Hicks sat up and hissed, prancing excitedly, Ali smiled and gave Hicks a reassuring pat on the head. The alien hissed again. Ali looked around until she spotted a ladder. She ran over to it and grabbed the rungs, pulling herself upwards. Once inside the ducts she waited until Hicks had caught up with her before moving on ahead. It wasn't that difficult to find the humans because of the racket they were making. Suddenly, the sound of someone ascending a ladder came from a hole just in front of them. Ali moved forward cautiously when the sound suddenly stopped. She heard the sound of clanging and realized the man had dropped something. Everyone else had gone quite and the air was filled with a shattering silence. Ali understood that the man was probably holding an unlit flare that could have started the bomb prematurely and she almost laughed at the irony.

Hicks startled her when he suddenly pounced forward past her to the edge of the hole. Ali peered around him to see the man's hand at the top of the ladder rung. Hicks reached out and his claws sunk into the man's neck. The man let out a gurgled scream as his blood squirted out his neck. The flare fell from the man's limp fingers and fell, slowly, to the ground. Hicks dropped the man and, following Ali, raced off away from the opening just as an enormous heat wave and a black cloud of smoke filled the duct. Ali fell to the ground and was vaguely aware of something dragging her though the smoke as pain flared up all over her body. She kept her mouth closed to keep the black smoke out but was on the verge of crying out in pain. Next thing she knew, she was falling into darkness.

Ali opened her eyes slowly when she heard the sound of a woman's voice. She tried to bolt upright but felt a heavy pressure on her chest. She looked down to see Hick's front leg on top of her chest; holding her down. She took a quick moment to examine her body. She remembered the heat and smoke and the terrible pain as her flesh had burned away. She must have been out for a few hours; her skin was already healed.

The voice came again. "Don't be afraid. I'm part of the family."

It was Ripley.

Ali nodded in understanding and Hicks lifted his leg. Ali rose slowly and looked down; Hicks had made a secondary nest in the piping beneath the ceiling. Hicks looked at Ali, as if to ask for permission. Ali smiled and nodded. He hissed and jumped down behind Ripley and Ali jumped down in front. Ripley spun around to face Hicks, deciding not to turn her back on the alien.

"Welcome to the family," Ali said.

"She figured it out quickly."

"I know; quicker than I thought. I would have thought she'd figure it out when it came bursting out."

Ripley turned her head to face Ali, but kept her body pointing toward Hicks, and asked, "Why me?"

"Isn't it obvious? You were responsible for the death of my family."

"So we were going to be responsible for your death."

"Now Ripley, you really should leave. I still need to recover from the little run in we had with your first trap."

Hicks hissed and walked around Ripley to come up next to Ali. Ripley remained frozen where she was as Ali climbed on Hicks' back and the two vanished around a corner.

Once Ripley was out of sight, Ali tipped her head back and started laughing. The look on Ripley's face was priceless. She was doomed to the knowledge that she was going to die.

"We need to plan our next move."

"What is their next plan of action?"

"We should try to find out what they are planning."

"It will be hard; I'm not as familiar with this place as I was with my own colony back at LV-426."

"Send Hicks out to scout; he can avoid detection better than you can."

"Yes," Ali said as she slide off Hicks's back, "Hicks go see if you can find out what they're planning. Oh, and if you want, you can have a little snack too."

Hicks hissed eagerly and jumped forward and vanished around a corner.

"Will he be okay?"

"Of course he will. He knows how to handle himself."

"What if they set a trap for him and he gets caught?"

"We have to hope that he can get out of it."

"Maybe I should go along and keep an eye on him."

"But if there is a trap then they are going to catch us too."

"I'll be careful."

Ali turned and started walking in the direction that Hicks sped off to. She couldn't tell exactly where he went after that but she'd hoped she could come across him feeding. Suddenly, she heard a shout echoing through the tunnels and Hicks' screech. Ali jogged down the hall in the direction of the sounds. She rounded a corner and spied Ripley and two men standing down at the other end of the hall with their backs to her. Ali quickly ducked back and took a deep breath; they must have set a trap for Hicks. Suddenly, Hicks appeared and raced toward the group.

"Hicks!" Ali shouted.

But the alien could no longer hear her. His instincts had taken over; he was now a killing machine intent on sinking his teeth into human flesh.