Like I said in the description, this is an alternate universe where our titular character is a girl instead of a guy. It also happens in a slightly altered version of the world where not all the characters are going to be like their movie counterparts. How are all these differences going to alter the story? Well, I guess you're just going to have to read it to find out! ;D
"I don't want to have to wait for a full clean-up just to get a status report!" Carlton Drake, founder and head of the Life Foundation, was chastising one of his lead associates as they both strode into mission control of his space program.
The rocket that had carried so much promise, had finally landed back on Earth – only to crash in a fiery accident. Needless to say, Dr. Drake was more than a touch concerned about the supposed cargo that the astronauts aboard the mission had apparently discovered.
Carlton Drake was a middle aged man with silver-touched, black hair, doctorates in both astrophysics and biology, and a grandiose dream of the evolution of mankind as means of survival in an ever dying world. All this accumulating into him looking into space for the answer to ascension.
"We're collecting this data as quickly as possible," the scientist tried to assure him.
"That's not good enough!" he snapped. "Okay, maybe you can tell me what happened," he demanded from a woman manning one of the many computer terminals in the room.
"There was some kind of breach. One of the astronauts sent a distress call," she explained quickly.
"What about the crew?" Drake asked.
"We're still investigating," she told him.
"Where – where did it go down?" he continued his line of questioning.
"It's twenty kilometers west of Sibu," another one of the scientists offered.
"Did we at least retrieve all of the samples?" he wondered, a bit calmer.
"No, but we have three of them," the first woman assured him. "One of the organisms didn't make it. It seems to have escaped containment, but was unable to survive in our atmosphere."
A video feed was playing on a large screen in front of the entire room. One of the Malaysian emergency workers began gesturing and hollering for the others to come over to her.
"What is she saying?" Drake inquired.
"One of the astronauts is still alive," yet another man of similar background was able to translate.
The camera panned down so they could see who the wounded survivor was.
"That's Jameson," Drake confirmed.
He was coughing heavily and didn't look good. The camera then panned away as paramedics began loading him into an ambulance.
"Such as shame about the crew," he lamented.
"Well, three is better than none," Drake decided before turning on his heels to head back out the way he came, the other scientist following closely behind. "I want to be alerted the instant those organisms arrive!" he ordered.
"Yes sir," the scientist complied.
Six months later. . .
After months of testing and what seemed like endless amounts of sleepless nights, Carlton Drake was beginning to get frustrated with the lack of progress. Even after all this time, it still didn't feel like they were any closer to figuring out the secret intricacies of these life-forms. He had barely been at home for the past few months, and the wear was really starting to show.
Something has to come of this! It just has to! He thought irritably as he and the other scientist from before were about to conduct another experiment that was likely to end in failure as so many others had.
"Test 36," she droned, typing away on a keyboard. "Biological interactions between two different organisms."
She hit a button on her terminal, releasing a yellow and black colored, ooze-like creature from a sealed bio-hazard pod into the glass enclosure of a white lab rabbit.
"These creatures need to bond with a respiratory host in order to survive for any amount of time in an oxygen-rich environment," she seemed to explain.
"Well, why are all these hosts showing this hyper-acute rejection?" Drake responded wearily.
"That's what we're trying to find out," she assured him as the creature seemed to fuse with the rabbit.
"The bonding process is starting," she stated, as they watched the rabbit's vitals on a very sophisticated computer screen.
Several small, red boxes reading 'Warning' suddenly switched to 'Equalizing' on the monitor, indicating that the rabbit was adjusting to the foreign organism.
"It's equalizing," the scientist confirmed with a relieved smile, to which Carlton Drake mirrored with a laugh.
"Bu-but why? Why this rabbit?" he wondered.
"It's similar to an organ transplant," she explained.
"Huh. Where the donor and recipient must be an exact match?" he elaborated.
"That's correct," she confirmed.
"Okay, so wait. Think about it! If we do achieve symbiosis, they should be able to survive here, but also we would be able to survive there," he chuckled in his exuberance.
"We?" his fellow scientist questioned ominously.
