Chapter 43

Dyatlov's Pass reborn

They had landed at the camp some time ago, and were now collecting arms and ammunition, as they had planned. So far, Adrien had gathered yet another decked-out Gucci rifle – a Weyland marked LVOA-C – and mated it to a grenade launcher off a different weapon.

He watched as Blue went from human to human, seemingly playing guard dog. Not that he didn't appreciate it, given their recent loss. As a matter of fact, that was why he had wanted to do this alone.

No more dead heroes. Not Katja, not Blue, and not even Alexei.

The hunter approached, following just slightly behind Adrien. He wouldn't have much time until the big guy went to the next person. Crouching to grab a few grenades, Adrien called out to him.

"Hey, come here. Wanna ask you something."

Blue quickly arrived next to him, falling into lockstep as the marine stood and moved to the next spot.

"I know, we aren't exactly close. Heh, probably something more akin to frienemies. But, I think I can only put my trust in you on this matter."

"Speak," Blue's computer encouraged.

Adrien scratched behind his head, near the base of his neck. "Katja… she's… she's been through enough. Now, if I make it through this, I intend to bring her back to my country and help her get settled down. Retire," Adrien explained.

He hadn't known Katja long enough to know exactly what she wanted from life outside of the military, but he did know the girl deserved peace. And she certainly wasn't going to get it at home. The Russians would be sure to keep her silent, either by locking her away, or keeping her on such a short leash that she'd never escape.

The hunter didn't speak. Adrien figured that must mean he wanted him to continue.

"The thing is, I've been in combat enough to know this is going to go sideways no matter what we do. Badly. And if I don't make it, I just want to know someone will…" Adrien stopped, considering his words. "…will honor her with the care and respect she deserves. As she has cared for and respected us," he finished.

"What would you have me do?" Blue questioned.

Answering him would be the hard part, because Adrien was going to be very specific, and didn't know how the big guy would respond. He took a moment to bend down and gather a larger capacity casket magazine from a body. If the offhanded comment from last night, joke or not, was anything to go by, Blue still had an interest in Katja. Hopefully enough to agree to his terms.

"I would ask you to take her with you back to your planet. From what she's told us, her family certainly isn't going to give her that care, and I think a universe away from Earth may cleanse her of the horrible things she's witnessed," Adrien finally spoke.

"I am prepared to do that," Blue responded with haste.

"Are you? She may be pregnant. She'll get hormonal. Downright crazy, it'll seem. And that's just the start of your problems. You'll have to get her to medical staff to deliver the baby. Then, you'll have to help her raise the child. On a planet where I'm guessing humans aren't going to be welcomed, no less. You may become a pariah," Adrien hammered back.

Blue growled lowly in response.

"I'm not challenging or questioning your abilities. I'm simply telling you; so, in turn, you can make an informed decision. No need to get defensive," Adrien tried to calm him down.

"I accept the responsibility, knowing full well the hardships that come with it," Blue's computer spoke – and, he added a snarl, probably to let Adrien know how insulted he was. He wondered if all hunters were like this. Thick hide, but thin-skinned.

"Ok, well, if you have questions, I'd think of them quickly and ask before I possibly die up in those mountains. Because Alexei sure as shit isn't going to know or give you the good answers, and there will be no one else to ask," Adrien said, stressing the points he was trying to make.

In his mind, movie rules dictated that all the excess men around a girl had to die for her to find 'the one'. Blue had everything going for him in that regard, so Adrien was betting on him to give Katja her the happy fairytale ending to her miserable existence that she so deserved.

"What if she does not want to settle?" Blue asked. Adrien had to admit, that was a good question.

Katja didn't seem like a thrill seeker, by any means; but oftentimes soldiers struggled adjusting to civilian life after combat. The longer the service too, the harder the adjustment.

Adrien shrugged. "Manufacture her some safe adventure and excitement. You can go all over the galaxy, visit any number of planets. I'm sure you can figure something out. And I'm confident you can do better than I can," Adrien answered.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Katja approaching, Alexei straggling behind her. "Here she comes!" Adrien hissed in warning.

"Any more weight and I'll be immobile," Katja greeted, huffing for air as she tucked a grenade into what looked to be the last open spot in her vest. She needn't worry. They'd burn through their ammo and lighten that load before long.

Alexei asked something, tauntingly. Adrien could tell by the way Katja stiffened and paled.

