Ant Farm

(by © Wogan May) It had been almost two days since they came for the last one. Ryan Taley had long since given up squirming against the bonds that held him against the wall. The characteristic thumping of legs on concrete echoed down the hallways of the school - well, it /used/ to be a school - and Ryan slumped.

He had never expected to go in this way. As a soldier for the UN Peacekeeping forces, he had always expected to be taken down in battle. But this was something else - he was a prisoner. Not just any prisoner - prisoner of the ...

Well, he supposed they could be referred to as "ants". But these were way beyond the millimeter creatures that plagued households the world over. Nuclear weapons had released millions of liters of radioactive air over jungles like the Amazon and the Congo - it was a few short months before the results came crawling out of the dense green foliage.

They were massive - the smallest was about the size of a Scottish Terrier. They were fearsome creatures, with spiky legs, pincers and the type of mouth only dreamed about in horror films. But what got to Ryan the most was their transparency. Their bodies were held together by hydrostatic forces - they were basically large, and strong, bags of water. Everytime they came between him and a light, he could see through them, their internal organs and glands...

The sight made his skin crawl and his stomach heave. But he had long since emptied it out over the floor of the gymnasium, and somewhat on himself. He was trapped in a cocoon that the monsters had weaved all around him and the other four members of his unit. It was something like a spider's web, but it was harder than steel. To the trapped Ryan, anyway.

They were trapped for only one reason. And Ryan was reminded of that reason every time he looked towards the floor, where the bones of his friends lay scattered. He was food - and he had come to accept it. Humanity had been at the top of the food chain for far too long, and natural selection had brought forth a new predator.

The door swung open. The hallway beyond the gym was dark, and all Ryan could see were shifting shadows. But then one crawled forward, the footsteps muted on the padded floor. Then more dog-sized ants entered the room, and the sound changed to that of a soft rainstorm, and then the ants were at his feet, pulling themselves up and undoing the bonds around Ryan.

It was time. With a stubborn silence - his last show of rebellion - Ryan was pulled out of his cocoon and flung towards the floor. Hundreds of ants swarmed over him, eager for their next meal. As the jaws of the brutes closed around Ryan's arms and legs, his stubbornness wavered, and he screamed.