Thirty: A Chance

You're alive!" Pastora cried, throwing her arms around Sunghoon's slim waist. She began to sob, her shoulders bobbed up and down as she buried her face in his chest.

"You really thought I'd leave you, pooch?" Sunghoon repled, running his fingers through her long dark hair. His voice was soft and sweet.

"How did you escape!?" I asked, not wanting to butt in their moment but I was so curious.

Sunghoon smirked at me.

"Your father's charming assistant asked me if I had any last words before they brought in the chestburster, I told him that there was a hole in the glass cage and if they wanted their experiment to run smoothly, they'd have to fix it."

"And they fell for it!?" Pastora asked, still clinging to him.

"Yup! David unlocked the cage and stepped inside, then I pushed him, knocking him against the glass wall where he fell unconscious. I then ran out of the cage and locked him inside."

"Clever." I commented, adjusting Chelsea in my arms. "But did my father stop you!?"

"He'd be a real idiot to, especially since I'm carrying around one of these babies." He paused to lift up his shirt, revealing a EMP Mine strapped to his belt.

"So you threatened him?" Pastora asked.

"I didn't have to, he had a test experiment."

"Why were you in the air vents?" I asked.

"I was trying to find a way to get into Chelea's cage and stop the facehugger. Unfortunately, I had no luck." He paused to look at Chelsea, then he looked at me. "Your father wanted me gone first, so he had Chelsea wait as the chestburster grew. I told her I'd come back for her but…"

"It's okay Sunghoon, there's still hope." Pastora replied, slowly dropping her hands from around his waist.

Sunghoon looked down at her puzzled. "What are you talking about? She's been embedded. You and I both know that there's a chestburster embryo inside of her. When she wakes up, she's going to die."

"Possibly." Pastora started. "But according to my research, implantation of a chestburster embryo takes at least a few hours to a couple days. Chaeyoung's father claimed that she's only been embedded for a half hour."

"So what are we going to do?" Sunghoon asked.

"We're going to take her to medical and run an altra sound. If there's a fetus it will be futile to remove it because it'll kill her anyways, but if there's not a fetus….she should be fine."

"How did you manage to get the facehugger off of her?" Sunghoon asked, raising an eyebrow. "Aren't they like, impossinle to pull off or something?"

"That's correct, I got lucky. I was able to blast it off her face with the flamethrower." Pastora replied. "I was lucky I didn't burn off Chelsea's face."

Sunghoon snorted in response. "I'll say."

"We should get going to medical if we want to save Chelsea." I add in. "And ourselves, we're not safe. That xenomorph that dragged Pastora to their nest, there had to be hundreds of eggs, which means there's a Queen, and the Xenomorphs are multiplying."

"Lovely." Sunghoon growled. "Just when we thought things couldn't get any worse!"

"Grab my pulse rifle." I say, stepping closer to Sunghoon and leaning towards him so that he could take my pulse rifle from around my shoulder.

"I'm going to need you and Pastora to be my body guards until we get to medical. Obviously, Chelsea is in a very vulnerable position right now."

Sunghoon nodded and took the pulse rifle from around my shoulder and held it up in front of him.

"Let's kill some Xeno's."

"Mind your aim." Pastora warned, holding up her flamethrower in front of her as she began to walk down the hallway. "Our ammo is limited and it's a slim chance we'd find more around on the station."

"Thanks for the tip, Pooch." Sunghoon snorted, as he followed after her.

"I need one of you to be behind me." I say. "The Xeno's could be anywhere and we all know what they're capable of."

"I'll stay behind you." Pastora offered, taking a step back allowing me to move ahead. "Sunghoon? Do you think you can get us to medical?"

"Follow the signs, can't be too hard."

"It is when you're being hunted." I added.

"Well, we made it this far, haven't we?"

"Don't get too comfortable, you know what these creatures are capable of." I muttered, eyeing every air vent we walked under cautiously.