Blue angled his wrist towards Adrien, silently showing a translation on his computer. 'Runt asks, "Practicing for 8 months from now, when you're big as a house?"

That little turd. Adrien changed his mind. He really didn't care if Alexei made it out of this or not anymore.

"How's your scavenging going?" Katja finally asked, awkwardly.

"Think we're as ready as we'll ever be. Time we pull a map and have Alexei show us where this place is," Adrien said.

"My ship. Common area," Blue suggested. There were nods of agreement and they all followed him back to the craft.

They soon found themselves in the living room again – or as Blue called it, the common area. Katja pulled a map from her pack and spread it across the table.

"Alright, where is it?" Katja asked, looking at Alexei. The kid shifted. He didn't want to tell her, and was going to make this as difficult as possible.

"Alexei, the threat to you should go without saying at this point. Tell us," Adrien sighed.

Little bastard grumbled something in Russian before pointing to a spot on the map. Katja looked closely at the Russian text labeled near that point and frowned.

"You are sure?" she pushed him.

"Da," Alexei nodded solemnly.

"What? What's the issue?" Adrien demanded, completely tired of being left out of all the Russian conversations.

"That's…" she began, and hesitated. Once she gathered herself, she pointed to the label. "…That's Dyatlov's Pass. He's saying the base is extremely close to it," Katja explained.

"Igor Dyatlov?" Adrien asked, needing clarification.

"The very same. You've heard the stories, I take it?" Katja folded her arms in curiosity.

Adrien was about to be insulted, wondering if she was assuming ignorance on his part. But actually, he wasn't sure if Igor Dyatlov's story was super common knowledge in the United States.

Sure, he had read up on it during slow times in the office. Watched a few YouTube videos. Bought a book claiming to have solved the mystery. Hell, he'd even seen a crappy found-footage movie loosely based on the stories.

Even to this day, there were a lot of things about it that didn't add up. And the people who claimed aliens did it weren't the crazy ones anymore, as far as he was concerned.

"Yeah, I've dabbled in the facts and the fiction of it. Soviet government listed the deaths as an avalanche, right?" Adrien answered finally.

"You still think it was an avalanche?" Katja asked him, her voice sounding just a bit too haunted.

He never believed the 'official' death the Soviets put out to begin with. But he would've never guessed that either the serpents, the hunters, or both were the reason for the deaths. Aliens involved in the Dyatlov's Pass incident were legends. Fun to theorize with, but not possibly true.

It was terrifying how wrong everyone had been.

"Never did," Adrien shrugged, his mind wandering.

Alexei suddenly spoke a long string of words. Given the body language, he seemed to be offering an idea.

"Bombing the area would be great, but the Kremlin isn't going to send fighters in. Nor would that kill the queen. I don't even think they'd believe me if I told them I was alive," Katja shook her head, then suggested hopefully, "Maybe we could just set Blue's bomb and evacuate?"

"No way," Adrien answered. "I've been to the nuclear missile facilities in Wyoming. Those are buried beneath the mountains, deliberately, as a sort of second shielding. I'm guessing this is the same story. We'd need to set the charge right next to the queen. That would give us the best chance of destroying the load-bearing columns, and the rest of the facility would collapse with it."

"Which would crush and bury all the drones she'd have recalled to defend herself," Katja nodded. "So, no way around it. We'd have to go deep into the actual facility."

"Right, bottom floor, that's where she'll be," Adrien agreed.

"Can you get us there? Or close?" Katja addressed Blue, putting her hand on his arm. Good. Those two would need each other at the end of this. It was for the best that they be on good terms now.

Blue, for his part, dipped his head and walked to the cockpit. Or at least, Adrien assumed that was where he was going.

The ramp closing was probably the only indication that they'd be flying shortly. The flight was nothing like a plane ride. You could stand, walk, sit, and never feel acceleration. Never feel ascent or descent. Just a butter-smooth ride into space at the push of a button.

"Please put your trays in the upright and locked position," Adrien joked aloud to no one in particular.

Vai'dqouulth knew the humans were on the observation deck, watching the scenery pass by. So easily enthralled. He supposed he should be grateful. It made them less of a stress to handle – not that they had ever truly been unruly.

The location they talked about was something he didn't understand. It wouldn't be so frustrating, were it not for the previous discussion with Katja that had also been a subject he didn't understand in the least, either.

