No new chapter this time, but people who are interested in The Hive might still wanna read this. It's mainly about the writing process and what you can expect in the future.

First of all some Publication Info: I'm currently posting this story on Gurochan, TheDarkSpot and Hentaifoundry. The Hentaifoundry version is the one that deals best with my formatting, so I recommend reading it over here if you don't already: http://www.hentai-foundry.com/stories/user/eddyboy/25730/The-Hive-A-Duke-Nukem-Horror-Story

I will continue posting on all three of course, at least for the foreseeable future.

Something that I realized again and again while writing this story is that it's not a simple thing to find the middle road between your typical one-off snuff-story and your average (maybe even politically correct) let's-see-how-the-hero-wins-narrative.
I don't want you, the reader, to just wait and find out what gruesome end I have in store for my main heroine(s). Because I haven't got any. Neither do I have any concrete plan on how Libby is going to save the day (and herself). What I do have is some vague major plot ideas that are roaming around in my mind, waiting for the right time to be written down.
And here's the thing: I don't have any idea WHEN and IF that right time will come. Because while the situations the characters run into originate from my mind, I let DICE decide the outcome of most aspects, meaning I don't know how each chapter will end myself. I am using a simplified version of your average RPG Ruleset that contains Fitness, Strength, Mind, Morale and Luck.

Fitness determines how much stamina characters have and how agile they are. It helps when fleeing and hiding from enemies, reaction speed and how long they can withstand physically stressing situations (which in this story can and will include sexual violence) before passing out or dying.

Strength determines how strong they are (yes, really), helping them escape once they are cought, free alien victims, use weaponry and take hard, but non-sustained damage before passing out or dying.

Mind generally helps them to avoid danger altogether, to come up with ideas to fight back and with getting out of sticky situations using trickery. In the case of our current protagonist Libby for example, this includes her education as a police officer.

Morale determines their mental health. The Hive is a living nightmare, so even if they stay alive, the horrors characters witness and become victims of can literally break their minds.
Morale has no fixed value, but characters start out with larger or smaller pools paired with the ability to build morale faster (like by defeating some monster) or lose it slower (witnessing something horrible or going through it oneself).

But even the most perfect hero can die from a random hit. Or find something useful. That's where luck comes in.

Here's some examples of stuff that could have happened very differently so far (just the most relevant stuff, there's more in some details):

– The girl that was taken from the incubator along with Libby, Claire and Magda could have survived and become pretty major character. She literally lost a coin toss whether the Pigman would fall backwards or forwards, impaling her head. Was an interesting character too, but oh well, now she's dead.

– Claire could be keeping her shit together better (or worse, believe it or not), while Libby's current mental health is well above what I had anticipated.

– The tentacle in the corridor in chapter 6 could have raped either of the three, though with Libby as the target there would have been a chance for her to escape due to her physical prowess.

– With a bad shot, Libby could have shot Claire in the leg or the foot while shooting the tentacle.

– Before Libby jumped down the chute in chapter 7, there was a "gunblast that missed her head by only a few inches". That could have been a hit. 'Nuff said.

Some may remember that an older version of the beginning of this story was posted years ago on Gurochan and TheDarkSpot. That story wasn't very long-lived, though. The new system and the surprises it results in for me as the author will hopefully keep me focussed this time. Currently I am working on introducing a few more perspectives to the story, both as a device of reaching some plot points I wanna reach (three naked chicks running through corridors can't experience everything) and as a safety net in case Libby bites the dust. While I do not have infinite time on my hands, I am fairly optimistic that I will be able to add at least 2-3 new chapters per month.

TLDR: Story events are partly randomized, writing process takes time.