The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

‘Pierced’

(mc, f/f, nc, sf)

DISCLAIMER: This material is for adults only; it contains explicit sexual imagery and non-consensual relationships. If you are offended by this type of material or you are under legal age in your area, do NOT continue.

Synopsis:

Alien bioweapons are unleashed on an human colony world.

* * *

‘Pierced’

Chapter Three ‘Naigurh’

Part Two

* * *

As they passed the sign announcing that Naigurh was just two kilometers ahead, Stone slowed the vehicle to a crawl. “There’s the radio tower,” she observed, pointing forward. Sure enough, a red-and-white girder spire rose from the treetops in front of them.

“There should be a gate on the right... there.”

Sure enough, there was a gate, chain-link across a gravel road that wound slightly upward into the forest.

Stone pulled off the road and stopped the AATGV in front of it. “The lock is electronic, and battery-powered. Passcode is... crap. 22-7-5 or 22-5-7, one of those. Or maybe 9. Assuming they changed it on schedule. Give it a few tries. If it doesn’t work, we’ll just ram our way through.”

Margot took that as a sign that she should get out, so she did.

Immediately she was surrounded by the sounds of the forest. The altitude was higher here, cooler than the jungle down by the coast, but the trees were still packed with vines and creepers and the insect and bird noises were just as cacophonous.

Hopefully, the noise meant that no xenos were hiding in the undergrowth.

Margot went over to the gate. It had a dusty box panel. Margot wiped the surface and the faint glow of numbers appeared. She tried 22-7-5 without success, then 22-5-7, and then 22-5-9. With a soft beep, the lock opened.

Margot swung the gate open wide and gestured Stone forward. Once the AATGV was on the gravel, she closed the gate and got back into the vehicle.

“I didn’t lock it,” she observed as she sat down.

“Good,” Stone replied.

They drove slowly up the gravel road. It was well-maintained but clearly only as wide as it needed to be, with green tendrils brushing the sides of the windshield.

The road wound gently upward. A few kilometers on and they reached a flat expanse about the size of a tennis court. Here and there, some aggressive weeds were pushing their way upward through the gravel. On the far side of the space, a concrete wall had been emplaced in the side of a hill, with a roll-up door set into it. There was a small wooden building not much larger than the AATGV at the edge of the clearing, with a groundcar in SSDF green-and-drab nearby.

A young man emerged from the building, dressed in fatigues and carrying a combat rifle.

Stone and Margot got out of the AATGV. Seeing Stone’s uniform seemed to reassure the man.

“Uh, c-Captain,” he said, his eyes flicking to her uniform as he approached. “What’s going on? We haven’t been able to raise anybody on the satcom for two days. We were supposed to be relieved at nineteen hundred last night.”

A woman, also in fatigues, came out of the building and walked towards them.

“We’ve been invaded by hostile xenos, Private,” Stone said. “Everyone west of here is dead. I’m here to restock on ammo and fuel for this AATGV.”

He stared at her. “You’re- ...what?”

“What is your name, Private?”

“P-private Seshan Lao, Captain. What did you say about... dead?”

“Everyone is dead,” Stone told him. “I’m from Helenni. The base there was overrun and everyone excepting myself and two others was killed.”

He just continued to stare. “This can’t- you- uh...”

The woman, who like the young man had to be in her late teens, had joined them. “You’re serious, Captain? What about Wotao?”

Stone turned to her. “Dead. Everyone. As far as I can tell, refugees are fleeing across the Spine.” She glanced at the woman’s uniform. “Private... Junipero. I’m not exaggerating here, Junipero. All of western Verdis has been overrun.”

“By xenos? Aliens?”

“That is correct. This is a hostile alien invasion.”

“That doesn’t...” the man was mumbling. “I don’t...”

“What sort of xenos?” the young woman asked.

“Never seen them before. Black, shaped like, uh, like tables. Four legs, flat in the middle. Some squishy bits up underneath. The big ones are shoulder-height. Armored, legs like swords, and they use them like swords. Extremely fast. Then there are little ones, about the size of a cat. They jump on your head and eat your brain.”

