Hello, readers!
Keeping this update train going. As always, let me know if anything's off!
This chapter has been updated as of 5/7/2016.
~Crayola
Chapter Seven
Die Trying
The dog tags bumped my chest as we moved, and I had a sinking feeling that Simmons gave them to me because he knew they had a better chance of making it out.
Three minutes later, the hallway forked and Simmons led me down the right-side path, and it was mere steps down the path before one of the serpents found us. Its high-pitched cry shattered my nerves and Simmons pulled me behind him, gun sighted.
Sure, I manage to avoid coming upon one until I buddy up with a partner.
Darkness extended in front and behind. Simmons backed up, pushing me against a wall, and I held still with the flat side of the knife against my chest.
Something dripped on my shoulder from above; chrome fangs glistened as I turned my gaze. The scream ripped from my throat before I could stop it and I pushed away from the wall, blundering into Simmons. The soldier shouted and shoved me around so he could stay in front of me.
"How the fuck did it get behind us?" he growled, firing at the ebony beast.
It squealed and ducked as the bullets pelted its head, but it seemed to have little more effect than a BB gun. Simmons pushed us backwards as it leaped down from its perch, tail lashing behind it and teeth bared. I held the knife out with both hands, but I wasn't sure what good it would do.
Too late I thought about counting his shots.
He fired a few more rounds, those bullets finding target in the alien's chest. It staggered and squealed, yellow acid dripping from the wounds, but it seemed only to make it angrier.
That was all he had. His gun clicked several times and he spat a curse before throwing it at our enemy. The firearm bounced off its armored head and it hissed in irritation. Simmons turned and wrenched the knife from my grasp and a protest died in my throat.
What was I going to do with it that he couldn't do better?
Though Simmons was doing his best to hide it, I could see how much pain he was in. He was doubled over, one arm pressed against his chest and teeth gritted. His shoulders hunched inward and he suppressed a cough before speaking.
"Run, I'll hold it off. You have to get out of here!" he demanded. I stood paralyzed for a moment, wondering if I could help but knowing it was pointless.
He shouted, "Go on!"
This time I didn't hesitate. The authority in his voice was enough to send me sprinting in the opposite direction. Behind me the serpent screeched and Simmons yelled a battle cry. My legs pumped and I didn't look back.
Running again.
Always leaving others behind.
What could I do? He'd taken my weapon, and he was going to die no matter what. If not from the serpent, then from the one growing inside him.
The helplessness sapped my strength and my will. I could do nothing but run and rely on other people to save me. The monsters were invincible to anything but what the humanoid carried. He'd made it clear that he didn't want a tag-along, so I was as good as dead in here.
No one would save me, and I was barely capable of saving myself.
Running was all I could do to delay the inevitable.
Simmons didn't buy me much time. I didn't expect him to. It still startled me when the monster struck me from behind and knocked me flat on my stomach.
I flipped over onto my back and had just enough time to roll out of the way before its tail could skewer me. There wasn't enough time to stand. I kept rolling as its tail stabbed into the ground after me, then jerked to a stop when it pinned my jacket.
My hands fumbled with the knot while the serpent fought to free its tail. The jacket came loose first and I crawled away from it a ways before scrambling to my feet. Not long after, it shunted into me and I was sent sprawling again. The wind rushed from my lungs and I wheezed, still trying to find my footing. Claws raked down my back, tearing my shirt and skin, and I wailed, my back arched.
Cold metal brushed my fingers and they curled around a piece of debris the size of a football. My teeth ground together and I turned around swinging.
Somehow, I hit.
The sound of metal against chitin was satisfying, but my elbows jarred at the impact. It wasn't even enough to stun it for more than a split second. The serpent-bug lashed out in kind, smacking me with a strong claw. I was reduced to being prone once more, my impromptu weapon sent skittering across the floor and out of reach.
This time I couldn't stand before it was on me, pinning me down. It bared its teeth in a perverted version of a grin.
No matter how I struggled, it wouldn't budge.
Out of the corner of my eye its tail rose, arched high and poised to strike. Tears fell uninhibited down my cheeks and I choked out a helpless sob. It hissed and viscous saliva dripped from its maw, pooling on my chest. Its tail made it three inches through the air before jerking to a stop. Though it didn't remove its weight from atop me, the beast went rigid. Claws drew pinpricks of pain in my arm as it turned its head to see what held it.
