XXVIII
*NOTE – Hello everybody, it's me, TheManFromMudos, and here I am again with another jaw-dropping chapter of 'Xena'. Before we begin, I'd just like to say how pleased I am that the story recently reached twenty thousand views! An incredible feat, indeed. That being said, the story's not going to finish itself, so here we go. Oh, and whilst I'm here, I'd also like to warn you, before you begin this chapter, that you might not like what you read. Please, no abusive reviews or messages. Just have faith in me as an author, and trust that everything will work out in the end. Read on and enjoy. It's 'Xena'. THANK YOU!*
"Now, turn around. Slowly." Ryan said quietly, his voice shaky and distressed. I was pretty certain that he had a gun pointed at me right now, so I thought it best to obey. Taking a deep breath, I carefully rotated on the spot, turning to face the irate man. Sure enough, he had an energy burst cannon aimed right at me. He was breathing rapidly, sweat running down his face, which was still bloodied and bruised from earlier. He glared menacingly at me and Xena, neither one of us daring to move. Even Nathan and Alan had fallen silent by this point, shocked by Ryan's unexpected arrival.
"Well, well, well…" Ryan continued, edging forwards slowly as he spoke. "I must admit, Matthew, I never really expected it to end this way between us. But you leave me no choice. Clearly it's going to take a little more than a punch to the face to make you see sense."
"A punch to the f- What exactly is going on here, Goddard?" Alan snapped, albeit in a noticeably cautious tone.
"Oh, wouldn't you like to know, Alan?" Ryan quipped sarcastically. "You clueless, pig-headed fuckwit." Alan's face went red with anger. Never before had Ryan addressed his commanding officer in such a way. Even so, Alan knew better than to provoke Ryan any further, so he refused to dignify the insult with a response.
"You don't honestly think that poor, innocent Matthew here would lay a finger on another crew member for no good reason, do you?" Ryan continued, turning back to me and Xena. "I think you'll find that the situation was very much the other way round…" He grinned sinisterly as he spoke, and glared disconcertingly with his yellowed, bloodshot eyes.
"Ryan, listen to me." I tried, being sure to keep my distance from him as I spoke. "I-"
"No, you listen to me, Matthew." He interrupted, his expression transforming into a dark grimace. "I've studied these Xenomorphs for the best part of two decades, you understand me? And no matter what you think is 'fair' and 'just', no matter how much capacity for emotion you may believe these things have, they are killers. Plain and simple."
"Ryan, please," I pleaded desperately. "You've got it all wrong. I know that you've spent your whole life seeing Xenomorphs killing humans. Cold-blooded murderers with no sense of mercy. But Xena's different, I swear. She's-"
"She's one of them!" Ryan yelled angrily. "And that's all there is to it!" He glanced over at Alan and Nathan, both of whom seemed frozen to the spot with fear, despite the fact that they were both fully armed.
"And to think, you were actually going to just let this thing go." Ryan continued, his voice suddenly becoming much calmer.
"Well, not on my watch…" He chuckled, looking back towards me and Xena. At this point, I was beginning to get the unsettling feeling that Ryan was not completely sane. In fact, I was beginning to suspect that he wasn't sane at all.
"You're off your head, aren't you?" I asked, keeping myself and Xena as far away from Ryan as possible. "You've gone mad."
"Oh, Matthew…" He replied, smiling evilly as he spoke. "I prefer the term 'insane'. Even so, clearly not half as insane as you, by the looks of it. Let me tell you, Matthew, if you think that I'm just going to sit back and watch whilst you and your little lady friend here escape, then you've got another thing coming."
"Goddard, I am ordering you to stand down." Alan demanded. "You will let Alan and… 'Xena' leave right now. Is that clear?"
"Stand down?" Ryan asked, laughing. "Oh, I don't think so. No, no." He reached for the bolt of his gun, pulling it back until it clicked loudly. Then, he pointed the barrel straight towards me and Xena, a look of madness flaring up in his eyes.
