"Fuck," he cursed, unable to shoot his flamer at the eldritch abomination that had tackled Sayeeda. He didn't even trust himself with his sidearm in the dark. He hesitated on what to do, then looked at how hefty his weapon was and the light-bulb popped into his head. Unfortunately he didn't make it there in time to bludgeon the Xenos. Neil felt a cold chill run down his spine, and a tightness in his throat when he saw Sayeeda being yanked into the ventilation shaft. 

"Captain!" He cried, skidding across the smooth surface of the floor and poking his head into the shaft. His voice would echo down the ventilation system. "Sayeeda! Babe!" 

He couldn't exactly comprehend the struggle that ensued, and the gunshots he heard brought a surprised look to his face. It was her voice on the comm that showed he wouldn't need to promote himself to [i]Highlander's[/i] Captain. 

"Neil," she gasped, opening the com link to the pilot, "Make a note, we are officially putting in for hazard pay."

Neil gave a disbelieving laugh, and nodded. "Oh, we'll squeeze him for all he's worth, girly." He replied, turning around and keeping his light on the dark hallway he now stood within alone. It seemed so much bigger now that he'd have to walk through this by himself. But then again, he liked challenges. Granted he had to tell himself that, but still. He decided to keep away from the ventilation, and back up into the hallway, his flamer set on ready, bringing a soft glow of fire at the muzzle of its barrel. 

He didn't know if she would admit she would need help, but by her voice she didn't sound too hurt so... there was that. He turned the comm on again, a faint static registered as he did so. "Let's rendezvous on C level." He said to her, not knowing how far she'd gone down and trying to find a middle ground for them to meet. "With any luck, we can find some stairs that reach all levels, find an empty hall and climb up to A's fore. Copy?" 

Her reply was filled with static, and he couldn't exactly decipher it himself. He let out a sigh, more annoyed than afraid at this point. "Fucking figures." He said. His comm's static grew louder, and he had to shut it off lest it reveal his position.

Shoving the comm away, he reached into his pocket and produced a toothpick, slipping it into his mouth. It helped his mind on the task at hand, playing with it with his tongue every so often to keep the fidgeting part of his head preoccupied. 

Unfortunately, that didn't solve the problem of being alone in this hallway. The slow crawl to the end of A level was as ominous as before Sayeeda had been taken. Blood smeared across the walls and floor, caking the once white surface of the facility into a hellish painting out of nightmares. Dismembered limbs and half devoured corpses were strewn, intermingling with the overturned tables and chairs. Doorways lay unopened, broken, or hastily half opened. He checked everyone, his finger on the trigger and his reaction at a razor's edge.

The second to last door at the end of the hall, he found his first dead Xenos. He almost couldn't believe it was a corpse at first, but there it was. Its mass of spider-like limbs shrunken and now drooping as if it was an un-watered plant. Next to it was a man's corpse, covered in slime, having been impaled by...something. The chitinous carapace of the alien was scarred and ripped from what Neil could only guess was gunfire, and it was confirmed when he saw the gun in the rigid grip of the man. He didn't know if he should feel better these things didn't kill anyone without casualties of their own, or if forty dead equaling out to one kill was a very bad sign. Its clawed arms looked sharp enough to split limbs, which made sense from the gruesome scene behind him.

Neil stepped into the room, the furniture and chairs, and the coffee maker, made him realize this was a lounge of some sort. Various bodies lay limp, but the one next to the Xenos looked to be one of the security officers based on his uniform and gun. The pilot was wondering if he should take the firearm. This guy wouldn't be needing it anymore.

When the man's corpse coughed, Neil leaped back and instinctively revved the flamer. He thanked whatever higher power that was out there he didn't immediately engulf the man in flames. Neil shut it down and headed over to him, kneeling down before the guy as he coughed more. "Hey...hey buddy." Neil said, shaking him to rouse his attention. The man coughed again... and then again. It was the final cough that produced a fountain of blood shooting out of his lips, and Neil yelped at the sight, some of the crimson liquid coating his cheek. 

He watched in horror as the man's body contorted and swayed, and then jerked twice. "Well that's..." Neil whispered as claws and segmented legs began to rip through the man's upper chest. "-something you don't see everyday." There was a terrible cracking, and a sucking noise as the newly born Xenos lifted itself out of the man's corpse. Neil suddenly remembered the swiftness of when the alien hit Sayeeda, so he wasted no time in turning his flamer on. 

"Shit," he spat, seeing it just about to leap before the [i]woosh[/i] of the fire engulfed it. To his surprise, he was still nearly killed. The fire consumed it, but its flaming body flailed from the sudden coiled spring of its legs, having lots its leaping accuracy due to being killed mid spring. Neil ducked under the flying alien, the Xenos hitting the wall with a thud and sliding down, dead. Neil spit on it, before realizing he'd been preoccupied far too long. The young pilot turned around to make sure nothing else had snuck up on him in the dark. His light illuminated the doorway to reveal- 

Nothing. He squinted, deciding it was best to make it to the stairway he had seen at the edge of the corridor. With practiced, light steps from his days of thieving, he made it to the door without making another noise. 

It seemed the caution paid off, for there was the lightest clicking from back whence he came, and another clicking that followed as if in reply. He tongued his toothpick, and mouthed 'not today.' 

Firestorm didn't even step into the hallway fully before he lit up the corridor with flame, spraying a short amount but making sure to engulf every corner he could reach. There was a terrible shriek, a shrill, utterly alien cry that threatened to dig into his mind and unhinge it, and the flinging, popping alien corpses of three Xenos looked like hellish dancers in the firelight. Suddenly, he doubted he's get as turned on by dancers now as opposed to his tastes when he first made it to Fornax. 

The last thing he saw before entertain the Stairway and jamming the door was sixteen eyes staring at him from across the lack of liquid fire he had created.
[@Penny]