I remember back before we even knew the antithesis existed. The world wasn’t nearly as much of a shit show as it is now, albeit we were getting to that point without any help from aliens good or bad.

But the biggest difference is just how little wildlife there is these days.

In the 2010s you could go into a forest and you’d hear all kinds of wildlife!

Now, the second the antithesis touches an unprotected woodland those woods might not ever have sound from native fauna ever again.

It’s downright terrifying.

-Final post on a now defunct floridian birdwatching forum, 2055

The gator had luckily made it through the raid unscathed despite being right next to the garden. I quickly took off my pack and put it in the passenger seat, and sat down in the drivers side seat. A quick turn of the ignition, and I was off.

Highlighting antithesis tracks for you now.

A multitude of orange highlights and yellow arrows appeared on the ground, each highlight marking a place where the antithesis had left their mark on the soil while plundering my home. The arrows pointing opposite the direction they had been traveling.

A call from Nyra suddenly popped up on my glasses and was just as quickly dismissed.

I’d deal with her once the words she ripped from me came back.

With a roar, the gator tore out of the garden and into the field. It was slightly muddy thanks to being corn stubble that was harvested soon after a rain and the antithesis churning everything up didn’t make things much better.

Nothing so bad that the gator couldn’t handle, but it sure was schloppy out here, as Uncle Cy would say. Chunks of sticky mud and pieces of corn stubble were getting kicked up by the wheels, and splattered all over the place. The only thing keeping me safe from a more ‘earthy’ paint job was the small cab the gator had.

So naturally I was grinning like a mad woman.

What kind of a farm girl would I be if I didn’t enjoy playing in the mud a bit?

If I didn’t have equipment that I wanted to keep clean going into whatever hell I was throwing myself into, I’d have put down the windows to let some fresh air into the cab.

The tracks in front of me had all converged into one soupy mess of turned over soil and corn trash, frankly I didn’t even need Pyri’s help with how obvious the turned over soil was.

“…” I tried to ask Pyri about what I could expect, only for my voice to still fail… and since I was driving I couldn’t just type out a message to her either.

I take it that since you went from that smile of yours to a scowl, something upset you?

I nodded, pointed at my throat, and then tapped my wrist.

You want to know how long it will be ‘til your voice comes back?

Another nod.

I can’t give you a proper time frame on that. The best I can give you is either your brain calms down enough to ‘unlock’ your words, or you purchase something to circumvent the issue. Unfortunately anything that has a high chance of working is outside your price range.

I slumped in rejection, this fucking sucked! I had half a mind to just… wait a minute, that’s a great idea! I played a bit more one armed charades by pointing to my head and acting like my hand was a book after words.

You’re asking if there are ways for me to read your mind to circumvent the issue?

I smiled and nodded.

That would be a feasible option, but would require expensive scanning equipment to give me a proper idea of exactly how you think via a simulated copy, so I could compare against your actual brain. Privacy would also be a concern. However if you got the points for it, it would be doable.

Before I could respond we reached the opposite end of the field and the treeline. Pulling to a stop, I noticed the brush that would’ve stopped me cold had been trampled flat, or just plain eaten.

I was really starting to wonder if having Pyri highlight the trail was truly necessary.

But… something was off about the woods, I couldn’t put my finger on it.

[Pyri do you see anything in the woods? They feel… wrong somehow]

Try activating your anti-stealth tech.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Blinking, I realized I had completely forgotten about that feature. Quickly turning it on, I scanned the treeline and even tried to look a bit deeper in, and didn’t see anything that caught my eye.

[Am I missing something? I don’t see anything]

I don’t see anything either, is it possible you are picking up on the fact that the forest was picked clean of fauna?

I stilled as I realized Pyri was right. I couldn’t hear or see any animals in the trees. I shut the gator off, and opened the side window to try and hear better only for a deafening silence to take its place.

[that is so creepy]

[can you alert me if i miss anything?]

I can and will. You aren’t wrong about how unnerving this is.

I restarted the engine and slowly drove forward into the trees. The ground was a bit softer off the field, but the plant material on the ground kept things stable.

It would’ve been relaxing if not for how off putting it all was, especially as I saw the evidence of antithesis sweeping through the forest; Claw and bite marks from Threes. Quills from Fives next to drag marks. The large compacted trail of a Model Eight that had been fed full to bursting.

It made me downright angry how destructive the antithesis were here. They couldn’t have been here for more than a few hours at most. For all I knew, the forest was meant for the hive at Homeplace rather than the one they originally came from.

