Alien - Series Fan Fiction ❯ Transformation ❯ Chapter 1 ( Chapter 1 )

Transformation

 

Chapter 1

 

The stale air of the room kept Arthur's thoughts at bay as he smoked his fresh cigarette and waited for the world to go by. Time was no factor here because there was no way to tell it. This was his room, his safe house. His mental life personified in a metal box with tattered wallpaper that emulated a fine wood grain. It was his own run down little apartment in the back of his mind. Only one door was the exit.

 

He casually brought the tequila to his parched lips and savored the smooth taste puffing another lungful of smoke. The now empty shot glass banged solidly against the oak table as he set it down to pour more from the bottle. He leaned back in his padded green chair worn from overuse and poor maintenance much like the other chair next to him. The drink slid down smooth again easing his mind. It was the best he ever had, because he remembered the best he ever had.

 

The only exit, the door in front of him was also painted green. It was an old wooden door, decayed from overuse with rusted metal hinges that could have dated back to the 19th century. It was unkempt as with the rest of the apartment. It was too worn to provide any protection. It was all he needed.

 

Beyond that door was the realm of nightmares. The infinity of darkness that one could get lost in for all eternity. And it stared him in the face through that door laughing at him. It begged his curiosity to open it. It begged him with optimistic cheers. It questioned that perhaps beyond that frail wooden barrier was a heaven instead of a hell.

 

But the courage he held was as solid as the liquid that flowed down his throat and the puffs of smoke from his cigarette. So he waited for the world to go by fearful of what lay beyond that door and terrified of never finding out. And then all his fears answered for him. Great screeching and hissing echoed behind the door. Whatever demons lay beyond that barrier to hell were going to break through in a matter of moments.

 

So he waited for the world to go by drinking his tequila and smoking his cigarette. The door began to creak now under the weight of the monster. He could now sense it was only one. It was trying to claw its way through into his room. It wanted him.

 

So he waited, set down the drink, and snuffed out the cigarette.

 

The doors became jagged shrapnel as it blew open. Arthur came face to face… to himself standing in the doorway. This other Arthur stood smiling at him seeming to welcome and congratulate him. The peaceful face was ruined as it contorted as if something was wearing his body as a costume. Rivulets of deep red blood began to pour from his every vein, and his skin seemed to burst.

 

Arthur could only stare at the grotesque abomination that gorily took the place of his doppelganger. It was humanoid even disturbingly human. But the nearly black chitin shell that covered it was utterly alien. The head was nothing more than an elongated, smooth and polished dome. It grinned at him with silver teeth as a wicked spear-shaped tail, a deadly extension of its backbone, fluttered behind it almost as long as it was. It was a strange combination of sickness, the visible ribcage, and hostility, the claws and tail that spoke of an emotionless killing machine.

 

It looked at him as it entered the room with its eerily human gait and sat down next to him in the adjacent seat. It laughed with his voice as it also picked up a cigarette, lit it, and breathed smoked into his face.

 

Arthur woke screaming. Everywhere scientists milled around him desperately working on large, incomprehensible consoles and other sorts of complicated computer equipment. Most were wearing full body, heavy duty suits. And the huge steel automatic door straight ahead of him was guarded by a small army of heavily armed marines. He realized he was trapped in a clear tube of some sort filled with a clear thick liquid. He was the center of attention here, the main attraction in the back center of the room. His tortured body caught up to him, he breathed agony as tried to break the glass that held him prisoner.

 

“He was not supposed to wake!” One young scientists voice was impossibly clear even through the sloshing of the liquid that held him and the full body suit that covered the man's face.

 

“Calm down, it cannot break through the glass as it is.” Arthur recognized his tormenter. He tried to punch through the glass when he heard every bone in his body creak and every muscle burn. It was parts of his body had changed but others struggled to catch up. With vision blurred from the water, Arthur stared directly into the cool eyes of the leader of these scientists, the voice, and his bane of existence.

 

“We will now begin the process of altering the brain. He must have a strong will to be able to wake up halfway through.”

 

The lead scientist nodded at an underling and Arthur suddenly felt completely cold. He tried to break the glass one more time when he realized his hands had changed. They were almost claws and the skin was covered in some sort of hard black shell... like the monster in his dream. Shocked, a sense of acceptance dawned over him as he fell back into unconsciousness. The sterile landscape of the lab folded under him and remolded itself into his mental room. And again he was not alone.

 

“Are you afraid of me?” The creature before him laughed as it spoke and flipped through a photo album. Pictures of him were haphazardly placed over every page from every moment in his life. Its mouth moved as if it was speaking but Arthur could see it had an inner jaw that should have made it biologically incapable of speech.

 

“Surprised, I can talk Arthur?” Its voice was full of mirth. He looked around his room noticing slight changes. In place of the door, thick beams of plywood sealed shut the opening. Patches of a strange black substance, similar in unnatural design to the monster beside him, covered half the room.

 

“You still think of me as a monster now don't you?” It laughed again as it drank from Arthur's bottle of tequila and commented.

 

“The best I ever had… because I remembered it.”

 

Arthur stepped back into the wall trying to widen the distance between himself and this abomination.

 

“Oh, Arthur. You really don't understand now don't you?”

 

The creature with incredible speed leaped right in front of Arthur. Its arms, muscles like steel bands, clasped around Arthur's neck and pulled him a foot of the ground his back still against the wall. He coughed spitting blood and tried to weakly pry the alien hands from his throat. But it held him still and it laughed as he pathetically struggled.

 

“Come now, Arthur, you don't hear that buzzing sound now?” In the distance he could hear a oncoming swarm of bees. It was the only sound other the words from the murderous demon.

 

“Our friends outside are almost finished, almost complete.” Its hand clenched harder around his neck cutting off precious blood supply. One could not die in a dream, could they? Were nightmares different? The creature continued to laugh at some victory he could not hope to guess.

 

“Don't fear me, Arthur!”

 

The buzzing grew louder now, closer to the room. He viciously kicked the creature; his shin felt like it had hit the outer hull of a military cruiser. Still it laughed and cried in amusement. Then he imperceptibly felt a switch being pulled, his physical mind suddenly shifted as the nanites finally bore into his brain. Neurons fired desperately as they were remolded to their masters' will but left unharmed.

 

“Don't fear me, Arthur,” it said.

 

“It's not good to fear yourself.”

 

And suddenly he was the creature laughing as he strangled himself against the wall.

 

Author's Notes: Noticed they had a section for the Alien Series. So I thought, why not?