Just as before, the humanoid alien melted into view, taloned hand holding the tail.
At the same time the serpent turned to strike, he heaved the thing through the air with a mighty swing. It slammed into the wall and he approached its crumpled form with a low rattle.
Before it could recover, he pulled his spear from its place on his back. It extended with a flourish and he thrust it through the alien's skull in the same graceful swing. It let out a strangled screech before going limp where it was.
Head shots, like a zombie.
I tore my gaze from the corpse to look up at him. He twitched his head to the side, dreadlocks clattering together. The same mask. It was my good old buddy.
Somehow, he'd found me.
Or had he never left? Had he been following me the whole time? It seemed impossible that he'd just happen upon me by luck. There hadn't been any signs, though. He hadn't made any noises or anything. I couldn't imagine why he would have been following me, why he would have gone through the trouble.
We watched each other for a few seconds before I averted my gaze. I managed to sit up and wrap my arms around myself to keep from splitting at the seams. Tremors threatened to shake loose all my bits and pieces.
It was going to kill me.
No more escape. No more chances. It wasn't going to cocoon me to a wall and try again. The alien just wanted me out of the picture.
But he'd come, and he'd stopped it.
He had to have been following me. I'd turned down so many random corridors for almost half an hour, forty-five minutes. There was no way he happened upon me. Following me made no sense, either, so I wondered if he'd heard the commotion nearby and came to investigate.
Why bother saving me? Maybe he hadn't done it on purpose.
I picked myself up and winced when the various scratches rubbed against the fabric of my clothes. Shouldn't have taken my jacket off.
"Have you been following me?" I asked, tone sharper than I'd intended.
He turned to face me full on and I quailed. So close to him I realized exactly how giant he was. Never had I felt so small and weak: he had to be eight feet tall, maybe three hundred pounds. All of it muscle, and he was armed to the teeth.
Don't sass the armed killing machine.
What was I doing anyway, talking to an alien? It wasn't like he could understand me. For all he knew I was insulting his mother.
When he took another step toward me I snapped my head up, afraid he might strike me. I would have moved backwards more, but there was a wall blocking my path. My fear flared and I lifted my hands as if to protect myself from his attack—as if it were possible.
One backhand was sure to leave me down for the count.
His head tilted to the side, and then a voice echoed from his mask. "Have you been following me?" it asked.
Not his voice. Mine, tinny and mechanical.
A recording? Was he recording everything? Communication, surveillance, research, there were plenty of reasons why he might do that, but the thing that struck me the most was that he understood what I'd asked. He comprehended enough of what I'd said to play back the correct phrase and throw my question back in my face. What the hell kind of alien was this, and how long had they been on Earth?
Or how often did they visit Earth?
"You can understand me?" I asked, my head spinning at all the possibilities and implications. He'd known I'd been following him, and now I felt only embarrassment at thinking I'd been slick.
Nichole: World-class spy. As if.
After glancing me over, he made a gruff sound and dipped his head once. It was a slow, deliberate, and exaggerated motion. It wasn't the quick nods I was used to, but close enough.
Translator, or good with languages?
I opened my mouth as if to speak, but nothing came out so I closed it again. He filled the silence by playing my voice back at me once more, demanding to know. I imagined the low chittering sound he made now was in irritation as I ignored his question.
My mouth bobbed as I tried to find the words, then I finally said, "I asked you first."
He snorted and extended his hand toward me, making me flinch in expectation of an attack. Instead, the weight pressed on my shoulder and he moved me out of the way with shove. The action sent me staggering behind him, nearly falling.
Biting back a protest I turned, watching him. I was against a wall, so I hadn't been in his way. He'd just shoved me because he was mad and started to walk away, leaving me behind.
His form melted into nothingness.
Not this time.
"Hey! Hey come back here!" I shouted, running him down in the hallway after grabbing my jacket. I slammed into his invisible back with enough force to almost flatten me and he reappeared with a snarl, whirling around to face me.
Without flinching I regained my balance. "I'm coming with you!" I snapped.
