Chapter 30

“He’s really going at it, huh?” One of the soldiers said uneasily, as he watched the creature devour the Praying Mantis.

The soldiers were stunned when the Ant showed up out of nowhere. loosing a horrible scream at the monster. Indeed, the captain had almost ordered the soldiers to attack the newcomer, but he hesitated when the Mantis backed off.

For the captain himself, the moment of clarity allowed him to remember that he had been told not to engage with strange looking, humanoid bugs, so he backed his troupe off while the Newcomer and the Mantis fought. He had considered retreating back to base, but after watching the two fight he became entranced by the Ant.

He didn’t know how, but somehow he had to get the newcomer to fight for them. The war with the bugs had been a losing one from the start. Nobody had taken the fog too seriously when it first rolled through, swallowing a few backwater counties in the middle of nowhere, Ohio. Sure, a few lunatics came running out screaming about giant bugs and monster arachnids, as well as a certain group who mentioned a bizarre ant creature…But nobody believed them! Instead, the scientists in washington thought that the high concentration of gasses in the fog was causing a sort of mass delusion, and everyone just nodded their heads and smiled like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Nobody believed that there were really massive bugs out there that were capable of pancaking cars, collapsing houses and that had a complete immunity to bullets. Or maybe it was that nobody wanted to believe it.

And so with perfect certainty, a squadron was sent in with hazmat suits to rescue everyone they could from the mind addling fog. At first the operation went smoothly, with Alpha squadron keeping up regular communications with the outside for a full day and even reporting that they found a trio of survivors.

Then the night came. The first transmission came through rushed and with a clear amount of panic coming from the comms expert.

“BRAVO 1 THIS IS ALPHA 6, REPORTING! WE HAVE ENGAGED AN ENEMY! They have taken two of the-…-we’re fighting a-…-retreating-…..NO-GOD N-” The signal had become too garbled after that to make out any words, though screams could be heard in the final chunk of communications. After that there were no further communications received from Alpha team and they were assumed MIA. The top brass considered sending in rescue teams, as well as strike teams with ground and air support to kill whatever had attacked our men, but the operation was canceled due to it being considered bad optics by the governor, who was up for re-election at the time.

In the end, the operation was dismissed until such a time as it could be considered expedient for the welfare of the state of Ohio and it’s citizens, as well as for the United States of America. Or in layman’s terms, a few small towns and a single squadron of soldiers weren’t worth the cost of a full scale military operation. People were outraged for about a week and a half before the topic fell out of the public consciousness and everyone went back to their day to day lives. Sometimes people would come out and they were given the proper psychiatric help for their delusions of bugs and ant creatures, but in the end, everything regarding the fog was slowly forgotten and nothing came of it, save for a barrier that was erected around it to keep people from straying too far inside.

And then the fog expanded. Unlike last time though several major cities were swallowed up, and on top of that there were a lot more survivors, each and every one of them raving the exact same story about giant bugs. Yet still, the scientific community was split on whether or not the stories were true or if it was all a trick of their minds. One thing everyone agreed on however, was that something needed to be done about the fog as, giant bugs or not, it was a danger to everyone trapped inside.

Of course, nothing was done immediately. Bureaucrats argued day and night about whether or not the fog deserved a full on military strike to eradicate the Monster Bugs, or a widespread chemical weapon of some sort to dissipate the hallucinatory mist. From the general public’s point of view, it looked like the idiots in Washington were going to debate and stall until the fog expanded again, and unrest started to grow among the citizenry who lived near the projected expansion zone.

And then a certain group was detained exiting the fog. Like many of the others, this group made claims of bugs and monsters and that same peculiar Ant Creature that saved them and escorted them to safety. But unlike the others, this group said that they had a message from that Ant Creature to give to the Military.

Of course, everyone in charge was still hesitant to take them seriously and though they tried to get an audience with anybody who had authority, they were denied a voice at nearly every turn until finally someone leaked the story to the press. It didn’t take long for them to take the story and sensationalize it, spreading fear among the masses who in turn demanded to know what that group had to say.

