-Author's Notes-
Hey guys I have bad news, with the lack of support I've gotten over the last week I will be postponing the story. Something has to be wrong on my end when I have over a thousand to two thousand views and only twenty-three follows, 10 reviews, and 12 favorites. This chapter has been given the same amount of effort as my other chapters meaning this won't be something I just threw out, in fact more effort was put into this chapter then before but from this chapter on I'm going to stop. I'm not angry at you guys I'm just frustrated at myself because I don't know what went wrong. After reading this chapter I would be grateful if you could head to my profile where I made a survey, answering the survey will help me to fix any problems so that when I do start writing again I can fix them. I hope you enjoy Chapter 5 of Left Behind and I wish I could say that on a happier note.
-End Author's Notes-
SSSSSSSsssssssssssssssssssssssss...
Stepping inside the steel box of a room I felt somehow different, I had just kicked in a door that not even a Mark II Mechalifter could break open. I could tell by the look on both men's faces that what had just happened was completely impossible.
"What..the...fuc...what the fuck was that?" The closest one said as he began to run his hand through his hair in disbelief. I had to play it cool,
"I told you that I wanted to talk and I meant it, now why are you on my ship?" Using the word "My" would assert that I had the ship and its inhabitants under control, if these men were sent to finish the military's job then they would think twice.
"Well I guess now is a good time to introduce ourselves, my name is James, James Hunt." Unlike his partner he still had his head cover still attached to his hazmat suit,
"This man over here is my partner Kent..Buc..." James suddenly got a swift elbow in the side from his partner who broke in interrupting James,
"I'm not telling you my full name because I don't trust you worth a damn and I'm not saying anymore until you get that bug out of my sight!" Upon hearing the term "bug" the xeno stood up and began to open her mouth in a furious and deafening hiss but I grabbed her shoulder, she turned her head towards me almost as if asking to attack the man but I shook my head...almost with a sad look on her face she crouched down once again only this time she had her head turned toward him, watching through her eyeless face.
"She is not a "bug", she's an intelligent being who can think and feel just like we can. I'm sure she can think and feel better then you ever had in your life...if you call her a bug again you'll be the next thing I kick in..." For a brief moment his face went white with fear but returned in an angry but submissive tone.
"Fine..." he murmured before James spoke up,
"We are from Earth, I was called yesterday about a ship that needed to be towed in for scrap but when we arrived I didn't expect to see so much chaos. What happened here?" He grabbed his hazmat protection helmet and slowly pulled it off, for a second I thought I was looking into the face my own father, something about his black beard and the way he talked caught my attention. No matter I hadn't seen my father in ten years...not since my wedding day.
"You might want to sit down, it's a long story..."
...
"Are you kidding?" James was flabbergasted, "You actually opened the cell door?" We were all sitting inside the same crew cabin that I had kicked in, James and Kent were on their side of the couch while the xeno and I were on the other side, since I started talking the xeno was now crouched on the couch rather then the floor, still looking like she was about to pounce onto the men.
"After I saw the tapes of the xenomorphs I felt like they needed help, if you were there you would have done the same." James laughed warmly,
"Maybe but I wouldn't have been so quick about it, I've got a family to look forward to when I come home or at least until I landed on this space heap." I chuckled feeling the exact same way,
"Yea! Your right about that one, I just wish I had a family to go home to...an unknown group took my wife away six years ago, when I joined the military word got around that a group of scientists had taken volunteers for a breakthrough in medicine...at that point I figured that they had kidnapped my wife so they could run experiments on her, it's why I had to save the xenos in that cell...they were essentially on the same boat as she was..."
"I'm sorry..." he said looking down at the floor, even though I had just met him I felt like he was being sincere...something a family man would do.
"Don't worry about it, what happened in the past is just that, the past. It's something I can't change and even though I haven't seen her in six years I still can't help but think that she's still alive."
"Hey, if she's still alive then you'll find her. If it was a true love, and it was, then both of you will eventually meet again." I chuckled
"I may not share your optimism but I hope your right. So how long have you two been in the salvaging business?"
"Well actually..." James was elbowed again by Kent, something wrong was happening here but I decided to wait and see,
"We've been salvaging various ships for over a year now." Kent said giving James a beady look,
"Yes...well...either way long enough to know a bad situation when we see one. I tell you, when I first stepped aboard and saw everything I wanted to go right back inside the ship and get the hell back to Earth but Kent said he'd seen worse so I agreed to help him look inside and only an hour later did we stumble upon the medibay where we saw you. I swear when I saw you surrounded by all those aliens I almost dropped the flashlight and ran but when you held up your finger I knew somehow you were alright. Kent almost pulled out his sidearm but I motioned him to keep it cool," I looked over at Kent,
"Did he?" Kent looked from the xeno to me,
"It's a good THING that James was there or I'd have doomed us all." Kent attempted to give a fake smile but I could see the bastard was hiding something.
