CHAPTER THIRTY

"What's wrong?" Daniels looked at me with concern when I ran, frazzled towards her. I must've been quite a sight. My hair had already been mussed up by my activities with David. There were now leaves and small twigs in my blonde locks.

I looked around the colony, but found that nothing seemed out of place. "Where's Baby Gabe?"

"With his mother by the lake. Why? What's wrong?" She was frowning now and touched my shoulder to get some answers.

I raced past numerous curious eyes and was finally satisfied when I saw Ginger bouncing her son in her arms. The water was especially clear, sparkling underneath the warm sun. He was fine…

Rubbing my eyes, I reprimanded myself for behaving so irrationally. David wouldn't put us or his experiments in danger. He knew what he was doing.

"Cassandra!" Daniels had run after me, her growing hair fell just past her ears as she regarded me with wide, alarmed eyes. "Cassandra, what was that? What happened?"

I shook my head and gave her a small smile. "It's nothing. I thought… I had a nightmare and I thought they were in danger. Clearly, they're fine. I'm sorry for worrying you."

I plopped myself down onto the grass by the water, watching with fascination as different species of water creatures curiously swam towards me. Its two-pupiled eyes were beautiful and the scales were sharp and iridescent.

It was strange how similar, yet different this planet was to Earth. There were basic elements that made it habitable for us and all the animals could be related to the ones we had, but they were all still unknowns. Were they edible? Could we domesticate them? Were they docile?

Daniels took a seat beside me and smiled. "No, it's no problem. I know how you feel. There's been so much bad since we got here and… Since I lost my husband… I had nightmares almost every night. Sometimes, they're memories and sometimes, they're something I conjure up from my fears. I'm so afraid of losing even more than I already have."

Her eyes became watery and I leaned over to pull her into a hug. "I'm sorry about your husband and friends. It must've been hard. I heard that he…" Burned in the cryopod after a malfunction. The footage was recorded and while we were heading here, I had a lot of time to snoop.

"It's okay. I'm sorry about David, too. I know how much he meant to you…" She didn't need to elaborate how she truly felt about him. I knew perfectly well that his death had meant her survival - or so she thought.

"Yeah…" I nodded absentminded as I looked around. The trees were dancing gently with the breeze and the birds were croaking their terrible tunes. Everything seemed peaceful, so why was there such a terrible feeling at the pit of my stomach?

…

Tennessee looked at the numbers once, twice, and after a dozen times, he was positive that there was something wrong. People were slowly disappearing left and right and true that there were many dangers on this new planet, but this went beyond that. What further concerned him was that there were rarely any bodies to be found.

How? Even if the wild animals had consumed the body, there had to be something left - blonde, scraps of flesh, or even just clothes and belongings. But there wasn't. All the missing people remained missing, almost as if they didn't even exist. Only brief memories and their profiles were left behind. Everyone had accepted it so easily as if these people were carefully selected to disappear without a trace and without any issue of them being missed.

He had no solid proof that there was suspicious activity, but he trusted his instincts. They had rarely led him astray.

Looking out the window of the Covenant, he watched as Cassandra knelt down in front of a young boy and smiled gently at him. "What are you hiding…?"

They had found her on Planet 4 with only her psychopath synthetic and everyone else dead. Her situation was sympathetic. Daniels took to her almost immediately, so she came with them after David was gone.

There hadn't been any incidents directly linked to her, but…

Walter walked over to her. This was the Walter who went down with them on Planet 4. He had a very distinct way of speaking - polite to a fault and genuine.

The other Walter, however… As far as everyone knew, he was activated after landing to help with the colonisation, but he vaguely recalled that there was a different number of synthetics on board. It didn't matter how many times he cross-referenced the quantities, they all matched. He was the one with the faulty memory.

With a sigh, he rubbed his forehead. This was giving him a headache.

Cassandra took the offered stuffed panda from Walter and gave it to the child who smashed it tightly against his chest with a beaming smile.

Could he really be suspecting her of foul play? It seemed so unlikely, but she was the only unknown factor he knew of and after seeing her murderous synthetic, he couldn't possibly rule out that she was completely unaware of what the David 8 was doing.

"Hey, Tee. You called?" Danny strolled in, running her hand through her growing dark hair.

"Yeah. Sit. Look over some of these numbers with me. I feel like I'm missing something crucial, but I can't figure out exactly what." He patted the seat beside him.

Together, they mauled over all the information together for hours. Not a single thing was out of place.

"Maybe you're looking too deep into it. I don't think Cassandra would do anything. She's been really helpful around the colony and even after what happened to her and Jared - "

"And what happened to Jared, Danny?" he pushed her. "He suddenly vanished after he assaulted her and not a single person cared."

