Chapter nineteen
Unexpected
Minutes turned into hours, hours turned into days and still nothing had come. Astarte was beginning to worry that something with her plan had gone very, very wrong. But still she waited and hoped. Over the days, she had to take care of Jeff, who she had to let out of the chair every now and then to relive himself. However, she was not silly enough to allow him to stay unbound for very long. She was always quick to put him right back where he had been, not trusting the man in the slightest.
He had tried to make small talk with her over the days, something that she had turned down with a threating hiss, or just ignored. She did not want this man to become human to her, he was a monster and would stay that way. It didn't matter how much he would try to convince her.
"I'm just saying, you could leave, I won't do shit. There's no point. You got what you wanted, I just want to be left alone." He told her as she rested on the nice, cold floor of the kitchen. The temperature was soothing against her warm body.
She ignored the comment, knowing full well that she could not go anywhere until the men from the company arrived. She let out a huff of air to let him know that she was not going to fulfill his request. She tried to return to her trance like sleep state.
"I'm just saying…you could let me go and wait outside the building. I ant going to do shit, I'm not that stupid." The constant nagging was becoming irritating. There was the sound of the chair spinning in place, something he did while he was bored. It annoyed her, but if that was all it was, she did not care.
The quiet sound of the squeaky chair was drowned out but the ringing of a phone. Astarte's head snapped up, looking towards the noise. She quickly got up and started towards the desk where it was located. She watched as Jeff was attempting to maneuver the chair closer but failing because of his bound legs. Astarte assisted the man and pushed him the rest of the way to the end of the desk. She lifted the phone and held it up to his ear. He turned his head towards her. "You need to slide the button to the right." Confused, Astarte turned the screen so she could look at the gray screen. She could see nothing to slide.
"Here, put it down here first." Jeff motioned towards his one hand. She put the device close to his fingers and watched as he slid his fingertip from one side to the other. "Good." She held it up to his ear. "Hello...Yes, I am. Good…yes same apartment as last time. Yup…ok." Jeff looked up at Astarte to let her know the call had ended. She put the phone down and got into motion. She had thought her plan through over the past few days and knew exactly what she wanted to do. She reached for the paper and pen to quickly write a note for Jeff.
"You WILL take care of my sister because I will be back for her. And I will not hesitate to kill you if she is not safe and well taken care of. I'll be watching the exchange from the window." As she showed him the note and he ready it, she let a low hiss come forth from her maw. The yellow mist told her that he got the message loud and clear.
"Hold on, I have to what? I don't want to babysit another one of you! Just take her with you!" He protested. She had considered that option already, but her sister would be safer here than with Astarte. There was no need to take another family member back to the labs that they had just escaped from. No, she would stay here and Astarte would return for her when she could.
She put the paper down and began to remove the resin that she had used to trap the man and hid it within the cupboards of the kitchen. She then made her way to the appartement door, leaving the man standing alone in the dwelling. She turned to look at him one last time, let out one more hiss and then pointed towards the window to remind him that she would be watching.
She turned and sprinted down the hallway of the building, towards a single door at the end. It was easy enough to break open, the latch being designed to keep out humans, not a xenomorph. She made sure the door closed behind her then looked at the small set of stairs leading towards the roof. It took her no time at all to leap up the two flights to reach the outer door that kept her from the roof.
Breaking that open, she was greeted with the heat of the sun and the scene of a simple building. Some large ventilation ducts here and there, as well as a large air handling unit that was humming away. She wasted no time and turned towards the edge of the building that was above Jeff's apartment. She looked over the side and started her way onto the smooth surface but took pause as she looked to her left and noticed a camera. Unfortunately, it was pointing directly where she wished to go. However, it was simple enough to stay on the roof, get behind it and turn it in another direction. Eventually someone would know that something was not right, but she should be long gone before that happened.
After moving the camera, she made her way onto the side of the building and slowly made her way to a spot that allowed her to see into Jeff's apartment. It was not hard to do. And after finding a well-hidden corning to watch from, she now waited. She watched as Jeff paced back and forth inside the room, rubbing his one hand on the stump that had closed and was covered in medical wrap. Something she had done a day ago to cover the resin that was hidden underneath.
A few minutes went by before the front door swung open and two men in suits barged in, guns in hand. Jeff snapped to attention and greeted the men, hiding his missing hand in his pocket. She watched as they exchanged some words and he pointed to the still present cage in the corner of the room. Thankfully, Astarte had found the time to patch up the control board of the cage to make it seem like she had not destroyed it. It was not perfect, but from a distance it would fool anyone who was not looking. The armed men nodded at Jeff and one of them went back to the hall. He returned a moment later, followed by a large crate being pushed in by a few more people. Astarte was flooded with excitement and reached out with her mind to find her sister.
