The runners were fast making their way to supply the turrets with the missiles and launchers.
Tom, sitting at his workstation in one of the labs, was thinking through the situation. He pressed the send button on his radio, "Do you think this is the beginning of the attack?"
Finley replied, "Hard to say. We've never seen these things before. They could be waiting for more, or the Xenos to arrive."
"Should we begin evacuation?" Raul asked hurriedly.
"Not yet. We'll watch them for now," Finley replied. "If they attack, we can hold out long enough to evacuate."
Tom thought about it. "I agree. Let's observe for the moment."
"O..ok," Raul replied nervously.
Another screech, much louder this time, startled the four children. Their excitement was quickly turning to anxiety. Clanging and a seemingly muffled voice could be heard in the distance.
They were just passing the halfway point of the corridor, nervously making their way towards the t-junction at the end. A short, loud, very close shriek froze the four of them in place. One of the children lost control and his trousers became stained with a dark liquid which started to drip on to the floor.
A blurred figure burst from around the corner in front of them. It was an enhanced Xenomorph. It slowed momentarily, shrieked at the children and then sprinted straight down the corridor towards the open door.
The other children stuck in place, Caley panicked, turned and ran for the door. Running as fast as he could, he drifted towards the middle of the corridor. Black and silver streaked past Zara who just about managed to follow it with her eyes, which were wide with horror.
It ran straight at Caley. Had he stayed with the others he would've been safe. Instead, there was an impact of Alien and human child, a terrible crunching sound signifying it smashing full force into the rear of Caley's small body. He was sent into the air, momentum carrying him ahead of the creature. Without slowing, the xenomorph continued running, this time crashing in to Caley's now airborne body.
This time he was dragged to the floor, body completely limp. The xenomorph continued its panicked run, dragging Caley further down the corridor before climbing over and past his limp body, leaving behind a long trail of blood.
The creature burst out of the open doorway and dashed straight ahead, straight into the wall of the building opposite. Temporarily stunned it paused, made a motion as if shaking its head clear, shrieked loudly and moved off in a different direction.
Finley had just received the missile launcher with Hurst watching the unidentified creature in the forest. They both turned and looked out at the maze of buildings in surprise.
"What the hell was that?!" Finley radioed.
"I just fucking heard it! It's a fucking Alien inside the base!" Baseer shouted into the radio.
"Where?!"
"I see it!" another soldier, Kathryn, spoke quickly. "It's running down the main pathway towards the gate! Tom, it's one of yours!"
"Are you sure?!" Tom asked.
"I'm fucking sure!" Kathryn retorted. "I just saw it come out your lab!"
"I need four teams to meet me. We're coming in from all four sides. Hurst you watch that thing out there" Finley ordered, thinking fast. "Tom, how do we stop it without killing us all?!"
He was referring to the self destruct mechanism built into the enhanced xenomorphs. It was capable of taking out a much larger area than just the base itself.
"Y..y...you can just shoot it," Tom was clearing the shock to his system. "The self destruct is not active. Just shoot it dead."
Thank fuck for that! Finley thought, rapidly descending the ladder. He hit the ground running and spoke into his radio. "Kathryn, where is it now?"
"Still on the main path, going towards the gate," she replied. "It's running all kinds of fucked up, crashing into things. Like it's confused."
Finley was running full speed and was quickly joined by Baseer and Hartwell.
"The fuck is going on?!" Baseer yelled between deep breaths, keeping pace with Finley.
Finley didn't answer. He checked his weapon as best he could while sprinting, the others did the same.
Denas voice came on the radio. "We can see it! It's coming towards the gate."
"Keitaro, you keep watch on that thing and blow it to hell if it comes for us," Dena told him. "Me and Shen are gonna stop that thing from here."
Keitaro responded by hefting the loaded missile launcher on to his shoulder and taking aim.
The two of them laid flat on their stomachs and took aim with their AM-232 rifles. Further away they could see a number of soldiers converging towards the main path, further from them than the xenomorph.
They waited for it to come closer. Gunfire first erupted from Paolo's turret. Dena saw bullets dig up the ground around the xenomorph and opened fire with her own weapon. The xenomorph actually stopped, as if perplexed further more by the bullets that were striking it and the ground around it.
The soldiers zeroed in and tore the creature apart, exposing its acidic blood. The mechanical parts added by the scientist melted away, drenched in blood.
Seeing the Alien dropping dead far in front of them, Finley and a number of soldiers that had gathered, stopped running. Finley turned towards the lab from which it had escaped. They could see the open door. He gathered Baseer, Hartwell and number of other soldiers and ordered them to follow him to the open doorway.
Finley left three soldiers to guard the outside while he, Baseer, Hartwell and two others made their way inside.
The scene they unexpectedly came upon inside horrified them. A child lay in a bloody broken heap, blood splattered all over the walls and a long trail of it down the middle of the corridor.
"Shit...shit...shit..no!" Finley cursed as he noticed Caley's familiar tussled hair. He crouched and looked over and recognised Caley's now bleeding face. He was astonished to find a rapid pulse.
"Oh, fuck," Baseer said, looking further down the corridor.
"Harlan we need you at the containment lab now. Caley's badly hurt," Finley radioed quietly, controlling his own emotions.
"We're on our way," Harlan quickly responded.
Finley followed Baseer's eyes and saw the three quivering children up ahead. Zara was standing against the wall, still frozen in place with one hand on the wall. The other two were sitting near each other, hugging their knees and rocking back and forth.
"Follow and cover me," Finley ordered, making his way slowly down the corridor.
