Chapter 45
Hell hath no fury…
"Mother of God," Adrien whispered as he panned his weapon light around, giving Katja a clearer view of the domes.
They were eggs. And they were everywhere. An oozing organic growth covered the walls of the room, coating everything, including the eggs.
The queen, however, was not present. At least from what Katja could tell.
"Children of my enemy… and my enemy… we meet at last," a feminine voice announced. All of them swung weapons around, looking for the source. It didn't… it didn't sound physically present, somehow.
"No, I am not there," the voice confirmed.
"Then where are you? Who are you?" Adrien asked aloud. Katja motioned to her boys to keep an eye on the eggs, lest they get ambushed.
"I think you all know the answer to that query," the voice stated ominously.
Katja bounced the front of her rifle in thought. "The queen, I presume?"
"Very astute," the queen answered.
"She's speaking to us directly. Is that normal?" Adrien whispered.
"This is no mere queen… the hive consciousness has developed far beyond normal function. Direct communication with those outside the link," Blue further emphasized.
"Then how can she hear us?" Katja questioned. Blue touched the wall growth.
So, the walls had ears. But it was good to know the Queen couldn't invade the mind, just communicate with it.
"I know why you have come. I offer you a chance to leave," the queen stated. Very pointedly, Katja noted. No bargaining or suggested alternatives. They'd all still be impregnated, that was clear. She was only offering a delay of what she considered the inevitable.
"Katja?" Adrien asked. The Russian Captain looked at him. He was looking for an order. So was Blue. They'd follow her.
Looking at the eggs, she watched as one opened at the top followed by more. She didn't feel threatened by the act. Just angry.
In a flash, she made her choice – not that she wouldn't have, anyway. Flicking the safety off, she began firing at eggs. Liberally.
A second later, she could hear Adrien firing both rifle and grenade launcher, and soon blue streaks of energy flew by, eviscerating eggs.
When her rifle mag was empty, she lit the flamethrower up and torched the room, burning the resin growth all around.
Once the eggs were left in puddles of goo, the gun/laser fire died off. There was a heavy moment of silence before the queen cut in. "So be it."
"Alexei! Right is a no-go! Get us a path left!" Adrien roared as they ran from the egg chamber.
Vai'dqouulth agreed with the order. Katja had sent a very clear message to this… unusual queen, which put them as the highest threat.
"Where bribery and reason do not stop you, perhaps force will," the queen transmitted in a low hissing tone.
"What? Why?" Alexei demanded.
"Never mind that, Alexei! Just find us a route in the other direction!" Katja commanded. They passed the referenced junction and continued on.
At another 'T' intersection, as they called it, they went left. not waiting for the runt's direction.
That proved to be a mistake.
"Shit!" Adrien cried.
The humans opened fire with their weapons on the waiting horde of hard meats. The creatures seemed to be led by a queen's guard drone whose body was particularly battle-damaged.
"Alexei! We backtracked left, and went left again, but we're cut off!" Katja explained hastily.
"Give me a chance, here!" Alexei vented. "I'm trying, but you're all over the place!"
Vai'dqouulth and his human warriors retreated, trying to keep the onslaught at bay. Even with the female's incredibly effective flame weapon and the marine's explosive launcher, there were simply too many enemies.
"Dead end! Alexei, we need a route out of here yesterday!" Adrien shouted over comms.
Pulling out his shurikens, Vai'dqouulth activated both of them and threw them into the horde. It cut several in half at the torso, but the weapons apparently became caught in something, as they did not return.
He made sure to keep his last one in reserve for later battles.
"Protect," Vai'dqouulth requested via voice clip.
He pulled laser mines off of his bandolier and began placing them on the walls as they retreated. Once the mines were in place, Vai'dqouulth backed up to his companions. With his bracer computer, he activated the field. The hard meats still charged through recklessly, cutting themselves to pieces.
"Plasma battery will not last long," Vai'dqouulth warned the humans. These were trap mines for hunters, not military grade.
"Alexei, give us something here!" Adrien urged.
"You're in a dead end! The only other way is the vents!" Alexei screeched, and Katja quickly translated.
Adrien walked over to a spot in the wall and began beating on a metal grate with his weapon until it detached.
