My Xenomorph

CH 5: Xaez

Snake tilted his head and stared down at me.

I thought for a moment of what his new name could be. 'Cadan? Eagan? Arrio? Besnik? Xeek? No, they don't suit him...' I couldn't think of anything else to call him other than the name he already had.

"Snake," I said staring up at him, "Can you think of a better name? I'm trying to think of one like your species."

Snake stared down at me with his teeth bared, he growled lowly.

"Stupid question?" I asked him. He nodded. "Yeah thought so, sorry."

I walked back to my backpack and dragged it down several isles until the wretched smell of rot was far enough away that I couldn't smell it. Snake followed me the whole time, each step he took gave me chills. He was so tall and the way he hunched over as he walked made it look as though he was stalking prey.

I leaned my bag against a shelf and paced up and down the aisle trying to find out what to name him. I sighed and looked over at Snake who was staring at the ground. "How am I going to know if it is you, you look like the other Xenomorphs."

He looked up at my face for a minute or two then took off down the aisle. The sudden movement startled me and before I could chase after him, he had already disappeared.

"Snake?" I called 'How about sneaky, or sly... Sounds like how he behaves. No. It still doesn't suit him." I grumbled and walked to the end of the aisle and peered left and right. "Snake!? Stop doing this!"

I heard him screech loudly and I followed the sound.

I turned down one of the aisles where I heard his screeching and stared up at the sign. "Hardware? Why is he trying to get me to go to the hardware place?" I whispered to myself as he screeched again. I continued to follow the sound of his screeches until I reached the end of the aisles.

There were shelves full of spray paint, but Snake was no where to be found. I stood there, confused. He had stopped screeching as soon as I got there.

"Snake?" I called and tried to imitate the screeching sound. Then he screeched again, he sounded like he was laughing at my failed attempt to imitate him. I grumbled and sat on the ground. "What do you want Snake?" I crossed my arms and pouted. 'Why is he being so mean.'

His screeches suddenly stopped and all I heard were clinking noises and a few tiny hisses of disapproval.

There was a sudden clunk behind me and I spun myself around to see Snake sitting with a can of spray paint by his claws. "Oh, so now you decide to show your face." I uncross my arms and stared down at the spray paint.

"What?" I looked back up at Snake. "What do you want me to do with that?"

Snake growled and tapped the can closer to me. He sat and hissed as I picked the can up from the ground. I shook it a few times and stared back at him. 'What does he-... Oh! He wants me to paint him, so I know it's him!' I grinned at him.

"Snake you are a genius!" I looked at the paint, making sure that the colour would look good on his carapace. It was a metallic teal colour. 'Teal and black... that'll look nice.'

I shook the can of paint a few more times, listening to the marble rattling inside. "Okay Snake, lower your head."

As he lowered his head, I stood up and shifted my weight to my left foot. I tried to think of what design or marking to put on him. After a little bit of thought I spray painted the letter X with curved ends. I smiled, it didn't look too bad.