A/N: I have a question that is open for anyone to answer. A few people have asked me via messages if I am going to keep Sam and Kate as friends, partners, whatever, or if I am going to make them a couple – Sam/Kate.
Since each option will require taking the story down a certain direction, I would like everyone's opinion on the matter. So either send me a review with your opinion and why you think they should or shouldn't eventually become a couple, or you can send me a message.
And, no promises, but I might continue this story after the 1982 movie. I'm not sure yet.
"I didn't know what I was getting into when I came to Antarctica about three days ago – four in matter of hours. All I was told by Dr. Sander Halvorson was that a structure and a specimen had been found in the ice near the Norwegian outpost," Kate began, sitting on the couch with a cup of hot coffee while Sam remained standing next to the armrest closest to her.
From what Sam could tell, most of the others at his level that had replicated the dog from Thule had been burned to death, but the remaining First and a few others had not been a part of the creature that had been destroyed. It was likely that the yet to take a host, because unless there were other people at the outpost It hadn't replicated anyone in the room. He'd be able to tell by It's scent if It was. As for the others at his level, he couldn't be sure. For some reason it was impossible to differentiate between the scent of a human and the scent of the average Thing when It was replicating something. Some said that it was so that they could truly be the perfect replication, and that only the Firsts needed to be recognized. Either way, Sam was wary of everyone in the room but Kate.
He wasn't too sure what to think about these humans yet. The one named Garry was supposedly in charge, and yet MacReady was the one people were listening to. As for the others, they all seemed a bit twitchy. He supposed it was understandable due to their encounter with his kind, but as he watched their faces as Kate explained what was going on from the beginning, he grew concerned for her safety.
"We cut out the slab of ice that the specimen was in and took it back to Thule so it would thaw out and I could see what we were dealing with," she continued. "Sander wanted to drill into it and take a tissue sample, and, ignoring my protests, that's what happened. Everything went downhill from there.
"It… woke up, and broke out of the ice that evening. We went looking for It, but misinterpreted just how dangerous the Thing was. One of the team, Henrik, was killed and the Thing looked like it was trying eat him or something. Sam, here," she said, glancing up at him, "and his copilot were shooting the Thing but it didn't do any good. So we burned it, and that seemed to do the job. After doing an autopsy, Sander and I discovered that the creature was trying to digest Henrik, absorb him. Of course everyone wanted to leave, especially since Olav was in shock after seeing what happened to Henrik, but I didn't think it was a good idea since we didn't know what we were dealing with, and Sander didn't want people finding out about what we found – you know, preserve the scientific discovery. But it wasn't our call, and it was decided that Sam, his copilot, and Griggs would take Olav out of here and get him some help in the morning."
"I'm guessing that didn't go as planned since you're here," Mac commented, eying Sam suspiciously.
Kate opened her mouth to speak, but Sam put his hand on her shoulder, silencing her.
To Mac, he replied, "I had just taken off when I saw Kate run out of the main building and flag me down. As I was about to land, something in the back of the chopper attacked us. I lost control of the chopper and crashed. My copilot, Jameson, and I were the only one who survived. The walk back to Thule gave me time to try to explain what had happened, but it didn't even make sense to me."
Copper shrugged. "Something attacked you, you crashed. What doesn't make sense?"
"The fact that before we had taken off, the Thing was Griggs."
The entire room stared at him as though he'd grown a second head.
"And y'all tell me I'm insane," grumbled Palmer, drinking his beer.
"It's true," Kate insisted. "Before I ran out to stop him from leaving I found a puddle of blood in one of the showers and some metal fillings on the floor. When I'd been helping with the autopsy of the creature I found a metal plate that had originally been in Henrik's arm. With the helicopter destroyed, everyone wanted to get into the Snowcats and leave, and that's when I introduced my theory, which was that this Thing could take over a host, and replicate that person or animal perfectly, but that It couldn't replicate inorganic material. No one believed me, except the only other woman, Juliette, and she told me that she would show me where they kept the keys for the Snowcats. Despite my belief that someone may have been replicated, I threw caution to the wind and followed her to a back room where I found out that she wasn't really Juliette. She was one of those Things and she – It – mutated into some terrifying creature and attacked me. I got away but It kill another member of the team. By then, everyone believed me whether they wanted to or not."
