Alien: Isolation (1st POV Ripley Edition)

#18

- Ripley, can you hear me?

Captain Verlaine's voice echoed throughout the station. The elevator doors opened and I was greeted by fire.

I rushed past and looked around. In front of me was the room with the EVA suits and the exit from the station. She would take me through the airlock via the stairs up to the Torrens boat, which is parked. But not so fast. First, I had to enable all this through the terminal.

Verlaine gave me advice on how to do it and I got to work. But it wasn't easy. Xenomorphs were everywhere. Of course, I couldn't see them and everything seemed calm, despite the fire. Even my motion detector seemed quiet. Still, I avoided the many dark ventilation openings above me, quietly, noiselessly, stepping a little further.

It was like hell. It's hot, and I'm sneaking around the tunnels with my gear and activating the switches. When one of those series of activations was over, the door to the upper level finally opened. The staircase led me upstairs, where I had to activate the access point to Torrens. And again the same, narrow corridors, fire, unexpected dark passages above my head and monsters nowhere. When that was over, I started down the stairs.

But immediately after opening the door, a heavy body fell only two meters from me. in front of me, to be exact. And just as the door I was about to pass through opened.

But the creature didn't see me. Fortunately, he was facing the other way. And instead of turning around, he just walked away, going down the stairs.

I breathed a sigh of relief and stopped clutching my flamethrower. It had quite a bit of filling, but it would do for me.

Okay, Amanda, now comes the hard part...

I prepared two bombs and two molotov cocktails in case two or more friends meet me downstairs.

AND? She started, because there is no time to waste. If death awaits me, it won't be long.

The staircase was hot because there was a fire on the lower level. I didn't linger, but approached the door. It opened. The motion detector recorded three body movements. They were in front of me, staring at me. A moment of general assessment. I had to use it.

I quickly threw a Molotov cocktail straight into the first and the broken glass with its burning contents spilled onto the second. The packs roared and moved away. but what was the third? The detector showed that he was in one of the ceiling spaces. I quietly and quickly passed through the space, avoiding that square of darkness.

All this lasted maybe five minutes and then I found myself again in front of the EVA chamber. Now or never! Come over and I'll start dressing. But as soon as I started I noticed a square of blackness above me. And a drop...one, then another, on my helmet! Oh, no!

I didn't even have time to scream, and the creature dragged me upstairs, hugged me and quickly dragged me away. At that moment I lost consciousness.

***

I woke up in a nest full of eggs.

I didn't hesitate for a moment. I immediately started to pull away with all my might and lo! I did it! It wasn't difficult! But how? Those dead bodies in litters could just as easily have been snatched away like me, right? But they didn't, because the eggs were in them, I concluded, remembering the words of Dr. Lingard and Captain Marlow's adventure that started it all.

I swallowed. Did I feel weird? Throat? No, nothing at all. I looked around me. There was no facehugger lying dead after the job was done. But the eggs, alarmingly ripe, were only a meter and a half from me.

Hmm... probably one of the monsters here left me as an incubator in hopes that the eggs would start on me very soon. And probably would have, if I hadn't woken up.

And my gear?

Fortunately, it was with me, in my light backpack. I pulled out the flamethrower, re-arranged its modular element and activated it. Then I demolished the first egg. There was squealing and cracking and scattering, but nothing more. I quickly moved on. How long has it been? Is Verlaine still around? my watch showed that a full 10 minutes had passed since my accident in the EVA chamber. Okay, let's move on.

What followed was one of the worst sequences of creeping, crouching and moving through the narrow, overcrowded, burning ruins of Sevastopol station. I didn't even think, I just burned eggs and facehuggers, automatically stopped in front of insanely accelerated elevators without control, and climbed and descended ladders from one level to another and the like. Of course, I went back to the EVA chamber, once again. Because I had no choice. This time, I told myself, I will be ready.

When I finally arrived, exhausted, I was greeted by 90% of the area around the chamber in flames.

And the narrow path of security. Okay, so be it. I ran through, aware that I could no longer be quiet. Maybe a minute and there is no more air. I had to look for it inside the helmet.

- Ripley? Are you still there? - heard a familiar voice.

- Verlaine! Yes, I'm still alive!

- Quick, Ripley, you didn't answer, but I knew you were there somewhere! We have a little time. Can you make it to Torrens? From here, mass makes you can.

- The connecting platform has been successfully set up, I will arrive in a few minutes! - I retorted and went to work.

Exhausted, but still I didn't give up. I wore an EVA suit. I carried all weapons and supplies in my backpack. because there was enough room in the suit for it not to bother me.

And the too-slow, too-long nightmare space-walk followed.

Sluggishly, slowly and persistently. I moved towards the platform, then across the platform towards the ship Torrens, connected with docking clamps.

And the station was literally falling apart around me. Parts were falling off and disintegrating, and there was a lot of space debris. Somehow I got through it unscathed. Primarily because I crouched and rolled over a few crucial times.

Finally, I was greeted by the sight of the gas giant KG348. A terrifyingly magnificent sight. I had the impression that its stormy atmosphere was only a few hundred meters away from me and that it would swallow me up.

But I didn't let myself settle down. I've come this far and nothing is going to confuse me now!

I activated the two switches and inserted the activation card. Then I quickly pulled out the four safety rollers for the final disconnection of the platform after Torrens.

And at the last moment I attached my suit with metal clips to the ship's frame.

The platform separated, slowly at first, then faster. And look! A dozen xenomorphs rushed towards me. So... They realized that they wouldn't be able to reach me when the station separated from the ship...

And they didn't. The station of one spinner was firmly connected to the ship, and on the other, everything spun, and the station flew at hypersonic speed into the atmosphere of the gas giant.

I saw everything around me spinning and the creatures flying into the vacuum while I was chained to the Torrens. Moment two and I collided with the ship's plating. I lost consciousness again.