Hudson left the security hub and made his way to the main entrance only faintly remembering how he'd arrived in the first place. He was urging people along, telling them not to worry and that they'd be a lot safer once they'd left the building. A few people asked him what was going on but he didn't tell them anything. Then he heard the screaming. Panic once again erupted around him and people started rushing towards the door.
His hands tightened around the grip of the rifle. It wasn't the advanced tech he was used too, but it sure beat trying to go hand to hand against the monsters! He held the weapon in classic post, keeping the weapon tight against his shoulder. He advanced against the oncoming tide of fear stricken people, still telling them to get out of the building. Inside, he knew he should stand vigil at the doors to the building so that the xenomorphs couldn't get out. If the creatures left the building and made their home amongst the residents of earth; then everything really would be doomed. It wasn't something he wanted to think about the eventuality kept rolling over in his mind.
A high pitched scream distracted him from his thoughts and his resolve strengthened. Hudson moved from the entrance hall to where he'd heard the scream. The Xenomorph had cornered a woman in a pencil skirted business suit, she'd fallen and was trying to back away from the monster. Without thinking, Hudson opened fire on the beast. The Xenomorph turned on him before crumbling beneath the heavy fire of the rifle. Acid flew from the alien and scorched over the woman whose screaming redoubled. Hudson instantly recalled the pain of that acidic bite and felt sympathy pain down his arm. The Xenomorph, downed by not defeated, tried to crawl its way to him; but the marine fired again the bullets zipping through into the Xenomorphs cranium; stilling the creature after it managed to let out a death scream. The marine smiled, despite himself and the smell of burning flesh in his nose, satisfied that he'd gotten one of the creatures downed with so few casualties.
He rushed to the side of the injured woman. He'd hoped to get her to her feet so that he could get her out of the building. When he went to pick her to her feet however she gave a further scream of agony and Hudson could see that the acid had melting her flesh down to the bone and was still oozing its way through her insides. Far from being heartless, Hudson stood and aimed to the front of the womans skull. He deliberated for a few fleeting seconds on his decision and then fired putting the woman out of her misery.
Hudson made his way back to the entrance hall. The look of the woman wasn't something that was going to get out of his mind easily and somehow he knew that he would be seeing her in any nightmares that he might be lucky enough to have. Should he survive long enough to get any sleep.
Genna watched people fleeing, the screaming had concerned them and Hudson noticed a quickening in their pace.
"One down," Hudson remarked to her.
Genna nodded, but there was something grave in her expression.
"We need to leave," Genna stated flatly, her voice quiet.
"What?" Hudson asked.
"We need to get a shuttled and get out of here," She added just as matter of factly.
Hudson frowned towards her. "What's going on?" He was still watching as the employees were making their way out of the building.
"We have a Queen here," She stated, quietly, "It's how we got the eggs, the drones, the DNA," She explained.
Hudsons face fell. He'd felt so triumphant after killing the warrior only a moment ago only to have that feeling snatched out from underneath him in a few simple words. Killing a queen wasn't easy, he was damned sure about that. He felt like sinking to his knees and just giving up right now, Genna was right, they had to leave. They had to escape. Yet, he shook his head.
"I have to stay," He told her out of some misplaced sense of duty. "I have to fix this," he added.
"This, isn't your fault, Hudson." Genna told him.
He nodded, "I know, I just..." He trailed off, trying to find the words. He'd somehow survived an encounter with these things when most of his squad-mates had died. He'd come here looking to destroy what the company had, instead he'd unwittingly got the aliens let out of their pens and endangered the entirety of the human race. He couldn't help but feel an overwhelming sense of responsibility for what he had done. "I can't leave," he said, shaking his head.
"Then you have to help me," Genna returned to him. There was a tone in her voice that was almost pleading.
"Help you," Hudson hissed in disgust. Clearly irritated that Genna was thinking of saving her own hide, rather than helping him to attempt to keep humanity safe.
"In one of my offices, on the higher floor, I've been working on something that might help should everything go horribly wrong. A side project, the company doesn't know about."
Instantly Hudson felt guilty. For having thought that Genna was only out to save herself.
Hudson nodded again. "We have to make sure the building is empty first," He told her. "Then we can seal these doors and keep them from escaping." He explained. When the building was empty, they could move with greater ease. Keeping the two of them alive would be so much easier than the whole building.
The crowds started to thin out after a while. And when Hudson saw one of the last people he asked; "Anyone else?" He got a shake of the head from the person and let them flee.
"I think that's it," Hudson told Genna.
The researcher nodded to him. It was time they put a fail safe into their plans. He'd have to go after the Queen and her offspring, but should he die trying, at least they'd have something to fall back on; whatever that was. Hudson wasn't fond on being kept in the dark and was thankful that Genna had told him something of her idea; even if it wasn't the entirety of it.