Chapter Three.

Explosive rounds from the carbine tore deeply into the aliens directly in front of Jacques' line of fire, their bodies exploding to the special impact explosive rounds that he had modified only three days earlier. He could smell the rancid acidic blood spraying over the once concrete road, now the bloodied aliens fell onto rubbled stone and grit. Now this is what Jacques considered road-rage.

His carbine did not stop firing as he ran into the aliens break in line, he was not going to fail something he had done a million times in active combat. Alien blood sprayed all over the place as he ran through without a care, droplets fell onto his face and chest, and even the agonizing feeling of his own burning flesh did not stop his will to live. The more he thought about it, it was no longer a will to live, it was a will to kill. And the dozen aliens he had already put down were just the beginning.

Unable to look back he had hoped that Sam was following, he just followed his instincts and he trusted her to be able to follow. He could hear the aliens screeches as he blew them up, now his tally was at twenty-nine and counting, he would hope that they would keep falling. He carried on forwards and finally made it to the abandoned building he had seen in the corner of his eye just a minute before.

As he made it into the doorway he now had time to look behind and see Sam coming through the pile of dead aliens to the once restaurant. From the sign Jacques read it to be 'Taco Bell Cuisine', how the mightiest had fallen he thought to himself. But as he looked for Sam, he could not see her, only the now wall of aliens coming towards him. Even though they had no eyes or a couple of facial expressions, he could clearly see that they were pissed off.

She turned to see that Jacques was running at the aliens, his carbine firing in short bursts, watching as the aliens blew up almost the split second they were hit. She could see the yellow pixel blood spray all over the place, some even hitting Jacques as he ran through, but he did not stop. After spending most of her life with this man, she had admired him, he was strong willed and to put it nicely, one crazy mother fucker.

Her legs began to carry her into the direction that Jacques was headed, but the aliens moved faster and the path Jacques had made was now covered. Reaching behind herself, strapped to her back, she grabbed hold of a weapon she found in an old building a week ago. It was not too heavy but she needed two hands to carry it. Jacques told her that it was called a 'Shotgun' some kind of twentieth century weapon.

Without any concern of being killed by the monsters in front of her she just ran, without a care, with the shotgun pumped and ready. The aliens weren't even looking at her, their attention was with Jacques who had blown a group of them to acid chunks, and it was too late for them as they turned an hissed, the shotgun was already firing at them. Sam held on tight as each time she pressed the trigger she got thrown back a few steps, yet she was satisfied by the wave of ammo taking down more than a few aliens at once, she loved this gun.

The classic gun caused great harm to the aliens that were in its way. Acidic blood spurted all over the rubbled ground, yellow colored smoke now covered the small area in which she stood, the aliens that were in-between her and Jacques were now falling and Sam could see a path through towards the desolate building, she began to run again into Jacques' direction.

A short distance was between the two of them and with the aliens it would seem miles away when only it was meters. Each time she would pump the shotgun the aliens would move out of her way, they knew that she would take them down and even though they would die for their queen and nest without a care, right now, the queen and their nest was not in trouble. They let her past, until they had a path to attack, and as Sam was only feet away from Jacques, one alien got in her way.

Without hesitation she lifted her weapon to the alien and pulled the trigger, she knew that she was running out of bullets, and this had to count, but the monster was too close and when the bullet ripped into its flesh, its blood sprayed towards Sam. She was quick but not too quick as she jumped out of its way, but a few drops of acidic blood found its way to Sams left thigh and with the melting flesh that was her leg, she fell to the ground.

. . .

Chan did not have a clue where Jacques had disappeared to, but she had a feeling that he and Sam were safe. Right now she had her own problems, she had to deactivate the engine override before the ship hits its pre-launch countdown, and she had no idea how to switch it off. Mother as always was really no help, answering questions with almost riddle-like answers. It would be nice to to here the damn ship say yes or no, or even give simple basic instructions, sadly the A.I was not programmed for basic.

Watching the monitors hoping for some sign of Jacques was stuck on her mind, yet she thought to herself that there would be no point talking to him if the ship was gone, and there was no way that the ship could be turned around once it hit its orbital destination. Looking over to the countdown, her heartbeat began to tear a hole in her chest '00:59:26', that could not be how long they had left, and with the screeching aliens burning up outside on the Inferno Field, her head was spinning.

"Jacques, where the hell are you?"

. . .

Hell was the place, uptown Manhattan. It was once a thriving city, high-rise buildings covering the skyline, the rich and wealthy would spend many an hour shopping, buying pointless articles of clothing or perfumes from the scent shops. A very expensive place to live also the main alien hive location. Situated underneath Manhattan was the once New Hope City but when the aliens came, it became the new Hell on Earth, really one of many around the globe.

And stuck in the middle of Hell were two poor souls, once again running for their lives, one limping crying out in pain with a deep burnt-in hole, caused by thick acid. Her tears almost sprayed from her eyes just like the aliens blood that fell upon her thigh. The strength in her heart kept her from falling, as did the strong arms of the man holding her up, once again he saved her from the monsters.

