Chapter Ten

A Strange New World

She violently snapped awake to a noise that was directly above her, she came to from her zen like state as the sound continued to repeat itself and move. Her adrenaline spiked as she scanned for a threat, but she was long met with her own building resin in front of her. It did not take her long to remember that she was safely wrapped within her cocoon. She controlled her breathing to help relax and clear the fog from her mind.

In and out, in and out.

She realized that she was most likely not in danger because she felt no pain from any attack that might have happened. There was also no hole in her protective shell. So, she shifted a bit to find more comfort within her cocoon, wanting to go back to sleep. It was then that she remembered where she was.

It was not somewhere safe.

Adrenalin again snapped through her body, her senses heightened, and her vision became crisp and clear. Her thoughts began to race to things such as her best escape route, her best options in a fight, her options for hiding. Nothing was very appealing. However, her mood began to subside as the sound began to move further and further away from her. A small glimmer of hope to her that she could relax, that she was safe. This feeling slowed her breathing, calmed her nerves and let her relax once again. She started to run through her options and concluded that she should exit her cocoon at the very least. Giving her the ability to flee at the very least.

From her very compact position, she maneuvered her clawed hand closer to her face so that she could use her talon to begin cutting a hole in the hard resin that concealed her. Her claws, as sharp as razors, found a hold instantly in the biological surface in front of her. It took no time at all to create a tear, the resin easily splitting under the pressure. Once it was large enough, she pressed her large, smooth head forward and forced the resin to split it open, allowing her to emerge from the protective shell. It was easy enough of a task to do.

Before she knew it, she had pulled her long body onto the dirt of the ground that was underneath the deck. The slim that had helped to heal her wounds now covered with dirt and dead vegetation. It didn't bother her much; she was happier to be safe than clean. She can always clear herself off later. As she took in a fresh breath of air, deep within her chest, her body relaxed knowing that that she was not in immediate danger.

For a moment at least.

Her elongated head tilted upward, looking for the source of the noise that she had heard not too long ago. She was met with nothing, no movement and no sound. The small slots that were between each of the wood planks that made up the ceiling above her did not give her much visibility. She sat still for a few minutes before deciding that she was in the clear. Keeping her body low, she started to make her way to the same opening that she had crawled through to get to her hiding spot. AS she approached, she decided that caution was still the best course of action while emerging from the crawl space.

So, she slowly emerged from the portal near the ground, it was easy enough to do despite her larger body size. As she let the smells of the day reach her elongated head, the world around her began to reveal itself in a wonderful barrage of color. She saw things that she had never seen before. Flowers growing along the fence, vegetables in a garden box nearby, a pile of odd items that did not smell the best but were still new and exciting to her. Reds, blues, greens and something orange. All in different shades and mixed with one another. She found it so beautiful compared to the very limited number of colors she had been exposed to within the labs.

With all the excitement that was running through her mind as she took in this new world, she had almost forgotten what she was doing. Reality came back and she began to search for any dangers that might be nearby. To the left, a fence with a gate, to the right was an open area of some kind that she could only see so much of. When she was confident that she was alone, she fully emerged from beneath the wooden structure. As she did, her dark, ebony exoskeleton slowly began to warm from an unseen source. It took her a moment, but she remembered something that her mother had taught her. There was something in the sky called the 'sun'. It sent thermal energy to the earth and would warm most things during the day. Especially those with dark coloration. Mother had told her that if she was ever outside, that it would be the best way to tell if it was day or night, and that she would have to be careful during the day because she would be visible to humans.

Astarte took a moment to consider if this was the best time to be on the move as she would not have the protection of darkness. Part of her was very tempted to crawl back under the deck and hid until night had fallen again. The other half wanted to explore, the excitement of not being in the lad was pulling her in a thousand directions. There was also the fact that she was sure that someone would be looking for her soon, so if she could move farther away from the apartment that she had been imprisoned in, the better. She contemplated in silence for a moment.