"Ladies first," Adrien motioned.
Katja seemed about to protest, but, aware of their lack of time, dropped on all fours before climbing into the oxygen regulator system.
"You're next, Blue," Adrien urged.
"Human, I will not fit in such a narrow passage," Vai'dqouulth protested, accidentally reverting to his own language.
"I don't care what you smell, Chewie; get your scaly, stripy ass in there. Let's go!" Adrien smacked him along.
Vai'dqouulth growled, but got down and tested his bulk in the opening. It seemed the human had estimated the opening's size better than he had. He fit and could move, but only just.
He tried to keep focused on Katja's hindquarters ahead and not the sounds of his mines' battery dying along with the devils screeching in triumph as they finally had the ability to give chase after them.
"Adrien?" Katja called anxiously over her shoulder, her voice reverberating through the narrow passage.
"I'm here," Adrien replied, some distance behind them,
Then, Vai'dqouulth heard Adrien sporadically start firing off his weapon behind him. Still, he tried to focus on his footing being sure and moving as quickly as he could so as not to bottleneck the marine.
It now became obvious why Adrien insisted on being last. He was protecting his clan like a true leader. As uncomfortable as it was to admit, the hard meats would have killed him in here, and there would've been nothing he could do about it if Adrien was not helping.
"Alexei, the vents are a maze, where the hell are we going? And you need to tell me before I get to the goddamn turn!" Katja swore.
"Left!" the runt announced.
Another burst of human weapon fire from behind. Vai'dqouulth had never before felt like a hindrance in his long life. With Adrien desperately fighting off serpents behind him, he did now, and it was not a pleasant feeling.
"Next right!" Alexei ordered.
He heard the ammunition storage casket to Adrien's kinetic weapon hit the ground. "That little shit better know where he's sending us–!" the marine began, but was cut off by the sound of something dropping.
"Adrien?!" Katja cried.
"I'm good! Bastard dropped from a vent above!" Adrien told her, but Vai'dqouulth could hear pain in the tone she likely couldn't. There had been an injury.
"Keep straight! Don't deviate!" Alexei ordered. Vai'dqouulth noted all the branching paths within this corridor. They'd have to risk possible ambush from any one of them and keep moving forward.
Katja suddenly fell back, and Vai'dqouulth nearly crashed into her. "Crawlers! We got crawlers!" she announced. A fair description of impregnators.
"Crawlers?!" Adrien repeated from behind.
Vai'dqouulth couldn't reach a weapon, and the casters were stuck in the enclosed space, unable to lock-on to fire.
It seemed the female had a plan, however, as she pulled out her smaller hand weapon and fired on them. She got two, but the third began jumping from floor to wall to ceiling in random patterns. Katja kept backing up until she was right up against Vai'dqouulth's chest.
When it was close, it leapt for her, but Vai'dqouulth did the only offensive maneuver available to him. He head-butted it to the floor. This gave Katja the chance to shoot it.
She turned and smiled at him. "We're even now," she said with a quick kiss to the side of his biomask.
"Female, I cannot feel that through the mask!" Vai'dqouulth complained in his own language. Katja simply ignored him and scrambled forward.
He would collect that reward later.
"Everything ok up there?" Adrien asked.
"We're good! You?" Katja queried back. There was more weapon's fire.
"Nothing I can't handle," Adrien assured.
He watched as she lifted her ocular devices, then took off a dirty glove to swipe at her eye. Debris had gotten in it, perhaps. Or the stench of acid was causing her tear to ducts flare up from irritation.
"Blink," he advised, and she did rapidly, putting her glove back on. "Do not rub."
"You're gonna be coming to an incline drop, watch your step!" the runt suddenly warned.
"What?" Katja asked as she came to a halt. Vai'dqouulth was absent-minded as well, trying to move fast. He ended up crashing into her, and down the shaft together they went. Thankfully, this shaft was more open, so he didn't get caught on anything in the descent.
At the last minute, he grabbed Katja out of the way as they smashed through another grate. Had they maintained their position, she surely would've been killed.
"Nice save," Katja complimented, giving him an appreciative pat.
Adrien fell through the opening a moment later with a little more grace, the most likely reason being he'd had warning. Vai'dqouulth did take notice of the explosives detonator in his hand once more.
