Twenty-two: The Queen

"I-I don't know!" David wailed, backing away from Sunghoon.

"Don't you dare lie to me." Sunghoon snarled, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt and pressing the gun into the base of his throat. "You were one of the guys who built this station. You know this entire place on the back of your hand. Now take us to that flamethrower."

"What's a flamethrower going to do against that thing!?" Chelsea asks, stepping closer to me.

Sunghoon shoots her a dirty look. "It will kill it."

"We don't know that." Jiyong replies, slowly getting up to his feet with Pastora in his arms.

"Well, are we just going to sit around and wait till it kills us?" Sunghoon snapped, pulling David to his feet.

"Sunghoon, at least let him go. He's not going to hurt anyone." I say, trying to speak in a stern tone but my voice trembles with fear.

"Shut up! I'm in charge here, and if I don't like what I hear or see from any of you, I will kill you all!" Sunghoon growls, pointing his pistol at all of us.

"Even Pastora?" I ask.

"LEAVE HER OUT OF THIS!" Sunghoon shrieks, his voice bouncing off the walls of the warehouse.

"Keep your voice down!" David cries, looking around us frantically.

"Are you deaf old man? I said that I command the orders now." Sunghoon snarls, and shoves him forwards towards the doors of the warehouse.

"You first. If the monsters out there waiting for us, you'll be the bait." He turns to look at us with a dark look in his eyes. "I think he'd hold the creature off for awhile."

"You're sick." Jiyong comments. "There are plenty of other ways we can avoid the monster. I suggest you keep your voice down."

Sunghoon laughs and twirls the pistol around between his fingers. "I wouldn't be so mouthy if I were you. If I wanted, I'd shoot you all and get myself out of this mess. I don't need any of you."

"Oh really? You're telling me you'd know how to deactivate the androids? How to turn on the camera feed and disable the lighting in each room on this station?" Jiyong questions. I notice Pastora slowly starting to stir in his arms.

Sunghoon shrugs. "Can't be that hard." He turns to David and shoves him forward once more. "Get a move on! We don't have all day!!"

David walks out of the warehouse without a word and Sunghoon stays close behind him.

I look up at Jiyong."Now what do we do? We could run away, couldn't we?"

"We could but is that our safest choice?"

"It's safer than being with Sunghoon!" Chelsea cries. "He's lost his mind!!"

"Sh-she's right...." Pastora murmurs in Jiyong's arms.

My eyes fall on her the instant that she speaks. "Pastora! Are you alright!? How's your head?" I ask.

"It hurts...but I don't think its severe enough to say it's a concussion." She reassures.

"Are you sure?" Chelsea asks.

"Yeah...I'm fine...you can put me down now, thank you, Jiyong...." Pastora replies weakly.

Jiyong nods and slowly sets her down to her feet. "You tell me when you're feeling dizzy or off...and I'll carry you."

Pastora nods. "I appreciate it. Come on..."

"You're not going with Sunghoon are you!?" I ask, eyeing her warily.

Pastora opened her mouth to respond just as a gunshot was fired outside of the warehouse causing us all to jump.

My heart leaped in my throat and hot prickles ran up my spine.

Any moment. Any moment and that monster will be here.

"He shot David." Jiyong said before running out the door.

"He wouldn't!" Pastora cried following after him.

"You guys! Wait!" I cry, but it was too late. They were already out of the warehouse before I could stop them.

"Now what do we do?" Chelsea asks, looking up at me with big hazel eyes.

To be honest, I didn't know what to do anymore. No matter what we do or where we go we're going to be in danger until we can deactivate the androids and destroy that monster.

"We just need to stick together...I can't think of anything else." I admit. "And if what Sunghoon says about David is true, then It's smart that we stay with him."

Chelsea nods and curls her hand around mine, it was trembling. "O-okay…I just don't want to die…."

"You won't. We'll keep you safe, Chelsea. I promise." I said, looking right into her eyes that were full of tears.

"I'm scared too. But we need to stay focused, and help each other out alright? I know it's going to be hard but we have to try and be brave." I said,

Chelsea nodded and the two of us hurried out of the warehouse and into the corridor we previously came from.

Sunghoon and Pastora both had their guns out and Jiyong and David were cowering behind them.

"What's going on!? Why are you firing your gun!? You KNOW that thing has heightened senses!" I cry, keeping a trembling Chelsea close to me.

Pastora looked over at me, her big brown eyes widening in horror. "CHAEYOUNG DUCK!"

With everything I've been through today, I didn't even question it. As fast as I could I grabbed Chelsea and sent us both to the floor just as Pastora fired her gun from above us. Chelsea whimpered and clung to me as a high-pitched screech came from above us.

I look down to see a small beige creature with six legs and a long spiny tail fall besides us.