The humanoid cocked his head to the side and rumbled an incredulous question. Before he could make any more noise, I continued on with my rant. "I can help, or something. I'll . . . I can be bait, or if you give me a weapon I can fight!"
Like he'd give you one.
He regarded me for several heartbeats and I tried to seem firm. I hoped he didn't notice the way my hands trembled, or how my heart stuttered. After several seconds, he turned to the side and made a wry crackling sound before playing back another clip of my voice. "Bait."
It wasn't what I'd hoped, but he was going to let me follow him around nonetheless.
Despite how he ignored my question on purpose, I asked again. "Can I at least have a weapon?"
His head shook and at first I thought it was to indicate in the negative, but he looked around. I surmised it might be to show exasperation, but I wasn't sure. I waited for him to do whatever it was he was doing, and finally he walked toward the wall and leaned down to pick something up.
"Weapon," he played back, dropping a piece of scrap metal into my waiting palm. The same piece of scrap metal I'd used on the serpent moments prior.
My expression flattened and I huffed. He'd been watching at least that long.
"Oh you got jokes, do ya?" Under my breath I added, "Bastard . . . ."
Still, I kept it held tightly in my hand as he pushed me onward.
*:・゚✧
Minutes into our journey, I spotted Simmons' prone form ahead. I crept toward him only to find he was missing his chest. Squeaking, I fumbled backwards into the solid wall that was my guide. He growled and steered me around the body, his heavy hand on my shoulder. I glanced back at the soldier I'd known for all of two minutes, then let the humanoid push me on.
You knew, I reminded myself. It wasn't going to end any other way for him.
Closing my eyes tight, I tried to ignore the playback image of his face. I took a deep breath and shoved it into the back of my mind with the rest of the horrific shit.
Simmons was otherwise unmarred by other injuries. The creature had ignored him for me.
From there on, my escort remained in cloak during our travels. I could hear him behind me, but only if I listened really hard for the sound of his footfalls. For being so huge, he could be silent as a cat. It was almost as if he wasn't there at all. Like I was alone.
Whenever I was close to panicking, he came up behind me and bumped my shoulder, as if reminding me he was there. Even though he was a little rough, it always served to calm me down. I couldn't decide if he was doing it for the express purpose of comforting me, or if it was in his best interest. I imagined he wouldn't put up with me having a breakdown.
I didn't want to have a panic attack in front of him, either. Not after talking all that good shit to convince him to take me with him.
Still, for the first time that night, I felt sort of safe.
Safe enough to pull my phone and use the flashlight. Safe enough to walk tall instead of crouched and scuttling like a rat in a sewer.
The numbers on my screen told me I'd been on the ship for a little more than two hours. The sun would rise in another three or four, but it would be longer than that before my parents realized I was missing: I slept in late on the weekends.
But, only two and a half hours until the military realized something was wrong.
Focus. Focus.
I was still holding the hunk of metal that he'd given me. The whole thing had been his sad attempt at humor I was sure, but there I was, hanging on to it anyway.
In the end it gave me something to concentrate on other than my impending doom.
We walked in never ending silence, though questions about him and his race burned inside me. He could understand me, but it seemed unlikely he would be able to communicate to me with any clarity. I wasn't sure how comfortable I was to be able to strum up conversation, anyway.
Navigating was difficult. I had no idea where I was going, so I had to rely on my escort's rough shoves in the right direction.
Outside of the egg chambers, there wasn't much resin coating the passages. Some places had the beginnings of nest material, but left unfinished for whatever reason. There wasn't much to see in the hallways except for the occasional strange marking or broken panels. The mist swirled around our feet, and my chest burned.
Every time we passed a doorway (most of them I didn't see until he went through them), he would pull me to a stop. The first few times I would attempt to follow him, and each time he growled at me until I finally stopped trying.
"What are you looking for?" I asked when he emerged from one such room.
As I expected, he answered with nothing more than a chuff and pushed me onward. The bright green blood of his people tipped his fingers.
We came to a fork in the path and he gave me no indication of which way to go, so I picked one at random. His means of correcting me was to grab my arm with a too-hard grip and whirled me around in the opposite direction. It was followed by a reprimanding, sharp trill. It almost sent me sprawling to the floor, but I caught myself.
