24 Chapter 24 Exterminating The Vermin

"Get the hell away from me!" They tried to run, to flee. "Get away, get away damn it!"

They tried desperately to escape from their inevitable fate. "Don't leave me here you fucking bastards!" 

They ran through the dark like rats trying to scurry out of view of an apex predator. "Die already, just fucking die!" A monster.

"Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck." Their companions screamed from the darkness behind them as something dragged them away one by one.

"Th-this is insane, what even are those damn things?!" They just needed to get to safety. "They don't look like anything I've seen around here before!"

But there was no safety left for them. "I don't...I don't know...just...just keep running." And there was no escape for any of them either.

The two of them that still remained uncaptured ran and ran, all the while their hearts pounded away vigorously in their ears as adrenaline pumped like fire through their veins. They had been on patrol when it had all happened, when those things had come crawling out of the dark from almost every angle. At first they had tried to stand and fight but any organization that they actually had as a group quickly crumbled apart and turned to absolute chaos as everyone began to panic. 

The two of them had been lucky all things considered, the others however, well, if the screams were anything to go off of they weren't having a good time. Oddly though they hadn't been killed from what the two could tell, the creatures didn't seem to want them dead, a fact that was oddly more terrifying than the alternative option.

After running for what felt like hours they only stopped when their legs ached with such scolding pain that they physically couldn't move any longer even if they had wanted to. "Do...do you think that we lost them?" 

"Maybe...I...I don't...I don't...huh?" He attended to speak but stopped himself when a familiar hissing noise sounded from above.

"O-oh...oh fuck..."

The two of them screamed in horror as several of the black, somewhat skeletal-like creatures leapt at them from the ceiling above. They honestly didn't stand a chance in the slightest, even when they tried to struggle it meant absolutely nothing in the face of their opposition. In the end all of their resistance and pleading was meaningless at this point and they now had no choice but to accept the facts laid out before them.

Some part of them did dare to hope however, the monsters hadn't killed them and instead had dragged them away just like the others, so maybe they would manage to survive this mess somehow. After all, even if the idea of these things wanting them alive was slightly unnerving, anything was better than death...right? They'd soon be wishing that they had been given that quick and easy death, anything at all was better then what the creatures had in store for them.

Events just like this one would soon start happening all throughout the underground railway system, and despite the desires of some, these mass kidnappings would almost definitely continue without any sign of stopping for quite some time. At first though it was just a few small patrols here and there, groups no bigger than ten or twelve individuals that suddenly disappeared. To be honest this was an occurrence that wasn't all too uncommon around here, people vanishing into the darkness never to be seen again was something that happened every now and then, the actual problem however was the fact that it had never occurred with such frequency before.

Soon however, before anyone even really realized it, entire gangs were being snuffed out one after the other. It all started rather slowly at first but as the hours and days ticked by more and more people just up and vanished without any explanation to speak of. Some were sent to investigate what had happened of course but not many actually ended up returning, those that did manage to return only found empty camps filled with clear signs of desperate struggle and battle but surprisingly not one body or survivor was discovered. Ominously though there was no blood to be found either, as if those that had been attacked weren't harmed at all but instead were taken by some unknown force.

Some of the gangs blamed each other for all of this of course, killing and territorial disputes between all of them were common already and this was the perfect excuse for them to satisfy their greed and expand their borders. The growing tension was kept at bay for a while though, however it was soon made even worse when several members of different competing gangs started a massive turf war that led to the death of dozens of people on all sides. The battle as well as the deaths were of course orchestrated by a certain alien queen, although the thugs had no actual way of knowing such a thing, in fact they had no idea that they were being played and used like disposable pawns on a chessboard.

Anyway, soon things reached a boiling point and the small skirmishes between the different factions became far more violent and brutal. Eventually after a few days of this constant back and forth a much larger subterranean war began to erupt, a war that wouldn't last long but would truly traumatize and change those who took part in it down to their core. 

