Author's Note: For all the people who are reading, please leave a review. I appreciate the people who already are, but I'm sure there many more of you who are reading other than the people commenting. Especially the people who are following this story. It really helps if you guys can all give me some feedback. Thank you in advanced. Well, here's the next chapter. Enjoy!
The winds blew through the trees of the Californian valley, making the branches whistle with the wind; the sound filled the void of silence in the night sky. A wild goat walked along the slope of a small mountain. It stopped a few seconds to eat small plants and weeds that grew in special areas under large boulders. As it yanked a hard piece of grass out of the soil, it heard the sound of grass rustling behind it. The goat, startled, jumped and began running up the hill. It was their instinct as prey to run from any suspicious noise.
As the ram reached the top of the slope, a small, eight legged creature jumped down from the tree branches and latched onto the goat's face. The goat shook its head and struggled to dislodge the creature from it's mouth, but to no avail. Soon, the goat lost consciousness and collapsed onto the ground.
The night was now silent as ever. A few hours have passed since the goat had lost consciousness. It awoken again and tried to stand up on its legs. They were too weak. A searing pain overwhelmed the goat as it began screeching and bleating. The cries of the poor animal were left unheard as it felt something squeezing and pushing inside it's body. With one last screech, the goat's belly burst open and a little, four legged chestburster rolled out onto the soil, soaked in the goat's blood. The goat died instantly, dead before it hit the ground. The new born xeno gave a loud screech to celebrate it's own birth into the new world.
The Queen's work on Earth has already begun….
Rachel sat quietly at the dinner table as she ate. Michael sensed that something was up.
"Hey, Rae. Are you sure you aren't keeping anything from me about the trip?" he asked. Rachel looked up at his boyfriend and let out a sigh.
"It was just….a long journey. I guess I'm just fatigued from all those days of rigorous work." she said. Damn, I got to stop lying. She thought. "I think I'll be going to bed now. I need some rest."
Rachel got up from her seat and disappeared up the stairs. Michael couldn't help but stare at Rachel's dinner plate. She hadn't eaten anything.
Riiiinnnggg! With the sound of his cell phone as it buzzed against the counter top in the kitchen. Michael jumped out of his seat from surprise. He walked over and flipped open the phone.
"Hello?" he asked.
"Hello, Dr. Coran. This is Weyland Yutani." the man on the other side spoke with a deep, and serious tone.
"Oh, Dr. Yutani! How may I be of assistance?" asked Michael.
"We had a little problem at the site of the Weyland Interstellar shortly after you left. It seemed that three xenomorphs had somehow managed to escape from the confinements of the ship and escape into the Californian Valleys. Two standard, one queen."
"What?! Then this is serious! Will the people be in danger? How do we keep the public from knowing about them?"
"This is exactly why I'm calling you." said Weyland. "I want you to be on the lookout for these creatures. I'm afraid that because there is a queen, mass reproduction will occur without a doubt. Pay attention to the news. Any time there is a mention of an alien lifeform or gruesome murder, you find all the information about it and take care of the situation. Got it, Dr. Coran?"
Michael was hesitant. "Yes, sir. I will make sure to handle the situation. Is there any reason why you are calling me in particular?"
"The xenomorph escaped into the Californina Valleys up north and to the west. By our calculations, you are the closest to the xenomorphs' vicinity." Michael was silent. "Any other questions?"
"No, sir. I will be on it." said Michael as he hung up. This is bad. He thought to himself.
An ant was crawling along the wooden floorboards of his house. Michael looked down and sat it crawling around it's feet. Without hesitation, Michael lifted his feet and crushed the ant with his feet.
"Uh! Pesky bug." he said.
Rachel had got into her sleeping gown. She walked over to the TV to turn it off when special news had caught her attention.
"Breaking News! Two truck drivers had discovered a mysterious creature in the middle of the California tundra on route 108. Police and scientists were called to the scene immediately around the nearby area. Many claim that it could possibly be an extraterrestrial being. Unfortunately, the creature was struck by the truck, and our doctors are unable to tell if the creature is alive or not. Here is the picture of the creature."
A bright photo of a collapsed and injured xenomorph was shown lying on the road. Rachel stared in complete shock. This was from the company's ship. How did it get there?
"The creature currently being held in a cage and transferred to a research division. More news about the subject will come in the next few hours." said the news broadcaster.
Rachel stared long and hard at the xenomorph. Could it be….
"Hey, Rae. Are you feeling better." asked Michael as he suddenly barged into the room. Rachel quickly closed the TV as he walked in.
"Was there anything interesting on the news?" he asked.
"No, just the same old average stuff." said Rachel. Strike 3 for lying.
Where was I? The first thing I noticed was motion; I was on a moving platform or vehicle. I felt woozy and weak, maybe it was because I lost a massive amount of blood. I had a wound at the side of my head and ribcage. It all came back to me at that moment. The two lights that appeared out of nowhere and struck me. Was I being captured again?
