《The Crossroads》Chaos
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*Point of view of Marine on point* (A/N: Yeah I don't really bother with their names too much. That's why I just call them what they are, Marines. Now is this rude to their characters? Probably, but well there was so much dialogue in the movie plus a lot of them weren't even really named. Like I think one was named sarge like the stereotypical sergeant so please cope with it, sorry but this isn't a problem I typically have and feel I should say this is a one time deal, but well I know there will be times I'm overwhelmed with names or it not being clear, at that point though I'll just roll with it and hope you can bear with me.)
God I am already sick of this mission, not only is this chick that doesn't know shit about battle come in here and tell us to do our job, but the company went and hired a Merc as well as us? He didn't even come equipped with armor, so what the hell? For fucks sake, all he brought was a pistol with him. Every single one of us had a secondary weapon besides our rifle, so no matter what enemy we faced it's only right that you go and prepare for worst case scenario. Our worst case scenario is the nuke we've got strapped onto our ship.
Look at that smug bastard too, he isn't even alert right now when we're about to go and rescue the people that he was hired to rescue! God, this guy had better be special and not just full of himself like he was on the ship, though I gotta say, it was funny watching him stare down that southern asshole. That smile will only go so far and it's wearing its welcome out.
Pledging not to be like this asshole I crane my neck to the left to take a look at the monitors of the driver and see the gate to the reactor getting close so I do another check on my sidearm, making sure it is loaded and that the safety was on, something that I had checked many times as a force of habit, I don't really want to lose another toe, especially since I've passed basic training.
As the transport came to a stop I strapped the pistol to my side and filed out with me leading since I was the closest and well, had the most hacking experience. I went up to the door, and as I already had the key (they didn't know that so I just looked like I was busy) it was relatively easy to open. I then watched as the transport moved into the building and I walked slowly by it before watching the doors close.
Since the transport didn't actually go too much farther than where I was I turned on the flashlight I had on my should and checked that my camera was on before lining up with the rest. As usual I was to be in the front heading things off, and like I expected, whatever that mans name was is in the back. He's just here to leech money isn't he? No, I can't get upset at him, I've seen how cruel it is to survive so I can't fault him for that so long as he doesn't hold us back.
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I followed the directions coming to me in the coms and began descending 3 floors, and since this was relatively close quarter my rifle would be quite useless so I slung it and drew my pistol to check the stairs and various corridors that we passed by. That was until we got to the floor we were supposed to be in, the floor that led to not just the colonists but also the coolant towers, however that wasn't really what we found here, what we found was some... strange organic substance, at least I think it was organic and not intentional. That would be some weird Halloween decoration, especially since it should be next month.
We all visibly tensed up, even the merc, so even though this is dangerous I was both more and less scared, more afraid because what would make that man who seems to just keep to himself and do nothing most of the time go and have anxiety, but it made me less afraid because he actually seems like he'll be able to cover my back.
After a few minutes of going through the tunnels made of the flesh looking material the person in charge of scanning close to me had us all hold for a moment, he was detecting 7 signatures moving up ahead, now whether that is the boogeyman that Ripley was talking about or all the colonists hiding out in here, we can't know yet. That wouldn't stop us though, we had to push forward as we were ordered, and when we entered we the area where the movement was we saw a small child with his... it made me gag a bit thinking about it, but his chest burst open. It wasn't like any explosive I had seen, but the closest I would imagine would be something akin to claymore explosives from back in the day, however those are large and what kind of monster would put that inside of a child?
We continued clearing the room and saw some kind of empty casing in the middle of it and some creatures we had found in the laboratory back in the Colony's main hub laying all over the ground. They actually look a lot like spiders would when they were killed with some kind of pesticide, on their backs and their legs folding inward. I shuddered at the thought though because, well spiders and fucking disgusting and I don't want to fight these things. After a few moments and us checking people we finally were able to find several people that were alive but unconscious.
*Main Character Point of View*
The timeline is definitely sped up, so there was actually a very real chance that there would be people that are still alive, and I was actually very happy internally, or I was until 3 of the 7 colonists we found still breathing had facehuggers underneath them. I stopped the marines going by them and pointed at them causing them to stop for a moment. I told them that they are 'infected' in simple terms and that the ones that had the aliens in them were as good as dead, however we would be able to save the remaining colonists.
