Extermination
Chapter 4: Brothers
Weyland-Yutani Colony World LV-312
Population: 2
Hive: 40-50
Time: 1615
Incident: 6 weeks
"Fuck." It was the first thing Ghost had said since that last proclamation.
"What? What is it?" Jones' head snapped up and focused on his friend.
Ghost sighed and slumped against the only non-blood spattered pillar in the room. They hadn't been able to gather the strength or the will to drag themselves out of the room. Ghost probably wouldn't have moved if a bug walked into the room. However, none had. That was bugging him. They'd made enough of a racket, why weren't thousands of bugs descending on them? He could have sworn he heard them outside the room more then once. The skittering claws, hissing mouths... Two hours ago he could have said nothing frightened him more then a bug. Then he saw this. The sight of his commander, twisted, misshapen... Nothing could frighten him more then that.
"...Nothing. Fuck, I wish I had a pizza so I could throw it up. Why the fuck aren't we dead yet?"
"What do you mean?" Jones sounded puzzled. Depressed as well, but that was understandable.
"The bugs, man, the bugs! Why haven't they killed us yet?"
"Oh...shit...I dunno. I've heard them...I swear I have."
"Yeah, me too...think it had something to do with..." Unable to put it into words, the man simply nodded towards Freeman's corpse.
"I dunno...Maybe. Shit...We should find out."
"What?" Ghost stared at Jones, blinking.
"Look..." Jones leapt to his feet and walked to the holomap, followed slowly by Ghost, "See here..." He punched up the map and twiddled the dials so it centered on an isolated area of the facility, "This is the research center. I bet we'll find information there about what...happened." Ghost looked up at his friend and nodded. The look in Jones' eyes... Freeman had been a father to all of the Marines, but Jones was an orphan. Never having had parents, or family of any kind, Freeman had filled the role he'd been so long without. As for Ghost...Jones never ceased to remind him that, more than anyone, Ghost was his brother. Harris had to admit, he thought of Jones as his brother as well. Jones sighed, bringing Ghost out of his reverie.
"I'll find out what happened to my father..." Jones' voice was hardly more then a whisper, but Ghost heard well enough. He also caught the title Jones gave the Commander. He clapped his friend...brother, he corrected himself, on the shoulder.
"Come on, Jones. Let's get a move on."
Nodding, Jones spun on his heel, and the two began the loathsome task of collecting ammunition and personal items from the decease. All in all, it took them fifteen minutes to prepare and plan for their journey. The research center was situated on the opposite end of the facility from the Hive, which meant the two should encounter little to no Xenomorph interference. However, neither of them had forgotten the message on the dead man's data pad. If the predators were here...
Refusing to think about it, Ghost looked down at the motion tracker he found on one of the dead marines. No movement, apart from Jones cleaning off Rigby's minigun. It was a pain to loot the bodies of his brothers in arms, but it's a necessary evil. He glanced at Jones, "You ready?"
His friend looked at the floor a moment before hitching up the minigun, "Yeah...let's go." He strolled over to Ghost, trying to appear casual, and as one, they turned their backs on their former family...
An hour and a half, with another hour and a half to go. "Shit...Why does this fucking facility have to be so fucking big?" Ghost was at the breaking point, something that didn't happen often. It was too damn quiet. Jones, being the one with the bigger gun, was taking point, with Ghost watching the back trail. Currently walking backwards, scanning their rear, Ghost was trusting Jones to protect him, following his friend slowly at a walk.
"Almost there Ghost, don't wo-" Jones cut off suddenly. Ghost, still studying the back trail, didn't see what was happening. Jones wasn't shooting, so it didn't worry him too much, "What is it?" Satisfied that they weren't being followed, Ghost turned to see what was the matter. Then the shooting began.
(but you'll have to wait for the next chapter! Don't worry, it won't be long, promise.)
