The sound of creaking metal and bending pipes as the tendril made its original tunnel larger for the human it was taking back to the heart of its growth. Tasting the blood in its mouth from the human made it quiver with hunger. But it's mind was taken by the Queen's orders. She wanted this one human intact, but knowing the tendril wasn't the best at making the trip comfortable, it did its best to make sure the human got there alive.
Soon the tendril pulled the human out of its original entry hole, dangling the human in the air as it screamed in pain. Lowing it closer to the ground before letting it drop a few feet above the ground. The sound of it crashing on the metal and flesh mounds that covered the floor echoed in the large room. Closing its mouth, the tendril went back standing by as it waited. All the while the human beneath it screamed and groaned.
Kyle was holding his arm as had many holes and cuts from across his body were bleeding. He didn't have anything to stop the flow of it or the fact that he didn't even know where he was or why he was left alive. But his vision was fading fast. He wasn't sure how much longer he could stay conscious as he was losing a lot of blood. As his eyes started to close and his voice was shot, he finally had a look at the room. He was finally able to feel what he was laying on. Red flesh seemed to be covering the floor.
Just before he lost consciousness, he heard the voice again, "Oh... my poor... little one... rest... you will heal..." as he saw someone approaching down by his feet. His eyes were weak and he couldn't look up. But all he saw was multiple legs that looked almost like an arachnid's. Then he couldn't hold on any longer, his mind shut off as he passed out from excessive blood loss. The figure above him leaned down and picked up the now sleeping human and carried him away. Deep into the bowels of the red flesh.
*****
Paul returned to find that Kyle was missing, seeing the large hole now in the floor of the storage lockers. He swore to himself as he lost the man to the creatures. Quickly returning back to room that Ryan and Betty were, Paul unlocked it and walked inside. Upon entering he saw that there were several makeshift devices laying on the ground. As well as Betty using a sewing kit to close up a wound on Ryan as he hands were bloodied up to her wrists.
"What is going on? What happened?" Paul asked immediately upon seeing it. He quickly ran over and saw that Ryan was peacefully sleeping on the ground. A sigh of relief and confusion as he saw the wound. "Betty, tell me what happened?" He asked, almost demanding it by the tone of his voice.
"Ryan collapsed after he was done creating what you asked for. He grew pale quickly and passed out and started to convulse before finally resting." She didn't turn around as she wanted to make sure the wound would be closed. With a tying of a knot, she cut the string she used to close the wound. "I would recommend he gets some rest before we try to move anywhere. We found food and water to last us a little while." That's when she looked around as she only saw Paul, "Where is your friend?"
Paul was unsure of how to answer, for he didn't know where he went other than hearing a scream and suddenly a hole. He decided to think Kyle was dead, but in the back of his mind, he believed that the man was still alive. For if the creatures didn't attack him on sight, meant there was something going on deeper than he knew.
Looking at Betty he asked, "Do you know anything about the research and experimentation going on in this facility?" She froze and looked down at Ryan then at the door. Paul set down the stuff he gathered and walked over to her. "Tell what you have been doing with the Super Soldier program on this station? What have you all been doing up here?" She was about to answer when there was a thud on the door. Then another thud, before a voice from the other side of it called out.
"Captain... open the door..." Paul and Betty froze. It kept pounding on the door, but it didn't sound like the man he had to shoot in the head in the elevator. Instead it sounded like someone from his squad that got separated. How did they find him and how did they know which room, Paul didn't know. He had a bad feeling as the pounding kept happening.
The voice continued to ask for him to open the door. "Open the door... Captain, please... Open the door." Paul was curious but he was cautious. He wondered decided to quietly walk over to the door's terminal and activate the camera feed on the other side. He could see a man standing there bloodied and cut up. It was there he recognized who it was, their team medic Dylan. Paul had to make the decision, open the door, let his man get attacked outside, or risk that the person in front of the door was already dead.
Paul decided to ask the man a question, "What happened on the day of Dark Sun?" The pounding paused, there was silence for a moment before the man responded.
