That's how he found himself at the bottom of the lake just as dawn was breaking.

He watched from below as the rain formed circular ripples on the surface. He waited for any sign of Pest activity. After ten minutes without seeing any, he pushed off from the bottom of the lake and stuck his head out of the water.

The rain was coming down much harder than it had during the night. The wind too ripped across the surface causing wavelets to slap into his face.

He swam quietly toward the shore. The equipment was still where they had left it. They hadn't had time to retrieve it during the mad dash. Crawling from the water, he quickly glanced around for any Pests. Under normal circumstances, returning so quickly to the location of an attack would be perilous – especially during daylight. However, Tailor knew that raindrops could knock a flying Pest to the ground. The driving rain should keep the insect activity to a minimum.

Once he was certain that there was nothing lurking on it, he pushed the abandoned equipment back into the lake. He figured that if he was Lost, at least his family wouldn't lose these valuable resources. It took all his strength to shove the heavy waterproofed containers through the mud until they were submerged. When he was done, he rested on the bank as he caught his breath.

He gazed out across the River at the shadowy city on the opposite shore. Uncle Hamish had told him that there were still people living in the tunnels beneath it.

His father had dismissed the rumours.

"Where do they get their food?" he had asked his brother-in-law.

"Same place we do. They grow it. Hydroponically."

"And protein? Do they have cows in these tunnels of yours?"

Everyone laughed at that.

"Maybe they eat insects," his Uncle countered.

His father nodded sagely. It was a good point; insects were a valuable source of food, presuming you could harvest them without being stung or bitten.

"Where are their lights? Every human civilisation for ten thousand years has had lights."

The two adults had argued well into the night about the Tunnel People. Tailor fell asleep before it ended.

As the light grew, he could see more detail. Most of the ruined skyscrapers still stood, but some had toppled. Others had lost their tops or part of their walls. There were no lights. There was no signs that humans lived there anymore.A ruined city. Nice and peacful at least. [https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/985522161202642954/985522473460203540/unknown.png]

That's when he noticed the orange glow to his right. It peeked between the low hills, in the distance, and the storm clouds. It was his first sunrise. He watched it in silence captivated by the colours. Apart from the orange, yellow and red there were also hints of pink and even purple playing at the edges of the clouds above.

If I lived on the surface, he though, I would rise so I could view this every morning.

He continued to watch until the dark, grey storm clouds obscured it. Even when the colours were gone, he hoped that the golden light would peek through, but it never did. At least not before he realised he was wasting valuable time. The Swarms would spot him easily if it grew much brighter. He needed to reach the buildings.

He found it much easier to navigate through the brush this time. The light allowed him to see the narrow clearings between the clumps of vegetation, so he was more able to avoid their spines. He also felt less cold, although his nose continued to dribble.

At the outer wall, he could see the thick coating of spider webs covering the surface. The rent he had made only a few hours earlier, had already been patched. However, the covering was sparser than on the rest of the wall.

The bricks themselves were yellow, like the colour of the sand in the sea. In between many of them, there were holes where something had bored its way through. The webs curled into a thick funnel there. Inside, Tailor could see the fat bodies of black spiders hunkered down trying to escape the icy rain and raging wind.

Following the same route he took with his elders, he made his way through to the other side of the building. He was careful not to disturb any of the debris on the floor or that hung down from the ceilings. He remembered his father's earlier warning about Wardens and kept an eye out for any flashes of red.

Many of the Pests used Wardens. Some didn't look any different from the original species, but a Wasp Warden had a band of blood red around its abdomen. Wardens were specially adapted insects that would station themselves at the edge of the swarm's territory and signal when an intruder approached. None of the scientists back home had been able to work out how they communicated with the swarm, but the effect was almost instantaneous.

His father had been insistent, "Once you spot a Warden get into your Swarm Suit. The Swarm is only seconds away."

However, as he passed through the dark corridors he didn't spy any flashes of red.

By the time he reached the window on the opposite side of the building, the rain was beginning to slacken off. The gale was still squalling, however. He squatted down and gazed through the open frame across the field.

In the distance, he could see brown brick of the apartments and behind them the light blue walls of the hospital. Halfway up the hospital walls there were scorch marks. He hadn't been able to see them during the night – not even with the binoculars.

Almost hidden amongst the thick, green weeds he could just see the yellow remains of his Swarm Suit. That's where he needed to go. Would the wind be enough to protect him? He couldn't see any Pests flying around, but that didn't mean there wasn't a score of colonies nearby. He would be clearly visible across the entire field, so the Pests wouldn't need Wardens to spot him.

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"Sneak across the field and grab the binoculars. Then run. Just like last time," he told himself, trying to bolster his courage. It almost worked.

His heart was pounding as he slid over the windowsill. He waited only a moment to catch his breath before moving out. He kept low, trying to use the tall weeds to cover him. He knew it was pointless, the swarms could easily see him from the air, but it made him feel better. Large puddles made the ground slick forcing him to meander through the grass.

He stopped to recalibrate his bearings. Peeking through the leafy stalks, it took him only a moment to find the scorch marks. He'd used them as a pointer. The half-erected Swarm Suit was on a line between them and the window.

He was too far to the right. He corrected his chosen path and set off again.

It seemed like hours before he spied a flash of yellow directly ahead of him. As the wind whipped through the weeds, he would catch a quick glimpse and then it would disappear again. He fell to his knees and crawled towards it.

