Chapter 17 Pest Control

"Asshole! That fucker left me to do all the damn work by myself again." A pissed off looking man wearing slightly ripped and tattered clothing muttered as he prowled through the dark. "Where the hell is he?" 

The tattoos covering his arms were difficult to make out in the rather dim lighting that surrounded him but that didn't really matter at the moment. He had been assigned to work with a certain scrawny bastard to move some containers but before he knew it the little shit had scampered off leaving him to do everything all on his own.

"When I find him I'm gonna...huh?" He suddenly stopped when he noticed movement behind some of the nearby wooden boxes.

"What was that?" He asked a little taken off guard before the pissed off look he previously had returned as quickly as it left. "Oh I get it, you worthless piece of trash!"

"You run off to hide and laze around while I do everything myself but when I come looking you scurry away like a fucking rat." He scowled in rage as he grabbed a pipe off the ground. "Get your fucking ass back here so that I can cave your damn skull in."

He grinned when he noticed movement off to the side of him just out of view and with hateful intent he swung the pipe in that direction only for it to abruptly slam into something. "Got you!" 

For a moment, just a moment a sinister smile grew across his crooked face but that did not last for long. He had finally caught the bastard after all, he was ecstatic to finally vent his rage upon the small ungrateful man in question but something was wrong, something was very wrong with all of this. And that's when it hit him, that's when he realized what exactly was wrong with this whole situation, that's when he felt a cold shiver run down his spine.

He realized that what he had just hit did not move, there was no scream of pain, there was no reaction, it wasn't fazed at all. He could tell it wasn't a box or some kind of inanimate object by the sound of the impact but something was definitely off. At first he feared he had just struck one of the Bosses top men, large muscular looking guys that could break your arm without much effort but sadly for him it was so much worse than that.

He turned, slowly at first expecting to see the enraged eyes of a man that looked like a bodybuilder who took way too many steroids but that wasn't the case. When he finally came face to face with what it was that he had struck, well, he was suddenly hit by a wave of confusion. All he saw was a dark wall that had a slight purple tinge to it, a wall that looked both organic and mechanical in some ways. And that's when he looked up. His confusion soon changed to weariness, then to shock and finally, all he felt was fear.

Unfortunately for him however no one would end up hearing his screams as there were none to be heard, there would be no last stand, no glorious fight to the death, no, he was doomed to suffer a fate more horrifying then he could possibly imagine. He did try to scream, to struggle, to fight back but he just couldn't no matter how much he may have wanted to, after all the clawed skeletal hand covered in some kind of insect-like exoskeleton that had firmly grasped a hold of his head prevented such events from happening. And so he had just enough time to see the creature in its monsterous entirety before everything went black.

(This is taking too long...) I sighed as I hid the now unconscious person away. (They will definitely notice that something is up at some point, with the number of people that I've knocked out it is bound to happen eventually.)

[So then I guess that means you're finally going to stop hiding like a bitch.] Goldy sighed with an exaggerated amount of boredom.

(It's a legitimate strategy.) I grumbled before shaking my head. (But yes, thankfully I've already taken out most of the guys with firearms with only two of them left that I can see, as for the others, well, they aren't much of a threat to me.)

Before I began however I had a question that I couldn't help but ask out loud. (Still though, why the hell are they all men?)

[I think you and I both know the answer to that.] Goldy hummed and I immediately stopped talking for a moment.

(...Let's just get this done with...) I muttered not really wanting to think about it anymore 

[This will be very entertaining.] My partner said not really bothered at all by my deflection, in fact he had seemingly forgotten about said topic entirely in favor of focusing on what was to come.

(At least it will be some good practice for the future...) I growled quietly and began to move.

My grand entrance was a rather loud one to say the least, I had clawed my way to the top of the train where I jumped down from above in the middle of three very unfortunate bastards that never saw it coming. With a booming thud I landed grabbing a hold of two of them by the head and slamming them into the ground with enough force to draw blood, I then grappled on to the third and used my inner jaw to tear through his skull before dropping his lifeless body to the ground.

(Bring it on you bastards!) I yelled but instead of words all that came out was a bellowing screech that bounced off of the walls getting the attention of everyone who hadn't already noticed me.

"Holy shit!"

"What the hell is that thing?!"

"I don't fucking know!"

"Who cares?! Just kill it alread-!" That guy didn't get a chance to finish as my tail went straight through his chest and out through the back.

That's when all hell truly broke loose. In an instant there was a chaotic dance of movement and panic as the thugs rushed in every direction in an attempt to grab any kind of weapon they could. While they freak the fuck out I killed or knocked out as many as possible before they had a chance to get what they needed to defend themselves.

