Next chapter is posted! Enjoy :)

They finally made it to the bottom level and found themselves in front of a metal door that was torn off the hinges. Inside they could hear a mixture of human screams and the hard meats, along with gunfire.

Aurora was surprised they ever had any ammo left at this point.

The group stepped through another thick metal door that was busted open. The two humans quickly flattened themselves against the wall as gunfire rang out at the scene in front of them.

They literally just walked into a fucking war zone.

Just like the other locations they trekked through, bodies of many soldiers and agents were strewn about. With a few dead hard meats here and there.

The remaining soldiers and agents were using piles of debris for cover as they reloaded. While the remaining xenos were crawling about the walls and ceiling trying to figure out how to get through to the last remaining armed soldiers.

The hard meats knew they could now leave the complex if they wanted to. Though it would be tricky to getting to the exit with the humans constantly firing at them. Plus, the bloodlust within them right now was at an all-time high.

Because of this the xenos wanted to stay and fight and kill the remaining soldiers first so that none stood in their way of freedom.

They also needed to still figure out how to get through one incredibly thick large door in the back that contained one of their own that still had yet to be freed from its confinement.

"Why aren't they all full on attacking the remaining soldiers? It's almost like they're waiting for something. It appears they are just in some type of holding pattern right now." Briggs surmised.

"Remember, these are not ordinary hard meats. No doubt they are plotting something." Air'ik said.

Plotting and hard meats. Those are two words Air'ik would've never thought to use together in a sentence. Mainly because that's how witless he thought them to be. And it's true. The only hard meats that are truly capable of any higher thinking are the Queens. The drones on the other hand only normally know two main things. Take orders from the queen and protect the hive.

This case was different though. While there was no queen, these drones were far from stupid.

"What the fuck you doing here." Came a snappy voice from a nearby pile of debris/barricade.

Low and behold the voice in question was none other than the one who caused all of this, Agent Finn.

"Cleaning up your fucking mess apparently." Aurora snapped back.

He leveled her and her companions with a glare.

"That's a joke if I ever heard one. You really think you three have any more of a chance then we do? I'm betting even the hunter is no match for all of them, seeing as these don't act like his typical prey." Finn retorted.

Air'ik growled when he heard the s'yuit-de bastard undermine his skills as a warrior.

A part of him wanted to tell the ignorant fool off. But now wasn't the time. They needed to destroy the rest of these hard meats before they escaped.

A loud banging and scratching noise came from the back of the large area, drawing everyone's attention.

The hunter switched visions on his mask to get a look at what was in there. The image that popped up surprised him a bit. He could make out another hard meat. But this one was different from the rest. It was quite a deal larger.

It wasn't a queen though, for there was no large crest upon its skull like a typical kainde amedha queen would have. And as large as it was, it was still smaller than a queen as well.

From what he could see, it just looked like an oversized drone or possibly a warrior hard meat.

At the moment, it was trying to break free of its prison, throwing itself into the door. And while the thick metal door was holding for the most part, Air'ik doubts it will be able to contain the large, pissed off xeno for much longer.

"What is that? What's behind that door?" Aurora asks.

"Another hard meat. This one appears different though. My vision scanners are showing it to be large than the rest." Air'ik told her.

"It's our bigger boy. Unlike its brethren, this one had a unique mutation-like affect, and it caused it to grow larger than the others. You think these little guys are bad, then you have yet to see the big one, whom we dubbed the General." Finn stated.

If this one is as bad as Finn says, then they need to come up with a new strategy to take it out. But before they do, it'll be best they take out as many of the smaller ones as they can. Because the smaller ones combined with the bigger one and their intellect, can spell trouble for them all.

It was then there was a faint hissing sound coming from the door. Then small puffs of smoke like steam started to rise from it.

Air'ik zoomed in on what was going on.

"Cjit! We got to make a move now. That big bastard is using his blood to eat through the thick metal door." Air'ik explained.

Not long after he said that the corner of the door started to slowly give and melt away. And large claws jutted out from the tiny newly formed opening and started to try and pry at it.

A large resounding roar came from the larger creature from behind the door through the small opening. It was followed by a chorus of shrieks from its brethren. And that's when they started to move.

Whatever the larger one said, it must've been a command to attack. Because now the rest of the smaller remaining hard meats were on the war path and headed straight for the remaining soldiers.

"OPEN FIRE!" One of the soldiers yelled.

Not a moment later the room lit up as shot after shot was fired at the aliens.

Most of them twisted, turned, and tried to dodge as many bullets as possible while making their way down from the ceiling and walls. Unfortunately, it was barely slowing them down.

