Hello, readers!

I removed a chunk from the previous chapter and relocated here for these edits to even out the chapters' wordcounts. For this chapter, I cleaned up some weird pacing a composition issues where it might have been unclear where people were or how they got where they were . . . I also edited some strange clauses. Typos are getting cleaned up, too!

This chapter has been updated as of 9/24/2018.

~ Crayola

Chapter Thirteen

Hanging On

My systems shut down while I tried to comprehend what he was talking about. Momma—the queen? He was talking about the queen? But that didn't make sense.

"What the fuck . . . are you . . . talking about?" I hissed, my voice muddled and my head spinning.

He ignored and dragged me onward while flopped and grunting the whole time. He brought me to another room where he dropped me on the floor just inside the door. Through some miracle, I didn't smack my head against the floor.

"I'll teach you," he muttered ominously.

I twisted around so I was on my front and pushed my weight onto my arms. I lifted myself up until I spotted him by a table a few feet away, rummaging with a container.

"We have only one choice. The honor should be going to Emma and me, but you have to learn the error and this is the only way." He rotated his body and lifted a large, skeletal parasite in his hands. The thing was limp but its limbs were twitching every few seconds.

Ice filled my veins.

"I can wait my turn if it means teaching you what Momma was all about. Once you're carrying her heir, you'll see—you'll see how great she is. What an honor it is."

That's a facehugger.

My stomach churned and I was back on that wall five years ago, helplessly watching as the eggs hatched and I tried so hard to free myself from my prison. There was no soldier there this time to save me. No one to walk me through how to escape, how to save myself. No Wolf to watch my back.

I was on my own, but I wasn't stuck. I could move. I wasn't a helpless teenager anymore. Those punches had taken me by surprise and I couldn't see straight, but I could do this. Adrenaline had begun flowing. My vision was slowly sharpening and my mind clearing up. I didn't need anyone. Not this time. I could do this on my own.

You've got this, Nichole.

Swearing under my breath, I staggered to my feet and drew my sidearm, staggering slightly. "You keep that fucking thing away from me! I'll shoot you, I swear to god I'll do it." The words were heavy in my mouth as my sore cheekbone moved to form the words.

Even if I couldn't physically fight back, I could lift my arms and fire. I had hoped I could go my career without shooting someone, but I'd already burned a woman alive.

Shooting an asshole wielding a facehugger as a weapon should be much easier.

And yet, my finger hesitated.

He cradled the parasite in his arms and twisted his body to protect it. "No, you won't."

I swallowed hard and adjusted my aim, taking that declaration as a personal challenge. "If you bring that thing anywhere near me, I swear I'll—"

Something pricked my neck and I slapped my hand against the spot out of instinct, my fingers brushing against flesh. I whirled around, waving my weapon in an arch. A new woman was standing behind me with an empty syringe in her hand, her eyes brimming with tears.

Where the fuck did she come from?

"What the shit?" I spat, glancing at my palm and the speck of blood there. "What did you do to me?"

She extended her free hand and shook her head. "Oh no. No, don't worry, it's not, not going to kill you. It's just a minor paralytic, um, a small dose to relax you."

I mouthed a silent question and a strange tingling crackled down my spine and throughout my limbs. Every part of my body turned into gelatin and I staggered at her, reaching out, but she side-stepped me and I fell through the doorway, finding nothing but an open hallway. Somehow, I managed to take another few steps until my legs gave out and I crashed to the floor, my firearm skittering across the tile and stopping a few feet away.

The woman (Emma?) approached with trembling steps. "I couldn't let her kill you and the royal heir, Melvin. What are we going to do with her?" Her voice shook with nerves and she stepped aside so the man could join me in the corridor.

Using the last of my strength, I propped myself up against the closest wall. "You fuckwads . . . are gonna get it."

Just as soon as I can move.

"Thank god you showed up when you did, Emma. I think she really was going to shoot me. That was quick thinking."

Emma didn't seem to think so. She was shaking like a leaf as silent tears streamed down her cheeks. "What are you going to do?" she asked him again, worrying a button on her lab coat and staring at me. I glared back. Her brows knit in anger before softening for a brief instance. It was almost like she couldn't decide how to feel.

"I'm going to make her see how amazing this species is. When she's reborn as one of them, she'll never hurt another queen," he explained as he joined us out in the hall.

"But Melvin, the plan—" Emma whined, following him.

"I know what the plan was!" he snapped at her. I strained to move while they were distracted, but my muscles wouldn't respond. There was a deep desire for me to sleep, but I fought it tooth and nail. I wasn't going to succumb and let them do who knew what to me while I was out cold.

