Chapter 3: Blood and Gore
The knife in my hand was unsteady as I pointed it at the stranger in front of me. For the first time in a while, fear had begun to seep underneath my skin and threatened to break me apart from the inside. The unknown was killing me . . .
The stranger kept coming closer and looked poised to kill me as soon as I made a move. I just stood still and listened to my own labored breathing. It felt like time had stood still and nothing existed except for me and this unknown creature.
However, the moment was broken as the sound of gunfire resounded around us and flashes of bullets hit near the stranger. By instinct, my body jumped to my feet and pulled me to hide behind a nearby tree. What came next scared me like never before.
The stranger released an enormous roar that was nowhere near a man's voice. It sounded more like a beast. It rapidly faced toward where the bullets came from and soon, a huge army of soldiers appeared from the treeline and shouted to each other with orders but fell silent. Their only focus was the stranger.
It was only moments until a familiar voice rang out that sent shivers down my spine, "Alright men! Remember. They're large, they're fast, and fucking you up is their idea of tourism!"
Right then and there, I saw the man, behind the soldiers, that had beaten me long ago and called me a monster, among other things.
That is him! He's here!
It was Traeger. That bastard made it and had the audacity to appear out in the open. I thought he would just let his dogs finish their business before coming but it must have been serious if he was ready to come and fight.
Somehow, anger began to grow inside and mix in with my fear that was replaced in my chest. I wanted to sprint after him, kill him and scream in victory but looking at my situation, it was likely not going to happen unless there was a miracle.
The tension between the stranger and the soldiers was intense. Both were in fighting stances, ready for one of them to make the first move. It felt like a bomb was going to blow up. All it needed was someone to light the match and then chaos would begin.
Guess Traeger was going to do the honor for us, "Ready. Set. FIRE!"
Everything came undone. A hail of flashes and bullets erupted over the fighting zone, trying to hit the target that was in front of them but the stranger leaped into the air. It made it look easy and at the same time graceful. I couldn't help but admire its skills. I assumed it had trained for something like this.
While in the air, it swung something small and fast that I could barely make out what it was. It looked like some sort of shuriken but bigger and with deadlier blades. It flew towards the soldiers, which some tried to jump out of the way but failed. It cut through several of them like they were made of butter. Heads, arms and even torsos burst into the air like shards from an explosion and spilled everywhere along with their blood.
When the soldiers thought it was over, my eyes widened when I saw the shuriken come back like a boomerang and cut even more of them but somehow landed in the stranger's hands with no damage and while in the air no less. It was good.
The stranger landed behind the line of soldiers and quickly used a set of blades from its wrist to stab one soldier through his chest and burst out from the back, causing more blood to be spilled.
Soldiers began to panic, "What the FUCK do we do!?"
"I don't know! It's gonna kill us!"
"Oh my god!"
"Help me!"
There were so many screams that it almost hurt my ears. I didn't know what I'd got myself into. All I wanted was to find what Stargazer wanted, destroy it, and go on my merry way. If I had known that some kind of killer aliens were gonna bring hell on Earth, I would have laughed at myself. But now . . .
The stranger kept taking out more soldiers but then I noticed that Traeger was nowhere to be found. Wasn't he with the soldiers before?
I scanned through the chaos until I spotted him, shielded by some of his personal guards and he just watched and smiled. This guy was fucking crazy! He just watched his men get shredded into pieces by some fucking alien and all he's doing is smiling!
This man needed to die. He knew nothing but pleasure that stemmed from violence and death. He was right there, distracted by the fighting and it was a golden opportunity to sneak around and stab him in the back.
I crept slowly from tree to tree, going around the war zone and finally making it to the rear of Traeger and his guard. This was my moment. Don't screw this up!
With my blade in my hand, I emerged from behind the nearest tree and ran out to him, rage blinding me from everything else.
Just as I about to reach him, someone hit me on the side of my head, slamming the butt of a gun over my left eyebrow and knocking me to the ground. I fell flat on my stomach and my head throbbed with intense pain. I groaned but didn't have much time to breathe when a foot slammed on the side of my face and kept me down on the floor.
I only had little movement to tilt my head towards my attacker and saw that it was one of Traeger's guards that must have snooped behind me, knowing of my intentions. The man took a glance at me before looking at Traeger, who nodded his head as approval. I didn't have a clue what he meant until the guard clicked his gun and aimed it into the side of my head. They wanted to kill me.
Before he could, his chest erupted, dowsing me with blood, but what was shocking was that a tail protruded out from him. I remembered that tail. It was that black creature again! The xenomorph!
The hissing sound confirmed it and with little effort, it swung the guard from its tail and stared down at me with a look of vengeance. I didn't know how it could with no eyes but I could feel it.
