bugss

BUGS

On a hot, sunny, summer afternoon, a car with a family of four and a dog, drove down a long, boring highway.
Inside, the father, who was driving, said. “There’s nothing to look at. It’s boring.” The air conditioning was on because it was so warm inside. The dog was laying on the floor, hiding from the sun, panting. Everyone looked warm and tired.
“The radio was saying how this was a record braking temperature.” The 21-year-old daughter, Fran informed them.
“We haven’t seen any cars for a couple of hours.” The 14-year-old son, Jack, said.
“That’s because,” The mother explained. “This is a highway that very few people use.”
They drove on, under the hot sun.

Later, most of them were sleeping except for the father. Suddenly, a bug about the size of a golf ball splattered over the window, cracking the glass. The guts smeared in front of the driver’s side of the window, causing the father to barley be able to see.
As he pulled the car to a stop by the side of the road, the rest of the family was waking up.
“What happened?” the mother asked.
“Some giant bug hit us!” the father said as he got out, grabbing a rag, and cleaning the window off. “Jack, take the dog for a short walk while I clean this up!”
“Ok.” Jack got the dog’s leash as he brought the dog out into the hot afternoon.
“Look!” Fran pointed. “A Forrest! We haven’t seen anything except for farmland and cornfields for hours!”
“Cool!” Jack said, walking the dog in the direction of the trees. “We might be awhile.” He informed his parents.
“Be only 10 minutes!” his mother called. Jack walked his dog over to the Forrest and they walked in.
The father finished cleaning the windshield and got in the car, Fran getting in the back.
“Come on, Jack!” the mother cried out. “We’re leaving!”
The father tried to start the car, but it wouldn’t start. He tried again, but again, it wouldn’t start. He huffed as he got out and popped the hood.
“I knew the car was acting strange.” The mother said as she looked out her window.

In the woods, the boy was walking his dog. He had heard his mom, but decided to wait a bit because the woods were so thick, very little light was coming in, causing it to be nice and cool.
They walked by some big rock formation and the dog climbed it and sat on the top.
Up in one of the trees, behind Jack and the dog, wings flicked open and started moving.

Half an hour later, everyone except Jack and the dog were waiting in the car. “I don’t know what’s wrong with the car.” The father said. “Some kind of electrical problem. Call a tow-truck.”
The wife took out her cell phone and called a tow-truck.

Another half an hour later, everyone was beat red from the heat, waiting for the tow-truck.
“Where’s Jack?” Fran asked.
“Still walking the dog.” The father answered.
Fran reached inside her book bag and took out her book again and began reading. After a few minutes, she heard a faint buzzing sound, getting louder and louder.
“What’s that sound?” she asked, putting her book down.
“Sounds like bugs.” Her mother said. Then, they saw a bunch of black flying objects heading in their direction from the woods.
“Look at that!” Fran pointed out. As the bugs got closer, they family saw that they were huge! Some were the size of golf balls, others were the size of tennis balls! Some were giant bees, others were giant misquotes, some were giant flies, there were all kinds of giant bugs, working together. And they seemed to be carrying something among them.
The bugs got to the car and as they flew over, there was a loud thump on the roof.
“What was that?” the father asked. They watched the bugs fly across the street and land in the grass on the other side, going between the grass so the people couldn’t see them.
“Stay here.” The father said as he opened and closed his door. He looked at the roof and saw the body of his dog, parts of the flesh missing. The chain was still attached to the dog and his son’s hand was still attached to the chain. But nothing was attached to the hand!
“Oh god!” the father said. He turned around and threw up.
“What is it?” the mother and Fran asked at the same time. The father ignored them and walked across the street to where he saw the bugs land.
“Come on out!” he shouted at the bugs. He walked into the grass and once he got about 3 meters in, all the bugs rose all around him from all sides and rushed at the screaming father.
The giant bees were stinging him, the giant misquotes were sticking their tubes into him and sucking his blood. The giant flies were taking bits of his flesh off and eating it. The giant wasps were taking stripes of his flesh off and flying away with them.
Within minutes, all that was left of the body were bloody bones and a tiny bit of flesh. As the bugs moved away, the body fell to the ground. Next the bugs rushed towards the car, rocking it back and forth as they tried to get in at the screaming people.

The next day, Julie, a 17 year old girl, was at her house, watching TV her and her friends were going to go camping to celebrate the end of school for the year. She brushed her brown hair back as she flipped the channels. She stopped at a news station.
“…was found mutilated inside the car. The body of the father was found across the road, in a field. The body of their son has yet to be found, but his hand was located, still holding the leash of their dead dog.
“Ouch!” Julie said. “Some family bit the dust.” She decided to call her boyfriend, Lucas.
“Hey!” Julie said.
“Hi Julie.”
“You still up for the camping trip tomorrow?”
“Yep. What’d you tell you’re parents?”
“I told them that me and Roberta were going camping.”
“I told mine that I was sleeping over at Ryan’s for the weekend.”
“And in a way we told the truth. Roberta and me are going camping and you’re going to be sleeping in Ryan’s tent. But so are the rest of us!”
They both laughed.
“So are we going to be making out when we get there?” Lucas asked.
“Why of course!” Julie said.