He felt his answers hadn't been to her satisfaction, despite being truthful. Would that affect them? He didn't know. Even now, he was still trying to translate the word 'love' and find something that he could relate back to her. Clearly, this matter was important to her; and therefore, important to him.

Perhaps deeper reflection and meditation on the subject would yield results that could answer her questions for them both. For now, he would lay it to rest. Her description of the word though… he'd say it was what he felt for her, but it didn't seem right either.

The talk with Adrien had been the opposite, very productive. Although he wasn't keen on Adrien taking Katja should he survive, the marine did ask that he care for her upon his death.

The fact that he wanted to honor her resonated with him deeply. Katja had shown him… compassion, he supposed it was. And she had absolutely no requirement or reason to. It was one of the traits he appreciated the most about her: true critical thinking and reasoning in the face of preconceived bias, and even against the evidence.

Perhaps at the end of this, he would assess if Katja would be best off with Adrien – if only temporarily – for her to recover from the hunt. If Adrien's experience with a Yautja was anything to go by, humans did not cope well after these sorts of battles. Then he could return at a later time and attempt to court, as well as convince her to come with him.

Usually, one had to be somewhat self-serving when it came to a female. But Katja deserved an unbiased evaluation as to what was best for her, not what he wanted. And he would do that. He fully agreed with Adrien. It sounded like she had suffered enough, even by Yautja standards.

A notification from his ship alerted him that he had reached their destination. Any further thoughts would have to wait now. His full focus needed to be on the extermination of the queen and her drones.

Getting up from his seat, he climbed the stairs to find the humans admiring the view, as he'd suspected. When they detected his presence, they rose.

"We have arrived," he informed them.

"Then we have arrived at the end," Katja replied, a certain finality to her tone. She was correct. One outcome or another, their path ended here.

At the ramp, he watched them do a final gear check. Vai'dqouulth had already done one earlier. Equipment that was not ready to be used could kill a hunter, if the defect was not found.

"Hold this a moment, please?" Adrien cut into his thoughts, holding his weapon out. Vai'dqouulth took it, holding it by the grip as he did. Unsurprisingly, it was a bit too small for his hand, his smallest finger unable to wrap around the grip.

He watched the marine adjust his footwear before stepping out into the mountainous environment.

"Adrien… do we… actually have a plan?" Katja asked uneasily, her eyes roaming around the jagged terrain.

"Kill the queen, light the fuse, run away. And we all go home," Adrien said while simultaneously turning to Vai'dqouulth and motioning for his weapon, which Vai'dqouulth tossed to him.

"Ok, but do we have a plan to do that?" Katja reiterated, much to Vai'dqouulth's amusement. He knew she wanted a solid plan to avoid more losses to their small clan. But it would be impossible for them to prepare totally. "Maybe we should brainstorm something."

The facility was both hidden and unfamiliar territory. No doubt the queen was expecting their arrival and had planned accordingly. Perhaps she even knew the Yautja ships were coming, and would exterminate her regardless of their fate.

"We'll take it a step at a time. Let's start with maybe finding the place first, yeah?" Adrien assured.

He could tell Katja wasn't completely satisfied with that answer, but she did not voice her opinion about it, either.

It didn't take long into their journey to discover the first of likely many problems. The snow was so deep, yet so soft and loose, he'd sink up to his hip each step he took.

The humans fared much worse, sinking well up to their stomachs with every step taken. With the heavy equipment, he could tell it was taking a toll on their energy

"Ahh! This mountain air will kick your ass!" he heard Adrien growl after he sank again. Although obviously a metaphor, Vai'dqouulth believed he was able to successfully translate the sentence, and he wholeheartedly agreed. And the humans didn't sport biomasks to help mitigate the issue, either, so they were taking the full brunt of it.

"Not to make light of your plight, Adrien, but we should be quiet for two reasons. One, we may attract 'unwanted' attention. Two, causing an avalanche would literally be the definition of making things worse for ourselves," Katja spoke in a hushed tone, panting as she wiggled her legs carefully out of some snow.

"Yeah!" Alexei sneered at Adrien in undoubtedly insincere agreement. The marine warrior must've inferred what the runt was saying, because he smacked his weapon's shoulder rest against the snow close to Alexei's position, weakening the white powder enough for the weakling to sink in.