Fortunately, this worked better than that group could have hoped as they were given an audience with not only the house representative and the leader of the senate, but even the President of the United States himself, and all of it was live on one of the most popular political networks in the country.

Millions of people tuned in to hear these people, who seemed to be led by a pair of Hillbilly types and a fidgety, nervous looking man, tell their tale about what it was like inside of the fog.

The story started slowly, with the hillbillies talking about being on the run from giant wasps that could shoot out stingers, and talking spiders with encyclopedic knowledge of the world. People quickly grew dismissive about such a preposterous idea, as if that sort of thing could exist! But as the story went on and on and each of the thirty people recounted their tales in stark, crystal clear detail, peoples suspicion turned into terror at what they were hearing. Here now, before everyone in the country, were dozens of people whose stories all matched up perfectly. Sure the beginnings were always different but they always ended in the same place, bound and gagged in a horrifying spiders nest, waiting to die as their friends and families were used as incubators for eggs.

They all had haggard, traumatized expressions while talking and they all kept their heads hung low as they remembered everything they had seen. That was, until the moment of their savior arrived. Their faces would all light up at the mention of his name-Forminus, The Ant Lord! Who swooped down and annihilated the horde of bullet proof spiders like it was the easiest thing in the world.

After that their stories were told amid looks of shock and awe about the many adventures and achievements of this strange creature with the strength of a thousand men. But the biggest uproar came when one of the hillbillies, Tim, said this:

“And that ain’t even the biggest kicker about the guy! See here now, Forminus actually used to be a human!”

That message sent a shudder throughout the entire nation, as it suddenly became clear to everybody just how much was at stake. These bugs weren’t just out to destroy humanity, they wanted to change us into bugs as well! After that the majority of people didn’t dispute the claims of the survivors, and instead listened intently to their stories in the hopes that they could avoid the fate that many in the fog had already suffered.

The final stretch of the story was left for the fidgety man, Jordan, to tell. He was stark on the details of how they finally escaped the fog, though he did describe in excruciating detail about the Ferma’s and their role in the production of it. The majority of his role here was to relay everything that Forminus had wanted the outside world to know, about Lords, the Evolving insects, the roles of each insect type, Forminus’s mission and finally…

“And finally, The Queen.” he said, pausing for breath “This fog, these insects…none of it was random. I don’t know where or what she is, but all of this was orchestrated by the Queen of these insects. According to Ember, that’s Forminus’s Caretaker, The Queen’s main goal in all of this is the creation of powerful Lords. She can’t believe that they will fight on her side, and Forminus is proof that they aren’t slaves to her will, but the fact remains that she’s willing to destroy our entire world to make them.”

“Come on, surely you or your Ant friend must have some suspicions as to why she would go to such lengths!?” said a now very blustery Senate Leader.

“…well, as to that I can’t say but…if I were to create an entirely new race of creature, and I made them faster, stronger and smarter than humans, wouldn’t it be natural to want them to inherit the earth? Humans are a superstitious lot, and we’re prone to suspicion, treachery and fear. Maybe she just doesn’t want us killing her babies before they’re done growing. It’s certainly plausible, given how sweet and loving the Caretakers are.”

The room went silent after that for a moment, as everyone present contemplated what they would do, given the chance to bring an entirely new form of life into the world. Then the network presenter tried to get the interview back up to pace and attempted to wrap everything up, but before he could Jordan had one final thing to say.

“There was one last thing Forminus wanted us to tell everyone. The fog will expand again, and soon. And when it does, it’s going to swallow up the whole of the midwest, part of the eastern seaboard, and all of the way from Iowa to Toronto, Canada.”

The next few days after that were hectic to say the least. Millions of people were scrambling to get out of the fogs path, clogging highways for days on end. The group who had appeared on TV, meanwhile, had all mysteriously vanished. Though after some preliminary investigation it was determined that they had pooled the funds they earned from the exclusive interviews and tv deals and bought a freshwater island , decently far off the coast of the pacific. It would cost a lot of money to hold the land in perpetuity, but they clearly didn’t think that they would have to worry about the mortgage for very long.

