Chapter 7

Cost of freedom

Marc waited. He was sitting back towards the center of the room. Today, it was going to happen. The Plan. Needless to say, he was nervous. They had only one chance, and if they failed, they'll be most likely killed or on the best occasion, separated even more. Rache had only said that it'll happen at evening, but she wasn't able to tell the time, as she didn't know clock. So it was even harder to not have a heart attack from waiting. At what Marc thought was 4 o'clock, he heard the hiss of the door opening behind him. He didn't turn, but he knew who it was. He was the only one to actually come in the same room with him. "Weyland. What are you going to tell me this time? That you have tortured her more? That You have heard her scream? It doesn't work. I know your lies and how you try to tease me with them." He said. Weyland had tried to annoy him these past days as much as he could, but it hadn't worked. "No. I've noticed that still, you and your lovely partner still keep something from me. Your able to still communicate. You should be screaming to get for her, but no! You just sit here, waiting for something. Sometimes you smile for nothing, or your heart's pace jumps some few levels. HOW?" He asked sounding angry. For some weird reason, Weyland hated when he couldn't read Marc's emotions from his face. "It's a secret. You'll never know. What time is it?" He said calmly. "What? I'm the one who asks! Not you! How do you still communicate?" He asked almost screaming. Why that was so important for him? Well, he was strange and creepy anyways, so nobody knows. "I told you. It's a secret." He said smiling. He enjoyed to annoy that man. "Fine. Maybe you're more hesitant to speak when your fellow xenomorph will be beaten almost dead!" He shouted and started to leave the room. Marc wasn't scared. It always took some hours for Weyland's threats to happen, and when it would happen, they would already be free. Before Weyland left, Marc chose to annoy him a little bit more: "Which one?" he asked. If he could see it, Weyland made a quick stare at him before leaving.

She was waiting. Any moment now, the first part of The Plan would start. When they were free, she could finally be with Marc once again. And she would never leave him again. Oh, who was she cheating? She would have to leave him sometimes. But those times away would be temporary. But the escape would not be easy. Not at least THAT part of it. But she was herself the only one she trusted to do it. And she hated to know she had to do it. As she went The Plan through in her head, the lights started to flicker. Then they shut off for a moment. "It's started" She thought.

Outside the complex

"Now the red-and-blue one." Rache told one of her siblings and pointed towards a striped line on the wall. The xenomorph snapped the line with her inner jaws. The lights of the facility flickered again. "Now the next one" Rache told others and began her way along the wall. "Stop. Hide!" She told the others and they hid themselves where they could. After a moment a door opened and three soldiers walked out of it. "Wait for it..." Rache said. The others were eager to kill those puny humans. The soldiers walked at the line they had just broke. One of the soldiers put her and on her ear and started to speak something. "Now." She said. Four shadows emerged from the darkness. They slowly creep on top of the soldiers. The speaking was soon replaced with sound od flesh ripping and bones snapping. There was no screams. Xenomorphs were not called killing machines for nothing. "Let's move on." She said, and continued her journey towards the final wire they had to brake.

Inside the complex

Lights went out. There was no light. Anywhere. But he could hear running of the soldiers in the hallway, giving orders. He smiled. So far so good. He had memorized his sell these days in here, and knew exactly where the door was. In case of blackout, all the doors went offline, but there was a manual switch which was lead into a mechanic which opened the door. He pulled the manual override switch. Nothing Happened. "No no no NOO!" He shouted. Of course Weyland had broken the system for him not to escape. "Well, I can't do much." He thought and sat on the floor. Surely Zahira will start to search for him after she didn't find him at the meeting place. After some waiting there was a knock on the door. No, three knocks. He stood up and leaped at the door. He repeated the knocks. Then he felt a mind speaking to him; "Are you Marc?" The voice said. It was no Zahira nor Rache,but it was a xeno. "Yes. Get me out of here." He said to her. "You could at least say please..." she said. Then he started to hear a voice. A hissing noise, but not like one a xeno would do. "What are you doing?" He asked. "Getting you out of there, of course. Now stand back." She said. Marc smelled acid in the air. He stood back. There was a loud bang, and he both heard and felt how the door fell from it's hinges. "Well? Come on already" She hurried. "I can't see. Could you find me a flashlight or-" He said before breaking off. Strong, slender arms had grabbed him and then started to carry him. "Don't tell anyone I carried you, but we have no time. Now please don't squirm that much, it's already hard to run with only two feet." The xeno told him.