"The day... I lost my hand... and we lost a New Coria city to a... mini anti-matter bomb." Paul opened the door and saw Dylan standing there, as a smile on his face appeared before he stumbled in. Dylan was badly hurt as he had medical foam covering various wounds. Slowly stitching the skin back together, it just made the man itch. Paul closed the door after Dylan came in and sat him down away from Ryan and Betty.
"How can I tell you are still the real you Dylan?" Paul said, holding his weapon aimed at Dylan.
Dylan held up his hands and chuckled, "You don't Sir. We both know that any of us could be infected by those creatures." He slowly started to put his hands down, "I barely managed to survive on my own for a while. Though I got a ping from Ryan's locator that showed you and him together." He held up the wrist communicator and tapped it. A small pulse sound could be heard from Paul's as he did so.
Lowering his weapon, Paul nodded, "Nox don't know how to use our equipment as its bio-locked to each of us. If the system detects abnormalities, then it would self destruct. Only unless it was broken and the system had a fault but it was pretty rare for that to happen." Paul sat down and sighed, leaning against a box. Happy to see that one more of his team survived but now that was two injured and one unconscious. His mind started to drift back to Kyle, where was he, and what did they want with him?
*****
Kyle woke to feel himself floating in some type of liquid, his eyes covered, and his body felt warm. He was laying flat in the liquid as his body felt almost numb inside it. He slowly lifted his hands to find the fluid was sticky and held onto his body somewhat. Managing to reach towards his face, he felt hands touch his arms and lower them back down.
A gentle caressing of his arms as he felt his heart begin to race. He couldn't see the individual touching him or even who or what it was. It moved its hands to his face and was gently holding his cheeks. He could only hear his own heartbeat in his ears as no sound from outside the liquid could be heard. He tried to speak but a finger was placed on his lips quieting him.
Then he heard the ringing in his ears, a sound that he was all too familiar. Soon his mind started to shoot images of the station, moving from place to place as he saw the creatures in special rooms behind energy fields and dura-blast glass. Made to resist high speed collisions and resistant to damage. He saw himself approaching one of them, he was with the scientist that he met before.
"Place your hand on the glass," the man said, which Kyle didn't refuse. Inside the glass was fuzzy, like it was being blocked by something. But he did get to see a hand resting against the glass where he placed his. The doctor smiled and looked behind him. He recalled feeling sorry for the thing inside the practical cage. For he was then grabbed from behind and taken away. That's when he heard the roars of the thing inside the cage. It pounded on the glass and screamed.
Then his vision shifted, it had a more yellowish-orange tint to the world. The doctor who stood in front of the glass smiled at whatever he was looking through. He could see that there was an small light around the scientist, outlining his presence. When it looked towards Kyle it was a very bright light, strong and drawing. Then returning to the scientist it lowered its perspective to match the man's height.
The man smiled, "Good, you have found one, though he won't be yours. He will be my little plaything until I am through with him." Turning away the scientist clicked a button on a remote and shutters closed over the glass. The creature inside roared and slammed against the glass and the walls. Moving rapidly it made Kyle's mind spin around.
He gasped as he through his body up from the fluid he was laying in. Reaching and ripping off the blindfold. When he did it felt soft and moist. Looking at the thing it moved and wiggled. He tossed it aside and looked down at himself to make sure there wasn't anything else on him.
He found that he was almost naked, he guessed the liquid dissolved his clothing or it was removed from him when was passed out. When examining the object Kyle was in, it looked like some kind of pod with an open top. Like a bath tub with an orange fluid inside it. His wounds were healed and he felt rejuvenated than he was before. But now wasn't the time he had to get out of the strange liquid.
Pushing with all his might, he felt the fluid dislodge him as he fell out of the pod. Rolling to an upright position he managed to run to a spot that looked like it would help him hide from any creature nearby. Although he only had his undergarments on, he couldn't take anything in a fight.
As he walked around the area he found that there were no creatures around. Not even tendrils nearby to attack him. When he noticed other pods in the room. Each one held a person inside with the fleshy creature covering their face. Though this time he saw that the people were turning into those monsters, the Nox.