"Watch it, meat head! Don't make me lead if you don't like where I go!" I barked at him, indignant. I regretted it as soon as it was out of my mouth, but he didn't chide or strike me.
Probably because he knew he'd break his new toy if he did.
Despite the fact that we'd been wandering for what seemed like hours we didn't run into any signs of life. There were no night-black monsters, and none of his kind. We heard them, though, and their horrible nails-on-chalkboard screech.
I was doing what I could, too. I called out every now and again, trying to see if I could bait a creature into coming or maybe even find other survivors. The section of the ship we were in was devoid of life. He seemed unconcerned with what I did until I tried to go down the wrong path—a path that he seemed to want to take.
There were others on the ship, though. His hands were stained with the blood of his fallen friends. He was looking for more survivors.
When I was about to ask and confirm my thoughts, a sound in the distance brought us both to pause. It was far different from the sounds the rest made: louder, angrier. A raspy roar that ended with a rolling hiss. Seconds later it was followed by a bellow like a high-pitched tyrannosaur.
Whatever it was, it was coming toward us. The hall was soon filled with sudden pulses of shrill, echoing crackles. They were not unlike the rattling sounds he made.
"What is that?" I asked, my voice small as I lifted a hand to see if I could touch him. Find him.
My escort reappeared with an arch of electricity and shoved me forward into a sprint. He didn't have to tell me twice, but I didn't run far before he shoved me into a dark room. He swung me around by the arm until I was flat against the wall and out of view of the hallway. I grunted and shot him a glare, rubbing my arm.
It was a small chamber, empty save for the irregular lumps in the center and a single metal table against the wall. There were no people mounted up in cocoons, though the walls were decorated with dried slime. Eggs had been left there for storage.
Waiting for victims to impregnate.
Impregnate. The word sent tremors chasing down my spine.
Another bout of echoing crackles resonated down the hall and brought me from my trance. I poked my head out to look down the hallway, but saw nothing. My escort was still outside, fingers flexing at his sides. Every now and again I heard terse clicking from under his mask.
Far down the hallway, something moved.
I turned a questioning gaze to him, but his attention was down the corridor. The shrill roar made me jump and I ducked behind the wall, clutching the metal in my hands.
"What's going on? What are we doing?" I asked in a stage whisper.
He turned toward me, then pointed at the spot I was standing. I blinked at him and shook my head. He babbled nonsense at me and put his palm up. That was a sign I knew: stay. Then he turned away and disappeared down the hallway, not bothering with his invisibility.
My eyes narrowed and I let out my breath in a rush of air. "Wonderful."
Aggravated, I turned my repressed anger to the nearest egg, pushing it over onto its side with the flat of my foot. I applied pressure until it popped like a melon and spilled unpleasantness all over the floor at my feet.
As if the creature knew, it shrieked and heavy footsteps thundered down the hallway. I turned in time to see my escort shooting past the doorway.
Was he. . .running?
Fear wrapped its icy fingers around my heart and I dove to the floor, away from the opening so I was out of sight. Each step the unseen monster took, the ground shuddered. I pressed myself hard against the wall and clapped my hands over my ears to block out the rapid sounds pummeling the air.
There was no way anything less than a train was barreling down the hallway. It shook the ground as it pounded after my escort, snorting and hissing. My wall shook and rained dust and small chunks of debris over me. That strange clicking continued, rapid and unrelenting. I clenched my eyes, took a breath, then leaned out the opening as it passed to take a peek at what it was. I only caught a glimpse, but from that I knew one thing: it was massive.
It barely fit in the hallway, tearing down panels and wiring as it crashed through the thin corridor. Its thick, spiked tail slapped against the walls and I flinched back, avoiding being crushed by a hunk of construction. An extra set of legs powered it around a corner, breaking a chunk off as it disappeared with an angry sound.
Oh my god oh my god what are we going to do? It's huge!
It's strange calls petered out as it ran after my escort. The familiar screeches of the others zipped past as well, following their leader. I shrank further into the darkness, praying that none of them noticed me.
All my optimism sank away with my escort—if he couldn't handle that monstrosity and its minions, that was the end of it.
I waited ten or fifteen seconds after the noises died, then let go of my knees and stood. Part of me wanted to follow after the humanoid, but the other part didn't want to go against his orders. He wanted me to stay, so I knew he'd come back for me at some point. If he did, the last thing I wanted to do was go gallivanting around the ship and make it hard for him to find me.