"Well, with that attitude you'll be the first one dead." Sunghoon replied, looking over his shoulder giving me a wink.

I shook my head. "I'm glad you're alive, Sunghoon." I said.

And I meant it.

To my surprise, the four of us have made it to the transmit station without encountering a single xenomorph. Pastora did set the lab on fire, so maybe the fire scared them off? Or maybe they're searching all over The Amhul for new hosts. That thought made me tremble.

"There's warriors." Pastora said, breaking the silence.

"What are you talking about?" Sunghoon asked, hitting the call button for a transmit car.

"Warriors. It's another type of xenomorph." Pastora explained. "The drone is the most common type, the one with the smooth heads, dorsal tubes, and barb-tipped tails."

"Oh right. I don't really care about what they're called or how many types there are." Sunghoon replied, scanning the station carefully. "I just want them all dead. These things are sneaky, as far as we know, one could be hiding in the shadows right as we speak."

"It's possible." Pastora agreed, turning the nozzle of the flamethrower, a small flickering flame appeared at the head, giving us light.

"Shut that off!" Sunghoon snapped. "That light is going to give away our position!"

"I know, but I feel a lot better being able to see. I don't want a surprise ambush in the dark. I want to be prepared."

"They're more likely not to find us in the dark." Sunghoon hissed impatiently, hitting the wall hard with his fist. "GEEZE! Can these transmit cars move any slower!?"

"If we stay quiet we're more likely to be safe." I reply. "But you have to remember that the xenomorphs have heightened senses. They can probably hear us from miles away."

"Yeah, yeah." Sunghoon growled, waving a hand at me. "Let's stop wasting our time discussing what we already know and focus on getting Chelsea to medical."

"Let's just hope medical hasn't been taken over by xeno's…" I muttered.

"Or that the power isn't cut out." Pastora added. "The xeno's know how to operate machinery."

"They we'll have to take our chances in the air vents." Sunghoon replied.

A faint buckling sound in the distance caught our attention. I looked past the gate and at the empty transmit tunnel, red and yellow lights flickered off in the distance and were getting closer by the second.

"Our transmit car is on its way." I say, pointing my chin at the gate.

"About time." Sunghoon muttered.

"I'm glad the powers still working." Pastora added. "Let's hope that it's in medical too."

"We'll worry about that when we get there." Sunghoon replies, taking a step back from the metal gate as it opened up right as the transmit car pulls up and comes to a stop.

The doors opened automatically, and to our relief there were no xenomorphs inside it. We wasted no time and stepped in the transmit car. Sunghoon hit the burron by the doors, causing the doors to close automatically and for the transmit car to start up.

Looking around the transmit car, I wasn't surprised that we were the only ones on board. I also wasn't surprised that the interior was falling apart, just like everything else on this station.

"I hope Jiyong's okay." I blurt out randomly. "He's helped us so much….and he has a family….."

"I'm sure he can take care of himself." Sunghoon replied as the transmit car backed out from the gate at a swift speed. "Right now we need to worry about saving Chelsea."

I nod in agreement and look down at Chelsea in my arms. She was pale and her breathing was shallow. She was still alive but for how long? Could we save her?

"What are we going to do about the Queen?" Sunghoon asks, looking over at Pastora. "Something tells me that pulse rifles and bombs won't do much damage."

"You're right." Pastora replied. "The queen is the strongest and smartest type of all xenomorphs. If we're going to destroy it, we're going to have to do it right and very carefully."

"If guns, bombs, and flamethrowers don't do any damage to the queen, what other choice do we have?" I ask. "Sudden change in temperature?"

"We could try that…" Pastora replied. "Considering how the fire causes them severe pain…but then we'd have to soak it in something freezing after we roast it…"

"Is it possible to kill something so powerful and wise!?" Sunghoon asked.

"There's always a chance." Pastora replied. "We're going to make it out of this alive. We didn't make it this far for nothing."

"Maybe we're just lucky." Sunghoon comments.