She carried him through hallways and rooms. Or at least Marc felt so. He didn't still see a thing. There was all the time echoes of gunfire and screams of horror around the facility. After some running, they came to their meeting place. There was nobody, but in the small light the emergency lights gave out, Marc saw bodies. Lots of them. All soldiers, with holes in their bodies. Marc almost threw up on the sight. "Don't you dare..." She told him. He swallowed to not throw up. All those people, for what? So they could escape? Then again, those people had made their decision. Marc had made Rache to swear not to harm any civilians. Only soldiers. " Where are everyone?" He asked. "I don't know, but they were here. I can follow the scent." She said and they continued their journey.

They went some time just through the hallways seemingly with no actual way to go. But Marc knew better. Xenos' sense of smell is better than dog's, even though they had no visible nostrils. They could literally smell blood half a mile away. They ran (Or actually only other one of them ran) for some time, all the time seeing more and more bodies, some even ripped apart, until they came into an intersection with some lights on. There was a noise of gunfire and screams. But not screams of humans. They were screams of xenos.

It was a shocking scene. Soldiers were panicking and shooting everything that moved, including their own people. Still there seemed to be no dead or even injured xenos. The shadows moved all around the soldiers, trapping them and randomly grabbing someones foot and finishing them off. Usually puncturing their skull with their inner jaw. Then he saw a familiar body in the middle of the xenos. Zahira. "Zahira! Here!" He shouted aloud. He could not use thier link here. There was too much minds around them. Zahira turned towards the voice, and screamed in joy when she separated from the ring of xenos and ran towards Marc. The xeno that had carried him had put him down and joined the battle. "Marc! I was so afraid that something had happened to you! You weren't at the meeting area, and I thought you were-" She said in relieved voice. "It was just a door. It didn't want to open." He said and hugged her. After some time she returned the embrace. "You know, I was so bored there. I couldn't talk to you, and Rache, well..." He said still hugging her. "I know, I wanted to be with you too. I'm happy we're together again..." She said and hugged a bit harder. "Now, If you two lovebirds would allow it, we should get going." The voice of Rache said. "Where are you?" Marc said and looked around. The battle had stopped and the xenos were leaving. "Outside, waiting for you two. I'm too big to roam inside there. Now get going!" She said. And they continued their journey.

It was a catastrophe. The electricity had gone out an xenos had attacked. What next? Giants?: Weyland thought at the command center. He looked at the monitors which still worked with the backup-power. Everywhere expensive scientific tools and people were destroyed. The army couldn't do anything. They were slaughtered. What was the weirdest thing was that those things didn't care anybody else. He could swear that few times a scientist had just ran past one and it didn't even care. Maybe they thought they weren't thinking them as a threat. But how did those xenos see the difference between armed and unarmed human? They just passed everyone who didn't bear a gun. Then he saw something new. That man. Marc. He ran past one of the cameras. How had he escaped his sell? Then something else ran past. A Xenomorph. The same one that that man had befriended. Of course. It had freed him. He looked at the cameras. Again Marc ran at the view of the camera, but now something else happened. He fell. The xeno reached him. Now it would help him up and they would continue running. But no. The xeno grabbed him by the throat and rose him at the same level with it. It hissed at him and started to grim at him. Then it threw him in the air. He hit the wall. The xeno walked towards him and hissed again. Its tail rose threatening. Was it going to kill him? Had that thing faked their "relationship" all the time? If it was, it was far more intelligent that he had estimated. Then the tail burst towards the man. There was a sound of flesh ripping and a scream of pain. Then the xeno seemed to sense it was been looked. It turned its head towards the camera and reached it. It grabbed it and the screen broke into static. So it had never been a real friend for Marc. Weyland laughed a little. Then he remembered his problem. His precious facility was being attacked by hundreds of xenomorphs. This had happened before. And always the facility was lost. So he took the key from his pocket and opened a bulletproof case with it. Behind it was two switches, and under that, written in big red letters: SELF DESTRUCTION