A sudden noise from behind caused her elongated head to snap around to face what-ever it was, be it friend or foe. She watched as some kind of sliding door opened upon the side of the house. A hand was the first thing she saw, pushing the door open. Then a human figure appeared, tall with short hair, male by the looks of them. She watched as the colored mist around him formed, it was a pleasant white and blue color. A color that she was not familiar with so she could not tell what it meant.

She froze in place. Hoping that the side of the deck would give her enough cover to not be seen. The human went about his business and did not notice the xenomorph off to the side. He seemed distracted by something. Astarte watched as the human walked over to a very strange object that was sitting on the top of the deck. He lifted a lid of some kind, grabbed a tool that was hiding withing, and began scrubbing part of it. She watched with curiosity as the man continued to do this for a few moments before setting the tool aside and pushed some kind of button on the front of the object. There was a soft snapping sound, followed by some kind of small explosion. Astarte watched as heat ripples could be seen coming from withing the tub of the object.

Had this human just started a fire? Why on earth would he do such a thing? Astarte thought to herself as the man then closed the lid and walked back into the house. Astarte slowly, and quietly, made her way back under the deck and right below the device that the human had interacted with. She sat in silence, just wanting to observe this new experience.

It was a short while later that she heard the sliding door once more, followed by footsteps from above. The man reappeared above her, his feet only inches from where her head was. As she looked up through the small slits in the deck, she noticed that he was carrying something in his hands. She had no idea what it was, until the smell crept its way down towards her sent receptors.

Meat! It was raw, delicious meat. The scent was intoxicating, causing her mouth to water and drool. Her hunger began to kick into full gear, she could not remember the last time she had had a good meal. While she was trapped in that cage within the apartment, she was only fed scraps so that she would live, never anything more. She could not remember the last time she had had something good to eat. She could do nothing to stop the drool as it started to roll over her teeth. She desperately wanted to rush up and take whatever it was and gobble it down, but she knew better. However, she thought that he would not miss just one piece of it. The next time he went back inside the building, she would sneak up and take one and disappear before he knew she was there. It would work, it had to, she was so hungry.

She slowly moved to the entrance of the crawls space, making sure not to make a single sound as she moved across the dirt. She paid special attention to any sounds that were happening behind her, just in case she was noticed and needed to run. Thankfully, she made her way unnoticed and slowly emerged from the entrance of the crawl space. Her head slowly raised up to meet the ridge of the deck to see what the human was doing from behind the little cover she had. He was standing in front of the device and had not moved, and was simply placing more pieces of meat into the same area where the heat was coming from.

How odd.

She almost leapt up to stop the man from ruining the perfectly good food that he had but stopped herself. Astarte wondered what heat would do to the meat. Would it change the flavor? Would it ruin it? Causing it to be disgusting? She watched as he continued to place the small pieces into the device. She came to the conclusion that something good must be happening because the scent that she could now see was even more pleasant than before.

Her mouth would not stop from salivating, her hunger was growing with every passing moment. She had not even noticed that her hand had moved to the floor of the deck as if she was going to pull herself up. She pulled back her clawed hand and lowered herself from sight. She had to be careful, no matter how hungry she was. She was free now and could not threaten that over a meal. She promised herself that she would find something later, something that was just as delicious.

She quietly made her way back under the deck and to the same corner she had slept in the night before. She would wait there quietly and still until night came again. She should be able to tell when that happened with the drop in temperature.

As she waited in silence, she could not help as her thoughts drifting to her mother, to her sisters and to Evelynn. Especially Evelynn. She hoped that her friend was ok, that she was still alive somewhere and had not been given to another one of her sisters to be murdered as a plaything.

She would give anything to see her again, to make sure she was safe. But Astarte had no idea where the woman could be? She had only been free from the lab a short while, and all that time she had been trapped in a cage under the cruel fist of that man. That animal! And now she was hiding in the dirt, under the deck of a house of someone who had no idea that she was there.

As she sat with nothing but her own thoughts, she realized just how little she knew of this world. That was when the fear started to slowly crawl its way into her mind. And just before she slipped into her zen like sleep state, she was left with only one thought.

"Mother… I need you."