Hurry

It wasn't long before we stumbled upon Simmons' body. I knew what I'd find if we went to investigate, so I didn't move.

My escort growled and steered me around the body, his heavy hand on my shoulder. I glanced back at the soldier I'd known for all of two minutes, then let the humanoid push me on.

From there on, my escort remained in cloak during our travels. I could hear him behind me, but only if I listened really hard for the sound of his footfalls.

For being so huge, he could be silent as a cat. It was almost as if he wasn't there at all.

Whenever I was close to panicking, he came up behind me and bumped my shoulder, as if reminding me he was there. Even though he was a little rough, it always served to calm me down regardless of his intention.

I didn't want to have a panic attack in front of him, either. Not after talking all that good shit to convince him to take me with him.

Still, for the first time that night, I felt sort of safe.

Safe enough to pull my phone and use the flashlight. Safe enough to walk tall instead of crouched and scuttling like a rat in a sewer.

I was still holding the hunk of metal that the alien person had given me. The whole thing had been his sad attempt at humor, of that I was sure, but there I was, hanging on to it anyway.

In the end, it gave me something to concentrate on other than my impending doom.

We walked in never-ending silence, though questions about him and his race burned inside me. He could understand me, but it seemed unlikely he would be able to communicate to me with any clarity.

I wasn't sure how comfortable I was to be able to strum up conversation, anyway.

Navigating was difficult. I had no idea where I was going, so I had to rely on my escort's rough shoves in the right direction.

Outside of the egg chambers, there wasn't much resin coating the passages. Some places had the beginnings of nest material but were left unfinished for whatever reason.

There wasn't much to see in the hallways except for the occasional strange marking or broken panels. The mist swirled around our feet, and my chest burned.

Every time we passed a doorway (most of them I didn't see until he went through them), he would pull me to a stop. The first few times I would attempt to follow him, and each time he growled at me until I finally stopped trying.

"What are you looking for?" I asked when he emerged from one such room.

As I expected, he answered with nothing more than a chuff and pushed me onward. The bright green blood of his people tipped his fingers.

We came to a fork in the path and he gave me no indication of which way to go, so I picked one at random.

His means of correcting me was to grab my arm with a too-hard grip and whirled me around in the opposite direction. It was followed by a reprimanding, sharp trill.

It almost sent me sprawling to the floor, but I caught myself.

"Watch it, meat head! Don't make me lead if you don't like where I go!" I barked at him, indignant. I regretted it as soon as it was out of my mouth, but he didn't retaliate.

Despite the fact that we'd been wandering for what seemed like hours, we didn't run into any signs of life. There were no night-black monsters and none of his kind.

We heard the pests, though, and their horrible nails-on-chalkboard screech.

I was doing what I could, too. I called out every now and again, trying to see if I could bait a creature into coming or maybe even find other survivors.

He seemed unconcerned with what I did until I tried to go down the wrong path—wherever we were going.

The section of the ship we were in was devoid of life, though.

There were others on the ship, though. His hands were stained with the blood of his fallen friends. He was looking for more survivors.

When I was about to ask and confirm my thoughts, a sound in the distance brought us both to pause. It was far different from the sounds the rest made: louder, angrier.

A sort of raspy bellow that ended with a rolling hiss. Seconds later it was followed by a roar similar to a high-pitched tyrannosaurs.

Whatever it was, it was coming toward us. The hall was soon filled with sudden pulses of shrill, echoing crackles. They were not unlike the rattling sounds he made.

"What is that?" I asked, my voice small as I lifted a hand to see if I could touch him. Find him.

My escort reappeared with an arch of electricity and shoved me forward into a sprint. He didn't have to tell me twice, but I didn't run far before he shoved me into a dark room.

He swung me around by the arm until I was flat against the wall and out of view of the hallway. I grunted and shot him a glare, rubbing my arm.

It was a small chamber, empty save for the irregular lumps in the center and a single metal table against the wall. There were no people mounted up in cocoons, though the walls were decorated with dried slime.

Eggs had been left there for storage.

Waiting for victims to IMPREGNATE. The word made me shudder.

Another bout of echoing crackles resonated down the hall and brought me from my trance. I poked my head out to look down the hallway, but saw nothing.

My escort was still outside, his fingers flexing at his sides. Every now and again I heard terse clicking from under his mask.

Far down the hallway, something moved.