"Sorry, you were saying? Quiet?" Adrien addressed Katja. He could tell she was trying to resist laughing at the bastard human's manufactured misfortune.

Should he ever meet Alexei's bearer and/or sire, he would do a complete field observation and decide if they needed their reproductive organs removed, or if Alexei was just the result of unsystematically bad genes.

"Let's… take five," Katja shook her head, neither praising nor rebuking Adrien for his behavior.

"About time," Alexei huffed. "I'm exhausted."

Blue rumbled under his breath, wondering yet again why his fellow humans tolerated such behavior. He couldn't help but think that if there were fewer humans like Alexei on Earth, they would be a far mightier species as a whole.

Katja, the lightest among them, settled onto the top of the snow and went still, managing not to sink into the drift. She began quietly adjusting parts of her weapon. Her hands were shaking just slightly.

Vai'dqouulth chose to stand, and when he looked over at Adrien, he noticed his marine companion was also staring at Katja.

"Kat?"

"Yes, Adrien?" she replied, and Vai'dqouulth heard the unmistakable sound of exhaustion in her voice. She was still technically ill. Perhaps when the clan ships arrived, he could petition them for healer intervention. At least to find out if she needed further treatment.

"What's your idea of a perfect day?" Reaching into his pack, Adrien brought out four bottles of water taken from the hotel and began to pass them around.

She squinted at him as he handed her the drink, then laughed softly. "I don't know, Adrien. I'm sure it wouldn't be anything you'd find interesting or exciting."

"I've had enough excitement for a lifetime, anyway. Hit me."

Shrugging, Katja said, "A stop at my tea shop, maybe. Cuddling in a giant blanket on the sofa with my cat. A boat ride. Is that strange? I'm kind of afraid of the water; but I've always wanted to go on a boat."

"No, I don't think it's strange," Adrien told her.

"How about you?" Katja followed up. The line of conversation was uninteresting to Vai'dqouulth - but he couldn't quite tune it out, either. Yautja had life outside of the hunt, but it wasn't usually regarded as important – certainly not superior. More than anything, he wanted insight into Katja.

"Doesn't matter what I'm doing, so much as who I'm doing it with. My perfect day is with my family. I'd give anything for that again," Adrien answered before looking at the ground.

This seemed to sadden Katja, and she lifted her hand and placed it gently on his arm, while Blue pondered over Adrien's choice.

This concept of mates and children living together and making up a unit was… interesting to think about. He could endlessly weigh the benefits and detriments of it and get absolutely nowhere. To truly know if it was a better or worse system, he'd need to try it; and then compare it to what his society currently did.

"How 'bout you, big guy? Do you have a perfect day?" Katja broke his thoughts. Humans and their hypotheticals, so tiresome. Still, he knew they were exercising what they thought wer proper social protocols and trying to include him. Based on their faces, they looked genuinely expectant, too.

Vai'dqouulth cocked his head up to the sky in thought. One could not possibly have a 'perfect' day. And a day was also subjective given one's location. They must be generalizing, or using hyperbole, and asking what an ideal way to spend a day would be. Assumption here likely being an Earth day as well. He wasn't too particular. In fact, many of the days here in the wilderness, with his human clan, had been some of his favorites. With a looming battle with the ultimate trophy so close, the current planetary rotation might even end up being his 'perfect day', depending on how it ended.

"Our kind does not deal in hypotheticals. Ideal day is what I do regularly. Hunt favored planet and species. Return to court and mate highly desirable female. Join brethren for alcohol and recanting of stories," Vai'dqouulth said. It wasn't a lie. Much of it he was doing now, or planned to do at the first opportunity. Personal pride and their reaction to the truth that these had been his ideal days held him back from being explicit.

"My man," Adrien chuckled. Whatever he said must've been to the amusement and if he had to guess, the agreement of the human.

"I like enjoying the simple things too, Blue," Katja nodded, though her face was turning that strange reddish color once more. Perhaps the cold was getting to her. Adrien had explained it once on one of their patrols.

Alexei decided to speak. "Well, not that anyone asked, but my perfect day would be on the beach with a margarita. With lots of beautiful ladies around me. And Tony Stark and I collaborating on an idea. Well, maybe not collaborating. No, he is praising me for my research."

Katja just stared at him. Vai'dqouulth had only understood about half of what Alexei had said, but it sounded like an absurd fantasy rather than a tangible possibility.