“What the fuck?” the man blurted.

“They also spray a paralyzing venom,” Margot added.

“My turn for questions,” Stone said. “Has anyone from Naigurh contacted you?”

“No,” the young woman said, eyes wide. “No one.”

Stone looked at Margot. “That’s not a good sign.”

“They don’t usually,” the young woman said. “I mean, they never come up here.”

“Hrm. Well, Staff Sergeant Belangier and I are going to check out the town. While we do that, I need you and Private Lao to fill the AATGV with fuel, to reload the RKT, and then to attach two extra fuel pods to the exterior, and pack as much RKT ammunition into the back as possible, leaving space for the two of you. You will both be coming with us.”

“Captain, but our commanding officer—”

“—is dead, Private.” Stone drew an invisible line in the air with her hand. “I am serious as a fucking coronary embolism, soldiers. You are coming with me. If it turns out I am off my rocker and this is all delusional bullshit, that will all fall on me and not on you for following orders. Worst case I get sent up for stealing supplies that no one is using and issuing unlawful orders, and you waste time which you weren’t at liberty to use anyway. But if I am right—and I am—do you want to stay here, without communication, and just see who comes up the road next?”

The young woman licked her lips. “No, Captain. We’ll get you loaded.”

“This is fucking crazy,” Lao muttered to himself.

Stone focused on Junipero, and pointed at the hillside door. “Good. Alright, Private. First, unlock that facility so I can take a quick look around. While I’m doing that, do you think you can talk Private Lao here back into functionality?”

Junipero nodded. “Yes, Captain.” She unhooked a ring from her belt and extended it towards Stone, who took it. “These are the keys. I’ll disengage the mag-lock from the control in the post.” She put an arm around her colleague. “Come on, Seshan, let’s go sit down for a minute.”

The young woman led the young man back towards the building.

Stone called out after her. “Private Junipero! Are there any uniforms in there?”

“I believe so, Captain.”

Stone looked at Margot. “You should change into one. That police uniform is... not the best for infiltration.”

They walked over to the roll-up door. Up close, Margot could see that the concrete was old and weather-stained. Captain Stone knelt down and unlocked the external padlock, which she removed and set to the side.

After a moment, the mag-lock disengaged with a loud ‘clunk’.

Stone rolled up the door. Inside was a large room filled with shelves. It was of course unlit, and the rear wall was invisible in the darkness.

The shelves had stacks of boxes, all neatly stamped with their contents. None of them appeared to have been disturbed in months, if not years.

Stone turned to Margot. “I’m going to see if they have a flashlight in the post,” she said. “Check out the closer shelves, see if you can find a camo uniform.” She pulled a knife from a waist sheath and handed it to Margot. “If you find the RKT ammunition, make a note. The fuel will be in drums near the back. I hope it’s not too old...”

She turned and walked towards the wooden building. Margot watched her for a moment, then turned and stepped into the storage depot. It was cooler inside. Dust glinted in the sunlight from the open door.

She scanned the labels on the first shelf of boxes. Belts, boots, binoculars. Those last seemed useful so she took the knife and cut the box open. The binoculars were in black leather cases; she took out two and set them on the floor.

Turning, she faced the opposite shelf. Candles, canteens, cordage. Nothing useful, so she stepped further into the dark.

The next shelf had tarpaulins and transistors and something called ‘toroid committers’ which Margot had never heard of. As she was contemplating cutting open the box just to see what those were, she heard something move in the darkness.

She whirled. Was it a crawler? It was too dark, she couldn’t see. It could be two meters away right now, aiming its tail at her. If only she had a light -

And she remembered the flashlight, rolling on the floor, illuminating Sirine with the crawler tightly attached to her head...

The knife trembled in her hand. Where was it? The sound suddenly came from a different spot and she whirled around.

