Survivors - Final Part

    Dr. Patang and Cisneros both jumped back as the mass of darkness split into two chitinous forms. They slammed hard against the triple-state glass and it squeaked as clawed talons raked the slick surface.
    Dr. Connel laughed.
    The two creatures trying with subdued fervor to escape the operating theater were about two meters tall, with the creature on the right being the smaller of the two. They resembled bipedal versions of the huge monster in the front viewing area.
    However, Cisneros thought they were far more disturbing.
    The pair were both covered in hard, insect-like armor in a number of places; particularly along the arms, legs, and torso. Hands, eerily human, were long and gangly; tipped with several inch talons that looked like they could tear through a military hardskin as effectively as a housecat could shred a tissue. Their flesh was thick and leathery, mottled with bleeding sores; oozing holes that didn't appear to be injuries as much as part of some horrific design.
    But the worst were their faces.
    The gaping mouths filled with jagged, needle-like teeth were bad enough. They reminded Cisneros of some demented cross between an Anglerfish and a Great White Shark. However it was the beady, human eyes their stared back at him that chilled his blood.
    The larger creature on the left had soulless, black eyes that looked more like obsidian orbs than eyes. But the smaller one on the right had brilliant blue irises that reminded him of his wife's back home.
    "Well that was unexpected." Cisneros commented as he attempted to regain his composure.
    "They do that." Dr. Connel said off-handedly. "Tried a hell of a lot harder for the first hour or so. I think they're smart enough to realize that they were trying in vain."
    Cisneros chuckled at her cockiness.
    It was comforting.
    "So what am I looking at Doctor?"
    "Assistant Director, allow me to introduce Adam..." she said, motioning to the larger beast on the left. "And Eve."
    Stepping forward, Dr. Connel examined the beasts closer and started to notice more differences than just their eyes.
    'Adam' as Dr. Connel called him, was completely nude though he was reassured to find that the human similarities stopped at genitalia. Additionally the creature seemed heavier set, with more armor and hard edges than its compatriot, and seemed to have some sort of clawed tentacles that were tucked away behind him, sprouting from its back.
    'Eve', on the other hand, seemed to be wearing the shredded remains of a lab coat and pants. The remains hung loosely in random patches of torn fabric. Its form seemed more leathery and less armored and definitely had more of a human appearance than its partner's.
    A name tag hung on its breast but the name had been obscured by a large spray of gore.
    "And here I would have thought biblical names would be in poor taste." Cisneros said with a sideways glance before trying again identify the name beneath the blood.
    "It seemed appropriate, although it was arguably done backwards."
    "Explain."
    "Eve was the first, uh, created."
    "One of your peers?" Cisneros asked in a detached tone despite the fact it made his stomach churn.
    "Correct. She was the unfortunate one to discover the effects of blood exposure."
    Dr. Patang made a gagged sound behind them and both turned to look at him.
    "Wait a minute. I-Is that...Sasha?" he asked.
    Dr. Connel gave a curt nod and Cisneros had to admire her cold professionalism. He would have at least reacted but she seemed unfazed.
    "Unfortunately, Dr. Garcia fell ill after you last saw her." she said softly before turning away.
    Dr. Patang stifled a sob and Cisneros could see the tears welling around his eyes. He was clearly biting his lips but said nothing more. Dr. Connel was already focused on the holding cell again.
    Cold and professional. Cisneros thought again.
    "Adam, came later." she said, redirecting the conversation.
    "Another scientist?" he asked, making an edge of annoyance clear in his voice.
    More dead meant more paperwork and he wasn't in the mood for his head researcher to be sloppy.
    "Better. He was grown."
    "Grown?"
    There was a bang from behind and Cisneros realized that Dr. Patang had left, slamming the door behind him. He was stalking away openly sobbing.
    "Don't mind him." Dr. Connel said shortly. "But yes. Grown."
    "From what?"
    "The larvae. As I mentioned earlier."
    Cisneros stared wearily at the hulking 'Adam' and felt his nerves fraying.
    "I really don't have time and patience for your games, Samantha." he said, putting on his best, managerial tone.
    Dr. Connel's eyes narrowed, but despite their history, she knew it was better not to mouth off when Cisneros pulled rank.
    "In that case, Assistant Director, allow me to show you to the Hatchery."
    Cisneros again glanced at what the doctor had identified as 'The Nest' and then back at Dr. Connel in confusion.
    "After Adam, we realized it would be a bad idea to keep the eggs in the nest."
    Eggs? 
    "Then lead on, Doctor."
    And Dr. Connel lead them out of the operating theater to a nearby security door; leaving Adam and Eve still softly clawing at the impenetrable glass. The dried blood chipping just enough to reveal "S. Ramirez" on the smaller monster's nametag before it clattered to the floor and was subsequently consumed by the throbbing, pulsing alien matter that covered almost every surface of the room.
    "Do we have a name for these things yet, Dr. Connel?"
    "Well, nothing official yet, but a few of the scientists of taken to calling them furamorphs. Poetic idiots, that they are."
    "Furamorphs?"
    "It's old Latin. Translates roughly to 'Stolen Form."