The Swarm Suit was located on a slight ridge. With the airbeams uninflated, it was just a crumpled mass spread across the top of the grass.

Tailor slithered up to it. In his rush to search underneath, Tailor didn't notice that pools had gathered in the material. As a result, a torrent of water plunged down upon him. Not only was it icy, but it also coated him in a thick layer of grey mud.

He shivered as he tried wiping it away. All he managed was to smear dirt across his chest and over his arms. He soon realised it was pointless trying to clean himself in any case. The entire hollow beneath him was soaked.

He tried again. Ensuring that the water would fall away from him this time, he flipped through the material, desperately searching for the binoculars. Then he searched the area surrounding the ridge. He even skirted around to the other side of it to search in the large pool that had formed there. However, the binoculars weren't anywhere to be found. He'd lost them once-and-for-all and risked his life for nothing.

Looking back, he could see the Sun cresting over the buildings. The rain had stopped by now and wind was dying down as well. He didn't have time to search. The Pests would be up and hunting before long. He needed to be back in the water by then.

Abruptly the wind lulled and a new sound reached his ears: the sound of a swarm.

It was more of a hum than a buzzing sound. The rising and falling pitch was coming from behind, between him and his escape route. Worse, the noise was growing louder. The swarm was moving toward him.

Were they tracking him to his hiding position? Had they detected his scent? He didn't know wasps could do that.

That was when he nearly panicked. He almost began erecting his Swarm Suit there and then. Had he tried, he would have needed to stand up. That was the only way he could do it. Then the swarm would have spotted him and attacked. He didn't have the five seconds needed to erect the Suit. So he stayed on the ground hidden in the grass.

He felt the wind gust, drowning out the sound of The Swarm. Tailor held his breath. The slightest sound might attract them to him. The Swarm couldn't be more than a handful of metres away.

Then he spotted movement between the gaps in the leaves. A large wasp hovered less than a metre away. It had a red band around its abdomen. He could see the band clearly. Fortunately, the insect had its back to him.

Tailor pressed his body into the ground trying to blend into the grass and soaked earth. He peered at the insect willing it to leave, or at least not turn around, but instead of departing the creature landed on one of the stalks. It grasped the plant with four of its legs and held tight as the gusts caused the weed to bounce around. With one of the free legs, it flicked at its antenna. Tailor suspected it was trying to clean it.

It can detect something, it's just not sure what, he thought to himself.

His gaze went to the sharp stinger at the end of its elongated tail. A wasp's sting couldn't kill you by itself, but it would hurt mightily. However, a dozen or two would finish off a full-grown man. It wouldn't take that many to kill Tailor, he knew. After maybe five or six stings, his heart would fail and he would die.

The wind calmed again and the Warden launched itself into the air. It hovered for a long moment and then flew out of Tailor's sight.

Tailor took a breath as his heart pounded in his ears. He could barely hear the swarm above it. He kept his breathing even and steady. He knew that he could survive this if he didn't panic. All he needed to do was remain undetected. The Swarm would move away soon.

However, the Swarm didn't move. It remained where it was, just out of sight. He could hear the mass of insects, but even during an extended period of calm, they remained where they were.

He was too scared to move, but he needed to do something. As long as the Swarm remained nearby, it was only a matter of time before he was detected.

Quietly he turned around and then inched up towards the ridge. He slowly grabbed the edge of the abandoned Swarm Suit. He couldn't assemble the suit without giving himself away, but it would provide cover from any wasps that flew by. He pulled the material over his body and hoped that wasps wouldn't notice that it had shifted.

Wasps are inherently curious. They will investigate any new thing that enters their territory. However, they have short attention spans and once something becomes familiar, they quickly lose interest.

Tailor huddled under the bright, yellow material leaving only a small gap so he could keep watch. He spotted another (or the same) Warden floating amongst the grass off to his right, but it didn't come anywhere near him.

Why were the wasps so interested in the nearby spot? He needed to find out.

Tailor cautiously took off his backpack. He unfastened the belt, which held the rest of his equipment including his spare Swarm Suit. Then, creeping forward through the grass he crawled toward the hoard of wasps. He was being a fool, he knew. He was going to die, but just like a wasp he was inherently curious.

He was careful to keep in the shallow depression. It was wet, muddy and awful, and he had to be vigilant so no parts of his body left the covering. This was especially difficult because the gusts of wind threatened to whip it away. However, he managed to crawl within sight of the Swarm without being detected – or so he presumed because nothing attacked him.

He'd never been so terrified and fascinated by something at the same time. Before him was a swirling storm of insects. They never stopped moving. It was like watching water flowing into a drain. During each gust, they would float down into the protection of the grass, before leaping as one into the air as soon as the wind calmed enough for them to fly.

Most of them were in the centre of the depression around something on the ground, although he couldn't see what it was. Every now and again, even when the wind was calm, they would fly down towards it.

Tailor crept closer so he could see. He was almost at the verge of the Swarm by now. The humming was deafening. He knew he was pushing his luck but he needed to find out what had captured their attention.

With one last nudge, he pushed away the stalk that was blocking his view. That's when he spotted it.

He could barely make out the details because of the mass of wasps crawling over the casing. Some were trying to sting it. Others rubbed their front legs across its black surface. One Warden was particularly fascinated by the green writing etched on the side. The thing that had captured the wasp's attention was his father's binoculars.