---

It was a rather gloomy place to gaze upon and, without a doubt, there was no ray of sunshine anywhere in sight. And just by Lena’s recent statement, there wasn’t single soul in sight either. Even with the drone in the air, the young woman continued looking around for anybody. Unfortunately, there just wasn’t anybody or anyone. “Copy that, Venom. Proceeding”, she replied back to Lena, before she listened to Miller, having to give a slight smile, before it faded as quickly as it came.

“So far, from recent reports, I can’t be sure if they generate heat at all. But they seem to prefer warmer areas, making them possibly cold-blooded. But again, I can be too sure”, McKenna explained, before looking at him, almost in curiosity. “I don’t think there is such a name. Since the outbreak, they’ve been called “Parasites”. That’s how I remember them”, she shrugged. “What do you think?”

"I think Parasites is a pretty fitting name." Miller said. He had his right hand on the steering wheel. He put his left arm on the window opening, enjoying the nice cool breeze. "Do you plan to be here for the rest of your life?" He asked curiously. Right after he asked that question they came upon the tunnel. "Well..." He slowed down to a stop before entering the tunnel "You don't have to answer that question. I don't see much of what life could be outside of this." He said looking at the surroundings and trying to get a glimpse of the inside.

"I guess we go or we don't.." He trailed off. "Make sure to have your weapon ready." He said, getting a pistol out in a easy to reach location.

---

McKenna continued to look outside, even as she heard Miller speak. But she did take a glance at him, as if she was just trying his motive, or understand his behavior. Curiosity was only getting the better of her, when it came to this man. As mentioned before, why were they even having a casual conversation? It wasn’t her cup of tea these days, and yet, they were having one. It was a question she was mentally trying to answer right now. For some reason, it felt...comforting and easing to actually talk to somebody, more so than isolation.

“Same with you”, she finally said, after a few minutes of silence. “Stand down, Venom. After we cross the tunnel, we’ll give you the ‘okay’ to advance”, it was best for them to pursue first, and clean out the tunnel...if anything were to lurk in it. The plan was to have less casualties, and more people surviving. Getting out of the armored-vehicle, McKenna cocked both of her pistols, and kept them sheathed at her waist, while taking hold of her main automatic rifle. It felt strange to stand in front of the darkened tunnel; eerie, on top of it.

Footsteps approached McKenna from the back. A moment later Miller stepped beside her. "Hopefully this will be easy." He said looking into the darkness. He glanced over to her, "I'll drive the car slowly and I'll be ready to hop out at any given time." He said, "I thought it'd be easier than to walk back through the tunnel."

He walked back to the car, pressing the gas ever so slightly to keep up with the pace of McKenna. "Venom, starting our approach now. I'll give you updates in a few."

Miller left the door open to the armored vehicle so he could get out as soon as possible if needed.

---

Sensing Miller standing up, next to her, all McKenna could do was to stare before her, and try to catch a glance of anything that was out of the ordinary. The tunnel, at least, covered a yard or two, and the small circle of light was staring back at them from afar. At the moment, there wasn't an outline of a body, or an extraterrestrial, but McKenna had a pretty good idea that anything can lurk within its surroundings. If she were to trust her gut, then they weren't going to be alone while crossing this path.

Taking a breath, the young woman started walking into the tunnel, along with the vehicle beginning to follow her from behind. She turned her head around to see Miller, and gave him the signal to turn on the headlights.

Miller tried his best to see in the dark as his eyes adjusted but it was just too dark. When McKenna signaled for the lights, he turned them on immediately. When the lights lit up the area around them it exposed abandoned cars with skeletons everywhere. Luckily there was a bus, but it was hugging the wall so it was easier to pass. They continued to walk and drive through.

The tunnel smelled of death. There was no way for some of the corpses to disintegrate into the environment. "Damn.." Miller said out loud. The stench was nasty and he just wanted to plug his nose, but couldn't.

They approached a car which seemed a little out of place. It had survival gear and items inside, but the person it belonged was no where in sight. They came upon a corpse which had seemed relatively fresh, and had the wounds of a parasite.

---

The debris and the corpses that surrounded them were a rather pitiful sight, and McKenna could only think about the terror that these people had to endure, before ending up in their current state. Looking at the bodies a bit more closely, she was surprised to find most of them with the wounds, made by a Parasite, rather than a Predator.

They clearly weren’t clean kills, and they weren’t recent either. McKenna flinched lightly at the sight, although she was somewhat bothered by the smell of a fresh corpse sitting in a car. “Obviously, this one’s fresh”, she moved her rifle, so it would settle upon her back, and that she would reach back to take hold of her pistols. The dark-haired woman was now on guard, having to slowly turn around to see Miller.

“...which means that the killer isn’t too far away. For all we know, it could be right on top of us”, she finished, as she looked around, so she can possibly find any trace of the creature. A distant hiss from down the tunnel made her freeze...

Miller's stomach sank as soon as he heard the hiss from the creature. He quickly put the car in park and grabbed his assault rifle. He hurried over to McKenna. "I know you heard that.." He whispered next to her as he looked out into the tunnel.

