Title - ALIENS: BUG HUNTERS

Author - Marisa P

Rating - R (contains graphic violence, strong language and sexual content)

Disclaimer - Dwayne Hicks, Rebecca "Newt" Jorden, Bishop and the rest of the Aliens cast belong to someone else. No copyright infringement intended.

Comments - What would have happened if the dropship never made it back to the Sulaco and never resulted in what happened in Alien3? This is my version of the ensuing events after Aliens.

ALIENS: BUG HUNTERS

by Marisa

Chapter 1 - Acheron

Wierzbowski… Spunkmeyer… Dietrich… Ferro… Frost… Crowe… Drake… Vasquez… Hudson… Apone… They were all dead. And so was Gorman, the rookie Lieutenant. No one ever figured out what happened to the Company man, Carter Burke, but there was no likely chance that he had made it out of Hadley's Hope alive. Even if he had gotten out of the colony compound without running into any of the aliens, he wouldn't have made it far enough to avoid the blast from the exploding atmosphere processor.

No one cared whether Burke had lived or died anyway. No one…

Corporal Dwayne Hicks, the last one left alive of the elite US Colonial Marine team, sat on the metal floor, his back against the metal wall, smoking a cigarette. A white bandage covered the left side of his face and another bandage protected the injury to his chest and left shoulder. He recalled when he had blown the shit out of that last alien. He and Ripley had just gotten into the lift. The door hesitated to close, even after he had punched the button hard several times. Just as the door started to close, the alien launched itself toward them, preventing the door from closing any further. Pure reflex had caused Hicks to raise his shotgun and fire it at the creature. Its head blew open and its acid blood sprayed him, eating through his armor and burning his flesh.

And then Ripley went after the kid. He couldn't figure out how Ripley had held it together down there while he had lost two thirds of his entire team in less than fifteen minutes. She managed to locate Newt and rescued her, while being pursued by what Ripley later described to him as the mother of all aliens. The alien queen bitch responsible for laying all the eggs in the colony's atmosphere processor.

Things had started looking good once Bishop had gotten the second dropship down from the Sulaco and they were headed off, just as the atmosphere processor blew. Unfortunately the concussion from the blast literally shook the dropship, damaging it. Bishop was forced to land it back on the planet. He had glided the dropship down, trying to get as close to one of the other atmosphere processors as possible.

And this is where they were now. In the dropship with nowhere else to go. The good news was that Bishop patched to the Sulaco and a distress call had been sent. The bad news was that they had to lay low until the rescue team arrived. The worse news was that there were aliens crawling all over the place. Apparently the colonists at this particular atmosphere processor had also been exposed. Hicks and Ripley had managed to kill off a few that had wandered too close to the dropship, and every once in a while they would make their presence known again.

It was quiet for the moment and Hicks looked down at the sleeping child curled up on the floor against him, her head resting on his lap. Every once in a while Newt squirmed and whined in her sleep and Hicks found himself reaching down to caress her head. Then she became quiet again. It was an awkward moment for him, not being used to this. Kids…this wasn't his cup of tea…this was for like…married people or something.

The drugs were starting to wear off and he was feeling that god-awful overwhelming pain again. He looked up and saw Ripley talking to Bishop in hushed tones. Then he followed Bishop with his uncovered eye as the android walked up to him. He knew the look and knew that Bishop was about to tell him something he wasn't going to like. When the android didn't say anything, Hicks turned his eye away. "Spill it, Bishop. What is it?"

"We only have enough food and water to last one more day. That doesn't even include my portion."

"Shit…"

"Ripley said she would go out to the processor and see if she could find something."

Hicks looked back up again and then turned to Ripley as she walked up to stand beside Bishop. "No way…you're not going."

"I did it before, Hicks," she said. "I can do it again."

It didn't escape Hicks that she had already reverted to last names, just like before. She wasn't calling him Dwayne anymore. He moved Newt off of him so he could get up. She stirred and came awake. "I'm going," he said with conviction.

Ripley frowned and looked at him, putting her hands on her hips. "Not likely. Look at you."

Hicks yanked off the bandage from over his left eye. He couldn't see shit from it. Everything was blurred. "You have to stay here with the kid. She needs you more than she needs me." He walked over to the weapons rack and removed a pulse rifle. He grabbed three extra clips and shoved them into the utility pockets of his military fatigues.

Bishop came up behind him. "Everyone seems to forget that I'm even here. I can go, you know. They might not bother me."

"Bishop, you have to stay here in case there's any communication from the rescue team. You're the only one who can guide them to our location. Besides, we haven't seen anymore bugs in the last two days. Maybe we got them all." He grabbed a cloth satchel and slung it over his shoulder.

"Hicks, please be careful," said Ripley. "Don't take any chances. We really need you."