Later that day, a truck pulled up in front of Julie’s house. Julie left her house, locking it behind her. She had her bag and got in the truck with Ryan, Roberta, Lucas, and Kim, Ryan’s girlfriend.
“A weekend of fun!” Kim shouted as Ryan drove the truck away from Julie’s house.
“Yeah!” Julie and everyone else cheered. Ryan turned on the radio and “Show Me” by Bree Sharpe was playing. They drove down the road and onto the high-way, speeding up.

After about an hour, Roberta asked. “So where are we going?”
“To these woods I saw while driving once.” Ryan said.
“Woods? Here?”
“I know. It amazed me too. And they’re really big and thick.”
“Wow.” Julie said, Lucas’s arm around her. “How much longer?”
“About 10 minutes.” Ryan answered.
“Good.” Kim said. “I want to be there before dark.
“Oh come on!” Ryan said. “It’s only 5:00. It doesn’t get dark till about 10.”
“Anyone here the news?” Lucas asked.
“Yeah.” Kim said. “That family was found killed. They think some kind of animal did it.”
“That was supposed to be around the area we’re going to be tonight.” Ryan said.
“Oh yeah?” Kim asked. “Save the ghost stories till tonight around the camp fire honey.” She kissed him on the cheek as he drove.
“He’s telling the truth.” Lucas said.
“Baby, knock it off.” Julie said, smiling.
“Fine then, don’t believe us.”
“Here we are.” Ryan said, pulling the truck over to the side of the road. Everyone got out with their bags. “There is no way I can get the truck in their, so once we find a good spot for the tents, then we’ll come back for them.”
They locked the doors and headed into the woods, leaving the truck behind.

After a while, they came to an area in the woods where there was a small clearing surrounded by trees.
“This looks to be just right.” Ryan said. “The tents can be a few meters away from each other and we can still have room to light a fire. Roberta and Lucas, come with me to get the tents and supplies. Julie and Kim, stay there.”
“Sure.” Julie said.
“Hurry back, honey.” Kim blew a kiss to Ryan and sat down on a big log that Julie was sitting on.
“So have you and Lucas done it yet?” Kim asked.
“No. We’re going to tonight.”
“Same with me and Ryan.” Kim said. “Poor Roberta. Good thing she brought her own tent. I tried hooking her up with someone, but she kept refusing.”
“You have to show up on her doorstep with someone or else she’ll always turn you down.” Julie explained.

That night, 3 tents were set up and the people were sitting around campfire on logs they chopped up from the big long log. The flames were creating an eerie glow upon the teenager’s faces.
“That family that was found dead,” Ryan was saying. “Well there was a hand attached to the dog’s chain, but the person who owned that hand, was never found. Now, some say that the boy cut off his own hand and replaced it with a hook because is mind had gone crazy after watching I Know What You Did Last Summer too many times. He went back and murdered his family and now lays in wit in these woods, waiting for his next victim.”
“Oh come!” Kim said. “They were only found yesterday. There’s not enough time for that story to have been created. And even if it’s true, it’s too earlier for anyone to have seen anybody in the woods.”
“Ah, it was worth a try.” Ryan said.
“Me and Julie’s going for a walk.” Lucas said as him and Julie stood up.
“Ok.” Ryan said.
They walked over to their tent and grabbed a flashlight.
“Watch out for the kid with the hook.” Ryan joked.
“Ryan, stop it!” Roberta yelled, clearly scared.
“Oh come on!” Kim said. “It’s just a story he made up. It’s not true.”
“Still. Somebody or something killed that family. Whoever or whatever did it is still out there, possibly in these woods. And Lucas and Julie are walking around alone in these woods with whatever killed that family also in here too.”
Now Ryan and Kim had concern on their faces.

