A pair of calloused hands are seen searching through the rubble and collapsed walls of a small house. Within a few minutes, he pulled a framed picture out from under a broken nightstand.

“Good. It's all right, except for a little dirt”

The picture was quickly stuffed into his duffle bag that hung across his back. The young man crouched down to grab his weapon, once a broom now a spear with a kitchen knife acting as the head.

The young man walks deftly through the streets of a collapsed city. He crawls through a fallen-apart library and enters the cellar beneath it.

The cellar was surprisingly spacious. But as the teenager walked towards his little corner of the shelter he was greeted by other residents of the cellar.

“Wassup Damon?”

A young boy said

“You doin' alright?”

An older gentleman asked gently

“Did you manage to find it?”

A blonde-haired boy similar to his age questioned

Damon only responded to the last one.

“Yeah, I did.. Wasn't quite where I left it though”

“Oh?”

The blonde-haired boy responded

“Where was it, somewhere weird?”

Damon thought for a second.

“No, it wasn't anywhere weird Garrett. It just wasn't where it was the last time I saw it”

“Did you see any bugs?”

Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

Garret asked

“A couple of mites and flies, besides that. Nothing more than usual.”

Bugs is a term used by the survivors of D-Day, the first human contact with the alien invaders called The Harvesters. The Harvesters are made up of dozens of alien insect species varying from strong to weak. Mites and flies are among the weakest, but they can and will eat humans alive if they are unarmed.

Damon is the only armed person in the cellar left, the rest were killed in various situations. He is in charge of scavenging and gathering supplies.

“Well, I haven't scouted up north yet. I made a pit stop here to drop some stuff off and pick some up.”

Damon puts a few personal items that he retrieved from his house next to his bedroll. He walks over to the workstation on the other side of the shelter and picks up a couple of tools. Just in case he needs them, a bundle of ropes, some duct tape, nails, etc. Damon heads to the overhead cellar door and says right before he leaves.

“Alright, I'm off! See you soon!”

———————————————————

About 2 miles away from the library Damon is seen in a grocery store looking for any non-perishables. The store is pretty destroyed, but he managed to find an armful of unbroken cans of fruits, vegetables, and beans. He quickly filled his bag till it couldn't hold anymore.

Just as Damon exited the store he heard a sound to the left of the store. He looked over and saw a stream of ants the size of tigers, walking down the street. Damon quickly turned to hide back in the store, but he wasn't quick enough. An ant saw him. As he ran to the back of the store the ant that saw him charged through the glass doors that separated the outside from the inside leaving only glass in its wake.

“You kidding me?!”

Damon exclaims

The ant made a bee-line in Damon’s direction mandibles open ready to crush. Damon readied his spear, tip facing the barreling ant. The second the ant was in reach, he pulled back the spear and slammed the spear into the ant’s eye with as much force as his body could produce.

The ant screeched in pain and thrashed around causing Damon to lose grip of his spear. The spear stuck in the ant’s eye. Damon attempts to flee, but the ant is already locked in in his location.

The ant charges towards Damon's location once again.

“SHIT”

Damon rolls out of the way, and the ant slams into the wall where he once was. While the ant’s face was in the wall, he saw that as an opportunity to retrieve his spear.

Damon jumps onto the back of the ant struggling to maintain balance. He puts both his hands on the spear and tears it out. The ant screeches again in agony. With his spear in hand, Damon swings his spear at the ant’s remaining eye. His swinging was interrupted by the ant’s antenna whipping Damon in the face, leaving a long scratch from ear to ear that was leaking blood.

The impact of the antenna knocked him off the ant’s back. As soon as Damon hit the floor the ant escaped through a hole in the wall.

Damon is gasping heavily while Mumbling to himself

“I gotta leave, they'll swarm here if I stay any longer.”

Damon wills himself to get up off the floor and leave.