When she fell outside the building, she thought she was dead, with aliens surrounding her, it had to be over. It was Jacques that came to her aid, his carbine once more destroying the aliens, he took her in his arms and ran, turning and taking down more of their demons, without any complaint he took her to almost safety, enough for her to take a breathe and get onto her own two feet. But the pain now delved deeply into her body.

Up four flights of stairs, around many corners and another seven levels up, her leg was almost unbearable, if it wasn't for the insulin that Jacques had given her, she would be on the floor at the bottom of the building with aliens all over her. She thought about that for a little while, wondering what the aliens would do to her. After everything they had done to their race, would the aliens simple kill them, or would they take them to the Hive so one of the queens could get them impregnated with alien babies. Thinking about it, probably the later.

"Personally girl, I would rather take my carbine and put one of the explosive rounds to my head." Who was talking? Was this her head calling out. "Now shut up with your negativity and run, the insulin should give you a few more minutes, don't you dare wimp out on me now." Phew, it was Jacques' rough voice that echoed around her head. Did she say that out loud? She did not know, the pain and the insulin in her body was making it hard for her to get a grip on reality. Damn, Jacques was right, a bullet did sound better than monster chow.

They had made it to the top of the building, standing now in a small corridor, the air smelt stale, old. Jacques knew what that smell was, he did not want to be here, death was all around them, but right now, they had nowhere else to go. The heavy sound of metal steps clanking from the direction they had just come from meant only one thing, they were coming and they were close.

Grabbing hold of Sam, Jacques lifted her onto his shoulders, the aliens sounded different which meant they were not the usual clone warriors, they had to be the dog-aliens, specifically breed from canines to hunt. Jacques knew that ahead of them was something he did not want to see, and something that would bring Sams nightmares back, he had no choice as he ran into the room straight ahead of them.

The room was only small, with a package elevator slider door and a large metal door, that looked like it headed into a large freezer of some type. Sam had no idea where Jacques was taking her, but as he jumped into the big freezer slamming the door as they entered, she suddenly saw the horror of where they had gone.

"How is your leg?" The heavy sound of thumping deafened the two as they sat in the freezer. Sam could barely hear what Jacques had asked, but with his pointing to her thigh she understood clearly. Her face answered his question, and yet she still had some strength and hid a lot of the pain, she was strong, he had to admit that.

"I have a hole the size of an apple in my thigh Declan, I have been expecting something like this since I first ran into these fuckers. Acid for blood, what fucked up God would do that to the universe?!" She had some sense of humor left in her, but anyone could see her pain, and there was not a damn thing Jacques could do to take it away. He glanced at his watch '00:59:26'.

What had seemed like hours passing had only been minutes, the thumping had stopped but the aliens had to be outside waiting. Sam hated sitting in the not so cold freezer, it had been left open for so long the fuse had probably blown, and with that she was glad, it would have been a frozen nightmare to be in there, even for a few minutes.

It was the stained blood and torn body-parts that made her stomach curl, she knew why Jacques had carried her in, she would rather go through another round with the aliens than have to be surrounded by all the very dead bodies, but she did not complain, her thigh hurt too much for that, she was just glad to be alive. Luckily some of the torn flesh still had clothe on it, so Jacques bandaged up the wound, she flinched as he tighten it around her thigh.

"What is it with dead bodies and you Declan. Can't we go just five minutes?" She smirked and gave a faint giggle. Jacques just looked at her for a minute, before chuckling back, it had been awhile since they could last enjoy a moments peace. "Declan, what are we going to do?"

A moments silence had passed before Jacques looked up at her, he was still catching his breathe, it had been a long hour, running, shooting, running, and after sharing a little joke he became serious again, his smile became a slight frown, he truly was not sure. He knew that Chan would be unable to deactivate the Cerebus. And time was against them once more.

"Hey kid, do not threat, I have a plan." He smiled but Sam could see that he was at a loss, there was no way of reaching Chan on coms and the timer was running out. She returned the smile and her head lowered. Was this really the end? "Samantha, can you walk?"

"I can try, I don't see a problem. Why?" Jacques stood up, reloaded his carbine and walked towards the freezer door. He turned to Sam and smiled again, this time it was not a scared smile. Sam stood up, feeling her thigh pulsate, but Jacques had a plan, things were going to be fine, his plans always worked she thought, looking for a piece of wood to touch.

The freezer door swung open fast, an alien standing right behind the door hit the wall hard, almost going right through it. Three more aliens stood ready for the meat, they watched as something jumped out of the freezer towards the fallen alien, they all pounced. It was not until they all began ripping into the flesh that they realized that the flesh was already dead, and before they could turn, the carbine already began to blow them apart. The first wave of aliens would be easy.

Jacques and Sam ran out of the freezer towards the stairs leading up.

A rainfall of gunfire hit the aliens hard, they could not make it up the stairs to follow the two humans. They jumped from step to step, onto the walls and closer to them, but each time they got even a step closer, they would become acid melting the stairs, making it harder for them to get their prey.

The door leading onto the buildings roof slammed open, Sam jumped onto it first and looked back to see Jacques aiming at almost a dozen aliens, the carbine was close to empty, and just before the last bullet shot, Jacques raised the shotgun and pulled the trigger, and after only seconds, the aliens were no longer coming, they had made it, they were safe for now, as Jacques locked the heavy steal door behind them taking out his com.

. . .