I tried standing up, but I realized I had been placed in a cage. It was a simple metal cage, so my acid blood could easily burn through. I shifted my position as to get my wounds closer to the bars of the cage. Whoever captured me was not as intelligent as the people back on the ship. It's like they didn't know that I can easily get out of this cage.
I dripped some of my blood onto the metal and watched as it sizzled and corroded away. With that, I easily pushed down the bars of the cage and escaped. However, I wasn't outside yet. I was in the back of a moving truck, so I needed to find the exit. There was a double door to the far left, but it was locked.
Using the blood from my wounds, I sprayed the green liquid onto the surface of the door, and sure enough a hole appeared almost instantaneously. This was strange, it felt too easy. I leaped out through newly created hole and landed on the cement outside. The vehicle I was in was moving fast, so the change in acceleration forced me to roll over twice before I was able to steady myself on the ground. The truck continued to speed off into the distance; the driver had not noticed my escape.
The smell of the planet's fresh air welcomed me as I escaped from my confinements. Who were those people in the vehicle? Where were they going to take me? Well, I didn't have to think about that anymore, as where ever they were taking me, they couldn't now if I escaped.
Now that I was outside, I examined my surroundings. Instead of mountains and trees, I saw large stone structures located all around me. This must be….human civilization. The moon was still high up in the sky, so it was pretty late at night. Thankfully, no humans were outside walking along the streets.
Rachel! I sensed her, and the connection felt stronger. I was definitely getting closer to her. I took off down the road towards her direction. I tried avoiding the random light sources that stood on every street, and instead, traveled along the shadows. It was our instinct to avoid bright lights and I also didn't want to be seen.
All of a sudden, I sensed another xenomorph. It was close and it seemed to have saw me. I stopped dead in my tracks. I ran into the closest alley I saw, a small corridor between two large buildings. I laid my body against the wall(though my dorsal tubes kind of got in the way) to try and hide myself.
Wait, what am I doing? The xenomorph can just sense me. I shook my head out of stupidity as I walked back onto the streets. Right under the shadows, ten meters in front of me was a xenomorph. However, it was different from me. The xenomorph's body structure resembled more of a quadruped animal, rather than bipedal. While I had plantigrade legs, the xeno in front of me had digitigrade legs.
The xenomorph snarled at me and gritted it's teeth. It was clearly hostile. But I am a xenomorph too, and I could do the same that it could do to me. I bent my knees and got into a fighting stance, ready for it to attack. After a few seconds of an intense stare down, the xeno charged forward, sprinting on all fours. I was quite caught off guard as it ran with great speed, faster than I could ever run on two.
I stepped back and my ribcage sent a wave of pain down my torso. Damn! I'm still injured and could not fight at my best potential. The running xeno jumped and aimed to bite my arm. I didn't react in time and the xeno's sharp teeth sank into my exoskeleton, piercing through and hitting my flesh.
Grraah! I screamed in fury. I swung my arm back and forth, ignoring the extra pain I was causing my ribcage. The xeno wouldn't let go. Using my upper body strength, I slammed the other xeno onto the brick building next to me. The force of the impact finally made it let go of my arm. Before it hit the ground, I quickly grabbed its tail and left him dangling in the air. The xenomorph was large, but I was still a foot taller, so I was able to suspend him from the ground.
The guy tried clawing at me, but it was futile. Who sent you!? I demanded. Was it the Queen?
The xeno let out another growl but continued to try and attack me. Answer me! I yelled at it. It ignored me and continued to lash out. Wait, does it even understand me? It was definitely a possibility. The xeno looked different from me, perhaps it's brain works differently as well. I realized this xeno wasn't going to give me any information. I spotted a large box down the street that read "General Waste Disposal". I lifted the lid off the box and tossed the xeno inside and slammed the cover on top.
As the xeno tried and struggle to get out, I used that time to leave the area. I couldn't run that fast due to my injuries. I made my way down the street. The moon in the sky was slowly setting. The sun was going to come up soon.
I stopped in surprise as I witnessed what was occurring in front of me. There were four xenomorphs, each like the one I encountered just a few minutes ago. They all growled at me and began approaching. It seems….I'm in quite an ordeal.
The Queen stared down at Viper, her beloved child scarred and injured beyond repair. She was surrounded by many of her new born children. Because of the lack of humans around, they were all spawned from wild animals in the area, resulting in all the xenomorphs taking the shape of a quadruped creature.
My poor child, how could he do this to you. She said to him. The Queen ordered the rest of her xenomorphs to head out towards the west.
This is unforgivable! Hunter, you will die a very painful death, and I'll make sure that happens!
Author's Note: Looks like there's many things going on. How is Michael going to deal with this xenomorph outbreak? Just what is Weyland Yutani up to? And more importantly, will the Queen succeed in killing Hunter, our beloved xenomorph? All these question will be answered in subsequent chapters. As always, please leave a review. Feedback will be greatly appreciated.