Alien: Out the Shadows

“Something’s bound to be wrong with it,” Lachance said, and Hoop actually guffawed.

“Just live with the fact we’ve been given a break,” he said. “Come on. Everyone inside, quickly.”

He waited beside the elevator while Baxter checked the controls. Power was still on, and when he pressed at the buttons, the cage door slid open to reveal the elevator car. As with the one that had crashed, the walls were of mesh and struts, the floor a solid sheet. No mirrors, no music. There was no need for luxuries in a mine.

Sneddon stood close to Hoop, swaying slowly from side to side.

“You feeling okay?” he asked.

Sneddon nodded. “Thirsty,” she croaked.

“Won’t be long now.” He looked past her at Ripley. She was staring, frowning deeply. She’d placed herself at the far side of the elevator doors, and even as they started filing aboard, she kept her eyes on the science officer, and tried to steer clear of her.

“Ripley?” he asked softly. But she looked at him and shook her head. She knew as well as any of them that they had to leave this level. Anything else was of a lesser priority.

She’s carrying one of those things, Hoop thought, glancing at Sneddon again. She looked tired, but herself. He’d seen them on the viewing screen, from inside Samson, bursting from chests. He’d listened to Ripley’s story about the crew member on her ship, how he’d effected a miraculous recovery, only to be ripped apart an hour later.

Sneddon seemed fine. But she was living on borrowed time.

Maybe she knew that.

He stepped into the elevator, and instantly it felt as if they were rising. A weight fell from him. He slumped against the wall and sighed, closing his eyes, and as the doors slid closed he seemed to be waiting forever for the sound they made when they came together.

“We’re looking good,” Baxter said. “I think we might—”

The impact was massive, smashing against the doors, bowing them inward. A fresh crash came from another side, and another, and then all four sides of the enclosed elevator shaft were being assaulted from outside, aliens smashing against the mesh again and again. Metal creaked and tore, and Hoop heard the distinctive snap! as a set of teeth crunched together.

They all moved away from the walls, colliding in the center of the elevator and huddling there. Hoop trained his spray gun on the walls, the others aimed their weapons, but none of them could fire. Acid would splash and kill them all, plasma would surge across the inner surfaces. Closed away from the aliens at last, they also found themselves nalyseess.

“Press the fucking button!” Lachance screamed at Baxter.

More banging, rending metal, and the rage-filled hissing of the creatures trying their best to reach their prey.

Baxter didn’t hesitate. He lunged for the control panel and slapped his open hand on the button labeled “4”.

If he’d stepped carefully he might have been all right. If panic and fear hadn’t slammed him against the lift cage wall, perhaps he’d have been able to jump lightly back into the center. But the instant the car began to rise, an alien’s head burst through the gap between doors, bending and ripping them apart. It thrashed and twisted as it tried to force itself inside. Moments later its teeth flashed out and struck hard against Baxter’s right shoulder. They chewed so rapidly that they burrowed through his jacket, skin, flesh, and clamped tight around his scapular.

Baxter screamed, eyes wide. The alien pulled, tugging him halfway through the ragged hole it had created.

They were rising.

Hoop went to help, grabbing at the comm officer’s belt, Lachance doing the same on the other side. The alien’s clawed hand slashed in, and Hoop only just let go in time. He held Baxter’s legs instead, pulling as hard as he could, gritting his teeth, vision blurring with the effort.

The cage rattled violently.

Baxter began screaming because he knew what was to come. He was stuck fast halfway through the opening, and they pulled one way while the alien tugged the other, rising and dangling from the suffering man as the lift took its prey out of reach.

Whether or not the alien let go, Hoop did not know. But he closed his eyes as Baxter struck the first of the crossbeams forming the shaft’s superstructure. The man’s cry instantly cut off and was replaced with the most dreadful sound of ripping, tearing, crushing.

He suddenly became very light. Hoop turned around and let go as something splashed down onto the elevator’s floor.

“Oh, God!” someone said.

They continued rising. Below them the cacophony persisted as aliens smashed against the walls. But the elevator accelerated, rapidly passing level 8 and speeding up even more. Hoop’s stomach dropped. And when he turned around and looked at what was left of Baxter, he wasn’t the only one to fall to his knees and puke.

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