Alien Breed

The captain swallows, fearful. “The other team has the extra fuel in their starship’s cargo hold. We just need to find where they landed,” he says.

“I didn’t see it on the shore,” I say.

He nods. “I noticed that, too. It was the designated drop-off point for both parties.”

“Must have been moved,” Fassbender says.

I sigh. “It could be anywhere.”

Fassbender lowers a rifle over his shoulders, adjusting the strap. “The beasts couldn’t have moved it far. The jungle is too dense. You can’t taxi a starship through massive trees. No, it must be near.”

Roy edges away from the group. He walks with his head tall, but I can tell he’s scared shitless. “I’ll see you on the flip side,” he says, glistening with sweat.

“Be careful,” Halloway mutters. “Keep your guard up.”

“Ay-ay, Captain,” he says, saluting.

When Roy leaves, Fassbender breathes a sigh of relief. They haven’t been getting along for a while now, but they’ve reached their breaking point.

I reach out to him, trying my best to appear constructive. “Give each other a break. We need to stick together on this,” I say.

He turns to me, eyes intense. “Maybe you should stay out of this,” he mutters.

His anger surprises me.

Though I don’t need it, Hugh comes to my aid. “Fassbender, what’s going on with you? Ever since we landed, you’ve acted like this is your mission,” Hugh says. “Halloway calls the shots. It’s kind of in the job title.”

Fassbender shares a glance with Halloway. He frowns and ignores Hugh. “We’ll head back to the sleeping quarters,” he commands.

I’m irritated. “So we can get killed again?” I ask.

Fassbender groans and walks toward the door. “Don’t trust me? Fine. You’ll take first shift. Sound good?”

He doesn’t wait for my response.

Night watch isn’t what I thought I’d be doing tonight, but I need to find out what’s going on.

I’m not staying in the compound. I’m going back to Discovery Base.

I know how insane that sounds. Morally, it’s wrong to leave the crew alone.

I believe there is evidence in that laboratory. There has to be something that can shed some light on what happened.

Roy may be an asshole sometimes, but he’s right. We need to figure this one out.

So I leave. I walk miles to Discovery Base.

The darkness is not my friend. I can’t see a thing. Every few seconds, I trip over something new. As I’m nearing the fa

cility, I half expect myself to turn back to the starship.

The only weapon I have is a pistol, and I’m not a trained shot. This will be interesting.

Stepping inside the building, I immediately crunch my boots against some broken glass. The scraping, cracking noise echoes throughout the laboratory.

I pause, pulse racing. Luckily, no alien appears.

As I move further into the compound, I step into a hallway we passed by earlier. Inside, there are many doors. I open one to see a gruesome sight, something I should have been expecting to see but wasn’t.