Freezing in place Jake’s eyes widened, noticing this Clay followed Jake's gaze saying in a severe tone, “Don’t mov-” Not even able to finish his sentence the woman who was sitting below the ant reacted quickly, thrusting her sword at the ant’s head, only for it to be caught by its mandible.
Shocked by the quick reaction of the ant, the woman was confused for a moment before trying to retrieve her weapon only to realize that she couldn’t even make it budge. The next thing she knew was something heavy hitting her as the ant let itself fall from the ceiling, crushing her underneath it.
This was not enough to kill her, but the huge stinger that burrowed itself deep into her stomach and the venom that came with it would soon do. During the process, she struggled fiercely. Before the ant could do anything else Jim, who was closest, reacted and with one smooth motion beheaded the ant and kicked the corpse away from the woman.
Shocked, the man from Dave’s guard asked, “Why is that thing so big?” Looking over his shoulder Clay explained, “That is a soldier ant. They are far stronger than your regular worker ant and at least of the third rank. It seems like it stood guard over this tunnel, but to our luck ants are pretty passive if they are alone, so let's hope that was our first and last encounter.”
Squirming on the ground the woman struggled fiercely against the pain, while her screams reverted in the tunnels around them. They had to do something but it was not like they had an antidote or anything similar.
They didn’t have any real medical knowledge and together with the fact that the venom was released in the stomach region which was very close to the organs, they knew that the woman wouldn’t live for long. To make matters worse she was the only rank two in their group. As the seconds went by the woman's condition got only worse and it was at this point that Dennis had enough.
Pushing the others aside he gripped his sword and with one swift motion ended the suffering of the woman, by slicing her throat, almost beheading her in the process. Shocked Max stammered, “Y-You just killed her!”
Looking at him, Dennis rubbed the blood from his blade by pulling it over the clothes of the dead woman replying, “Yes I did, no one else seemed to have the guts to. We all know that she would have died soon anyway. I just spared her some suffering, so could we please get moving?”
“I know but still…” Max wasn’t feeling right killing someone just like that but it was true that they had to move on and that her chance of survival was negligible. In Max's mind, Dennis was still the secluded, shy, indrawn boy that happily attended the school garden. Not this… heartless killer.
Everyone's mindset changed over the course of the last three months and Dennis even more so after his father died. It was interesting to witness how much people could change in such a short period, but there was no other choice. Either you adapt to your circumstances or die.
With this in mind, they had to get moving, they wasted far too much time, and the battery of the flashlight wouldn’t last forever so they had to quickly escape from this shithole.
With seven people remaining, they made their way through the tunnels and before long the tunnels split into two ways, one leading up and another leading down. Wanting to get to the surface the group chose the one that led higher.
Only seconds after the way forked again, but this time into five different directions leading left, right, down, up, and another down. They tried to feel a stroke of wind but the air was completely still and stale. If this continued their lack of air, would kill them before anything else.
Choosing every path that let them ascend higher it didn’t take long for them to stumble into a group of worker ants numbering to about a dozen. This group was not a thread at all, even in the enclosed space they had to fight them in. Even a group three times their size wouldn’t be a problem, as the small space gave the advantage of limiting the number of ants that could fight at once, and without their advantage in numbers they were easy prey.
Like this they went on, constantly fighting the ants while going higher and higher. At some point, the group even lost hope of escaping this maze of endless tunnels, twists, and turns, but finally, after what felt like hours they could feel the wind coming from one of the tunnels. They rushed through it, meeting another soldier ant that was killed in one swift motion by Chris' short sword before they were blinded by the sunlight.
After their eyes adjusted the hope that burned so high just moments ago was hushed out by a cold blizzard. They indeed found an exit and they could also finally breathe fresh air, but looking out from the hole they were met by a steep downfall. They stood dozens of meters off the ground, being able to see far and wide over the forest.
The reason for their long ascend was that they never went in the direction of one of the holes in the ground but went up the mountain, deeper into the nest of ants. The sun was already shining brightly in the sky, which gave them a hard realization.
It not only felt like they went up for hours. For the whole night and a good part of the day, they did nothing else but kill ant after ant, climbing higher and higher. They were covered from top to bottom in dust, dirt, and green-yellowish blood. Clay finally reached his limits falling to his knees, the bags under his eyes so deep they almost seemed black.
Looking at the sun he said, “We need a new plan.”
“What exactly do you mean by that?” Jake asked, having an unwell feeling in his heart.
Rubbing his sunken bags he replied, “We will never ascend this mountain again, at least not with our current strategy. Look below you.”
“Below me?” Saying this Jake's eyes wandered away from the forest and instead landed on the steep climb down only for him to make weird sounds, similar to laughter. The others had weird expressions after seeing Jake's odd behavior and followed his gaze before they understood. Seeing the scene in front of them everyone had a different expression but one was true for all. They were all stunned and dumbstruck.
Below them, a seemingly endless marsh of red-brown ants was moving from and to the mountain; they could see thousands of ants rushing through the forest carrying food and materials. The sight was unbelievable.
