Alicia carried herself warily through the black, chitinous corridors of the xenomorph hive with vigilance and caution. The blond-haired marine took deep, steady breaths as she passed through corridor after dark corridor. Her weapon was at the ready as her alert eyes scanned around for the skeleton-like, midnight black adversaries that inhabited the colony.
The steadfast woman glanced around herself as she walked through the caverns. What was once the Main Processing Reactor Station for the entire LV-374 colony had been crudely yet resourcefully converted into a dark labyrinth and breeding ground by the xenomorph aliens. Traces of human construction could be seen here and there as judging by the occasional stairwell or overhead "Emergency Exit" sign, but those details were greatly overshadowed by black, moist, resin-like material that coated much of the walls and original faΓ§ade of the station.
What little ammo Alicia had left was tucked into a satchel and slung over her shoulder. Her pistol was pointed out in front of her as she used it and the equipped flashlight to scan the dark corridors to her front, left, and right. Her armed hand was steady despite how tired and weary she was as a result of the mission's endeavors. The corporal had had enough experience in combatting the xenomorphs thus far to know that lowering her guard down, especially whilst entering the xenomorph's hive, meant certain death or worse for her.
Alicia had much motivation to keep her going though, enough so that she wouldn't let the outwardly creepy, imposing appearance of the xenomorph hive scare her or shirk her away from her goal. Taylor. This man whom she'd always jokingly referred to as her "partner in crime" was, to the best of her knowledge, the only surviving human left on the colony besides her. This was also the man whom she'd always had intimate feelings for but had not professed them, save for that one moment several hours before when they were alone in the Admin building, about to share their first kiss together, before they had been interrupted.
Just before he'd been snatched off by the xenomorphs and dragged into their lair, Taylor had told her to leave without him. She could not easily honor this request given their history together. In the past, he'd joked with her by calling her a "very stubborn woman" who could not be deterred away from a mission whenever she set her mind to something. She now found it ironic that this particular "stubborn" mission of hers was to rescue the very person who'd told her that in the first place.
At this point, she was willing to fight to the death against the entire xenomorph hive to have Taylor back at her side. She had nothing else to lose...save for him.
Alicia wiped a sweat from her forehead, brushing a strand of short, blond hair from in front of her eye as she walked step by step through the decrepit halls of the former Reactor Station. Her footsteps gave an eerie echo with every pass, making her spine crawl with the mere tension of it. She began to also sweat a bit more as the temperature began to rise as she ventured deeper into the hive. She felt as if she was walking into the belly of the beast in that very moment.
She stepped forward past an open floorboard, but not before flashing her light down that hidden crevice to scan for xenomorphs or facehuggers. The flickering lit sign above herself indicated as "C Level" opened up into a short stairwell that went down one level. With a quick glance to the corridors at her left and right, Alicia grit her weapon and flashlight tightly before swiftly descending the stairwell before her.
Upon stepping out into the new passageway, the humidity in the atmosphere reached its apex as Alicia wiped her forehead of moisture again. Throughout the dark hall in front of her, there was not a sound, except for the idle trickle of moisture from the ceiling and Alicia's steady breathing and dexterous footsteps.
As Alicia spun to the right to gain a sense of her immediate surroundings, she came upon a grisly sight. She gasped aloud as she beheld a husk of a human corpse cocooned upon the black, chitinous wall. The man β once a colony technician β had his head slumped down and his mouth hung open. He was clearly dead as a testament to the gruesome hole upon his chest, where a xenomorph implanted inside his body had apparently burst out some time ago.
Alicia shook her head and turned away, sighing to herself. "Obviously I'm getting close," she whispered to herself. "I will find you before the same thing can happen to you, John. I promise."
Alicia took a few more steps down the hall, scanning her circumference for sudden threats as she went. She suddenly flinched and diverted her gun and flashlight in all directions across the corridor in front of her as a screech pierced the silence of the dark labyrinth. However, as quickly as the cry of a xenomorph was uttered, it quickly evaporated; the terrifying sound having deteriorated back into the idle pitter patter of dripping moisture once again.
