"Jerry, we gotta go," Lian told him. They were still in the armory. Jerry gave her a confused look.
"Why?" he asked. She frowned.
"Andrew says he found something big, that we all need to see it," she told him. He nodded.
"Look, you go, I'm gonna stay for a few seconds, look around some more," he said. She nodded, but knew what he really meant. She knew Jerry had brought cigarettes, which had been illegal on Earth for almost fifty years now. He planned on smoking most of them.
"Okay, see you in a little bit," she said, and began walking out. She didn't know it was the last time she'd ever see him.
Jerry made sure Lian was gone before he pulled out his cigarettes. He pulled one out, along with a match. He lit the cigarette and brought it to his lips, inhaling the smoke. He let out a sigh of pleasure, and leaned against the locker. It had been a long time since he smoked; he only had chances to on missions. He took another long drag, and began thinking. He thought about a lot of things, but mostly about Kiersten. He liked her a lot, maybe even loved. He was hurt by his talk with Lian, he would never even think of hurting Kiersten. Never.
He took another long drag, and looked for a place to dispose of it. He looked up at the wall, and saw the vent with the dried blood. He walked over to it, and flicked the cigarette in. He began to walk away when he heard a noise. Hissssssssss…
Jerry walked back to the vent, which was pretty big, big enough for a man to fit into. He stood on his tip-toes, trying to look inside. Nothing, just darkness. He reached down to his belt and pulled out a handheld flashlight. He aimed at the vent, and saw. He could only see its head, but it was enough for him to know it wasn't friendly. It was completely black, man size. It had a banana shaped head, and lots of razor sharp teeth.
He gasped, and tried to back up, but two huge black arms, with four sharp clothes broke through the vent cover, grabbing his head and lifting him up. He screamed as it pulled him up to its face. His face was about three inches away from its. He grabbed at its arms, pulling, but it was stronger, stronger than any man.
It hissed at him, and opened its mouth. Inside was a tongue, but different. It was square, and more like a second jaw than a tongue. It was green, and like a rod, with teeth on the end. At that moment Jerry felt something warm slide down his pants, and realized he had pissed himself. He closes his eyes for a second and prayed, prayed to God and Buddha and every god he could think of, that maybe it would let him go. He opened his eyes, and at the moment the rod-jaw shot forward, breaking through his skull like a finger through wet paper. Jerry saw bits of his own skull and brains spray against the wall, and felt his own blood trickle down his face. Then as the creature began pulling him into the vent, Jerry died.
Andrew stood in front of everybody. They were in the main hall, and Andrew knew he had to tell them.
"Andrew, I have to say something," Rigby said. He nodded, telling her to go on. "The showers are covered in blood, and bits of…our friends," she said. Everyone gasped, and Andrew saw tears begin to develop at the corners of Lian and Kiersten's eyes. He remembered the logs Kerckhoff had typed. They had made it to the showers, but they never made it out…
"That's part of why I called you all back here. I found a journal that Kerckhoff was writing, and…," and then he couldn't think of what to say. He felt close to tears, but held them back. He was their leader, and he would not show them vulnerability. "Well, maybe you should all just read it," he said. They all nodded.
One by one, they stepped up and read the journal. Andrew felt horrible, seeing the expressions on their face. Lian broke down when she read, and walked into the corner of the room, crying her eyes out. They all finished, and Andrew stood there. Then he noticed it.
"So, we all understand what's going on, right?" he asked. They nodded, and Kevin spoke up.
"Yeah, we're stuck on a planet with a bunch of fucking aliens that killed our friends," he said, his voice cracking as he tried not to cry. Andrew could tell he wasn't just sad, he was scared. Lian came back, and started talking.
"Well what the hell are we gonna do?" she asked. Rigby stepped up next.
"I say we go down there and shoot all the fuckers!" she screamed, and Andrew could hear the anger and fear in her voice. To tell the truth, he didn't know what to do. It was then that he noticed it.
"Where are Jerry and Alyssa?" he asked. Nobody answered.
"Last I saw of Jerry he was smoking in the armory," Lian said. Andrew hoped Jerry was still smoking. Jerry was a good man, and was a good friend of Andrew.
"So then where's Alyssa?" he asked. Kevin spoke up.
"Last time I talked to her she was in the tunnels," he said. Andrew could tell Kevin was worried. Everyone knew Kevin had a thing for Alyssa, but maybe it was more serious than anyone thought.
"Okay, Lian and Kiersten, go and get Jerry, than meet the rest of us in the tunnels, got it?" he asked forcefully. They nodded.
"Sir, yes, sir," they said, and walked off towards the barracks. Andrew nodded to himself. He knew now what was in the tunnels, and he was scared.
Lian felt like she was gonna puke. They were in the barracks, but it wasn't like it was when she left. The vent on the right side of the room was torn open, and blood was all over the vent, and dripping down the wall. There was a puddle of blood on the floor next to the wall. She felt tears building up, but held them back. Kiersten was crying, but more hysterically than pure sadness, although Lian knew she was indeed sad. Kiersten had finally found a decent guy, one who she had loved as a friend for years.
Lian knew the feeling, she had loved Jerry too. Everyone had, he was always in a good mood, always looking at the up side of a situation. And now, he was gone...
Lian walked over to Kiersten, who was standing in the corner of the room.
"Kiersten, you need to calm down," Lian said. She needed to calm down also, though. Kiersten didn't look at her, but kept looking at the bloody vent. "Kiersten, look at me!" she shouted, and slapped Kiersten in the face. Kiersten screamed, but looked at Lian. Lian put her hands on Kiersten's shoulders.
"Listen to me; we need to get out of here. The thing that killed Jerry probably isn't far from here, we need to…" then she heard something hissing in the vent. Kiersten heard it too, and stared at Lian. Lian nodded, and they both pulled out their pulse-rifle machine guns. They both aimed at the vent, waiting.
Something was coming out of the vent, but it wasn't an alien, or whatever was breeding in the tunnels. It was Jerry. Or at least what had once been Jerry. He was coming out slowly, but Lian could see he couldn't possibly be alive. Parts of him were chewed on, and he had a hole in his head a little bigger than a golf ball right above his left eye. Jerry wasn't crawling out, something was pushing him.
As he was pushed out farther, Lian could see more cuts and bites going along his body. Finally, his body fell out, hitting the bench in the middle of the room and falling to the floor. Kiersten screamed horribly loud, and Lian heard the hissing again. Suddenly, a yellow-green liquid shot out of the vent and splattered on the lights. She heard a fizzing sound, and the lights went out. She remembered something from the journal about acidic blood. They could spit the acid too?
It was pitch black, and she and Kiersten quickly turned on their shoulder-lamps, which provided light wherever they looked. Suddenly, it jumped out of the vent. With incredible agility, it leapt onto the other wall and began wall-crawling towards them. Lian went to pull the trigger as it jumped at her, its lips curled back to show rows of teeth, ready to tear apart her flesh…