XV

"Matthew," Nathan said hastily, comforting a wincing Alan. "You've got to go after that thing."

"What?" I replied, astonished. "And what do you suppose I do when I find it?"

"Matthew, we can't lose it!" He snapped, gesturing for Ryan to come and give him a hand. "Me and Ryan'll get Alan to Science and Medical. You find out where the Xenomorph went. Before it comes for his other arm…"

"But what good can I do alone?" I asked, becoming angry because of the stress of the situation. "You saw what it did to-"

"MATTHEW!" Nathan shouted, with equal anger in his voice. "Now listen here. You may outrank me, but right now I am taking control of the situation, now GO!" His voice was raised so much at the end that my only reply was a meager nod. Readying my weapon, I stepped over to the door, and released the lockdown mechanism. Peering out into the corridor, I saw that the coast was clear, at least for now. I turned back to Nathan, Ryan and Alan, wishing them the best of luck. Then, I dashed out into the corridor, sprinting after the creature.

For a few minutes, I bolted around the ship at great speed, holding my gun ready for what I might find. The sounds of the Xenomorph growling in the distance provided my direction. But by the time I'd gotten downstairs, I was already out of breath. Of course, the Xenomorph was now nowhere to be soon. Why was I even trying? This thing was capable of running way faster than I could ever hope to, so what hope did I have of catching up with it? Still, I pressed on, forcing myself to run at full pelt. The creature growled again, giving me another clue as to it's whereabouts. I saw a fork in the corridor ahead, where the ring of living quarters made up the central 'core' of the ship. Without even thinking, I pushed myself towards the right-hand fork, rounding the corner at full speed. Suddenly, I saw something which made me skid to a halt.

In the corridor before me, standing outside my own living quarters, no less, was a Xenomorph. I planted my feet firmly on the ground and almost tumbled head-over-heels as I tried to stop. The Xenomorph backed away as I approached. I knew why at once. It was the female creature, the one I had met in the corridor earlier. I dropped the enormously heavy chain gun on the floor, breathing deeply as I leaned forwards, hands on my knees. The alien simply looked at me, seemingly confused.

"Thank God it's just you…" I sighed, still gasping for breath. She smiled and came towards me a little more.

"Look, I don't know what you're doing lurking outside my quarters," I continued, peering over my shoulder to make sure nobody was listening, "But things are getting pretty serious right now. Alan just… lost his arm. To your brother."

A few moments passed in silence as my breathing finally returned to normal. Soon, I slumped to the floor, head buried in my hands, only now fully realising what had just happened. Alan had lost his arm. It had been taken away in the jaws of a bloodthirsty killer. But it was my fault, wasn't it? I was the one who shot it off. I wanted to slap myself in the face. There were so many alternatives that I could have chosen in that situation, but I panicked and shot his arm off. I hated myself for the decision I'd made. Absolutely hated myself. And as I stared down at the floor below me, I was desperate to let my frustration out. Then something strange happened. I felt somebody breathing very close to my ear. As I looked up slowly, I realised that the Xenomorph was now standing less than a foot in front of me.

"Jesus!" I gasped, stepping back in shock. The alien looked down at the floor, as if upset

"Wait…" I said, shifting towards her once again. "You were just trying to comfort me, weren't you?" She nodded slowly. I apologised quickly, suddenly feeling bad for being so tense around her. I was really starting to understand now. I thought back yet again to Nathan's words, but only now did I fully appreciate just how wrong he was. This Xenomorph was not a killer by any stretch of the imagination. She had made no attempt to hurt me at all. In fact, she'd done just the opposite. She'd tried to make me feel better. And it seemed only right that I did the same.

I decided in that moment to throw caution to the wind. Without so much as a second thought, I stepped even closer to the creature. Slowly, I reached out an open hand towards her, nervous as to how she might react. Thankfully, she leaned forward, allowing me to place my hand on her head. Then, in a long, sweeping motion, I gently stroked her smooth carapace. She smiled, and made a noise similar to a purr as I continued to rub her head carefully. Deep down, I was terrified. Here I was, standing before the universe's most perfect killer, and I was stroking her. But at the same time, I felt oddly…safe.

As I continued to stand there in the corridor, with my hand on the head of what was perhaps the only 'friendly' Xenomorph that had ever existed, I felt at peace. Just then, an idea popped into my head.

"I think I'll call you Xena." I announced. The Xenomorph smiled, seeming to agree with my choice of name. However, her smile soon fell when we heard voices from around the corner. I listened out carefully, and heard Nathan and Ryan as they conversed about Alan, who presumably was now sedated and layed down in a medpod in Science and Medical. As their voices came closer, the newly-named Xenomorph in front of me knew what to do almost immediately. Without warning, she pushed past me, running off down the corridor as my two colleagues appeared from the opposite end.

"Matthew?" Nathan asked, as soon as we made eye contact. "Why's your gun on the floor?" I looked down in panic, suddenly remembering that I'd set the weapon down on the floor behind me. Scrambling to pick it up, I stuttered loudly, trying to conjure up some excuse.

"It doesn't matter." He eventually said, shaking his head. "Look, Alan's in Science and Medical now. He's going to be fine."

"You said that about Cara…" I muttered under my breath, to which he replied with a demanding 'What?'

"Nothing." I assured him, walking closer to the two men. "Can I see him?"

"Sure, if you want." Nathan replied, although he did look quite confused as to why I would want to see Alan. After all, I completely despised the guy. But I did still feel quite bad about shooting his arm off.

A couple of minutes later, Nathan and Ryan had led me around to Science and Medical. Nathan lowered his gun to fiddle around with the lockdown mechanism on the door, and eventually pulled it open. The metal door began to slide open slowly. Before it had even opened all the way, I heard the whining voice of Alan from inside.

"What the fuck were you thinking, Jones?" He shouted the second I stepped into the room.

"Oh, don't even start, Alan." I said sternly, walking over to a chair against the left wall.

"You cost me my arm, you bastard!" Alan yelled, getting up from the medpod and running towards me. Nathan and Ryan ran over to restrain him, although to be fair, he wasn't going to cause me much harm with one arm, was he?

"Alright, calm down, sir," Nathan said calmly, as he pulled the angry officer back towards his pod. "To be honest, what Matthew did was quite helpful."

"It was?" I asked, seeing the disgusted look on Alan's face in reaction to this statement.

"Yes, that Xenomorph was really biting down hard on Lieutenant Grike's arm." Nathan continued. "The damage it did was so severe, we would have most likely had to amputate anyway. Thanks to you, Matt, all we had to do was clean up the cut."

"Oh. Well, I knew that of course." I lied, trying to justify my actions. "Just lucky for you it was your left hand, eh Alan?"

"I am left-handed, for God's sake!" He shouted, smacking his right hand against his forehead. 'Ah', I thought to myself. 'Maybe not so lucky, then.'

Just then, Nathan coughed loudly to interrupt our argument. He pointed up at the clock in the room. The time was almost half past eight. Ordinarily, at this time, we'd all return to our quarters for personal recreational time, before going to bed at ten.

"It's getting late." Nathan said, gesturing towards the door.

"You can't be serious?" I asked, shocked by what he was suggesting. "How can we sleep with a killer on the prowl?"

"How can we not?" He replied sternly. "Matthew, it feels like we've been awake for days, and if we don't sleep, we'll eventually collapse from exhaustion. Then any hope of us surviving will be lost."

"So what, we just go and take a nice nap and hope that it doesn't kill us in our sleep?" I snapped back. His reply was laughable, truly. Obviously, he didn't put it as bluntly as I'm going to now, but I got the basic gist of what he meant.

"Yes."