Hicks turned to Ripley. Newt had gotten up on her feet and was now hugging Ripley's waist. He stared into the kid's blue eyes. She stared back wide-eyed and terrified. Then he looked back up at Ripley. "I'll be back real soon."

Bishop hit the button to lower the side ramp. Hicks jumped off before it touched the ground. Then he turned to watch the small ramp go back up.

The wind was howling loudly and it was pouring rain, as usual. It hadn't stopped raining ever since they had first arrived on Acheron. He crouched down and scanned the immediate area. There was no movement anywhere except some debris rolling around, being pushed by the winds. He stood up and started walking forward in the direction of the atmosphere processor, which was only about three hundred yards ahead.

The crumpled and mutilated bodies of dead aliens were strewn around. Even though Hicks knew they were dead, the mere sight of them made chills shoot up his spine. They were hideous creatures out of one's worst nightmare. When Ripley had first described the creatures to him and the rest of the team, everyone had misjudged the seriousness of what Ripley had told them. They had been overconfident and had gotten their asses kicked. It was a harsh reality check and Hicks wasn't about to underestimate them again…ever…

Two hundred yards to go…

Hicks glanced left and right and then turned completely around in a circle, checking to make sure nothing was sneaking up behind him. More alien bodies blocked his path and he moved around them, giving them lots of room. Again, they were dead, but he didn't even want to come within five feet of them. He turned completely around again, his pulse rifle held up and ready.

One hundred yards to go…

Hicks glanced back toward the grounded dropship and then turned back around to the compound as he approached the doors. The double doors were lying partially open, having been nearly ripped from their hinges. He switched on his flashlight and panned the beam around the interior before entering. The coast was clear. He pushed one of the doors aside and it made a loud creaking sound and then it fell with an even louder metallic crash. Hicks froze and waited, watching with his right eye because his left eye couldn't focus.

Nothing came charging down the corridor. Hicks began to have high hopes that maybe they had indeed exterminated the bugs from this facility. He had no idea how many colonists were at this particular station. But the station was smaller than Hadley's Hope, so maybe there hadn't been as many victims to spawn the bugs.

He stepped through the doorway and walked silently down the corridor. The first door on the left revealed a small communications office. One glance told Hicks that none of the equipment was usable. It had been shot up and some of it fried by alien blood.

The next room was another office. So were three other rooms that he just passed without inspecting. Hicks went deeper into the compound and came across what looked like the mess hall. After a quick glance around, he found the food and drink dispensers. He hit the drink dispenser first, punching repeatedly for water bottles. The bottles flew out of the shelf and scattered all over the floor. He chased after them and stuffed them into the cloth sack he had slung over his shoulder. There were only eight bottles. The machine had stopped spitting them out.

Hicks moved to the food dispenser and paused to let the issue sink in. How was he going to collect food that was already processed and cooked? He tried to read the labels, but some of them were already faded from the constant dripping of water coming from holes in the ceiling. So he decided to just push buttons and see what he got. Beef stew, mashed potatoes, green beans, corn, sausage links, scrambled eggs, baked beans, fried chicken, salisbury steak, mushrooms, onion rings, french fries and cornbread.

The cornbread reminded him of Spunkmeyer… 'It's good for you, boy. Eat it.'

Hicks grabbed trays and piled food on them. He didn't care what ended up mixed together. It was all food. Then he covered the trays with other trays and using ducktape that he had in his pocket, he wrapped it around the trays so they stayed together. He threw the seven trays he had made up into the sack. That was it. He was out of there, heading back the way he came.

Just as he reached the unhinged doors leading to the outside, he heard something. He turned slightly, his pulse rifle up. As he slowly and quietly lowered his bag of treasures to the floor, he turned completely around to face the corridor. The sound was coming from one of the offices. It almost sounded like a whimper, someone crying. He slowly crept forward, moving toward the sound.

When he entered the office, he slowly moved around to the other side of the desk. Lying on the floor, on its side was a dog. A golden retriever. Hicks crouched down and the dog whimpered, lifting its head to lick his hand. In a corner, about four feet away was a puppy. It was cowering behind some boxes. Hicks turned back to the dog in front of him, seeing the marks on its face, knowing that it had been in contact with a facehugger. The dog whimpered and Hicks ran his hand over its head, scratching behind its ear. He needed to do something. The poor thing was going to soon suffer through having a creature burst from its chest and then there would be another alien running loose.

He made an adjustment on his pulse rifle and placed the muzzle against the dog's head. He had never killed a dog before and bile rose to his throat. But it had to be done. He had to put it out of its misery. "Sorry, girl." He pulled the trigger. A single shot went into the dog's head and it died instantly. He wanted to puke and quickly turned away, focusing his attention on the puppy. "Hey, come on, little guy…com'ere."