However, it diverted its attention to the guards and Traeger when they began firing at it. It somehow ignored the bullets and flew onto them, tearing them apart. Some of them took Traeger and ran in the opposite direction and out of sight. There goes my opportunity!
I was able to lift myself back up but struggled with my balance. The pain in my head felt worse when I stood upright. I tried to lift my head but felt dizzy, dazed and suddenly felt fatigued. I ignored it as best as I could so that I could focus on the xenomorph that finished off the rest of the soldiers and now was charging at me.
It hissed and screamed and ran fast but then something caught its tail and flung it in the opposite direction and onto the ground. I recognized the silhouette and realized that it was the stranger, still standing strong. For a minute, I thought I saw him glanced a little in my direction but wasn't certain since I could only see the lining of its body but I believed it.
Was he trying to protect me?
I doubted it. It was just seeing another monster in its path and I was conveniently in the way.
The stranger, which I assumed could be a male given his size, turned in the direction of the xenomorph that attacked previously but the xenomorph propped itself back up and hissed loudly at him. In response, he snarled back and growled a deep warning. They were gonna duel to the death. If I had to bet my life on one side, I put it all with him since I've seen his handiwork up close and personal but the xenomorph was also deadly and not to be underestimated.
However, the tables suddenly turned on the stranger. Soon, more hissing was heard but there were multiple of them at once. This was bad . . . There was more of those black creatures than I thought and that's when I tilted my head up and saw something unbelievable.
A dozen of those xenomorphs hung on the branches above and looked furious. The stranger also picked up the sounds and looked in the same direction. I could see that he knew he was in some trouble. There was one of it and dozens of them and even with its size, it's not enough.
Soon, they all attacked with a mighty scream. All the xenomorphs lunged down from the trees and into the direction of the stranger. He wasted little time and put up a valiant fight, tearing apart some xenomorphs with its wrist blades and grabbing them with its free hand and threw them like rocks. But the xenomorphs had other ideas.
Some twisted and moved to his side while others took its rear, surrounding the stranger in a circle. It was trapped now.
He turned in every direction to assess its situation and knew it must be in trouble but what it did next shock me.
Suddenly, the stranger's mask clicked around like it was activating and a red laser sprouted from the mask's corner, making a three-spot triangle and aiming at the xenomorphs. The black creatures suddenly crouched low and started to back up like they were afraid.
Why would they be scared of a laser? What can it do to them?
My answer was given to me in an instant. The silhouette of a gun popped on the stranger's 'supposed' shoulder and lit up with blue light. Soon a ball of it flew through the air and hit its mark on one of the xenomorphs. They screamed in agony but the sudden brightness of the gun stunned me and I couldn't see.
When my vision returned, to my shock, some xenomorphs laid on the ground dead with huge gaping holes in the middle of their bodies. I connected the dots and realized that the stranger's gun was lethal. In one second, it could turn you into a pile of shit.
He didn't hesitate and fired his gun again at the xenomorphs. The black aliens scurried around like squirrels but then one of them would try to attack the stranger off guard but failed miserably when it took its wrist blades and skewered it.
I could only watch and admire his fighting skills. It almost felt like he was built to fight and kill like all of its life was dedicated for moments like this. What amazed but also frightened me was how stoic he was, not reacting in the slightest. Sometimes, I wondered if I could do the same thing but logically, it wouldn't be possible.
A deafening roar snapped me back to reality and I turned to see the stranger getting pinned down by one of the xenomorphs on top of it and struggling to fight it off. Shit!
If he went down, there was no telling who could stop the xenomorphs from killing more people. They probably won't stop until everything on this planet was dead. I needed to do something quick. But what?
The only weapons that I had were my dual knives. There weren't much but better than nothing since I threw my gun away earlier. I could at least stun the xenomorph and would give the stranger a chance to kill it. It's worth a try.
I got myself back on my feet, took out my other knife and held one in each hand. I took one huge breath and pushed my feet to run towards the stranger and the xenomorph.
Luckily, the xenomorph didn't see me coming until it was too late. I jumped onto its back and in an instant, I drove both blades into the base of its neck. The shrill cry from it was enough to make my headache worse than I thought it could get but that became the least of my problems when I noticed something.
When blood from the xenomorph burst from the wound I made, it landed on my jacket that I was wearing and then I smelt something burning like acid. I looked down and to my horror, a hole in my jacket was forming and growing larger.
Shit! So this alien has acidic blood? This is bad!
When I saw that it wasn't going to stop and was about to make contact with my skin, I ripped my jacket off and threw it in the opposite direction. By the time it hit the ground, the jacket was almost disintegrated. I believed that it would happen to me next.
Although I injured the xenomorph, it still was alive and angrier than ever. It bucked and pushed me off and I smashed onto the dirt with an alarming pain, my knives still embedded in its neck. I must have bruised a rib or something since I was having difficulty breathing. I didn't have time to assess my injuries and the xenomorph was right up in my face.
