A sickening hiss was what greeted Claude, low and throaty coming from the Xenomorph enclosure. Time seemed to shudder to a standstill, everything slowed while Hudson waited for the inevitable, keeping the pilfered shotgun close. Inky, skeletal claws emerged from the rim of the door, but before the owner of them could bring itself into full view, the second of the pair of Xenos charged the awaiting activist with a terrifying shriek. The confident alien stopped mere inches from the human, its tail coiling around the mans leg. Claude shuddered as the cold, hard exoskeleton of the Xenomorph touched him and he hesitantly looked behind him towards the onlooking scientists, their words or warning finally dawning on him far, far too late. The bared teeth of the alien drew him back to the black creature and his eyes widened in fear as he faced his final moments. His own shriek mirrored that of the Xenomorph before it was cut off by the hammering of the aliens inner second mouth against the front of his skull, the crunch of bone penetrating the baited breath of silence that had fallen around the room.

The whole room burst into a panic filled action, the second Xenomorph had made its presence known and cornered some of the scientists, pinning them against the wall. Hudson, in a moment of either madness or bravery, levelled his precious shotgun on the alien and fired. The monster howled in pain before turning towards him, eyeless sight locked on him and despite the steadily bleeding wound in its chest it advanced on him. Hudson cocked the shotgun and watched the spent cartridges fly, loading another two into the barrel; he fired again making a mangled mess of the Xenomorphs head. The aliens hands scrambled around its phallic shaped head and curled up as though trying to keep its escaping brain in place.

The Marine reached out a hand towards Genna, so that they could make their escape together. He avoided the spots where the assaulted aliens acidic blood fell not wanting to feel the bite of the potent fluid against his skin again. Genna tip-toed away from the others, their panic was making them reckless, tripping over one another in the attempt to get away. Genna looked back to try and find where Meg was. She saw another of the scientists grabbing her shoulder and threw her to the floor.

"Meg!" Shouted Genna, but her call couldn't do anything for the younger woman.

Meg had fallen at the feet of the remaining Xenomorph, which seemed to have become even more aggressive after its comrade had been slain. It once again hissed and lowered itself down to her level. Hudson cocked the shotgun again, but there we no new cartridges to load. He cursed and in a last ditch attempt to save the young researchers life, threw the weapon at the Xenomorph. The creature was thrown off balance and staggered to the floor, but it was determined in its quest to take its anger out on the researcher, ignoring the marine in favour an easier target. Long fingers wrapped around the woman's throat. Meg tried to scream, but the grip on her neck was to strong so she just gurgled instead.

Hudson took hold of Genna and led her from the room, the researcher slipped from his grasp a couple of times and she tried to get to her friend; but the marine kept pulling her away. She didn't need to see her friend taken. Hudson recognised the pattern; the xenomorphs would take who or whatever they could with them, stick them to walls and have them implanted.

"Do you have eggs here?" Hudson pressured Genna, even though the woman was still trying to get back to her friend.

The Marine slammed his hand against the door's locking mechanism. The doors slid together painfully slowly. Genna turned to Hudson, demanding to know what he was doing.

"Damnit, Genna, if those things get out of here. If those things get to breed, then everything is fucked. Everything. Not just Meg!" Hudson struggled to explain to her. He'd lost so many friends at the hands of various alien species during his military career it almost felt easy casting off Meg as a lost cause.

His biting words seemed to snap Genna back to herself and she only gave him an icy look for a few seconds.

"Do you have eggs here," Hudson repeated.

"Yes," Genna replied while nodding her head.

"We need to destroy them," Hudson explained. "Before they hatch,"

Genna started to move away from the door before peeling her gaze from it. "This way," she whispered and Hudson followed in step behind her. The door he'd closed wouldn't keep them held in place for long, but it would buy them a little time. If the creatures could figure out how to cut power a simple door wouldn't hold them. If they got into the air-ducts throughout the building then they'd have full run of the place.

There was a deep sense of panic within the marine as he ran after Genna and for the first time since he'd embarked on this insane crusade against the company and their designs for the xenomorph, he questioned if it was the right thing to be doing. A little too late for the most part! He knew it was the right thing, but was less certain he would be able to survive against them again. That very thought unnerved him immensely.

"Here," Genna motioned to another lab room and opened the door with a key-card.

The room was dark, illuminated by an overhead light that had been dimmed. A thin layer of mist covered the floor and it looked like the eggs had been made perfectly at home. There was only three of them. Inside Hudson could see the facehuggers twisting and turning clearly aware that their brethren had been released and were more than likely looking for them.

"How can we destroy them?" Genna asked, looking to Hudson for answers. He flat out didn't know. Not now that he was unarmed again.

"Shit," He cursed, patting down his pockets for something. In the pocket of his trousers there was his lighter.

"Look for something flammable," He suggested, taking the lighter in his hands. The thing was utterly temperamental and it took a few flicks to get it going. Genna returned to him with a few sheets of paper that she'd found discarded on the floor. Hudson pressed the lighter to them and they quickly caught. He shared the leaves between the two of them. "Try and get them going," He pressured, hoping that this wasn't just a futile attempt, not wanting to let on that he was completely out of his depth and should have done a lot more research on his enemy before embarking on this insane idea.

Hudson moved away from Genna, leaning down to see if the tendrils of the eggs would catch light. As he did so an explosion rippled though the building shaking the floor that they were on. He stumbled a few times, but managed to stay upright. He looked over to ask if Genna was all right, but she had fallen and he couldn't see where, then an alarm trilled and water flooded from the celing. An overhead fire extinguisher putting an abrupt stop to their plans of setting the alien pods aflame.

The researcher had lost her footing when the building had shuddered. She was trying to pick herself up when she froze in absolute fear. The petal leaves at the top of the pods peeled open. The padding within the egg disguising exactly where the facehugger was hiding.

"Slowly," Hudson whispered to her, trying to keep his voice low to keep attention off himself.

Genna moved her arms underneath her body so that she could stand up. Slowly, as she was advised she managed to get to her feet. When she was upright again, she could see the legs of the facehugger making their way to the rim of the pod. Genna started walking backwards towards where Hudson was standing. In return Hudson backed towards the door. Their attempt to destroy the eggs had failed and they'd possibly made things a whole lot worse. Once again the two escaped the clutches of the xenos through the door.

When Genna looked to Hudson there was a fine layer of sweat developing on his brow. "Shit," he cursed again as the door closed behind them. His breathing was slightly laboured and his eyes darted across the floor. He repeated the curse again with more venom in his voice.

"What now?" Genna asked, and Hudson was drawing a blank.