Facehugger.

"STAY BACK!" I cry, pulling Chelsea back with me.

"Relax, pretty boy. It's dead." Sunghoon sneered, walking over to Chelsea and I. He kicked the Facehuggers corpse across the room. Its corpse has curled up like a snake and left a thick trail of dark green acidic blood with it.

"It turns out, the facehuggers are vulnerable to firearms, unlike the creature." Pastora replies. "You just need to be fast enough to kill them before…"

"Before what?" Chelsea demands.

I catch a glimpse of a couple of abandoned cans in the corner are knocked to the floor, and a facehugger sprang out from them screeching loudly. It's legs spread out wide and its tail extended behind it. Propelling itself right at Sunghoon.

"SUNGHOON!" I could only shout.

Chelsea gasped besides me and Pastora fired her gun towards the facehugger, but to our disbelief the bullet missed it by a hair and flew into the wall.

Fortunately, Sunghoon raised his hand up to cover his face just as the facehugger got to him. I watched in horror as it wrapped its thin spiny tail around his neck, its spider-like legs wrapped around his hand.

Sunghoon grunted and tried to fling the facehugger off his hand, but the creature wouldn't budge.

"SOMEONE SHOOT IT!" Sunghoon cried in a strangled voice as the facehugger tightened its tail around his throat. I watched his face turn beet red.

"I need to reload! Hold on!!" Pastora cried, as she frantically opened her pistol. Her fingers shook violently as she reloaded it.

The facehugger screeched in frustration and started to strangle Sunghoon even tighter.

"H-hurry!!" He croaked, gasping loudly for air from behind his hand.

"It's going to kill him!!" Chelsea cried.

Pastora aimed her pistol straight at the facehugger and fired, hitting it straight in the center. The facehugger screamed and released its grip from Sunghoon and dropped to the floor, green acidic blood poured from its wound as it's body weakly curled up just like the other one.

Sunghoon gasped and dropped to his knees breathing heavily.

"Before....that..." Sunghoon rasps.

Pastora hurried to his side and threw her arms around him.

"Are you alright!? I'm so sorry…I didn't see that one!"

"I'm fine…. nice shot, pooch." Sunghoon said, giving her a smirk.

Pastora blushed and helped him up to his feet.

"What are these things?" Chelsea cried, as she got up to her feet. "Are you telling me that there is more than one monster on this station?" She offered me a hand, and I took it and got up to my feet.

"Unfortunately, yes." Pastora responded, her eyes scanning our surroundings carefully. "These creatures here are called Facehuggers. They're a parasite that find a host to impregnate and…create the monster you've seen earlier."

"That's horrible! How many were there!?" Chelsea cried.

"About three." Jiyong replied. He turned over to David. "Please David, we really need you to bring us to that storage room where you keep those emergency supplies. There's more of these facehuggers on this station which means…"

"There's more of those creatures…" I finished, swallowing hard.

"No way…" Chelsea whimpered, chewing on her lower lip.

"But where are these things coming from!?" Sunghoon growled.

Pastora pulled the papers out from her pocket with her free hand and held them up. "A Queen must be hatching them somewhere on this station."

I looked over at Pastora baffled. "Sorry, did you say a QUEEN?"

Pastora nodded. "Let's find an area that isn't so open and I will tell you all about it."

"She's right." Jiyong adds. "We shouldn't linger in such an open area."

"Alright…if one of you can protect me, I will show you to the storage room where we keep all of our storage supplies." David responds, eyeing Sunghoon warily.

I look over at Sunghoon, his aggressive approach has faded and has been concord over with fear.

"Remember, we have to be mindful of those androids." I add, reaching behind in my bag to take out my revolver. I only had one bullet left and I couldn't remember if I scraped any bullets.

The six of us started down the corridor. It was deserted, all the androids that have patrolled the floors have all vanished.

The lights above us flickered and I was starting to wonder if the power was going out or if there was someone rewiring with the lighting. I looked over at Jiyong. His eyes were fixed on the florescent lights above us, telling me that he was aware of it too.

"Okay, what is up with these freaking lights!?" Sunghoon snapped, breaking the silence once the lights began to flicker more drastically, reminding me of strobe lights.

"As if everything isn't scary enough!" Chelsea cried, wrapping her arms around mine. Not that I minded, it was nice to have the comfort and I also wanted to make sure she stayed with us when the lights went out all the way.

"It could be many things. My guess is that their is a fried circuit in the outages." Jiyong replies. "I need to get to that circuit breaker."

"Good luck." Sunghoon growls. "There's probably a million of them in this tower."

"There's only three of them actually..." David responds. "We're not too far off from the next one actually....If any of you have a flashlight, that would be very useful."

"I have a flashlight." I reply, reaching behind me to open my bag. It was hard shuffling around for my flashlight in the on and off lightning that we had but I managed.

