Huge Fuckin' Insects
Part Three
Doug In The Anthill
by The Preve
Thanks to Todger 65 for the edit.
"Fuck man!" Doug gasped. His eyes darted about, wide-eyed with terror. The nightmare into which he'd just been thrust needed a word. "I'm in a fucking fifties monster flick man!"
It would look that way to anyone in the same situation. It was dark . . . well not so dark once his eyes adjusted. The
room? Vault? Cave? Whatever man!
Looked like a cross between a giant mushroom, a spider web, and a padded cell.
A fucking padded cell is apt!
"An ant hill! I'm in a fucking giant ant hill!"
It happened so quick. One moment, he was gathering wood. The next, he was in the maws of something that shouldn't exist in nature. "What the fuck?!" he'd screamed as something snatched him in a vise-like grip and held him off the ground. He struggled, surprised, and then he took a look at the creature. "WHAT THE FAAAAAUUUUCK!"
Doug didn't know much about ants. His only reference to the thing was a fifties sci-fi flick,
Them!
. It held him in its mandibles, binding his arms to his sides. Doug screamed in white-hot terror, kicking his legs and squirming. "Fuck man! Let go!" The creature didn't notice. It trundled along, making occasional trills, and then it came to the ant hill.
If a snatch by a giant ant put the terror in Doug, it paled against the fear nova at the sight of the hill. It swarmed with ants; some the size of large dogs, others larger than his captor. They flowed continuously in and out of the hill. Many carried objects in their mandibles: trash and twigs, balls of waste, giant white blobby things with stubby legs.
Doug took one look and screamed, "OOOHHH FAAAAAUUUUCK!" He went into a frenzy of desperate struggles. The ant's grip was iron.
"Oh man! Oh fuck!" Doug wept unapologetic with terror. The other ants ignored him, busy with other projects. The ant carried the howling swimmer into the hill.
Right now, Doug wasn't howling; it didn't seem useful anymore. The panic abated, yes, but it didn't disguise the fact that, to Doug, he was ant food. It was just a matter of when.
Man, I got to find a way out before they come back.
He took stock. The chamber looked to be the size of a small garage. The walls, ceiling, and floor were covered in soft, white fungi. The fungi emitted a slight glow.
Fuck!
Is this stuff radioactive?
It made sense; between the ants' size and stories of nuclear testing, glow-in-the-dark mushrooms weren't out of place. Neither was radiation poisoning . . . or whatever unnatural mutation would happen if he stayed long enough.
Man! I got to get out of here, like fucking now!
It's an easier said than done task. It wasn't the blocked entrance but there were so many. One wrong choice could put him deeper in the hill. God knows what he'd find.
Doug decided to check out his "room" first. "Maybe I can hide somewhere," he hoped. He didn't know why the ant put him here,
Unless they're storing me for later.
The implication sent a shiver up his back.
Another movie, about a boy who's magically shrunk and held captive by ants, marched into his head, joining the other giant ant movie.
Ants! Ants! Ants! In my fucking head man! I might be fucking dreaming. Maybe I ate a fucking mushroom or something.
It didn't help to see parts of the wall move.
What the fuck's that?!
Instinct told him to flee into one of the passageways but,
What good would that do?
Besides, Doug, for all his fear, was a curious fellow.
He padded to the wall for a closer examination. There were things embedded in the fungi; they looked familiar.
Fuck! It's those blobs the ants were carrying!
He found, however, they weren't actual blobs but more like giant, worm-like creatures with short, stubby legs; their shape vaguely reminiscent or a football. Their bodies were smooth for the most part; some sported very fine hairs. Their colors ranged from pale, milky yellow to light pink, almost fleshy in hue.
Doug's earlier panic had prevented him from noticing these creatures. Now, he saw how they vibrated slightly, purring like tribbles.
Now I'm in fucking Star Trek. So now what?
The answer came right as he finished the thought. It began as a faint rumble. Doug shrank against the wall.
What the fuck now?
The rumble grew until it filled the chamber. It took the swimmer a moment to recognize the rumble as footsteps, lots and lots of footsteps.
Aw shit!
The rumble emanated from the tunnels leading into the chamber.
Aw fuck! It's dinner time! I'm fucked! I'm ant chow!
A troop of ants trundled into the chamber. They were the size of small cars, like a Mini Cooper, for the most part. They ignored Doug, initially, instead going to the walls to pluck the aphids.
Doug almost felt relieved until a mid-sized ant with moose horn mandibles trundled towards him. "Aw fuck!" he cried. "No way I can fight this thing!"
The swimmer hoped it wouldn't hurt when the ant sliced him in half. Instead, the ant gently, but firmly, grasped him by the waist and carried him off with the others.
They moved through tunnels which emitted the same glow as the chamber. Doug noticed the hairs on the aphids' bodies.
Fuck man! What's this about?
Doug didn't struggle or fight. If the ants were going to eat him, he figured they'd have done so already. Curiosity kept him quiet more than anything.
The ants carried their charges through an arched entrance, into a bell-shaped chamber, and at the center was a large pool.
Other ants, each carrying an aphid, entered through tunnels around the chamber. They trundled to the pool and, using their mandibles, dipped the aphids in, repeatedly.
"Shit! I'm going to get dunked," Doug realized. The water, as it turned out, was not quite water. It tingled like mild acid. The feeling was of being dipped in soda water.
The swimmer closed his eyes as the ant dipped him, covering them with his hand. He thought the "water" would not be good on his eyes.
I wish I had my goggles.
Some liquid did get up his nose, causing a slight burning.
The ant dipped him several times until he was thoroughly soaked. Doug was curious why but, helpless in the ant's grip, could only let it happen.
I'll know soon enough.
The ant finished and backed away from the pool. Doug waited until the "water" dripped off his face before removing his hand. The air in the chamber cooled his skin; he shivered slightly. He was aware of a strange feeling.
Smooth. I feel . . . smooth.
He noted a few of the other ants had finished with their aphids. Some of the formerly hairy aphids were now bald.
He felt his own skin. "Son of a bitch!" While he'd been relatively hairless and maintained it for swimming, some stubble recently began to appear on his skin. Now the stubble was gone. The only thing, close to hair, left on his body were his eyelashes.
Holy shit! Natural hair removal! If I get off this island, I could tell someone, Emma's Dad or Moira's parents maybe. We could come back and make a fortune.
The ant, still carrying Doug, rumbled into another passage, following the others bearing aphids. Doug now had an idea why the ant snatched him.
Geez! They think I'm an aphid! Does that mean I'm safe?
As with ants, Doug didn't know much about aphids, just that ants used them in some fashion.
At least they don't eat them, so far as I remember. Doesn't Emma's sister know about these things?
The ant carried Doug to another chamber, large and padded like the aphid room. Ants were gathered near groups of aphids, like shepherds tending their flocks.
Some groups of ants held aphids, stroking them with their antennae. "What the fuck is that about?" Doug asked.
A large bead of golden yellow fluid beaded on the nether region of one of the aphids. The ant holding it, drew the creature close, placed its mouth on the bead, and sucked it in, trilling happily.