The Hive 6 - Chapter 4

More from the new story! Should be out next week for real, but here's the early version of the latest chapter:

Colby was going to stop at Kelly’s pod. It wasn’t exactly protocol, but the rules be damned. She didn’t want her Kelly wrapped up like some damn bug in a spider’s web. She would be safer with Colby. Only Colby didn’t make it to Kelly’s door before the girl was coming at her, running harder when she saw Colby, leaping at her and forcing Colby to embrace her.

And Colby did not struggle. She held Kelly’s soft body in her arms and bent and kissed her forehead and then her lips. “Whatever happens, you stay close to me, understand?”

“Of course I will.”

“Good. Come on.”

Kelly noticed that Colby never let go of her hand, even when the entered the command room.

The rest were already there, Harlen holding court. Merlin hadn’t moved much, still dividing his attention between the swirl of conversation and the security cameras. When he saw Colby enter and the look of disdain on her face when she saw him staring at Charlotte, he spun fast to the monitors and made a show of intense concentration.

Colby barely blamed him, poor schlub. Charlotte had come from her room in a tee and leggings. It was obvious she wasn’t wearing a bra, and her admirable tits were on display, protruding nipples to add to the image.

“Here she is,” Harlen grumbled.

“Glad you two are here,” Will said. “Ready for some more crazy?”

“What is it?”

“Dani isn’t in the cocoon anymore. And that word turned out to be more accurate that we thought. It’s gone now, but what came out sure as hell ain’t Dani.”

“Show me,” Colby said. Kelly felt her hand slip free now as she shifted from protector of Kelly to protector of all.

Kelly joined the rest who gathered behind Colby and Merlin, the latter scrubbing back the video to find the moment of Dani’s emergence. She watched as the pod shivered and a thin seam split down the middle, strings of some thick fluid clinging as they fell in dark teardrops to the floor. A slim leg emerged from the cocoon, blask as the ooze that leaked from the rubber womb. What stepped from inside it was vaguel Dani in shape, her face obscured by some kind of latex hood. The black of th rubber oating covering her terminated in a more vibrant green as it reached her fingertips and the tips of her feet. Somesort of vine warpped around her and created a crude collar and harness, showing off her supple body. Dani looked up at the camera as she stretched into her new form and held that look, as if she wondered who might be watching. And then she was gone, scurrying away from the reach of the camera.

“The vents,” Colby announced. “That’s how they get around.”

“They?” Harlen sounded skeptical.

Colby didn’t have to answer. Unsurprisingly, Will was catching on fast. “Dani, or whatever that thing on the screen was, has now got to be considered an invading force. If that happened to Dani, we can assume the same thing happened to Chambers. That means there’s three of them out there now.”

“We could save her.” Until then, Merlin was quiet. His face was a mask of deluded hope, like a child who squeezes his eyes shut and makes a wih only to find the object of his desire missing when the eyes open once more. “Dani. I mean, she can’t just be gone.”

“No one is going after anybody. Except me. And Kelly.”

“Why Kelly?” Will asked, curious.

“I trust her. I know her. And I know I can count on her out there. And I need you here,” she said, her words aimed at Will. What was unspoken was their shared knowledge that someone was needed to remain in the command room and keep the others from doing something stupid. He looked like he might protest, but then the eerie calm that possessed Will took hold and he nodded.

“You have a plan?” he asked.

“Seal the vents and then the access tunnels. Trap them in the ducts and then we march out of here.”

Will nodded. He looked to Harlen, who was busy comforting Charlotte pressed into his side, and then at Merlin, who stared at the empty cocoon in the agriculture dome. “Be damn careful. When it’s done, we’ll call for help and open the front door.”

“Back in a couple of hours, then. Merlin, make sure you follow us. If something is coming up from behind, I want to know about it.”

“Don’t hurt her,” the shaggy-faced tech said.

Colby was confused before she realized he was talking about Dani again. “I’ll do my best.”

The remaining four members of the team watched as Colby and Kelly exited, Kelly throwing a last look over her shoulder at the relative safety of the command room. Charlotte let out a gasp, her fist balling the front of Harlen’s expensive athletic shirt.