"Don't you see, Dr. Skirth? This is it! The breakthrough I've been waiting for! The key to unlocking our evolution and humanity's potential for survival! These creatures are the answer to help stem the tide of destruction that people have caused, perhaps even give us the ability to live off-world when this one can no longer sustain life!" Dr. Drake ranted with exuberance.
"We must begin human trials as soon as possible!" he told her.
"Oh, Dr. Drake. It's way too soon to even begin to think about something like that. There are so many more tests that need to take place, not to mention legal work and ethic regulations. . ." she trailed.
"Well, then we better get started. No time like the present!" he cheered before turning on his heel, and making a move to continue working.
"But, Dr. Drake. . ." Skirth trailed again in an attempt to get his attention. He turned back around, looking at her with impatient expectancy. "Your daughter's birthday? Didn't you promise to take her to dinner tonight?" she reminded him, a touch of concern to her tone.
"Dr. Skirth, we are currently at the forefront of a scientific breakthrough! Nothing could be more important! I know Chasity will understand," he tried to assure her.
"But Doctor, you've already barely seen her for months as it is! Surely one night–" but he cut her off.
"It's out of the question!" he snapped harshly at her, but then softened a bit at her shocked expression. "I'll make it up to her. I promise," he added, before immediately turning back to his work.
. . .
Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Edith Brock had just gotten off work and was heading to the local table-top game store to pick up some things for the gaming session she had planned that weekend with her few friends. Not that this was any different from her normal routine, but there was a new expansion of Pathfinder out that they had been dying to try.
The door chimed merrily as she pushed it open and stepped inside, her auburn hair swishing in its ponytail as she did so. Her green eyes glinted excitedly at all the cool decor inside the shop. The proprietor glanced up from the magazine he was reading to greet her.
"Well, hello there Edi. Here for the new Pathfinder release?" he guessed.
"Am I really that obvious, Don?" she mock questioned back with a smirk.
Don Spaulding was what one might consider a "veteran nerd". His experiences starting back with Atari and the first edition of Dungeons and Dragons. He had owned and run this store for as long as Edith could remember, and probably even longer than that. But he never liked to admit it. He smiled back at her as he pulled the thick book out and plopped it onto the counter top in front of him.
"Had one already set aside for ya," he explained as she approached the counter. "So, how are things in the 'high-tech' side of Nerdom?" he wondered with pretend criticism.
He always referred to her job at the video game store, and video games in general as "high-tech", compared to his line of work. Edith just rolled her eyes at the tired joke.
"It's fine. We just got a whole shipment of new Call of Duty games. Oh boy," she said with obvious sarcasm.
Edith had never cared for first-person shooters. She had always been more of an RPG girl, obviously.
"Well, hang in there. I'm sure that they'll come out with more pokimons for you to play soon enough," he joked again, purposefully mispronouncing the incredibly famous franchise.
"Thanks Don," she said, humoring him and paying for the book. "Have a good night."
"You too, my dear," he said, waving as she exited.
Routine. Usually it is a comforting occurrence that most people typically stick by as they live out their day to day lives. However, sometimes, routine can get you into trouble. And apparently, trouble was waiting just down the road for Edith that particular evening, knowing she'd soon be headed that way.
By the time Edith saw the group, it was already too late. Her breath caught in her throat as she quickly tried to turn around and head in the opposite direction, but of course they weren't going to let her get away that easily. The gang of bullies quickly converged on her, blocking any means of escape.
There were four of them, two boys and two girls. Zach, Chasity, Jonathan, and Becky – she knew exactly who they were, of course she did. After all, these same bullies had been harassing her ever since she'd first started high school. Unfortunately, even though high school had ended a couple years ago, the bullying hadn't. Edith's mother had tried countless times to talk her into informing the authorities and pressing charges, but she'd always been too embarrassed to try, and scared that it would only make things worse.
"Hey, Geeky Edi! Where ya going?" Zach asked in a mocking tone, being the first one to speak. "Don't cha wanna say 'hi' to your old high school chums?"
