Chapter 32: Escape

They moved down the corridor, silently through the darkness, most of the lights had been taken care of when they had killed the power. Just to be safe, ever light source was destroyed along the way, encase anyone decided to attack from the rear. They didn't want any more surprises, he was not sure if they could handle it. As they walked, Amun looked to Jolene who still had a hand over the wound on her chest.

Her own daughters had done a good job of patching up the hole with their resin, which had now hardened into a kind of biological cast. She would survive. Amun's own body was starting to protest as they continued their walk. His acid blood flowed from more than a few spots on his head, chest and arms. He chose to ignore it, his concern was to his daughters who were wounded. His head looked down to the one he was carrying.

Molly, still within his arms, was bleeding badly from her crested head. She had protected her sisters, and in doing so, took a lot of damage. Amun was glad to hear her breathing and could feel her mental touch, they were good signs. He raised his head, scanning the area as well as checking on the rest of the xenomorphs around him. He knew others were injured as well, he just did not know how badly.

He had instructed those with injuries to stay near him and Jolene so they would not get in the way of their sisters. Out of the one hundred daughters of his hive, thirty five had decided to stay and save their father. And now, he guessed, twelve or so were wounded. As for Jolene's hive, they had recovered more than forty drones, warriors and runners. Honestly, Amun had expected more, but Jolene had mentioned something about her daughters being sold off to people. Who and where, she did not know, but Amun did not like the idea of someone owning one of Jolene's daughters. They would deal with that problem when they had time.

For now, they needed to get out of here, needed to get somewhere safe and make a plan. Thankfully, all had been quiet on their way back to the main door. However, he knew that it would not last. He was after all, walking out the door with the prize of the company. They would not like that. He would not like that. Amun realized that Jolene could help him with some more information while they had some time.

"Jolene...who is he?" He asked the queen as they walked. She turned her crowed head in his direction as she walked, then looked back down the corridor.

"Richard...his n-name is...Richard." She replied. There was almost a sense of fear from the queen. As if saying his name would invoke pain or some other consequence. He could tell that she did not like to say it.

"What does he want? Why is he doing this?" Amun asked as he walked around a large, parked truck. As he came around the front, he stopped when he did not see Jolene emerge from the other side. Looking back, she had froze in her tracks, looking towards the king. He did not need to have their mental connection to know that she was afraid. " I am sorry, you don't have to answ-"

"He...sells them. They g-go to the...highest bidder. I...I never see them...them again." He words were filled with sadness and pain. How many of her daughters had she had ripped from her touch? How many had been innocent to what was going on, only to be shoved in a cage and taken away from their mother? Hundreds? Thousands? Amun hesitated to ask, but part of him needed to know.

"How...how many?" He asked, softly. He watched as the queens crown dropped towards the floor. Amun was sure that it would have fallen to the ground if not for her sheer will to live on.

"I...I lost...track...m-maybe two hundred...two fifteen..."

Amun froze, had...had he heard her correct? Over two hundred of her daughters had been ripped from her? Torn from their family? How much pain had that done to Jolene? How much damage had this Richard done in the name of profit? Amun could feel his body shaking from the combination of rage and sadness that he was now feeling.

He remembered. He remembered what it was like to lose his family, to have them taken from him in an instant, never to be seen again. He had lost his family, but she had lost hers twice over. The thought of it was making the king sick to his stomach. He mustered up the strength needed to make his way towards the queen where he took her head in his hands, and pulled to his shoulder.

"Jolene...I'm so sorry. I had no idea. I..."

"It's ok...you...could not have...known. They..." She was struggling to find the right words through the pain. Even with her stutter, Amun knew that she was having difficulties. He waited patiently for her. "Most were very...young when t-they...were taken. I...didn't even get...to give them names." She drove her face into his shoulder, putting her arms around him and squeezing tightly.

"Jolene...I..." The king was at a loss, he could not even begin to imagine the pain that she had been through while in the grasp of this Richard. He wanted to save her, give her a good life. To show her that she could be happy and free. That she could have a proper family outside of this hell. Amun pulled away and brought the queen's face up to meet his. She let out a sad moan as she looked into his eyeless face. Amun let out a low, comforting thrum from his throat. "Let's get you out of here. I'll get you a coffee yea?" She let out a quick huff of air and a mental giggle. He could feel that the comment had brought a smile.

