Aliens Vs Kharaa : Final Conclusion

<div class="IPBDescription">The final story before I resume Behemoth</div> For Part 1

<a href='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=93810' target='_blank'>http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/index....showtopic=93810</a>

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<span style='font-size:21pt;line-height:100%'>Aliens VS Kharaa</span>

<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>Part Two : Bloody Conclusion</span>

Brian’s heart skipped a beat as he saw wriggly finger-like movements from within the egg openings. Something horrible was crawling out. But…just what was it?

More gurgling sounded, and a pale yellow spider-like creature emerged.

Brian didn’t give it another second and fired once with his pistol. There was a loud squealing and it retreated instantly into the egg.

He knew by instinct that the newborn creature had vicious intentions, and he wasn’t about to risk it getting close.

Then Brian heard a sizzling and smelled burnt metal. He gazed down and was appalled to see its yellow blood rapidly burning through the metal floor. It had acidic blood too!

The hatchlings from the eggs chattered noisily, and several of them emerged at once, their segmented legs waving in the air.

Brian stepped back, and gave several precise shots to the nearest creature. It cried out loudly and tumbled down the side of the egg, a long centipede-like tail trailing behind. It jerked several times, but Brian gave it a final shot to its soft underbelly before it became motionless.

What the hell were these?! Spider-scorpion-Kharaa? Brian thought in horror as he continued to fire at the rest of them.

His pistol suddenly gave a dry click, and he glanced at it in dismay, only to look up to the belly of one of the creatures that had leapt at him.

A force abruptly smashed into the creature, and it flew to the side.

Too shocked for words, Brian could only retreat even more as he suddenly found himself facing a bigger four-legged threat – A Skulk.

What is it doing? Does it plan to sn@tch me away from those spiders and eat me instead?! Brian thought in confusion.

He whipped out his knife in guard, but for some reason, the Skulk didn’t come. Instead, it turned to the fallen spider-alien and snarled angrily. The other spider-aliens rose from the eggs as well, and without any warning, one jumped towards the unsuspecting Skulk.

The Skulk suddenly swirled around, jaws wide opened, and chomped on the spider-alien.

Blood spilled from the dying creature, dripping down the Skulk’s chin and melting the floor on contact. The Skulk chewed on the spider-alien for awhile before gulping it down and slurping up the elongated tail like a noodle before letting out a satisfied grunt.

Brian shook his head in disbelief; the Skulk was actually eating up the hatchlings! Somehow, the Skulks being immune to a Gorge’s acidic spit, was also unharmed by the spider-alien’s blood.

Another spider-alien leapt at the Skulk, but the bigger alien smacked it down with its foreleg behind slamming a claw on it. Another was seized by its long tail, and the Skulk whipped it around before flinging it away cruelly. Unexpectedly, one suddenly latched on top of the Skulk’s head, and wrapped its powerful tail around the neck.

The Skulk instantly growled in surprise and shook its body furiously, but the spider-alien refused to let go. It tightened its coils and begun to strangle the helpless Skulk.

Brian didn’t know what to do as he pressed his back against the slimy wall fearfully. He had never heard of this before – Kharaas engaged in combat against one another. Strangely enough, he felt tempted to help out the poor Skulk, which was fighting a losing battle against the spider-aliens. He felt a mix of pity and fear for the Skulk. After all, the Skulk had indirectly saved his life, but he had no assurance that it would not turn on him right after he kill the spider-alien.

Commander Dodger was too busy issuing commands to other marines, and had no time to attend to him.

All of a sudden, a blurred form appeared beside the Skulk and the tail of the spider-alien was crushed with a snap. The blur instantly manifested into another Skulk, and both Skulks ripped the tailless spider-alien to shreds.

Cloakers. Brian realized. The Kharaa must have managed to elude his sight using their cloaking abilities.

A third Skulk head butted an egg, shoving the egg on its side and spilling a spider-alien out. Together, the Skulks unleashed a blood shed, tearing the smaller spider-aliens apart and spilling the room with the acidic blood, which sizzled and melted everything it hit.

Brian cried out in pain as a tiny drop landed on his arm; it burnt and hurt like hell. Fortunately, the Skulks were more concerned on eliminating every last hatchling and paid no attention to him; he had to get out of here while he could. Brian was about to head for the door, when he was greeted by the sight of the dreadful black monster blocking his way.

A sense of doom and foreboding filled Brian. It was the same one as before, as evident from several bullet holes on its shoulder, and now it was going to butcher him, just as it did to Tomas, Larci and Joe.

