DAZED AND CONFUSTICATED

CHAPTER 10

Kyle opened his eyes only to have the world blur around him. He could not see through the pain in his head. Shadowy objects moved around him as he reached for his face. He soon found his arm was strapped down to some sort of hardened crust. Slowly, the pain began to recede and his vision began to sharpen.

Kyle found himself in some sort of empty cargo bay. There was hardened mucus layering the walls surrounding him. Through the disarray of the hold could be seen various bodies. Each one looked as if they had suffered some chest wound. Scattered about the floor between the bodies were leathery sacks; pouches perhaps. No, they were eggs. Kyle remembered back to what the General had said. He figured he must be near the queen.

All of a sudden, a stark scream cut through the musky air; the call of the queen. Kyle became stricken with fear. Until now, he had kept his head level in his dealing with these… aliens. This was too much. He thrashed about, struggling against the incredible strength of his bindings, yet they refused to break. His eyes darted about for another solution, but his gun had fallen only a few feet out of reach.

Kyle looked down in front of himself, seeing one of the leathery sacks begin to twitch. His heart sank, and he began to feel ill. A wave of despair washed over him. The top of the egg sprouted into four triangular sections. Trails of mucus lead back into the innards of the egg. Kyle's breathing became erratic, and panic began to take hold. One by one, the finger like legs of the face hugger hooked the top rim of the egg, and it began to pull itself out.

The face hugger sprung out of its leathered shell and toward Kyle. He cringed as it neared, and turned his face away. A loud gunshot could be heard, echoing through the cargo bay. Each second seemed to stretch on in eternity. Kyle slowly opened his eyes, looking around.

A small woman stood not 10 feet away. She was clad in different types of weapons from head to toe. In her hand was an oversized handgun with a sight scope on it. The barrel was still smoking from the shot. Slowly, she raised it to her lips, blowing across the barrel with a sly grin. Her eyes shot around the room in search of more hostile activity.

Kyle sighed in relief, and looked down to the slain face hugger next to him. He looked back to her as she began to walk towards him. "A little help would be great." He said with a smile. She knelt down beside him, pulling her boot knife with her free hand. Two stroke of the blade freed Kyle from the hardened shell around him. He grabbed up his XR-12 and rose to his feet. Holding out his hand, he said. "I'm Corporal Lar…"

She slapped his hand away quickly, muttering, "Save it…" She turned and headed out of the hold quickly. "You better hurry. Things are going to get nasty if you stay." He turned, heading out of sight. Kyle wasn't sure about her. She wasn't in a marine uniform, which lead Kyle to the likely conclusion; she was special ops for the renegade squad.

The renegades were an X-military squad of troops that had made their way onto the most wanted list. Each was trained in a variety of weapons and fighting styles. They were stationed on a top secret outpost when they were reported missing. Most information about them was classified, and few facts were known. None-the-less, Kyle was nothing short of ecstatic to see them here.

He ran out of the docking bay just as he began to hear the shrieks of the xenomorphs closing in on them. He saw her at the end of the hallway and ran after her. She moved quickly, peering down corridors as she passed. At the end of the hallway she stopped and turned. Her blue eyes locked on him as he near. Kyle could hear the xenos clawing their way up the path behind him.

The woman raised her gun and fired right over his shoulder, taking down one of their followers. The others shifted along the walls and spaced out. The woman holstered her magnum in response and in turn pulled out two handguns slightly resembling the classic 9mm pistol. Two red laser sights shot out from the barrel and found their way to two xenomorph heads. Her finger squeezed down the triggers and she began to empty her clips. Each shot managed to find its way to a target, unleashing a spray of acid as they impacted.

The xenomorphs leaped from wall to wall in a desperate attempt to dodge the flying bits of lead, but to no avail. This woman was an expert marksman. Another wave brought up the rear. There was a swarm making its way down the hallway. They crawled down the corridor using the floor, walls, and ceiling. Gravity appeared to have no hold over them.

Kyle rounded the corner, passing her as he ran. He looked to see another group of aliens moving to flank them. He raised his XR-12, and peered into the scope. One by one, he began to take them down with the rifle. There were too many to defeat, even for the special ops chic. They had to find cover.

The xenomorphs flooded the hallway, barreling towards the two. Kyle looked down all three hallways in desperation. Their future seemed rather bleak. The short woman holstered her guns and looked down at what seemed to be a motions tracker of sorts. This was more advanced than anything he had seen before.

Suddenly, she grabbed Kyle and pulled him away, just as the floor grating swung open. Before he knew what was going on, she thrust him down into the darkness of the tunnel below. Kyle's feet hit the second grating with a loud clank. His eyes blurred in the loss of light, but the motion tracker shone clear. They were surrounded. He turned to the girl.

She closed the grating and placed a timed nuke behind them. She flipped it on and turned to face him once more. Her deep blue eyes looked over Kyle's shoulder. "Glad to see you Sergeant." She clamped the motion tracker to her belt and began to head down the tunnel. "Ten minutes!" She called out.

Kyle turned to see a large man hovering over him. In his hand was a large machine gun of sorts with a square digital scope on it. He had various other items and weapons strapped to him, along with some sort of view screen on his headset.

"They call me Sergeant B.A.M.F." He said with a sly grin andturned to follow the woman. "You can call me sir. And that is Corporal Earls." Kyle shook his head, following closely behind the 'mobile artillery'. The sergeant glanced back as they moved. "We are the renegade SpecOps group. We set down here after hearing your distress signal. Many of your fellow soldiers are dead." He paused for a moment, and shook his head. "You can thank your government for that." He continued on, clicking something on his wrist. "We saved 8, including you."

Kyle stopped, looking back. "What of the General. Did you save him?"

The Sergeant grabbed Kyle by the shoulder of his suit and drug him along. "I couldn't save him. He had one of those things in him." Kyle's legs stumbled as he was drug towards the docking bay. The Sergeant stopped looking around. He glanced to the woman, inquiring, "Which way Earls?"

Caylin stopped and looked down at her tracker. She pulled her scoped pistol from its holster. "It's just up ahead, but those things are right on our tails." She broke into a full run, turning left at the last junction.

Kyle checked his ammo and continued on along side the Sergeant. "What are we going to do? There has to be more survivors." The Sergeant shook his head. "We can't save them all, and my team is nearly out of ammo to hold our drop ship."

Kyle sighed. He didn't want to leave, but what choice did he have. It was 'flee or die.' As they reached the end of the junction, Caylin popped open the grating of the floor above them. She cleared the jump easily and reached her hand down after them. "Quickly now! I can hear them!"

Kyle found himself in the armory once more. The smell of death hit him. Bodies were strewn about, and the floor had been eaten away from the acid in most parts. So many dead. Someone would have to pay. He looked over the ammo rack, and grabbed a pulse rifle. He managed to find a few clips and some grenades before the Sergeant pulled him away.

"We got no time for that shit!" the sergeant remarked, glaring down at Kyle. "Let's get the hell out!" With that, they made their way out of the room and down the hall.

Kyle stopped again, looking down at a familiar body. It was Janet. The vision of her death flashed before his eyes. Her face was mangled and broken. The blood had congealed around her wounds and her skin was ghostly white where it wasn't stained. Her skull was twisted and deformed from where the alien had eaten its way inside. Kyle closed his eyes, yanking up her dog tags.

Gunfire came from the corridor ahead, cutting through the air like a knife. Kyle snapped back to reality. He broke into a sprint, leaving behind the body. He knew he would never forget that image of Janet lying there. He would never forget this place.