And as such I rampaged through them with surprising ferocity as I sent full grown men flying in every direction without much hesitation on my part. I used my claws to maim and rip them apart, all the while my tail sliced through limbs and battered away anyone that got too close for comfort. It was quite the bloody affair to behold.

I even took a second to dig my claws into the eyes of one of them before yanking their head off along with some of their spinal cord. I held on to it for a moment, just a moment, the strands of blood covered nerves and muscle still hanging loosely from it as they swayed slightly from side to side but after a second I tossed the damn thing away like trash before turning to my next victim.

"Nononon-ahhhhh!" A dark skinned individual was screamed as he was sent spiraling through the air when I picked him up by the leg and threw him at a group of assholes who were currently running towards me.

I then whipped around and grabbed another by the arm and pulled. "AAAAAAAAAHHH!" He screamed in agony as his flesh ripped and bone shattered with a sickening sound. He had just enough time to look at his now torn off arm before I disemboweled him with my other hand.

I was about to move on to my next target when someone bashed me in the side of the head with what I think was a jagged piece of rusted metal. "Die you fucking monster!"

(Way ahead of you.) I hissed while turning to look down at him with the xenomorph equivalent to an unimpressed expression.

However it was then that something odd happened, something that I definitely wasn't expecting. I felt a strange feeling pushing its way up my throat, it felt as if I was going to vomit or something and when I did, well, a wave of green fluid sprayed out of my mouth and across his form.

I paused in surprise and watched the acid melt through his skin as he tried to scream but found that it was impossible, mostly because the acid had already melted his vocal cords. (Huh...I...that's definitely new...)

[Like I said "very entertaining".] Goldy chuckled in morbid fascination.

Anyway, at this point the idiots began to realise that they were completely fucked, I mean they hadn't even managed to lightly wound me yet. In fact several of them ran towards the train in hopes of escaping from me and just as I was about to charge after them a door in the loading area opened to reveal a muscular man holding some kind of machine gun.

"What the hell is going on out here?!" The person I assumed to be their leader yelled in rage only to stop in his tracks when he saw my tail split one of his men in half at the waist.

"The hell?" He muttered in stunned confusion before seemingly snapping out of it. "Who the fuck let that thing in here?!" He yelled but got no response, he didn't seem to care for long however soon he pointed his gun at me, a gun that was in far better shape then what everyone else had.

He tried to shoot at me but I grabbed one of his minions and used him as a meat shield. (I am not a thing!) I screeched before tossing my shield at him.

"Bloody hell!" He hissed as he dodged out of the way only to look up and see me charging at him on all fours.

He, of course, shot at me with some desperation but I sadly wasn't able to get out of the way considering my current forward momentum, however his aim was slightly thrown off by the fact that he was currently attempting to get back to his feet. Surprisingly though most of his bullets bounced off my head crest and exoskeleton with only a few managing to break through, a fact that lessened some of my previous worries.

"Oh shi-!" He didn't get to finish as my head slammed into his chest with enough force to knock the wind out of his lungs and send him rolling backwards with possibly several broken ribs.

"W-what the hell are you?" He coughed out as he attempted to stand up once more but my only real response was just to stomp on his kneecap with enough force to completely shatter it.

Ignoring his screams and curses I turned back around while also batting his gun away from him with the flat side of my tail. I had hoped to chase after the lot that had escaped while I was busy dealing with this damn idiot, I couldn't really afford for anyone to go around spreading the word of my existence right now after all. 

Thankfully for me though there was no one left to stop me from going after them but it wasn't all that necessary as I was about to find out. In fact I was actually pleasantly surprised to see Conner and Ashley walking out of the train where those fools had run off to not too long ago.

 <<What happened to the others? The ones that ran from this place.>> I asked, skipping the pleasantries.

"They attempted to escape, rather slopperly in fact. We however were able to subdue eight of them but we had to put four of them down, they refused to cooperate even while we had them at gunpoint." Ashley said with a proud look.

<<Good...gather all the ones that are still alive and see what you can do about restraining them for now.>> I hummed, not really bothered about those they were forced to kill. <<If they end up waking at some point then just interrogate them, find out everything know about the area.>> I could just indoctrinate them but I couldn't really be all that bothered if I was being honest.

Conner simply nodded at that and turned to leave with Ashley. "As you command."

Seeing them move to carry out my orders I somewhat settled down now that my little territorial take over had seemingly come to an end. (How many are still alive?) I asked myself in thought while not expecting someone to actually reply to me.

[Seventeen, that's how many you were able to capture on your own.] Goldy responded with what I guessed was a shrug. [Including the two you knocked out at first and the eight who were captured by your two thralls, well, that's twenty seven hosts, thirty eight if you count the eleven people from the escape pod as well.] I nodded along as I looked around.

Once he was finished I fully turned my attention toward my surroundings and newly claimed home. (Now then, how the hell do I make hive resin?)