Another hiss sounded and the trotting of legs could be heard echoing through the tunnel.

"Sounds like it's coming." He said as he backed up, trying to get a nice open area where the creature couldn't use objects to hide.

"Should we call for back up?" He asked.

---

McKenna's eyes were staring down the tunnel, and she depended on the five required senses of a hunter. She was desperate on pinpointing the source of the noise, quickly sheathed her pistol, and changed to her rifle, sitting on her back, knowing that heavier firearms were valuable in the termination of these creatures. The sound was getting closer, and the young woman's breathing was slightly quickening. Sure, this wasn't her first encounter with these abominations. But, still, there were in the dark. Who knew where they just might be able to attack?

As soon as Miller started to walk backwards, she followed him by doing the same, hoping that, by doing so, it would put their stalker in the light, and attacking it, would become a lot easier. "A dead body can act as bait, hoping that it would attract the same species, for another catch", she noted aloud, as she kept her gun aimed in the direction of the noise. "It would more than likely come to us, as we have already took the bait. We have to be the ones to take it out first", McKenna suggested, as they were near the outside.

Miller brought his radio to his mouth whispering, "Dismount your vehicles. We need fire support." As he was talking he was watching within the shadows for any kind of movement. By this time they had reached the outside and were in the sun. About 100 feet behind them the other 4 members were heading towards them in a hurried pace, all armed. Darren loved excitement and he was all geared up. He had multiple grenades on him as well as an absurd amount of ammunition, to the point it was almost laughable if the situation wasn't a intense as this one.

A few more moments a sound came from the tunnel. It was the 'Xeno'. From what it sounded like, it was near the exit of the tunnel but staying in the shadows. Miller assumed the creature was smart enough to stay out of the sunlight but he wasn't quite sure if that was actually the case. Miller was aiming down his weapon, just waiting for it to make a mistake.

Did the creature want the first move to be made by them?

Miller brought his radio back up, "Make sure you stay out of site of the tunnel exit, keep an eye on the area. We don't wanna spook the bastard." He said worrying about the fact that if the alien saw more of them he'd retreat back into the tunnels.

He casually spoke to McKenna, "You think the tunnel could be a nest?" He asked curiously.

McKenna brought her pistol, and kept it aimed towards where she had heard the hissing. She took a deep breath, and tried to use all of her senses, in order to determine where exactly the intruder was, as well as try to figure what its next move would be. She looked over at Miller; her heart was starting to pick up speed, as she continued to stare into the darkness of the tunnel.

It would be of no surprise that this was the noise of a 'Xeno', and McKenna knew they would be a big trouble if they allow it to keep on living. They still had to find the child, and she also felt that it was her responsibility to make sure that they all get out of this alive.

She reached for her walkie, and whispered into it. "Everybody, be steady. We're right on top of something".

Hearing Miller's question, McKenna looked around her. "If there are more fresh bodies, not too long ago, we just may be standing in one. Unless this one is alone", a thought came to her, making her grab the walkie again. "Viper, keep an eye out for corpses that are recent. We might be standing in for an ambush", the brunette then slowly took hold of her pistol again.

It went quiet again....until she heard a scream behind them.

Miller quickly turned around to see who had screamed. It was Reina. A Xeno had jumped on top of her. It's mouth was stretched out, almost about to bite into her. Miller's first instinct was to shoot, but remembered that the blood of the Xeno's were acidic.Before he was able to respond to any kind of plan, Regi Bergmann tackled the creature off of her.

As soon as he tackled him Darren shouted, "Get away from it!" Regi hit it a couple times at it squirmed but was able to get up from and away from creature.

A grenade landed right beside the Xeno. Before the Xeno could react, the grenade exploded causing a loud bang. The Xeno had lived but it was missing some limbs, crawling and screaming as it tried to run away. It's blood seeping on the asphalt, melting it.

Miller watched, surprised at how fast Darren was a ready to kill the creature.

McKenna's first instinct was to run towards where she heard the scream, and so, she acted fast. With her gun in hand, the young woman moved her feet. Setting herself into a sprint, she managed to catch up to the group, just in time to see a Xeno at their feet, that was struggling to get up, and flee. She just watched it, as if trying to study it with her eyes alone, until images started to flash within her mind; images from the past; from where she first saw this creature, to the point where she saw a pack of them, while she was making her escape from her family home, when the parasitic invasion first began:

With her shotgun in hand, she was running from the house, with a pack of three Xenos, behind her. She was sixteen-seventeen years-old, that night; the same night when the military managed to get a hold of her, and the same night when she shot the very-same creature for the first time. She was lucky to not have gotten sprayed with its blood, considering that it was a mid-range shot.

Looking down at the struggling extraterrestrial, at this very moment, McKenna brought her pistol up, and took several shots at its head, after making sure that she and her teammates were at a safe distance. She shot this thing repeatedly, with disgust and anger in her eyes, and not that much of an exterior emotion.