One of them actually went up to me to scream in my face, but their sergeant covered his mouth and put his finger over his lips before pointing at an egg that was opening up to the side of us. I didn't even notice it, so I have to give him props for noticing that, but now wasn't the time so he told the Marines to start moving the safe people out as we covered them.
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It was, quite frankly, much more terrifying than I thought originally. The way it moved just felt so, so unnatural to me. I couldn't let it get to me though so I kept it in my sights while my pistol was unclipped and ready for me to use it whenever the need should arrive. I didn't fire at it immediately however as I knew what kind of hell I would awaken if I fired, and when I looked at the other 2 marines that were holding the backline with me as the others escorted the colonists that were still alive, I just shook my heads and pointed around us. The sergeant nodded, however dunce with the shotgun didn't and fired right at it, causing a ringing throughout the facility and a spray of acid going around the crawling alien.
I heard from behind us, near the entrance to the tunnel we first entered, that there was movement all around us so I trained my rifle at the walls and continued retreating backwards at a steady pace. After getting 3 or so meters I saw in the ceiling some movement so I fired 2 shots as I heard in the comms that the other team was at the top of the stairs by now. Seeing me take the shot the four of us retreated with me and their sergeant in front and the other two, one of which is southern dingus who also was the one with the shotgun, were 'in front' of us while we retreated backwards.
After I killed the one alien they started gushing forth like a torrent so we were forced to retreat faster, and whenever I reached a bend in the stairway I would turn and plant a shot in the overly large head of these creatures. I ended up in the back of everyone due to this, and along the way up Southern guy cried out as one of them grabbed him through the stairs, and knowing that this is the better alternative I put the rifle bare distance away from it's wrist (do they have wrists? Would it just be its arm then or?) and shot it off, and due to how I did it he got off with the acid only getting the sole of his right boot.
I then turned and saw that I was very close to an alien so I backed away after he moved upwards and fired before jumping back. I almost lost my footing, but thankfully due to upgrading my balance I managed to stick the landing and continued running up the stairs. When I got to the top I saw that everyone was holding off a horde with their rag tag weapons, and when we asked for support on comms all that we got was silence so we had to hold, not just for us but for the colonists. I quickly posted up and aimed down a hallway that was swarming with them and shot into them while trying at least a bit to hit my targets.
Sadly it has been years so my aim is off by a few inches, or well it's the rifle but I'd be more inclined to believe it is me getting worse, however even though I keep missing my targets it's so damned congested where I'm firing that nobody could even tell I was aiming for their neck, it just looked like I was going for a body shot.
After holding out for a few minutes I knew that we were losing ground way too fast and there was still no response on the other end, so I called out to everyone to retreat and grab the colonists. Thankfully I'm actually dressed light so I was able to sling a relatively heavy man over my shoulder while still using my rifle, albeit even worse though so it was better to use my pistol. I turned my head and saw that the heavy Marines were covering the rear while the other ones that weren't carrying someone were watching the sides.
As we kept moving they continued their swarm tactics for the 10 meters that we had managed before, albeit a bit later, like in the movie the APC came around the corner quickly before stopping. All the ones carrying the colonists moved up to APC to set them in before either getting in or moving to cover the way in. After a minute and almost everyone in, the last 2 people were others that had a rifle and shotgun, the guy that wasn't the southern guy were in, and while I was trying to cover them, they had both been ripped to shreds, and as much as I hate to say this as it's conceited, it was their fault. They were told multiple times to move back, however, try as I might they just would not listen.
I didn't know them that much, nor will I probably ever know them which I feel extremely bad for, but I will appreciate what they did, even if they could have lived, since it was a very thoughtful self sacrifice for the survival of everyone.
I sigh and reload the rifle and pistol clips that I had expended in the fight, especially since I don't know when I would need them again. All through the drive, everyone was silent until the vehicle came to a grinding halt, apparently Ripley had broken something, not that I can blame her, but at least we had gotten relatively close to the colony HQ. When we exited we called the pilot who informed us that, as per my advice I gave her on the ship she had been aware while on the ship and narrowly killed an Alien, however the acid from it landed on some core components so they were grounded.
I looked to the sky and saw that the sun was going to set in around 6 hours time, maybe more or less depending on how this moon worked, but whenever it was it would be very intense in that time. I sighed since I hoped that we would have been able to go without surviving in the night, but knowing that it wasn't possible I grabbed a good amount of the supplies in the carrier while also grabbing one of the colonists while following the marines to the HQ.
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