It was her worst moment of her life. She had hurt her loved one. She was in great pains, mentally and physically. "Quickly now, DO IT!" She heard Rache scream. Now was the part she was most unsure to do. Heal him. It had been all fake. The killing of Marc. But it had tricked them thinking that Marc was dead. She looked at Marc in front of him, curled on the floor. "I'm SO sorry Marc!" She cried to him. "It's... It's ok... Do it already..." He said weakly, breathing in after every word. Zahira had only ripped his stomach's skin and muscles. Xeno's ability to control it's tail was very good. She had been able to not puncture any of his vital organs. But it did hurt him. What else would it feel like to have a xenomorphs tail, which was made to kill, not injure, to go through one's skin and muscles and then tuen so it didn't go deeper, but it went partly around you UNDER YOUR VERY SKIN? That was the pain Marc was in right now. Now was the time to heal him. Queens have an ability to produce a substance called "Life-Jelly", which worked similar to Royal Jelly, a slimy liquid what bees produce. But what else it did was it could heal almost any injury or illness. Or so it had been told to her by Rache. The thing is, also Warriors could make small doses of this "Life-Jelly" In their throats. Now was time to test this thing. She slowly leveled herself with Marc, and looked at him at his face. She was a bit afraid to do this. "Come on! He's dying! There's no time for awkwardness!" She heard Rache shout. So she gently grabbed Marc's head towards her. His eyes were full of trust. She slowly opened her mouth, and extended her inner jaw into Marc's mouth and past, into his throat. there was first a slight amount of his body trying to cough, and the stopped. Before she started to produce the Life-Jelly, she remembered Marc telling about the humans first aid action, Kiss of Life, and how literal it was now. Then she went int a trance as she started to release the needed Jelly into Marc's body.

Rache looked as Zahira sat there, in trance. She was proud of her. She had gone through so much, only for her love. She was also happy to see Zahira have real love. She really was the one to start again the bond between humans and her kind. And she was going to do it with Marc. Rache had no idea what would these two face in their life, but she did know that they would love each other for the rest of their life. No one of his kind could feel that kind of love. They would hate humans forever. But this was a start. She din't know how the idea of humans and xenos living together would spread, but it would. She had seen the future. Like all of her kind's Queens. But only she had the privilege to be the Queen to fulfill it. All the others of her hive knew who this human was and why he was so important. They don't understand it though. How could they? They still hate humans, but nobody questions Queens opinion. Nobody. As she sat there, other of her hive started to gather around the couple. In the end, everybody just looked at the xeno helping the injured human. The warriors didn't understand why, but they somehow knew that this moment was historic.

Then, a human female voice was heard all around the facility. "Self destruction sequence initiated. Self destruction begins in T-minus ten minutes. evacuate immediately." Rache looked around. Self destruction? That was a thing? But they had no time then! "Everyone! Leave this building immetately!" She shouted. All the xenomorphs around them ran in different directions. "Warn anybody else you see too!" Then she turned again towards the couple. They were still in a trance-like state. It takes always around 10 runs (About 10-20 minutes. They don't know humans' clock), and it had already been so long. They should already wake up! And then, she saw Zahira flinch. Rache leaped to her and hold her, so she didn't fall. "Did it work?" She asked. Rache looked at the wound at Marc's stomach. There was no sign of healing. "Only time can tell." She told her. Zahira shook her head and turned towards Marc. His wound didn't at least bleed anymore. Maybe it had worked! "Zahira, this place is going to destroy itself in "T-minus 10 minutes", whatever that means. We need to go!" Rache said. Zahira grabbed Marc's unconscious body and then started to carry it. "Show me where we must go"

