Art by  purplepardus

Xeno hives are full of resourceful horrors. Most of them stay with the tried and true method of facehuggers and chestbursters, the classic way. Ziggy, however, discovered a rare mutation on the formula. And he rather discovered the mutation firsthand. Only by happy accident did he find a hive that propagates itself through equally dramatic but much less lethal means.

The facehuggers of this hive, well they don’t implant what is so much an egg in the conventional sense. It results in a new xeno but, instead of spawning a worm that eats its way out of the host, the egg splits and lets its contents incorporate itself throughout the conversion candidate. There’s minor discomfort during this process, akin to muscle cramps, as the exoskeleton grows between the subject’s muscles and skin.

Once the foundational bits are all in place the process reaches its dramatic climax, causing the subject to burst from their skin as they grow into a massive xeno brute form, skull elongating into the telltale shape, tails becoming long lethal weapons.

Ziggy, er, now Xiggy was shocked at first but soon found the new body pretty handy. He was certain others would enjoy joining him in this hive.

The hunt was on.