She had to kill it. Kill it before it sprayed her, kill it before it crawled up over her face-

It moved into the light. Light brown, hand-sized, a dozen legs. A slobster. One of the overlarge but harmless burrowing insects native to this part of Strand.

She had been so scared.

Margot dropped the knife, sat down hard, and began to cry.

Xiulan.

What was she going to do? Living her life without Xiulan? How could this have ever happened? It was real but it was a nightmare—if she could only go back in time, go back and convince Xiulan never to come to Strand... never to get... never...

She sobbed.

A moment later, a shadow fell across her. She looked up through tear-blur to see Stone standing in the depot’s entryway.

“I don’t,” Margot mumbled. “I’m sorry.”

“No,” Stone said, walking over and kneeling down. “No. It’s okay. Come on. Come on.” She took Margot in her arms and held her as Margot sobbed into her shoulder. “Let it out. Come on.”

Margot cried.

In a few moments, Margot got herself under control. Stone released her and leaned back. Her uniform was damp.

“I’m sorry,” Margot said. “It’s just... this place, it’s just like a supply closet that I was trapped in, back in Arc of Sands, and the things came, they came and they got Sirine...”

“It’s okay,” Stone told her. “You don’t need to apologize for being human. Look, Belangier. Everything is fucked. Nothing has ever been this bad before. We’re...” she gave a humorless laugh. “We’re on borrowed time at best. Everything we love... it’s perfectly understandable that it’s going to get to you. I know. God, do I know.”

She stood up. “Go ahead and let it out. Let it out now. Because it’s safe here, and you can’t give in to that later. I need you—no, you need you to be hard. When we’re out there. You’ll have to push it down. Everyone I know is dead, Belangier. If I let that reach me...” Stone shook her head. “I will. When I can. But now we need to be hard, if we’re going to survive. Can you do that?” she asked, looking Margot in the eyes. “Can you push it all down and be hard?”

“Yes,” Margot said, rubbing her eyes. “Yeah I’m... Yes. I’ve got it. Thanks.”

Stone nodded. “Good. Here’s a light. Let’s find what we need.”

* * *

An hour later, the two of them were slipping between trees, approaching Naigurh.

Margot still didn’t have any underclothes. Despite boxes containing handkerchiefs, hats, cold weather gloves—in Verdis province, where it never snowed—and garters for socks, none of the boxes in the depot had contained any underclothes at all.

It did have fuel and RKT ammunition. And there had been camo uniforms, which turned out to fit Margot fairly well. They were SSDF rather than Imperial, of course, which felt wrong at some level, and were probably fifteen years old if they were a day, but at least Margot felt fairly well concealed as she and Stone made their way up the hill towards Naigurh.

Then again, they had no real idea how the xenos saw. If their ‘vision’ was infrared, the camo would make no difference at all.

They were both now armed, Stone with her original ten-millimeter expanding slug pistol, Margot with a Jones-Brown 56, an old explosive pellet model. There had been newer guns but they were all chambered for solid bullets, and if Margot was going to encounter one of the big fuckers she wanted to be able to vaporize its knees. Watching the RKT take them apart had made an impression.

Stone had also stuffed a backpack with some explosives. Margot frowned at that, but they might come in handy.

Stone was five meters ahead, crouched down behind the rootball of an overturned tree. She gave a hand signal. Margot crept up to her.

“If I recall correctly,” the Captain said quietly, “Naigurh is actually just below the crest, and we’re coming up the other side. We should be able to scan the place from the top of the hill, which should be only a hundred meters or so ahead.”

Margot nodded.

Crouched low, they made their way through the underbrush. The birds and insects kept up their noises excepting only right when the two humans passed by them, a small bubble of quiet in an ocean of chatter.

Then the bushes cleared and Margot could see buildings. The two of them dropped to the ground and military crawled up the remaining few meters of slope. The hill crested beneath some plane trees and they stopped moving, lying flat on either side of a knobbly trunk.

They both raised binoculars to their eyes.

