My whole body is in immense pain. Everytime I woke up I would writhe in pain for a couple minutes before fainting. In and out, I would wake up then faint, in and out. Pain wracked my very soul, it felt as if all my veins were pumping molten lead through my body and all of my nerves were on fire. Then I would fall back into darkness. The cool soothing darkness. It brought me away from the pain. It cleared my head and let me forget. Like a cold shower after a hard days work. In the darkness nothing mattered. Then I would wake up and repeat the cycle all over again.

I don’t know how long I was in that state, it might have been seconds or it might have been a lifetime. But eventually the pain lessened enough that I could dream easy. That’s when the nightmares came. The meaty thunk in the darkness and then the cold dead eyes of Dave and Bill. Both of them died because I couldn’t do anything. Because I was weak. I wish those eyes held hatred but I know they didn’t. Neither of them resented me and both of them made their decisions willingly. But my logical thoughts couldn’t outweigh my emotional mind.

Then I woke up.

I open my eyes and feel the cold metal against my head and back and I see the steel containers and lights. The lights.

“I see your awake.” Someone says to my right. I turn my head and see Charlie with a grim face.

“How long was I out for?” I ask as I sit up.

He looked down at his watch then back to me,“about 20 hours.” He says.

“That long, huh.” I respond as I set my back against a wall.

“Yep.” He says while looking away. “We only have 2 more hours so I think we’ll make it.” As he says that I look towards the way he’s looking and notice a pile of xenomorphs.

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“Looks like you’ve been busy.” I observe.

“Yep. Little buggers are persistent. Had a couple close calls but we should be fine. The newbies have been providing a good distraction so we’re more or less left alone.” He states.

“That’s unfortunate but that’s reality.” I say as I chuckle in a grim tone.

“Yep.” Charlie responds then we go quiet. Silence reigns for the next 2 hours as a gloomy atmosphere pervades our hiding spot. After the 2 hours pass we are enveloped by darkness.

I open my eyes and look around. As expected it is only Charlie and I left. Both of us are floating in the air being healed by the light. After 30 seconds Charlie is let down. As I am suspended in mid air I look down at my elbow and see the flesh knitting itself back together. “System leave my elbow scarred.” I say as a tear slides down my face. I then close my eyes and wait to be let down. After about 5 minutes I am let down. ‘Deducting 150p for healing.’ The mechanical voice announces. I then look down at my watch to see how many points I have. As I look down I see a message from the system on my watch.

Hidden Mission Complete-Unlock First Level of Genetic Constraint

Reward- 1000p D

‘Genetic Constraint? Wait, is that what allowed me to fight the xenomorph bare handed and win? It must be. That’s the only explanation especially if the System is giving me a reward for it.’ I take a deep breathe.’Calm down. This is all guess work. All I need to know is that the System gave me extra points and a D ranked reward.’ I then look at my total points.

Joshua Peterson

Intelligence- 115

Mental Capacity- 106

Cell Vitality- 95

Reaction Speed- 100

Muscle Density- 95

Immunization Strength- 94

Points- 2459

Ranked Rewards

D- 2

C- 0

B- 0

A- 0

S- 0

Enhancements- None

‘No way. NO. FUCKING. WAY.’ I double take just to see if I wasn’t being tricked. ‘Fucking hell that’s a lot of points and another D ranked reward!’ I gasp.’That means I killed a xenomorph warrior with my bare hands. I guess that’s the power of the Genetic Constraint.’

I run to my room and quickly enter. ‘I can worry about points tomorrow.’ I look at Dave’s bed then I fall to my knees. I bury my head in my hands. ‘I can worry about that… Tomorrow.’