"Now…" He continued, breathing heavily as he spoke. "I'll give you one last chance, Matthew. Stand aside now so I can kill that thing before it has the chance to kill all of us."
"How dare you?" I whispered, finally losing my patience with the crazed man. "How dare you call her a killer, you hypocrite!"
"I don't understand, why's he a hypocrite?" Nathan asked, the first time he'd spoken since Ryan had appeared.
"Because he knew!" I shouted angrily. "He knew that the crew of the XH-12 had been killed by a Xenomorph outbreak. He knew that the escape shuttle had a nest aboard it, and that one of the eggs would hatch and kill Cara." I looked at Ryan, who was now red with anger. But I wasn't finished yet.
"Because of you, Cara's dead." I said solemnly. "And so is Brad. All so that you could make a quick buck. So ask yourself this, Ryan: Who's the real killer? Because by my count, you've killed two more people than Xena has, and she's killed NONE!"
Ryan's expression turned to a look of pure disgust at this point. It was almost as if he couldn't believe that I'd even consider comparing him to a 'brainless, psychopathic killing machine' like Xena. But it was the truth. He was more of a killer than she'd ever be. Case in point, he was literally holding the two of us at gunpoint right now. I glanced over my shoulder at Xena, who looked scared and confused by the whole situation. I gave her as reassuring a smile as I could manage, and squeezed the palm of her hand gently to comfort her. But in truth, I knew that things looked bleak.
"Goddard…" Alan began after a few seconds of silence. "If what Jones says is true, then you've perpetrated a mutiny. As such, as commanding officer of this vessel, I am authorised to issue the appropriate level of punishment under the circumstances."
"What are you saying, Alan?" Ryan remarked, although I was pretty certain that he'd already gathered what was being implied.
"I'm saying, Ryan," Alan continued, "That if you do not stand down immediately… we will not hesitate to open fire." He gave Nathan a quick nod, and both men proceeded to direct the barrels of their guns in Ryan's direction.
"I don't believe this." He replied, astonished. "You're seriously putting the life of that monster before a human crew member?"
"You mean like you put the life of that Facehugger before Cara?" I interjected, still annoyed by Ryan's blatant hypocrisy. He ignored this comment, but I could see in his eyes that I had struck a nerve this time.
"Listen to me, Goddard." Alan said sternly, attempting once more to pacify Ryan. "If you shoot… we shoot. Understand?"
"Well, I hope you've been getting enough target practice," Ryan replied, his voice serious yet mocking at the same time. "Because I am going to kill that thing. No matter the consequences, I have to make sure it can never bring harm to anyone."
It was in this moment that a chilling thought came into my mind. For twenty years, maybe more, Ryan had worked for Weyland-Yutani, doing nothing but studying Xenomorphs, day in, day out. Whilst Alan and Nathan had judged Xena by the standards of just one other Xenomorph, Ryan had encountered hundreds, if not thousands of them over the years, and every single one of them had been a murderous, bloodthirsty creature of instinct. It wasn't until now that I finally understood how seriously concerned he was with allowing Xena to roam free. So concerned, in fact, that it had driven him to the brink of insanity, and beyond. For one brief moment, I actually felt sorry for Ryan. Then I remembered that he was about to kill me.
"Ok, let's get this over with." Ryan eventually continued. He readied his weapon once more, aiming it towards the spot where Xena and I still stood. Clearly, the threat of death was not going to stop him from fulfilling his goal.
"Now, Matthew," He went on, his voice low and solemn. "Are you going to stand aside, and let me do what I need to do?"
"No, I'm not." I told him confidently. "I'm sorry, Ryan. I've no doubt your past experiences haven't exactly painted the best picture of Xenomorphs. But I can't let you kill Xena. You don't understand how much she means to me."
"Suit yourself." Ryan replied bluntly. "I guess I'll just have to kill both of you." And with that, he held his energy burst cannon up in front of him, slowly moving his hand to rest his finger over the trigger.