They could not see the full extent of the ants attacking them when they were ambushed. They never thought that they would be ambushed by ants in such a strategic manner after all. Their intelligence surprised them, but it was only now that they realized that they weren't ambushed by a grand strategy from intelligent ants…
No, it was far worse, they just encountered one of the many groups that went to the forest to collect materials or god knows what. This wasn’t a planned ambush... no it was a group of workers.
They lost most of their fighting force, a group of people they nourished painstakingly, equipped with their best weapons, and were the ones with the highest skill, all killed by a group of worker ants.
Realizing this Jim couldn’t help himself, but to copy Clay as he fell to his knees. His vision blurred and tears strolled down his cheeks. He fought for three months against beast after beast, a raven, a gorilla, a wolf, and countless others.
They were all formidable foes and Jim risked his life every time just to live another day, to protect his sister and everyone else. He lived on while countless others sacrificed themself time and time again. They struggled each and every single day. They didn’t lose hope even once, they always continued, always fought. They even reclaimed the city they lost after so much effort and bloodshed.
A person that was like a grandfather for him, a symbol of hope sacrificed himself in the hope that the few that remained could return to the city and flee, that they could continue living – continue surviving. Jim believed that Solaire sacrificed himself and took a good chunk of the ants out but his reality was crushed, as he realized that Solaire’s sacrifice was meaningless.
He killed at best a few hundred worker ants, that seemed to not even amount to a tenth of what Jim saw coming and going from this mountain. They didn’t underestimate their enemy, they lived straight up in an illusion.
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They were so foolish. How could they think that they could kill all these ants by just smoking them out? They should have fled, when they still had the chance to. Now they were trapped in the lair of the lion. There was no escape from such a huge army of ants.
The whole group fell in despair and morale was at an all-time low. It really seems like there was no chance of survival and there was nothing they could do. Silence prevailed for minutes as everyone tried to come to terms with the situation.
Their death was almost sealed with this sight in front of them. One does not have to be a genius to realize that escape was nearly impossible. They were high in the air, and descent by climbing was suicide, they had no rope they could secure themself with, not that it would be long enough anyway.
Slipping one time would mean certain death, not that you could go down for long before being detected by an ant, and if one detects you, it wouldn’t take long for others to come, and in comparison to humans, ants could climb very steep even vertical surfaces without much of a problem.
Fighting on a cliff was impossible even with a body of a rank fourth that already broke human standards in every possible way. Clay for example was now awake for a good five days, while constantly maintaining his aura and fighting beast after beast, but he still had limits like everyone else, and fighting on such a mountain? That was beyond them.
Everyone was looking at the sea of ants. Jim saw that the man from Dave's guards had hazy, lifeless eyes, as he held his injured right arm. An injury he got after fighting with one of the soldier ants. He stood close to the edge of the tunnel and looking at the steep downfall and the thousands of ants rushing below he exhaled in exhaustion.
Looking at his bloody and rough hands he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and let himself fall forward.
***
No one was able to react in time, as the man fell with drastic speed down. On the way he crashed into many trees, rocks, and the mountain itself. After he finally reached the ground a puddle of blood, organs, and bones was everything that was left behind. Not long after an ant came to carry the pieces of the corpse away. Seeing this Jake couldn’t hold it anymore as he vomited all over the place.
The others could control themself but all had grim expressions. With this, only six remained. They didn't expect the man to straight up kill herself after seeing this sight, but it was not like they didn’t understand. They did nothing but fight for the past three months and it was true that many were tired. For most, there was nothing left but survival itself, no family that awaited them, a job that bound them, or friends that cared for them.
If you had the choice between a never-ending fight, death between the maws of beasts, or a jump into immediate death, some would know that the last option gave you the least pain, an easy option to end all this fighting and suffering.
The emotions of the group varied but there was not much they could do. He was just another unfortunate soul that died from this catastrophe like so many others before them. Death was such a daily occurrence that most people became dull to it, for many their tears ran dry over the countless fights.
Everyone sat down in a half circle, looking at the sun and contemplating their situation. It seemed hopeless, yes, but everyone here survived a good three months in this harsh environment and they didn’t because of luck.
To survive to this point one needed unbending willpower and adaptation no matter how bad the situation may be. The man killed himself because he didn't want to fight further. He was tired and under the seemingly endless army of ants he knew that there was nothing left but fighting and chose an easier option out.
That was what Jim believed but whatever the reason was, the six people here would not go so easy, at least not without trying to survive or to kill as many of these ants as possible.
Clay was leaning against the wall, watching over the ants – how they went over their day and worked without showing any sign of fatigue. Watching over them Clay stood up and leaned out of the hole, looking above him. He couldn’t see well but it seemed like they were not too far from the top of the mountain.
Coming back in he began to walk up and down. After Chris saw this he smiled and asked, “What idea do you have?”