She ran. And ran. She had no idea where they were going, but Rache seemed to know. They were going up. This part of the facility was big enough for a Queen, so it was no problen for them both go in there. The others of Rache'd hive had seemingly killed every soldier in here. There was nobody to be seen. They went through a door to a huge open area with many large structures in it. They were standing on some kind of legs. Then she heard a familiar voice from her burden: "Zahira..." She looked at his loved one. He had opened his eyes and was now looking at her. "Where... Where are we?" He asked. "Look around. I don't know myself." She said and raised her head. They had stopped. "We... We're at the hangar! And those are the ships! Were right were we want to be!" He said eyes wide. "But why here? Why couldn't we just leave this place?" She asked. "I'll explain later. Now I need to get to that console. As much as I like to be carried by you, Could you put me down? I believe I can already walk." He said. Zahira put him down gently. Marc stood there for a second and then took a step. He fell immediately. "No, you can't walk yet. Let me help you" Zahira said and walked next to him. He put his hand around her neck and leaned at her. "Than you." He said and started to walk slowly towards the thing he had called "console". When they reached it, Marc tried to free his hand, but Zahira stopped him. "You'll just tumble over again. No." She said as Marc looked at her questionably. "I need my both hands for this. If you really need to, Grab me from my waist and lift me so I don't need to use my feet." He said and turned at the thing. Carefully Zahira grabbed Marc from his waist and then lifted him so that his feet barely touched the ground.

"Why am I unable to move, anyways?" He asked as he pressed the surface of the console and its surface started to glow. "It's because the Jelly inside you is taking your energy to fix the injuries. You're too weak to walk yet." Rache answered. "Oh. Okay." He answered. "What are these things? are they dead animals?" Zahira asked and nodded towards one of the ships. "No. as you have noticed, we are not as fast as you are. We use machines to move ourselves around quicker. we also use them when we need to leave a planet. Like now." He said. Zahira seemed satisfied of knowing that. "By the way, Rache. What happened when we were unconscious?" Marc asked not turning his head from the console. "Well, umm... There was this voice, which sounded coming everywhere. It said: "Self destruct will begin in T-minus 10 minutes". " She said. "What? Are you really sure it said that?" Marc asked. Were they ready to blow up their own buildings to cover up things? "Yes. But I thought it meant that this place will be demolished in something like ten cycles." She said. "Ten cycles?" Marc asked. "Yes. We call that the time it does to night and day to happen." She answered. This was bad. really bad. Marc checked the console. Sure, there it was. A red timer, right then going at 6 minutes. There was no seconds displayed. Was it 6 minutes to go? Or already gone? As an answer, there was an announcement; "Warning: Self destruction begins in T-minus 5 minutes" Ok. They had still time. "We call that day. Not a cycle. That means that there's only the same time left that has past since the first announcement." He said and looked at the xenos with him. They looked each other.

"Well hello!" escaped his lips when a familiar name appeared in the console. "What is it?" Both xenos asked. "Well, I just noticed that there's one ship which is different from the others. In a good way." He said grinning. "Well? You didn't answer. Not straightly at least." Zahira said. "Would you like to leave with style? And also at the same time annoy our shared enemy a little?" He asked, now smiling a very wide smile. "Tell us already." She asked. "Well, beauty, see that ship?" He said and pointed towards a shining white ship. "Yes." "That is "Mr. Weylands ship." He said. "No way. Should we "borrow" it?" Zahira asked, now also smiling. "It would be shame to leave it here to blow up." Marc said. Then he remembered something. "Hey, Rache. Don't you have something to say to Zahira?" He asked so Zahira won't hear. "What? Oh. OH. Umm... I don't know. What if she hates me for not showing myself?" She asked nervously. "Come on. I already told you. She WON'T hate you. Tell her." He said. But before Rache could say anything, there was a loud bang.

He heard a small voice escape Rache's lips when Marc saw a bullet go in from her back and come out from her chest with a burst of green, corrosive blood. "When I saw you been ripped apart by that thing, I thought I would never see you again. It was a good trick, I can say. But now, I'm afraid I need to kill you both." Marc heard Weyland say. He stood in the door to the hangar. "NO!" He heard Zahira scream as she ran for Rache. The Queen had fallen to her knees, looking at her chest, not believing what she saw and felt. there was a steady flow of blood coming from the wound where the bullet had gone through. Even from not knowing Queen's structure, he knew the wound was fatal. He turned his head towards Weyland. Marc was furious for what he had done, but that murderer had a pistol, and he was too far away to just make a run for it. "Now I'm very curious. How do you communicate? It has to be much more complicated than writing and body language. You planned this whole outbreak with THOSE-" He pointed at Rache and Zahira. "-And it worked. I just ask: HOW?" He said. Marc was quiet. "You tell me, or I'll shoot your little pet." He said and started pointing his weapon towards Zahira.