"Brace!" he warned before depressing the device, and then there were thundering quakes deep in the air circulation system. He hadn't realized the marine had been setting more explosives as they went.
Moments later, the portal they'd exited from coughed out debris, and a drone was caught between the floor/rocks.
Pulling his smaller weapon, Adrien put two kinetic shots into the struggling creature's head.
"You're hurt?" Katja noted with concern, reaching out to touch the other human. Vai'dqouulth saw it, too, after switching spectrums. That strange red blood-soaked Adrien's clothed leg, but he didn't seem to be favoring it, either.
"Just a flesh wound. Real bleeder, but it's ok. I promise," Adrien told her. That must've been from the attack that had caught him from above.
"Well, get it wrapped," Katja counseled.
"Hey guys, there's a generator room close to your position. If I'm reading the schematics right," the runt abruptly piped up. Vai'dqouulth gave a chuff. He likely wasn't interpreting it correctly.
"Ugh, what now?" Adrien asked as he tightened the wrap around his leg.
Katja, tilting her head, seemed to disapprove of the way he was doing it; because a moment later she stepped in to assist him. Vai'dqouulth wasn't a human medical expert, but the wound did look superficial.
"By Alexei's estimate, there's a generator room nearby. Wouldn't the fuel be bad by now?" Katja asked, furrowing those hairs above her eyes as she finished winding the bandage and tied it off.
"Not if they mixed in a preserver," Adrien answered, standing. "It's worth a check if we can eliminate their advantage of hiding in the shadows."
"Agreed," Vai'dqouulth added.
"Ok, Alexei, tell us the route," Katja ordered.
"The wiring should be visible, just follow that," Alexei directed. That was unbelievably lazy of the runt. Very typical.
"The hive has beaten fleets of thousands. The Yautja could not stop us. The Mala'kak could not control us. What chance have two breeders and a lone hunter?" the queen broadcasted.
"Ignore her. Psychological warfare. She's trying to instill helplessness. Look for different tactics when that doesn't work," Adrien advised as they began walking.
"The female who lost her mate, and the male who lost his offspring. You would protect an alien creature out of some misguided loyalty? Make no mistake. The Yautja will kill you," the queen stated.
Vai'dqouulth cringed in response.
"Tell me, hunter, when you peel their skin and pull their skulls off, will you show any remorse?" the queen asked. Vai'dqouulth could feel his rage building.
"And you, human female. I recognized your scent the moment you were close. You are of the blood of those who built this place. In many ways, your planet's predicament is your own doing," the queen continued.
Vai'dqouulth growled lowly. The creature was attempting to instill doubt. Turn them against each other.
He was concerned she'd succeed.
Adrien and Katja already knew there was a possibility he'd be ordered to kill them. And Katja was certainly not to blame for the outbreak; but based on her facial expression, she already felt guilt over the entire situation. Possibly because she clearly considered herself responsible for the deaths of her other drones.
"Finally, we reach the traitorous human male. How can you be sure he will not kill you both and attempt to hand me over for the fleeting, piteous wealth?" the queen finished. "It was his original purpose, was it not?"
It was surprising to Vai'dqouulth that Adrien didn't show the same distress as Katja, or the anger he was currently feeling.
"Generator room," Katja read a sign heavily.
"Good," Adrien spoke confidently as he kicked the door open. Vai'dqouulth and Katja stood in place. "Hey, don't let her shake you. We know each other better than she does," Adrien said encouragingly.
"What do you suggest?" Katja asked.
"Block it out. Find a good memory and replay it. Me? I'm playing blackjack in my head. Just counting cards. Find something mundane like that," Adrien answered.
It was wise advice. Even Vai'dqouulth had never dealt with a queen this far along before, nor one intelligent enough to communicate and instill doubts.
"Yeah?" Adrien prompted.
"Yes," Katja nodded.
"Yes," Vai'dqouulth agreed. He began mentally disassembling some of his more complicated gear, and the benefits were immediately clear. The queen was speaking, but he was able to block it out. He pulled a few recent enjoyable memories of Katja and Adrien to assist as well.
They were stronger together.
