There was a moving mountain in the middle of nowhere?

We all let out amusement. It was pretty funny coming from the captain himself. But there were also complaints. Most wanted to know why we were to hunt such a dangerous place? Others complained he was too strict and needed to back down a little. He had one answer to all the complaints.

I sensed vibrations from the ground. There was also uproar in the air. It brought a tingling sensation every time, filling me with nervous energy.

This will be the easiest hunt of your life. He addressed everyone. The enemies up there don’t run. They are parasites hurting the mountain, and you all will be catching them. Reach in grab one and eat it. Don’t dwindle. One will be more than enough to fill you for a day. Don’t be greedy. Keep a tight hold and help each other. They will try to run once you have pulled them out of the skin. Don’t give chase. Their bite can crush your skeleton. So beware. Our leader morosely announced. If you start feeling vibrations, forget the bugs and run for your lives. The ground is our turf. But If the mountain takes you too far away you‘ll be lost forever.

The mountain was of an indistinguishable height. The grass that grew on it was thin, tall, and brown. It was dense enough to form a traversable carpet over the unnaturally colored ground. I wondered if the princess would have been excited about hunting in the foreign ground or vigilant. Whatever the case, she surely would have been happy and I nervous for both of us.

Small groups formed and they started climbing over the carpet of thin brown grass strands. The six of us naturally formed a group and followed the others. We were also hungry and curious —latter being the driving force among many of us. Not to give attention to the unnatural grass cover, but the odor that permeated from the land was strange in itself and deserved attention and investigation.

The carpet opened a little ahead, giving a peek of the smooth ground beneath. The thin brown grass was far smaller than its counterpart on the ground, but it formed a dense jungle that was not easy to traverse. It was strong enough to not break when pulled and flexible enough to tangle around my limbs, which happened often enough to give me a headache. This place had the beginnings of a nightmare written all over it.

We only managed a few steps on the soft ground before deciding to travel over the carpet and dig down once we had found a target, a parasite, or whatever it was called. Many other groups shared our thoughts, though not everyone had decided to have the adventure. It wasn’t long before I heard something.

There! I let others know. Something was fidgeting under the tangled mess of the curling strands to our right, a few heads away.

Wall, 2k scented and the group broke into two lines, the large guys at the front and the rest behind. That put me in the center of the two who wouldn’t save me if the situation arose, the angry marksman and the one who was simply tagging along. It was an awkward lineup for me. However, they were professionals at this and knew their priorities.

I can’t sense anything. 5555th soldier was vibrating her antennae at five thousand strokes per second to collect odors from the air. She was not satisfied with the result. If it was princess… well, she was not around. I needed to do this without her. She had her own problems to take care of.

Its odor was not distinguishable from the land, but I knew it to be there. Confidently, I was played the role of a scout.

I’ll guide. I scented. No one voiced a complaint actually, one did.

Don’t be a fool and just guide; you also need to keep a lookout since only you can sense what’s happening around. She really liked putting her antennae into everything.

But the harvesters reported—

She interrupted me. The reports —don’t get me started on the reports. Do you have any idea how many soldiers these useless reports have gotten killed? The reports are barely accurate. The ground situation is always different from what they predict. It was surprisingly useful information. I wasn’t expecting that —well, anything from her. She reminded me of the aged warrior and the lesson she had taught me; to never assume anything. I was once again assuming security where there was none.

Vigilance transformed our slow trek into an infuriating crawl through the dense jungle of spikes. There was barely any light or scents down there. All depended on my ability to sense our surroundings. Being dependent felt nice, but I wasn’t good enough to grow complacent. There were signs of something living, but it was the excreted black waste droplets that put us on the right track.

The hateful one sensed it first, which was ironic. It had a foreign smell, like water running over solid stones with high iron content. All I heard were slurping sounds from far, but it was quite something form up close. The parasite or the bloodsucker had a wide flat back and a small head. It’s had dug its head into the ground, six legs all recalled underneath its soft bottom.

The bloodsucker stayed nonchalant as we were told. The plan was for captain 2K to hold it and the hateful one to sting it. That would take care of it. Nice and easy. But it dug its head out and ran when it noticed us, leaving a leaking well of red fluid behind. It was aromatic enough to demand attention, but my group was battle-hardened and focused.

They gave chase.