"Well? Aren't you gonna tell Adrien?" Alexei asked Katja. "We heard everyone else's."

Katja audibly sighed.

"What? Is it as stupid as I imagine?" Adrien prompted. Blue was impressed at Adrien being able to figure that out so easily from just a small noise like that.

"Yes," Katja answered simply.

"Hey! I didn't insult any of your stupid ideas!" the runt protested. "Tea? Family? Hunting? Gag. Get a life."

"That's fair, Alexei, you did not," Katja conceded. To Vai'dqouulth though, she shouldn't have. None of them were as idiotic as Alexei's.

"We should get moving," Katja stood.

The hunt was on…

Katja had picked a mountain wall in the distance as a possible place to hide an entrance. Between the deep snow and the trudge uphill, though, progress was slow.

What made her most suspicious was the lack of attacks – from either the remaining Iron Bears mercs, or the more likely foe, the queen and her drones.

A sudden mechanical clicking noise had her freezing and calling a hold nonverbally. Approaching slowly, she found the source.

There were two 'spider holes' dug into the snow, with white camouflage netting over them. Inside the holes and beneath the netting were two tripod mounted machine guns that seemed to be tracking her of their own accord – and if she had to guess, they were dry-firing at her.

"XM312 .50 cal machine guns. Motion sensing, I think. Similar to the Phalanx systems used to defend navy ships," Adrien remarked as he came to stand next to her.

"Agreed." She had heard about Phalanx weapon systems. It was a countermeasure, an automated Vulcan cannon that would shoot missiles out of the sky to defend watercraft.

Given the Weyland markings, and Weyland's strides in making extremely intelligent robots, this made sense. Automated sentry turrets to defend a position. She'd think militaries would be scrambling to buy these for base defense.

She wondered how the turrets would know not to attack Weyland personnel. Maybe an implant, like an RFID chip, or an IFF – identify friend or foe – tag. Or, maybe the turrets weren't that smart and the simple workaround was, 'don't stand in their field of vision'. That could be why they weren't being fielded yet. At least, to her knowledge they weren't.

"Look," Adrien pointed.

Katja shifted her vision. Spent shell casings were scattered all around the turrets. Someone had loaded these, and it was clear all the ammunition had been expended. And she could guess on what, too.

"Let's move," Katja ordered. Interesting as the scene was, the biggest takeaway was that it meant they were close to the 'Crypt', as Alexei had called it.

Farther up, they reached the mountain wall, finding another set of turrets and Weyland PMCs everywhere. Literally, pieces of them, scattered everywhere.

"Whatever went down here, I think we missed it," Adrien commented, shoeing a body over to its back. Idly, Katja wondered if Jade had been among the dead here, or back at the camp.

But Weyland had come to this location for a reason. And they had purposely shored up their defenses here, as well. When she looked further up the sheet-like rock wall, her heart skipped a beat at the sight.

A massive blast door was built into the side of the mountain. By the looks of it, Weyland had been trying to get in. There was a laptop hooked up to a control panel, and a program onscreen repeatedly flashed an error message.

"Alexei, can you get us in?" Katja requested. The kid walked over and crouched in front of the computer.

"It will take some time, but I think so," Alexei answered.

"How long?" Adrien asked, guessing correctly he could do it.

" 'Some time', whatever that means," Katja stated in response.

"Alright, then," Adrien said as he began grabbing Weyland equipment.

"What are you doing?" Katja asked, furrowing her brows.

"Obviously, something got Weyland. They set up defenses; so, my guess is, we've got a fight coming our way," Adrien explained.

"Right; how can I help?" Katja offered.

"Start by reloading those turrets down there. We'll call that phase line alpha. Don't step into their sensor line of sight, though," Adrien ordered.

"I know that," Katja said, amused.

"I was talking to Alexei," Adrien explained, and the scientist gave a loud snort without turning from the laptop.

"Ahh. All right, Adrien; what is your idea?" Katja followed up as she grabbed ammo cans for the turrets.

"I'm gonna need Blue's help," Adrien stated.

"With?" Katja prompted.

Adrien hefted a brick of C4 recovered from the Weyland mercs. "Placing charges."

Katja was down at the first set of turrets, loading them with fresh ammunition. The ammo cans were five hundred rounds each. With two cans, that had been a thousand rounds between them. The other set of turrets made two thousand rounds.