Its arms pinned me down and it was too strong for me to push back. It was like trying to throw a boulder off me but then I saw it open its mouth and much to my alarm, another set of jaws came out and my eyes enlarged in shock. I had nothing else to defend myself. It was gonna eat me alive.
Again, the xenomorph was pulled into the air away from me and all I can see was the stranger, holding up the xenomorph by the neck. Next thing I knew, the stranger severed its head from its body while the rest of it plopped onto the ground. It was definitely dead now, without a doubt.
He held it up for everyone to see and roared a victory cry as if he was proud of what had transpired. It was opposite for me . . . I was more terrified than I'd ever been.
My body went frozen when he moved towards my direction and I wondered if he was going to do the same thing to me. To him, I was nothing more than prey and if he could kill the xenomorph, then I was dead meat.
Luckily, the other xenomorphs were still around to occupy him and they cried out from anger; they wanted revenge.
The stranger dropped the alien head and growled, ready for another fight and sure enough, it came with full force.
The xenomorphs raced after him and began their flurry of attacks on it, most of which he deflected and the rest it swatted like flies. However, when it tried to use its shoulder-mounted gun, it just hissed and started to produce smoke. The stranger snorted and swung his head to one side. If I didn't know any better, he sounded like it was frustrating, knowing that his gun was of no use to it now. It might have happened when the last xenomorph jumped on him and broke it.
With tons of xenomorphs prowling towards it, I heard some beeping noises like someone was putting in a code of some sort and it came from the direction of the stranger. Then, another noise erupted but sounded more like metal groaning.
That's when I saw the ship opening up and I realized that the stranger was going to retreat.
No sooner did the door fully open, he turned and sprinted to it. Immediately, I knew I needed to follow it but at that moment, I didn't know if it was because I was not gonna miss this opportunity to see what was inside or if it's because the xenomorphs were charging towards me and the ship. Either way, I was gonna enter that ship, whether I wanted to or not.
I scrambled to stand and ran as fast as I could towards the ship's opening. I still felt my bruised rib and it was causing tremendous pain for me to breathe but I pushed forward and made it closer to the ship.
The xenomorphs were not far behind as I heard their shuffling nearby but I tried to concentrate on making it to the finish line before they were on me. My situation became dire when the stranger entered the ship and the doors began to close. Now, I was in trouble and my life depended on making it more than ever.
The door was about to shut, so when I was just a few feet away from it, I made one final leap and passed under just before it finally closed. The xenomorphs tried to do the same but were met with the hard metal of the door, screeching in frustration.
Phew . . . You are one lucky son of a bitch.
I couldn't have said that better. I was lucky. If I was a few seconds slower, I would have been a snack for the xenomorphs. I kneeled down for a moment to catch my break. It didn't matter if there was danger around me; I just needed to catch my breath after running so much, not to mention my bruised rib that was still bothering me.
When I managed to pull myself together, I was back on my feet and glanced around to see the inner parts of the ship.
Holy shit!
The place was huge! I'd never seen anything like it. It was mostly a dark grey color on the walls, much like metal but with several lights around the bottom rims that, upon further inspection, looked like symbols all lined up together. This was an alien language that I was somewhat familiar with it. It reminded of when I was in the labs and didn't have a choice but to look at them. Remembering it gave me an unpleasant stomach ache.
Though I wanted to look at them more, I was interrupted when I felt a tip of a gun on the back of my head but I knew it wasn't the stranger but a man.
"Well, well, well. What have we here?"
I froze on the spot but only because I knew who it was and moving would cause more problems, especially in a ship I don't know about. The only question running through my mind was how the soldiers from before snuck aboard the ship. I thought I was the only one who made it out.
"Alright. Now, stand up slowly and put your hands above your head."
I did as the soldier said but I was tempted to throw a sucker punch at his face.
"Okay. Now, turn around and don't move."
Again, I had no choice but to obey and as soon as I turned around, I saw a couple of soldiers, including the one pointing the gun at my head and the one person that I never wanted to see again. Traeger . . .
Traeger walked forward, stopping near the soldier and me with a smirk on his face. I just wanted to rip that smile off his face. He's always smiling . . .
"So, this is the girl who killed some of my men and aided our target against the xenomorph. Not to mention that you tried to kill me during the fight." Traeger was giggling with delight. This guy is definitely insane.
I just shrugged my shoulders and gave him a humored smile in return, "So this is the guy who only thinks of protecting himself while his buddies get plucked off one by one."
Traeger seemed amused by my defiance, "You're one feisty little girl. You would have made a great soldier in my army but I can't ignore that some of my men died because of you. You are a nuisance and a waste of breath."
