The next stage, hibernating inside one of these eggs, is a parasite commonly referred to as a face-hugger. Concealed by the egg for protection, the facehugger waits until the egg senses it is time to continue the life cycle. When a viable host is brought near a closed egg (either by curiosity, or being cocooned and held in place) it triggers the "contents" of the egg to come to life. The egg opens from the top to reveal the creature within it. At this point the cycle transfers from the egg to the next phase as the face-hugger awakens.

After sensing the nearby host, the face-hugger launches out at the organism and attaches itself by wrapping a long "tail" around its victim's neck and using long spider-like legs (like a spider, the face-hugger has 8 legs) to firmly grip the organism's head. The legs become almost fused with the head of the soon-to-be host, making it extremely difficult to remove.

The face-hugger also controls the amount of oxygen its host receives and puts the victim in a comatose state while it reaches down the host's throat and lays an egg. The wind 'bags' on the side of the face-hugger pump the oxygen into the host, to keep the host alive. During this process the host is virtually helpless and dependent upon the face-hugger.

After the egg is planted in the victim's body, the face-hugger leaves the host (who will soon re-gain consciousness and have no recollection of the implantation) and dies.