Chapter Seven.

"The alarms had not gone off and the marines had no warning, the massacre lasted only fifteen minutes and no one was left alive apart from those who would be taken back to the hive and impregnated. And for those poor souls, they would wish they were dead. Sector-1 'Marine Command Bunker' was overrun by the xenomorph at 0300hrs and without the motion sensors activated they did not stand a chance." The deep voice echoed around the mess hall, faces looked glum and upset at the great loss. Poor bastards, no one deserved that kind of death, but nowadays, it was almost expected, especially in the front-line.

It was the look of horror on every single face in the room, jaws dropped at the inevitable forthcoming news which each day they had expected. Sadly their wishes for the day never to arrive had not been granted, they were now facing their demons head on, knowing that they would not be able to fight them without losing. The aliens were coming and soon they would share the same fate as those in the other sectors, they would no longer walk free as humans, they would be running scared as a sparrow swoops from a hawk.

"Xenomorph activity shows that Sectors four and three were the first to go. When Ground-Zero was destroyed it shows that the intelligence of the creatures has improved, so a Queen must be in the Manhattan area." The man talking was the now General Clegg, his command was given to him due to the sudden departure of the late General Matherson. His lack of remorse showed him as what the others believed him to be, an optimist on the war for Earth.

He stood at the front of the mess hall standing in front of all of his men, he knew that the news he was giving them would be hard to accept at first, but he was damned to let this news be the end.

"General Clegg." One of the corporals spoke out. "What does that mean?" A question that was on every ones minds, they had to know what this meant, if commands had been falling to the alien threat, maybe it meant that they would be next, and surely they would have to get out of the area, but with nowhere to go, they were left with nothing but their deaths to comfort them.

Another corporal spoke out, but answering the others question. Information Specialist AJ Combs stood up and looked over every frowning face, then over to the General for permission to answer the question, and with a returned nod of approval, he looked back over the troops and coughed to get ready to talk out loud.

"Communications with West Village Command and Liberty Island was lost at 0315hrs. All communications for a Space drop is unreachable due to our satellites being destroyed by the aliens. And unfortunately, due to Xenomorph procedure, any complex with a possible threat must be left for twenty-four hours of last communication, sadly with the sensors picking up movement of the xenomorphs in the surrounding vicinity we won't be able to wait until the deadline and a ship is dropped for pickup will not help us." And with those final words, every last beating heart skipped a beat and began to race. And AJ sat down looking now over to the General.

"The ship off this hellhole is in Sector-2, meaning that we would be going into the field, with possible threat not only in the area, but also highly hostile." He had to show them that he was strong and willing not to give up, unlike his previous superior. "At 1630hrs I will be leaving this base of command and be heading for the transport boat in Sector-2, and I hope that you will decide to join me, but you have to know, it will not be a walk in the park, some, no a lot of us are most probably going to die." His great words of wisdom brought deep gasps of breathe from most of the room. "Honestly though, would you rather die without fighting, or go down crying in a corner? Me, I am going down with whatever humanity I have left."

A cheer arose in the mess hall that echoed throughout the entire complex, and sitting in his room just relaxing was Sebastian, without a care in the world, already knowing what was going on, he was the messenger of-course, it was just the sudden departure of the General that was getting to him, taking his hope away. The choices we make do affect the life we lead, and right now he was finding it hard to take that step forward, remembering seeing the brain and skull covering the wall of Mathersons office.

Echoing around the complex the cheering finally calmed and it was now almost silent, apart from the ventilation system always humming in your ear. Sebastian sat just staring out of the window looking over the mist covered city. He once believed that he was safe, but with everything going to hell so quickly, he was not so sure anymore. He had friends in Sector-1, good friends he would want to fight these monsters with, but now, they were gone and the monsters were coming. Soon he would not be able to turn his back away, even though he was just the messenger, he did not wish to be where he was.

A low buzzing as the door slid open with a whoosh of air causing Sebastian to shiver with a sudden chill. It was Clegg, and given the fact they hardly knew each other, he had a lot of respect for the man, he was not in this war for the benefits if we won, or the thrill of the kill like most of those in charge. He could see that the man only cared about fighting for his planet back, and yes, if it meant taking down a whole race of aliens to do so, it was a bonus.

"Come on Seb, wake up!" In his own little world Sebastian hardly noticed at first that it even was his commanding officer. "You are coming with me little buddy." What did he say, he was going into hell to reach heaven? Insane bastard, maybe he should walk into a hive screaming to the monsters to just take him and make babychow of him.

"Sir, I would prefer to stay here." Maybe it was his sudden loss of hope that caused him to see that there was nothing to live for anymore in this world. Or maybe he just no longer had a will to live. "I think I would be better here." And lifting his head and looking up to the General, his eyes still lowered imagining the mist creeping over the city outside the window, envisioning the monsters coming towards them, claws ready to rip them apart. If it was not for Clegg raising his voice to him, he would still be in that place.