Julie and was walking with Lucas’s arm over her shoulder. They walked, Lucas shinning the light around.
“So, what are we going to be doing all weekend?” Julie asked.
“Oh,” Lucas said. “a little of this, a little of that.” He looked at her and they laughed.
Julie stumbled and Lucas stopped her from falling. “Watch out for branches and stuff.” Lucas warned her.
Julie said, “Oh shut up. Anyone could have tripped just then.”
“What’s that?”
“Oh stop playing around.”
“No. Seriously. Look.” Lucas shone his light over and in a tree, they saw something huge in a cocoon or something.
“Weird. Looks like a cocoon of some kind.” Julie said.
“Stay here and hold the light.” Lucas passed her the flashlight. He moved on ahead and started climbing the tree that the cocoon was hanging from. He got up to it and took out his Swiss Army Knife and pulled out the knife. He began cutting and soon something fell out the bottom of it and to the ground.
“What was that?” Julie asked.
“Hang on.” Lucas jumped from the branch he was on and landed next to the thing. “Shine the light over here.”
Julie walked closer and shone the light on the object. It was what was left of Jack, the son. He was covered in slime and part of him was melted. Bits of his skin were missing too and he had giant welts as if giant bees stung him.
“Oh my god!” Julie turned and threw up.
“Let’s get back to the camp.” Lucas suggested, taking the light from Julie and helping her walk.

Back at the camp, Ryan, Kim, and Roberta were around the fire, roasting marshmallows when Julie and Lucas came back.
“Guys, you’ve got to see this.” Lucas said. “If any of you are squeamish like Julie, stay here.”
Julie went over to a log and sat down by the fire. Everyone else got up and went to Lucas.
“Show us what you found.” Ryan said with a smile. He put his arm around Kim as Lucas led them through the trees to the spot of the boy.
“Oh god!” Kim turned, and as Julie, threw up.
“That’s the missing boy!” Ryan said. “To that family that was killed out here. Look. His right hand is missing.”
“What the hell did this?” Roberta shouted.
“I don’t know.” Lucas said.
“We’ve got to get out of here.” Kim was saying. “Whatever did this is going to come after us!”
“We can’t go anywhere tonight. We’ll leave in the morning.” Lucas said. They walked back to the camp, went to their tents, and fell asleep.

The next morning, Roberta woke up to shouting.
“Well there’s nothing we can do!” She heard Ryan yell. She walked out of her tent.
“What’s going on?” Roberta asked. She rubbed her eyes and saw everyone else already up.
“Ryan can’t find the jeep.” Julie said.
“Hey. It’s not there anymore.” Ryan said. “Me and Lucas made a bunch of trips to it yesterday so we didn’t get lost. When me and Lucas went there this morning, the truck simply wasn’t there!”
“We’re going to die.” Kim was saying over and over.
“We’re getting out of here right now!” Ryan shouted at her. “Pack up the tents. We’ll only take what we can carry.”

Half an hour later, all the tents were in cases that Roberta, Ryan, and Lucas were over their shoulders. Roberta and Julie took the 2 food coolers, Kim, who was still crying, took the sleeping bags and pillows and stuffed them in a case and carried them. They left behind their cloths bags and any items brought along to pass away time like comics, books, etc.
They moved out, walking through the forest. They walked through small brooks, and a couple clearings.
“How big are these damn woods?” Ryan shouted out loud to no one.
“On the map I was looking at on the way here,” Roberta said. “These woods are huge!”
“Where’s the map now?” Ryan asked. “Do we have it with us?”
“Ah. No. It was in the truck.”
“Damn.” Ryan swore. They walked some more.

An hour later, they came across an area with bags and other camping stuff here and there.
“We went around in a circle!” Ryan shouted. “Screw this!” he sat down on the spot.
“Come on!” Lucas urged. “We have to keep moving. Faster now then before because we’re back at the beginning.” They heard a loud buzzing sound and looked around.
“What’s that noise?” Kim asked.
“Sounds like a bunch of bugs.” Ryan said, standing up.
“No. The noise is too loud.” Julie stated.
“Then what’s that damn noise?” Kim screamed, covering her ears.
“Look!” Lucas pointed. A swarm of giant bugs were flying right at them!
“What the hell are those?” Ryan asked.
“Doesn’t matter!” Lucas said, shouting to be heard over the buzzing. “But we better run!” they all turned and started running as fast as they could.
“Faster!” Ryan shouted. They ran between trees and jumped over fallen logs and rocks, but the giant bugs kept coming faster and faster every second.
Roberta started to slow down, and felt a sharp pain in her back. She turned her head around and saw that a giant bee had stung her. When she turned her head back around, she was falling through the air.
Next thing she felt was coldness as she hit a river. She felt a stinging in her back from the bee and she rose her head out of the water, but quickly put it back under when she saw the bugs fly in her direction.
While under the water, she saw her friends their as well, holding their breaths. They stayed as long as they could, and all surfaced together, taking a deep breath. They looked around, and saw that the giant bugs were gone.
“What were those?” Kim asked as they all climbed out of the river and stood on the bank, them and all their stuff that they didn’t drop, (Basically just the tents), were soaking wet.
“Giant bugs.” Roberta said as she twisted her hair. A giant bee stung me. It was the size of a tennis ball!”
“Crap.” Julie said. “You might die. A bee that big can release enough venom into you that it could kill you.”
“Let’s just hope it didn’t get a good enough shot.” Roberta said, beginning to sweat, despite the cold temperature of her from the water.
They look at the wall of dirt and rock in front of them. “No way we can climb that is there?” Lucas asked.
“I’ll try.” Ryan said, putting down the tent bag and grabbing a root that was sticking out. As he lifted himself up and grabbed hold of another root, some dirt fell.
“Be careful!” Kim called up, shivering.
“Don’t worry.” Ryan said. “This is as safe as can be.”
Then the root he was grabbing onto snapped and he slipped. He grabbed hold of a rock and the rock held.
“Close one!” Lucas said.
“Yeah.” Ryan chuckled. Then the rock gave and Ryan fell back down, hitting the ground.
“Ahh! My back!” Ryan said as he strained to sit up.
“Honey!” Kim ran over and helped him stand up.
“We can’t get up that way.” Ryan said as he stood.
“Well we can’t cross the river.” Julie stated. “The bugs are on the other side some place.
“We’ll just walk this way.” Ryan said as him and Kim started walking next to the river.
“How’d they get so big?” Roberta asked, rubbing her back where the bee stung her.
“Yeah,” Julie said. “And how come they’ve never left these woods?”
“Now wait a minute.” Ryan interrupted. “We don’t know if they’ve left these woods or not.”
“Yeah we do.” Lucas said. “If they’ve left this area, there’d have been more sightings of them.”
“True.” Ryan agreed. “And why are all these different types acting together? It’s as if they’re smart. As if they have intelligence.”
They continue walking next to the pond for the next while.

