Aliens: Lost City.

Chapter One.

Dirt stuck to the bloodied wound, the cold ground was black, solid, and anything that would hit it would not be getting up that quickly. Jacques reached down, trying to keep his carbine aimed forward, but the strap would slide of his shoulder as he bent down to pick up the fallen Sam. She had hit the floor pretty hard, tripped over her own feet, Jacques thinking that it was funny, but at the time, in their predicament, they had no time to shake of her hard fall.

What had felt like long trailing moments for Sam as she had fallen, had only been a split second for Jacques, not having time to think, only reach and grab. They were now both on their feet running south on 42nd Street, barely being able to see down the street, as a thick fog made them blind to such a distance. With only a few footsteps of vision ahead of them they would hope that they would not run into any trouble. Baby food was not something they wished to become, they had lived too long for it to just end this way.

Sixteen blocks ahead of Jacques and Sam, working frantically to activate the Cerebus was Chan. She had flown ships for half of her life, but when it came to unlocking a flightdeck ignition prgram, she was lost. Unwomanly, sweat dripped from her forehead, he dirty black hair falling in her face, momentarily blinding her as she punched in codes and asking Mother for help. As always the deep womans computerised synthesized voice would echo annoyingly in Chans ears, offering no help and reminding her of the two hour countdown.

Jacques headed in the direction of the Cerebus praying that it would appear in their vision sometime soon, the echoing screams were growing louder behind them, scraping claws on the metallic undercity buildings and sewer pipes below them. Sam glanced over at Jacques who only had his eyes in the direction of the ship, but he did move his head into her direction to see her fearful frown. Knowing that they would probably not make it to the ship alive, but they would keep on going forward. Some good news being the fog was slowly beginning to fade and rise to the higher floors of the uppercity skyline.

Out of the ground they came, from the once tunnels heading towards the underground city. Years ago it was a great city hidden from the dangerous ultra-violet rays of the sun, but after the UV-Protector was activated, all from below came back to the world above. Those who could not afford to return would stay, soon they astablished the underground as a new city separate to that of the one above. Sadly the city was turned into a dark world of poverty and crime, and soon it was blocked off. And the ones who once lived below were soon forgotten.

It was not the underground city that was on Jacques' mind, it was the monsters that ripped themselves out of the darkness, like shadows they sprang, some still stained with blood from their last grusome meal. The underground still had human inhabitants, alot were Spears who believed that the Aliens were their new saviours. The Queen of each of the many Hives were intelligent, smarter than the smartest man, and they kept the Spears so they could keep breeding. The Spears psychotically oblivious to the monsters evil survival.

"Fuck!" The young womans voice echoed into Jacques' head. The sound of the monsters were now second to Sam. "They are all around us Declan, what the hell do we do now?"

His eyes squinted at Sam. Knowing well that they had been in similar situations, she had to lose her cool now, after only a slight tumble and she is suddenly shit scared. But the more he thought about it, the more he realised that he was the one that was scared. He did not doubt for one second that Sam had not already pissed her pants, but right now, all he could think about was holding it in. They had gotten out of worse.

For a slight second Sam actually thought that she would get a response. Long seconds passed and still no answers, and with a sigh she just looked at the beasts climbing, tearing their way from the dirt, like ants from a nest they came, in their hundreds, and like prey the two of them found themselves once again in fear of their lives, surrounded by monsters, with nowhere to run.

"Okay kid." A slight husky cough-like whisper came from Jacques. "When I say run, I mean run, don't you dare look back!" And with those words, as if the aliens knew that he was planning something, they lunged forward, so fast towards them, only a few hundred yards away, they came.

It was amazing Sam thought, Jacques showed no fear, yet she knew that the merc was probably full of shit, and not in the attitude way. He raised his carbine, a weapon he had come to love in this war against the aliens, and the familiar sound of its rounds would deafen anyone within several steps away would be firing at the creatures, ripping through them. And still they came, the overwhelming number of them, yet Jacques did not lower his weapon, he made sure that he would take down as many of these demons as possible.

"Run, towards the break in the line. Now! Run!" And with that Sam watched as Jacques headed away from her. She heard what Jacques had said, but she had no idea what the break in line was. She had been around Colonial Marines and Mercs for the best part of her life, forever running from the aliens in many battles and escapes. And as she watched Jacques disappear from the corner of her eye she still could not see the break in the line. She thought to herself 'What fucking line?'

. . .

It was dark every day in the deeps of what was once called 'New Hope City', but now, those who lived down in the shadows, forever hidden from the lights of the sun, it was no longer a place they could live for hope in, it was now barely a city. And still it was their home.

Even with the monsters running around looking for them each day and night, as long as they controlled the hidden pipes then they would be fine, and living on the opposite side of the monsters sector sometimes made it harder for them to be found. It seemed to be a good idea to hide so close to them, not as obvious, stupid maybe, crazy definately. But fear from the aliens would cause them to stay away from any pipes, and they all decided to remain close to the sanctuary chamber, far from any known nests.