I turned a questioning gaze to him, but his attention was on the corridor. A shrill roar made me jump and I ducked behind the wall, clutching the metal in my hands.

"What's going on? What are we doing?" I asked in a stage whisper.

He turned toward me, then pointed at the spot I was standing. I blinked at him and shook my head. He babbled nonsense at me and put his palm up.

That was a sign I knew: stay.

Then he turned away and disappeared down the hallway, not bothering with his invisibility.

My eyes narrowed and I let out my breath in a rush of air. "Wonderful."

Aggravated, I turned my repressed anger to the nearest egg, pushing it over onto its side with the flat of my foot. I applied pressure until it popped like a melon and spilled unpleasantness all over the floor at my feet.

As if the creature knew, it shrieked and heavy footsteps thundered down the hallway. I turned in time to see my escort shooting past the doorway.

Was he . . . fleeing?

Fear wrapped its icy fingers around my heart and I dove to the floor, away from the opening so I was out of sight.

With each step the unseen monster took, the ground shuddered. I pressed myself hard against the wall and clapped my hands over my ears to block out the rapid sounds pummeling the air.

There was no way anything less than a train was barreling down the hallway. It shook the ground as it pounded after my escort, snorting and hissing. My wall shook and rained dust and small chunks of debris over me.

That strange clicking continued, rapid and unrelenting. I clenched my eyes, took a breath, then leaned out the opening as it passed to take a peek at what it was.

I only caught a glimpse, but from that I knew one thing: it was MASSIVE.

It barely fit in the hallway, tearing down panels and wiring as it crashed through. Its thick, spiked tail slapped against the walls and I flinched back, avoiding being crushed by a hunk of construction.

An extra set of legs powered it around a corner, breaking a chunk off as it disappeared with an angry sound.

/Oh my god oh my god what are we going to do? It's huge!/

It's strange calls petered out as it ran after my escort. The familiar screeches of the others zipped past as well, following their leader. I shrank further into the darkness, praying that none of them noticed me.

All my optimism sank away with my escort—if he couldn't handle that monstrosity and its minions, that was the end of it.

I waited ten or fifteen seconds after the noises died, then let go of my knees and stood. Part of me wanted to follow after the humanoid, but the other part didn't want to go against his orders.

He wanted me to stay, so I knew he'd come back for me at some point. If he did, the last thing I wanted to do was go gallivanting around the ship and make it hard for him to find me.

Unless he was dead. Then I'd be stuck in the room forever, waiting for him to return when he never would. At some point I'd just have to leave.

Especially since the eggs would hatch and I'd have to fend off the facehuggers again. If I wanted to wait, I'd have to destroy the eggs and make sure I had less issues.

A thought occurred to me and I pulled out my cell phone to check the reception. I had little hope that it would work, and wasn't disappointed when I didn't have a signal. It still burned me up inside with irritation, but I was able to move past it.

With the stupid chunk of scrap metal in hand, I set about breaking the eggs. I was careful not to disturb the unborn facehuggers, as the goo inside the egg didn't seem to be acidic.

My mistake in the first egg chamber had been stomping the creatures inside the eggs to mush.

There were a few more than a dozen eggs in the small room, stacked neatly next to one another. I tipped them all over one by one, stepping on them until they ruptured.

It was a mindless enough task, leaving me to my thoughts and giving me an outlet to all my pent-up emotions. The catharsis it provided helped me to calm down.

There were two eggs left. Hissing drew me from my ruminations of my friends and my escort and my parents.

I'd been caught with my foot planted atop the second to last egg, pressing down on it. Me and the bug-thing stared at each other for a moment, its lips drawn back in a silent snarl and tail twitching behind it.

It crouched there in the doorway with its hands curled against its chest, hiding its full size.

When it moved toward me, I screeched something akin to a battle cry and stomped on the egg. Its contents spilled over the resin-covered floor in a gush, the premature facehugger flopping before me.

I stared at it, then added insult to injury by kicking the parasite toward its brethren.

It ducked to avoid the dead projectile and swung its head toward me with a blood-curdling scream. I was afraid it would attack right then, but instead it turned to approach the dead facehugger with a warbled whine.

The alien sidled up next to the dead embryo and nosed it. I thought I heard it keen in mourning, and I couldn't dredge up even the smallest amount of sympathy.