With the fuel caps off, Adrien took a sniff. The diesel smelled ok enough. With Katja's help, he was able to get the instructions on how to get the things going. Unfortunately, there were a lot, and he wasn't sure how much time he'd bought them with collapsing the vents.
Once all of them were going, lights began snapping on; and in some cases, blowing out because of age.
"That should help bring light to the shadows," Katja said as she dusted her gloved hands. They had gotten discouraged by the queen's attempts to create a rift, but both of them seemed to have bounced back. The bitch was still talking, but who cared what her opinion was?
"We should go before the fuel burns out and we're back in darkness, then," Adrien suggested.
She nodded, and with that, they were off.
Without a doubt, the serpents were taking some other path to catch up with them. For now, though, everything seemed quiet.
"I want peanut butter so bad right now," Katja chuckled in a whisper. Adrien would say she was losing it, but peanut butter sounded amazing right now.
"On a hamburger," he added.
"Peanut butter on a hamburger? That sounds disgusting," Katja said.
"Don't hack it till you try it," Adrien answered. "They have 'em at this place in Rochester."
"New York?"
"Minnesota. I was a, uh, patient at the Mayo Clinic for a while, while I… after Afghanistan. There's a place there that serves them," he explained.
"I found something!" Alexei announced, voice cracking on the radio. Katja held up a hand to stop them after giving Adrien the translation. He'd say it was unwise, but if they needed directions, then there was no point in getting more lost.
"Go ahead," Katja encouraged the kid.
"There is an elevator not far from where you are," Alexei said, Katja repeating for him in English.
"You mean 'our position'? Yeah, so?" Adrien sarcastically queried.
"So, you said she would be in the basement. And that is the only elevator in the entire facility," Alexei answered.
"I don't know that a lone elevator proves anything. What do the facility blueprints show below that?" Adrien requested skeptically.
"That's the thing, there is nothing below that! They've been omitted from official documents! It's an elevator to nowhere!" Alexei told them. "At least, that's what the schematics are telling me."
"That certainly sounds like it fits the bill," Katja mused as soon as she was done translating for Adrien.
"I agree," Adrien nodded.
"I can't help you if you decide to go down there!" Alexei warned.
"We proceed, our prey awaits," Blue stated, and the humans both nodded in agreement. They had no choice but to keep moving.
"Where is the elevator, Alexei?" Katja asked.
"From the generator room, you will follow the corridor to a large set of doors. Go inside and cross that room. It is a warehouse. I think. On the other side, the elevator is at the end of that corridor. Or if you really want to waste time, you can circle around the big room using the corridors," Alexei babbled. Adrien had to wait for what seemed like forever for Katja to repeat it all.
"Runt talks too much," Blue commented.
"No shit," Adrien agreed. They began to walk, but there was a loud bang. Like a hammer hitting steel.
The door… something was hitting it. The three of them kept their weapons trained on the sound but continued to back away.
The impacts had created a noticeable bulge in the thick metal door. Several smaller ones were forming just below it.
"Run!" Adrien shouted. They broke into a sprint just as the door blew off the wall. Sparing a glance, Adrien could see several serpent drones – and the big one.
Spot. Still bearing the wounds from their first encounter.
A blast from Blue's canons brought Adrien's eyes forward. He had destroyed the doors that seemed to fit Alexei's description. The serpents were still hot on their heels.
"Almost there!" Katja called.
The warehouse was huge, with decrepit shipping containers everywhere. The mouth of a large artificial cave showed where the shipments arrived from.
Hive growth was much more prevalent here than in the upper levels, too. Hopefully that meant Alexei was right, and the queen was just beneath their feet. Stupid Alexei.
They reached the other side, with the door at that end already opened.
Trailing the other two, Adrien slowed to a stop at the door's control panel. There was a red button with a white circle and a line through it.
He pressed it on the assumption it was an emergency release, which it was. The heavy door fell shut, separating him from his companions.
"What are you doing?!" Katja demanded from the other side, through a small window.
"Something you're not gonna like. It's not gonna stop. It would have ripped us to shreds before we got to the elevator," Adrien told her.
He could see her tearing up despite the dirtiness of the window. "I'm sorry, kid. I know it doesn't seem fair, but there's no other way," Adrien apologized.