"Now, wait just a second," said Childs, raising his hand. "You said 'specimen' earlier, and that you burned the 'Thing' when it busted out. How is it there are suddenly more than one?" He received nods of agreement from the other men.
Kate hesitate, unsure of what to say, so Sam spoke for her. "She came up with a theory for that one, too."
Mac sat back in his chair. "Really?"
Sam nodded. "She said that maybe It possible that more than one of these Things could take over and share a host, right, Kate?" It was as vague as he could make it without needing to revel how they knew. They didn't need to know what he was just yet.
Not missing a beat, she nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it was the only theory I could come up with about it that made any sense."
"As if any of this makes sense," Bennings said. "You're seriously saying that these Things can 'replicate' a human being?"
"It was able to look like a dog, didn't it?" she retorted, too tired to argue about it.
That silenced the man and he looked away.
"We found something at Thule before we found you," Mac said, turning his attention back to Kate. "It had two head, disfigured limbs…"
"Looked like It crawled Its way out of hell?" she added. When Mac nodded, she sighed. "Late that night we tried to figure out who was who, and it turned out that the station commander, Edvard, had been replicated and that more than one Thing had replicated him. Parts of his limbs broke off and one latched onto Jonas's face. A tentacle burst out of the Thing's chest and stabbed my friend Adam, and Sam's friend Jameson. I tried to fix the flamethrower, but wasn't fast enough and the Thing had… melded to Adam, and then ran off. Before Sam and I went after It, I…" she swallowed. "I burned Jonas and Jameson, just to be sure that they weren't infected by one of those Things. Sam and I later got split up, but I managed to get to the Thing that had replicated both Edvard and Adam, merging into a disfigured creature, and burned It."
Mac nodded, taking it all in. "We found one guy who'd slit his throat and wrists, any idea who that might be?"
Kate looked a little sick. "Colin, most likely, or Lars. Did he have a beard?"
The pilot shook his head. "No."
"Then it was Colin. Lars, well, after we left Thule we were afraid that he'd been replicated and wanted to get here to warn you guys." Noticing how uncomfortable everyone suddenly looked, she frowned. "What?"
Straightening, Garry said, "Two men came here the day we went out to check out Thule. One of them had a beard and was shooting at a dog. Even tried to throw a damn grenade, but blew up their helicopter instead and killed the other guy. He wasn't makin' any sense 'cause none of us speak Norwegian, and we thought he was a threat and so after he shot Bennings in the leg while aiming for the dog, I shot him. Killed him."
Kate's jaw dropped, and Sam wasn't sure if she was going to cry, scream, or punch the man. To his surprised, she took a few deep breaths and swallowed. "He likely knew that the dog wasn't really a dog and was trying to kill it."
"Had I have known…" Garry began, but the paleontologist shook her head and he closed his mouth.
After an awkward few seconds, Mac asked, "What about Sander?"
Taking a long drink of the scalding hot coffee, she replied, "Replicated. I blew him up."
Mac arched a brow. "Blew him up?"
Kate nodded, and once again the room fell silent.
Glancing down at Kate, Sam was half tempted to drag her out of the room so she could relax. The woman looked worn and exhausted even though she'd slept since they were found in the Snowcat. What she needed was some time to process what all was going on.
Downing the alcohol in his glass, Childs said, "I just cannot believe any of this bullshit."
"Then how do you explain that dog, man?" Nauls questions, extending his arm down the hall where the Thing was being kept, waiting for an autopsy.
There was nothing Childs could say to that.
"Before we come to any conclusions," Blair began, pausing until had everyone's attention. "I'm going to go preform that autopsy, see if what I find matches with what Kate claims. Which means I don't want you in the room with me. I need to have a clear head," he added sternly, looking at Kate.
Sighing, she nodded. "All right, just have someone in there with you. These Things like getting people alone."
"Clark, Fuchs, you two go with Blair," ordered Mac, and Garry nodded in agreement.
