Eight lifted her head, and peered around the room. It was empty still. But this place wasn't good enough. She needed a more secure place to store her "trophy". Eight stood up, and began to move towards the door. When Alex hesitated, Eight hissed at him. Alex, not wanting to piss her off even more since he was unarmored, stood up slowly and followed. Eight moved quickly down multiple corridors, and found a somewhat large room; the General's old quarters to be exact. And it seemed to be one of the few places that had everything a human needed. An oven, a large kitchen area with a sink and cupboard, a refrigerator, a bathroom, etc… It would suit Alex well. Even he thought so. He had never even dreamed of living in the General's quarters, but now that everyone was dead… he just got a promotion.

Alex, currently ignoring Eight seeing as she wasn't a threat anymore, moved towards the kitchen area. His first instinct was to go towards the refrigerator, seeing as he was literally starving, but he had a hunch. He moved towards the kitchen sink, and turned the knob on the left of the faucet. After a moment of sputtering, water shot out of the faucet. Alex broke out laughing in joy. Of course, the General had water in emergency situations, while he was stuck scrounging from the damn mess hall. Alex cupped his hand under the stream of water, and took a few sips. He turned the knob back, and moved to the refrigerator. He after rummaging through the random objects inside for a moment, he found a large ration bar. For some reason, he liked them. Other soldiers complained that the bars were too hard to bite off, but Alex preferred it that way. Then you'd never bite off more than you can chew, and you'd never choke. At least in theory.

Alex grabbed the ration bar, and bit off the corner of the sealed tin-foiled package. He pealed the packaging away, revealing six large, graham-cracker like bars. Two bars per day, or so the command said. But Alex might've eaten all of them if he could've. Meanwhile, Eight was investigating the room. She had checked the bathroom, the closets, and even the ventilation system. There was absolutely nothing there that didn't belong in a human room. A few moments later, Eight lifted her head, as if she had heard something. Alex had just finished his second ration bar when he noticed Eight do this. Eight took off running down the hall, not to be seen for a prolonged amount of time.

Alex finished his third ration bar, and threw the rest back into the refrigerator. He washed it all down with two glasses of water, and then scavenged the area. He searched al the drawers, the cabinets, and the medicine cabinet as well. He found a med-kit, with two Stims, and three rolls of bandages. He also found toothpaste, a toothbrush, aspirin, and a few extra Stims in the medicine cabinet. Of course, the Stims were the only thing of use. First of all, Alex didn't have heart problems, and second, dental hygiene was at the bottom of his list right now. He could use a shower though… Maybe he could wash off the smell of death and blood.

Alex found the relatively large bed that the General used, and lifted the covers. There was nothing in the bed, which was good. Alex could use some sleep in an actual bed, not just a sleeping bag on the floor. Alex hopped into the bed, and quickly fell into what was originally a deep, restful sleep. Out of habit however, Alex locked the door and sealed off as many vents as he could. But two remained open, because they were the emergency vents. But they led to what was supposedly an impenetrable outdoors area. But still, Alex felt relatively secure for the moment. Secure enough to actually fall asleep instead of pass out from exhaustion.

Later in the night, Alex found himself awake, and alone. He needed time to contemplate the past few days. His squad was killed, along with every other inhabitant of the colony. His leg was injured by the bugs, and then he was beaten by them. Then they took him hostage, and now he was sitting in the officer's quarters, alone and bored to tears. It wasn't an average week honestly. The first thing Alex was going to do when he gets back to Earth would be visiting his best friend. Lucky him, he signed up for the army and was stationed in New York. Then, he was going to look up his ex. And he was going to leave a very inappropriate message on her doorstep. It would describe in vivid detail about the relationship Alex had with her sister after they broke up. That would piss them both off. They both pissed him off anyway, so it was more or less payback. But of course, he had to survive his "intimate" encounter with alien life-forms first.

Alex was up until early in the morning. Around 3 A.M. to be exact. After that, he collapsed back onto the bed from pure exhaustion. He had a restful sleep, no nightmares… at least none that Alex could remember. That's what he always found odd. He had three types of dreams; violent or disturbing nightmares… they never bothered him though. He was mute to it, being a soldier and all. He had vividly bright "fantasy" dreams, involving impossible things like flying and falling hundreds of feet and surviving. And there was the occasional sexually oriented dream. But usually, he didn't dream at all.

Alex woke up slowly, and was reluctant to get out of the bed. Its soft warmness welcomed him almost better than his own mother did. Until he heard a familiar sound. Bugs; up in the vents. By the sound of it, there was only one. But still. Alex scrambled to his feet, and scanned for his pistol. Then he remembered. Everyone was dead… his pistol was gone… And a bug decided to make him her very own trophy. Alex knew more about your average Xenomorph than half of the population back on Earth. But he still had no clue about how an individual Xeno thought.