The female marine's spine tingled and the hand holding the gun shook sporadically. As her trembling body took a few steps back whilst she still sought out the origin of the screeching noise, she froze as her back collided with something. She spun back around and her skin paled as she recognized a familiar face.
Perched up upon the wall before her was the body of her commanding officer, Lieutenant Kramer. The tall, mustached man was mounted upon the chitinous resin like a trophy, his skin slickened and pale. Like the colony technician that she'd seen moments before, Alicia noted grimly that Kramer's chest was opened and bloodied due to the nonconsensual birthing of a xenomorph that the man had been forced to endure.
Oddly enough, Alicia finally noted that Kramer didn't look all too terrified. Like the other human male corpse, he looked so exhausted that he was almost more of a husk than a man who had experienced an agonizing death. Alicia speculated that Kramer's relaxed facial expression had to have been attributed to something that the xenomorphs had done to him in his final moments to make his grim demise more...bearable. This was confounding to her because she would have never expected the xenomorphs to show any degree of mercy to their victims or those that they captured for breeding.
Alicia turned her gaze lower and her eyes widened at what she saw. A large hole was torn through the front of Kramer's breeches and his flaccid cock was shiny and slick with some kind of clear fluid.
Alicia shook her head, trying to make sense of what she had seen.
"Jesus, Kramer. What the hell did they do to you?" she asked softly, looking up into the dead face of her former comrade.
Alicia nearly jumped out of her skin as another screech pierced the air, this one louder than the first. She glanced up at the sound of a subsequent hissing noise. Right above Kramer's hanging body, a black domed head stared back at her from out of a hole in the wall.
The single xenomorph lunged from his hiding place at Alicia. She grunted and jumped to the side to avoid the assailant's slash at the last moment. The xenomorph hissed, recovering from the jump to attack her again, brandishing its razor sharp tail. It charged again.
Alicia fired a barrage of rounds from her pistol as the xenomorph charged. The alien screeched in pain as the rounds pierced its dome head and body, splattering acidic blood across the ground. The xenomorph's body nearly fell on top of her as it died in mid-charge and Alicia had to roll away from the falling corpse to avoid being burned by the blood dripping down its body.
Alicia gave a sigh of relief as she reloaded her pistol. However, this was a short-lived reprieve because, like clockwork, more hisses and screeches began to erupt throughout the cavern in response to the cries of pain from the slain xenomorph.
Alicia scrambled to regain her footing and spun around to the noise with pistol in hand. Through the darkness, she could make out many black, crawling forms skittering toward her and she could see razor-tipped tails flailing as more xenomorphs converged on her location.
Though courageous and a good markswoman, Alicia knew when to retreat just as any other proficient soldier. She spun around and ran as fast as her slender legs could carry her down the adjacent corridor as the hisses and screeches got louder behind her.
Alicia dashed forward into what used to be a mess hall to seek sanctuary from the group of xenomorphs pursuing her. A ceiling board burst open in front of her as a xenomorph emerged in front of her to intercept her path. Alicia shrieked and fired another burst into this xenomorph in front of her before turning to run in another direction through the mess hall. She didn't stop running even as the shrieks of pain from the new xenomorph were emitted as the rounds had met their mark.
After exiting the mess hall and ending up in another network of resin-covered corridors, Alicia began to realize how hopeless her current strategy was. She realized that running and gunning through the xenomorph hive would only succeed in alerting the entire hive to her whereabouts, cause her to quickly run out of energy and ammo, and get her nowhere closer to finding Taylor.
"This shit isn't working," she concluded to herself. "They're going to catch up eventually. And I'm no good to Taylor dead, which is what's going to happen if I keep running around, stirring up the hornet's nest! What do I do?! Think, goddammit!"