"Is that so..." I stared right back at him causing him to become uncomfortable, James sensed this and interrupted,
"Yes well it's a good thing he didn't...I wouldn't want my daughter to know that I was killed because of someone else's stupidity." Kent shot him a fierce look, James sent it back causing Kent to cower a little. That's when everything made sense,
"So Kent...have you by chance been aboard the USM Auriga, I heard that the same thing went down there as it did here with the xenos and such. It's funny, when I went aboard to help protect the salvagers I didn't see your name on the list, James's name was on there and if you were working together for a year then you would have been there." Of course I was bluffing, the military was sent in to protect the salvagers in case any xenos remained behind but during that time I was a grunt, a private, a rookie. I remember when I asked to go they told me I was to fresh and needed more training. I was hoping Kent would slip if I brought it up, he was full of shit and he had James on a tight leash.
"I was sick that day, James took over my shift." He flashed another phony smile,
"No you weren't, I hadn't met you then." Time seemed to freeze to a standstill, the very second after James finished talking a small corner of Kent's lips pressed downward in a brief frown which only lasted a second before time returned.
"Well then..." Kent stood slowly brushing his hazmat pants off and for the first time gave me an honest smile. I was genuinely shocked as was James,
"Well I guess the cat's out of the bag." He said as he shrugged his shoulders keeping that creepy smile on his face. "James...your fired."
"Wha...?" In one smooth fluid motion Kent pulled out his sidearm, turned, and fired his sidearm three times into the middle of James's chest, the life quickly left James's eyes as he slumped back onto the couch.
"Holy Shit!" I said jumping up, the xeno who sensed danger began to hiss again while slowly raising herself off of the couch...this time I didn't stop her.
"Yes you are quite correct Jackson I am not a salvage worker, I'm a government worker who was sent here to spy on your activities and the activities of the xenomorphs since you were left behind. I was inserted into James's company a week ago, it's a pity his family won't have a father waiting at home for them."
"You slimy bastard!" I said stepping forward,
"uh, uh, ahhh! I know how badly you and your bug want to kill me but unfortunately my job here is not yet done. I still have to report back, they're going to come, the government, they're gonna kill everyone of these disgusting drones and take the queen back for more research!" The xeno Screeee'd in a wild fury but she knew that she would be dead if she tried to stop him.
"The Queen?!" I began to clench my fists in anger, not at the news of the queen being alive but because I had allowed this man on the ship without giving it a second thought and now poor James was dead because of me."
"Yes the queen. Your friends who went down there were hired by my employers, unfortunately your friend Rooter was not and thus he had to be killed for what he'd seen. Now if you'll excuse me I'll be heading home now, expect to see another ship in a week. I was told that if you were to cooperate then they would spare the xenos. You know they've been monitoring everything you say and hear, courtesy of your squad members who put it in as you were lying cold in those crew quarters. I believe his name was Mikeson, it's a pity he was killed from 'friendly fire'."
"Dammit! I'm gonna fucking kill you!" I said almost yelling,
"I'm afraid if you want your little beast here to survive our encounter then you should watch your mouth. Well I shouldn't keep them waiting, if they thought I was dead then I would be the least of your problems. Now I hope I haven't overstayed my welcome...I'll be seeing you." He laughed manically as he stepped out and ran down the corridor. The xeno began to give chase but I grabbed her rough jagd arm, she flipped around and began to hiss towards me not realizing who had stopped her. She stopped instantly giving me a pained look, I shook my head sadly at her. She slowly closed her mouth and began to rub her head against my chest, so the queen was alive after all...I had to see her...she was the last one...If she died or was taken away then the xenomorph species would die with her, I couldn't allow them to go extinct...I was their only hope. Everything had happened so fast, everything went from turning out alright in the end to the entire mission to the Goliath being blown wide open. Now Rooter and James were dead because of that bastard's employers, they died for seeing too much. The xeno was still leaning against me when I spoke,
"We have to see the queen, your mother, or all will be lost..." She suddenly looked up at the word "Queen" and "Mother", as if by instinct she bolted out of the room on all fours. I quickly checked my leg again before sprinting right after her, once again I was thrown into a situation where I might end up dead but if I was to save their species then I had no choice, I would have to see the queen...
-Author's Notes-
I know it was shorter then your used to if you've been following along but I feel it's best to stop there. I hope you enjoyed the chapter despite it being shorter then my others, I mainly did this so that others could catch up on the reading if they wanted to and if I was to include the queen encounter then the chapter would go from 2,000 words to 5,000 easily which in my book is too long. I'm serious about stopping for now, although I left it at a cliffhanger there's a good chance that the story will never be finished. I do want to thank all of you who have supported me along the way including my viewers and I will do callouts.
Thanks to the following Supporters!
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Again thanks to all of you who have supported me throughout this project, including my viewers. I couldn't have gotten far without you guys but it's because of the lack of support that I'm stopping for now. I hope you enjoyed Chapter 5 of left behind and keep watch for a new chapter, if things turn around I'll deffinitely keep working on it but for now any motivation is gone. Thanks guys for all the support up to this point and I hoped you enjoyed the chapter!