Everyone’s interest was piqued after hearing Chris ask this question. It gave them a little hope that there may be a way out of this situation. Standing still Clay sat down again, opening his eyes, which burned with new determination. “I think I know how we can survive.” Hearing this the group went silent waiting in anticipation for his idea.
“It won’t be easy and to be truthful I don’t really think that this will work but I don’t have any other ideas. You all noticed how the number of ants got fewer the higher we went up the mountain and I found that strange. I just realized that the resources up here are depleted. They must have already picked everything apart that could be eaten up here, so very few ants wander here for resources.”
“That’s probably right but how is this gonna help us?” Dennis asked in confusion.
“It’s simple if you think about it. We know that escape in the short term is impossible so we will just do the opposite and stay.”
Baffled, Jake asked, “You want to stay on this mountain?”
Nodding Clay explained, “I never said it would be easy, but if we get creative we should be able to survive up here. We only need a reliable water and food source. We can collect water from the rain, our region has relatively heavy rainfall after all. We can also use this tunnel system to our advantage. When it rains the water will sink down and will be naturally filtered by the dirt and stone before we collect it. As for food…”
Hearing this Chris had a weird expression, “No Clay please don’t”
“What else should we do? They are an endless supply after all and you know we ate worse.” Clay replied with a shrug of his shoulders. Groaning Chris said, “That’s exactly what I mean. I thought we have overcome eating raw meat.”
Shocked, Dennis looked at Chirs, “You both ate raw meat?”
“You eat a lot of things if you are desperate enough,” replied Chris without wanting to explain further.
“Wait, I thought you can’t eat raw meat, not even speaking about ants. I mean what about all the bacteria and illnesses we could get,” Max intervened.
Scoffing Clay explained, “Yeah that would be true if we were normal humans, but you may have noticed that we aren’t. In fact, you could drink from a stale, muddy, insect-infested pond and still be fine. We have lived on a good month with mostly raw meat and not once got an illness.”
Max was dumbfounded by this fact. He just assumed that it would be a bad idea to consume raw meat, it was common sense. Sadly this so-called common sense ceased to exist when this calamity befall upon them.
Not wanting to waste time on words Clay thought that actions would prove his point quicker. Going back into the tunnel he soon returned with the headless corpse of the soldier ant that guarded this tunnel.
Laying the corpse beside him he sat down and used his knife to cut the leg of the ant at the joint point. This released the green-yellowish blood and exposed the ghastly muscles and flesh beneath that looked otherworldly and was almost entirely white in appearance.
Disgusted by this sight Dennis asked, “Are you sure you really want to eat that?”
Taking a sharp breath Clay seemed to hesitate for a moment before resolution showed on his face and he bit into the flesh pulling a good chunk out, slurping it similar to a noodle up his mouth, as the flesh was surprisingly slippery and wet.
Chewing on it for a moment he eventually swallowed and wiped the green-yellowish blood from the corner of his mouth. Closing his eyes for a moment he smacked his lips for a few times before taking another bite.
Seeing this everyone but Chris was shocked. This sight alone made them forget their hunger and for some even gave them the urge to vomit right there.
After swallowing the second bite Clay opened his eyes and said, “I didn’t expect it but we hit the jackpot with these ants.”
Disgusted Max asked, “What the fuck do you mean? You don’t really want to tell me that this is something good to eat, right?”
“Oh, this meat is perfect and I will explain why,” responded Clay with a clear head, “I mean think about it. When Chris and I survived out there the most important thing wasn’t how good the meat was but how fast we could consume it. Not only is our digestive system several times higher than before but the same goes for our ability to regenerate and rest if we have sufficient energy.”
“Okay but that doesn’t explain why this ant meat is good,” intervened Jake with a frown.
Heaving a sigh Clay explained, “You had it too easy in the city. The problem out here is that it isn't that easy to quickly consume meat, as the scent would quickly attract other beasts and we had to stay mobile so carrying a corpse with us was a no-go. Every time we killed something we had to quickly consume it and move on. This is easier said than done when the meat is tough like leather and dry like sand. A bite of a deer sucked all the water out of your mouth and all the bones you had to cut around to get to the meat were more than only annoying.”
Holding the leg of the ant slightly in the air Clay said, “This here is perfect because it is tender and very juicy. You don’t need water to eat it and most importantly you don’t have to cut around bones, you can almost suck the meat out just like a...
"Noodle?" Helped Chris from the side. "Yes, exactly like a noodle. With this we can quickly consume meat to get the energy we need to fight, the only problem is that most ants are workers and sadly a little small to suffice as a meal but soldier ants have the perfect size.”
Hearing this Jim was inwardly shocked. They all knew that Chris and Clay survived for two months in the wilderness, but even after regrouping and talking a lot, there were still a lot of details and secrets that Clay or Chris didn’t seem to want to talk about. Two months is a long time and in this time there must have happened more than they initially suspected.
Clay was still talking and explaining how they could survive this calamity but Jim was with his head elsewhere. His thoughts went mostly around Solaire’s death and his sister. They still had hope of survival and Jim would be the last to give up. ‘Just you wait Mia. I will come for you.’