She lifted her head up high and took in a large breath, letting it out slowly. Her attention was taken from Amun when two of her daughters leapt to her shoulders from the ground. They had felt her sadness and had come to comfort her. She gladly accepted the nuzzles from the pair of drones. The sight brought happiness to Amun's mind. Jolene, after leaning into her daughters touch with her neck, looked to Amun.

"Meet Jesse...and Sheila. They...were some of...of my first." Amun looked to the two drones that were now staring at the king.

He held out one of his large hands towards Jesse, hoping that she would jump over to meet him. She hesitated, Amun did not blame her. So, Jolene reached up and plucked the small xeno from her shoulder and placed her in the open hand of the king. Amun watched as she recoiled into herself, her tail curled tightly around her body. The king sent her the warmest of feelings in attempts to help her relax and to know he would never harm her.

"Hello little one, my name is Amun. It's nice to meet you." He told the still curled up drone.

"I know...mother talks about you all the time. She has told us so many stories." Her voice was smooth and feminine, but still contained a bit of fear.

"O? Well I hope they were good stories yes?" The drone nodded her head.

"I always liked the one where you ruined the deck. She says that it was cute." The comment brought forth a mental laugh from the king. He had forgotten all about how he had destroyed the deck of the farm house by accident!

"Well, yes. I did do that." He explained. " I was not use to my body and I went for a run." Amun noticed the cloud of slim green that began to emanate from the drone. "What is it?" He asked, her confusion obvious from the color of her pheromones.

"Your body? What do you mean?" Amun looked from the drone in his hands to her mother. Jolene noticed his gaze.

"They don't know...everything about you just yet." He noticed that her stutter was not as present, she was in a calmer mood.

However, he was quite surprised that she had not told her daughters that he had once been human. She must have only told them stories from when the human Jolene had meet him in the back of the garbage truck and nothing from before that. Interesting, he would have to ask her about that later. Amun looked back to the small drone, her tail a bit more uncurled as she became more relaxed.

"I had never tried to run at full speed just yet, that's why I hit the deck." Jesse let out a mental laugh, her tail began to swish back and forth behind her. Amun smiled as much as his mouth would allow before handing the xenomorph back to her mother. Jolene gladly took her daughter.

Suddenly, a muffled explosion caught both of their attentions. Amun sent out a quick mental ping to locate all of his daughters. He could feel them all gathering at a location down the corridor, something was happening.

"Bobby, Scarlette, Molly. What is happening?" He asked as he started his was towards them.

"Father, we are at the door, something is happening. There are humans fighting humans outside!" Bobby responded, he could tell that she was confused, she was not the only one.

"Wait there, I'm coming to you." The king took off at quite the speed, not wanting to be far from his daughters for long. He also knew that Jolene would follow his lead.

As he ran, he passed most of Jolene's hive that were hiding near doors and passageways, making sure no one decided to come through them. As he passed them, with Jolene on his heels, they began to fall in behind the royals. Most of them probably wanted nothing more than to get out of this forsaken place, so would not pass up the chance to head to the exit.

As Amun rounded a sharp corner, he looked upon a ramp that angled up towards a very large set of doors. The doors were only open a crack and his daughters surrounded the opening on all surfaces. HE slowed down and noticed that there was some sort of fire fight on the other side. He decided to hug the wall to his right and join Bobby near the door.

He was only half way there when he noticed a small human that was hiding near a large box, Bobby at her side. He wanted to strike the human, thinking it was an enemy that his daughter had not seen, but noticed they the two were looking at one another. There was something he did not know, so he approached with caution. He was glad he had not attacked.

As he came closer, Alex turned to look at the king and made her way towards him, gun in hand.

"Hola Rey! You miss me amigo?" Her words were happy and full of excitement. Amun had forgotten that Alex had been here with his daughters. He lowered himself to the ground and let out a low thrum to tell her that he was happy to see her. She smiled at the king. "Lista? Let's get you out of here. This might be a hell of a fight amigo." She said as she checked the magazine in her AK-74 and slamming it back in.

Amun stood to his full height and flexing his muscles. He turned to look at Jolene who had made her way right beside him. She let out a low screech, she was ready to fight. Amun turned back to the small human that was now at his feet, she nodded. Bobby came to stand beside her and look to her father. Amun took in a deep breath and let loose an earth shattering roar!

Those outside would know that the king was here.