There was one large building, the hospital, a rectangle four stories tall with the big red and white radio mast on top. In front of it was a large paved area; on this side it ended at the hill, and on the far side it was blocked off with military barricades and sandbags. A pair of military transport vehicles, big four-wheel drive groundcars, were parked at the entrance to the paved lot. They lacked the turret mounts of the AATGV—but there was an AATGV as well, standing by the far side of the hospital, slightly downslope from the building’s main entrance.

There were no xenos in sight, neither large nor small. There were a number of soldiers, all in the green uniforms of the SSDF. They stood around at the barricades, at the hospital’s main entrance. A pair of them were walking near the AATGV.

“Looks like they’re for real,” Margot whispered.

Stone made a non-committal noise in her throat.

The hospital was on their right, the paved area directly in front, stretching slightly downhill to the barricades. On the left was forest, sloping away in that direction. Past the barricade and the SSDF soldiers was the town of Naigurh. The closest structure was a long two-story commercial building containing a goods distribution outlet, a bar, and a couple of restaurants. Past the commercial building Margot could see the roofs of some residential buildings.

Margot counted. Eight, ten... eleven soldiers that she could see. All were armed with combat rifles, in uniform and helmet. Half were at the checkpoint formed by the barricades and the transport vehicles, but two flanked the front entrance to the hospital building and one stood in the turret of the AATGV. They all seemed serious, looking around the area rather than chatting with each other.

“Should we—”

Stone made a quick cut with her hand, indicating a need for silence.

Margot frowned and looked through her binoculars again. There were a pair of large birds on the roof of the hospital—but they were just birds, not crouching xenos. There were a few groundcars in the paved area, just downhill from where she and Stone lay motionless, but otherwise this end of the lot was empty. There seemed to be some additional vehicles, and an additional paved area, on the backside of the hospital, but the area was obscured by a large container truck parked right at the edge of the building.

Margot looked at the soldiers again. Something struck her, and she felt a cold ball form in her stomach.

She hissed at Stone. “They’re all women.”

Stone nodded. “And they all have helmets on,” she whispered back. “Why?”

The answer was obvious and terrible.

“It’s a trap. They’re like- Cora.”

“Mm. Listen.”

It was the sound of an approaching groundcar. As they watched, the red truck pulling the trailer that they had encountered on the road an hour ago rolled up to the checkpoint. There was a woman in uniform hanging onto the side of the truck; there must have been an earlier checkpoint on the road before entering town.

As they watched, the truck stopped at the barricades, and the man driving spoke with the soldier standing on his side of the vehicle; she waved him forward into the paved area. He pulled forward and stopped the truck.

Four soldiers stepped up next to the truck and opened the doors. They gestured the occupants out; the man emerged from the driver’s side, and two women from the passenger side, an older woman and one about the same age as the driver.

Margot could not hear what was said, but the soldiers gestured the three people towards the hospital.

When they were halfway across the paved area, the truck started again; one of the soldiers had gotten in and turned it on. As she began to move it forward, the man stopped walking. He turned around, clearly objecting, waving his arms.

The soldier next to him hit him in the stomach with the butt of her rifle.

Other soldiers seized the two women by their arms, and marched them towards the hospital. The man had fallen to his knees; Margot thought they might shoot him right there, but instead a soldier flanked him on either side and forced him up. He shouted again, and was struck in the face with a rifle butt. The women who had come with him cried out, but were not allowed to stop walking.

Limp now, the man was carried forward.

The guards at the hospital doors opened the doors. Soon all three were inside.

“Saints and Martyrs,” Margot breathed.

The truck was driven slowly away around the far side of the hospital.

The guards at the barricades went back to their positions.

Stone slithered back from the edge of the hill. Margot followed suit.

“Well,” Margot whispered, “You were right. It’s a trap. The supplies should be loaded by now. Let’s get back to the depot and get out of here.”

Without looking at her, Stone shook her head. “We have to shut down that radio.”

Margot blinked. “What? No. No, that’s a terrible idea. Shutting down the radio, sure, fine, but not us. You and me. Two people. They’re all armed, Captain. There are lots of them. We need to get back to the depot and get the fuck out of here.”

