Chapter 2: Revelations

Jackson's gonna fuckin' kill me, I thought as I sprinted down the sidewalk. My shoulder began to flare up again, and my stomach was beginning to ache from the scar and all of the movement. I was going full steam towards the parking lot Jackson and I had scoped out yesterday.

Jackson was my partner in crime, literally. He found me jobs, mostly stealing cars, and I got paid. Tony had recommended me to him, as he knew I needed a job to get out of the house, and while it wasn't what I was expecting, I was good at it, and it paid well. It was legally questionable at best, but it worked.

However, me and Jackson had been scoping this parking lot near Simmons Park, a rich neighborhood. The plan was for me to go in there and to jack a black '69 Mustang - beautiful thing - and to take it down to the chop shop several blocks away. The job was supposed to start at 4:00… it was 4:53 now.

And so, here I was, sprinting down the street at the ass-crack of dawn in the middle of a thunderstorm with dirty and slightly slimy clothing and a shoulder with some resin-like stuff on it. I was just about a block away now, and as I rounded a corner to the parking lot, I noticed that there was a guard near the entrance.

I attempted to do a quick U-Turn, but I ended up slipping and crashing to the ground. Scrambling up as fast as I could, I darted behind the wall and peeked around the corner, getting a short glance at the guard before getting back behind the wall. The guy looked young, maybe early twenties. He had a set of headphones on, probably connected to a Walkman. I heard footsteps to my right coming towards me, and I saw that it was just some random guy. An idea came to mind, but I had to act quick.

This better work, I thought.

Backing up and getting a running a start, I started screaming maniacally. I ran around the corner and straight towards the guard, yelling, "Help me! He's gonna kill me! Help!" The guard instantly turned towards me and came rushing out, ripping his headphones off in the process and ditching his Walkman. I ran straight for him, still screaming, and grabbed him by the collar. I pointed towards where I came from. "He's coming! He's gonna kill me!" At the same moment as I pointed towards where I came from, the man from earlier came around and, amazingly, started walking towards us.

"Stay here, kid, let me go have a chat with him," He said.

"But he'll kill you!" I whisper-screamed.

He looked at me with the most stupid, goddamn grin I had ever seen. "Let me be the judge of that. Stay here." He proceeded to walk towards the random man, pointed at him, and said, "Hey! I need to have a word with you." While he was doing this, I was already beside the Mustang and was listening to Fight for Your Right on a stolen Walkman. Reaching into my pocket, I grabbed my set of picks and went at the lock, getting it open in record time. I ripped the door open and got in, closing it silently. Taking out the small screwdriver I had brought with me earlier today, I jammed it in as hard as I could into the ignition and turned, listening to the car flicker and come to life.

"Whoo Hoo!" I screamed in joy. I saw the guard from earlier turn around at the loud sound of the car starting up, and he instantly realized who was in it. He started yelling inaudibly as I put the car in drive and floored it. As I was whooping and hollering, I made an attempt to avoid the large puddle of rain near the guard, swerving to the right, then back to the left. Turning on the windshield wipers, I slowed down and turned to the right, where I floored it immediately afterwards and started to fishtail, but I managed to keep it under control. I drove straight down the road, making a few more turns here and there going towards the chop shop.

"Hello?"

I swerved to the left in shock, then back into the right lane, narrowly missing an incoming semi truck. I ripped the headphones off and threw them in the passenger seat.

"Jesus fucking Christ! Wouldn't this type of thing have a range to it or something before it stops working?" I screamed to myself.

"It does." Or maybe not to myself. I slammed on the breaks and swerved to the right, listening to the tires squeal.

"Where are you?" I looked around at the nearby buildings searching for the alien, and nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard a loud thump on the roof. I groaned inwardly as I reached over and opened the passenger door. "Get in." I moved the headphones and Walkman out of the passenger seat and tossed them into the back, watching the alien gracefully swing into the car. He slinked down as far as he could, but I really didn't care that his head was still peaking out over the top. People would just think that it was a trick on their eyes or something.

The alien, now that I was actually paying attention, was incredibly large. He had wiry muscles along his arms, as well as a set of ribs that jutted around his body. I remember seeing dorsal tubes on his back earlier, which were now gone, probably folded into themselves or something. His barbed tail wrapped around his waist and pooled in his lap. Light gray marks lined his body, which I would've have easily missed were it not for the car light inside staying on for a few seconds. He had an air around him that made me want to lean on his arm, which was weird, but I ignored it.

"Dude, why did you follow me? I said I'd come back."

He gave a long hiss, and said, "I… I am sorry. I just… The silence unnerves me," He said solemnly. I nodded in understanding.