Unless he was dead. Then I'd be stuck in the room forever, waiting for him to return when he never would. At some point I'd just have to leave.
Or maybe waiting was a good thing. If I could stay in this room undiscovered, then at some point the military would show up and rescue me. The only thing wrong with that was I was in their egg storage room . . . so eventually the serpents would show up.
Either that or the eggs would hatch and I'd have to fend off the facehuggers again. If I wanted to wait, I'd have to destroy the eggs and make sure I had less issues.
After all, I'd always been told to stay put if I was lost.
A thought occurred to me and I pulled out my cell phone to check the reception. I had little hope that it would work, and wasn't disappointed when I didn't have a signal. It still burned me up inside with irritation, but I was able to move past it.
With the stupid chunk of scrap metal in hand, I set about breaking the eggs. I was careful not to disturb the unborn facehuggers, as the goo inside the egg didn't seem to be acidic. My mistake in the first egg chamber had been stomping the creatures inside the eggs to mush: they were the ones filled with corrosive blood.
There were a few more than a dozen eggs in the small room, stacked neatly next to one another. I tipped them all over one by one, stepping on them until they ruptured.
It was a mindless enough task, leaving me to think about how many monsters there were. It had to have been three or four dozen at this point. Did my escort plan to kill them all by himself, or did he have other survivors running around and helping?
Even if there were other humanoids, I didn't think they could kill them all before they found their way to town.
Hopefully that would take them some time. My friends and I had hiked for a while, making it maybe two or three miles into the park. Town was already miles away from the park, then however far away the ship was from where they'd caught us.
How fast could these things cover ground?
Halfway through the eggs, the fate of my friends wiggled into my brain. I wondered if they were dead, or if they had managed to make it out like I had. Maybe they were even sneaking around the ship.
I smashed my hands against my forehead and whined through clenched teeth. Focus on the here. Focus on the now. Surviving would be impossible if I didn't concentrate. At some point we would come across my friends. If I could stay in this alien's good graces, he might help me rescue them from their predicament.
If they weren't already dead.
"Don't—think—like—that!" I grunted as I pushed over another egg, panting.
Upon popping it, the premature facehugger inside writhed and squealed, skittering around. I gasped and leaped away from it, but it seemed disoriented. After a minute, it flipped over and twitched until it died. The thing was half the size of the ones I'd seen before, and the color of bile instead of ashen. It was the only one that moved, so I wondered how close it had been to hatching.
There were two eggs left. I kept myself busy by muttering nonsense to myself, complaining about how my escort treated me.
Hissing drew me from my distractions.
I'd been caught with my foot planted atop the second to last egg, pressing down on it. The bug-thing and I stared at each other for a moment, its lips drawn back in a silent snarl and tail twitching behind it. It crouched there, with its hands curled against its chest, hiding its full size.
When it moved toward me, I screeched something akin to a battle cry and stomped on the egg. Its contents spilled over the resin-covered floor in a gush, the premature facehugger flopping before me. I stared at it, then added insult to injury by kicking the parasite toward its brethren. I knew it was a terrible idea as soon as I did it.
It ducked to avoid the dead projectile and swung its head toward me with a blood-curdling scream. I was afraid it would attack right then, but instead it turned to approach the dead facehugger with a warbled whine.
The alien sidled up next to the dead embryo and nosed it. I thought I heard it keen in mourning, and I couldn't dredge up even the smallest amount of sympathy.
Its head swiveled to face me and my body went rigid as stone. Liquid fire burned through my veins as adrenaline kicked in. I held the chunk of metal above my head, ready to bash the monster. Not like it was actually going to save me from the demon.
After all, when I'd used it on the last one, I'd stunned it for a single second. It hadn't been enough time to do anything.
"Any second now . . . ," I whispered to myself.
Any second and he'd show up. He'd kill it, and I'd be okay.
I held my ground even as it advanced on me, certain that the big goon would materialize and save me. There was only one for him to kill. If any others showed up, I'd find a way to help. Or hide. There had to be something I could do.
But he didn't, even as the serpent-bug rose to its full height. He didn't, even as it took a step toward me, ready to strike.