Alex simply crawled backwards, and pushed himself against the headboard. He curled up into a ball, and gazed around the room to find the vent opening the bug was coming out of. Then, it happened. The cover to one of the vents flew off its hinges and slammed into the floor. It rattled as it hit the floor, and a Xenomorph tail dangled out. A few moments later, the entire creature emerged. Alex couldn't tell if it was a hostile, or just Eight again, trying to harass him. As the Xeno gazed around the room, Alex couldn't see the "8" brand, so he assumed hostile. He reached under the pillow he sat upon, and snatched his combat knife. It was his one final defense, besides curling up into a ball and crying for mercy. But Alex didn't do that, he had far too much pride. The Xenomorph took notice to Alex, and began to move towards the bed. Alex clenched his blade tighter, and prepared to swing. But then he heard another bug up in the vents. She emerged a few moments later, and looked around. The two Xenomorphs stared at each other, and they both hissed. That's when Alex could make out the 8 brand on the newly entered Xeno. After a moment, the smaller Xeno backed away from Eight and Alex, and fled the room. Eight leapt onto the bed, and moved towards Alex. Alex reached out and placed the knife on the nightstand. Eight reached out with her tail, and wrapped it around Alex's right arm. She pulled Alex's arm out tightly, making him wince in pain. The acid-burn was still relatively sensitive.

Eight seemed to retreat slightly when Alex winced. She pulled Alex's arm out again, but she was gentler this time. She examined his arm, and made a light hissing sound. She ran her clawed fingers lightly up Alex's arm, and to his neck. Her claw dug into Alex's neck, and nearly drew blood. As soon as Alex cringed and murmured about "too much pressure" Eight simply removed all of her appendages from Alex. She even moved back slightly. Alex, curious and surprised by Eight's actions, took a deep breath and prayed for the best. Alex slowly raised his arm, and opened his hand. Eight withdrew for a moment, before she slowly moved closer to Alex. In all honesty, Alex was half expecting Eight to bite his hand off right there. But no, she moved slowly, and after a moment, she crawled right up next to Alex, and stuffed her head under Alex's arm. She moved her head back and forth, and eventually curled into a ball, resting her head on Alex's lap. Alex shook his head, and pondered for a moment.

"Please tell me that I was hit in the head when we evacuated the colony, and I've been having a mildly disturbing coma-dream ever since…" Alex murmured to himself, removing his hand from Eight's head.

Eight perked her head up, and rubbed against Alex. She almost seemed to purr, and her tail flicked around behind Alex, and eventually settled, being wrapped around Alex's waist. Alex shook his head again, and in his mind, he slapped himself straight across the face. How could he have let something like this happen? He just had to play hero, didn't he? To think, he'd be back on Earth right now if he had only followed the sergeant's orders, and went straight to the drop ship. But nope… he had to take a piss, and that's what got him stuck on this rock.

Eight purred again, and pushed her head deeper into Alex's stomach. Alex had to exhale to make room for her head. Eight raised her head, and moved her arms onto Alex's lap. She set her head down on her arms, and became still. Alex sighed to himself, and thought about how the hell he was supposed to get out of this one. Sure, he'd gotten out of a few sticky situations before, but never this big. Yeah, girls have threatened to have their brother or fathers kill him, but they never followed through. But Eight… she could kill him. And Alex would be damned if every other bug on this rock couldn't kill him too. So, running seemed like it was out of the option. So, if Eight wanted a head rest, by god Alex would make the best dam headrest he could. If she wanted for him to just hold still and shut up, then he would. Basically, Alex would have to comply with everything she wanted, or risk being torn apart by an angry bug.

Alex, who couldn't move whatsoever, eventually just pulled he covers up around himself, and Eight by default, and went back to sleep. After all, none of the bugs would risk attacking their own, right? Right?

After almost another hour and a half of sweet, blissful sleep, Alex was rudely awoken. Eight was shaking him somewhat violently. Like she was trying to get his attention. Or maybe she was just sadistic. Either way, Alex woke up quickly and without question. Because again, if Eight wanted him up, he'd get up. Alex sat up, and looked around. The room was relatively empty, besides Eight, at least. Eight was standing above Alex, with what almost appeared to be a smile. She plunged her muzzle into Alex's stomach.

"I'm up, I'm up… Geez, you're almost as bad as my ex…" Alex murmured.

Eight hissed as Alex, and bared her teeth. Alex crawled backwards, and pushed his back against the headboard. He was ready to make a move. If he needed to, he could reach for his knife, or he could dart for the exit. Either way, he could try to save himself if he needed to. But he had hoped he wouldn't need to actually stab a bug. Since they bleed acid, stabbing them is a bad idea.

Eight tilted her head, and leapt at Alex. Before he could reach for his knife or dodge, Eight had him pinned down. And of course, it was useless to fight now. She might as well of had him bound and gagged, because she was far too strong for Alex to handle. And he had to drag a two-hundred pound bomb to a large metal door on his own once. However, instead of stabbing him, cutting him, or otherwise causing physical harm, Eight simply dropped herself onto Alex, and wrapped her arms and tail around his waist. That left Alex confused and uncomfortable. In every situation, that's a bad position to be in with a deadly bug that can kill you before it's born. Alex, still confused, simply raised his hands and didn't voluntarily touch Eight just in case she didn't want to be touched. All he did was try not to move too much so Eight didn't go psycho on him.