Air'ik extended his wrist blades and also held out his combi stick. Aurora held out her plasma pistol, while Briggs took aim with his AR-15. The battle had finally started.

"Dammit! Where is Wilson and Robin with their weapons!?" Aurora snapped in frustration.

"Can't wait for them. We need to fight." Air'ik said as the hard meats drew closer to their position.

The hard meats split up into two groups. One group went for the soldiers while the other group branched off and went for the other two humans and yautja hunter.

Now, there were a total of six of the serpentine bastards headed their way.

"SHOOT!" Briggs yelled, before firing off his AR-15.

Aurora followed suit and started firing her plasma pistol. While Air'ik charged into the small group and started slicing away with his wrist blades and combi stick.

This is the first time Aurora has ever seen Air'ik fight so fiercely. He moved so fast as he fought and accurately sliced through his opponents.

Not every assault made its mark though. The two xenos that were on him were doing their best to dodge the sharp deadly weapons and countered with their own claws.

While the other four focused their attention on Briggs and Aurora. Two went for her and the other two went for her oldest friend.

Her adrenaline started pumping again, overriding her fear, as she fired one shot after another at the two creatures stalking towards her. Most of the shots missed because they kept ducking and dodging most of the blasts.

But one of them did manage to get struck in the shoulder. A small explosion of yellow blood shot out as it's arm separated from its body and dropped to the floor. Causing the creature to shriek in pain.

The other one hissed and lunged at her. It was so quick, that she didn't have time to take aim and shoot. Aurora ended up having to dive and roll to side.

She whipped around to take another shot but yelped in pain as it used the end of its tail to smack the plasma pistol out of her hand.

Aurora reached again for her short sword and pulled it out. She held it out in front of her and kept her gaze on the monster. It started to circle her like prey.

It was only when she heard Air'ik let out a short roar of pain did she become distracted. Aurora made the mistake of turning her gaze from the xeno to see what happened with Air'ik.

She barely registered the fact that there were now three xenos surrounding him and his thigh now had a huge gaping gash in it.

That's when she felt the weight of the creature on her as it tackled her to the ground. Aurora lost her grip on the sword as she struggled to keep the creature's face away from her as it snapped its jaws at her masked face.

It used its claws to slice at her left arm, drawing deep scratches down it. But she was too pumped with adrenaline to feel it.

As the creature came down again with the intent to punch a hole through her head with its inner mouth, Aurora quickly activated her wrist blades and punched them into the side of its head.

It screeched in pain as the blades embedded deep into its skull. Aurora shimmied out from beneath it and jerked her arm to slice the wrist blades through the rest of its head.

Then she reached for her short sword, raised it over her head and with a scream brought it down on the xenos long oblong head.

The blade sliced down the center, killing the xeno. She then looked around to see if there were any more around her. And that's when she spotted Briggs on the ground.

He was all bloody and trying to scooch back from a xeno that was slowly stalking towards the injured man.

"BRIGGS!" Aurora yelled.

She ran over, picking up her plasma pistol on the way.

As she got closer, she replaced her plasma gun with the net gun. And as soon as it pounced at her friend, she shot at it. The net flew out with speed and wrapped itself around the flailing hard meat.

Aurora then pulled out her combi stick and rammed it full force through the trapped creature's head. She twisted it and jerked it about inside until it ceased moving.

Then she ran over to Briggs. He was now laying there, slowly bleeding out.

"Briggs! No, no...don't move!" She said, as she made her way over to him.

"Aurora forget about me at the moment and help your friend! He's in trouble!" Briggs yelled out in pain.

She quickly glanced over at Air'ik and saw that Briggs was right. The hunter had successfully killed two of the attacking hard meats. But the third one called over two more of his buddies to help him take down the yautja.

Deep gashes and a few small holes decorated Air'ik's body as his bright fluorescent blood leaked out onto the floor. But he still stood poised with his weapon, eyeing the hard meats as they slowly closed in.

The other four remaining hard meats were near the other side of the room still trying to take out the soldiers. In which case there weren't many left at this point and soon they will all be dead.

She turned back to Briggs real quick.

"Just hold on, I'll be right back. You still have your pistols, right? Shoot any of those bastards that come close!" She instructed before running off to help Air'ik.

As Aurora was running over, two of the hard meats went for Air'ik. He spun around the closest one and swung his wrist blades at the second one, slicing it across the chest.

That's when the third one decided to make a move.

Aurora reached behind her intending to pull the net gun from her back again. Instead, her hand came into contact with one smooth round weapon. She pulled it from behind her to look at it and was surprised to see a shuriken.