"Oh, h-hey guys," Edith managed to stutter out, trying but failing, to hide her fear.
"What's that? Got a new nerd book?" Jonathan sneered.
"Ugh, I can't believe you still play those stupid games. When are you gonna grow up?" Becky huffed, not attempting to hide her disdain.
Edith didn't comment, she just lowered her gaze to the ground to avoid eye contact.
"Well, let's see it," Jonathan ripped the book out of her hands and began roughly leafing through it.
"Hey! Give it back," she demanded weakly and tried taking it away from him. But he just kept moving it out of her grasp when she motioned to grab for it.
"Ooooo, Pathfinder, huh? And you use this book to, what? Find paths? Lame!" he ridiculed, tearing at several of the pages while the others laughed at the stupid joke.
"Stop it! That was expensive!" Edith cried out, now feeling on the brink of tears.
Finally, Chasity of all people decided to intervene, successfully snatching the book away from the jerk.
"Knock it off, Jonathan! Why do you always have to destroy shit?!" she snapped at him haughtily, before handing the partially mangled book back to Edith.
She blinked up at the other girl for a moment in confusion, before taking it back and hugging it tightly to her chest. Edith had always found Chasity's name to be rather ironic, since for the most part, she'd been considered the biggest whore in the whole school. The rumor was she'd settled down a bit since going steady with Zach, but as far as Edith knew, that hadn't had an impact on her bitchiness.
"Sorry about your book, Edi," she told her, in a less than apologetic tone.
Edith just looked sadly down at her damaged book, still wanting to cry, and not understanding why Chasity had bothered.
"We were gonna head over to my dad's labs tonight. He's been working on this new experiment that's had him so busy I've hardly seen him for months! But since it's my birthday, he promised to treat me. I thought maybe you'd like to come too, you know, since you're into all that science-y stuff?" Chasity offered with mock sweetness.
Edith did not like the way they all smiled at each other at that. Even if they had offered to take her to tour NASA, there's no way she'd ever agree to go anywhere with these people! Not to mention, Chasity's father was CEO of the Life Foundation. After hearing all the dirty rumors going around about the company lately, Edith had no intention of ever going near that place!
"Uh, no thank you. I really need to get home," she said quietly, and tried to make a speedy retreat, but was halted by a large arm slinging itself around her shoulders.
"Hey, what's your hurry? The night's still young, and we're all friends now, right?" Zach told her, as he began to forcibly guide her towards the street.
He opened the back door of his parents Suburban. Edith tried to duck away, but Zach took hold of her arm in a tight grip.
"Get in," he ordered.
"I can't. I really need to get home," she repeated, doing her best to dig her heels in to keep from getting in the vehicle.
"Don't worry about it. This won't take long, and we can drop you off later when we're done." He looked down at her with a tight grin.
Edith still resisted, so Zach tightened his grip around her arm until it began to really hurt. She let out a small grunt of pain and stopped fighting him, so he wouldn't feel the need to break anything. She had no choice at that point than to let herself be shoved into the very back of the car. Zach clicked the seat back and the others climbed in, Edith's fear growing into a panic as she realized that there was no way out!
She sat in frightened silence the whole ride over as the others talked and joked. She didn't know what they had planned for her, but she knew there was something more going on than Chasity just wanting to show her around her daddy's lab!
. . .
Several minutes later, they arrived at the security gate, which Chasity seemed to have no trouble getting them through. She just flashed the man at the gate a badge and a smile from the passenger's side seat, and he allowed the Suburban to pass.
"See, told you they'd let us in," she commented in a snarky tone.
However, instead of heading for the main parking area, Chasity directed Zach to drive around to a smaller side lot. By now it was getting dark, and the lot was lit by blinding, white street lights. Zach wasted no time in parking, and they all filed out of the vehicle. Zach pulling Edith out by the arm, which now had a considerably sized, hand-shaped bruise on it.
He ushered her towards a small, side door, to which Chasity had to pull out two different keys and scan her badge to unlock. Everything about this just felt wrong. The backwards way they were coming in, the ultra high security on the door, Edith was getting the idea that not even Chasity was supposed to be here. However, she continued to keep quiet, knowing that they could make things even worse for her if they wanted.