The serpents had blown through that volume firepower with Weyland mercs supporting them. Not a good sign.

Looking back, she saw Blue climbing up the mountain wall. What would setting charges there do? Adrien had a plan; she just wasn't sure what it was.

Suddenly, an alien shriek reverberated all around the mountains.

They were coming.

"Adrien, we're about to have visitors," Katja warned into the radio.

"I heard," Adrien replied. The Russian Captain stood and retreated just a little. She unslung her rifle and kept it in a ready position.

The turrets started tracking something very suddenly. Katja couldn't see a thing because of the snow blowing off the mountain tops.

Machine gun fire erupted without any real warning. Screeches could be heard farther down the slope; but still, she could not see a damn thing.

The automated turrets never stopped firing. Didn't even pause. There must have been hundreds of serpents, at the very least. They hadn't depleted as many as she'd hoped.

"What's the count?" Adrien asked over the roar of gunfire, as he suddenly materialized at her side. Blue also joined them. The fact that he was firing his cannons told her he could see through this mess. Probably the infrared at work.

"Lots," Katja responded dryly. She was hoping Blue would confirm, but he was too preoccupied to speak or text.

The wind finally settled enough for them to see serpents crawling from crevices in the ground. Holy shit, there were more than she would've thought.

Without a second's hesitation, she and Adrien opened up on the approaching horde. Gun smoke forced up into her nostrils, and she choked back a cough.

They were backing up now. Even the sentry turrets' fire rate was just too slow to keep up with the overwhelming numbers. She could see the orange glow of heat off her rifle's barrel.

They needed relief, fast. "Get behind me!" Katja ordered as she lit the pilot light on her flamethrower.

Targeting the serpents that made it past the turrets, she let the fire burn. The stream was longer than she would've guessed, putting the effective range at eighteen meters or so. And it was more deadly than she would've thought. The flames ate through their tough shell extremely fast.

"We gotta fall back! Phase line bravo!" Adrien yelled. Katja noticed the first phase line turrets had stopped firing. They had expended their ammo much too fast.

Blue covered them both as they trudged through the snow back to the second set of the turrets. Frantically, the two captains loaded them, with Blue getting past the sensor field just before they slapped the top cover down and the turrets began ripping the serpents apart.

"Keep retreating!" Adrien ordered. She assumed this had to do with his 'master plan'. Now she was wishing she had pushed him for more answers.

They were now back with Alexei. "How long?!" Adrien demanded. They fired as the second line of turrets struggled to keep the wave of serpents at bay. This time, the black demons knocked the turrets over, clawing and biting them apart.

"Got it!" Alexei said, and Katja repeated him in English. Adrien pulled out a detonator and depressed it. He pushed everyone flat against the massive blast door that was rising, the explosion ringing out.

It dawned on Katja right there what the plan was. Blue had set the explosives high up the mountain so when they went off, the shockwave would cause an avalanche.

Seconds later, a wall of snow swept away the serpents, like a waterfall. They were spared because the mountain overhang redirected the avalanche away from them.

They watched the avalanche for a time until the blast door opened fully, and the group of them slipped inside.

Alexei looked over the scene outside, gawking. Finally, he sputtered, "Mulan."

"Close that, dipshit." Adrien ordered Alexei.

"That won't buy us a lot of time," Katja pointed out.

"Every second is gonna help," Adrien countered.

The door closed, sealing them in.

They'd made it.

Fantastic.

It was dark, though maybe that shouldn't be surprising given the place had been abandoned in the eighties.

"Night vision," Adrien said as he flipped his goggles down over his eyes. Katja quickly copied him.

"Why don't I get any?!" Alexei whimpered. He pulled out a flashlight for himself.

"Because we didn't have another pair, Alexei. Now hush!" Katja ordered. "And quit shining that flashlight over our eyes! You'll burn our retinas out!"

Turning, she saw Blue's visor flash. Katja assumed he had also switched to another vision mode.

"It doesn't matter. She knows we're here," Adrien mumbled.

"No reason to broadcast our location," Katja replied.

The mountain outside made ominous rumbling noises. It made her shudder. Like they had just entered the maw of a monster.

This chapter got gutted from the original concept.

Was gonna be a free-for-all against Russian paratroopers, Weyland, Xenomorphs, and the clock before Russian planes firebombed the mountains.

But the book is already running too long; didn't want to make it 100 chapters or more