Katie scoured the room for more threats and caught a glimpse of Suzy lying motionlessly in a nearby corner. She shouted her intentions to Mager, and then rushed towards Suzie. She was only a few meters from Suzie when an alien emerged from its cubbyhole in the resin wall beside her, and tackled Katie before she could react.
"No! Get off me!" She screamed at the alien, knowing it couldn't understand a word she was saying. The alien's horrid claws ripped at her bare flesh as she fought to get the beast away. It was a futile attempt. The alien was too strong and fast for her. She could not even bring the gun to bear because the alien had wrapped its bony, black tail about her arm, and held it out and away from any useful position. Katie tried to block the alien's claws with her armored and free wrist, but it didn't seem to do much good. Finally, the alien stopped its rending long enough to grasp her by each side of her temple. She banged away at the alien's armored exoskeleton to no avail as the creature brought its own eyeless skull close to hers. As her eyes widened in fear, the alien's jaws slowly parted, revealing the snapping inner jaws inside.
"Huuuuuuggggggsssss..." The alien was cut off mid hiss, and then lifelessly rolled to the side, with a helpful push from Katie. Looking around, Katie turned to see what happen to make the alien act so. She found Silvio squatting at her feet, the tip of his gun smoking from contact with acid.
"Th-thanks Silvio," she stated, looking over the alien. She still couldn't see the wound that had killed the beast.
"No problem girl." Silvio smiled, straightening.
"How did…how did you?" She asked, motioning to the alien's lifeless corpse as Silvio offered his hand to pick her up.
"I gave it an enema," He stated, holding his rifle upwards.
"Figures," she nodded.
Katie smiled briefly before remembering what she had been doing before being attacked. "Suzie!" she yelled, and glanced over to the corner to see the motionless Suzie still lying in the corner. Katie pulled away from Silvio, and ran to her, falling to her knees as she arrived by Suzie's side. Silvio watched her back, though the alien menace had certainly diminished to close to null.
"Oh No!" she murmured as she spotted a belly-side up face hugger curled not far from Suzie. Suzie remained motionless and almost lifeless on the floor; her cheeks covered with a thin layer of slime and her lips an unholy shade of blue. Her eyes were closed, but when Katie checked for life, she found them dilated.
"Suzy?" Katie queried, feeling herself panic. There was still no response. "Suzie!" Katie yelled, grabbing her friend by the collar and shaking her from side to side. It was hard to tell if she was even breathing, and Katie turned to trying to slapping her awake. After a couple of resounding blows, Suzy finally responded, moaning awfully and swallowing a large gulp of air, as if she hadn't breathed in ages. Katie leaned Suzie against the wall and watched intently as Suzie's senses started to clear. After a few tense moments, Suzie lazily rolled her head in Katie's direction and squinted as she tried to focus. "Katie?" she asked, the word coming out in coughs.
Katie sighed with relief and clasped her hands together as she smiled at Suzie. "Thank god you're still alive!"
Suzie let her head roll away, and gave a shuddering breath. "Not for much longer, babes." Suzy's voice was rough and a look of disappointment stretched across her face as she continued to struggle for air.
"What?" Katie asked, dreading the answer she knew had to be true.
"Facehugger," she stated, closing her eyes and swallowing hard. She rolled her head back to Katie, and struggled to take her friends hand. "I know it got me," she stated, even as Katie feebly tried to shake negatively. Katie reached out, took Suzie's fumbling hand, and forced herself to swallow hard. "If you don't kill me now it'll come out later. Then you'll all be in danger again," Katie, continued to shake her head in disbelieve. "You have to do it now," Suzie commanded.
"We'll get you back to Dengor," Katie countered. "Find a way to get it out-"
Katie could feel tears stinging her eyes as Suzie looked away. "You know there's only way it comes out," Suzie said with a sigh. Katie lost her grip on Suzie's hands and let them slip away. As she did, Suzie's trembling hands reached down and grasped her pulse rifle. She barely had the strength to pull it up closer to her, and as Katie tried to stifle her tears of anguish, Suzie turned back to look at her friend. "Do it," she stated, staring defiantly into Katie's eyes. "I could only ask a friend to do this."
"I can't," whispered Katie.
"If you don't I will."
Katie hesitated; looking down at the weapon in Suzie's outstretched hand. Grimacing, she took the weapon, watching Suzie's hand fall away. She brought the weapon about in her hands, and pointed it at the center of Suzie's chest. There was one last pause, as Katie looked into Suzie's tired eyes. "Goodbye, Suzie." She stated.