"Ryan…" I begged, a final desperate plea for mercy. Ryan had already begun to pull back the trigger of his gun at this point.
"Goddard…" Alan also started, his finger ready on the trigger of his own weapon. Nathan did the same, both men now seeming to accept the fact that two crew members were about to die. Meanwhile, I turned around, to look at Xena one last time. Tears welled in my eyes now, as I was fully aware of what was to come. This time, there really was no way out. I smiled at her sadly, the only thing I could think to do under the circumstances. Surprisingly, she did not return the smile. Instead, she replied with a curt nod. At the time, I didn't know what this meant, but I was about to find out.
"Goodbye, Matthew." Ryan said shakily. Then, he muttered the last words I'd ever hear him say: "I'm sorry." And with that, he pulled down hard on the trigger of his energy burst cannon. The whole weapon glowed brightly, and a shaft of spectacularly bright white light shot from the barrel. It was less than a fraction of a second from hitting me when I suddenly felt a sharp force pushing against my back, which sent me hurtling to the ground. As I landed, I heard another shot, being fired off by Alan. This was followed barely a second later by the unmistakable sound of a body collapsing to the floor with a thud. The realisation hit me almost immediately, and I dared not even look for fear that it had really happened. But it had. And it was mortifying.
"Xena!" I yelled, scrambling to my feet and running over to the unmoving Xenomorph. I dropped to my knees by her side and shook her desperately. "Oh, God, please. Xena!" She let out a slight groan, audibly strained and laced with agony.
"Xena, can you hear me?" I gasped, tears once more beginning to well up in my eyes. Slowly, but surely, she nodded her head.
"Don't worry, Xena," I whispered, trembling. "It's going to be alright. We'll get help, we'll…" She smiled ever so slightly, but shook her head as she did. Tears began to stream down my face at this point. I knew deep down that it was too late to save her, but I simply couldn't bear to admit it. We'd known each other for such a short period of time, but it felt like I was losing a life-long partner. She couldn't be dying. She just couldn't be. And yet, here we were.
As I continued to weep uncontrollably, I felt a slight tug on my trouser leg. I looked down, and saw that Xena was trying to bring me closer to her. I knew exactly what she wanted. And I knew that this could be the last moment we ever spent together. I leaned in closer, using my hand to lift her head slightly, and pressed my lips against her mouth. Then, we were engaged within our final kiss. She attempted to put an arm around me, but sadly, to no avail. I compensated for this by moving even closer to her, placing my free arm across her back. The bittersweet moment bought tears to my eyes, yet I was smiling inside as well. Then, something peculiar happened. As Xena's inner jaws slipped slowly into my mouth, I felt something cold running down my throat. No sooner than I had noticed it, she pushed herself away, breaking our embrace as she returned to her position on the ground. I fought desperately to remain calm now, as I knew that it was over, and no amount of crying would change that. Xena was dead. The greatest love of my life, taken from me, by a crazed bounty hunter with a big gun. Why did it have to end this way?
"Matthew?" Alan whispered, walking over slowly and placing a hand on my shoulder. "I'm… sorry it had to end this way. You must have really cared about her."
"I did." I nodded, rubbing away the tears from my eyes. "Thanks for trying, Alan. She-" But before I could finish my sentence, I felt a sharp pain erupting from my stomach. I keeled over, the pain so unbearable that I could barely speak. Instead, I began to choke and gag involuntarily. It didn't take long for me to realise what was going on.
"What's happening, Smith?" Alan asked Nathan, who had already ran to help me up.
"I don't know, sir." He replied, lifting me up to a sitting position. "But I can hazard a guess." I tried to speak, but found myself totally unable. The pain was getting worse and worse, as if something was trying to push its way out of my stomach.
"We need to get him to the medbay." Nathan continued, gesturing to Alan to help carry me away. "Before he gives birth."