He checked each of the children one by one. Apart from shock they were uninjured. He took notice that the various safety mechanisms in the corridor had not been activated, meaning they were disabled.
Finley stared at the T-Junction up ahead. The label 'RESEARCH' pointed right. To the left 'SECURE CONTAINMENT'. Leaving the children behind, he got up and started moving ahead.
The four soldiers covered him as he made his way to the junction. He peeked around both sides, glancing at two dead soldiers sprawled along the corridor. Finley moved forward with the others. There were a number of doors along the left side leading to the same large containment room. The dead soldiers had been guarding the first door.
Crouching down, Finley checked for life signs, at the same time noticing the bullet wounds to both of their heads. They'd been executed at point blank range. This meant the soldiers had not been alarmed by whoever had come here.
Using hand signals he ordered Baseer and Hartwell to follow him in to the room and the other two soldiers to cover the corridor. They all acknowledged nervously. Taking slow steps around the bodies the three of them made their way to the already open first door.
Coming closer they heard a metallic banging echoing out of the room followed by a frustrated voice. They entered the room rifle first and saw the first cage wide open. The second and third cages were close, the xenomorphs inside were agitated and striking at their cages.
At the fourth and last cage, in the far end of the room, they saw a figure busily tapping away at the keys.
Finley shouted, "Stop what you're doing right now!"
The figure continued, not even pausing to look his way.
"Oh, fuck. Cover me!" Finley said, racing towards the figure at the far end.
His feet pounded hard on the metal floor, Baseer and Hartwell barely keeping up. They heard metallic clanks, suggesting that the cage was opening up. Instead of shooting, Finley ran straight into the figure at a full sprint, rugby tackling him. The man fell to the ground and hit his head hard, knocking him unconscious. A sidearm pistol fell from the man's pocket and slid along the ground.
Finley instantly stood up to make his way to the control . Baseer was already working at the controls, the three of them breathing hard. Hartwell and Finley pointed their rifles at the cage door. The xenomorph inside was ramming against it, subdued cries coming from inside.
A metallic clunk followed.
"Locked!" Baseer said relieved.
Finley lower his rifle and went back to the unconscious body and turned it over. His expression changed when he recognised the face.
"Santos?! What the fuck?!"
Santos was one of the scientists, Zara's father.
"Why was he freeing them?!" Hartwell asked angrily
"Tie him up." Finley ordered. "We're taking him to Tom."
Harlan arrived with two medics, a stretcher and equipment. The three of them comprised the entire medical staff of the base. They were met by the horrific scene inside the corridor.
A soldier came up to Harlan. "The three over there are shaken but no injuries. The two guards by the door are dead. Shot in the head."
Harlan nodded, further shocked that the guards had been shot dead, and kneeled down by Caley whose body lay in the fetal position. He gingerly checked it over: broken ribs, spine seemed ok, large gashes across his face from being dragged, cuts on his head bleeding profusely, broken arm, most likely heavy internal bleeding.
Harlan grimaced and got to work, giving orders to the two medics. They quickly set up an IV, patched the cuts as best they could, braced his neck and strapped him to a solid surface to protect his back, which they then picked up together and placed on the stretcher itself.
As the three of them wheeled him towards the door Finley came around the corner at the opposite end. Finley was carrying Santos over one shoulder, his gun pointing at the ground held in the other. He had a stern look on his face. He looked at Caley being stretchered away.
Baseer went to one of the soldiers in the corridor. "What're we doing about them three?"
"A group of civis are on their way. One of thems a psychologist."
Baseer nodded thanks and moved off with Finley who was walking past. Hartwell kept quiet, a mix of confusion and anger in his expression.
Outside, Harlan and the medics were quickly joined by a hurrying, hysterical Patia and a friend. Harlan explained the situation and allowed her to place her hand on one of Caley's. The other civilians and parents moved in to the corridor, the soldiers guiding them inside.
Dena and Shen watched the scene from the turret.
"It's leaving," Keitaro told them.
They both turned in time to see the strange creature walk deeper in to the forest. Dena activated her radio, "Base, this is Dena. The creature out in the forest is leaving."
Keitaro put down the launcher and rubbed his shoulder, then lifted his arm to stretch it.
Hurst's voice came on the radio. "This one's going too."
A few minutes later, Tom watched Finley bring Santos in.
"Tie him to the bed," Tom said.
Finley did so. Baseer and Hartwell helped and then stood off to either side, guns at the ready, looking at the unconscious figure. Baseer had been here only a day and a half ago, little expecting to be back so soon for his second ever visit in the previous two years.
"Any ideas doc?" Baseer asked.
"No. I don't understand. We've worked together most of the time we've been here. There were no signs that anything was wrong." Tom had been thinking hard in the short time this had happened.
"Was he trying to kill us all?" Finley asked bluntly.
"I don't know. I disabled and stored the cores separately when we put the xenos in containment. He should've known that." Tom replied.
"Then what was he doing?!" Finley asked more demandingly.
"I don't know," Tom answered honestly. He wiped his open hand across his bald head, a motion indicating he was thinking deeply. "We'll get more answers if we can wake him."
"Then let's wake him," Finley said.
"We don't have the means here," Tom said solemnly.
"Does Harlan?" Finley asked.
"Possible. We need a doctor to check him too," Tom was referring to the big bump and coloured bruise developing on Santos's forehead.
Finley swore under his breath, turned on his radio and began pacing up and down the room. The others watched but said nothing.
"Raul, do you know what's happening in medical right now?" he asked.