Heat - Final

    Stalks of corn seemed to reach out to grab for George as he ran with all the strength in his body. Dry edges and broad leaves clawed at his arms and legs and threatened to trip him up and leave him in the monster's grasp.
    furRUMPfurRUMPFURRUMP!
    The sound of a runaway train galloped behind him as the thing pursued. His head start had only given him an extra matter of seconds. Now the beast closed in with terrifying speed.
    And the ground shook as it got closer.
    George's legs pumped furiously, but he knew it was worthless. The thing was too fast, but that was part of his very mediocre plan.
    Let it chase him.
    He reached out and grabbed a handful of stalks with his left hand. He could feel the corn tearing from the ground, but it gave him some of the leverage he needed. Pivoting and pulling, he yanked his entire body hard and spun. He hit the ground hard and rolled out of the beast's path as it barreled by far too fast to grab him.
    Its scythe claws swung worthlessly over his head.
    Cradling his broken right hand, he pushed himself out of the debris and took off running again. This time at a 90 degree angle away from the thing's path as it slid and skidded through the corn field, trying ineffectively to slow down.
    Another extra few seconds.
    Another sprint as hard as he could.
    His lungs burned. His body ached. He was bleeding from at least a couple of scrapes and cuts on his arms and face. But it didn't matter.
    He had to keep it distracted.
    And maybe, just maybe, get away.
    furRUMPfurRUMPFURRUMP!
    The sound came up from behind and to his right.
    George dove forward, landing belly up on the stalks that scratched his skin, jabbed him in more places than he could count, and knocked the wind out of him.
    And once again, the beast flew past him, a force of destruction fueled by tremendous weight and speed; taking an entire swath out of the field as it did.
    It slowed, faster this time, but still not fast enough.
    Barely able to breathe, and his limbs violently shaking, he took off running again at another sharp, contradictory angle.
    In the haze of exhaustion and panic, he heard something. A wooshing sound of some kind from the sky. It didn't mean anything to his numbed mind, but it registered for some reason.
    It was something important.
    But not important enough.
    His breath was ragged now. He was coughing and gagging more than he was breathing now. He was strong and had endurance, but he wasn't a track star and the sheer terror and effort was having an effect on his untrained body.
    George's feet stumbled and gave out beneath him.
    furrumpfurrumpfurruMP
    He could hear it coming.
    Hell, he could feel it coming.
    furRUMPfurRUMPFURRUMP!
    Reaching down with his uninjured hand, he pushed off on the dry dirt hard and rolled to the side.
    A massive foot slammed down an inch away from his head as the thing failed to catch him yet again and went crashing by.
    George went to pull himself up again and found himself barely able to do so.
    The thing was already turning by the time he was able to stand.
    Still, he tried to run. And quickly realized he could barely walk.
    Another wooshing sound; this one louder with a loud hiss. It came from the field behind him where the ship had been found. Another monster perhaps? What the hell was that sound?
    It didn't matter.
    He kept going. Half jogging, half stumbling, towards the edge of his field. He couldn't keep going and some part of him told him to get to the edge of the field.
    He just had to get to the edge of the field.
    "Lel-!" he tried to yell for his wife, only to his voice disappear; hitching in his chest and cut off by a coughing fit.
    She had to get away, wherever she was.
    Only then, George realized he could see her.
    Lelena was there, just outside of the field. She was dirty but otherwise unharmed. And she looked like she was yelling at someone and pointing at the field with the barrel of her revolver.
    Who was she yelling at? he absently wondered.
    furRUMPfurRUMPFURRUMP!
    Unconsciously, George dove forward. He hit the ground hard and, for the second time, felt his breath escape him.
    Only too late, in the haze, he forgot to roll out of the way.
    He tried to push himself to the side, but too slowly this time.
    His right arm was destroyed under the weight of one of the beast's clawed feet and thrown into the air as the thing galloped past once again and back out into the open.
    Back where Lelena was.
    But George couldn't think. He couldn't feel. His mind was alight in the fire of agony from having his arm torn off and he was screaming.
    He couldn't hear his wife yelling at the marshals and their marine contingent. He couldn't hear the thunderous echo of pulse and gauss rifles that punched through the monster's hard carpace. He didn't feel the thing's spray of vile blood or the thud as the beast fell to the ground; poisoning the very dirt it lay upon.
    He didn't even remember the face of Lelena and the marine medic by her side hovering over him or his trip to medical facility nearby.
    All he remembered was the pain.
    And, lingering up from the depths of his belly, an odd sensation that his body felt entirely too hot.