Stone was slowly shaking her head. “We have to shut down that radio.”

Margot clenched a fist. “Listen to me, Captain. I understand what you want but it’s not possible. Going into that building is suicide. What about those two kids back there at the depot? What about Han-Irinov and Cruzado-Liu?”

“They’re fucking soldiers,” Stone said, finally meeting Margot’s eyes. “Those... things, they’re trapping civilians. Helpless fucking civilians. They’re luring them in, and... we have to shut it down.”

“We can’t, Captain, it’s suicide. That whole building is full of them. They’ll get us.”

Stone snarled. “Look you Impy fuckfeather, these are my people. Do you understand? My people. If I can save even a few of them by turning that shit off then that’s what I’m going to do. You got it? You want to run away? Fucking go.”

Margot met her stare, then turned aside. “Shit. This is fucking stupid.” She looked at Stone, who was looking away, and frowned. “Fucking stupid,” she repeated.

“So what’s your plan?”

* * *

They went counterclockwise, circling the hospital building. The front was guarded, but the loading docks around the back might be less so.

Margot actually hoped that any rear doors were also guarded, and heavily; that might convince Stone that what she was demanding was going to get them both killed.

Or worse.

They crawled along just below line of sight from the paved area, sticking to what cover they could find. The windows of the hospital building were mirrored and it was impossible to tell which ones might hold xeno slaves looking out at them.

But the undergrowth was fairly thick, and no soldiers came running in their direction. Soon they were crouching behind the ornamental shrubbery which ran along the length of the rear parking area.

That parking area was full of vehicles. Totally full, parked bumper-to-bumper.

Most of them were groundcars, stuffed with personal belongings. Margot looked at Stone, whose face was tight.

The groundcars had been parked right next to each other, up to the very edge of the parking area, with no thought to getting them back out again, or even to opening their doors. It made sneaking across to the rear of the hospital building challenging; they made a few false starts only to find themselves totally boxed in. Eventually they reached the sidewalk which ran along the hospital’s rear.

There were no obvious guards standing around the rear of the building. The two of them crouched behind a groundcar and scanned the area.

“Where’s the broadcast room?” Margot whispered.

“Not sure. Could be the top floor, but it could equally be the basement. There should be signs once we get inside.”

“One door’s as good as another, then.”

The closest door was a single green metal door, next to a group of refuse bins. Stone started to creep forward, but Margot put a hand on her shoulder.

“Hang on, look down there.”

She’d spotted movement at the far end of the building. A large flatbed truck was pulling around the far side of the building, apparently having come from the checkpoint in front. It had a load on the flatbed, something large, easily the size of four or five groundcars, and covered in green sheeting.

The two of them hunkered down. The flatbed pulled around into the parking area, then began making small reverses to maneuver.

Margot spotted the red truck with its trailer, pulled off next to the rest of the packed-in groundcars.

Whatever was in that trailer, the owners would never need again.

She batted that thought away and watched the flatbed. A set of double doors in the rear of the building opened and some soldiers came out—they were not bothering to wear helmets. From this distance, she couldn’t see their eyes or tell if they had the black circles on the crown of their heads.

The women hopped onto the flatbed as it was still moving and began to untie the straps which criss-crossed the load. They did not shout or wave to each other, but worked in well-coordinated tandem.

They must have been thinking to each other.

Cora had said that she was too far away to communicate with other xenos. What was their range, anyway?

And was there a broodmind here? Margot frowned at the sudden thought, and then realized she hadn’t told anyone else about that.

The truck shuddered and came to a stop with the flatbed backed up adjacent to the concrete walk and the double doors. The soldiers on the flatbed raised up the sheeting and began to pull it back, rolling it up towards the truck’s cab.

Underneath was an insertion pod.