The puppy whimpered, wanted to come out, but hesitated. Hicks extended his hand, knowing that it smelled like food after having grabbed it from the machines in the mess hall. Finally the puppy edged out from behind the boxes and came up to his hand, feverishly licking his fingers. Hicks picked up the puppy and carried him out of the office.

Then there was another sound. An all too familiar sound. He reached the doors and bent to pick up his sack. He no sooner stepped out when two aliens came bounding up the corridor toward him.

Hicks turned and ran backward, firing his pulse rifle at them. The aliens screeched and even as they fell, two others burst through the doors. Hicks turned and ran…then turned back around, firing again. More aliens poured out of the facility. Where the hell were they coming from? How could there be so many more of them?

Ripley saw Hicks coming. She saw the three aliens hot on his heels. "Bishop, open the hatch!" She ran in back and grabbed a pulse rifle, slamming in the clip quickly and then running to the hatch.

Hicks continued to run. His pulse rifle was out of ammo. Holding the rifle in one hand, the sack of goodies and the puppy in the other, he didn't have any hands left to load a new clip. And even if he did, by the time he loaded it, the aliens would be on him. He saw the hatch coming down. He saw Ripley step out with a pulse rifle in her hands.

"Hicks, get down!" she yelled.

Hicks dove for the ground and Ripley let loose over his head. He looked back and they were still coming. He tossed his rifle away and used three limbs to crawl his way forward, scrambling to get to the hatch.

Ripley continued to fire until there were no more aliens coming out of the compound. She waited with her pulse rifle ready until Hicks picked himself up off the ground.

Hicks moved toward the hatch and slid passed Ripley. "Thanks."

Inside the dropship, Hicks handed Bishop the sack. "Bottled water and whatever I could get out of the food dispensers. It's not pretty, but it's edible." Then he turned toward Newt, who was sitting on the floor, her legs curled up and her arms wrapped around her knees. He walked over to her and came down on one knee as he put the golden retriever puppy in her lap. The kid smiled as she hugged the puppy and the sight of her smile made his heart gush. Both Bishop and Ripley came up to stand beside him as he got up.

"Where'd that come from?" asked Ripley.

"I found it in one of the offices. The mother's dead."

"You do realize that we now have another mouth to feed," said Bishop in an unemotional manner.

Hicks turned to Bishop. The android was right. He hadn't thought about that. All he had thought about was wanting to bring a smile to the kid's face. Ripley put her hand on his shoulder. She didn't have to say anything. He knew she thought he had done a good thing.

"Is it a girl or a boy puppy?" asked Newt.

Hicks crouched down in front of her again and picked up the puppy. "Let's see…" He pretended to be looking at the puppy's face, but he glanced down below its belly. "It's a boy puppy."

"What should I call him?" she asked Hicks.

"I don't know. He was a brave little puppy, though. You should give him a brave name." Hicks stood up and started to move away.

"How about Cujo?" suggested Bishop.

Hicks gave Bishop a frown as he walked away.

Bishop shrugged. "It was just a joke."

"Leave the jokes for your nightclub act, Bishop," Hicks tossed over his shoulder. He walked toward the front of the dropship and sat down in the pilot's chair. His cigarettes were lying on the console. He reached for one and lit it, then stared out the window at the compound. How many more aliens lurked inside, waiting for them to make a wrong move? He had nearly lost the battle out there. If it hadn't been for Ripley.

Then Hicks saw movement among the alien bodies. One of them was still alive. It turned to look at the dropship, probably looking right at him and opened its mouth in what Hicks imagined to be an angry hiss. "Yeah, fuck you, too." He watched as the creature turned and crawled back into the compound.

Newt came up and sat down in the seat behind him. She held the puppy in her arms. "Did you ever have a dog?"

"No, I never had any pets."

"If you ever had a dog, what would you name him?"

Hicks knew what she was trying to do. She wanted him to name the puppy for her. He ran a few names through his mind, names he had heard before. A friend of his back in fifth grade had a dog. "Hm, if I had a dog, I think I'd name him…Travis."

"Can I call him Travis?"

Hicks smiled at the kid. "Sure. He looks like a Travis, don't you think?"

Newt smiled and nodded her head, hugging the puppy.

"Go take him in back and see if he'll eat something. He must be pretty hungry." Hicks watched as the kid hopped off the seat and carried the puppy in back. He turned back to look out the window, dragging on his cigarette. He was glad he had made somebody smile.

Six days later, the rescue team finally arrived and picked them up. They were taken to the Sulaco and left on their own.

The Sulaco was soon homeward bound, controlled by the navigation system of the ship's computer, which had been programmed by Bishop. It's three human passengers, one dog and one android slept peacefully in cryo-chambers, oblivious to the warping of time as the ship moved through hyperspace.

Gateway, the space station above the Earth, received the Sulaco's signal two days before its intended arrival and they made preparations to shuttle to it when it finally positioned itself in Earth's orbit.