"Sister…sister are you there?" Her mind felt panic from the presence within the box.
"Hello!? Who? Where are you?" She heard the frightened response of the xeno within the crate. "What's going on?!" Astarte sent her feelings of warmth and love.
"I am sorry my sister, I am Astarte, one of your hive. You have been bought by a man as a pet. I know this will not be easy, and I haven't much time to explain. But you need to stay with this man until I return for you. And I promise, I will be back for you." She felt a wave of panic again.
"No, please don't leave. I…I'm scared." The response came to her mind.
"I know, sister, I know. But you will be alright. The man will take care of you, I have made sure of that. The cage in this house is broken, you should be able to get out once the men are gone. I cannot save you right now, there is something I must do first. Someone else I must save. But you will be alright, I promise." She explained as she watched the men move the crate up to the cage. "You need to trust me, you need to play along so that I can help you later. Can you do that for me?" She felt the understanding from her sister as she responded.
"Yes…yes I can wait. You promise you will be back?" She softly pleaded.
"Yes, I promise. And I will take you to our family, I promise." She sent as much feeling of love and warmth as she could. She watched as a door on the crate opened and her sister slowly crawled out and into the large cage. "I see you sister, you will be safe, do not fear." The Xenomorph from within the cage did not look to the window, but Astarte could tell that she knew where she was.
"Crystal…my name is Crystal. Mother gave me that name, I liked it out of all the others." A wave of happiness came over Astarte, she was glad to meet another one of her sisters, even if it was not the best of situations.
"Crystal, it is a beautiful name. I'm glad to meet you, sister." She responded.
"Astarte, I…I know you. Mother had mentioned you before. You are one of the first. One of the first born of our hive. She has not felt you in such a long time." The comment struck Astarte as strange. How long had it been? She wanted more information, but watched as the men in the apartment were leaving, her sister now 'secure' in the cage.
As the door closed behind them and Jeff was left alone with her sister, Astarte rapped on the glass, grabbing the man's attention. His head snapped around and looked up at the alien outside. He watched as she pointed at the cage. He knew what she wanted. The man slowly moved towards the prison and hesitantly pulled open the door. It swung open with ease.
"Crystal, this man will take care of you. Do not harm him, but if he does anything that seems off, run. Get as far away from here as fast as you can. I will still find you, like I promised." She watched as Crystal slowly crawled out of the see-through cage and towards the man. Jeff, backing up slowly, sat in his desk chair as she stood to her full height. She stretched and enjoyed the room to move, she had probably been stuffed in that box for far too long with not much room. It was then that Crystal looked to Astarte for the first time and sent her a wave of happiness.
"I will wait for you, sister. I'll make sure he takes care of me." She said as she looked back to the man and exposed her teeth, just to show him that she was in no way passive. It made Astarte smile.
"I have to leave, I have to hide on the truck that brought you to get back to the labs. I will be back Crystal, stay safe until then." She wasted no more time and began to climb down the wall. She paused one last time to share a glance with her sister before continuing down the wall.
She moved fast down the glass, not caring who could see her now. If all went to plan, she would be on the truck and heading away before anyone could do anything. Astarte headed towards the parking garage doors that Jeff had told her about that were strait down the side of the building. She came to the lip of the wall and transferred onto the concrete roof of the tunnel. There she waited.
It did not take very long before the doors began to roll up, reviling a large cargo truck that was waiting on the other side. From her hidden position on the roof, she waited until she saw who was driving and noted it was the same armed men that had dropped of Crystal. She quickly made her way to the top of the door where she would wait for the truck to emerge. After a second or two, the front of the vehicle emerged from underneath her and began to pull into the tunnel.
She waited just a bit longer for the large metal container on the back of the truck to emerge, then she dropped from the wall and landed as softly as she could on the metal surface. Finding her grip, she quickly scanned the vehicle and weighed her options and decided that the undercarriage of the truck was the best option as there was no cover for her to use upon the top. She quickly made her way to the back of the truck and climbed down the doors on the back of the container.
As she was upon them, and the truck went over a large bump, her mind was suddenly filled with multiple feelings of shock. She froze as she realized what had just happened. She moved to the underside of the truck as it pulled out onto the busy city street and found a good spot to blend into. As she hunkered into position, she reached out with her mind, fearing what she knew she was likely to find. Xenomorphs, multiple xenomorphs! She could feel more of her sisters within the back of this truck. She focused and found that five more of her sisters were just above her. She reached out.
"Sisters? Can you hear me." She felt the shock from one, then two, then three xenos, but it did not stop there. She felt more and more minds reaching for hers from within the back of this truck.
"Hello?! Where are you? Sister please, help us, we are trapped." She heard one of them respond among the wave of voices that replied.
"O no…" She told herself.
This was now a very big problem.