She was crying. Or doing something similar. Xenomorphs don't cry. But that doesn't mean they can't feel grief. She just sat next to Rache. She had been killed, saving them. And Zahira didn't even know her, except her name! "Zahira." Rache said. She looked at her face. "My Zahira... I'm so proud of you, even if you haven't earned it yet. But you will." She said and looked at Zahira. If she would have eyes, they would be crying. "Zahira. I haven't actually seen you before this escape, but I still know you better than anyone. I have confided to Marc about this, as I was afraid of your reaction if I told you this. Zahira. I'm your Mother." She said, smiling and crying. Zahira was dumbstruck. It explained many things. Bur she didn't want to think them now. All she had in her mind was how she first time in her life actually speaks to her mother, knowing who she is. "Please don't hate me for not helping you escape before. I had to leave you so you could-" Rache cried as she tried to explain. "Why should I hate you? You're my mother! Whatever is your reason, I won't hate you. Never." She said and hugged her mother. "Mother..." She said and tucked herself closer to Rache. "Zahira..." She said and hugged her too with her all four hands. This time she released the sound the xenos make when they cry; a low, calm rumbling noise. As Zahira hugged her, she could feel her heart's pace slowly weakening. "Zahira... You know that your and Marc's relationship was foretold. That doesn't mean you don't actually love him. Remember that. You are a lucky girl to have Marc as a mate. NEVER forget that." She said to Zahira, and to Marc, she said: "Marc. Keep Zahira safe. If you don't, I'll come from my grave and kill you." She said, the end with a joking voice. "No but really. Keep her safe. Thank you, for making her happy." Then she was silent for a second, and said then to both of them: "Thank you. For everything." And then Zahira felt how her heart stopped. And then she gave a high scream of sorrow.

Marc had tears in his eyes, but he didn't let out a sound. He didn't want to have Weyland have that joy. "Wait a minute. I... I think I get it. Telepathy? Yes! That's how you talk to each other! Hey, are those tears I see, Marc? You really do care for these things, huh?" Weyland said, not believing his eyes. His Eyes were so fixed at Marc that he didn't notice how Zahira started creep at the backside of the man. "I- I'm speechless! You really seem to care! You really think these things are intelligent? Did that Queen then tell you any "Last words"?" He asked and laughed evilly, still keeping his gun pointed at Marc. " Actually, yes, she did." Marc said. Weyland looked taken aback. "I won't tell you what those words were, but let me tell you something. Do you know what she-" Marc pointed at Rache's body. "-meant to Zahira?" he asked. "Well? I'm enjoying you trying to tell me they're intelligent. Tell me." Weyland said smiling. She was her Mother. And you know how is the most intelligent feeling she can have towards the murderer of her Mother?" He asked. Just now Weyland noticed that Zahira had vanished from his view. "Revenge" Marc said grinning now. Weyland turned around and tried to use his weapon, but couldn't as his weapon was grabbed from his hand by black, slender hand and then thrown away. Then Zahira grabbed Weyland from his throat, strangling him. She lifted Weyland's flailing body so his head was in the same level with her face. She hissed at him with so much anger even Marc's back chilled, even though he was safe from Zahira's anger. Zahira's tail slowly rose and she tip of it stopped on top of his chest. She grinned before powerfully impaling Weyland's body. Then she did retracted her tail from the hole in Weyland's body only to make a new hole into it. She impaled Weyland again and again, all the time grinning from sweet revenge over her Mother's killer. Then Marc noticed something weird on the blood Weyland's body bled. It was... White? Weyland was an android? Marc kept quiet though. Zahira had to have her revenge, was it only an android or not. Finally, what seemed like ages, she was finished. There was nothing left of the android except some white and gears. Zahira's black body was stained with white, making her look a bit like a cow. If cows were shaped like xenomorph.

