Chapter 31

“It’s been a while since I’ve felt the urge to sleep…” I thought, sighing contentedly after having just finished eating the last bits of the Knight.

Ordinarily there would never be enough food to satiate my ravenous hunger but this time the sheer size of my foe was such that, as long as I didn’t stop eating, my gluttony just couldn’t keep up. I’d probably be hungry again in an hour or two, but for now I was happy to just lay back and relax while I digested my meal.

Or rather, that’s what I would have done. But as soon as I got comfortable one of the human soldiers approached me. The group of them came back from their retreat as soon as they were certain the Mantis was dead, but they held off on trying to talk to me while I was eating.

“At least they were courteous enough to let me finish eating…” I thought grumpily, turning my head to give a lazy look at the soldier.

“Ahem” The soldier cleared his throat, trying to get my attention. I nodded, allowing him to speak. “Forgive me for interrupting you while you rest, but would your name happen to be Forminus?” he said, oddly formal.

I didn’t respond for a moment, ruminating on the fact that he knew my name.

“Looks like those three succeeded then, if I ever see them again I’ll have to congratulate them. So...what can I do for you? Judging from that look on your face, I doubt you want my autograph.”

“No sir, I don’t. My name is Scott Batton, Captain of Zulu squadron. ”

I sleepily saluted the man and said “A pleasure.”

“Pleasures all mine. Mr. Forminus, you may not know this but your reputation precedes you. All over the world people have been wondering, who is the Ant Lord? Is he a good samaritan, or a dire warning for the future. I take it you have no knowledge of what’s been going on outside of this fog…?

“No, but I can guess what’s happened. Those guys told the world about this place, chaos erupted everywhere, nations were panicking, world leaders were pressed to take action, and then soldiers like you were sent in to fight enemies you knew nothing about with weapons that were basically useless against them. You guys lost- badly. And now your entire fighting force is in disarray and you are on your last legs, am I right?”

Captain Batton nodded gravely and said “Then I can skip the recap. To put it bluntly, Mr. Forminus, I have been instructed by my superiors that, in the event that I or my squadron come into contact with you, or any other Lords, we are to escort you back to our base immediately using any means at our disposal.”

I blinked and then slowly picked myself up off the ground. I could see where this conversation was going, the humans needed help or else they were going to be wiped out. I could empathize with their plight and I was even willing to assist them for a…suitable price. However, the way he asked for help irked me.

“And what.” I said, projecting the same force into my voice that made my screams so powerful “do you plan on doing, if I refuse?”

The soldiers visibly recoiled, but once again they managed to stand their ground. The Captain, face pale, must have realized that he had made a blunder because he immediately took a knee and put his hands into the air- the universal gesture of surrender. For a moment I wanted to sneer at his spinelessness, but then i realized that this must have been quite a difficult thing for him to do.

The man had no choice. For the sake of the human race, he had to do whatever he could to placate me and win me over to his side.

“Forgive me, I didn’t mean to offend. I only meant that I would be willing to accommodate any request you might have in order to convince you to come back with us.” he said, sweating furiously.

“Hmph.” I grunted, lowering my killing intent “Then say what you mean. I’d already intended to offer my help-”

“Then you really will save us?!” One of the soldiers exclaimed, excitedly interrupting me.

“-in exchange for something equally as valuable.” I finished.

“I see…then, for now, would you be willing to allow us to bring you to our base?” The Captain said, still walking on eggshells.

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I nodded, and Captain Batton immediately started issuing orders for his men to roll out.

“Ah, and Captain?” I said

“What?”

“I am not alone.”

He eyed me questioningly for a moment before suddenly hearing a shout among his men that something was approaching from the south, where I had jumped from. The soldiers all readied their weapons, pointing them at the mysterious dark figures that had appeared in the fog.

“What in god's name…” Batton whispered as Terry’s hulking frame appeared. Riding atop his shoulders were Peter and Ember, the latter of whom immediately jumped off and started scuttling toward me.

One of the men took aim at her, and was about to shoot ,so I said “If any of you hurt that spider I will personally fillet you alive and eat you.”

Suffice to say, that was enough of a deterrent to make them lower their weapons.

“Forminus, are these two both…?”

“Lords? Yes. The big one, Terry, is as strong as I am and the boy isn’t far behind.”

Captain Batton was staring slack jawed at Terry, in awe of him. Regardless of my reputation Terry, with his large body, golden armor and warm presence, exuded a much more welcoming aura than I did.

“You’ve changed a bit.” Terry noted, eyeballing me. Though I couldn’t see how without a mirror.

“Mhmm. These soldiers have asked us to accompany them to their base. I saw no reason not to, but if you guys are against it we can just leave.”

Terry thought for a moment before saying “I’d like to help these people with whatever is troubling them. Peter, Ember?”