Half of one, to be precise, split lengthwise. It was a good deal smaller than the four-story one which had impacted Arc of Sands, but still just barely fit on the double-length flatbed. It was split open to reveal the interior, the dun-colored fleshy material studded with glossy black ovoids. The bottom was a long curve of knobbly black.

More women emerged from the hospital, this time in the white uniforms of nurses—and the black caps of crawlers, tails hanging around their necks. The soldiers began to pry the ovoids from the pod, handing them down to the nurses. The nurses then turned to take them into the building.

“Ancestors preserve,” Stone said.

Margot jostled her. “Now’s the time,” she hissed. “They’re busy.”

Stone gave her a baffled look, then shook her head and nodded.

She waited a moment, then as a woman dressed in a doctor’s blue scrubs and a crawler on her head received a black ovoid from the truck, she slipped over against the wall, next to the trash bins. Slowly, she reached out to work the door handle.

It turned. She nodded at Margot, who scuttled across to huddle next to her. They waited a few more moments. Then, briefly, no women were in sight at the back of the truck. Quickly, Stone opened the door, and they both ducked inside.

* * *

Cora sat quietly in the cell.

It was true that she was far from her sisters, and could not hear the guidance from any broodmind. But that did not bother her. She had her purpose and would pursue it obediently. As long as she was obeying, nothing else mattered; and she would always and forever obey.

The new sight which the brood had granted her had become natural enough to use. It was different than her former, human eyes, but her mind had adjusted easily enough and she could see just fine.

Currently, her focus was on her captor.

Han-Irinov was sitting outside the cell, at the desk doubtless placed there for the purpose of keeping an eye on the prisoners. She had been reading her datapad but had since placed it on the desk. She was still awake but her eyes were closed, and she was leaning back in the comfortable office chair.

Cora stood up slowly, and walked quietly over to the cage bars. At a mental prompt from Cora, Emilee did likewise.

The two of them stepped silently to the front of the cell.

Han-Irinov’s eyes remained closed.

Emilee stood next to Cora at the cage bars. Their naked flesh pressed against the metal. The interior of the patrol station was warm and humid, so pushing their breasts through the bars was perfectly comfortable.

Han-Irinov sighed a little and started to doze.

Cora opened her mouth.

New glands flexed. Small orifices on the roof of her mouth opened to the room’s humid air. But rather than spit numbing venom at the sleeping human, they opened only a tiny bit, just a fraction, and began to hiss out a fine mist.

Emilee opened her mouth as well. The two women stood shoulder to shoulder, nude, breasts poking through the bars, mouths open, the finest diffusion spraying from their open mouths.

The chemical mixture wafted out gently, drifting across the room, atomized droplets coming to rest on Han-Irinov’s face, and hands, and being breathed quietly into her sleeping lungs.

Cora sprayed out her venom, and waited.

* * *

The room beyond the door was waste disposal. Biohazard signs were everywhere; the room was lit, although dimly. Of course a hospital would have its own backup power system.

The two of them crept across to the interior door. Stone peered through the small window; the hallway beyond was lit with the same dim yellow light.

Margot felt the pistol at her waist. It ought to be able to incapacitate one of the big fuckers, if she had time to fire it; and it was reassuring that at least she had the ability to inflict some damage.

Of course, if they got swarmed by crawlers, that would be that; the camo uniforms might provide some protection but they certainly weren’t fluid-proof.

The depot had contained helmets, and Margot was strongly tempted by them. But the loss to peripheral vision and hearing was ultimately not worth the irrational feeling of safety from having her skull drilled into. If they were caught, a helmet wouldn’t be on for long.

Margot realized she was losing focus. Stone was looking back at her, waiting for the go-ahead to open the door.

“Captain,” Margot whispered. “If they see us, we bail. We get the fuck out. Fuck your radio station. Got it?”

Stone nodded. “Yeah.”

Margot tilted her head and Stone slowly opened the door.

The hallway was long and, fortunately, empty. It appeared to run half the length of the building, from a wall at the end of the building to a door into what must be a central reception area. There were doors more or less evenly spaced along the length of the corridor, and signs on the walls indicating the direction of various hospital functions.