At last count there was now only twelve of them, the oldest being Francis, always taking charge. He was a short stubby man, only in his late thirties, and always clean shaven, even if it meant using an old razor, a few cuts on his scarred face did not bother him, he himself had seen worse. He would each day call a meeting to discuss the usual boring routine, and anyone who would not listen, because Francis had control, he could send them to the cell. No one would dare wish to argue with him, he was always right, even if the others thought otherwise.

The cell itself was really just an old janitors closet, but it was a prison due to the fact that its mirror was one way and usually the ones on the other side were the monsters, they would usually be cloaked in red or black, always with their faces hidden. And for anyone within the cell, they would see that sometimes the monsters would have caught one of the innocents. Anyone who had to stay in the cell, would have to live with the nightmare of just watching the evil.

Five of the twelve were only young. The youngest being only seven, her name was Lyssa, she was at times sweet. Sadly with her nightmares she must be kept highly sedated, and this saddens her brother Stephen, who is the oldest of the 'so-called' kids at nineteen. The other three are in their early teens, always playing, always getting in trouble. They are all brothers and they stay close to Kathy, their older sister.

Because of their ages they have to listen to whom they called the elders, which was really only Francis because he was the one that was always in control, secretly they would wish that Guy was the one in charge. Guy himself was in his late twenties, and always questioned Francis, even the little trivial things, and that was why he spent most of his time in the cell. Eventhough he seemed to be alot tougher than Francis, it was Francis that held the gun.

Guy looked like your typical male for his age, well, for those living in the Dark City. Six foot tall, well built with a rough complextion and short dirty blond hair that would look messy yet was always spiked. The wonder of Vaz, the shit looked disgusting almost like alien dribble. That comment always brought laughter to the youngest of the group, and Guy would always be smiling at the point that was so commonly made. He did not care, as long as it worked, and vaz, it would keep the longest hair sticking right up to the ceiling.

After overhearing some of the elders talking, soon it was learnt that Guy was once a marine, one of those galactic colonial marines, always at war with someone or something. Stphen was once overheard that he was stranded on a planet with his team, the planet was a complete jungle planet, class C. Something called 'Jevan' or as Francis called it 'LV-297', always by the codebook.

"From what the corporation files state, Corporal Guy Sanders, was the only survivor." Francis was talking to Demetri, his second in command, a weasle of a man, slick back strand of hair, thin and tall. "A goddamn team of almost thirty and he was the only one to survive. You remember Jevan don't you? Class C planetoid, jungle planet."

Stephen snuck into an old overhead pipe to listen secretly to most of the meetings Francis would have with Dem. He had heard some crazy stories, alot about a group of civilians who had fought with the aliens on their home planet. Probably just stupid reports, nothing could fight and survive against the aliens, especially on their home planet. Earth did not stand a chance, so much death. The reports had to be false, they could not be true, it was almost a unbelievable dream, someone who can fight against them, still some hope.

He wished everyday that he could fight against him, but Kathy and Guy would always tell him that he was too young. The nerve, watching his family mutilated by Spears and used as baby growth chambers. He would kill everyone one of those sick fucks. But right now he just listened to what Francis was telling Dem about Guy.

"Some sort of alien was supposedly killing his team, one by one..." Francis could never finish a sentence without Demetri cutting in.

"How many of those xenomorphs were there?" And Francis looked at Demetri and in a disbelief smile.

"Just one, and it was a humanoid alien. From what the report tells me, Guy was injured in the second attack and left for dead, hidden under dirt and debris. It seems that the alien collected their skulls for some weird ritualistic collection. Guy somehow escaped before the alien could activate its own self-destruct. It must had been injured and sacrificed its own life to kill anyone that was going to collect it as a speciman or a trophy. Corporal Guy Sanders was found in hypersleep forty-six years later."

Francis reached for a glass, raised it to his lips and let the warm liquid pour down his throat. After a deep breathe he continued to look through the files marked 'Top Secret'. He could not look more amazed at what he was reading. He placed one of the files on the desk and opened his top draw, he pushed it in.

"What is that sir?" Demetri looked at Francis placing the files on his desk. Francis took out his keys from his back left pocket, bits of lint and torn paper fell onto the floor as he removed the keys. He searched and found the small round key he was looking for. Locking the drawer he quickly put his keys back into his back pocket and looked at Demetri.

"Top secret Demetri, top secret." And that was that, he ordered Demetri to ready dinner, who had already stood up and began to leave the room quickly. Francis was still unaware of his hidden guest, Stephen, watching, barely able to hear what was being said. All he could make out was most of the alien on Jevan, something about green glowing blood and that Guy was the only survivor. Stephen was more interested in the top secret file that Francis locked in his desk, somehow, he had to get to that file, it had to be important and the others had to know what was in it.

. . .