Tunnel by tunnel people killed each other but the disappearances continued, in fact the number of cases increased dramatically as more time passed by. Injured and wounded individuals that had been left to die on the battlefield were dragged off to who knows where, heavily armed and seasoned men were found ripped to pieces like defenseless cattle with terrified expressions stretched across their faces, whole camps and outposts were discovered completely abandoned as if everyone their had just got up and left all of a sudden. And yet despite all of this chaos, despite all of the people that were just up and vanishing without a trace, despite all of this, no one could figure out what was truly happening. 

Some told stories of monsters made of shadows with no eyes, creatures that hid in the darkness just out of view, just waiting to pounce on the careless and weak. Others spoke of how it could be survivors from the station, people that were now out for vengeance against the gangs that had murdered or captured their companions, after all those that were taken weren't exactly treated with care, in fact almost all of them had already been killed and or tortured to the point they couldn't even speak anymore. There were even some that believed it to be some kind of mutant science experiment gone wrong that had caused the whole station to crash in the first place and now that it was out, now that it was free, the damn thing was hunting all of them as well. There were alot of theories and a lot of questions, however no one truly knew any of the answers.

What made it all worse was that whenever a ceasefire was actually called something would always go wrong before any kind of peace could be decided upon, no matter how fragile said peace would probably be. Sometimes it was as simple as past resentments and hatred causing arguments that quickly got out of control, however sometimes the situation was far more bizarre to say the least. For example, a person would suddenly go crazy without any prior warning and kill those around themselves indiscriminately like a completely mad berserker, in fact once or twice various leaders would show up to a peace meeting only for all of their own guards to just straight up kill them for no reason.

The amount of death that actually happened in this period of time was staggering, it was nothing less than a time of fear and paranoia for everyone involved. Even those who had once thought themselves the rulers of this place were having problems, things were going downhill for almost everyone rather quickly. They had all now become prey, hunted by both each other as well as the nightmares in the dark, no matter how much power they once held they were all at risk now.

(Nine hundred and ninety four drones and seven hundred and twenty warriors, I'm not counting the eggs and facehuggers but if you count the hosts and the chestbursters inside of them as well...) I hummed as I did the calculations in my head. (I should have just over two thousand three hundred xenomorphs at this current moment in time.)

[And that number is still growing.] Goldy whistled with amusement.  [Truly the xenomorph species is quite entertaining to observe.]

(The fact that most of them use melee weapons is proving very beneficial to me.) I muttered, in fact that was one of the main reasons why I haven't suffered any major casualties at the moment.

(Sadly my overall fighting force is only drones and warriors at the moment, as such the tactics that I can actually use are limited for now but thankfully they are still working for the most part.) Specifically I didn't have much that could fight at long range, except for my thralls that is. (I'd like to add other variants like the spitters but I don't know where to find the proper hosts that would give me those types of xenos.)

[Why not just ask the spies you put into their ranks? I'm sure one of them knows where to find some interesting animals and creatures.] He was referring to the spies that I had indoctrinated and sent back to their various gangs and factions to wait and gather information.

(Just talking to them pisses me off.) I huffed but eventually let out a somewhat reluctant sigh. (Fine...I'll ask them once I've dealt with all of the surrounding gangs.)

[Whatever you say.] Goldy chuckled before continuing on to a new topic. [How is your experiment going by the way?]

(I'm close, my instincts tell me I can do it but I'm still finding it difficult, I've only gotten it to work once so far.) I explained, I was somewhat frustrated with how long it was taking to figure out but whatever.

[Right, how is Alpha by the way?] Goldy asked with curiosity in his voice causing me to shift my attention over to the xeno in question.

What I found was not too surprising to me, Alpha was strung up by hive resin in an isolated chamber and looked much larger then she had once been. (It's hard to tell considering she's unconscious but she's fine I think. As for her transformation, well, it is taking its sweet time but it shouldn't be long now before it completes, in a few hours at the most.) 

[Your little baby is all grown up.] He teased and I would have blushed if it was biologically possible.

(Shut up!)

He laughed at my reaction but quickly moved on with the conversation. [So tomorrow then?]

(Yeah, it's time that I finally stop holding back.) I hummed as I felt my offspring already beginning to collect together in key areas that I had designated beforehand. (The real war starts tomorrow...)