"Will this attract the monster?" Chelsea asked.

"I'm surprised that the gunshots didn't." David replied.

​​​"Well for now." Pastora replied. "Maybe it got distracted, we're not the only humans on this station."

I'm surprised that we aren't. The way that thing hunts people. It's been picking us off one by one." I reply.

"Maybe someone had a Molotov and scared the monster off for awhile. Right now, it seems like our biggest problem is the lighting and the facehuggers." Pastora replies. "Could we stop in this room?" She points over to a small side room with a desk.

"What for? I thought you all wanted the emergency supplies." David replied.

"It will only take a second." Pastora says. "There is something you all need to know about the facehuggers."

"Keep your flashlight on, Sunghoon and shine it on every spot of the room before we enter it." Jiyong says to me.

I look over at the room that vanishes and reappears every time the lights flicker on and off.

"Rodger that." I mutter, shining my flashlight on the room.

As the six of us reach the doorway, I take a step forward. Holding my revolver out in front of me and shine the flashlight in every corner and spot in the room. All the lights in the room have dyed out making me thankful that I've found a flashlight.

I wait a few moments for a hiding facehugger to spring out at me like it did to Sunghoon, but fortunately there wasn't one.

"All clear." I announce, walking over to the desk and handing the flashlight to Pastora.

"Thanks, Chaeyoung." She replies, taking the flashlight from me.

Everyone else piles into the room and Jiyong hits the emergency override button, locking and closing the door behind us.

"Alright, Pastora. What do you have to tell us about this Queen?"

Pastora sets the papers down on the desk and hovers the light over them and starts to read from them.

"The Queen is the leader and also known as the mother figure of the Xenomorph species."

" 'Xenomorph'"?" Sunghoon interrupts.

"It's the name of the monster....well...one of the names." Pastora answers.

"What are the others?" Chelsea asks.

"Its scientific names are Internecivus Raptus or Linguafoeda acheronsis. And the word 'Xenomorph' means 'Strange form' in Greek." Pastora replies. "I'll explain that later. There is a lot about the Queen I think we should know, considering that there may be one on this station."

"How are you so sure?" David asks.

"How else could the Facehuggers get here? The last one that got on this station had attached itself to an astronauts face so they brought him here to try and surgically remove it, and they failed. One the facehugger had planted the chest burster, which is the first stage of the xenomorph's life, into the hosts chest cavity, it falls off the host's face and dies." Pastora replies.

"Alright, so then tell us about this Queen then." David says.

Pastora nods and hovers over the reports she was reading from.

"The Queen is the leader and also known as the mother figure of the Xenomorph species. It is known to be the most intelligent and strongest of all the xenomorph types. Queens are able to perform in combat but spend most of their time laying eggs while the drones, warriors, or praetorians protect the hive." Pastora read from the report.

"What are Praetorians, drones, and warriors!?" I ask, stepping closer to Pastora to look at the reports myself. "Different types of xenomorphs?"

"Correct."

"My gosh..." Chelsea murmurs from behind me.

"Please continue." Jiyong insists.

Pastora clears her throat and flips the paper over to read from the next page.

"The Queen is able to plan out vengeance towards others and possesses an egg sac that is located from under their tail and extends to thirty to forty feet in length. The Queen is completely vulnerable to any types of fire while it's in the process of laying eggs. It depends on the drones or the warriors for protection as it lays eggs. The Queen is able to detach itself from the egg sac if needed to flee in a dangerous or threatening situation, however it appears to be painful for the Queen to do so. The Queens manage to develop new egg sacs over a short period of time when needed. The Queens stand to about fifteen feet tall and are known to survive from serious attacks, such as being engulfed in a explosion of fire. Despite their savage nature, Queens are very possessive of their unborn offspring and will plot to take revenge on something or someone who has harmed their eggs."

"So that's our answer then..." I said, feeling my entire body go numb.

"There is a Queen on this station. She is laying eggs that hatch to facehuggers that are embedding hosts and planting chestbursters inside them that then turn into the xenomorph...." I say weakly.

"The Drone types are the ones we've been encountering so far. I haven't had a chance to read about the warriors or praetorians yet...." Pastora replies.

"You're saying that there are more than one of those drone things out there!?" Sunghoon asks, snatching the paper from Pastora to read it himself.

"I assume so. Those facehuggers we've encountered aren't the only ones on this station, and without a doubt the others have found themselves some hosts..." Pastora trailed off.

"And it doesn't take long for the chestburster to develop into a full grown drone...." I add.

"Which means there could be hundreds of them on the station, depending on how many facehuggers successfully embedded their victims." Pastora replied.

I turned to look at David in the gloom.

"We need to get to that emergency storage room. Fast."