Atmospheric Processing Station
Hadley's Hope
LV 426
Acheron
ATTENTION. EMERGENCY. All personnel must evacuate immediately. You now have four minutes to reach the minimum safe distance.
Says the PA voice echoing its warning throughout the lengthy corridors and winding walkways of the atmosphere processor as the station began to shake violently from the many explosions that were being set off within the complex structure due to the various system failures caused by an overloading reactor going critical.
Amongst the fiery blasts ran an adult woman and a young girl, straddled to her side, both clinging to each other despite evident exhaustion from what they've been through.
Fear was all that gave them strength to keep running.
Fear of the fires raging out from the lower levels, racing along vents and conduits as it spreads towards the top of the building.
Fear of the increasing explosions from all over the station and the impending final one that will annihilate everything within a 20 mile radius...
But the first and foremost fear spurring them on, is of the two-story high monstrosity rampaging its way through the sub level corridor in pursuit.
The two humans reached the station's service elevator and the woman, Ellen Ripley, jabbed at the control switch to call the platform down. She looks up past the elevator's safety gate and watches in frustration as the platform begins its descent at a slow pace. She tries the other platform's switch in hopes the second elevator can reach her and Newt sooner.
Suddenly a shrill screech sounds off behind them, not far from where they came running.
"Come on Goddammit!" bellowed Ripley while hitting her fist against the elevator controls in an effort to speed up its arrival. In response the pursuing creature sends out another furious scream from within the burned remains of her nest. A scream filled with rage, so primal but also strange and unnatural.
So Alien...
Terrified and desperate, Ripley looks around for an alternate route to reach the landing platform located atop the upper levels of the station where Bishop and Hicks are waiting with the last dropship that can take them off planet and away from this hellish nightmare.
To her left, she spots the emergency ladder that goes up along the shaft. Not wasting another second, she steps on the bottom rungs, telling Newt to hold on as she makes ready to climb. Movement out the corner of her eye made her stop her ascent and start to back away as she saw her pursuer around the corner of the sub level corridor.
Lumbering into full view, the Alien Queen gives a threatening hiss as she steadily approaches the retreating humans. Behind them, a mechanical hum sounds off as the elevator platform finally arrives.
In a sound of winding machinery, the lift's safety gate part before Ripley and Newt as if beckoning them to come inside for one last chance to escape oblivion. Even while hoisting Newt back onto her shoulder and dashing for the elevator, Ripley takes one more look back only to see that the Queen already came half the distance between them.
Stepping inside the lift and setting Newt down behind her, Ripley turns around brandishing her weapon to face the immediate threat. Thankfully the gate already started to close as the Queen paused a few feet from the elevator to crouch under the low ceiling and smash the impeding ladder and random pipes out of her way like they were twigs.
Oh Shit! Ripley had thought. She's too strong! The gates aren't gonna hold!
The Queen makes ready to charge and utters another ferocious scream, Ripley quickly points her weapon out the gates' mesh opening and sprays fire with the incinerator unit. Squealing in pain, the Xenomorph staggers back from the intense heat and recovers immediately as the flames die down after the flamethrower runs out of fuel. The elevator begins to ascend, taking the humans up to the landing platform and out of the Queen's reach.
Almost there. Ripley thought again. I don't know what Temporal Anomaly means, but it doesn't sound like it's gonna stop this place from blowing up
Meanwhile, down in the sub levels the Alien Queen turns to face the second elevator platform as it arrives and opens its safety gates to allow passage inside. She tilts her crested head in instinctual recognition and reasoning. The humans used it to get away from her. She can use it to follow them and kill the woman, as well as recapture the girl for impregnation to rebuild her hive and brood.
After the elevator reached its destination Ripley and Newt stepped out onto the landing platform and looked on in horror as the dropship wasn't here.
Bishop! God Damn You! screamed Ripley in a moment of despair as she scoops Newt back up into her arms and begins looking everywhere for a way out.
Fire has now completely engulfed the processing station, leaving only the landing platform and the nearby elevator shaft untouched.
Noticing the winch still operating, Ripley peers down the shaft and sees the second platform making its way up to their level.
It can't be.
Ripley tried thinking it might be something else, whether it was a glitch in the system caused by the station's reactor meltdown or maybe the control switch activated from debris.
But the horrid fact remains in her head. She underestimated the Xenomorphs. The same way she and the crew of the Nostromo underestimated the first one. And both the colonists and marines, here at Hadley's Hope.
So too, will the corporation Weyland-Yutani if they ever got their greedy bastard hands on the Aliens.
Ripley examines her weapon, the flamethrower is empty so she checks the pulse rifle. Two zeros on the ammo counter tell her that the weapon is useless as well and she remembered that she's out of grenades, having thrown the whole bandolier into the burning egg chamber in order to destroy the nest. Ripley drops the guns onto the floor and backs up towards the landing platform's safety railing, still holding Newt close to her shoulder.