She didn't recall packing that in her arsenal. Air'ik must've shoved that on when she wasn't looking. The young woman heard another screech as the third one leapt toward her hunter who was still preoccupied with the other two his was fighting.

Aurora didn't stop to think as she extended the blades on the shuriken and threw it at the hard meat. The weapon buzzed through the air and made its mark, slicing through the back leg of the hard meat and severing it from its body.

It dropped to the ground screeching in pain. And as the shuriken circled back around, it passed by the creature's neck slicing it open. Aurora held out her hand and caught the shuriken.

The hard meat choked on its own blood that was spewing from its mouth from the gaping wound in its neck. It flailed about clumsily on its three remaining legs before collapsing to the ground, dead.

She looked from the dead xeno to the shuriken in her hand.

"Wow, this thing actually is pretty cool." She said to herself.

Then she ran over to help Air'ik with the remaining xenos.

He was fighting them hard, but these kainde amedha were persistent little shits. It seems like once he downed one, another quickly took its place and attacked.

As two more homed in on him, Air'ik pulled his chakt-ra from his belt and activated it. He then threw it to the closest one. It quickly ducked out of the way but again, they didn't see yet that it was the kind of weapon that returns to the owner, like the shuriken.

So, upon its return, it sliced clean through the hard meat's chest, leaving a huge gaping hole. And when Air'ik caught it he quickly threw it out at the second one.

Like the first hard meat, it ducked when it saw it coming. But this time, they wised up. And when it came back around to it's intended target, the hard meat jumped out of its path again.

Air'ik caught it and glared at the hard meat.

'Bastards are learning.' He thought.

The hunter returned the smart disc to his belt and grabbed another weapon he has yet to use. He unraveled the whip made from a xeno's tail and held it beside him.

He was about to snap the whip forward to wrap it around the hard meat in front of him. When he heard a bang followed by a sharp whistling sound.

Next thing he knew, something whizzed past him and struck the xeno. Then the hard meat exploded into pieces.

Air'ik's eyes widened, and he whipped around to see where the shot came from. That's when he spotted Wilson standing near the room's entrance. He was holding a large strange looking gun over his shoulder that had a large opening in the front, that was now billowing some smoke.

Aurora saw it to and also turned her attention to the shooter. That's when she spotted Wilson and Robin. She ran over to meet up with them.

"Whatever that is, I want one." The hunter said.

Aurora heard Air'ik's remark as she came to a stop by him and couldn't help but let out a small chuckle. Of course he would. Anything that makes a big boom and explosion, he likes.

Wilson just smirked.

"They're our top-of-the-line newest models too. These babies were part of the newest shipment that came in the day before yesterday." He stated proudly.

Robin wasn't as enthused as she stood by with her hands over her ears. Muttering something about men and their too loud fucking crazy toys.

Either way, it made everything a bit more interesting. Especially, when the hunter noticed there were two more just like it behind Wilson on the ground. Along with what was the ammunition. Which to Air'ik looked like small rocket shaped bombs.

Oh yes, he was certainly going to help himself to one of those.

"Just be careful where you fire them. I haven't used my plasma caster yet and also instructed Aurora not to do so either because if we hit the walls or ceiling, it could cause a cave in." Air'ik told him.

"No problem and help yourself to one of the others." Wilson stated.

He then turned his attention back to Robin.

"You can take one of the AR-15s or Shotguns, or semi-automatics, Robin. And remember what I said earlier, shoot at the monsters and try not to shoot yourself in the foot." Wilson teased.

She huffed and rolled her eyes.

"I know. Geez, I'm not stupid." She said, as she reached for one of the semi-automatics.

The hunter, Aurora, and the agent tried not to laugh as they watched her struggling to load the semi.

"You need help there, honey?" Wilson continued teasing.

"Shut the fuck up before I shot you in the ass." She snapped.

Air'ik chuckled and just shook his head. Before he turned his attention to Aurora. He quickly gave her a look over and was relieved to see she wasn't to banged up.

Before she said anything, she remembered that Briggs was still a sitting duck where she left him earlier to go help Air'ik.

"I have to get back to Briggs." She said.

She turned to head back to the older man, when there was another loud bang near the back of the room. It was followed by a loud screech.

The larger xeno had finally broken free from its cell. And its attention was focused in on the survivors.

Yautja translations:

chakt-ra- smart disc

cjit- shit

kainde amedha- hard meat

I couldn't resist adding in Air'ik's remark about wanting the bazooka. Why not? Yautjas love their weapons. Especially the big ones that go BOOM. XP

Not only that, but they will most likely need it for this bigger more imposing xenomorph they now all have to face.

Until Next Time ;)