"Okay, I can understand that," I said. I started driving again, but much less recklessly now, considering that there was a passenger in the car. "So… do you have a name?"

"Xerxes," He simply put.

"Name's Alex. Nice name, by the way," I said. A little bit of pride seemed to radiate off of him at the compliment, which made me happy. We sat there in silence after that, however, and I began to think about where he could have come from, why he was here, etcetera etcetera, until a question came to mind. "You said something about brethren earlier. Are there more your kind?"

The question must have caught him off guard, as he twitched ever-so slightly at that. I could swear that I even began to hear growling come from him too. I gently grabbed his shoulder.

"If you don't want to talk about it, you don't have to," I said. His growling lowered in intensity and he looked at me.

"Alex, their are at least a hundred of my kind in a cave a few hours from where I met you, but none of them are like me," He said.

"How do you mean?" I questioned.

"I mean, if they see you, or me, or anything with a heartbeat, they will kill them. And now that we are linked, they know that I have betrayed them." Wait, what?

"Then why did you link to me?! Are they gonna hunt us down or something?" This was really, really, really bad.

"I thought I could block the connection! And… I do not know, probably," He said. I turned onto a back road, only three blocks away from the chop shop.

"Great, just fucking peachy," I said. "How long until they start coming after us?"

"Most likely, we will have a few days until they do a full-scale assault on us, but we will likely see lone scouts and such until then."

All the more reason to get the hell out of town I suppose, I thought. "So, we have a very small amount of time to get the hell out of here. Great." My mind was lost in thought as to what I would do. I had less than a week to escape hundreds of killer aliens, one of which was in my car and had caused all of this. I sighed. Wonderful.

I made another turn and began to slow down, seeing the garage in the distance.

"You need to go hide. He can't see you, or who knows what'll happen," I said. Xerxes got out without a word and ran on all fours towards the forest. I sighed. Alone again. I slowly pulled the car up to the garage and honked the horn, waiting for the garage door to open. A minute went by, then two.

Where the hell is he? I thought. I honked again, and got the same result. I groaned and opened the door, getting out of the car, and slammed it shut. "Jackson! It's me!" I yelled. Again, nothing. "Goddamn it," I muttered. I walked to the front door and tried to open it, but found that it was locked. I banged on it loudly, yelling that it was me again. Another minute went by. What the hell is going on? This isn't normal…

Getting out my picks, I got down on one knee started going at the lock. It was unlocked in mere seconds. I opened the door. "Jackson! I got som-" I was hit with this awful, familiar stench of what could only be blood, and as i opened the door fully, I was met with a horrific sight.

Inside the garage was a bunch of tools and machinery, all strewn about and in a mess. A window to the far left was busted inwards, a shelf was knocked over and leaning against a wall, and a trail of blood lead to the back room. A bloody handprint was on the doorknob. I was shaking.

"Ja… Jackson? It's me… Alex. Where are you?" I breathed out. I walked into the garage slowly, making sure to avoid the tools and parts on the ground. I kneeled down and grabbed a wrench quickly, clutching it with both hands in a swinging position. "Jackson? Buddy, I got the Mustang… sorry I couldn't come in earlier man… I just got caught up in some stuff." Their was so much blood on the floor, and I gave up my attempts to avoid it after stepping in it three times. I was in front of door sooner than I liked. I could hear a shuffling and crunching noise. "I'm coming in, Jackson. Don't shoot me," I joked.

My left shakily grabbed the doorknob as I raised the wrench in my right. I breathed in, and slowly opened the door.

What met me was a much more potent version of the stench and louder crunching noise, and when I peeked my head around the doorframe and to the right, I immediately jumped back and felt all air leave my lungs. I put my hand to my mouth to hide any noise from coming out, and peaked around the doorframe again.

Inside was another knocked over shelf that just barely missed the doorway. Behind it was a bed with Jackson on it, and a jet black creature over him. It looked like Xerxes, minus the scars. The alien had its face buried in Jackson's upper chest, and then he pulled back and grabbed Jackson's ribs, which he ripped out, one by one. He put his face back into Jackson. Tears fell from my eyes at the sight. A series of disgusting sounds came from the alien eating Jackson for about five seconds as I stood there, frozen in place, until the alien got up and slowly turned around to me. It had a terrifying grin covered in blood.