Burning rage built inside me when he said that. Did he just call me a nuisance? A waste of breath?
I wanted to teach him a lesson and I knew what pissed him off so, in response, I spat in his face. I hoped he enjoyed that one as much as the last time I did it to him.
Like a repeated response from long ago, he punched my face and I fell backward onto the metal floor. It was just like old times except I wasn't some helpless girl anymore— oh how much I wanted to show him that. I brought my face back up and stared at him with such anger in my eyes. I wanted to let him know how much I hated him.
But then Traeger suddenly focused on me with such intent and when I realized what he was doing, my anger disappeared while nervousness replaced it. Traeger looked closer at my face and asked, "You seem familiar. Have we met before?"
I didn't want him to know who I was. I was lucky to keep my identity from being revealed because if I was discovered, they would hunt me down again and make sure that I wouldn't escape this time. I didn't want that so when he started to recognize me, my heart began to race frantically.
But when Traeger tried to look closer, the sound of screaming echoed within the ship. Everyone, including Traeger and me, looked and saw one of the soldiers raised up into the air with blades protruding out of his abdomen. I knew instantly who it was.
The Stranger.
In a few seconds, Traeger yelled to his men, "OPEN FIRE!"
More bullets flew everywhere and it felt like they were just shooting out of panic and I couldn't blame them. The stranger was powerful and not to be messed with.
I took the opportunity to snatch the gun from the soldier who pinned me down and smacked the butt of it onto his head, knocking him out. Traeger saw this and took his pistol out and aimed at me.
Just as we were about to exchange bullets, the stranger leaped between us, still invisible to the naked eye but I could see his faint silhouette. Quickly, he grabbed both our guns and snatched them away, throwing them far from our reach. I was furious. I saved his life earlier and then he took the only protection I had. What an asshole!
Although Traeger was shocked by the action, he turned to his men and ordered them, "Shoot the ground! Now!"
I didn't know what he meant until I glanced down at my feet and realized that the floor was unstable after the crash and ready to crack. With enough force to it, it could break and we all would fall deeper into the ship.
Oh shit!
Soon, a hail of bullets landed near our feet and hit their mark; the ground shook for a moment and then the next thing I knew, gravity took hold of us as we began to fall.
A handful of soldiers, the stranger and I were caught in the fall but Traeger successfully hopped over to the solid ground just in time and landed in a safe area. I swear that man knew nothing but how to look out for himself.
My petty thoughts were useless when I felt weightless as I fell down into the depths of the ship and swallowed up into darkness. I lost all visual on everything around me, including the others that fell with me.
What seemed like hours later, I finally woke up lying on my stomach on a cold floor. I groaned in pain; my body was aching all over and thinking back, the trip down was something I would never do again.
I willed myself to get up and try to move. I still felt like I was in danger and I needed to find my way out of the ship. I've had enough of this!
I didn't want to deal with this anymore. I almost lost my life several times in one night. I felt pain everywhere and I was sick of it. I decided then and there to escape by any means necessary.
It is so dark… I can't see anything!
I tried to maneuver around the wreckage surrounding me . . .
How do I get out of here? I want to get out of this nightmare and forget all about it!
Using my hands, I moved almost like a blind man across the wall until I found a hole on the side or at least I thought so . . . It felt like a latch or a code lock used for doors and such . . . My heart rose in my chest and filled with hope that it might be my way out . . .
Come on Anya! Keep yourself together!
The doors automatically opened so fast that I jumped in fright and for a moment, I thought my heart would leap out of my chest . . .
Finally! I can get out of this hellhole!
After a while, I came to realize that there is no exit and that this room was a dead end . . .
How could this happen? How could I be so stupid? What made me think that I could do all of this by myself?
Soon, tears threatened to form in my eyes and I choked as to keep from screaming my lungs out . . .
This is it. I'm done… I'm not strong enough.
I knew I was not alone . . . I saw a silhouette of a person in front of me but it wasn't like another person . . .
"Who are you? Show yourself!"
The silhouette started to appear and soon a huge form replaced it . . . I soon realized that it was one of those aliens I saw before . . .
Come on! Just run and get out of here!
I heard metal scraping from its wrist as two pairs of blades protrude out from the gauntlet . . . It raised its arm in the air, ready to strike me down and end my life . . .
This is it… It's over for me.
At that moment when it seemed that time slowed down, my life would change forever as if it was always meant to be . . .
Hi Readers!
Hope you are loving this story! I love the reviews and I would like to thank all of you for supporting my story thus far. You are what inspires me to continue with it. This chapter is a little longer than the others so I apologize but I hope to make up for it when you've read this chapter to the end :)
Now, Anya is in a little trouble and is getting more than what she had bargained for . . . but will it because of bad luck or for a reason? Will find out in next chapter :)