The door opened up into a short hallway that seemed to lead into the back of a lab. The lights were dimmed and the air felt cold and unnaturally still. It was obvious that everyone had gone home for the day, and there seemed to be no one around to greet them. No securing adult presence to reassure her that they were expected and going to receive some kind of tour.
"So, where is this thing?" Jonathan suddenly spoke up, sounding unnecessarily loud and causing the rest of them to flinch.
"Shut up, stupid!" Zach hissed at him in reprimand. "Do you want to get caught?"
That was all the confirmation that Edith needed to know that they were not supposed to be here! She began to tremble in fear, more so at the unknown than anything else. Unfortunately, she had no choice, as Zach was still keeping a death grip on her arm.
"I think I heard my dad say that they should be right around here," Chasity whispered, and led them deeper into the room where several glass, cubical looking chambers were located. "Yeah, this is it," she added excitedly.
Edith noticed a shiver run down Becky's spine as she did her best to keep as close as possible to the group.
"This place is really giving me the creeps. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea," she whispered hoarsely to the others.
"Don't be such a baby. We won't be here for much longer. After all, Edith needs to be home soon. Isn't that right, Edith?" Chasity asked her with a babying tone.
"Y-yes. I – still have a lot to do before w-work tomorrow," she was desperately trying to keep her voice steady.
"Okay then, let's make this quick," Chasity declared, all illusions of politeness gone.
She moseyed over to the nearest glass room, which on closer inspection, was looking more like a cell to Edith. It had a large, intimidating-looking electronic lock on it's front that came complete with a number pad, probably for a code.
"You know how to open it, right?" Zach whispered to her.
"Yes, I told you I swiped the code from my dad's office," she whispered back, before pulling out a small piece of paper and began punching numbers into the keypad.
"Wait!" Edith finally whispered in alarm, having no desire to find out what was on the other side of that door. "What's going on? What's in there?" she demanded.
"It's this totally awesome science experiment. You're gonna love it," Chasity told her, but her tone and wicked grin seemed to indicate otherwise.
"No, let me go! We shouldn't be doing this!" Edith tried to argue and rip away, but Zach held her fast.
"Edith's right. This isn't funny anymore guys," Becky voiced, looking pretty scared herself.
"Just keep your mouth shut, Becky," Jonathan snapped at her.
Chasity entered the last of the code, and the door made a foreboding, hissing noise as it slid open. Once it was wide enough, the brawny Zach was able to effortlessly fling Edith into the small room. She scrambled up off the floor and flipped around as quickly as she could to try to get back out, but it was too late. They had already sealed the door behind her.
Panic began to flood every fiber of Edith's being. She knew, knew that they had only brought her along as the butt of some cruel joke, or to do something terrible to her. But this whole scenario was defying even the worst of her fears. She began to frantically bang on the glass door.
"Let me out! Please, let me out!" she yelled and pleaded in fear, hoping that maybe someone else might hear her.
"What's the matter, Edi? I thought you liked science experiments," Zach taunted.
"Yeah, and this is one you get to be part of," Jonathan encouraged, completely making fun of her meltdown. "So, where is it? You gonna show us or not?" he asked Chasity, with clear impatience.
"Alright, fine. I think I just gotta let it out," she told him, sounding irritated.
It – it?! Edith was openly sobbing at this point as she was begging for mercy. Becky was looking almost equally as terrified.
"No! Come on, Chasity! She could get really hurt! Please, just let her out!" Becky reasoned, looking as if she might lose it too.
Chasity whipped her head around at her to fix her with an enraged glare.
"Becky, shut the hell up! You agreed to this. Now stop bitching out, otherwise we'll throw you in there too!" she yelled at her.
Becky took a few fearful steps back, looking thoroughly shocked at her supposed friend's outburst towards her.