Softer, almost so that I couldn't hear him, Melvin said, "I know—nothing's going to change. Don't worry. It was never going to be me, so I'm fine with waiting so we can teach this murderer a lesson."

Emma glanced down at me and I met her eyes with a piercing look, making her retreat further behind Melvin. Tearing her gaze away from me, she said to him, "But she's not awake yet. It'll be a few minutes."

Melvin—god what a fitting name for such an idiot—stroked the strange-looking facehugger and it shuddered in his hand. "Yeah, it'll be soon. She'll be so happy to have an immediate host, too. An agent will make a better warrior to protect the new queen, anyway, don't you think?"

He looked at his partner and motioned toward the end of the hallway. "What are the others doing? Will they come this way? You might need to distract them."

She shook her head, then dropped the syringe like it had become hot and flinched away from it, glancing from me to the needle-like she was surprised at herself. "No—they're, uh . . . in the lab, trying to salvage what they can of the data. I don't think they noticed that I left."

Her cohort breathed a sigh of relief and approached me with his hideous bundle. "Good, good."

"Are you sure about this?" Emma asked, fidgeting. "I mean—what if she doesn't become a warrior? What if she . . . gets to be the new queen?"

"It won't happen." His voice was certain. "This species has evolved to be better than that. If we have her go first, before you, she will be reborn as a warrior to help protect the maturing queen—you."

Emma stilled her jitters and nodded once. "Yes. You're right . . . you're absolutely right. It wouldn't make any sense."

Groaning, I enunciated each word with excruciating effort. "You. Are. Insane."

Turning to me, Melvin's lips thinned into a terse grin and he crouched down to give me a closer look at the strange parasite. "This one is special. Can you see?"

I battled against my own body to recoil, but it was as if the circulation to my extremities had been cut off: my limbs were laden with lead and rendered immobile. My vision blurred and I shut my eyes to take a deep breath. At least I could still think straight, but things were muggy and slow.

When I opened my eyes, I could see that what he held a mere few feet away wasn't anything like the facehuggers I knew from the nest years ago. It was a dark gold-black color instead of off-white; streamlined and much larger. He cradled it like a newborn, using both arms to support its spindly form and presented it as a prized trophy.

"Wh—" My dry throat prevented speech.

"We were doing experiments with the queen's secretions. When we exposed this one's egg to it, it hatched like this. All of them incubate in a similar compound, but the pure secretion straight from the queen did this. Isn't she beautiful?" Emma explained, awe breaking through her anxiety for a brief moment. "Just like a beehive—the queen's jelly can change the parasitoids, give them the royal bloodline to create new queens and new hives."

Her colleague nodded. "We couldn't dissect it like the rest. We wanted to learn more about it so we kept it sedated in order to take x-rays. It carries two embryos, you see? It can implant twice! The honor was going to go to Mindy and Emma, but . . . now Mindy's dead."

Both lowered their heads and took deep, synchronized breaths.

As if aware it was the subject of the conversation, the facehugger squeaked and drew my attention. One of its slightly-curved legs twitched—the first sign of movement since Melvin had picked it up, and it was enough to stall my heart.

"Now," Emma sighed, "That means we have a free embryo . . . for you."

Melvin stood, cradling the royal piece of shit, and placed a hand on Emma's shoulder. "It's for the greater good. As I said, you'll still receive your reward. I was always going to receive mine later, anyway. You might need a human's help."

She chewed on her lip and tilted her head to the side before reaching out to caress the top of the facehugger with her fingertips. "You're always right."

I tried to sit up further against the wall but ended up wriggling without effect. My head lolled with the effort, making me exert more energy to roll it back into place. I couldn't take my eyes off that thing, not for an instance.

Emma, in the meantime, let her hand drop and thanked Melvin for being so kind—fuck me—and I rolled my eyes. "Are all—all of you geeks . . . this delusional?"

They blinked at me and then Emma shook her head. "Delusional? No. However, the three of us were the only ones chosen by the queen as her subjects. No one else has heard her or received her visions. Mindy was the first."

Both fell silent and watched the royal facehugger. My sidearm was scant inches out of arm's reach. If I could recover my fine motor skills, I could fall to my side and grab it . . . . It seemed like an impossible task. Even finding the upper body strength to tilt over was daunting. Adrenaline fought against the drug and kept me from turning into a puddle—it was fighting a losing battle, though.

Somehow, my fingers twitched. That was all I was going to get, it seemed.

