Isolated With The Headhunter: Part 1

[KEY]

My life started the same as any other sisters life would start. I burst from a tallhost---one with smooth skin and a slender frame. They looked young, as if they were not as tall as a tallhost would usually reach. They were not quite a larva, but I would say they were far from full maturity.

I never looked back however, for it does not matter to me what the tallhost and their young feel or think----I am a sister. Born into the family from my mother, the queen and the huggers that come from her eggs and touch inferior organisms with the light of our species's excellence.

As I grew, I started to mature into the "Drone" caste. That is the role in our hive that helps mother secure the home and make sure we all have a nice comfy place to live. I wasn't a warrior, nor was I any good at guarding the host that we managed to scavenge. The others sisters were quite skilled at these things. Our warriors would hunt the host, and our sentinels would use their toxins to bind them into the nest so that they could breed our kind.

It was all going so well. For many moons, we had little issue picking off the tall host that were in the rusted metal hive, a few survivors scattered out here and there. Each one felt like a present, and soon enough it seemed we had managed to capture and breed them all.

The Queen Mother reached into our minds from worlds away, alerting us when metal birds would pass by our world and how many tallhost she sensed within them----so that we may be ready should they decide to land.

Some did.
Some didn't.

We only expanded when these occasions occurred, and I would build our hive ever outwards...making it ever expanding. We were a successful hive.

...That is, until the day came where we weren't.

It was a quiet evening, the dark jungle we lived in was dead silent. Our planet was tropical, having many insects and birds...but very little primates. We snacked on them, but they weren't suitable for breeding.

The Queen Mother reached into the mind of the hive from worlds away, breaking that deafening silence.

" To my children and their Queen, I sense....3 Headhunters approaching your world. "

I did not know what a "Headhunter" was supposed to be. Through the hivemind however, I saw that it was a tallhost....but not like the tallhost we were used too. It was stronger, faster, taller....and it had a strong desire to hunt our kind. Upon understanding the threat through the visual images and mental connection that is the hivemind.....I felt safe, still.

There were only three of these headhunters.
Our Hive? We had 52 sisters spread out through vicious warrior caste, towering sentinels and dedicated drones like myself.

What chance did a mere group of three tallhost have against our hive?

They landed on our world, as reported by a young scout that relayed the message back to the hive through the hivemind.
We all saw the visual image of their metal bird vanishing into thin air----some sort of camouflage that seemed superior to even our hunters ability to hie.

But it mattered not, I thought. Our warriors would venture out and take them down, before bringing them back for us to breed. The Queen was already laying eggs for new huggers. If the inferior tall host produced such fine specimen as us, what would these supposedly superior beings create? They'd be mighty sisters and great assets to the hive!

All 31 of our hunters ventured outwards on this great excitement, the entire hive shared my confidence. We didn't heed the Queen Mothers warning.

We should have.

For not much time had passed after they left, I was using my resin to help aid the other drones in the nest we would place them in...

....Before a series of horrible visuals flashed through the hive mind.

Our sisters were being viciously killed.....no, not just killed.
Murdered.

The last fleeting thoughts of pain and suffering, the fear of our sisters as the three Headhunters tore them apart with their bare hands. They had blades upon their wrist that easily impaled the skin of our warriors sending pain and confusion through both their minds and the hivemind...

....14 of them were lost, within 12 seconds of one another. The rest had fallen back and 3 of that remaining 18 had sustained heavy wounds. The entire hivemind was in a roar, as the Queen of our hive barked the order to fallback and return to the hive.

Another 2 seconds after that order was given, 5 of our sisters were instantly kille by the three headhunters blue plasma spitter. It was far more advanced than the spitters the other tallhost had used, and the hot green blood of our sisters flew outwards in a mess in the blue fire, pain and suffering once more running through the hivemind.