Chasity hit another button, and a small container located in the center of the room that Edith had missed before, slid open behind her. She whirled around at the sound to see what looked like a black blob of goo slowly ooze it's way out of the canister and onto the floor. Edith began to scream in absolute terror as it began slinking its way towards her. She pounded on the door with renewed vigor.
"NO! NO! DON'T DO THIS TO ME, PLEASE! LET ME OUT!" she screamed as loudly as she could, but nobody moved.
They just continued to watch with horrible fascination as the blob slid ever closer. Only Becky looked remorseful as she began crying too, but was too scared to try and help.
At this point, sirens suddenly started blaring and red lights began flashing in a wild rave. The others who were still outside glanced around in alarm at the sudden change in atmosphere.
"Oh man, we're so dead!" Zach called out in dismay.
"Come on! Let's get out of here before we get caught!" Chasity ordered to the others, before they all made a frenzied beeline for the exit, leaving Edith to suffer the consequences of their amusement.
Edith whipped around again to see that the thing was right at her feet. She continued her frenzied screaming as it latched onto her leg and began climbing up her body. She was absolutely convinced that she was going to die as the black goo reached her chest. It hesitated for just a moment, before seemingly absorbing itself directly into her abdomen!
The sensation was horrifyingly revolting, but there was literally nothing she could do. Edith sank to the ground in utter defeat, waiting for the ultimate, painful end that she knew had to be coming. . .
But it didn't come, and something surprising happened instead. Edith suddenly began to feel, strange. Stronger somehow, and less scared. She eased herself off the floor and to a standing position, almost as if her body was doing it all on it's own, without her even wanting to, let alone telling it to. She slowly turned around, facing her persecutors fleeting forms with an angry glare as they successfully made it outside.
"Let me out!" Edith growled out, before slamming her fist into the glass, much harder than she'd ever been able to before.
The entire door shook and began to crack. She threw her fist into it again, making the cracks even bigger until they took up the entire pane. One last punch, and the door finally came down, shattering into a thousand pieces! She stepped out and back into the room, feeling unsure of how she'd done that, and what she was supposed to do now.
"EDI!" Came a sudden, deep, snarling voice.
Edith began spinning around in every direction, trying to locate the source. However, her surprise and curiosity was interrupted by the sound of thundering footsteps coming from the opposite hallway.
"RUN!" The voice sounded again, and she decided that it was solid advice.
So, not waiting around for an explanation, Edith bolted towards the outside door as fast as her legs would carry her. She didn't stop when she burst outside. She just continued running.
She heard the slapping of footsteps on the concrete behind her and turned in time to see several armed guards closing in fast. They were yelling at her to stop, but there was no way she was going to listen to them. They'd probably shoot her just as soon as let her explain herself.
Edith reached a security fence and managed to scrambled over and through it with inhuman speed and strength. There was a wooded area that stretched out behind the complex that she hoped she could get lost in.
No such luck however, as there were more guards waiting for her to head her off, these ones in 4-wheeler, off-road type vehicles. She ducked and weaved as best she could to avoid them.
They were persistent, but she eventually was able to get most of them on one side of her. She was jetting in the opposite direction, trying to keep tabs on them all, when she turned and realized that there was a giant fallen log blocking her path. It was leaning, propped up against another tree – too high to jump over, and would take too much time to try and crawl under.
In her frenzied state, Edith thought it might be best to just attempt to go around, but her body seemed to have other ideas. Try as she might to veer off course, her legs continued to carry her straight towards the toppled tree. Before she knew what happened, Edith found herself smashing completely through the middle of the massive trunk! Splinters of wood and dust flying off in all directions, her pace not seeming affected by the impact.
There was no time to question how she'd done that or why she wasn't full of wooden shards, as the guards from behind were gaining on her. What she didn't realize until it was too late, was that several more security officers had moved around the outskirts of the trees to flank her. She had to stop short to avoid running into a pair of them.
Now they had her surrounded, and began closing in fast. Edith didn't know what to do. She wanted to start crying again as the now familiar feeling of panic began rising in her chest. It looked as though she was going to die after all, and she felt as if she might faint – right before everything went black.