They crept down the hallway. Signs for trauma, anesthesiology, the dispensary, restrooms... no mention of radio or broadcasting. The central lobby would doubtless have a sign, but would almost certainly be inhabited by at least one of the enslaved, if not half a dozen.

The doors on their right, towards the building’s rear, seemed to be storage and utility. The doors on the left were patient rooms, probably shared since they were on the ground floor. Private rooms would be higher up. Margot let her curiosity get the better of her, and rose up a bit in her crouch to peer into a window.

There was a noise from down the corridor and suddenly Stone was pushing her, and Margot turned the doorknob and jumped into the room, Stone’s body tight against hers. The instant they were inside, Stone motioned her down, pistol in her hand.

Someone must have entered the hallway from the central lobby. Had they been seen? If so, the only egress would be the windows—luckily, the room had several, all along the front wall.

The room also had beds—and gurneys.

And they were occupied.

Margot’s eyes widened. There were two beds in the room, and two gurneys had been wheeled in and left next to the beds. All four of them had women lying on them. All four of the women were motionless, hands at their sides.

Between their legs, taped into position, were large glossy black eggs.

Margot looked quickly around for crawlers, but didn’t see any. Nor did the women have them on their heads. She frowned—were the eggs waiting to hatch? They seemed larger than crawler eggs, almost twice the size of the head-sized things she’d seen back at Arc of Sands.

The two of them remained frozen, crouched down next to the door, Stone with her gun in hand. She hadn’t looked around the room, trusting Margot to scan for threats.

Margot didn’t see any threats. Just... eggs.

They waited for the door to open.

Finally, Stone looked at Margot. “She—it—must not have seen us. Good work getting us in here that fast.”

“Stone...” Margot replied, gesturing at the motionless bodies.

They slowly stood up. Margot took a step towards the closest woman. She was young, in her twenties, with honey-colored skin. Her eyes were closed, and in her mouth...

In her mouth was a glossy black tube, which extruded from the top of the egg.

Margot’s eyes widened. It was the same for all four of them—from the rounded tips of the eggs, roughly over each woman’s midriff, a black tube extended. It snaked up between their breasts, over their chins, and into their mouths. They were like the tails of the crawlers, only longer, and more... rubbery.

As Margot watched, the woman’s throat flexed. Margot frowned, then realized—the woman had just swallowed.

As she watched, the woman slowly swallowed again.

The egg was pumping something into her.

Margot felt dizzy.

“The fuck is...” Stone was saying. She had been examining one of the other women and had returned to stand next to the honey-hued one that Margot was watching. “What is it doing? Oh, fuck no—”

“No, don’t—” Margot hissed, but it was too late. Stone had grabbed the tube and was pulling on it.

The woman’s head—her entire upper torso—rose up from the gurney as Stone yanked on the tube. Her eyes snapped open.

Margot’s pistol was suddenly pointed at Stone’s face.

“Do you want to die?” she hissed. “Do you want to be one of these? Let her the fuck go. Gently.”

Stone, suddenly awkward, lowered the woman back to the cushioned gurney top. The woman’s eyes stared at the ceiling. Then they closed.

“It wouldn’t come out,” Stone mumbled. “Like it was part of her.”

“It probably is,” Margot hissed. “Look, Captain, I’m with you on this stupid fucking mission because I kind of believe you need to do something just to keep it together. But if you pull another fucking stunt like that, I’m out. What if that thing came out and she screamed? You can get infested all you want but not me. We find the broadcast room, we fuck it up, and we Don’t. Draw. Attention.”

Stone nodded, looking away. “I- you’re right. Sorry. I just... what it’s doing to her...”

“Is being done all across Verdis,” Margot said. “You told me that I had to be hard, Captain. Now it’s your turn. These women are lost. Push this down and be hard.”

Stone glanced at the woman on the gurney, then looked back at Margot. “You’re right. Let’s go.”

* * *

End Chapter Three, Part Two