Moving quietly, Alan grimaced as he pulled out his pistol, still empty. Going as carefully as he could he began to transfer energy from his core to the pistols energy pack. The burning sting, like ants biting along his arm, made its way toward his gun. I didn’t take long for the pistol to refill, the pain however, lingered.

He then moved cautiously toward the central shaft of the elevator where he’d previously descended. As he approached he could hear buzzing but only intermittently. Reaching near the end of the hallway, the buzz stopped completely. Swallowing hard, he stood at the end of the tunnel, his light spilling out and onto the maggot corpse. The remaining eyes of the monster caught the light of his headlamp, and reflected brightly in its light. Looking more carefully, it looked as if chunks of flesh had been gouged out of his side, the fresh wound oozing out.

Something has definitely decided to dine on my most recent kill.

He felt like he was missing something. What could have come down so quickly. He thought back to an old biology class he’d taken, about the origin of maggots. How they’d thought to be born from rotten meat. But were in fact the eggs of flies…

No sooner did the thought occur, then buzzing broke the silence. Soon followed by a massive fly slamming into the fallen corpse. This however, wasn’t your everyday house fly, but the stuff of nightmares. It’s green and black body was lean and slender, and was covered in sharp spikes at the joints and back. The claws and pincers easily tore through the flesh of the fallen maggot completely ignoring it’s spikes. It viscously attacked the maggot's eyes, glowing front the light of the headlamp.

After a moment, it’s head, shifted from it’s viscous assault, and turned suddenly, it’s attention suddenly drawn away. Toward the light.

It took Alan only a moment to realize his folly. “Of course flies like light.” He switched off the head lamp, plunging him into darkness. The light fading last from the gemlike green eyes of the monster. Alan retreated quickly, hoping he could put some distance between him and those eyes. He heard a brief scraping, but it soon grew quiet again once again. Heart pounding he cursed himself for not putting it all together before.

“Well, I guess I’ve got a few options. Either wait it out here till our fly buddy disappears, fight him, or...think of something else

Alan decided to wait. After a few minutes he heard the buzzing again, as he did so he began to hear it grow louder. Afraid he’d become fly food. He backed up, expecting the monster to come charging down the tunnel. When it didn’t, he sighed.

As he sat there though and the sound grew louder, and continued to hum. He came to one conclusion. “I guess it wasn’t the only one.” Taking a chance he moved closer to the feast. Though it was pitch black, he began to notice a faint glow at the end of the tunnel. Which had been completely washed out from his headlamp before. The faint outline of the fly was visible. It’s body emitting a slight red glow along its abdomen, eyes and even wings. Now, however, instead of one massive fly, easily able to give his mother nightmares. There were half a dozen, content to feast on the remains of their underdeveloped brother.

Stepping back, Alan thought of what his next step was. Judging by the remains, he didn’t have much longer than an hour before they’d finish their meal. Problem solved. Right? Unless they didn’t plan to leave immediately.

Time passed. Reviewing what he knew, he guessed they were likely E class. He could still take them out with his pistol. Theoretically. If they didn’t have energy weapon armor or were too quick in healing. But if not.

What if I try...

Alert! Monster detected nearby. You are unable to log out of Cosmos. If you would like to override you may. However, this will count as a combat death and the maximum penalty will be applied. Warning, your pod time is currently limited. Remaining past current pod usage times will result in combat penalty.

“Figured. But it didn’t hurt to try. And now I’ve got nothing to lose. Either die here, or die fighting”

Making his way back to the laboratory and looking through his inventory. A plan began to form in his mind. “Well it’s a little crude, but it might just do the job.”

***

Moving toward the opening once again. He saw the swarm of flies surrounding the nearly devoured maggot. A few, clearly having feasted to their limit, were lying on various parts of the platform. It seemed they weren’t planning on leaving anytime soon. Placing a few glass lab containers near the door entrance, he prepared to move.

