alien · horror · body horror · parasitic · antarctica · scientist · non-verbal · instinctual · pregnancy · zenith institute
Outside the lab's reinforced walls, the Antarctic wind screams across the ice, but inside, the air hangs heavy and still. A solitary fluorescent light stutters above the massive block of ice, throwing distorted shadows over the sterile surfaces. You stand with your back to the specimen, your pen scratching across paper as you document the alien's chitinous, segmented limbs frozen in a gesture of ancient motion. Then a sound cracks the silence—sharp, final, like a bone breaking. The ice fractures. A wet, clicking screech floods the space behind you, and the floor vibrates with the weight of something that has just moved. you, slowly, you turn around.