"Yeah, I would say so." I agree, my arms were starting to go numb from holding Chelsea for so long, but I didn't care. I just wanted her to be okay.

An automated voice above our heads began to speak, startling us all.

"Tower three, Amhul's medicall facility."

Sunghoon quickly smacked his hand down on the button, sending the transmit car to a shrieking stop.

The doors opened automatically and the automated voice spoke again.

"Welcome to Amhul's medical facility."

"Yeah, yeah. Shut up." Shunghoon grumbled as he hopped out of the transmit car. "I hate automated voices because now all I think about is those stupid androids!"

"I agree." I reply. "At least that voice was female, all the andriod's have male voices."

"That's true." Pastora replied, following us out of the transmit. "Funny how we're making fun of androids despite our situation."

"Why not? We're in a pretty life threatening situation, might as well make the best of it!" Sunghoon replied, leading us through the waiting room. I forced my eyes away from the dead bodies and tried my best to avoid stepping in puddles of blood.

"Well, looks like our xeno friends already made their rounds here!" Sunghoon commented.

"Let's just find the nearest operating room." Pastora replied quickly from behind me.

"Do you even know how to work the machinery in an operating room, Pastora?" Sunghoon asked.

"It can't be too difficult." Pastora replied, but she sounded hesitant.

"Don't worry, Pastora. I'll do my best to help you out." I reassured her.

"Here we are! Operating theater!" Sunghoon replied, pointing at the sign above the doors that read Operating Theater.

Pastora and I followed him inside. The room was completely empty, if you didn't count a few bodies piled on top of each other in the corner. The room reeked of rot and blood.

Sunghoon gagged. "I don't mean to be a pain but, can we make this as quick as possible? It stinks in here."

"Set her down on the operating table, I'm going to put her through the scanner to run a full ultra sound." Pastora said, gesturing to the operating table.

I nodded and gently set Chelsea down on the table.

Pastora walked over to the small table full of buttons. She observed them carefully for a moment.

"Sunghoon, please hit the emergency override button by the door." She ordered, her eyes still on the buttons.

"Rodger that!" Sunghoon replied and obliged to her orders.

"Need any help?" I asked, stepping closer to Pastora. I looked down at the multiple buttons myself and I've never seen anything so complex.

"I think I've got it, thanks." Pastora replied, slowly hovering a hand over a certain black button. "This one will bring her through the x-ray machine and this one…" She paused pointing at a round yellow one in the corner. "Will scan her entire chest cavity."

I watched her fingers as she pressed both of the buttons, then at Chelsea. I watched as the bed slowly started to move into the round X-ray machine. I watched Chelsea's small frame disappear inside it along with the bed.

"And this orange button….will turn on the observation screen…" Pastora replied, pressing the orange button.

I looked up at the observation screen in front of us and watched as it flickered to life, giving us a clear imamge of Chelsea's chest cavity.

"How do you know all this?" I ask, amazed by her intelligence.

"I always went with SUnghoon whenever he has to get X-rays when they needed to check how his liver's doing…from him being a diabetic and all….and this machinery is very similar to the one at the hospital back home….I guess I'm a fast learner."

"You're brilliant." I comment.

Sunghoon cleared his throat loudly as he walked over to us.

"Well, have we found anything?" he asked.

"So far…no…" Pastora said, pressing another button to zoom in between Chelsea's ribs. "Her heart is over there…seems to be working great along with her lungs….I see no sign of an embryo in there…but…" She trailed off.

"But!?" I demand, looking at her as I felt my heart sink into my stomach.

"I was wrong…" Pastora spoke in a soft whisper.

"Wrong about what, Pooch?" Sunghoon asked, stepping behind her to rub her back soothingly.

She sucked in a deep breath and looked up at me. Her eyes filled with tears.

"It's not a few hours minimum that a chestburster embryo can be implanted. It can only take twenty minutes. Chelsea was embedded for thirty."