answer my questions as calmly as he could.
"It's the third of August, 2019. You got here only a few hours ago. Your little friend that's sleeping on the lamp over there told us you were bitten by a snake, but according to your vitals, your immune system was doing just fine and fought it off. We only administered anesthesia to reduce any pain. We have a tow team coming to drop off your car in the morning." I let him go before turning to the desk to see the cobra-like rock before walking over to it and picking it up to look at it. It was undamaged and pristine. Then I remembered,
"It…bit me…" I said to myself, "Doctor, can you leave me be for a minute?" The doctor nodded and left the room as I stared at the rock.
"Was that a dream…was it real? What did I see?" Little did I know that something was missing…almost like a piece of me had been stripped from my very being.