He crouched low to the ground. Using the platform’s rail to circle toward the scaffolding while in the near dark. Nearing his point of escape, he silently groaned as a single fly lay in the path of where he’d estimated the scaffolding stairs began. Aiming his pistol and holding another glass bottle, he took a single breath, bracing himself.

Alan sprinted toward the red glowing form, rapidly firing his pistol into the head of the prone fly, blue flashes strobing the area. High pitch hissing instantly sounded behind him, while in front of him, his continuous stream of shots burnt holes into its skull. Alan made out the location and rise of the stairs, and charged toward the stairs. After taking his first steps he felt vibrations send a chill up his spine, as the other flies prepared to take flight.

Grasping the tube in one hand, he held a piece of cloth between his fingers, torn from his trousers, the other end was stuffed into the tube. Ignoring the pain, he sent a shock into the gasoline soaked cloth, catching it on fire quickly and bathing him in light. Quickly moving to rid himself of his burning beacon, he launched the laboratory molotov onto the somewhat clustered flies. It shattered, spilling gasoline, flame and smoke on the already disoriented bugs.

He leaped up the stairs. Shielding his eyes from the bright light.

Below the flies moved quickly out of the path of the spreading fire, it’s light brightening the entire elevator shaft. Not giving them the chance to recover, Alan aimed briefly at the canisters he’d left near the door. The pistol flashed once. What followed was an eruption. Two of the flies had been caught in the blast. Their wings lit up like tissue paper.

“Yeah!” He couldn’t help but cheer, fist pumping. The buzz of still airborne flies, quickly ended his celebration.

Proceeding as quickly as he could up to the exit, rancid smoke began to fill the shaft. The flames started to burn the refuse found underneath the platform. The flies agitated by the smoke decidedly began to flee the inferno, entering into entrances at various points in the shaft. Lucky for Alan, they focused on feeling.

A minute later, and nearly out of breath he reached the exit. The smoke continued to grow more thick. Reaching the door he began to move through the path he’d moved before after turning back on his headlamp. Unlike before, the path was clear. All remains of his previous kills had been cleaned away. Not only that but acrid smoke seemed to follow him as he went along, encouraging any lingerers to move away.

20 minutes later he’d traversed back his original pay, something that had taken hours to get through previously. It was the smell of fresh air which first clued him in that he was nearing the end. When he finally moved out from the heaps of rubble, under the star studded sky, the adrenaline he’d been feeling finally gave out.

Using his 4-wheeler for support, he trembled from the effort.

“Well I showed those bugs not to mess with me.” Secretly though, had it not been for the gallons of gasoline that he’d stowed away in his ring, he’d likely had been a dead man. The noise and light to go up the stairs would have made him a bigger target than a Sunday picnic. And fighting them all off one by one, well that was laughable. There was a reason he couldn’t even get a decent body guard job in his previous life. He had the knowledge, but not the know-how.

For now, it was time to head back to the ship. He checked his ring one more time, making sure the items were secure before speeding back to the site.

****

Atop a hill, as the sound of a small engine sped off in the distance a creature, the color of midnight, clawed her way clear of her nest. The entrance she had once used, no longer large enough for her massive size. Though barely discernible, her silhouette might’ve been mistaken for a monstrous beetle. However if you looked into her eyes, there was no hint of the mindless ferocity of her children.

She’d had to flee her home. Fires and acrid smoke driving her out to the surface. A great discomfort as she’d not had to arouse herself in many seasons.

Snapping viciously, she cleaved a nearby man sized bug in two. It's only offense, the simple necessity of her ravenous appetite from her efforts to escape. As she gobbled it up, her mind, more instinct than sentience considered the problem.

A parasite had entered her home, killed off a sizable amount of her youngest brood and had burned and driven her from her nest. Worst yet she couldn’t find the blood larvae she’d been so carefully raising. Her brood’s next queen.

She hissed violently, anger flaring. In response, a few sets of eyes lit up from a nearby recess in the hill. Overwhelmed by her will, shadowy forms stealthily loped away, along the trail of the parasite.