She didn't answer.
"Remember our agreement," Adrien directed at Blue, to which the hunter dipped his head. She would be in good hands. Claws. Whatever.
"Go," Adrien said before turning to meet the coming onslaught.
"It seems, human male, that a more formidable opponent is needed to deal with you, I should've known. Your scent stinks of not only many battles, but warfare. Your species has come far from being mere livestock," the queen spoke.
Spot came crashing through the doors on the far end. No drones, though. This would be one-on-one, then. All the better. Blue and Katja could kill drones. Whatever the hell this was, he wasn't sure they could deal with it.
Neither could he, but at least he could keep its attention while they took care of Queen Creepy downstairs.
"Know what I smell? Desperation. You have been trying everything; from tearing us apart, to instilling hopelessness. It doesn't matter what happens to us; our companion – your enemy – called in reinforcements. You'll be hunted and killed soon enough. One way… or the other," Adrien answered as Spot screeched at him. An unholy and deafening noise. Much louder than the other, smaller serpents.
"Then we both die!" the queen screeched into his mind.
"See you in hell," Adrien shot back as he opened fire on Spot.
As expected, this thing was armored; the proof was in the fact that his underpowered 5.56 rounds ricocheted off it. He must've hit a vulnerable area, however, as the acidic blood began dripping to the floor.
Not enough damage, however, as Spot charged. Adrien retreated in between two shipping containers.
Unlike his fight with Blue, these containers were stacked and organized; not in a messy maze. He'd have to be careful not to be caught in the open.
Spot screeched and snapped that deadly tail at him like a whip, but had trouble clawing its ten-foot-tall or so body mass through the narrow channel of two fully loaded, heavy shipping containers.
It quickly leapt on top of them, giving Adrien a clear shot with the grenade launcher. Still, the weapon only seemed to piss it off, as it had in past encounters.
Adrien chose to run rather than get stomped. He was tripped by what he presumed was Spot's tail before getting far, face nearly bouncing off the concrete floor. His helmet popped off and went flying across the room.
Rolling over, the marine blindly dumped the sixty round casket magazine of his rifle, most rounds hitting their mark. Not to kill, but to make it 'flinch' and open an escape opportunity.
It worked, but his rifle got slapped away. He jumped up and ran again as it recoiled, guesstimating he didn't have the time to retrieve the weapon.
Jumping, Adrien hauled himself on top of a shipping container. "Too old to be climbing shit," he grumbled.
Spot wasn't far behind, Adrien ran and jumped to a dangling crane hook just as the creature swiped at him. It came so close; he could feel the displaced air. Spot's miss resulted in the parasite crashing to the floor below.
Now on the crane assembly, Adrien slammed his foot into a manual override pedal, and the crane dropped the empty shipping container as it climbed to the ceiling.
The attempt to crush the oversized serpent failed. Spot threw the container like it was nothing.
Adrien dropped a primed hand grenade from the ceiling right on top of the idiot.
And right then, Adrien realized the earlier swipe had stolen his bandolier of grenades from his waist. The hand grenade had caused a chain explosion of 40mm HE rounds.
He learned immediately that the creature did clearly have slightly less armor in the back. Like tanks. Tough armor head on, weak armor in the rear.
Still, the grenades hadn't worked quite as well on Spot as they had on Petrov's rhino-serpent. Spot was still moving.
In fact, Adrien had forgotten the mobility these things had up to this point the big'un jumped and clung to the wall like a goddamn spider. "Oh, shit!" Adrien hissed as he pulled Alexander's big bore rifle out and hastily began putting it together.
"Kat, I hope I bought you enough time."
The monstrous parasite creature was closing in just as the marine tied off a makeshift sling made of paracord. Bringing it up, he fired both barrels rather blindly and proceeded to jump for a light fixture.
The light's housing gave away, and Adrien plummeted into a swing from the cords, smacking into the adjacent wall – hard. He released on impact and fell to the floor; dazed, but nothing broken. At least, he thought.
Spot dropped from the ceiling in a lazy manner, full of confidence that the puny human would not be able to claim the kill.
Pulling out his last hand grenade, Adrien ripped the pin and counted to three before throwing it. The explosive bounced on the head crest once before exploding.
