Dark Blood

Chapter 13

The raw emotion that spewed from Kara's throat sent shivers down everyone's spine. Her petrified cry pierced the silent catacombs, traveling up and down every tunnel and soaking into every nook and cranny before dissipating. The echoes hadn't even faded before Stephens jumped into action. He couldn't blame his men for freezing in such a situation; even if their training had prepared them, simulations couldn't hold a candle to the reality they were facing. Still, looking at their wide eyes staring stupidly at what had emerged from the fresh corps, he screamed internally for their lack of action.

Lunging for one of his men, he grabbed a grenade from their belt, pulled the pin, and flung it down the stairwell from whence they'd come. Without looking back, Stephens grabbed Kara and started sprinting towards the opposite side of the room. The rest of the men snapped from their stupor and ran after them. Behind them could be heard the squishy, wet thunks of the grenade bouncing down the remainder of the stairwell, and underneath that, a faint alien scream. They had reached the opposite side of the room and some of the men were breaking down the wall that concealed the second staircase when the grenade finally went off. The blast rocked the floor and knocked globs of slime from the ceiling, and caused Kara to wobble on her already unsteady feet. She stumbled and, when she went to brace herself on the wall, her hand fell into something squishy and slightly warm. Scrunching her eyes, she quickly pulled her hand from the wall and wiped her hand on her jeans without looking. She couldn't look. She didn't want to know what... who... she had just put her hand in.

One of the men gave a final kick and the last portion of the blockage fell away, revealing an empty staircase. Stephens grabbed Kara again and ran down the stairs, shining his light as far ahead as possible to see if they were running into open jaws. They reached the bottom floor without incident, but Stephens kept running. He led them left and right, in and around tunnels and dark corridors. All the while, Stephens kept praying over and over in his head, praying to whatever greater power watched from above that they could find someplace to hide before the devils caught up with them. One turn later, Stephens yanked Kara into a sunken alcove and signaled for his men to fall in around them. The eleven of them crouched and pressed themselves as far into the shadows as they could, holding their breath, not daring to move or even blink.

Around them the corridors were gratefully silent. The grenade had been enough to pull the swarm's attention away from their escape route and their general direction. There was no doubt that there were tens, maybe hundreds, of Xenomorphs scuttling around the stairwells and all of the floors above them right now. It wouldn't be long before they would come back to the bottom floor in search of them. They had to move fast.

Motioning for everyone to circle around him, he spoke in barely a whisper. "We're running on timer. We've got to hit the target while most of the Xenos are up there."

While the Pack Mule showed them the best route, Stephens glanced over at Kara. She hadn't joined them in their little planning circle, instead curling into a near fetal position and hugging her arms around her. Her eyes were glazed over and she was so still it looked like she wasn't even breathing. Looking at her, Stephens felt a wave of guilt wash over him. While he hadn't lied to her, he had given her an empty promise. He had known that there was little to no hope of saving her family alive, and yet he had let her come along anyway. Why? To scar her? To break her? To rub in her face how utterly naïve she was? No, he wasn't that heartless. Thinking back to the hotel room, seeing her courage and loyalty even when presented with such an unthinkable situation, he remembered why. It seemed selfish, but Kara had actually given him hope that they could do it. They could complete their suicide mission and make it out alive, with survivors. For a goddamn second, Stephens had allowed himself to feel hope, and he had brought Kara along to feed off of her moral. He turned away from her, pushing back the sudden sting of tears in his eyes. Kara's fire was out. She would never be the same, he knew that. You can't break someone and put them back together with all of the pieces. Something always went missing.