Interesting…?

Caleb wasn’t so sure if he had heard that right or not, but he was certain that he indeed heard a voice. Even though his own heartbeat slowing echoing in his eardrums made it harder to think straight - he was sure about that. Yes…

The alien spoke. In a surprisingly clear tone as well.

“F*ck… you insects can talk…”, his thoughts slipped and the so-called insect raised its head even more as if it was looking into Caleb's eyes. Though its steel mask made it really hard to assume if there was a face with eyes underneath that had the ability to look at him.

“Insects?”, the creature raised its voice once more.

“You know… that’s what we call little pest-”

“I know what it means!”

Visibly provoked, the armored beast suddenly ripped the plasma sword out of Caleb’s grip, throwing it a good distance away.

That was it… that was his last hope of survival - or so he thought for a moment.

“Funnily enough…”, the alien chuckled as it surprisingly let Caleb's hand go, inspecting him up and down entirely. “That’s what we usually call your species; lowly, helplessly crawling insects.”

The creature moved away from Caleb, who seemed to be in shock from the outside, though his mind was most likely cooking. He was a clever survivor after all.

“So… after 10 earthly years? You humans made this?”, the alien asked as it approached the weapon it had previously thrown. “Even the beings on planet Arktharr weren’t able to come up with this… and we considered them smart.”

As Caleb was about to pull up another trick up his sleeve, he hesitated as he listened to the alien’s words. This surprisingly smart lifeform was talkative for sure and it did seem to have some information he could use, but… the whole situation still seemed so surreal.

Before he could finish his thought the monster suddenly pushed the sword over the icy floor back to him in a smooth motion with its clawed and armored feet.

“Let’s have some more fun, human. I just can’t help but love a struggling meal.”, it said the last words in a horrifying whispering tone, exposing a long tongue to lick its metal jaw.

With a loud gulp Caleb got rid of a lump in his throat and closed his eyes for a moment, before he picked up the plasma sword again. He proceeded slowly to give him some more time to prepare for what was coming. Maybe… he could really make use of this new, but weird situation.

"Alright. I’m ready. Come at me, if you want your delicious meal so much!”

“With pleasure…”

After a dark growl the alien rushed into Caleb’s direction again and an actual fight began between the two of them. This time the young soldier seemed to have found new spirits and a will to survive as he posed a good threat for the beast.

However; in the end the biggest threat was still the armored creature. Bit by bit the special armor loosened and dropped to the floor, leaving Caleb more and more defenseless. 

So it was time for his previously planned strategy.

“You’re not really gonna eat me, are you?”, the man huffed as he tried to dodge the alien’s incoming attacks.

“...”

To his surprise he didn’t get a response from the o-so-talkative creature. Instead it lashed out to him even harder. But that was his chance to confuse it as he suddenly dropped his sword on purpose.

“Huh..?”

Success.

As his foe came to an halt Caleb grabbed its arm and suddenly his own armor glove started glowing and getting hot. So hot in fact that it was abnormal for regularl heat and as the vicious being realized what was happening, it was already too late. The man had another small but hidden plasma blade in his gauntlet which had cut through the aliens armor.

With a painful and annoyed hiss the beast used his tail in defense, wrapping it around Caleb’s neck. As it strangled the man till there was no protection on his neck left, he was forced to let the arm go and with a few swift steps back there was a new distance between them.

“!”)$!”!”°?§””$!%/&$!”, the alien started cursing in an unidentifiable language as it held its fresh wound. 

A blue-ish glittering liquid came out of it, very slowly dripping and as one drop hit the frozen floor, it made a caustic sound and burned away the first layers of the ice.

Meanwhile Caleb gasped for air, slowly going down on his knees. But no… he couldn’t give in yet and be butchered by this beast that was probably going to kill him now even more. A simple ‘Sorry’ would not have been enough for sure.

“Ah… aha…. ahahahahaha.” 

Like a maniac the alien suddenly began to laugh. It’s voice echoing through these bloody icy walls.

“This… this was… no… it IS FUN!”

A puzzled look appeared on Caleb’s face.

“What the-”

“You! Human! You are fun! I like you. I wanna play more with you! And one day… I will crush and devour you like the best meal I ever had.”

As the creature seemed to drown in its own amusement Caleb needed a moment to grasp the situation, finally giving out a big sigh.

“Does that mean you’re gonna spare my life..?”, he had to ask, still in disbelief.

“Yes. Now…”

The beast grabbed one of the soldier’s corpses by the leg and started dragging it to one of the tunnels exiting this cave.

“... go, before I change my mind, little insect.”

It then disappeared into the dark as Caleb still stood there, his mind started circling again. Around him were all his squad comrades he had. Some of them were new, some familiar faces and now they were all dead. He was the only survivor.

“F*ck…”

While he had the chance he decided to quickly pick up all of their IDs. Even though he felt dirty doing so, it had to be done - top orders. Some of them were so dirty with blood he had to clean them until he finally left the horror scene.

After choosing a tunnel of the opposite site to where the vicious creature went, he slowly made his way out of the frozen complex, coming to a halt at one point. In desperation he hit the icy wall next to him, leaving a crack and biting his lips until it started bleeding.