Still, it was not deterred in the least. Its head turned back, giving Adrien a gruesome look at the damage inflicted.
Its head crest was slightly on fire, bullet and shrapnel holes riddled it. Chunks of exoskeleton armor were visibly missing. Its acid blood was splattered all over its body now, almost completely repainting it to that puke green-yellow instead of black.
Idly, Adrien wondered if hunters went after things like this. Dumb question. Of course they did. He should be asking how they killed them, because this bastard was takin' a lickin' and somehow, kept on tickin'.
Spot's tail whipped out, smacking him back into the wall and knocking the wind out of him. The creature approached slowly now, and even in a dazed state. Adrien could see why.
The joints in one of its legs was barely functional. It hobbled, but it seemed to be more from lack of usability than pain. Did these things even feel pain as a hive mind? He tried to take comfort in the possibility that the queen might feel it.
He had been right. This thing, the hive, wasn't going to stop until either it was dead… or they were.
Reaching over, he grabbed Alexander's safari rifle and aimed.
His vision was so disoriented from the hit, he missed the huge target, blowing a tip off the head crest.
"You persist too long after your own defeat!" the queen said. Was that for him?
Breaking the rifle open, Adrien watched the two spent shells eject, clattering to the floor as he loaded two more from the buttstock shell holder and closed the breach.
Taking aim, he fired – and missed the mark completely, again. This time, though, he blew the one damaged leg off, reducing Spot to dragging itself by its arms and pushing with its remaining leg.
Once again, Adrien broke open the double-barreled rifle, the pinging of empty shells echoing through the abandoned warehouse.
He was spent. Between his age, the spotty diet out here, energy expenditure getting to this point, and getting whacked around a couple of times, he had no fuel left in the tank.
Still, he loaded two more of those massive .500 Nitro Express shells. These things could take down elephants and rhinoceroses; surely it had the power to kill the mini-queen known as Spot.
"Arrogant creatures! Does the hive take life or give it? And who are you to decide as such? Your efforts will merely be a minor inconvenience to our inevitable infinitude! You court death and the fallout shall be your copulating with it!" the queen raged.
At first, Adrien assumed it was directed at him, but the queen could be speaking with Katja and Blue, too. Maybe it was for them. Or maybe it was for them all to hear.
Regardless, his attention came back to Spot, who was still dragging its carcass toward his. He held off firing. At this point, he'd have one more chance, and that was it.
"C'mere and give us a kiss," Adrien goaded Spot, and kept taunting. Even though it was a hive mind, he couldn't help but wonder if this thing had a bit of a mind of its own. The sheer vindictiveness and determination in trying to kill him indicated so.
Adrien tried to stay limp and seemingly helpless as Spot's head was now inches from his, drool leaking from its mouth and a slight hiss to its breathing.
Slowly, the maw opened. Perfect. It meant to bite him with that second mouth. But it also presented a vulnerability.
As fast as his fatigued body could, Adrien brought the rifle up and stuffed both barrels into its mouth. "Smile, you sonvabitch!" he shouted as he pulled both triggers.
Gore and blood blew out the back of Spot's head in a gruesome display, spraying everywhere.
Adrien rolled to the side before any of the blood could drip onto him. He panted heavily and watched as Alexander's priceless rifle slowly disintegrated.
Standing with extreme effort and unholstering his sidearm – his last weapon – just in case, the American looked down on his work. The creature was dead.
"Katja, Blue, do you copy?" Adrien asked. No answer. Not surprising given how deep they were. "Alexei, you with me?" he continued. Still nothing.
Then, he remembered his helmet. That had his microphone and earbuds. No wonder nobody was replying.
He spotted it nearby and began to walk to it.
But he didn't get far as a sharp pain stabbed from his back, through the front of his chest. Turning, Adrien fired off his pistol at Spot's twitching body. The tail that had penetrated his torso fell slack.
A death reflex? The last of its life used? The queen, somehow? Adrien wasn't sure. But as the adrenaline quickly wore off, he realized how critical that attack had been. He collapsed, now a red bloody mess pooling beneath him.
He wasn't going to be able to help Blue and Katja.
They likely weren't going to be able to help him either.