2

I woke up in my room, my head throbbing and my neck aching from whatever they'd drugged me with. I immediately remembered Pepper and sat up, gasping. The door was obviously locked so I slammed in it, yelling and screaming but nobody came.

I screamed as loud as I could, when suddenly the lights all went out. I went silent, wondering what was going on. It was eerily quiet outside the door as well, like nobody was around. Not even the guards seemed to be outside, where was everyone?

Just as I went to try and slam the door again, an alarm started blaring, as well as red spinning lights on the wall. A voice over the intercom announced a containment breach and for all subjects to stay in their cells. Like magic, the door beeped as it unlocked, obviously all the main power had gone down in this breach. I cautiously stepped out the doorway, and glanced around but nobody was there. All the guards were gone, and all the doors were open wide.

My first thought was I needed to find the others, to make sure they were safe. I crept down the corridor, towards where their rooms were. Pepper's was empty and I got a sinking feeling when I saw her wheelchair there abandoned. I walked further but stopped when I saw the open door to the morgue of the facility. I could already see Pepper's frizzy ginger hair, I didn't need to go closer.

"O-oh... god.." I whispered, my voice choking up as I felt my vision blur with tears. I had to stop myself from sobbing when I heard voices of guards, and quickly went down the opposite corridor. I needed to find Jakob and Ben quickly, but everywhere I went, there were guards looking for us all. I ran through another door, into a huge room full of jets and helicopters.

Just as I caught my breath, I heard the most bone-chilling roar from somewhere behind me. I immediately ran further into the room, terrified and panicked. At the back of the room was a strange ship-like vehicle that had an open door, so thinking quickly, I ran up the ramp and inside to hide. The ship was a confusing maze, but I eventually found a corner to hide in, curling myself up small and quieting my breathing. I could hear the yelling of guards, and that roar again. There were gunshots, but then the yelling went silent.

I was crying, trying desperately to keep my sobs silent. I tensed even more when I heard heavy footsteps come onto the ship, and felt a humming as the vehicle seemingly turned on. Maybe it was a bad idea to get on this thing...

I gasped when the ship started rumbling, and realised it was taking off with me still on board.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck." I cursed under my breath, keeping in the shadows under the desk I was hidden under.

—---

Makane huffed as he got the ship into the air. Screw this stupid fucking hunk of dirt. He'd been stuck on Earth for days now, and he wanted out. After placing his armour and helmet back in their spots, he sat in the cockpit with a sigh, relieved to be going home. At least he got a few trophies out of that ordeal.

His ship had mostly been untouched, those pesky scientists had yet to properly study the interior so all his settings were still in place. He tapped a few buttons, setting a course to Yautja Prime then sat back as the ship switched to autopilot to start the journey. Some food sounded nice right now, so he rose and walked down the hallway of the ship towards the food preparation area and synthesiser. Just as he pressed a button to get a hot plate of s'pke, he sensed something different.

Thumpthump, thumpthump, thumpthump.

Makaone tapped the screen on his gauntlet, bringing up an internal scan of the ship and sure enough, the heat energy of a human was there along with his. The creature must've stowed away somehow while he was busy dealing with those others back in the lab.

He walked down the hall and put his armour back on in case the human was armed, then approached the bathroom where the scan showed there were. The door slid open automatically and he saw... a human woman curled up in a corner crying.