It was quiet for a moment, broken finally by the sound of rollers from Merlin’s chair screeching on the metal floor as he rose from his seat for the first time since they’d assembled.

“I can’t stay here,” he said. “I have to find her. I mean, she’s out there.”

Will narrowed his eyes. “I think you need to have a seat. You’re getting yourself all worked up.”

Harlen countered, “I think we should all do what’s in our best interest. Miss Prentiss is clever, but we’re dealing with something foreign. Possibly alien. We don’t even know what it wants yet.”

“Your head of security came up with a plan to keep us all safe. Why don’t we let the woman do what we pay her for.”

“She’s simply not capapble of making decisions of this magnitude. I’ll say this, Merlin. You find and secure Doctor Takaki and I’ll give you a bonus equal to a year’s salary.”

“Mr. Harlen…” Will was standing, but he was small and his words were soft. Will knew many things from his experiences in managing others. And he knew when a thing had spun out of control. If he tried to stop merline, he would fight back, and Will could no longer count on harlen to help stop that violence.

“And Charlotte and I are going to my room. It’s safer there. I’ll be monitoring the situation.” Harlen spoke fast, clearly frightened. He knew things were spinning out of control, too, and his sense of self-preservation was kicking in. Fight or flight, Will thought, and Harlen had made his choice.

“Be careful,” Will said, resigned. He could stomp his feet, even threaten, but he couldn’t stop them from this bad decision.

Will saw Merlin grab a heavy wrench on the way out. At least he was going armed. Maybe they still had a fighting chance to get out of the domes. And if not all of them, at least Colby and Kelly. Maybe even Harlen, too, the dumb bastard. But first, he had to find Colby and formulate a plan. Leave the domes to the invaders.

There was a brake-in-case-of-emergency axe on the wall. Will wrapped his elbow in a towel and struck fast, splintering the fragile glass. Once the frame was cleared, he removed the axe, hefted it in his hands. He knew the weight of an axe from chopping wood and clearing the thin pines in his childhood. It reassured him. Will tossed a look at the monitors to find Colby and Kelly nearing the ag dome. He had his target. One final look back at the command center, where everything had gone so wrong, so fast. And then he was moving, trying to listen to something other than the hard beating of his heart.

Kelly was looking behind them again. Good for her. Colby told her to keep an eye on their six and that’s just what she was doing.

“We’re going to be alright,” Colby assured her.

“I’m glad you brought me with you. I’d be going nuts with the rest of them. I’d rather be worried with you than worried about you.”

“I know. I’m sorry, by the way.”

Kelly looked intently at Colby, the surprise clear in her wide eyes. “For what?”

“For being me, I guess. But I want you to know, it wasn’t you. Never you. You’ve been the thing tat got me through all this. And I don’t want it to end here. I want to see where we can take it. I’m sorry I’m just now saying that.”

Kelly stopped, and Colby stopped with her. Their hands clasped and Colby bent to receive the upturned kiss Kelly gave. For just that second, it was good. Not just between them, but good in all things, and Colby felt a spark of true happiness.

“We’re going to be alright,” she repeated. This time, even she believed it.

Colby led them to the large agriculture dome and waved them in with her keycard. The un was filtered through the opaque panels. Small jets were hissing a fine mist over the plants. In Colby’s mind, it sounded like the hiss of a great snake.

“There are four vents,” Colby said, pointing them out with the end of her baton. “We’re sealing those and leaving. You seal, I watch.”

“Got it,” Kelly said.

They moved steadily from left to right. The foaming glue was strong enough to prevent tears in the vacuum of space and it would keep the grates on the vents closed from intruders. Kelly worked efficiently, but left no room for error. Colby liked seeing how well she held up, how in control she was. Colby had never held out much hope of romantic love for herself, but she felt it now, and unimaginable futures presented themselves to her.