It rushed through the brown jungle, leaping from one strand to another like an acrobat. It was on its home turf and knew exactly how to handle a chase —that is until the hateful one aimed. A large 80% bullet of poison stuck the parasite’s back. It fell dramatically, suffering as it had never before.

It was our chance. She might have hit the bloody thing, but that thing had an armored back. It was only in a daze, not injured or immobilized.

2K clamped his mandibles around its torso, but it struggled for life. Its legs were strong and it tried to pull away by holding a strand. 5555th soldier couldn’t cut through its armor. It was too hard. The bloodsucker even managed to spat on 344’s face, which made him itch. It’s wasn’t long before the blood sucker got out of captain 2k’s bounds and lunged at him. It could have been bad of him if I hadn’t charged straight at the thing. I bounced off its armor, failing to do damage, but my momentum managed to deflect it away from captain 2k. It fell toward 344, who fought through the itch and held onto its legs, barring it from running away again. 5555th soldier saw the chance and cut again, this time getting hold of its fleshy underbelly.

It screeched, leaking more spit. The hateful one didn’t miss this time. He pierced the wound that the 5555th soldier had given, and pumped its body full of venom. The bloodsucker sank to the ground twitching, but slowly losing focus and energy. It died just like that.

As she said, captain 2K broke the silence. The ground situation is always different from the report.

The thing was so hard to catch. I felt it wasteful to splurge on its meat and gooey insides. At least the delegates were right about one thing: It was enough to fill one of us, but we all had a bite or two before searching for another one.

A short while later we found another one of them stuck in limbo. This time we didn’t give it time to run. 2k held the thing before it could vanish into the jungle; 5555th soldier opened its belly and the hateful one finished it off with an injection of venom.

We also came across some eggs. They were round and black and soft enough to be nibbled on the way. Our paths crossed another group that claimed to have found four already. We went separate ways. They climbed the ridge and we sank down toward the warm valley. The place had a rhythm to it that we all could distinguish. The ground rumbled under our feet every few seconds, and it was warmer around. There we found something completely different from the brown hard-shelled sucker.

It was grey and fat. Its face was the same size as the previous ones, but its behind was swollen out of shape.

She looks like a queen ready to lay eggs. The 555th soldier commented. We all agreed. It was thrice as large as 2k, who was the largest amongst us. It sensed us but didn’t move. Its behind had grown so disproportionate to its body that its legs could no longer hold its weight. They simply wriggled at the side, until 344 snipped them off as a failsafe.

Out of curiosity, I went forward to fondle its swollen end. Eggs rolled out of it one after another; lots of them.

Whoa! We reacted. We ate them to our fill and even went in to dig into her soft and juicy behind. It exploded a black odorless liquid at our faces, and finally, let go of the ground to make an effort to save her life. It was too late by then.

Right about when we were finishing it up the ground shook. The rhythmic beating rumbling the ground intensified, and the grass strands moved as air passed through them.

The mountain’s moving. I announced, horrified. They didn’t believe me. However, they also couldn’t ignore the fact when there was a sudden jolt and the quakes become rampant and violent.

It’s really moving! Some scented in panic as we were thrown into the tangled lots of the grass strands.

I hurriedly gripped one to not get tangled in them; the others followed the example.

My world shook. I tightened my grip around the strand. What passed next was a very long minute. I know we were told to get off the mountain as soon as it started shaking, but they didn’t tell us how hard it would shake. The important thing is that the quakes stopped. I climbed up the strands dazed and scared once they did. I imagined the worst for us. Darkness welcomed me above the carpet and I fell into the dark solid sky when let go. It was the ground. The mountain had moved alright, but not into some distant faraway place.

The delegation was waiting for us outside when we crawled out from underneath it. The mountain hadn’t moved but flipped on itself. As for the reason or purpose behind the maneuver, even the harvesters didn’t know.

Everyone was scared and at alarm while the mountain loomed behind our backs and its shadow encrusted us.

However, the moment we found the familiar trail back under our feet, full stomachs and pretend safety calmed the unnerved hearts, and routine replaced dread. It wasn’t long before the soldiers were sharing their experience, and a tale was starting forming to tell those back home. What could have been a disaster was distorted into an adventure and everyone was back to their normal self —except me.

I believed what we had witnessed was not a mere mountain, but something much more, much worse… something alive.