"What about them?" Bennings asked, looking at Sam and Kate.
"Wouldn't mind taking a shower," suggested Kate.
Stepping closer to them, Copper said, "I don't see why that would be a problem. I'll find the two of you some sweats and you can was your clothes after you get out. The clothes might be a bit big on you, hun," he added to Kate. "We don't normally have women here."
"It's fine," she assured him in a tone that told Sam she could care less if the clothes were too big.
And why would she care when they'd been thrown into a frozen hell and were still trying to find their way out?
Walking into the room Kate had woken up in with Sam, Kate saw on one of the cots, relieved that she could take a few minutes to just relax. She'd feel even better after Copper got her some sweats so she could take a shower. But amidst the relief she felt that she could just sit and take a shower, something nagged at her mind.
Why had Sam lied and lead the others to believe he was human? Under the circumstances, it may have been better to be honest right off the bat. They didn't need to give Mac or the other any reason not to trust them. These people needed to know that they could be trusted. Did he not want to tell them that he wasn't human because he feared they would try to kill him? Was it because he thought the men wouldn't trust them? Or did he choose not to say for some other reason that she couldn't see?
Looking at the man standing at the doorway, looking out at the hallway – Thing, she had to remind herself – she couldn't help but wonder what exactly he was thinking about. It was hard to tell.
Kate leaned forward, resting her elbows on the knees, cringing due to the tension in her aching muscles. Watching Sam closely for a reaction, she asked, "Why did you lie to them?"
He turned to lean against the door frame. "I don't recall lying."
"Well, you certainly didn't tell the truth," she pointed out.
"What are you talking about?" he asked, clearly confused.
"You made it sound as though you had been flying that chopper. Why didn't you tell them you aren't human?"
Sam stared at her. "What good would that have done for us, Kate?"
"If we tell them the truth up front…"
"They'll trust us even less," he interrupted, stepping closer to her. "What the hell gives you the impression that telling them I'm not human, but an alien who killed an already dying man and replicated him?
When he put it that way it did sound absurd to tell the others. "I just want things to go smoothly this time. Everyone was paranoid at Thule. I'd rather that didn't happen again, or at least not as bad."
"Either way people will be paranoid, Kate. Sure they'd know that I'm one of Them, but no one will know who else is," he replied.
Kate frowned. "What do you mean? I thought you could tell who and who wasn't human."
"I can tell is someone has been replicated by a First," he clarified. "They have a certain scent that my kind can't miss. But the others, the ones like me, can't tell who has been replicated and who's human. Many believe our species was created that way on purpose to make a more perfect replication of our hosts. If you can fool your average Thing, you can easily fool a human."
"Great," she mumbled, rubbing her forehead. That wasn't what she wanted to hear. "So, you're telling me that we're in the dark about who's who?"
Sighing, he nodded.
For about half a minute, no one spoke and Kate didn't think she could get more miserable and pretty much ruled out smiling any time soon.
"Things."
Kate looked up at him. "Huh?"
"Is that what we're calling my species now? Things?"
For a moment she thought he was insulted by being constantly called a thing, but she saw the slight smirk on his face, and she surprised herself by laughing softly. "Well, since you said the name of your kind can't be pronounced by humans, I guess it's as good of a name as you're going to get."
Smirk transforming into an actual smile, Sam shook his head. "Yeah, I guess so."
Something caught Sam's eye and he stepped to the side a second before Copper appeared in the doorway, two sets of clothes in hand.
"I tried to find a smaller pair for you, Kate. 'Fraid they're still going to be falling off of you," the doctor said, handing Sam his clothes before giving Kate hers.
"Its fine," she replied with a small smile. Did he really think she cared about over-sized clothing?
"The showers are right down the hall," he added, then, with a nod, he walked off.
Waiting a beat, Kate said quietly to Sam, "They'll have to be told that you aren't human eventually."
He sighed. "I know." Nodding out the door, he added, "Come on, I'll walk you down the hall."
"I think I can find my way," she replied lightheartedly.
"It's not you getting lost that I'm worried about," he said, and she didn't need him to tell her what worried him.
For all they knew, she could be replicated going down the hall.