The Military, meanwhile, was scrambling to gather up every resource they had for a massive scale assault on the fog. Nations around the world were pledging their support as well, as it was clear from the interview that the carnage wouldn’t just stop with America. Syria, North Korea, China, and dozens of other countries, previously enemies, now added whatever forces they could to stop this planet destroying entity that had appeared to destroy their way of life.

For the first time all of humanity was united under one banner and it all came to a head as the United Human Army amassed such a powerful force to assault the fog that even the devil himself would quake with fear! Tanks rolled, Jets raced and soldiers screamed out their defiance at this new enemy, as the United Human Army began their first great march into the gaping maw of hell itself. And then, just as soon as they started to approach the fog…It started to expand again.

The Human Army stopped for a moment, fear overtaking many as, rather than rushing to the fight, the fight had rushed toward them. Each man struggled to see, dark clouds of moisture obscuring even the soldiers right next to them. Some tried rallying the troops with war cries, and for a moment many of the soldiers were able to regain their morale.

But then the soldiers heard a great rumble, and the earth shook mightily beneath their feet. Some thought that there had been an earthquake while others looked around nervously, fearing something far more dangerous. Soon there was another rumble, louder this time, followed by an even more powerful ‘earthquake’. The soldiers were still unsure of what was going on for a moment until they heard the sound of myriad jets overhead firing missiles into the mist. Their missiles flew off into the darkness until they collided with something…awful. It’s dark silhouette, now stark against the light caused by the exploding missiles, was abominable in both shape and size.

Those in commanding positions suddenly started screaming out orders at their men to retreat, but mobilizing an Army of that size wasn’t something one could do quickly, and so before the soldiers could even start moving it appeared.

From the Abyss it came, a beast like nothing men had ever seen. It’s body disappeared into the clouds, leaving them to guess at it’s true size, though each of the ten massive legs that moved in the shadows of the fog was easily the size of the empire state building. These men didn’t know it, but what they beheld was a Ferma.

It was too much for a human to take, and the whole Army broke ranks. They scattered in all directions, desperately trying to avoid the gigantic legs as they came crashing down on the Army. Some vainly tried to fire their guns and shells and missiles at the Ferma, but it all amounted to naught. Nothing, from high caliber machine gun rounds to heat seeking hellfire missiles, could leave so much as a scratch on the Arch Spider. The Human Army was helpless against the Beast that stomped through their ranks with impunity, not knowing or caring what this army of gnats were doing scrambling under its feet.

To it, they were little more than a slightly creepy annoyance.

Some of the soldiers managed to get outside of the fog and report the operation's failure to the leaders of the world. But most of them were still trapped inside, spirits broken and forces scattered to the wind. They would still try to fight the bugs whenever they could, but their hearts were rarely in it. Not after what they had seen, not after the Ferma.

And the same held true for the group of soldiers that Forminus had stumbled across. They had managed to kill wasps with ease and even the Tarantulas had been easy enough to fight off using their Tanks and Explosives, but as of late the enemies they were against had become too strong. Just a week ago the entire platoon had been forced to engage with a house sized cockroach and they still needed more than three hours to finally subdue it. Ten men lost their lives that day…

And today, finally, the captain was sure that he too would meet his end. Bullets didn’t work, Tank shells didn’t work, grenades, rocket launchers, even homemade molotov's couldn’t hurt the Praying Mantis. And then out of nowhere, he came-and the Captain was certain that it really was him- and he killed the Mantis with a smile on his face!

The Captain had long since given up hope, and he wasn’t alone. Though the remnants of the United Human Army fought, they all believed that this was the end for them and for humanity. But now, staring at this man- this Lord before him, the captain could finally, faintly see the light of hope again.

With Forminus on their side, humanity still had a future!