"Shouldn't she be okay by now? The drugs always wear off so fast on them once they're no longer exposed to the sedative. It shouldn't be taking this long! Someone might come along and see," Emma hissed, shifting her weight from foot to foot.

Melvin changed the parasite's position so it was resting on one arm and extended the other toward Emma. "Calm down. She's waking up in her own time."

"It isn't fast enough!"

Groaning, Melvin turned away from Emma and back to his precious bundle and stroked it with the same level of compassion of a lover. My gag reflex triggered.

"A watched pot never boils," he recited.

Whatever drug the bitch had given me, the adrenaline coursing through my veins was trying its damnedest to counteract it. Through sheer force of will and desperation, I was able to force myself to slump over into a prone position, closer to my weapon. A sheen of sweat beaded my brow and I was out of breath, but it was still some progress.

The mobility needed to pick the firearm up, however, was still beyond me. My arm was pinned under my ribcage.

Melvin moved until he was in front of me again and clicked his tongue. "No, don't go anywhere. She's finally starting to come around."

I couldn't see Emma through Melvin's fat head, but her voice was clear enough. "Is it time?"

"Yes, I think so."

As he said it, the royal facehugger squirmed in his grasp with new vigor. The tail was still hanging limply behind it, slipping over Melvin's arm. He held it out to me and I struggled to control my arms and legs, to stand or crawl. If I could crawl away, I could—I could—

What can I do?

Words failed me as my throat clamped shut, not allowing so much as a breath. I wormed my way sideways, spurred by the new burst of energy brought about by the fresh adrenaline pumping through my veins. Melvin placed the floppy parasite on the ground, feet away.

My mouth gaped soundlessly save for a single strangled, incoherent plea in the form of a garbled half-wail. He urged it forward and it struggled to stand on its segmented limbs.

Before my eyes was the sudden image of Jess doubled over, clutching her chest and crying. Rapid breaths failed to fill my lungs with oxygen as my mind was forced into remembering the look on her face when the abomination burst through her ribcage to take its first gulp of air.

That was going to be me.

Angry, frustrated, and frightened tears burned behind my eyes, spilling past my lids and down my cheeks. The royal facehugger stood with increased confidence and skittered from side to side as it found its balance.

"Go on," Melvin urged, backing up until I was the closest thing to it. It wouldn't have any other choice but to attach to my face now.

A shout echoed from down the hall, but it was a pittance compared to the vile creature staggering toward me and the sound of my pulse in my ears. It was all I could do to inch my way, using self-discipline and what little strength I had in my hips, in the opposite direction.

It was gaining mobility faster than I. Its grotesque finger-legs tapped at the tile and carried it toward me in stilted strides. Some fleshy appendage from its underbelly pulsated.

Helplessness washed over me and I choked out a single sob as more tears trailed down my face.

Thunder boomed, cutting through everything else and sending Melvin sprawling across my periphery. Emma's scream was muted compared to the explosive sound of the facehugger's steps. I was plagued by the urge to look up, but I didn't dare tear my eyes off the advancing parasite. Its disjointed limbs ticked and jerked with each movement, but its objective was clear.

Three loud and jarring pops lit my nerves on fire. The royal facehugger jerked and squealed as holes ripped through its soft and wet body. The only sound that penetrated the ringing in my ears was the sound of Emma's horrified shriek doubling in volume and reaching new levels of pitch.

Through some stroke of luck, I was spared any drops of acid. More shots tore into the thing's still-spasming body and I flinched each time. Even when it ceased all movement, I still felt as if I wasn't safe. I couldn't put any more distance between the two of us. The drug's grip was slackening by margins, but fear petrified me.

Shoes interrupted my field of vision, obscuring the dead facehugger. I shuddered and panic caused my heart to nearly stop altogether when I couldn't see it anymore. One foot nudged it further away.

A familiar voice sliced through the terror. "I've got you," it said as I was engulfed by a pair of arms. Devon swept into view and I released a trembling gush of air, my eyes closing, as every one of my muscles curled toward him.

"Devon," I mouthed; my voice eluded me still. My heart thudded against my chest, drummed in my ears, and his arms tightened around me. I let a few more sobs escape me in relief.

He pulled me against his chest, embracing me close and he spoke into my ear. "I got you, don't worry. Are you alright? Nichole, what did they do to you? You look terrible."

I looked up at him and was taken aback: there was a darkness in his expression that I had never seen before. As he held me, I realized that he was shaking with anger and his fingers dug almost painfully into my skin.