"That is an order boy and you will do what I ask of you. You will be coming with us, no questions asked." His deep voice sounding even deeper now, slight anger, but hesitation for the warmth for his friend. "Seb, come on man, you have to come with us, we need someone like you to give the troops some kinda.. some sort of.. damn, maybe I just want you around." You would not normally hear something like that coming from a superior, but the fact that maybe when Clegg found Sebastian stood staring at what was left of Matherson, maybe he thought that the kid needed someone to help him find his way.

Sebastian stood up and smiled at the General, reaching for his jacket. He reached over to the control panel on the wall next to his bed and pressed a small blue button. The blinds on the window shut and all went dark for a moment until the flicker of lights kicked in, a slight hum louder than the vents and like magic, we have light. They both stood at the doorway of Sebs' quarters. The door still open from when Clegg walked in, now with a slight smile on his face, knowing that maybe there was something more to this kid than meets the eye, he might be scared and he might of lost hope, but the fact he is not willing to just sit here and die meant something.

"Just a messenger Sir, just a messenger. Alien killer was not on the list when I was in training, but hey, if it means living, then why not give it a go." And like that he was ready, a tap on the Generals shoulder and he began to walk out of his quarters. "General, we're going to die aren't we?" And those words brought a cold silence to the darkened hallway.

"Just a human with some hope left Seb, just a human with some hope..."

. . .

He really did not have a clue where they were going, he just ran, looking back every second heartbeat to make sure they were not being followed, and knowing the aliens, they were close behind them. He hoped that maybe he could find somewhere they could not go, but these creatures could go almost anywhere, too similar to cockroaches. And as they ran close to the entrance of the under city, he could only wish that maybe there would be someone down there who could help them, and right now, he knew that they would need some help as he raised the carbine once more up into the air and pressed down lightly on the trigger, the shrieks of the aliens as they splattered over the walls, that began to crumble to the acid.

And as the entrance gloomed over, and the last alien fell to his explosive rounds, there was silence, no longer were the aliens chasing them. It made no sense for the first few moments, then it hit Jacques hard. They were close to a hive, but that would not be logical for an alien queen, to be right near to the entrance to the outside, the demons would normally be deep underground hiding, far underground where it was the darkest.

"Samantha, this does not make sense." Sam was breathing heavily, and bent over rubbing her injured leg, she was not really paying attention to Jacques at that moment, she was trying to deal with the pain that was searing through her body. "Sam... Run!" Almost grabbing her he took of into the direction of the entrance, only ten metres away, Sam almost falling as she was being pulled, not understanding the sudden pull of Jacques. But she did not hesitate and picked up her feet and ran with him, and as they got only steps away from the entrance.

A large blackened metal door fell down, with a loud deafening thud it hit hard causing them both to fall backwards with a heart pounding shock. It now had dawned on Jacques why the nest was at the entrance, it was impossible though, not of this size.

"Fucking Spears', its a hive." His head quickly began to pan around the area, trying to take in every shadow, every scent, and that when he stood up, moving up to the door and with heavy fists began to hit hard with everything part of his strength. Sam jumped up grabbing his shoulder, trying to calm him down. She would not be able to get any words in now, Jacques was a man of anger. "The under city, its one giant hive. That's why the alien activity seemed overwhelming. They have been planning an attack since the city was taken back by us."

"But how was that possible, the command areas are guarded with advanced motion detectors. It would be impossible to do anything without someone knowing." Sam was always unable to see what was obvious, staring her straight in the face, then it clicked. "It is one fucked up experiment, expendable assets as per usual." She was getting sick of the guy in charge, not caring about who dies as long as he lives, sickening.

"This whole sector, Manhattan was just a sick Commanders idea of a science project. It's simple really, just look at the facts, because the aliens had grown in sudden numbers, the best thing to do was to lock down the entire area and just see what happens. Learn from a stupid mistake by making another one." His words did make sense, but how could something like this happen Sam thought to herself, that was the question that she wanted the answer to, she listened to Jacques' theory.

"Look at it this way. Spears' can be anyone really, an unexpected person, your Superior Officer, your best friend, your brother, it doesn't really matter. All they have to do is hide an egg, maybe two rf three, and hope that a queen comes from one of them, whose to know. With the sudden incline in crimes lately, you would not question a few ugly faces going missing. And that's when you strike, when you do not suspect it, when you believe all is suddenly right in the world. They were planning this from day one to learn if we could control their fucking threat." And that was it, we had not truly won back our world, the aliens were smarter than we gave them credit for.

Jacques took Sams hand and lifted it up to his lips, gently kissing her soft skin. He looked up and smiled, then let go of her hand, turning and raising his carbine, she lifted hers also and followed him as he began to step slowly into the darkness ahead of them, who knows what they were going to find in the maze of the under city. One thing was for sure, they were once again in the pits of hell.

. . .