Its head swiveled to face me and my body went rigid as stone. Liquid fire burned through my veins as adrenaline kicked in. I held the chunk of metal above my head, ready to bash the monster and buy myself an extra second.

"Any second now . . ," I whispered to myself.

Any second and he'd show up. My alien. He'd kill it, and I'd be okay.

But he didn't, even as the serpent-bug rose to its full height. He didn't, even as it took a step toward me, ready to strike.

In an act of desperation, I leaped over to the final egg and put my foot on top of it.

"Don't come near me!" I shouted, uncertain if they could understand me but willing to try anyway.

Even if it couldn't comprehend the words, it seemed to appreciate the gesture. The drone swung its head this way and that, sizing me up, then took a step backward.

I relieved some of the pressure on the egg, but when it advanced I stepped down harder. It retreated and its tail lashed like an angry cat's.

A new sense of power washed over me and I sneered at the beast. "Get back! Get back or I'll destroy it!" Bravado filled me and I leaned forward to make it retreat farther.

The thing regarded me for a second and then it tilted its head back to let out a cry. The suddenness made me push down harder than I meant and the egg burst beneath me. It's wail only grew more intense.

/It's calling for help./

/I'm dead./

More screeches broadcast in response and the trembling in my limbs started anew. With a fearful squawk, I danced away from the broken egg, stumbling on my too-big boots and slipping on egg goo.

The beast screeched and lunged for me, determined to exact its swift revenge.

I used all my strength and weight to slam the hunk of metal on the pest's head. It jerked and squealed in surprise, backing up.

There was still some hope that my escort would return, but I was assuming the worst: he was dead.

And again, all I had was myself.

When the serpent came back for round two, it was ready. It dodged my swing and tackled me to the ground, forcing air from my lungs.

Claws raked down my shoulder blade when I twisted to wrench myself from underneath it, eliciting a strangled wail from me.

Though I doubled my efforts, my arms wouldn't hold up my weight. The creature was heavy on my back, and I couldn't find the leverage to throw it off.

/You can't even rely on yourself. You're not strong enough./

There were other screeches from behind us, but I couldn't concern myself with them. Not when I had enough to deal with on top of me already.

Then I heard a familiar roar and the splat of eviscerated enemies.

He wasn't dead! He doubled back for me, and now he just had to fight through the horde that had answered a cry for help.

All I had to do was live through the one trying to maul me—and it was doing a fairly good job of it.

Claws dug into my shoulders and I squirmed, tears stinging and blurring my vision. I needed to roll over to my back, then I could use that MIGHTY weapon he'd given me for something.

Maybe if I could hit the serpent enough with it, I could kill it. Or stun it.

If he could hold off all those others, I should be able to take care of this one. Just the one!

Grunting, I flailed backward, swinging my arms and throwing everything I had into moving. The serpent snarled, but somehow I was able to flip over.

I earned a face full of teeth for my troubles; stars erupted across my sight as a supernova of pain in my shoulder left me shrieking.

It was like being punched and stabbed at the same time. The pain flared from the wound and radiated all the way down to my fingers and toes. It turned my thoughts to static and left me gasping for breath.

Its second set of jaws retreated into its mouth. Had I not been struggling with such vehemence, it might have given me a hole in my face instead of my shoulder.

Agony sapped all the strength from my body and I went limp the moment its weight was lifted off me.

Now free, I curled in on myself and pressed both of my hands against my shoulder, the piece of metal forgotten at my side. Tears slid unbidden down my cheeks, though I strained to suck them up, tried hard to hide that kind of weakness.

I ground my teeth together and screamed internally, the sound coming out as a low groan. I remained in the fetal position as long as I dared to, clutching the injury and telling myself I was going to be fine.

Slowly, the tears stopped. A mixture of adrenaline, pain, and fear left me to violently shake on the ground.

Through my pained whimpers and shudders, I heard the tail end of the scuffle. A single death wail rang out, signaling the fall of the last drone, then all was quiet.

I didn't open my eyes until my escort came to crouch by me. Behind him were the mangled bodies of the serpents, and he was donning fresh wounds. One of them was a deep gouge running from his left clavicle to his sternum, vivid blood bubbling over the jagged wound.

"I thought—" I attempted to sit up but my head swam, forcing me back to the floor. Blood soaked into my shirt and my tongue felt thick. "I thought you were dead."

His incredulous snort might have been amusing had I not been so miserable.