Xenophobia - Chapter 34

    "Special?" Darrian asked with a lit of interest.
    Illiquina responded with a little nod as she tapped away on her datapad.
    "That seems contradictory to the idea that they were all the same model." Ferris interjected.
    "Doesn't it though?" she quipped back.
    "So why-" he began.
    "Let's call it a hunch." she said before handing the datapad to Darrian.
    Hesitantly taking the little computer, Darrian examined what she had laid out for him. It appeared to be some kind of a spreadsheet. It highlighted dozens of columns of information that made no sense to him, but three specific sets of data had been highlighted.
    'Termination Reason' and 'Reclamation'.
    "So you think the old judge was designed special then?" Ferris asked as Darrian studied the spreadsheet.

    "I don't think it started that way." she responded. "But for some reason, the old robot stuck out amongst his peers."

    After a moment of reading, Darrian understood why Illiquina thought what she did.

    "They cannibalized the others to keep the judge running." he said in shock.

    With the exception of a single DR robot which had been lost due to accidental explosive decompression, every other one of the judge's robots had been used in some capacity to repair him. Some of the units had been lost due to natural causes: mechanical or electronic failures of some capacity. Others had been intentionally dismantled and decommissioned with the intent to disassemble them.

    No matter how, though, the parts of his ten brothers had been used to make the sure judge kept running.

    "But...why?" Ferris asked in surprise as he read through the data himself. 

    "Again, I can't even take a stab at that without the judge's file." Illquina said with a hint of annoyance.

    "There had to be something." Darrian added quickly. "Something he did or said that was out of character. Something that made him stand out."

    "They all had the same purpose though." Ferris thought out loud. "So it must have been something big."

    "And that's why I think it was the Guillae." she shot back.

    In his sleep addled brain, the two ideas didn't connect. He was about to ask yet another question but Illiquina was kind enough to answer it before it could be asked.

    "Of the races in the galaxy," she said coolly, "which do you think would be the biggest threat to the Merrenian's desire for water."

    "The Guillae." Darrian echoed hollowly.

    "Right. The Guillae, at least at the time, were the only species that would have used water. Without their original file, I have no idea if the Guillae were an established race or the Consortium just stumbled across them. No matter the how, the Guillae would have been the biggest threat to their attempts to gather water."

    Darrian stared at her for a long moment, considering what hat just been said.

    "Then you think-"

    "The judge was involved somehow in the Guillae's removal from the Consortium."

    "Makes sense." agreed Darrian.

    "While that's interesting." Ferris said slowly. "This has nothing to do with Earth or the humans then."

    "Probably not." she agreed. "But it still seems strange that he reacted the way he did."

    "It does." Darrian agreed.

    "It doesn't matter." Ferris shot back. "We're speculating enough as it is. We don't need to build theories on top of-"

    KZZZT~

    "-nyone there?"
    They all turned in shock at the disembodied voice. The holographic imager started to generate the transmission from Jin'thun a moment later.
    "Hello?" he asked impatiently.
    "We're here." Illiquina said quickly and getting up from her place at the table.
    Despite his exhaustion, Darrian felt a new wave of energy rush into him.
    "Good. Because it's started." Jin'thun growled. "The Tulgucks have arrived."
    "Were you able to-" Ferris began.
    "We weren't able to do anything." he said gravely, cutting him off. "They've already begun their attack. The Mars colony has been destroyed along with everything in it."
    The room fell silent.
    "We're moving to intercept. But they've come for blood and their ships are faster and better equipped than we anticipated. We've already lost half our forces." he said quietly.
    "Where are they going?" Ferris  asked with horror in his voice.
    They all knew, but he had to ask.
    "Now that they're done with Mars." Jin'thun said slowly. "They're going to destroy Earth."

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(Hello Lovelies. I hope you enjoyed because this is our FINAL PUBLIC CHAPTER! From here on in, I will be doing a few things. On the backend, I will now be finishing the story and then re-writing and editing accordingly. The rewrite will make the story a little more cohesive since originally it was never meant to be a novel as well as adding a bit more character development. During this time period, we will be releasing regular, differing content but will also be starting to arrange things we need for the release including coverart and blog tours. the flip side is, you should finally see some different content then just Xenophobia. haha Have a wonderful day!)