The small group of marines shot across the ground at a full sprint. They carried what equipment they were able, and ran for their lives. It seemed as though they had gone only a very short distance before River shouted a warning, and everyone dove for the ground. In the next instant, a massive explosion rocked the ground, throwing up debris and deafening them.

As the dust settled, and everyone began picking themselves up, Gaimen's voice called out. "Everyone clear?"

Chance climbed to his feet and dusted himself off. After taking a rapid head count, he responded. "Looks clear Sir."

From his spot on the ground, Kevin rolled over and pushed himself up, coughing. "Fine, here..."

Tack cracked her neck and sighed, reaching out a hand to pull Dean up. "We're clear. We're fucked, but we're clear."

Mars turned his attention to River. "Are there any structures nearby to hole up in?"

After turning in a full circle, apparently scanning the surroundings, the artificial human responded. "It appears that there is a storage facility of some kind two and a half kilometers north of here."

Cracking his knuckles, Chance looked in that direction "Hmmm…. shouldn't take too long to get there."

Nodding, Mars gave out orders.: "Spread out. Chance, you take point. Dean, you've got the rear."

They set out, and had covered about half of that distance when Kevin called out. "Sir... something just moved there." He pointed to the left, and the group looked in that direction.

After a moment of silence, Gaimen spoke. "Tack?"

The response came immediately. "Nothing on sensors, sir..."

Kevin shook his head stubbornly.: "It was there, just a second ago."

Chance raised an eyebrow and continued to look around while moving forward a couple steps

Shaking his head, Mars spoke gruffly, but quietly. "Stay cool... Tack, check it out..."

Chance sighed and let out a breath of tension, lowering his gun.

Tack moved forward, watching her motion sensor. Several tense moments passed until her voice came back. "I got nothing..." They could hear her moving around in the darkness, just beyond the range of their lights. She moved a few more steps that direction while Chance shrugged and shook his head.

Looking back at the rest of the group, Chance's eyes widened as he saw it. First he saw the teeth, covered in dripping saliva as it leaned down from its perch on the rock. It was one of those Xenomorph things, and it was about to rip Mars in half.

Without hesitating, Chance ripped his gun up to point and fired, while screaming. "MARS DUCK, SHIT!"

Fortunately, Mars's reflexes were very honed, and he ducked immediately. However, when Chance's shot hit the alien, acid sprayed out of the wound and over the man's back. Mars screamed in pain and threw himself to the ground, rolling in agony.

Chance moved over quickly, watching the screeching alien. "Someone get him out of the way." He fired once more at the thing when it looked ready to leap. It screamed and tried to lunge away but hit the ground as it was riddled with bullets.

Dean crouched over Mars, examining him. "He's okay... just burned a bit… well… a hell of a bit..

Chance nodded shook his head while looking at the body of the alien.

Having sprinted back to the group, Tack saw what had happened and muttered, "Shit…" She looked down at her sensor and cursed again. "More signatures... closing fast... a lot of them."

Lieutenant Gaimen looked at her then to Mars "Get him up. River, carry him. River nodded and picked him up. As she did so, he pointed in the direction they had been going. "Let's move."

As they moved, Gaimen gave order. "River, take Mars and keep going. Chance and Tack, keep an eye on the rear. Everyone move."

Tack: brought her pulse rifle to the ready position and watched the motion sensor while trotting backwards. Chance followed suit. The group moved out once more, with River carrying the wounded Mars.

They were about half a kilometer from the target when blips on the motion sensor appeared several kilometers away. The group hurried their pace, but they had only covered half of the remaining distance, the blips were only a kilometer and a half away.

No matter how fast they went, the signatures continued to get closer. They had just come in view of their target, which appeared to actually be a half buried ship of some kind when Mars looked back. "How close?"

Tack replied without looking. "They're right on top of us... we won't make it…" She was silent for a moment, then spoke, confusion in her voice. "Wait... The signal's all messed up... it looks like they just... disappeared."

Gaimen looked to the side. "River?"

The response was immediate. "I have detected no life forms within our immediate vicinity."

Tack held up a hand. "Wait, there's something... it's just one of them though. It's moving... erratically. Over there." She pointed to the left, while everyone sighted in on that area. "It's about... fifteen yards away. It's coming... fast." Everyone took a collective breath and strained to see through the darkness. "Wait, it's changed direction..."

A sudden noise to the right caused Kevin to snap his rifle in that direction and fire off a half dozen shots

Gaimen shouted, "CEASE FIRE, DAMNITT!"

Kevin looked abashed, and lowered his weapon. "Sorry, sir..." He continued to look around nervously.

Chance spoke in a tense voice. "Relax Private. Just keep moving your girly ass to the hold."

They had barely started moving again, when Tack spoke again. "It's in front of us... over…" She hesitated, and continued scanning. "What the hell? Are these things invisible? It just went over our heads..."

Dean shook his head. "Forget it... just go... we're almost there."

Once they arrived, Gaimen turned and watched the rear.. "Dean, open that hatch."

"Yes, sir." Dean set to work, while everyone else watched his back.

Tack swore, then looked up. "Sir, it's coming back... and if its movements are any indication... it's not happy."

Gaimen shook his head. "Forget it. River, open the door."

Moving to the door, River nodded. "Yes, sir." She walked to the door, reached out, and grasped the edges. After a moment of straining, she actually ripped the hatch off and held it to the side, waiting as everyone rushed in. She then replaced the hatch and held her hand over the seams. Her palm grew bright red and sparks could be seen as she melded the hatch to the wall. At that point, there was an awful screaming from the other side and an awful thump as something crashed into the side of the ship, partially denting the repaired hatch.