I let out a shriek as it slowly walked over to me. I backed up and slammed the door shut, but it had managed to get its tail in between the doorframe and the door. The door flew open, and the alien jumped over the shelf and out into the main garage in one swift motion. As I backed up, it came forward slowly and menacingly until it gave a short hiss, and then jumped forward at terrifying speeds. I yelped as I jumped to my right and landed on my side, looking at where I just was and seeing that the alien was already pouncing on me. I tried to scramble away, but my foot was grabbed and dragged backwards before I even had a chance. It flipped me around so that I was on my back and got directly on top of me. Everything went silent as I only whimpered. It seemed to be looking over me, examining me, before it reared back and got into my face, screeching at deafeningly loud levels. I screamed as saliva and Jackson's blood flew on my face and swinged my wrench at the side of his head, sending him to my left side a little bit and stunning him. My ears were ringing terribly now, but I forced myself to get up and began to sprint towards the exit. The shelf that I had spotted earlier was in my path, but I quickly vaulted over it and planted my right foot on one of the board's edge, using it to propel myself across the rest of the large shelf. I was mere feet away from the door, but the alien had gotten to my right side. It grabbed my right wrist and stopped as I sprinted towards the door, but instead of leaving the garage, momentum carried me to the right where I was spun around and facing the alien. It brought its right hand down and proceeded to slash upwards at my stomach and chest deeply, ripping the clothing, skin, and muscle. I yelled as I stumbled backwards and felt my back crash with the garage door. The alien dashed towards me again, but I never had a chance to dodge him this time. He grabbed me by my left shoulder and right hip, and proceeded to toss me into a still standing shelf which fell over and blocked the door. I groaned in pain and coughed. The alien got closer and closer, and I forced myself to get up and limp towards the doorway.

"Help!" I shouted as loudly as I could. I dropped down onto my knees and began to crawl under the shelf, but my leg got grabbed once more. I grabbed onto the doorway with both of my hands as he tugged me backwards, his nails cutting into my leg. "No!" I kicked at him, but it did nothing except make him more and more mad. With one final pull, my grip on the doorway was lost and I was pulled out from under the shelf. The alien, once again, flipped me back onto my back, but I made sure to come around swinging with the wrench when he did. I managed to get a good hit on him this time, as I was able to see one of his fangs fly to my left. This didn't do anything, however, as he managed to grab my arms and pin them to my sides before I could swing again. One terrible attempt at throwing the wrench at him later, the alien grinned a terrifying grin as its tail rose up behind him, and I yelled in agony as the tip pierced through my hand. For a split second, I thought that I had saw Frank laughing maniacally instead of the alien, but that was quickly replaced by said alien screeching in surprise and being tackled off of me by another alien. I clutched my hand to my bleeding chest and slowly cried. I heard a loud screech, and then a crunching noise. I only closed my eyes as the blood flowed out and around me, mixing with Jackson's. Hearing padded footsteps quickly get closer, I opened my eyes and saw an alien, dripping in rainwater and having very faint gray lines on him. I cried even harder as he knelt down beside me.

"Alex? By the Queen-Mother, I-" Xerxes never had a chance to finish. I wrapped my arms around him and buried by face into his shoulder, sobbing loudly like a child.

"I… I saw him. I saw F-Frank," I sobbed loudly. Xerxes wrapped his arms around me.

"I am so sorry, Alex. I dragged you into this mess of mine, and I promise you this, for as long as I live, I will protect you," Xerxes said.

I sobbed harder. "Thank you… please… let's go…" I felt myself being lifted up and pressed against his chest, which burned in pain and smeared my blood on him. I lifted my tear-soaked face and watched as he stepped over the metal shelf blocking the door and outside. The storm was unrelenting, even as dawn approached, and so I was assaulted with cold rain as he left the building. I looked at the car, the headlights still on and the engine still rumbling. "Xerxes… Xerxes, set me down. We need to get the car…" I mumbled.

"Forget it, we can come back for it later," He said.

"The battery'll die if we don't take it… At least take the screwdriver out of the ignition."

He said nothing as he set me down beside the car and crawled into the passenger seat. I explained to him how to properly take it out, and he did, killing the car and letting the only sound be that of the pounding rain.

I handed Alex the screwdriver and effortlessly picked him up, and proceeded to sprint towards the cabin through the woods. As I did, the kid had buried his head into my shoulder, and gave a short shiver. I mindlessly shifted him closer, and began to think on how I had just killed one of my own kind.

I didn't know him, which made it only slightly easier to do what I just did, but not by much. He was a scout, that much was obvious by his smaller size, and, judging from his cockiness to not dispatch of Alex quickly, he was likely young.

I was terrified as to what I had done. Scout or not, he was dead, and only a short time ago, he was alive. And now, word would likely be sent back to The Queen, and because treason and murder are two very different things, she would likely send my kind to kill Alex and I a lot faster than I was hoping. Or at least, I would die. She would likely have Alex used as a host and make me watch as he died slowly.