Regardless, they would probably come back sooner than later, and it would probably be a good thing because I would be able to prune some Models from the hive before I even got there.

I don’t know if it was a good thing or not that I was practically craving a fight with the antithesis now.

By the time we were halfway through the forest, I was begging for something to happen. The tension in the air grew more and more with each passing moment, pressing down on me to the point my mind was telling me to fire just one bolt into the earth, just to break the silence.

My hand was itching to pull my Amp-Thrower from its holster and give it what it wanted.

*SNAP*

Leaping from my seat I threw open the door and spun around wildly brandishing my handcannon to find… nothing?

I grunted. If anything the lack of any sort of attack made things worse.

Spark, there’s nothing there. It was most likely a branch falling off a tree because of all the damage done to the forest by the antithesis. Also try speaking again please?

I tried once again to speak, for my new voice to come out a bit rough! After clearing my throat, it was back to its original level of softness.

“Thank the fucking goddess” I said, relieved at the fact I could talk again. “How did you know Pyri?”

You grunted after realizing the sound wasn’t a call to action.

Shaking my head I moved back to the gator. “Thanks for picking up on that Pyri.”

You’re welcome, Spark dear.

I turned to find the gator still creeping forward because I didn't put it in park. So I quickly hopped in and took control back. Not wanting to wast too much time I continued forward through the anxiety inducing trees.

It took another twenty minutes of looking over my shoulder and jumping at every snapped branch, and every sudden bounce of the tires before I finally found something to kill. A stray, unassuming piece of the environment.

“Fucking finally!”

Do you wish to get an entire hive’s worth of attention directed at you before you have your weapons equipped properly now?

‘I don’t know, maybe? Ask me after I kill this Nine.’

The Nine in question was actually quite cleverly disguised as a small fallen log. The only issue with its doomed ambush was it didn’t anticipate that I had an amazing partner who gave me super cool glasses.

I yanked my rifle off my pack’s storage frame, and opened the gator door. Intentionally not looking directly at the log which was starting to creep forward towards me.

The Fox’s Trill came alive with a hum in my hands, and the second I knew it was warmed up and ready, I snapped the anode to the log and squeezed the trigger.

A bolt of electricity flashed to the xeno with a crack and electrocuted it before it even realized what had happened. The discharge echoed off the trees as I walked forward, scanning my surroundings for any further ambushes. I didn’t want to find out how well my armor would stop a Nine pouncing on top of me just yet, so it was best to keep things properly safe for the moment.

Target Eliminated! Model Nine 25 Reward: 28

Besides, the scent of fried bush, not to mention the sound of my gun, would pull in any surrounding kills soon enough.

Reaching the corpse I looked it over, and found its claws stained with dried blood. It was probably scouring the forest clean when it heard the gator’s engine.

“How close to the hive do you think I’m at?”

Most likely still a good distance from it, if you were nearby there would be far more than just a single ambush Model here.

“Would it be walkable?”

I believe so, your transportation also isn’t really suited to allow for easy use of your weaponry.

I sighed as I placed my hand cannon back into its holster. “Might as well shut it off and walk then, no point in giving them an advance notice with my engine either.”

A sound decision.

As I walked back to the idling machine, my foot crushed a few acorns dropped by the oak trees scattered throughout this part of the woods. They also made me realize something.

“Pyri, you said antithesis corpses would regrow right?”

I did, yes.

“How long can I leave them without doing proper corpse disposal?”

For any units you’ve killed today, they would become a problem within twelve hours, with your robots patrolling your home, that timer could extend to fourteen. I do not advise relying on that however.

I rubbed the front of my faceplate as I shut the ignition off, pulled my pack out of the cab then slung it over my shoulder.

“Before I enter the hive, can you remind me to buy some sort of drone that will go around, start properly getting rid of any corpses I’ve left today?” I thought for a moment tapping my foot on the ground. “Including getting rid of the contaminated pits left over? We can figure out what to use once we get there.”

It’s been marked in itinerary two.

“That low of a number, huh?”

Corpse Disposal was the second category of scheduling I decided you needed help keeping track of.

“And the first?”

Bodily Health.

I giggled as I shifted in place. “Whatever, can you also mark anywhere a corpse fell on a map that still needs… Uh, what’s a good word…”

Sterilization?

I nodded, “Yeah, that works,just in case I need to check them out later for some reason.”

Consider it done.

I walked back past the Nine’s corpse, when I heard the sounds of a lot of somethings charging through the forest.

Looks like the sound finally pulled something in.