Suzie used the last of her strength to grasp the rifle, clenching her hands over Katie's. The weapon roared as it fired, tearing a gaping hole into Suzie's chest, and splattering blood onto Katie's armor as well. Suzie's lifeless body slumped away, and Katie pulled back, unable to look back at Suzie's mutilated corpse.
Silvio stood behind Katie, and she found herself staring directly at him. He gave her a quick hug in consolation, and then the two made their way back towards Naylor, who was holding the middle of the room with the APC, with Mager beside him.
The facehuggers were all gone and now Naylor had apparently driven off the rest of the xenomorphs from the main chamber. "Hey, it's great to see you rejoining the party." He stated. He took a second look back and noticed that Suzy wasn't with them. "Silvio, where's Suzy?"
The two continued forward until they were within a meter of Naylor. Silvio stated emotionlessly, "She's dead. Facehugger."
Naylor's mind suddenly reeled at the news. He should have noticed earlier that she wasn't with the group. Now another marine was dead. "Shit!" he yelled, swinging his smart gun about, "We're diminishing by the minute!" His anger rose as he spun about, and his smart gun locked onto the huge signature of the lone queen. As the gun beeped at the target acquisition, Naylor's eyes went up to the faceless skull of the queen, who continued her steady pace of laying more eggs. "I'm going for the Queen. Cover the room," he roared.
The remaining marines nodded simultaneously as Naylor marched towards the massive queen. As he approached, he heard the queen's hiss and caught the glimpse of alien carapace from within the corner of the room before an alien within shot out, racing forward on all fours. Calmly, Naylor directed the smart gun against it, mowing them down with precision gunfire. He stepped past the smoking and bleeding frame, continuing towards the queen.
She seemed as focused on him as he was on her as he approached the upright APC. With sure steps, he ascended the back of the resin-coated vehicle as the queen looked down upon him, hissing and swaying upon her egg sack as he approached. She suddenly lurched at him with her massive skull, but Naylor easily stepped to the side and brought the barrel of the smartgun against the left half of her jaw.
The Queen felt a slight twinge as the hot barrel came to rest against the side of her head. But before he could squeeze the trigger, she brought about one of her massive arms, and swept his feet out from under him. A hail of fire ran upward and away, catching the edge of her massive head-fin, and painfully splintering some of the tough exoskeleton away.
Naylor collapsed and rolled off the top of the APC, crashing to the ground below. He landed hard on his side on the uneven surface, and rolled over, trying to keep the pain from showing. He could hear the marines firing again – the queen's cries must have alerted the last few drones to return. Naylor rose slowly, his vision flashing over with white streaks of pain as he fought to stand back up. His suit had already sensed the injury, and was working to reduce the pain and stiffen the area to keep Naylor from moving them too much.
Silvio, Mager and Stevenson blasted oncoming aliens as the drones returned in droves to the main chamber. Stevenson was trying her best to keep her nerves after Suzie's death. Only her hatred of the aliens that had forced her to kill her friend kept her going, as she pumped burst after burst after the aliens forcing them to hide amid the resin structures they had built.
Mager had only 72 rounds left from Suzie's old rifle, and was just starting to sweat. They were fighting hard to kill the remaining aliens with the least amount of bullets, when without warning something struck Mager in the back and pinned him to the ground. He couldn't move, let alone turn over. He screamed for help from Silvio and Katie, who quickly turned to train their sights on the alien squatting on Mager's back. The alien was trying to rip through the armor to get at the soft flesh underneath. "It's too close!" Katie roared to Silvio, and the two marines rushed the alien. The alien looked up in time to see Silvio lurching at it, and brought about its tail to smash the marine across the chest, knocking him down. But the distraction left the alien open to Katie's attack, who batted the alien across the skull with her pulse rifle. The creature squealed and clutched its head as its cranium caved in from the repeated blows. Katie then pushed the creature off of Mager's back before the blood leaked down from the wound onto the helpless marine.
Gunfire sounded from Silvio's gun as Katie quickly hauled Mager up, and the two turned to see Silvio finished off the mortally wounded alien. The three marines quickly regrouped, and prepared to meet the remaining drones advancing towards them.
Silvio and Katie trained their sights on one of the beasts and pulled their triggers. 'Click click click click.'
"No!" Silvio screamed and threw his rifle at one of the remaining aliens, who merely swatted the weapon aside. Beside Silvio, Mager's gun was also clicking empty. As the three watched, one of the approaching aliens bent down on all fours and brought its barbed tail up over its head.
Mager held his breath as the three watched the last three alien drones surrounded them. They hissed and screeched at the marines, as if taunting them. "Man, it was great knowing you guys," Silvio announced as he watched one of the aliens crouch for a spring. Mager and Katie held their guns like baseball bats, as Silvio held out his knife, waiting for the final attack. He waited, and he waited, but nothing. The aliens didn't spring.
