My Xenomorph

CH 16: Memories

A noise outside woke me up, I didn't know how long I had been asleep but it seemed dark outside, I looked at the tent flaps as they danced gently in the cool breeze.

I got up and walked nervously towards them. Slowly, I pulled one open and peered out. Floodlights bathed sections of the surrounding field creating a perimeter, Sasha and Emmanuel seemed to be on patrol. Everything was so quiet, the only sounds coming from the crickets hidden in the grass. I looked around and tried to see if Roman was anywhere.

I didn't see him, so instead I looked out across the half lit field, the stars shining brightly in the moonless sky. Sasha and Emmanuel continued wandering back and forth, looking a mixture of bored and nervous. I watched them for a time, pacing back and forth as they walked and looked out into the emptiness. Then I noticed it.

The crickets had stopped.

Everything was silent, and a sense of foreboding washed over me, gripping my stomach as I looked out towards the thick darkness between them, towards the black curtain of the forest. 'No.. No he's not here, Xaez can't be here. Not yet, not now!'

I held my breath looking into the empty expanse for a moment that seemed like it would never come. It was like I could feel something moving, even though all was still.

Sasha snapped up screaming " 'Manuel!"

I looked off to the right to see Emmanuel turn, a Xenomorph peeling out of the shadows as it moved through the air towards him. The moment seemed frozen in time, Sasha raising her rifle, Emmanuel looking across his right shoulder towards it, its claws reaching. Grasping.

And then it was over, it slammed full force into him with its talons gouging through his throat, its momentum and weight crumpling him to the ground, burst fire rippling across its crimson carapace from Sasha's rifle as more shapes traced their way through the light.

All I could do was huddle behind the tent flap, curling it around me like a protective blanket in horror. Sasha roared, laying down fire as she took cover behind some crates, the cries of the people in the other tents piercing the air as shadows decended upon them.

I held my breath and crouched there motionless, my eye's shut. 'They can't see me, they can't see me if i'm not looking. They can't see me..' I curled up to make myself invisible so much it ached, as something swept into my tent and tore through it in a crazed frenzy.

'Just go away, go away, I'm not here.. No ones here..' The interior of the tent fell motionless, and I could feel it hovering over me, drawing closer. Roman's voice shattered the moment, "Kat, Kat! We have to get out of here! Com'on!" His voice was a harsh whisper of urgency as he helped me up, wrapping his arm's around me.

I wept with a torrent of relief and guilt "I'm sorry, it's all my fault! You have to get out of here!" He looked at me momentarily perplexed, "What? What are you talking about?"

I held him tightly, sobbing the words "Xaez! He's coming! He's coming an-"

He cut me off, "Kat, theres no time for this! We have to get out of here, now!" He picked me up and Stephen met us just outside, shouting "Get to the APC!" between shots as he covered our retreat.

I looked around in a daze huddled between Romans arm's and saw Porter and Vance covering some of the civilians from the armored vehicle as they made their way towards them. Dark shapes were everywhere, weaving through each other in and out of the shadows, bursting in sprays of lime as chaotic gunfire lit the night.

We made our way between the tents towards the armored vehicle, but the Xenomorph's were swarming around it. There were a few people inside with Vance and Porter losing ground, Vance holding inside with Porter just outside the doorway. Vance saw us approaching and for a moment waved at us "Come on!"