Rage from the Queen was the most prominent feeling, as she started to project another order through the hivemind!
" Run! We will fight them inside the hi---"

6. That is how many died in the next 8 seconds. Now only 7 remained, and they seemed frenzied by the images of our sisters being impaled, speared and ripped through by metal blades.

They were nearly upon our hive, when another one would fall to one of the headhunters, followed by yet another being slashed from his tail to his head. The acid melting off the resin door to our hive, as the three headhunters charged in.

Panic. It spread through the hive as the drones and myself fled to be in the back of the caves with our queen....and our sentiels marched forward to help fend off the threat.

We all sensed the loss of our warrior caste lives, one after another as the headhunters made short work of them after entering our hive. We watched it from many angels as the sentiels arrived to see their blood splattering all over our prescioues wees...

I felt such rage. These tallhost were murdering my hive, my sisters, my family. But I was only a drone, and I could not rush to the frontlines to battle...I had to secure the hive and build walls and plant sticky resin on the ground. Hoping to halt the headhunters assault as I felt more of my sisters vanish into the void, like a tiny part of my soul dying alongside with them as their voice vanished from the collection of the hivemind.

Time couldn't be measured in this moment. It might have been hours, or a few seconds. Our Queen rapidly ordering the hive as best she could, as our numbers grew smaller. Sometimes the headhunters would stop their assault for a moment.....just to reposition and attack us with tactics that we had not thought possible. They were smart. They were....

....They were going to be the end of us, I realized....as they slayed the last of our sentiels with their cruel headhunter weapons. Now drawing in to where me, the other two drones, and the Queen were taking refuge.

Hope was not lost however, for the Queen was a powerful mother. I sensed that she was on the brink of unleashing pure, utter hell. The rage we all felt was great, but hers felt....like it would somehow make a difference. She had only one goal in her mind, as those resin doors slid open and we saw them in person...

....They were tall, much taller than the other tallhost we had come to know. They wore metal mask, and had long tentacles around their heads...when they entered, it was as if time was moving much slower. The image of the three of them, the lethal sister killers....all behind one another, covered in blood of ours and theirs.....was like a haunting dream. It didn't feel real. It felt like a terrible nightmare, a sight that could never be a truth in this world, in our HIVES world!

Our Queen charged forward, screeching her powerful frequency as me and the other drones could do nothing more then wait behind her and prepare to charge. The headhunters seemed stunned, for all three of the were suddenly at their knees....but they were resistant, for they were pushing forward to charge with their spears and their blades!

Our Queen swung her tail around her frame and managed to catch the far right one in the chest, sending him reeling across the room as he struck the hardened black wall of our hive. Leaving a splatter of glowing green blood behind him. However, while she was still turning the rest of her body back towards the other two, the one in the middle threw his spear and it dug into mothers left leg. She screamed in pain, bringing on her unique frequency again that caused the two headhunters before her as they collapse to the ground below.

We as drones, took this as the only chance we would have to be able to help. We ran forward as fast as we could, slashing away at the fallen headhunters before our queen, as she tried to recover from the spear in her leg. I was afraid, but angry. I wanted to believe so badly that we could end it here, avenge our fallen sisters and live to spread the glory of the hive!

As I swung forth my claws at the one in the middle, I managed to feel them entering the wound on their neck that another one of our sisters must have dealt to them before. This infuriated me as it echo'd the loss and pain we had felt, and I ripped my arm backwards to expose muscle and the under layers of flesh. The other two drones had both stabbed with their tails at the one on the left, each impaling the headhunter in the chest and belly as they pushed forward.

We had managed to deal severe injuries to these two headhunters before they could recover from the Queens screech, as she endured the pain in her body to swipe forward and land a clean swipe of her claw across the middle one who's flesh I had exposed. Slicing him in half from the waist down, and exposing his goats.