Their ship slowly rose from the hangar. There was a timer on the display of the ship, showing the time they had left. It was still some few minutes left, so they had time. They had dragged Rache's body to the ship, so her hive could choose what to do with it. It would be just wrong to let her body evaporate in the explosion. They were silent all the time. There was no talk and it was not required. They knew that they had to return her body. Then, after the timer reached zero, they saw a bright flash. After some seconds the sonic wave hit them. They stopped and turned the ship. They saw a dark, mushroom-shaped cloud rise from where there was once a research facility. Then they continued their trip. They flew around until Zahira sensed one of her kind. They landed close to her, and came out of the ship.

"Where is she?" Marc asked Zahira. She looked at a tree on the right side of them. "There. She's asking me what happened there. Should I tell? Or should I ask her to show herself before that?" She asked. "Ask her to come down. Tell her we're not a threat." He said and waited. Surely, after some seconds a slender, dark figure descended from the tree. "What happened there? Where's Mother?" She asked worry in her voice. "She didn't make it. She was killed by a man, the leader of that place." Marc said. The xenomorph flinched. "What? But... She can't be dead! She's our Mother! Show her to me!" She ordered. They took her to their ship, and inside it. They walked through the hatch. There, lying on the floor, was the giant body of Rache. "NO! She can't be dead! We need her! She's our Queen!" She said and curled next to the body. From here, You couldn't see her wound, and you could think she was sleeping. But she was not. She was dead. "I know how it feels, sister." Zahira said to the crying xeno. "Was she YOUR Mother too?" She asked. "Yes, even though I didn't know that before she said it to me, just before she died." Zahira said, starting to cry too from the memory. "I... Thank you for bringing her body out of there. Anything is better than leaving her THERE." She said. "We brought her to you." Marc said. "I don't know what is your way of burial, but I believe you want to bury her the way you think is suitable." He said. Looking at the xenomorph, as he couldn't look at Rache's body without starting to cry. "Thank you. I mean it. I should call my sisters so we can move her body to our nest." She said without breaking her gaze from the body of her former Queen.

Her sisters came half an hour later. They all looked very similar. They didn't say a thing, when they lifted her body together and started to carry it outside. Then, one of the xenos walked at them: "Hello. I thank you for bringing her back. We'll take her to the nest and make a proper burial." She said and made her kind's way of bowing: she lifted her head, leaving her neck exposed. Then she continued: "I am the one who's going to be the new Queen: I've already consumed the Jelly and started the transformation. But I won't be as good Queen as she was. But I'll do my best. "She said. She did indeed already have the crown forming on her head. "Thank you. We'll wait for you to take her body and then We'll leave this planet." He said and put his hand around Zahira's neck. She leaned her head as a response at his and purred. "You leave? But we thought you were coming with us." The next Queen said surprised. "No. We need to leave. The humans think Marc is dead, and we prefer them believing so. Here they would recognize him and he would be captured." Zahira said. "I understand. Will you come back? You both are always welcomed here, for you were close friends with Rache when she was alive." she asked. "I'm afraid no. We leave this planet and may never come back. But maybe. We don't know what future holds." Marc said. "In that case, I say farewell. You are lucky to have him as a mate, Zahira. I can feel it." The xenomorph said before she turned and left.

Now they were alone. They stood there, doing nothing. They were so tired of the events that had happened, that they didn't even have enough energy to talk. So, without saying a word, they both left the room and went to the bedroom. It was a spacious room, with a double bed. "You haven't slept on a bed haven't you?" Marc said and smiled. She smiled back. Marc took off his clothes until he was wearing only his underwear. Zahira seemed to enjoy the view. "Maybe later..." He thought and went to bed. Zahira sat next to him. "You lie on it. Like this." He said and lifted the cover. Zahire walked under the cover and lied then. Then she wrapped her hands and her tail around him. Slowly, Marc lowered the cover. Then he looked at his love. She seemed to like the bed. "Good night, my lovely mate." She said and nuzzled at his cheek. "Good night, Zahira. The love of my life." Marc said and fell asleep.

Author's note: That was it! Phew! Hope you liked it! I know that many things were left unanswered and/or totally skipped, but remember: this story will continue later on. I wanted this chapter end like any chapter before. And for those who wanted lemons: Don't worry, they'll come. Later. In a different that story is out even as you read this! Its called Deep in Minds, check it out! PM me if you need to and reviews are appreciated.