"What the?" asked Mager, looking to the others. The aliens then began to shy away from the marines, hissing and snarling. After a moment, it was apparent they were backing away from the APC, and watching it at the same time.
The marines looked toward the spot the aliens were looking to, and spotted Naylor atop the APC, his Smart gun barrel held firmly under the bottom of the queen's jaw.
"Very good," Naylor hissed, glancing at the retreating drones. "You remember what this thing does."
"Now... keep your little friends away from mine while we just get what we came for." Naylor looked to the stunned marines, and motioned for them to get moving. It took them a moment to respond, but the marines finally started moving, quickly making their way to the APC's belly and entering.
The Queen snarled at Naylor as she issued her mental commands to the retreating drones. Naylor knew what she was probably planning, and smiling, he pressed upward against the underside of the queen's skull as he shook his head. "Now, now, now. Any more thoughts like that and I'm gonna have to pull this trigger, and you don't want your brains spread across the ceiling do you?"
"Huuuggsssshh." The creature growled, as if reconsidering her action. The drones continued to back out of the room, though Naylor kept one eye open for them.
"Right," Naylor cooed.
Mager poked his head out of the APC to look up at Naylor. "Hey, I don't know how, but these things must have found the armory. The whole APC is loaded with armor, pulse rifles, ammo and all kinds of weapons."
Naylor didn't take his eyes off the queen, though his eyebrow arced at the news. "Been doing some early Christmas shopping?" He queried the queen, who only gurgled a hiss in reply. "'Fraid you're gonna have to share," he smirked. Then, to the marines, he hollered, "Mager, get the fuel and have everyone dig out any extra ammo and medical gear you can find in there. Try to find some stimulants if possible. We're gonna need them for the walk back."
As Naylor gave his orders, the massive tail of the queen began to flick with ire. Slowly, it began to bend and arc towards the marine beneath her, subtly moving like a snake on the hunt.
"Oh no you don't!" Naylor bellowed to her, thumping the gun against her lower jaw until she got the message, and retracted her tail. "You even think about doing that again and I'll blow that ugly excuse for a brain right out of your exoskeleton. You hear me?"
The Queen's jaw gnashed quietly as she breathed out. Even to his untrained eye, Naylor could tell that she was getting nervous. Her tail continued to twitch in time to her labored breathing, and he could sense desperation befalling the enormous beast.
"Y'know, there's just one thing I don't get," Naylor stated, pushing the queen's head up a bit with the smartgun barrel to remind her he was in charge. "What's a nice bitch like you doing in a hive like this?"
"Hu - hu - hu - ggssssss..."
"That's what I thought," Naylor snapped back. "You know...," he continued, holding the barrel firmly, his finger wrapped as tightly as possible around the trigger. "I was here on a business trip." He paused, and then stated, "You know the sort of thing, bag a predator alive and take him back to home base," he stopped long enough to bring him face up to the side of her huge cranium, "but we got screwed! And now we're here for revenge! We just want to get off this rock and get the bastards who sent us here. But... You'd know that, 'cause you're on the side who gave us the screw, aren't you?" His smile broadened as heard the queen breathing in a raspy, almost frightened tone. "How does it feel to be screwed, bitch," Naylor spat, tightening his grip on the trigger, fighting himself to keep from squeezing the trigger and blowing her head off.
"Hey Naylor!" Mager shouted from below. Naylor turned to glance down, and saw the marines were loaded up. Mager had about fourteen canisters of fuel loaded onto a small hovering platform and about four canisters on a long metal pipe over his shoulder. "Stop chatting up the local slut and come on! We gotta get this back to the dropship – in one piece."
Naylor stepped back from the queen, keeping his gun trained on the center of her skull and watching for her massive, slowly swaying limbs. The shadows of drones appeared at the edges of the room, and Naylor kept his focus on the queen, whose eyeless skull seemed to stare straight at his heart, as if she were angry enough to rip it out with a single flex of one of her massive claws.
Naylor carefully clambered off of the APC, never letting his aim wander from the queen. "Katie, give me a couple magazines if you got 'em." He stated, holding out his hand.
Katie obliged, handing him a magazine and then swinging a bandoleer over his shoulder. As Naylor continued to watch the queen, he snapped the smartgun open, flicked out the empty clip and reloaded.
"My God, that was empty?" Katie gasped as Naylor closed the gun and it reloaded itself.
