For an unknown amount of time I was lurking in the darkness of the tunnels.

I was carefully avoiding any humans, and to sate my hunger I was eating only rats and ground.

At first I was thinking I went crazy for eating ground, but then I found out that my body became much stronger from consuming the minerals there.

After a couple of sheddings I confirmed that I am a xenomorph. However, my growth was somewhat slow.

I have no idea how large, or how small I am, and have to always run away, before I encounter anybody.

‘Steps’

When I heard steps far away, I dived into a crack in the tunnel and started crawling deeper with the weak limbs I grew.

[‘Just where am I going now?’] My poor eyesight (or lack of thereof) did not allow me to say for sure where I am going.

That ended up in a problem.

[‘Did I just get stuck…? Ah, no, just slither like a snake, and I’ll make it…’]

Still, I ended up getting past the point where I could crawl back, or turn around. And there was one way now.

I continued moving forward through the narrow tunnel.

Until I saw a way out. There was a slight expansion and a hole ahead. The expansion was wide enough for me to turn around, but what was on the outside of the tunnel intrigued me enough.

Through the hole I saw a small room with a few candles lit. In the middle of the room were a table with two stools. On the table there was something but I couldn’t understand what it is.

I cautiously peeked out of the hole, and scanned the surroundings. The horizon was clear, and nobody was present in the room, or near it.

[‘One glance would not hurt.’] I climbed out, and jumped on the table.

From up close I saw that there was some kind of a bottle.

‘Chatter’

While I was thinking what to do with the bottle, I heard a voice approaching from outside.

Instead of thinking hard, I just grabbed the bottle, and jumped into the hole.

Before the humans could do anything to me, I disappeared deeper in the tunnel.

‘Shouting’

From the room started coming sounds of swearing in an unknown language.

When I finished creeping through the bottleneck, I somewhat relaxed. With my current size, nobody would be able to catch me, as long as I am in tunnels.

I crawled all the way back to the main tunnel, and moved to another hole, this time the hole that is larger and better known to me.

[‘The last thing I wish to do is to get stuck.’]

I waited if there would be any sounds nearby, and after I understood that I am safe, I started examining the trophy bottle.

It was just a glass bottle with some kind of a cork in it.

[‘Just how am I supposed to open you…?’] Without a long pondering, I just used the inner jaw to break off the bottleneck, and then drunk the liquid from inside.

‘KIIIII!!!’ Whatever I drunk, it was disgusting to the point I had convulsions!

I felt so much pain that if I were a human, I’d beg for someone to kill me.

The pain continued for a while, and then started subsiding.

‘Panting’

Only when the pain became bearable I realized, that something was wrong.

My poor eyesight (or other way of understanding where I am) disappeared, and I couldn’t even tell where the walls are.

‘Panting’

“Ugh!” I tried to stand up. When I failed to succeed, I decided to keep moving on all fours.

Since I had to move forward without even knowing where I am, or where I am going, I was bumping into objects from time to time.

‘Squeak!’

When I hit something warmer than the cold floor, and the something made a sound, I immediately grabbed it.

‘SQUEAK!’

It was another rat. It tried to free itself but I bit its head, and then ate it.

For some reason, it had taste. Unlike the previous rats, this one was warm and juicy.

[‘I’m lucky to catch such a good food.’]

I was pleased with myself, and continued moving.

As the time passed, the pain disappeared.

But I encountered another issue: I couldn’t fit into the holes and small tunnels…