So without complaining, Kate rose to her feet, clothes in hand, and followed Sam down the hall. An awkward silence seemed to surround them, but Kate didn't know what else to talk about right now. All she wanted was a hot shower.
When they reached their destination, Kate shifted from foot to foot, and she couldn't help but remember the blood she'd seen in one of the showers back at Thule. A flicker of fear ran through her system and she hesitantly opened the door, looking inside to make sure it was safe and was relieved to see no blood.
Checking it out for himself, Sam gave his nod of consent before stepping back. Shoving his hands into his pockets, he said, "I'll, uh, leave to your shower."
Before she could stop herself, Kate called as he started leaving, "Wait."
He stopped, glancing at her over his shoulder.
"Would you, um…" Deciding not to complicate her question, she just spat it out. "Stay?"
Turning towards her, brows nit together in confusion, he asked, "Sorry?"
Now feeling more than a little childish, she explained, "Like you said, any of those guys could be a replication. I would just feel safer showering if you were at least in the room." Kate didn't think it was possible to feel more embarrassed. Sure there were shower curtains, but she'd still be sharing the shower room with a man – a Thing.
"Even though I'm one of the Things you're afraid off?" he questioned.
"I'm not afraid," she insisted, but couldn't even convince herself of that. "Unlike the other Things, I'm fairly positive that you would have hurt me by now if you had wanted to. And I'm trying to put you in a different category."
For a moment, Sam just stood there, mulling over her request in his head. And then he said, "Wait right here." He started walking off, leaving her wondering what exactly he was doing.
After walking back into the room, he came out a second later with his sweats, and she sent him a questioning look.
"If I'm going to be in there with you I might as well take one of the other showers," he reasoned, stepping inside the shower room with her.
That made sense.
Kate went to one of the far showers and motioned for Sam to turn around before turning on the hot water. When she was sure he wasn't looking, she set the clothes down next to the shower and quickly undressed before stepping under the hot water.
Almost instantly her aching muscles felt better and her still chilled skin finally began to fully warm up. More comfortable than she could remember being in a long while, she moaned happily.
Chuckling, Sam asked as he too got into one of the showers, "Feel better?"
"Much," Kate replied, smiling to herself while she tilted her face up towards the water. "First thing I'm doing when I get home is take long hot bath, eat some hot pasta, crawl into some sweats and sleep for a week."
Sam said nothing and she realized that he had nowhere to go after all this was over.
"What are you going to do now that you're stuck here?" she asked, pouring some shampoo into her hand.
Silent for a few more seconds, he finally replied, "I don't know. Haven't thought that far ahead. Not to mention there is still a chance that neither of us will come out of this alive."
"True," she admitting, washing her dark brown hair. "But I can always hope."
In the other shower, Sam snorted. "Hope. You humans base a lot of your actions and beliefs on hopes and faith."
"I guess we do," she said, never really thinking about it before. "It keeps us sane and gives us a reason to keep moving forward."
"We never base our actions on hope, just facts," replied Sam, speaking of his own kind. "If the odds were that we wouldn't survive, we accepted it – would fight like hell and try to take a few of the enemy with us – but we didn't try to sugar coat facts with hope, and we don't think ahead of those facts."
That was a grim way of seeing things.
"Sounds rough. Don't you ever think about the future?"
"Yes, but not so far ahead where we believe the impossible. Such as believing that we might survive this. The odds aren't in our favor," he said.
She frowned. "Why do you say that?"
"I don't know where the First is or who has been replicated," he replied. "We're in the dark."
He had a point. They didn't know who they could trust, and even her test of checking for fillings could only reveal so much. But she refused to accept that they were going to die.
"We survived Thule and the ship blowing up," she pointed out, rinsing the soap from her hair. "Seems like we're making a habit of surviving."
"Maybe," Sam conceded, doubt still in his voice.
Sighing, Kate decided not to push the issue of whether or not they would survive. She believed they would survive if they fought hard enough despite the odds being against them, whereas Sam refused to see past the facts.
It would take more than a simple chat in the shower room to convince him that they had a chance.
Reviews are welcome. In fact, they're encouraged!