Immense joy emitted not only from myself, but from the Queen and the other drones. That was a definite kill. One of them was slain, we had actually managed to avenge some of our sisters! Excitement mixed with the burning passion of rage went through us all, as the other drones grabbed the headhunter on the left and pushed his struggling body down on their tails. He didn't seem to be dead, he was still twitching...still roaring underneath his metal mask. How? How could he still be alive while sustaning that much!? Just how tough were these creatures?...

As I dropped the upper half of the headhunter that mother had sliced in half, I started to lunge towards him to help our sisters finish him off....

Victory, this was victory. If we could just finish this one off, we would have vengance. Our hive will be restored, soon enough when foolish tallhost pass by and visit our world. We would breed. We would rebuild. This. Was. VICTORY!

That blazing dream was suddenly extinguished as blue fire engulfed my sisters before my eyes. The same blue fire that had extinguished the life of so many of us before. Horror ran through my mind as I sensed both of them were instantly killed, the Headhunter they were impaling and slashing burned away as well. All three, dead.

I didn't know what to think....how to process what I just witnessed. I snapped my head around to look for some sort of explanation, only to find the headhunter we had thought the Queen killed upon entering the room....was not dead at all. They were standing, and upon their shoulder was the spitter that had launched the blue fire. They let out a fearsome roar, as my mother did the same.

It was just me and mother now, I realized....as the headhunter drew closer. It's metal mask was cracked in the bottom left corner, but besides that? It didn't even seem injured. I remembered the other headhunter not dying as my sister Drones impaled and clawed it....and how it took the separation of torso and legs to kill the other one. Of course they were this tough, I accepted with dread. How else could they have fought their way through wave after wave of our other, more combat ready sisters?

As time had slowed before, it did once more. The Headhunter charged forward faster than I was able to react, using it's blade to slash away at me. This was it. I was going to die. After all this suffering I had to feel because of these headhunters, they were going to win. My mind raced, panic and anger exploded within....

.....As mother suddenly pounced forward, and threw her body weight down towards the headhunter. He had exceptional reflexes, for her effort was in vain as he rolled to the side and allowed her to collide with the ground. Before she was able to recover, he was slashing at her sides, breaking her hardened skin at first. Then he dealt a powerful, heavy blow that went inside her body and impaled her insides. Mother started to screech in pain, but this headhunter seemed to have learn his lesson about that ability. He quickly aimed his blue fire spitter towards her mouth, and fired.

There was an explosion.

....And out of all the pain I had felt this night, this was by far the worst...
....As I was suddenly alone in the hivemind, the only conscience left in what was once an beautiful family of sisters.

The Headhunter stood there, proud. He seemed pleased that he had killed mother. That he had killed my sisters. That he was a filthy murderer. His stance was mighty with his arms down at his waist. He was embracing himself with his own triumph.

He was facing away from me, as he seemingly forgot he had not slain us all.
I was still alive.
But I knew, in this moment...that I could not kill him. He was faster, stronger. He had slain several warriors, sentiels, and now even our Queen.

Me? I was just a drone. Able to rend apart tallhost without weapons, but not an well equipped headhunter like this. I was....a coward. I was terrified. I started to move backwards, away from him...hoping he wouldn't turn around. My heart aching at the mass genocide he had committed against my sisters, and a desire for vengeance burning that I sadly knew I could not carry out.

I was near the resin door....I thought i'd make it.
The door opened, with an slippery sound....as the headhunter without looking, grabbed a disc from his array of tools along his waist, and threw it behind himself and at me. I tried to leap to the side, as I managed to throw my body into the safety of the next room. I had made it---

--My left foot was severed, immediately. I had felt my other sisters, endure pain like this before but to feel it myself? On my own body? It was hell. I screamed in pain, as I fell to the ground. Now maimed. I looked back over my shoulder, to see my acidic blood running out under my knee, as fear once again set in on a whole new level.

Because as I laid there, barely in the next room with a missing leg?
I could hear the roar of the headhunter, as he stomped towards my way...

" Raauuuurgh! "

[Karmac]

Wew.

This was amazing to read.