Cobra jumped up and took a defensive stance in front of Kim and Ben.
"What's going on?" Kim asked.
"The other Hive must have decided to launch a secondary attack," Ben said, getting to his feet as well and helping Kim up.
"But why now?"
"Cobra came back."
"What does he have to do with this?!"
"The Queen of the other Hive must have realized that the group was getting organized; meaning they decided a leader, or in this case, their leader came back."
Kim watched Cobra as he began hissing and shrieking to the other aliens in the group. They moved to one section of the clearing and waited. For a while none of them moved, but then Kim saw figures moving just outside the clearing. Suddenly, a Warrior flew in from outside and attacked the nearest Reject. The Reject screeched in pain as the Warrior's tail flashed and sent acidic blood arching into the air. The rest of the Warriors poured into the clearing at that moment and attacked the Rejects standing nearby. Cobra hissed at the Rejects that had started to back away in fright. The Rejects turned to look at him for a moment before turning back to the Warriors. They attacked with a new aggression, shocking the advancing Warriors. The Rejects managed to push the Warriors back to the edge of the clearing when, suddenly, two of them burst through the trees right next to Kim.
"Look out!" Ben shouted.
Kim felt herself being pulled through the air before she realized that Ben had knocked her out of the way of a barbed tail. Cobra turned around sharply, hissing angrily that two Warriors had managed to sneak past him. One of the Warriors launched itself at Cobra, and Kim watched in horror as the two rolled off, biting and shrieking at each other. But she couldn't focus on him for long as a black tail flew at her. She turned her attention back to the second Warrior as it moved forward. She scanned the ground quickly, looking for a weapon just as the Warrior leapt into the air.
"Kim!" Ben shouted and he grabbed Kim's wrist, pulling her out of the way.
The Warrior hissed in anger as it landed where Kim used to be. Kim didn't look over her shoulder as she and Ben took off into the forest.
"We have to get out of here!" Ben shouted, tugging Kim along.
"What about Cobra? We have to help--,"
"Cobra can take care of himself; we have to worry about getting out of here before the aliens get their claws on us."
"But--," Kim started to say.
Ben stopped and spun around to face Kim. "Listen, you were the one that told me these things use humans to birth their offspring. If they catch us; we're going to die."
"Cobra--," Kim tried to say.
"Will be fine," Ben insisted, "He was a wild alien before he found you; he knows how to survive."
Suddenly, the sound of something crashing through the branches reached their ears and they froze, looking in the direction of the noise. Every ounce of strength in Kim's body was telling her to run, but her feet remained firmly on the ground. The noise grew louder, matching Kim's thudding heart. Suddenly, an alien burst through, snarling and hissing. It stopped instantly when it saw Kim and Ben and its hisses turned softer.
"Cobra!" Kim shouted excitedly and she ran up to the alien.
Kim slowed down as Cobra shrieked harshly. He crouched down and then leapt forward toward Kim, claws extended.