"Yep," Naylor replied, grabbing a cigarette with his free hand. Atop the APC, the queen lurched forward in unbelief, her jaws widening in rage, her breathing increasing in pace.
Naylor calmly lit a match on the topside of the smartgun and pressed it to the tip of the cigarette. When smoke began to puff from it, he dropped the match, and announced, "Run!"
The marines turned and bolted in the direction they had originally entered. As they did, the queen let out a piercing roar, and hordes of drones leapt from the floors and walls at the marines. Naylor stood his ground a moment longer, fully depressing the trigger of the smartgun, which was still aimed at the queen's skull. The huge beast screamed in agony as the shells tore through the head and neck, and within a few seconds the decapitated queen fell, her limbs still flailing blindly.
Silvio stood beside Mager as they slowly made their way forward, both of their guns rattling off shells as the remaining horde of aliens catapulted themselves against the marines. Katie guarded the sides, holding a pulse rifle in each hand and blasting any alien that tried to maneuver around from behind. "Fuck man!" Silvio shouted over the gunfire, "How many more you gonna invite to this dance?"
Naylor followed the rest of the marines, picking aliens off from the horde that advanced from the far side of the room. "Stevenson, you got any grenades?" He shouted, as he blasted an alien with the smartgun that got a little too close for comfort.
Without looking back at him she replied. "Yeah."
"Then give me your rifle!" he bellowed. Naylor caught the gun as Stevenson let it fly backwards to him. With a graceful motion, he brought the weapon over his shoulder, aimed at the seething mass of aliens roaring towards him, and squeezed the trigger to the grenade launcher.
"Nothing?!"
He wheeled to yell at Stevenson, "I thought you said you had grenades?"
She looked back at him and realized what he meant, "I never said I loaded them!"
Naylor gritted his teeth, "Then chuck me your stinking grenades!" She quickly tossed the grenades over her shoulder into the waiting arms of Naylor. "Okay! Get ready to run!" he yelled, loading the pulse rifle's grenades between smartgun bursts.
The marine's tensed, laying down a heavy line of fire before switching to new magazines. Naylor finished loading the grenades; shot down a few approaching aliens, and then arced the gun in the direction of the mass of approaching aliens. Six grenades whistled through the air as Naylor fired them in a rapid burst. A second later, they landed amidst the alien horde and exploded with an ear-deafening boom. The floor and ceiling rattled, knocking some of the alien resin loose as alien exoskeleton was torn asunder by the titanic blast. The force of the blast collapsed the passage behind them, sealing off the rest of the aliens from following up. As soon as the dust and fire faded behind them, Naylor turned to the situation ahead.
"Go!" he yelled, as four weapons opened up on the remaining aliens ahead of them. The barrage of fire cut a path through the screaming aliens, who broke ranks to avoid the deadly swath. Seeing the opening, the marines bolted forward, laying down covering fire as they fought their way through the black masses of aliens.
Clips of empty ammo cluttered the floor as the marines cut their way through the last ranks of the aliens, and finally emerged out into the dark land beyond the complex. Rain still lashed down from the sky, and the ground was a mire of bloody mud. As the marines stumbled out into the open, Naylor whirled back to the entrance and dropped another load of grenades just inside the doorway. The entrance shuddered as aliens raced to beat the collapse, and failed.
"That should hold them for a while," Naylor stated, when the dust settled and nothing moved.
"Finally, we've made it," Mager gasped, stumbling across the mud outside. He half set, half dropped the fuel canisters beside him.
Naylor checked his ammo and then removed the stimulant they had collected from the APC out of his pocket. He looked at it coolly, then at Mager. "Not yet Mager, take your stimulant. You're gonna need it for the walk."
"Oh come on," Mager pleaded, hoping for a few moments rest, but Naylor was having none of it.
"No! First we walk and then we rest," When Mager hesitated, his face twisted in exasperation, Naylor stated, "That's an order Mager!"
Naylor reached behind his neck and injected the stimulant into his spine. He felt the drug quickly take effect, sending a burst of energy flooding through his body. "Come on guys, we've got a lot of ground to cover." He waited, impatiently, for the others.
"Jeez," Silvio stated, looking at the drug. "I need this at home." He then reached behind his neck and injected himself. Before he knew it, he was up and jogging towards the drop-ship as Naylor eyed the others.
"Ready, Mager?" Stevenson asked, looked up at him, and then looking down at her stimulant.
"I guess so," Mager stated blandly. Then together they injected themselves and took up the fuel canisters, and quickly picked up pace with Silvio. Casting a last glance back towards the abandoned military base, Naylor followed his marines. This time, he had no intentions of leading them from the front, and instead kept a sharp eye on their backs.