The cocoon was between the third and fourth vents. While Kelly sealed the third, Colby examined it. It was little more than a drooping sac of rubber now, but there was still an ooze dripping from it. Similar to the stuff she found in the access tunnels when she was looking for Chambers. Her fingers were still a bit numb, so she didn’t hazard prodding more at it. Still, being close ot it, you could feel something ethereal, a throb from it that made your spine rattle. It wasn’t entirely bad, though. And the good beneath the fear was terrifying.

“Let’s go,” she called back to Kelly. Colby was getting ervous, and that was unfamiliar. She prided herself on her level-headedness.

“Putting the final touches on the last vent. Where do you think Dani is, anyways?”

“Wherever she is, let’s hope she stays there until we’re gone.”

Merlin’s first stop was his room. There he could slip into his jumpsuit. That seemed like more protection than his shorts and short-sleeved tee, his normal work attire. One of the things he liked about working in the domes was how propriety fell away fast once the doors were sealed. It would be a big deal to open the front doors and admit the place had been compromised. So long to the bonus, that was for sure.

Merlin was pudgy when he entered the domes. Now he could barely be described as ‘thick.’ Rationed meals will do that. He was felling pretty fit and fine until the whole world went crazy. These are the moments that one can be a hero, and Merlin had been searching for an opportunity like this all his life.

If he was entirely honest, it didn’t have to be Dani. He like Dani, and thought she was hot, no doubt about that. But it was the moment that captured his imagination, not the woman. He fastened his belt, pleased that it slid further around him. If they’d gone the distance, he would have emerged from the domes looking hot indeed.

The hand that cinched his belt fell over his crotch. He was hard beneath the jumpsuit. Maybe it was a boner born of adventure, Merlin thought with a smirk. But the self-satisfied expression gave way to one of fluttering eyes as he grippe dhis cock under the suit. Fuck, he felt good. And it wasn’t like anyone was watching. He could take a moment and handle business before ehe handled business.

He laughed, releasing his member long enough to unclasp the belt he’d just fastened. His body felt very good as he revealed it, his tighter skin eager for touch. He was definitely going to gets oem action when he got out of here.

His hand was back on his cock, but no clothing stood in the way now. He stroked himself lazily, savoring the ripples of pleasure that followed his palm. He wasn’t aware his mouth hung open until he felt something slide past his lips. It was slick, like a narrow tongue entering him. The ooze coating it made his mouth tingle. His arousal intensified, and Merlin froze, unable to feel any impulse but one – more.

danidrone leaned into Merlin’s field of vision, its face a black void. Yet there was something curious in the tilt of its head as it moved to face the half-naked man. Its rubbery tendrils snaked into his mouth and around his shaft, stroking him and feeding him at once. The Queen had promised that danidrone would grow their Hive, and so it would. It wordlessly showed the Queen what it had caught and the Queen rewarded danidrone with another wave of pleasure and mindlessness, making it even less the woman it had been. It hungered to be nothing at all.

The tube in Merlin’s mouth expelled its juices, filling his mouth with a dark slime which spilled around his mouth. He drank what he could in, and the rest painted his skin. Faintly, he could hear the call of the creature that had invaded their home. But she meant no harm to them. In fact, all she wanted was to make them perfect.

Merlin came, his semen blending quickly with the black ooze danidrone used to cover his flesh. It was so much more beautiful when it was black and featureless. Merlin felt danidrone’s desire and adopted it. It would be so nice to be made perfect for this glorious visitor to the domes. The Queen he was told, and Merlin knew it to be truth. Only a little of his skin was left to cover, and Merlin was lost in the joy of his sealing. His journey from when he entered the domes a chubby loser was complete. He would not only be more athletic, he would be pleasure perfected. He felt it as the danidrone released its hold on his cock, only for the cocoon forming around him to take up the pleasant thrum against his sex. There were other voices waiting in that darkness, too. Familiar, perhaps, and comforting, telling him that they would all be together finally. When he discovered that the separate voices wer really all the same, the voice of the Queen, he came again in the sheer bliss of knowing he was part of something greater and the Queen loved him for that.

danidrone used all its appendages to seal the new drone away, reveling in its mind connecting with Hive. Soon there would be more voices, and the drones climaxed again with the pleasure of more of their kind.