Chapter 170: Fat ass ant.
His tone was different. Ragged, trembling, broken. A dreadful feeling settled in Sunshine’s stomach. For Ariel who was always as cool as a cucumber to be freaking out, something was very wrong.
Was it related to the supplies or was he in danger?
"What is it son." She asked, panic laced in her voice.
"You have to come quick!" His voice was small, strained. "Mom...I__I don’t know how to....I am scared."
"I am coming Ariel, but I need you to tell me what is happening, are you in any kind of trouble?" She broke into a run, heading to the nearest vehicle.
Dwayne passed her, bellowing into a walkie-talkie as he quizzed someone on Ariel’s whereabouts. He opened the car door for Sunshine and then jumped in after her.
Corporal Day, who had been assigned as Sunshine’s driver on and off the base started the car. "Where to ma’am?"
Ariel had not told Sunshine where he was, and she was still yelling his name frantically into the walkie-talkie. Thankfully, Nimo’s voice came through, just as urgent as Ariel’s had been. "Suni, hurry. To the supply stores, come straight to the grain center near the gardens. Now."
The supply stores that were near gardens were in the second wall. Corporal Day did not wait for instructions, he set off immediately, driving like a race car driver in a race for the championship.
He was hooting non-stop, which sent people jumping or running out of the way. He parked outside the gardens and Sunshine and Dwayne almost flew out of the cars and rushed into the grain center.
When they arrived, the tension was already thick. Groups of worried workers huddled outside the front of the supply store particular the grain center. They were murmuring in low voices, their faces pale, eyes darting like frightened birds.
Six soldiers had formed a small barricade urging them to get back.
"What the hell is going on!?" Dwayne muttered under his breath as they walked past them.
Suni was about to go through the door when her hand was grabbed. "Back....." she turned around, yelling and paused when she saw her husband.
Hades had a look of worry in his eyes that was similar to hers. His face was drawn, his muscles tight. "Ariel called me too, I rushed over as fast as I could."
He pulled her to the side entrance, which was not crowded, and they pushed their way inside, passing through a path which led out to the gardens. The heavy scent of fertilizer and damp earth instantly filling their nostrils.
They finally came to the part of the garden which was separated from the grain store. It was also somehow crowded.
That was when Sunshine saw Ariel. His small frame was half hidden in Nimo’s protective embrace. His face was pale, his lips pressed tight, but his eyes were wide and locked on one spot.
She focused her eyes where he was looking and that’s when she saw what had frightened him. It sat on the torn sacks of miracle ash; its body hunched over like some grotesque idol.
It was an insect. One with a body that was so large that it was the size of a mini refrigerator. It had antlers that were transparent, its shell mottled black and green. It had a wide mandible, and it was clicking as its wings flung ash outwards. It reminded Sunshine of a chicken that was dust bathing.
But what caught Sunshine’s breath was not it’s size, it was its swollen backside, bulbous and twitching as though alive.
"What the hell is that?" Hades whispered, his hands gestured for Ariel to go to him. "Ariel, you need to leave, this thing could be dangerous." His voice was condemning.
Ariel shook his head.
"Ariel was the first to discover the bug when he came to check on the condition of the grain stored here. I was outside, talking to someone when I heard his scream and found him calling you Suni. He suspects that there could be more than one bug, so he stayed by my side because he knew that I would protect him while we waited for you." Nimo explained why Ariel was still there and why he had been frantic.
Dwayne rubbed his temples. "He should end that thought now and run outside where it is safe."
Ariel peeked out "I counted the bags of miracle ash yesterday." He explained in a small voice as he tried to be brave. "It looks like six are missing."
Sunshine did not want to scare Ariel or blame him. That could be done later. "You have done well Ariel, thank you for keeping watch on all the stock." Her voice was soft, carrying the warmth Ariel needed. "We will handle this from here and make sure that the stores are safe."
Nimo stepped to the side slowly, one arm around Ariel and the other around a dragonoid. Her initial instinct had been to set the bug on fire, but she was worried about the effects of radiation in the garden.
She also considered shooting it with bullets but with Ariel there, she did not want to risk enraging it. She had even stopped the other soldiers from randomly shooting. Now that Sunshine was there, she had no worries.
The bug would be frozen and shattered in no time.
Sunshine turned her gaze to the insect after her son left, her mind flashing to the words etched in her memory, the system’s warning. Miracle ash attracts insects.
But it was supposed to be normal insects, not alien insects!!
"System, we had a deal."
[That is a mutated ant, it is unrelated to the assurance you were given by me.]
"God damn it! Ariel is right, there could be more on the base." Sunshine swallowed hard.
Siegfried scoffed, though his laugh carried an edge. "If there were more, believe me, I would have noticed. It’s not every day that you see a bug with a fat ass like that."
A few chuckles broke the tension, but Sunshine’s lips did not twitch. Her icy stare silenced the laughter. "This is not funny because that ass could spew poison that could kill you in an instant."
"It stopped raining long ago; we don’t have to worry about acid rain anymore. I suggest we stop using the ash for now." Hades said.
Sunshine faced her palm out and froze the ant within two seconds. As she had already announced her abilities, she did not need to hide them from the residents when danger came their way.
"System is this ant worth anything. Can it be sold on another world?"
[No.]
She shattered it immediately.
Corporal Day’s eyes followed the path to the grain supply. "I see traces of grain on the ground. Either another bug is in there or this one found its way inside and helped itself to some grain."
He went inside, sunshine followed, and Hades went after her. They discovered that in the small time the ant mutated, it had eaten five and a half bags of grains. Rice especially. It had bitten through a sack of oats and decided it did not like how they tasted. It had also urinated between two sacks of corn flour. And the urine smelled like acid.
"Dammit! Stupid fat ass ant!" Sunshine cursed.
Snow flakes flew out of her mouth!