I pledged to myself that if were to both get captured, I would have to mercy kill Alex before any of that happened. He doesn't deserve to die like that… not after what I dragged him into.

He began to shake and sob horribly, and I felt like a piece of shit. I looked at him, only seeing a part of his messy and soaking wet hair and the back of his second skin, which, once being gray, it was now covered in slightly dried blood. The rain didn't do much except help the blood spread across my body, not even washing it off. I could feel his blood, his life force, dripping down my stomach, then my thighs, and finally, towards my legs as I ran. It also began to slide down behind my neck and towards my back, catching on my dorsal tubes. I ran faster.

I drew out a hiss. I dragged him into this, and now he is injured and in mental anguish, all because of my actions. I should have just taken his weapon and left it at that, I thought. But no. I was careless and stupid, and now we were both going to die. Maybe I should have stayed at the hive and accepted my place…

I forcibly shook those thoughts away, shaking my head at the same time. No! They would have killed you if you stayed! You need to remember that…

I stared at the two humans absolutely covered in resin and stuck to the wall, the two being obvious mates. While I couldn't understand their language, it was obvious that they were trying to call for help, something that would never come due to how far they were in the hive. They had both been on the wall for a few hours, and the dead carriers were beside their feet. They had both been able to piece together what was going to happen to them from what they were able to see from where they were, seeing the dead lining the walls with massive holes in their chests and ribs poking outwards.

A loud crack came from the female, and she groaned in pain.

It was time.

I got beside her and began to brush her fur on top of her head and purred, trying to calm her down and distract her. I felt sick on the inside from our horrible reproduction cycle, but I knew it had to happen.

"What are you doing?! Let them scream in agony! I want to hear them die slowly!" The Queen yelled.

"Why? What is the point of their pointless suffering?" I said. I backed away from the humans, doing as The Queen asked, but I felt a pang of guilt strike me in the heart as the female began to weep violently.

"They are nothing more than mere animals that are useful for our purposes. Does it matter how they die?" Another sharp crack could be heard, and her breath hitched and stopped for a few seconds, until she began to sob. I couldn't take it anymore, I could live with the scars. I resumed my purring and the petting of her fur, stealthily raising my tail blade into the air behind my back. Her screaming had stopped, but tears still slid down her cheeks. My blade slowly rose higher and higher, until it was just behind my shoulder, still out of her eyesight.

"Child, if you kill her, the rest of the hive will leave you in a mess of your own blood. Do. Not. KILL HER!" The Queen roared. I ignored it, but accepted my fate. I let my rumbling get as powerful as it could get, until her eyes began to shut slightly. I took this as my moment, and let the blade shoot over shoulder, behind her head, into her skull, killing her instantly. The male screamed and cried at my actions.

"CHILD! What are you doing?!" She said. "Everyone near the lower chambers, make Xerxes bleed!" Panic filled me, but I refused to let it show. I went towards the male, and did what I did to his mate to him, gently purring and brushing his head-fur. I could hear the sounds of my brothers and sister rushing me, and I knew I had to pick up the pace. The male closed his eyes, and, barely above a whisper, said something. I took this as my queue and let my tail blade soar through the air and into the back of his skull as well, killing him instantly as well.

I let out a hiss, hearing the final cracking of the female's chest, and soon after, the male's as well. The pup burst out, and gave a weak, but still loud screech. I turned around, and saw over twenty of my brothers and sisters, poised and ready to strike.

"Just do it…" I said. They all launched outwards towards me, and were on me in less than half a second. I was tackled to the ground, and began to feel my body getting assaulted by razor-sharp claws and tail-blades, as well as deep, hard bites. However, it only lasted for a really short amount of time, because before I knew it, they were off of me. I wasn't in as much pain as I normally was, and I wondered what they were doing, what they were plotting.

"Stand up, child." The Queen said. I looked around, seeing everyone in a circle around me, and shakily stood up. "Bring him."

A wall of my hive members parted open, and a lone scout came in, dragging something behind him. He then proceeded to swing whatever he was carrying around and tossed it, making it land right at my feet. I jumped at the sight.

On the ground, was a small human pup. He was unconscious, and covered in small cuts and scrapes, likely to be claw marks. His second skin consisted of a blue material around his legs and waist, and a weaker, red material that covered his body with a small, black lettering printed over it. I was confused.

"Why is he here?" I questioned. The Queen gave a stuttered hiss that we could all hear, due to its sheer intensity.

"Why, you just killed this pup's parents. Since you seem so driven to disobey your Queen, I suppose you can finish what you started and kill the pup," She explained.

"Wha… what?" I said. "No! I'm not going to kill him! Let him leave, his kind can help him!"