"Tee… He probably ran away beside he knew that it was her word against his. I trust her one hundred percent when she said he was going to sexually harass her," she quickly defended her friend who had been nothing but kind to her.

He groaned. "I'm not denying that she wasn't attacked, but maybe something happened to him afterwards. Something not so innocent." He didn't want Danny to think he was losing it and just suspecting everyone.

She sighed. "Okay, let's say that someone either took him away or… or killed him, where could he be? We can't assume anything unless we find a body. It won't stick. We're going to start a witch hunt based on speculations."

"I know… That's the problem, so I want you to keep it a secret. Only the two of us will know and investigate. You can't tell anyone, especially not Cassandra." He looked her in the eyes and squeezed her hand.

Eventually, she nodded.

Daniels didn't want to suspect her friend. It was really the last thing she wanted to do because Cassandra had been so supportive of everything, but as captain, she had the responsibility to take care of her people.

…

"Walter, do you mind taking him back to Linda?" I asked after Sammy fell asleep in my lap with his stuffed panda still clutched tightly in his little hands.

He nodded, smiling back at me. As he gathered the young boy into his arms, he said, "You will make a wonderful mother, Miss Cassandra."

My face grew red and I placed my hand on my tiny baby bump. "Thank you, Walter. You will help me with him, won't you?"

"Of course."

I knew my baby was going to be in good hands. He'll have two protective fathers and a mother who would never let anything happen to him.

When David appeared in my hut that night, I crossed my arms and narrowed my eyes at him. After discovering that baby Gabe was fine, I never went back to the cave and he never came by to visit. It had taken him three long days to finally show his face here.

"What is going on, David?!" I hissed. "How did it get a hold of Gabriel's toy? Why was it close enough to even grab it?"

"I do not control them," he stated. "They are wild beasts and follow their instincts."

I waited for him to continue, but he didn't. Did he think that was enough to appease me? "If this goes on, they'll actually end up hurting or killing someone! And will you let it stop at just one or will you let them gorge themselves until there is no one left?" I felt frustrated and I felt emotional. I was a ball of hormones, right now, and it was terrible.

"I do not control them as I do not control you, Cassandra." He stalked over to me. "You all have your own free will and I will do nothing more to impede your progress. I am only an observer now."

"So I'm only an experiment to you?" I whispered, feeling the hurt pierce me deeper than I thought possible. "Is this baby going to be another one of your guinea pigs, as well?"

I always wanted to believe that he had unconfessed feelings for me. I accepted his moments of coldness as denial. I knew that he wouldn't do anything to endanger me physically, but…

Maybe I was the one in denial. I wanted it to be true so much that I managed to convince myself it was. David had stated again and again that he didn't feel love. I couldn't even blame him for being an emotional bastard. In the beginning, I knew exactly what I was getting myself into. Somehow, I became delusional. I allowed him to everything that I was - to reform me into anything he wanted.

I was a fool…

When I stood up and walked away, he didn't even say anything. He didn't move an inch to indicate that he wanted me to stay, so I left.

I made my way to the woods where I could try to clear my head. I needed to be apart from him because it hurt too much. Seeing him with that blank look on his face...

Sensing my distress, my child came leaping over and nearly toppled me over with his affection, but I welcomed the comfort. "You'll never betray me, though, will you?

He purred, placing his head on my stomach as if he was listening for the baby.

"You're going to be a big brother soon," I whispered, stroking his head. "You'll protect him, won't you?" Moments before, I had been so confident that my baby would have two protective fathers. Now, I wasn't so sure and I didn't even know if I could trust Walter because he was completely under David's influence.

From just behind a tall tree, I could see his mate lurking about and making sure that it was safe here. I smiled. At least someone's found love.

I stayed with the two of them for the rest of the day and followed them to their hive in the middle of nowhere. It was a beautiful place with a large waterfall hiding the entrance. There were leaves and small twigs cluttered together to form a nest of sorts.

"I can't believe how much you've grown." Nothing could express the pride that swelled within me, but I knew he could feel it. "You're more mature than your stupid father. He's an asshole, you know?" I rambled on half-coherently to him. "What am I going to do when the baby is born…? What am I going to do before that? I'm going to show soon and everyone will want to know who got me knocked up. Can't say it's a synthetic… Also can't just disappear until I give birth… I'm so screwed…"

My child fell asleep in the middle of my rant, but his mate was still awake and when I touched his head, it was as if our minds snapped together.

He growled, shaking his head, while mine dropped down. There was so much to take in and amidst everything, I caught a glimpse of how he came to be. David was there - of course, he was. The body of Evan was enormous compared to its previously small form.