The other elevator arrives and the gates begin to part, revealing the abominable creature inside. The Queen begins to unfold her legs and arms as she leaves the confines of the lift.
Cornered now, with the station mere seconds away from thermonuclear explosion, Ripley resigns to her fate. Going over what she believes will be her last thoughts and prayers, her only regrets were not being there for her daughter all those years and failing Newt here and now for the same reasons.
She was not strong enough, not fast enough, not brave enough to face her fears and guilt while everyone around her died.
"Close your eyes baby." she tells Newt, hoping the blast will consume them before the Queen could get at them.
"Look!" Newt calls out amidst the fiery explosions and the rising sound of jet turbines. Ripley turns around to see the dark angular shape of the dropship hovering into view and about an arm's length from the railing. Bishop peers at them from the behind glass of the cockpit and presses a switch to extend the emergency boarding ladder from the ship's port side.
As Ripley raises Newt over the railing to place on the ladder, a bright blinding light shines throughout the entire processing station.
"No!" Ripley says helplessly. "We were so close…" she squinted her eyes but all she saw was white. She then tries to step forward to continue attempting to get Newt aboard the dropship, but she no longer feels the platform beneath her feet. Neither does she feel the heat of the fires or the rush of air from the outside blowing winds and the dropship's thrusters.
The only feeling left to her was the dirt and slime that were still on Newt's clothes. Her mind flashes back to the first time they met,
Can't believe there's a little girl under all this. A pretty one too.
How long ago did she say that? Hours, days, weeks even? She no longer cared, somehow she felt like time itself no longer mattered.
Is this eternity? Have I finally ended? She can still feel Newt with her hands, so she pulls her closer into one last embrace in this world.
"I hope I see you in the next life Newt" Ripley says into Newt's ear
"I knew you'd come" was all that Newt said in response.
Behind them, Ripley hears the enraged scream of the Alien Queen quickly growing distant as if they were flying away from it, or it was flying away from them…
Unknown tunnel
Los Angeles, CA
Earth
Within the dimmed room of what was known as a spaceship, an African-American middle-aged man stood tall, clutching his wound from his torso with his right hand while holding a disc-shaped weapon with his left.
It was something that looks humanoid, but definitely not a human one. It has long black claws, dread-locked hair, and a face that resembles a small tusk from an elephant.
This creature lay lifelessly on the floor; its left arm was missing, cut off cleanly to the bone, and had a large wound from its left side, spilling with green matter which was the composition of its own blood. This wound was what killed the creature that was looming over the war-torn Los Angeles within five days, slaughtering gang members and special forces left and right in a grotesque manner not even a serial killer can even achieve
Satisfied that his opponent was dead, he turned around to leave this place immediately, only for three triangular laser dots to appear on his face, slowly moving towards the top of his head. From out of nowhere appeared the source of the dots; three more creatures revealing themselves from thin air, sheathing their retractable spear. The man takes a step back as two more emerge from his left...
Then another two emerge from the right...
And another two emerge from behind...
Before he could even notice, he was trapped with them, surrounded on all sides. Barely able to beat one of their own, the man knew his odds were obviously against him.
Well shit...
Nowhere to run, the man, Mike Harrigan, dropped the green-blooded disc helplessly to the ground
"Okay... who's next" he challenged everyone, expecting for a one-sided fight
To his surprise, two of the creatures simply passed him by and retrieved the body of their fallen brethren, taking it further to their room as the others soon followed, disappearing into thin air once more.
Okay... why did they spare me? That was the first thing a confused Harrigan came to his mind.
The last creature, the one with the laser cannon mounted in his shoulders, was the last to follow, but not before he could turn his back on the person who defeated their brethren. Perhaps he was thinking...
He was the bravest prey they have ever encountered, determined to hunt one of them down, unlike the other person they have encountered from last time, who not only is as brave as Harrigan, but also used their brains to bring one of them down, whom they deemed the most cunning.
Such people like Harrigan were to be rightfully rewarded for their victory against them.
He took a flintlock pistol from his belt as a sign of respect, and tossed it to Harrigan, who catches it with ease
"Take... It..." Urged the creature in a raspy tone before he leaves, vanishing in an instant
Harrigan inspected the pistol, encased in gold plating. The left side was engraved with the name of the owner: Raphael Adolini
"1715..."
Before he could even prod at it more, the rumbling of the ship was heard, followed by the sound of the engines. Harrigan looked on and...
Shit! I need to leave
He ran as fast as he could, backtracking where he came in from until he reached the outside of their ship. The thrusters began to increase, implied that it nearly has enough power needed to launch themselves away from this planet. This implications meant nothing for Harrigan, only thinking about leaving this ship before he becomes their stowaway
Once he touches solid ground, he starts running like hell as the ship slowly lifts from the ground, preparing for take off.
Out of nowhere, a massive streak of blinding light struck at him.