"If you don't do it, they will, and they can do it as fast as they want and however they want."

"What will he be used for? Food? He would barely feed one of us!" I roared. I heard moaning, and saw that the pup was beginning to stir.

"That is not the point and you know that. I will give you to the count of five. You better make a decision fast."

My body froze, and it felt impossible to move. I was going to have to kill their entire hive, including the pup. I should have let the two mates die in agony, then we wouldn't be here right now, would we? I could hear The Queen saying something, but it was muffled and unintelligible. I got down and laid the kid in my lap, gently purring as I did. He wasn't awake, but it helped myself stay somewhat calm. I brought my tail over my shoulder and grabbed it for more stability. As I positioned it just behind the pup's neck, all sound became unmuffled, and I heard a very dreadful "Zero."

I looked up, and saw that everyone was incredibly close to me now. In an instant, the pup was taken from me and thrown at the nearby wall, slamming against it and groaning in pain. At the same time, I was grabbed from behind and shoved to the ground, already in the process of being kicked and cut. I heard a high pitched scream, and what I could only assume to be pleas of help. I looked in the direction of the noise, and saw the pup being held down as someone was dragging a claw down his cheek rather slowly and deeply, leaving a small red trail. What followed was a horrific sight of that someone jamming his entire hand into the pup's stomach, and ripping out an organ, only to be followed by the ones holding the pup up to reach in and grab more of his organs. He screamed and cried, and after ten seconds, he ceased to move.

I felt numb, and could only feel the force of the kicks and punches, not the pain. I looked away as I saw them begin to eat what was left of the pup's organs and maul his body with vicious bites. A sizzling began to emanate around me as my blood began to pool around me, and I quickly passed out.

As he handed me the screwdriver, he began to run through the woods towards the cabin, hopping over dead logs and small rocks. I put the screwdriver in my pocket and snuggled my head back into his shoulder in an attempt to warm up from the cold rain. I shivered slightly, and felt myself being pushed closer to him, allowing me to have more access to his body heat. As he ran, I began thinking.

Why? Why did I see Frank then and there of all times and places? Just being able to see him like that, torturing me… it was fucking with my head. It just all seemed so real.

And, seeing Frank like that… it reminded me of Tony. I buried my face even further into Xerxes shoulder as sobs began to rack my body, making me a shaking mess.

We had limped out of the cabin together, both of us covered in blood that was not entirely our own. We were both leaning on each other for support, both of us on the verge of falling down.

As we got farther and farther away from the cabin, Tony began to get heavier. Each step seemed to add another ten pounds or so, and eventually, I could carry him no longer. He collapsed in the mud, and I noticed that he was bleeding heavily and that blood was covering my pants and parts of my ripped shirt. Blood was quickly beginning to mix with the puddle of mud and rainwater he was in.

Grabbing his arm, I said, "Tony… we need to leave now. You need to get up." His head was down, looking at his own feet, unmoving. "Tony? Please man, you have to get up." His head drifted upwards until our eyes locked together. His face was extremely pale, and his eyes were sunken in. Although it was pouring rain, I could swear that I saw tears falling down his cheeks.

"I can't…" He coughed. "I just… can't." His voice was scratchy and sounded as though it would give out any second now. I knelt down beside him, wincing as the knife shifted in my stomach.

"You can't give up, not yet! We're almost at the finish line, but I can't make it without you," I said. My eyes were beginning to water up.

"You're… you're gonna have to… Alex," He said, his voice continuously drifting off and giving out. "I want you… to know… that if I don't… make it-"

"Shut the fuck up, Tony. That's not funny. We're getting out of here, together," I said. My body was shaking. This wasn't happening.

"Alex… please… I need you to know… I love… you," He said. I closed my eyes and let the shakes take over my body as I cried.

"Oh, God… I love you, too," I sobbed. I continued to ball my eyes out, until I managed to choke out, "I'm so sorry I dragged you into this… Please… Don't leave…" I sobbed harder. "Tony?"

No response.

I opened my eyes and saw that he was unmoving. His chest didn't move, nor did his eyes.

"Tony?" I whimpered. Nothing. I wrapped my left arm around him and buried my face into his shoulder. "Oh, God… Please, no. Please don't leave me… I don't want to be alone again." I looked all over him, looking for something, a sign that he was somehow still here, but instead of finding that, I found that his left hand was holding my right. I sobbed harder, snot running down my nose and tears burning my eyes.

I sobbed and bawled and cried and screamed, until I felt weak and my eyes ached. I began to get up, and as I did, I brought my head to his face and gave him a small kiss on his lukewarm lips.

"I love you, too…"