Aliens – One of us

“Fear. Such a powerful emotion. It can completely paralyze you, immobilize you and make you an easy target for whatever is after you’re hide. Or it can pump an overdose of adrenaline into your bloodstream making you perform superhuman feats. It can also cause acid reflux, especially when your predisposed. And that, strangely so, can save someone’s life.

When the nightmares overran our little farming town on a fairly new but remote outpost we got all swept up in their ruthless flood. No one escaped, including me. I remember cowering in fear in a corner of my shed, like a little boy afraid of the night. I was scared, scared to death, literally. My stomach was turning and I constantly felt acid spraying into my mouth. My throat closed up, I choked, coughed. I don’t think they actually heard me, they simply saw my fear. And so they found me, stung me and dragged my limp body back to their hive.

I woke up surrounded by familiar faces, some of them in the grip of horrible hand-like things. All of us had been spun into some odd cocoon made of strong, dark fibers that I was unable to break. As I glanced down I saw one of those ‘hands’ laying at my feet. Looking at it for a moment I came to the conclusion that it must’ve been attached to my face earlier. That nauseating fear rose up again and I passed out. I came to again when the screaming started and horrific worms emerged from the chests of my fellow captives. I felt my heart beating in my throat, quickly coming to terms with the awful fate that was awaiting me.

Stuck and unable to escape I simply waited. And waited. And waited. Hours passed. A day. Two days. While I was waiting to die I saw what these ‘worms’ turned into, biped creatures straight from a really bad nightmare. They occasionally checked up on their hosts – and feeding on the deceased. One of them made it’s way over to me, ‘smelling’ me, hissing at me, it’s thick saliva dripping all over my cocoon. Then it disappeared again. And I kept on waiting. At this point I just wanted it to be over with; I was the only one still alive. I was hungry, thirsty, miserable. I began to curse the creature I believed was living inside me for not releasing me from my misery. Then I passed out again.

I awoke with a jolt. I was sure this was it, the end. I was wrong, again. I began convulsing, unable to control my muscles. One jolt was so powerful I shattered my cocoon and I fell flat on the floor. My tongue was tingling, my ears felt like someone had stuffed them with cotton. My eyes burned like fire. My nose began to pick up strange odors. Aside from blood and decay I began to smell – ‘them’. I didn’t know how at first but I knew instinctively what the smell was. I slowly stood up and opened my eyes. I noticed strange glows around me, above me. I saw them even through walls. It was them, again, those creatures. I found it odd, as odd as someone finds white elephants dancing ballet when they come off a trip. I examined my chest but could not see anything unusual. I cleared my throat and felt a strange acidic taste in my mouth. It was different then what I was used from the acid reflux. It tasted – sweeter, more metallic. At first it stung but then it felt slightly anesthetic.

While I slowly familiarized myself with the strange sensations I was feeling I began to move towards the exit of this hell hole. I felt fear creeping up again, my blood rushing, adrenalin pumping. I decided to keep going, but didn’t give myself much of a chance of actually making it out. But hey, there really wasn’t much to lose at this point now was there?

While I was running down several hallways, all covered in that same strange material the breeding chamber was plastered with, it dawned on me that I was in one of the larger underground greenhouses. I remembered my way around, I just recently worked here performing some studies on rapid growth. I clung to the walls and almost reached the exit when one of these – aliens – showed up right in front of me. I weighed my options – run past it, run back, or run at it screaming. I chose none of them, I simply froze. It looked over in my direction, though I couldn’t make out any eyes. And then, then it simply walked passed me, as if I wasn’t there. I smelled it and something in my brain identified it as ‘one of us’. One of us. One of them. I was becoming one of them.

Through a strange twist of fate, a medical disorder, I was now changing chemically into something resembling them. That hand, that facehugger, must have been met with a full-on dose of stomach acid and dropped its deadly delivery in my stomach instead of my lungs. I don’t know which thought conjures up the grosser image but having digested it apparently saved my life, and altered it forever. I will have to contemplate my next steps but I feel a strong urge to stay with them, right amongst them, and study their behavior. I don’t think there really is anything else left for me to fear now.”

From the notes of Dr. Benjamin Holden, Biophysicist, Outpost Gamma 423.

© Thorsten Becker

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