Acheron Chapter 9 – Darkness Falls Across the Land
A/N- Some people do not wake up from the comma induced by the Facehugger until the last second before their deaths. It's like oh I'm awake, what happened, boom I'm dead. The creatures are immune to their own acidic blood, i.e. one can die and splash its blood on another and it does no damage, although other forms of acid will hurt them. Think on how some acids won't eat through glass but others will, or that some won't eat through plastic but another will. Also the eggs are living thinking things that's only sole purpose is to keep the facehugger alive until it can do what it does.
The shuttle fought turbulent winds as it made its way from the colony to the derelict ship the Jorden's had investigated less than twenty four hours ago. The crew for this little pest control operation consisted of four members of the Maintenance crew to handle and detonate the explosives, all six members of the security team to help ensure their safety and the pilot and co-pilot of the shuttle.
Making a hard turn around a rocky outcropping revealed their destination, a strange U shaped vessel that had crash landed upon the rocky surface of the planet. The right arm of the ship has seemed to have taken damage and was hanging lower than the left, leaving a jagged opening within the outer hull. As they circled the wreckage to begin their landing Sgt. Kanker points toward a section of rocks some one hundred meters away from the ship, "Is that what I think it is?"
The co-pilot focused his gaze in the direction she was pointing then responded, "It looks like one of our ATV's."
Sgt. Kanker mused, "What is it still doing here?" Flipping a switch on the control panel next to her she calls, "This is shuttle Tiberius to control, do you read me, over?"
A few seconds later she receives a response, "We read you Tiberius, over."
"I wanted to make sure, but didn't Kevin leave someone behind to bring back the ATV, over?"
"That is correct Tiberius, Jim should be several hours from your destination by now, over."
"That's a negative control, the ATV is still on site, over."
"Tiberius, please assess the situation and apprise us of your findings, over."
"Understood control, over and out," She flipped the switch once again cutting off the signal.
The landing gear extends and the shuttle makes a ruff touchdown upon the somewhat level but jagged surface between the ATV and the derelict ship. The air tight seal of the shuttle was broken as the loading ramp started to lower allowing the wind and debris of the outside atmosphere to come flooding into the compartment. "Rodriguez, Johnson you're with me, the rest of you start preparing the supplies." Approaching the vehicle from the rear they could see the driver side door was slightly ajar, Sgt. Kanker readies her shotgun but did not point it at the door, "Jim are you there?"
No reply was heard over the roar of the wind, stepping closer to the door she could see what looked like blood spatter upon the door and front windshield. Making a few hand gestures she lets Rodriguez know to get his weapon ready and for Johnson to open the door, getting into position she signals Johnson to open it. Reaching up slowly he grabs the handle and slides the door back quickly, dropping Jim's body to the ground face down, she motioned for Johnson to check the body while they continued to check the vehicle. The trouble with the ATV is that the only windows it had were located in the front cab, the back area for sleeping and storage could only be check by entering the vehicle.
Slowly and cautiously Sgt. Kanker puts her left hand on the passenger assist handle and her right foot on the first step of the small ladder while keeping her shotgun at a somewhat ready position. Climbing the two steps she enters the cab and quickly slides toward the middle pointing her weapon in the direction of the rear storage section. It was a little disheveled and unorganized, but there was no sign of any immediate threat to herself. She flips the interior light switch to bring some illumination to the situation but found that nothing happened, leaving her to check the vehicle in the dark. Slowly and as quietly as she could she crawled her way back in a duck walk like fashion checking each of the cramped looking bunks one at a time, finding them clear of any threat. Now to the back of the vehicle where there were 2 small lockers for MRE and clothing storage, each were about four feet tall and one and a half feet wide, each one big enough to hide a small animal like the parasite in it, and one of the doors was ajar. Inching closer she reaches her hand up to the door with her weapon at the ready, sliding her fingers around the edge of the door she swings it open getting hit by something landing upon the face plate of her helmet blocking her view. Scurrying backwards she knocks it off of her and toward the back of the vehicle pointing the barrel of her weapon in its direction, she chuckled to herself as she discovered that it was nothing more than a folded up shirt that had fallen off a shelf.
Turning back to the front she sees Rodriguez sitting in the driver's seat with his weapon at the ready but pointed a little toward the floor to avoid accidently shooting her. "It's clear," she calls up to him and starts to make her way back to the front as Rodriguez began to climb down from the vehicle. Stepping down from the last step she turns to find Johnson and Rodriguez standing over Jim's body that was now lying on its back. Moving past Rodriguez to get a better view of the corps she sees a hole in the middle of the man's chest, "What do you think happened?"
"The bones are bent outwards as though something impaled him from behind, but there is no entry point on his back," Johnson replied.
Rodriguez muttered, "What does that mean?"
"Something must have exploded out of him," Sgt. Kanker pondered. Pulling herself together she barked, "Alright let's get him to the ship." Rodriguez taking the man by the shoulders and Johnson the legs, they carried the corpse up the small incline toward the shuttle, placing him on the deck Rodriguez and Johnson cover him up in a tarp while Sgt. Kanker headed toward the front to inform control of Jim's death. Unbeknownst to her or the radio operator, but at that very moment Edd was informing the Major of Russ Jorden's death by the very same cause and the ensuing wide scale search would cause the Sgt.'s message to be delayed.