The black monster opened its jaws, and Brian watched in sheer horror as a gruesome pod extended from the abyss of its throat, and opened up into a horrendous set of secondary jaws, smaller but no less terrifying.

Paying no heed to him however, it raised itself as a biped and faced the Skulks, hissing loudly; its breath condensing into a smoky mist with clear strands of repulsive saliva dripping to the floor from its chin. The thought abruptly hit Brian – These were separate species of aliens at war. He was of little danger to them, so they were ignoring him for now.

The three Skulks wasted no time in dealing with the new threat as they circled it cautiously, barking constantly.

In the blink of an eye, one suddenly bounded towards the black monster from behind, claws and teeth ready to attack.

The black monster swung its tail into the Skulk’s face, sending the quadruped Kharaa smashing into the wall.

Brian watched on in amazement, oblivious to the danger he was in.

The remaining two Skulks snarled in anger and charged the more powerful alien. One leapt up and latched onto its throat; the other’s attack was more short-lived as the deadly tail whipped out again, piercing through the Skulk’s torso. The black alien let out a high-pitched cry of pain as the Skulk chewed on its neck, and it slashed with its clawed hands savagely at the smaller Kharaa’s back.

A mix of Kharaa and acidic blood dripped on the floor plates as the two monsters engaged in a fight of life and death.

The Skulk stubbornly refused to let go, but the bigger alien dug its clawed fingers into its back and tore the Skulk off before tossing it onto the floor, breaking its neck and killing it instantly. The impaled Skulk could only growl weakly as it was stuck to its tail as if it was a meat stick.

“Brian! You got to get out of there!” Dodger yelled suddenly.
“Comm! I can’t! The Kharaa are fighting with another alien species! And they are blocking the door!” Brian whispered fearfully.
“Get to the inner part of the room! I have just dropped a Phase Gate there!” Dodger instructed.

Brian dashed towards the other side and just as said, a dull and incomplete Phase Gate was lying there. He reached out with his hands and struggled to assist the nanos as they begun to assemble together; but he never took his eyes off the aliens.

With its tail, the black monster lifted the Skulk to the front, where they met face-to-face. The horrible jaws opened again, and the inner set of jaws hissed a final time before suddenly stabbing into the Kharaa’s face, resulting in a grisly shower of blood. With a quick flick of its tail, the biped alien dropped the dead and faceless Skulk onto the floor, and turned to face Brian.

“Jesus Christ…” Brian murmured; the Phase Gate was not ready yet.

All of a sudden, the first Skulk rammed into the back of the black alien and hung on with its claws. As the bigger alien struggled to pull it off, the Skulk opened its jaws wide and with a quick twist of its neck, snapped the back of its great cranium off.

With a final shriek, the black alien collapsed and died, acidic blood flowed profusely out from its head, burning through the floor at an alarming rate. A huge hole was quickly evident, and before Brian’s fearful eyes, hordes of Skulks poured out and scurried towards him.

The Phase Gate suddenly hummed to life, as just as the first Skulk had reared back to jump, Brian stepped through the teleportation pad and was engulfed in a dazzling light.

A great wind engulfed Brian as he tried desperately to keep his eyes opened under the immense brightness. A never-ending whoosh sounded in his ears and he felt like he was weightless; his limbs didn’t even felt there anymore.

Before Brian knew it, his feet touched solid and he was already surrounded by several other marines, including Dodger.

“He’s through! Get moving if you want to live, marines!” Dodger commanded.
“Dodger? Melvin? Oh my God! Guys! I thought I would never see you again –” he shouted and rushed forward for a hug, but they had already taken off.

As Brian ran with them, he could not help but realize there were only four other marines besides him. Where were Nancy, Quintas and his other teammates?

“Comm! What’s going on?!” Brian yelled.
“We are abandoning this planet! We are getting to the escape pods!” Melvin shouted.
“What do you mean?!” Brian questioned.
“This mission is failed! If we do not get out of here in time, TSA would drop the bombs without giving us a damn!” another marine interrupted.
“But…what the hell were those things?! Those spiders? Those black monsters?” Brian asked.
“Your guess is as good as mine, marine. We don’t know!” Dodger replied. “Looks like the previous owners; Wellington-Yutina has been doing some strange things here!”

Brian said nothing, but kept silent as they sped on through the pathways, until they reached the emergency escape chambers where dozens of round white escape pods laid in sight, only accessible by the metal bridges.