He checked himself quickly to see if there was any signs of change on his body. But there wasn't, he didn't see no tendrils, spines, not even a extra mouth on his body. All he did feel was better than before. Like his body was on a sugar high without the drawbacks.
Then his head began to ring, as words from someone entered his mind. "Come... I need to... speak with you..." His body felt compelled to listen, but his will to resist was just strong enough to not listen. Though, he was curious as to what the voice wanted from him. He had been spoken to by one of the monsters, hearing their cries of pain and agony, then being pulled into what seemed like a nest.
His chances of surviving should have been zero, but here he was, alive and not infected. Though he began to slowly doubt he wasn't. Who else could hear these creatures and why they wouldn't attack him was still a mystery and he was needing answers. Reluctantly he would follow the presence that dwelled in his mind. Walking down hallway after hallway of flesh covered walls.
Until he reached a door, though this door was also made of a membrane of flesh. Reaching out he touched it causing it to writhe and split open from his touch. Inside he saw the room was darkened, devoid of light. Every hair on his body stood up as he could feel he was now being watched.
Carefully he entered the room, one step at a time. His bare feet touched cold metal with every step. The sound of his footsteps echoed slightly as the membrane behind him closed back up. His eyesight started to adjust to the darkness much more quickly than before. That's when he saw it, a massive mound of flesh with something sitting on the top.
"You have come..." the voice said, this time more powerful as he was now close to it origin. "Closer..." the creature on top beckoned him. Nothing he could do was able to resist as his body moved on its own. Closer, each step he made brought him to the mound and the creature on top of it.
"Wait, please, I don't understand what's happening! Let me live please!" Kyle begged, not wanting to die. Then his body stopped moving, he looked up and found himself next to the mound. Seeing it, he now understood what it was, an ovipositor that would spit out a goopy egg. Then a tendril would come up and take it someplace down it's hole.
He looked at the creature, it's six legs were resting, covering the ovipositor closely. It's upper body resembled that of a woman's body yet more dark red in color. Having four arms, two small ones and two large clawed arms. The head looked like it had large mandibles that seemed to split the lower jaw in two while the upper mouth remained intact.
It had a large head with sharp teeth and bony structures that made it look like a large crown. Horns and spines making it have jagged protrusions. As Kyle looked into its eyes, the creature had not the same blackened eyes like the other creatures. But the eyes were like exploded pupils with the iris holding it together. The color was of a deep orange and they both looked right at Kyle.
"You have... survived... good." It said leaning forward and reaching out for him. He couldn't move as his body wasn't listening to him. But as its four hands got close he felt it hold his head, body and touch his chest very softly. "That evil human took you... away from me... stole my child and changed them through his experiments." It's hands rubbed the scar that remained on his chest carefully then looked right into Kyle's eyes. "You live... strong will... though still young."
Kyle felt strange, at first he felt like he was going to die, now he was being felt up by an alien creature. He didn't sign up for a commitment like this. Though he was starting to feel comfortable in its presence, like an overwhelming calm was setting in his mind and body.
"I have brought you here... for the truth..." It's eyes blinked with two sets of eyelids. It's little arms continued to rub his chest before moving to his right arm. "Dormant... the child that rests in you lies dormant... for the most part. You can understand us, hear our thoughts, and feel our presence." It continued, as its smaller hands held his checking it over a few times. "Your mind... is stronger than most humans... though the child inside... is not the same as before. It will listen to you and you alone."
He felt her hand dig into his arm as blood was drawn. Kyle winced in pain only to see that the wounds closed up quickly on their own. He was taken aback by the quick recovery. "How did," he began to ask before he felt a small pain in his chest.
"You must retain yourself... the child is wild and strong, but you're stronger..." He clasped at his scar as his breathing was labored. But it soon started to settle, his chest began to return to normal. The creature continued, "There... now listen to what I am going to tell you... for it is the truth..."
It pulled back and stat up straight, it's body looked as intimidating as possible. "You are in the presence of the Queen of the Othoke. My name is Djura, and you are no longer human. You are, my chosen... my Nox Primus."