Getting the order to continue the operation she checks that everything is ready, then leads the group into the ship through what appeared to be one of three large airlocks. The main corridor lead into an expansive round room with a central dais that held a massive control HUD that was attached to some sort of chair. "This seems to be the place," Marie called out to the group, after recognizing the room from Mrs. Jorden's description, "Spread out and find our entry point," she called to the security team. Walking closer to the chair Sgt. Kanker could see its occupant, the alien life form appeared to be fossilized and melded to the chair, with a hole in its chest that had the bones bent outwards.
"Sgt. over here," Marachuk called as he waved her over, snapping her out of her thoughts. Pulling her attention from the corpse in the center of the room she walks over to where the man was standing. On the floor was a hole that was about two and a half feet to three feet wide, just barely big enough for someone to squeeze through, and most certainly would not accommodate the bigger boxes that held the explosives in them. Over the hole stood a small wench held up by a foldable tripod, picking up the long left behind piece of equipment she read the markings on it which were surprisingly in English, USCSS Nostromo 1809246(09). Setting it aside they started assembling their own wench, which had two sets of pulleys on separate motors to make ingress and regress faster. Once everything was set up they lowered down two security officers then began to lower the explosives in small containers. While they did this the four maintenance crew members set up several explosives within the room they were currently in, hoping to topple the structure and seal the hole. With all the bombs in place up top and linked to a remote detonator the remaining crew descended leaving the two pilots up top to operate the wench.
As she was lowered into the hole she had a sense of claustrophobia nag the back of her mind as the small tunnel did not open up for some twenty feet. But once through it she found herself in an expansive cave that ran further then she could see in both directions with her dim helmet light. At the floor of the cave awaited the nine members of her team on a small ridge that seemed to run the width of the cave bordered on both sides by what appeared to be eggs. These must be the eggs the Jorden's had told them about and the objective of their mission. Reaching the bottom she unhooked herself from the line and stepped forward, "Marachuk, Johnson and Samuels guard our left, Rodriguez, Cooper and myself will guard the right. You four set up the bombs, two to the left and two to the right, then quickly get back here so we can get the hell out of this place."
The four men set to their task with much urgency, grabbing a bomb each and running off into the field of eggs as the six security officers watched from the ridge for any signs of movement. "Why do I feel like we are being watch," Cooper stated with a little sign of nervousness in his voice.
"Stow it Copper," Sgt. Kanker barked at the man, but had to admit that a chill was running down her spin as well, she felt like prey being hunted and she did not like it. An egg opens near one of the men, "Chuck to your three," the Sgt. warns the man and takes aim, pulling the trigger as the man moves to his left and out of the way.
As the creature that was emerging dies an absolutely alien roar could be heard in the cave that died off into a screeching hiss, Rodriguez in a very low voice asks, "What the fuck was that?"
Movement along the wall approaching them quickly, a single unknown creature from what she could tell, but it didn't appear to be friendly. "Everyone, fall back," Sgt. Kanker calls and waves her arm beckoningly. The four men deep in the field begin to run toward the ridge, and as they passed the eggs several of them began to react and open releasing their cargo into the world. As Chuck reached the ridge and began to climb out a parasite jumps hitting him in the face causing him to fall to the ground, "Get him up, Get him up," the Sgt. points to the ground the man had collapsed to. Copper reaches down and picks the man up as the Sgt. and Rodriguez take aim and fire at the approaching parasites, as the other hostile was closing in.
"Sgt. the face plates aren't any good," Copper calls out and she looks down for a moment to see that the creature had melted its way through the plate and was attached to the mans face.
Tapping the side of her helmet she opens a line to the pilots up top, "David, we're evacuating, move that wench like your life depends on it."
"Yes ma'am."
Copper drags chuck to the rope and attaches it, giving it a quick tug to signal he was ready. The lifeless body is quickly taken up the shaft as Copper attaches another crew member to the line and up they went. Marachuk goes down as a parasite attaches itself, a crew member drags him to the line while defending himself with the rifle from another assault. Attaching Marachuk to the line he tugs and the man begins his assent as the creature lands on the other side of the ridge from them, the last unarmed man begins his assent as it starts to charges. The Sgt. takes aim and fires clipping it in the arm, it dodges to the right into the field and back toward them jumping over them to the wall behind them with two parasites on its back that leapt off as it jumped again and soared over head, hitting Copper and the other crew member with them.
Once the lines were back down Samuels and Rodriguez attach the lines to Copper and the last crew member as the Sgt. and Johnson kept the line of defense as best they could. As the lines went up the four of them faced off with what remained of the parasites and the unknown creature. "We must dispatch the bigger beast if we plan to make it out of here," Sgt. Kanker stated to her subordinates. Samuels and Johnson guarded against the parasites that remained as Rodriguez and the Sgt. took on the bigger foe. As the creature took a low stance and hissed in their direction the two of them took aim and as it leaped into action to run toward them they unloaded upon it sending it to the ground in a heap of its own sizzling blood.
What remained of the active parasites was few now, "Rodriguez, Samuels get going," she says as she points to the lines with her thumb. Attaching the lines the two men start their assent, Sgt. Kanker looks up when a riffle comes crashing to the ground to see that Rodriguez had fallen victim to a parasite half way up. As she turned her attention back to the few remaining parasites she pulls the trigger to only hear a click in response, "Damn," out of bullets.
A/N- Cliffhanger lol, I'm back (evil laugh).