No shit... I'm dead meat
Harrigan kept on running despite the light fully enveloping him. He knew he was about to be swallowed by the light, yet he kept on running. Like Ripley, Harrigan was already exhausted by the ordeal he had been through.
First, he had to witness from a distance how a predator tore the head and spine of his newest member, Jerry Lambert, from his body.
Then, he had to witness from the screen how the predator outmaneuvered a group of skilled men designated to capture it.
Somehow it falls upon him to stop it from causing too much death. He knew that he had no chance to win against it with their weaponry, but he can at least try if he goes all out. He chased the creature above and below, until he finally managed to nail him down.
Like Ellen Ripley, Mike Harrigan was also a survivor.
But while Ripley's strength to push on was fueled by fear, Harrigan's strength was fueled by two things; his sense of duty to protect the city of Los Angeles from further harm, and the desire to seek revenge for the grisly death of his closest partner, Danny Archuleta.
It was also what fueled him to run as fast as he can reach, however futile it may be. By each step he took, he was losing much of his footing. Before he could even find the way out, there was no more ground for him to step on.
SWEET MOTHER OF GOOOOOOD
He felt no more ground for him to run, everything in his sight was beginning to disappear in a flash of white. He felt like falling in space, which was very uneasy for him. Nonetheless, he knew he was about to die from whatever that might kill him.
Jerry... Danny... I'm coming...
Those were his last thoughts as he slipped out of consciousness, drifting away to whatever place they might take him, leaving his survival rate ambiguous.
Outpost 31
Antarctica
It was a cold and dark night. A snowstorm is brewing fast from the northeast of the outpost. Anyone still outside is guaranteed to freeze to death in these bitter conditions, which should prompt them to stay indoors until the weather subsides.
Except…There was no more room in the outpost for anyone to take shelter anymore, or rather there's no more "outpost" that remains. The dark landscape is littered with burning wreckage; communication equipment, barrels, pieces of splintered planks, telltale signs that something went very wrong in this place.
Emerging beneath the wrecked storage room is a man with long, curly hair and complete facial beard, now sprinkled with snow and ash, wearing a thick winter jacket with his name 'MacReady, R.J' on the coat's left chest. He was weakly walking towards anything that he can rest on, weary from whatever happened there that almost sapped half of his strength.
Sensing someone behind him, he dropped a bottle of whiskey and hastily turned around, only to find another man; a bald, dark man with a shorter facial beard, wielding a flamethrower. MacReady's eyes were filled with suspicion, but can't do anything to react anymore.
"You the only one who made it?" the man with the flamethrower weakly asked, also clearly exhausted from the get go
"I'm not the only one" MacReady answered in an exasperated voice
...
"Did you kill 'it'"?
The 'it' that this guy mentioned was another creature. One without form, but can take on anything it interacts with. One that kills by assimilation of the host until it finds a new one. One that can blend in with an unsuspecting crowd as it finds its new target. One that almost wiped out everyone in this outpost.
It all started with a husky...
Then it monstrously manifests in front of the men...
Then it assimilated Bennings...
Paranoia soon filled the minds of men around the station once they learned that this 'thing' can take the form of one of their own. One by one they were taken out;
Bennings...
Fuchs...
Norris...
Cooper...
Clark...
Palmer...
Windows...
Blair...
Garry...
Nauls...
MacReady was about to confirm what this guy was talking about, then he remembered what happened with Bennings, Norris, and Palmer.
"Where were you, Childs?" He asked him with distrust in his voice.
"I thought I saw Blair... I went out after him... Got lost in the storm" the man, Childs, explained as he found a place to sit in, pointing the flamethrower at MacReady. The seeds of mistrust and paranoia had been planted since the thing took on a human form. Neither of them can tell who's who anymore.
"Fire has set the temperature up all over the camp... won't last long though" Childs noted as he observed the burning wreck. They are in dire need of anything that could keep them warm. Judging by the looks of it, the fire won't be enough to keep them alive, made worse by the weather.
"Neither will we" MacReady confirmed his assumption as their helpless conversation went on, their breaths visible against the snowy backdrop
"How will we make it?"
"Maybe we shouldn't"
...
...
...
"Mac, if you're worried about me-" Childs tries to shake off MacReady's suspicion against him, but was immediately cut off
"Yeah we got any surprises for each other... I don't think were in much shape to anything about it"
The eerie silence between them in the burning station was interrupted when a radiant light flashes from a distance. MacReady and Childs turned their heads towards the light. Already exhausted from what they have been through, they can't do much about anything.
"Yep, what do we do about that?"
...
...
"Why don't we just wait here for a while... see what happens" MacReady somberly answered as he opened a bottle of scotch. He poured some into the glass and handed it to Childs, who gladly accepted the drink.
"Nice knowing you, Childs..."
"You too, Mac..."
They shared a toast to their final hours, not caring about the radiant light surrounding them and the whole outpost