Somehow I managed something similar to a head shake and I looked around. After a few seconds of trying to lift my hand, I pointed toward Emma, who was bent over the dead facehugger and blubbering, struggling to decide if she should pick up its body even as it sunk a few inches into the floor, acid blood devouring the tile.

Next to her was the unmoving body of Melvin, blood pooling under his chest. Behind her was the forgotten syringe she had dropped. My mouth bobbed in an attempt to work a few times before I found the voice that had fled. "Drugged," I rasped.

He followed my gaze and nodded. "Can you walk? I'll get you upstairs."

"I don't . . . think so."

Before he could prop me up, Emma spoke—her voice was wet and heavy. "What have you done? What have you done!"

She stood on trembling legs, her face red and slick with tears. Devon tensed against me when Emma advanced toward us. "You killed her. Now we—we lost everything! I was—I was so happy when they decided not to take our eggs today, we had more time with them . . . but now—now they're all dead and you killed Momma and our last hope for another queen!"

Devon glowered and carefully leaned me against the wall so he could stand and face her.

Her tirade gained momentum and she showed no sign of relenting. "What gives you the right to deny this species existence? The fact that they're scarier than you? We were trying to create life and you destroyed it! You and that—that whore!"

No sooner were the words out of her mouth before Devon slapped her across the face. Emma reeled and stumbled backward, her hand covering her stinging cheek. She gaped at him, affronted, and backed away with fresh tears rolling down her cheeks. The two of them stared off for a few seconds until Devon turned away.

At least she's not sobbing like Mindy had.

"You hit her," I breathed. It wasn't an accusation.

He ticked his head to the side and put his arm around me again. "Talk shit, get hit. She was hysterical, y'know?"

It was so absurd. He sounded flippant, but his scowl said otherwise.

With Devon's help, I found my footing and was able to divide my weight between my own strength and Devon's support. My steps were faltering and inclined more toward meek shuffling, but it was a notch above my worm imitation.

"Here, don't lose this," he said, sticking my sidearm into its holster. "Let's go get these bruises treated."

"Thanks," I murmured. My head buzzed with static and I cringed against him as we passed the dead parasitic alien stirring in its own acidic blood. I half expected it to spring back to life and finish what it started, however ridiculous the sentiment might have been.

I needed Devon's help striding over Melvin, and we skirted around Emma who collapsed once more by the facehugger's side. At the end of the hall, the scientists had started to gather.

"What happened?" one of them asked. "We heard gunshots from the lab."

Devon shifted his weight to pull me up straighter. "You have got to keep better track of your scientists. They just tried to infect in my partner with one of those things." His voice was sharp and it sent a tremor down my spine.

"Are you serious?" someone else gasped.

Another growled. "What happened to Melvin? What is he doing on the floor? Is Emma okay?"

Neither of us bothered to look back and Devon harrumphed. "That idiot dove in front of me when I tried to shoot the damn thing. Maybe he's alive, maybe not, I don't really give a fuck. Out of my way, eggheads."

We shoved past them and they scurried down the hall to where Emma was still sobbing.

"Don't touch that!" one of them chided.

Emma sobbed something in return, but she was too incoherent to understand.

"How did you . . . find me?" I asked once we were around the corner, finding it easier to speak by a margin. My gait had yet to stabilize; I hadn't felt so useless since my legs were broken.

He didn't look at me and his smile didn't touch his eyes. "I figured you'd either go to the floor with the predator or this one. I checked the predator's lab first and only found Dixon nursing a broken nose and ego, so I came here next."

I choked out something like a laugh. "He's just . . . sitting down there?" I had to pause for a respite. "Sulking?"

"Probably left by now. Did you hit him?"

"A little."

"I figured as much." This time his smirk was closer to bringing light to his face but didn't quite pull it off. "But anyway, when I saw all those people in the lab—I assume all the blackened shit was also your doing?"

My teeth clenched and I dipped my head.

"Jesus, alright. Well, I saw those guys in the lab and I asked if they'd seen you. They said you'd already left. I didn't meet you when I got off the elevator or walked down the hall, so I came looking."

"Why?"

We stopped at the elevator and he gave me a strange look. "You're my partner. I was worried about you. You seemed so . . . upset about the whole thing. And I had a bad feeling." Devon reached out and hit the call button.

"A bad feeling?"

He nodded. "When you work so long on the force, you get a sixth sense for these sorts of things. Something seemed off, so I had to make sure you were okay."

Heat flooded my cheeks and I looked down at the floor, a small smile touching my lips.

"Well, the thank you, Devon. You really saved me back there." I was loathe to admit it, but I'd been caught unawares. All I could do was to vow never to let it happen again.