Somewhere in space, lies an ancient threat-- a threat no one has encountered in 10,000 years. This thing, this parasite, has laid dormant, waiting for those foolish enough to open it’s sealed doors. The last race that walked across such a foe became extinct, only leaving structures to carry out their history. For you see, this foe could only kill, learn, and grow off of the living. The humans, being as curious as they are, discovered these structures. After years of exploring, they found what could be the sanctuary of the ancient race that was. This structure could indeed hold the secret to life, or the gate to the apocalypse.

As the marines stood outside this divine structure, they began to set up camp. The world on which they landed on was not Earth, but indeed very similar. The troops landed in a jungle-infested part of the land. It was the only spot that had been scanned and determined safe. There were a total of 15 marines at the time, yet only one of these marines stood out amongst the rest, Commander Talson. He had survived the greatest slaughter any man had ever witnessed. But that is a different story and should not be spoken of here.

Once base was set up, the Commander received a transmission from headquarters that more troops and supplies were on the way. They were scheduled to arrive the next morning. So Talson set up a recon group that consisted of three marines to examine the structure and attempt to open the doors. These three men were, Private Dajre, Private Yarso, and Lieutenant Garlen. After an hour or so of constructing a path to the relic, the squad decided to take a break. This particular squad was called Alpha Squad.

As Alpha Squad neared the relic, they noticed claw marks in what looked like indestructible metal of ancient technology, and as they ventured closer to the relic they found skulls and bones on the ground in front of them. They looked nearly human, almost too human. Once they finally reached the relic, Alpha Squad had been shaken. They knew nothing of what had taken place here, and neither did all of history, save one etched in message. Lieutenant Garlen noticed it as he walked up to the majestic building, towering as high as any skyscraper. As Garlen looked at the writing, he noticed it to be written in some foreign language no man had ever seen. He also determined that the writing was made in haste-- as if a final message or warning, but none could make sense from it’s writing.
As Darje and Garlen searched around the backside of the structure, Yarso stood and stared at the magnificent doors in front of him. He stared as if he was looking for something more that would help his team in their search. He glided his hand around the door, searching and feeling for any clues. As he did, he stumbled across what seemed like a human handprint. Without thinking, he set his hand in this print to realize that it was a perfect match. Instantly the doors glided opened with grace, such a grace that would not be expected from a 10,000 year old structure. He yelled for his team to come see what had occurred. Garlen and Darje heard his call, but not all of it. The call was cut off by a scream that was of pure chaos and madness. It was no human scream.

Garlen and Darje rushed to the front doors. In doing so, they dropped all their equipment: guns, maps, radios, and data. When they reached the front door they were terrified to see that Yarso had been split in half, or so they thought. For all they could see was his lower body, his legs. Garlen in suspicion ordered Darje to stay back, as the commander checked on the body. Darje noticed that the body had been dragged through the doors. Terror rushed through his veins as he noticed he was being watched. Through the doors came crawling the other half of Yalso. Darje was speechless and just stood like a stone. Yalso looked strangely different though, excluding the lack of a lower body of course. His face was pale almost like it was dried out, and he had strange growths coming from his arms that looked similar to tentacles. Yarso crawled closer and closer to the commande, constantly spitting out blood and dragging itself through it’s own misery. As Darje stared in terror, he noticed a bump next to its neck. It looked as if this bump had gnawed it’s way into Yarso’s neck and made it his home. But he was frightened and unsure. Commander Garlen had looked up just in time to see the creature lunge at him with an incredible height. It chewed and slashed at the commander, and Garlen let out a deafening scream. Almost like a trigger, hundreds upon hundreds of tiny bumps came sprinting from the door. These bumps had the legs of a spider, only they stuck forward instead of down. They were about the size of a volleyball and had fangs the size of scissors. Darje saw his commander eaten alive by these creature, so he did they only thing he could think of, he ran.

Darje ran through the jungle jumping and dodging trees and limbs left and right. The whole while he could hear the screams of his fallen comrades and the hisses of the bumps chasing him. He dared not look back for fear had overcome him. His only thought was to make it back to base. He could see the base. And as he got closer and closer he realized the sound of those creatures were fading away. He approached his teammates with empty breath. They panicked and demanded to know where the other two were. Darje told them that his friends were eaten alive and turned into some kind of puppet for the tiny creatures. The team was shocked and prepared lockdown on the base.

The base had 20-foot high walls on three sides; the front side facing the relic had a gate only 15 feet. Out of the remaining 13 marines, four were posted on lookout towers in each corner. Darje remained in the medic hall because he had been scratched on his sprint towards base by the jungle or by the infected was unknown. He layed down and closed his eyes and then sleep took control. As Darje slept, the remaining troops began to pack, knowing that the plan had gone array and they should retreat back to headquarters.

Darje had the most terrible dream. He dreamt that spiders were crawling all around his body: up his leg, down his arms, and in his head. He awoke in a dead sweat only to find that the alarm was screaming like a hell bent demon. He left his tent and saw his comrades sprint to the gates. He asked what was happening and Talson replied that they were under attack! He looked at the gate. There he saw his fallen squad members starring blackly at him. They looked like dried out bodies with barely any muscle tissue. Their heads were limp but aware, and next to their heads were the bumps. There were tentacles coming through the hole and through their chest. This made it clear to Darje that his friends were under its control. Suddenly the fiends leaped at an unbelievable height. Lunging upon the marines, the two demons slashed and bit upon them. Talson pulled at his pistol and shot both in the head. Both laid motionless. Then a breath-taking scream filled their ears. They were shocked to see them rise up again and sprint towards Talson. Talson, in panic shot it in the chest then missed and hit the bump. Once the bump had exploded the infected marine fell and died. The other infected man then tore Talson to pieces, not leaving a single clue of his existence. Just then, as they watched in terror, thousands upon thousands of bumps ran over all the walls on each side. The remaining marines pulled out their pistols, their batons, and their own two hands to kill and beat away the flood of creatures. Darje fought with nothing but an empty pistol, whipping away the insects. He knew that he and his teammates were going to die. Just as that thought had processed, he spotted a helicopter far off in the sky. He knew it was reinforcements, or in this case, rescue.

The endless flood of spiders would not cease. The marines had been dwindled to 3 marines. Darje, Butch, and Scott. They stood back to back beating away their death. Suddenly Darje saw his dead friend on the ground, also he saw the bump scurry across his body and burrow into his chest. He was sickened, only to see his friend rise again. He knew all to well that he was infected and must be killed. He pulled out a knife as the thing lunged at him, and he stabbed it right where the burrow was. Darje heard the creature cry in pain. He lifted his hand out to see it covered in purple goo. As the body lay dead, he saw another spider try to burrow into his friend. He quickly stepped on it and cut up his friend’s body, hoping the spiders would lose interest. Unknowingly to Darje, Butch and Scott were slowly being consumed. He looked over to see that Scott had one dig into his chest while he was still fully alive. He was shocked to see Scott had turned. He knew now that this force was nearly unstoppable. Dead or alive, these things would take their own armies and turn them against them.

He saw Butch take out his pistol and shoot Scott several times. He then took his own pistol and shot himself in the head. Darje was now alone fighting off an endless supply of parasites. He struggled until he felt them crawling all over his body. They began feeding on his flesh, digging in his skin, and running throughout his arms. He felt the pincers of them digging into his back. He screamed, and then fell limp. The last thing he remembered was watching the helicopter land as tentacles roamed through his head.