"You sure grew up real fast, didn't you?" I mumbled.

He huffed and rested his head above his mate.

I needed to give them names, soon. Once my baby is born, I'm going to end up in very confusing conversations with Da - with Walter.

He reached over and encompassed us both with his long arm.

For now, I was content just being with my family and knowing that I had support.

I stayed here for several days, having no care in the world. I was all warm and bubbly inside from their interactions with each other. It was a little difficult being so close when they were so in love sometimes, but… they made me happy.

While they were out hunting, I was out scavenging for berries and exploring new land. I discovered that some of the animals were docile. They were like rabbits - energetic fluff balls. Their light grey fur looked so soft and when I knelt by one, it approached me.

I noticed it had no eyes and a small mouth. It was truly like an eyeless bunny and I loved it. I gathered it into my hands and plopped it on my shoulder. It squirmed around for a moment, but seemed to find a comfortable position nestled against my neck.

I hummed a merry tune as I continued to explore. My warm companion was just the cutest and -

The eyeless bunny's fur rose and it stiffened.

I could feel something just in the periphery of my senses. There were many and they were approaching quickly. I wanted to stay quiet and perhaps hide, but I knew… I knew they had already found me.

My legs took me through the forest, crashing against branches and bushes. The eyeless bunny clung on to me with its tiny webbed feet. If I wasn't running on pure adrenaline, I would've been impressed by its grip.

As it were, I was very afraid. I knew without a doubt that I would not be able to win against these things. My every instinct was screaming at me to flee, but I could only go so fast and these things were obviously faster.

I could hear the rustles behind me, approaching closer and closer, until…

I was suddenly in the air, stopping only when I slammed into a gnarly tree. Gasping for breath, I tried to get back on my feet, but a large claw dug into my right shoulder. I felt the splatter of hot blood and flesh paint across my face and neck.

My new friend was gone.

In a split second, it was taken away from me as if it was a piece of lint on my shirt.

Shakily, I stared at the deformed face of David's new creations. A part of me did wonder if he had sent them to find me, but with how rough they were, I doubted it. His offspring was still in my belly and I was actually afraid I may lose it from this encounter. Then again, I may lose more than that…

"What do you want from me?" I whispered. "I had nothing to do with what happened to you."

It bared its sharp, yellow teeth at me.

"Please… I'm pregnant."

The creature hesitated as if it could still understand me.

Suddenly, a dark form flew into it, knocking the creature off me. Worry continued to fill me as I watched my child and his mate fight these things. It was as if they had a hive mind of their own. They moved in perfect synchronisation and I had to help them.

Looking around, I found a thick branch on the ground and gave it a few testing swings. It was manoeuvrable. Running towards the one on my child's back, I whacked it away. It didn't go as far as I did, but it was enough.

I charged at it again while it was still trying to regain its bearings and kept slamming the branch on its head until dark, red blood pooled around its body. Inside, it appeared to still be very human - more so than me. Its blood was not acidic as I thought it would be.

I turned, ready to fight again, but it was as if everything abruptly stopped. My Xenomorphs were growling at the other creatures as they backed away. What were they doing?

I made to move towards my child, but perhaps that was a bad idea because in unison, they all swivelled their heads in my direction and then, they were running in my direction.

Letting out a loud scream, I tried to escape, but it was too late. One of them pounced on my and brought its long claws down.

The pain was sharp and disappeared as soon as it came. I was more shocked than anything as I felt my blood spill across my chest. The creature let out a hiss as its claws were melted off.

Another walked over cautiously towards me as I tried to stop the bleeding. The gashes were deep beneath my fingers. "S-Stop…" I gasped. Was I going to bleed out? Would my heart stop beating?

I really wanted to see my son.

I really wanted to hold my son.

It hovered over me and with a rock in its claws, it brought it down upon my head.

My ears rang and everything was blurry. Vaguely, I could feel the panic and distress from my child and his mate. I urged them to run. There was no fighting this battle.

We had already lost.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Thank you sansviolet, MageVicky, KyloRen'sgirl213, and Larita1976 for reviewing!

MageVicky: I would looove to just quarantine myself until this is over because I don't want to infect my family with the virus if I end up getting it. Unfortunately, I work at a pharmacy and it's been absolute chaos there.

I see a lot of "I stayed at work for you. You stay at home for us." and I am completely behind this and will be adding that to the end of my chapters until we pull through this time of hardship. There are still an insane amount of people just wandering around, shopping as if it's just another normal day.

I've been telling my family to compile a list of essentials to purchase and to make weekly or bi-weekly trips depending on what the item is so we can get everything at once and resume quarantine.

Please stay safe. Stay home.