“I’m good.” Peter said

“Me as well!” Ember replied cheerfully.

“There you have it.” I said, turning back to the Captain “Let’s get a move on Batton.”

Batton was still a few steps behind the four of us, but he managed to pull himself together enough to say “I’m glad you’ve all agreed to come, but I’m not sure there’s enough room in the humvee for…”he trailed off, not wanting to offend Terry.

But Terry just snorted and said “Don’t worry man, I’ll be fine on foot.”

Batton didn’t look convinced, but he said nothing. In the end, Peter, Ember and I also decided to hoof it, as none of us wanted to be trapped inside of a vehicle if the bugs attacked. Fortunately, the journey to the soldiers base went without incident.

The base was located well outside of Dayton, in the town of Urbana. There a Perimeter had been set up around a certain four way intersection where a popular halloween festival took place every year. The area outside of the perimeter was appropriately morose, as it was littered with the corpses of Cleaners and Scouts, as well as a few insect types that our group hadn’t come across yet. In particular there were loads and loads of…

“Ants…” I thought, a peculiar feeling welling up in my chest.

It wasn’t compassion, these creatures were little more than food to me. It was just that I could still sense what these creatures must have been feeling in their final moments. Ants leave a pheromone trail wherever they go to let others know where they have been, and different types of pheromones elicited different types of messages. I could mostly sense “food” and “enemy” but underneath that I could sense something else. “Danger”. The Ants knew that they were going to lose and they still had the presence of mind to warm their comrades of what was ahead.

In a strange way, I respected their dogged determination.

The street that ran into the base was walled off with six foot tall concrete blockades, and behind these blockades were ten meter tall piles of rubble. Makeshift guard towers had also been constructed out of wood and they could be seen peeking over the rubble. In the middle of the concrete blockades and the rubble there was a single entrance made out of a simple chain link gate that stretched between the gap in the wall.

From my point of view, it wasn’t a particularly impressive set up. Even a Cleaner wouldn’t have a particularly difficult time breaking through the barrier.

“Perhaps it just gives them peace of mind?” I mused. They would need it in this place, it was already difficult enough to keep one's sanity when just running away. Actively choosing to fight the insects when they knew they couldn’t win had to be devastating to one's psyche.

The group of Humvees flanked by the four of us was seen far off by the guards in the watchtowers, who immediately raised the alarm thinking their comrades were being pursued.by some new kind of insect. A few minutes later dozens of soldiers appeared over the walls, in the watchtowers, and leaning out of the upper stories of buildings.

Catching onto what was happening, I quickly sent a thought communication to the others telling them to stay as close as possible to the Humvees. Peter, Ember and I all hopped onto the vehicles closest to us while Terry lowered his body and ran hunched over behind another one. Captain Batton meanwhile was desperately trying to get a message through to the base telling them that we were non-hostiles. He would have done this before we had set out earlier but as it turned out, communications technologies signals were dampened by the fog the farther away you are from one another.

He was able to get his message through in the end though and the entire base was ordered to stand down, much to Batton’s relief. When we got there we were immediately greeted by the base Commander, a man named Jack Wimbleton. Unlike the men of Zeta squadron, Wimbleton was a Brit which confused me at first until he said:

“The soldiers of the United Human Army don’t just swear allegiance to any one nation or creed. Our mission is the preservation of humanity, and to accomplish that mission our army is a strict meritocracy. If an American, an Englishman, an African or an Asian exhibits qualities of excellence, then that man will be given a squadron to command. There is little room to worry about the background we all come from when the world is at stake.” he said, regarding me sternly.

I liked Wimbleton.

“Now then. I understand my men may have angered you by raising the alarm so quickly. The soldiers responsible have already been detained and will be appropriately punished for their mistake. Is this satisfactory to you?” he said cautiously.

???

I had no idea what he was talking about. Weren’t they just doing their jobs? For a moment I was baffled by what I considered extreme measures of retaliation. But then I noticed beads of sweat appearing on Wimbleton’s face and I realized- Just like how Batton did everything he could to prove that he meant me no harm, Wimbleton was showing me respect and deference of this level to prove that he would do anything for my cooperation.

“Don’t you think that’s a little much?” Terry remarked, scratching his head at the disproportionate retribution.

“Not at all. Judging from what Batton told me, if one of us had shot that spider we would all be dead right now.”

Terry looked at me for a moment and nodded, saying “Ah, good point.”

“Regardless, there is no need to punish those men to placate me.” I said

The Commander nodded and called another soldier over for a moment. After whispering something into the man's ear he turned back to us and said “Jolly good. Mr. Forminus, would you care to join my in my office for some tea?”

I exchanged glances with Terry and Peter, both of whom nodded and entered the base ahead of us. Ember then climbed back onto my shoulders and the two of us followed the commander to a brick building where his office was located.

It was time to see if the humans could be of any use to me.