“Holy Shlt!!!” a marine exclaimed loudly, pointing downwards at the lower levels.

Brian immediately peered below and gasped at the incredible sight. It was a battlefield, where the Kharaa and black aliens were engaged in fights with each other. Before Brian’s baffled eyes, a Skulk was mangled apart by several aliens, and many other mutilated Skulk bodies lay strewn about. However, it was not a one-sided war. A Fade decapitated another alien with a single swipe of its monstrous claw, and Lerks were perched on pipes and high areas, raining down spikes of death upon their enemies.

Cries of pain and roars of anger filled the air, chilling the blood in the five marines who could only look on in awe and terror.

Dodger glanced about worriedly, aware that in all this chaos, a Kharaa or black alien might simply sneak up on them.

“They are at war!” a marine yelled.
Brian pulled him back suddenly. “Watch it! You might attract their attention!”
“Ignore those creatures! Let’s go already! They can all kill off each other and die for all I care!” Melvin said.
“The first escape pod!” Dodger instructed, jabbing his finger in the air.

He bolted towards the nearest escape pod at the end of a metal bridge, when a black alien that was hiding under the bridge suddenly punched through the metal grating to grab Dodger’s legs.

Years of well-honed skills and instinct took over Dodger, and he leapt back while firing at its cranium with his LMG, sending it shrieking in pain before plummeting downwards into the mass of aliens.

“Come on! Go! Go! Go!” Dodger ordered, waving his hands at his marines.

Just as they had passed by, Dodger had his back turned when another black alien crawled up the metal bridge and pounced on his back.

He yelled in surprise and dropped his LMG, but he turned and tried desperately to ward the alien off as it slashed and bit with its teeth.

“DODGER!!!” The marines bawled in unison, but refrained from shooting as they feared the risk of letting Dodger get splashed by the acidic blood.

Dodger screamed and then he pulled his pistol out, pumping several shots into its head, as acidic blood splashed onto him.

The monster swayed and collapsed onto its side, and the marines kneel down before their fallen commander.

“Dodger! We...” Melvin choked, not knowing what to say for his dying commander.
“Don’t say anything, marine. Get a move on!” Dodger said weakly, his face already badly disfigured and burnt, and his left hand little more than a stump of bone and flesh.
“We will not leave you here! We are taking you with us!” Brian muttered, hardly able to contain the tears that were flowing out.
“No you fools. Leave me.” Dodger moaned and took the handle of Melvin’s LMG with his good hand. “Just go...I will kill those bastards that follow…”

Brian tried to hold Dodger's hand, but another marine pulled him up forcefully.

“He will not live through this! You know this!” the marine yelled. “Get away while we still can!”

Brian nodded sadly and took a final look at his commander, who smiled weakly in reply. Together, they darted towards the end of bridge, where the escape pod was waiting.

The four marines stepped into the escape pod, strapped safety belts on and punched in several controls. The escape pod trembled and hissed to life, as bright lights flashed on the insides. Automatically, the coordinates for the nearest spaceship was already set, and the door swung downwards, painfully slow and deliberate.

“Coordinates set towards Uniasia Pacifier Spaceship.” A robotic voice sounded.

They fixed their guns into the slots, and prepared to take off.

“Skulks!” Melvin shouted and turned to the end of the metal bridge, where swarms of Skulks suddenly appeared and raced towards their escape pod.
“We will not make it in time!” Brian warned.

Dodger aimed his LMG at the Skulks and fired through their ranks. Yellow blood came flying up, and several Skulks stumbled and fell, but the rest just kept coming, hungry for the prey that lay before them.

Dodger grinned as he fired. “Come! You want meat?! I got meat here! Come, you motherfu–”

The door finally closed completely with a loud wham, and sealed itself securely before the rockets lit into action. However, their eyes never looked away from the windows where Dodger fought his final battle.

His LMG clip ran out, and Dodger flung it away. He whipped out his pistol and gave several precise headshots to the nearest Skulks.

“NO!!!” Brian shouted as the Skulks overwhelmed Dodger, and he disappeared into the mass of green.

The escape pod gave a sudden jerk and rocketed upwards. The marines held on to their seats and murmured their prayers as the rumbling pod brought them out of hell. Everything was lost in a blur of grey and abruptly, they were in the vast darkness of space.

Immediately, they glanced through the window again. The planet was now in the same state as before they arrived – A beautiful crimson orb, heedless of the danger that lurked on its surface.

Amidst their tears, the four marines saluted Commander Dodger in unison.

<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>The End</span>