It was the late afternoon and they had left the pond behind a couple hours before. They had taken a couple half-hour brakes here and there.
“What are we going to do once it gets dark out?” Kim asked.
“Well we only have one tent left. We lost one back when we jumped in the pond and we left the other behind when Ryan fell. Once it gets dark, we’ll set it up and sleep. So far the bugs haven’t come out at night, so maybe they sleep or something.”
“Or maybe they’ll lay in wait and get us when we fall asleep!” Kim started to freak out again.
“Maybe.” Lucas agreed. “But maybe not. That’s a chance I’m willing to take other then walking all night long.”
“They were so big!” Julie said.
“I know.” Lucas hugged her close as they walked. “I know.”
As they walked up a small hill and the trees got thicker again, Roberta fell to the ground on her back.
“Roberta!” Kim shouted and ran back.
“Go!” Roberta said. “The poison has set in. I’m as good as dead anyway. Leave me.”
“No!” suddenly, the buzzing sound could be heard.
“Come on, Kim!” Ryan shouted back to her. “We have to go!”
“No.” Kim shook her head, crying.
“Come on!” Ryan urged as he reached back and pulled Kim along, who eventually started running with the others. They got a safe distance away and turned back to look.
The swarm of giant bugs were swarming over Roberta, doing what they do.
The other people quietly slipped away.

That evening, Kim still had tears in her eyes. They got to a small clearing that was surrounded by the trees. They beat down some of the grass and set up the last tent just as the sun was going down. They went inside the tent and closed the flap.
Julie tried to turn on a flashlight, but Lucas quickly took it from her and turned it off.
“What are you doing?” Julie yelled at him. “Give that back!”
“Listen,” Lucas said. “Bugs are attracted to light. If we keep it on, they’ll come for sure.”
Julie lied down, turned her head to the side, and fell asleep.
“All I can here,” Kim whispered. “Is that annoying buzzing that those bugs make.”
“I know.” Ryan said. “But it’ll all be over soon.” Soon enough, everyone was asleep.

The next morning, they woke up sometime around 10:00 in the morning.
“Everyone sleep well?” Lucas asked as they were packing the tent back up. They all nodded or said yes, but still looked worn out.
“I’m hungry.” Julie stated. “We lost the food back when the bugs chased us yesterday.”
“We’ll find berry’s or something.” Ryan suggested.
“Let’s get moving.” Lucas said. “We want to be out of these woods today.” They folded the tent up and put it in the bag and Lucas carried the bag because Ryan’s back was still in pain from the day before when he fell.
They walked onward, going through the forest. They passed by a small brook and they all stopped and got a drink. As they started walking away, Kim saw some blue berry bushes and everyone started picking them and eating.
“Ahhhh!” Julie screamed. The other rushed over to her and there was a regular fly, the size of a golf ball, just sitting on a branch.
Lucas took off his shoe and whacked it down. He removed his shoe and the branch was broken off and the fly was splattered. He put his shoe back on and they eat a little more and continued on their way.
After a couple hours, they were about to take another brake, when they saw a shinning object in the distance. They all started running in that direction.
When they got there, they saw that there was a giant building. A lab of some kind. And beside it was their jeep. Their jeep was dented and upside down.
“What the hell?” Ryan asked, seeing the jeep.
“Maybe these people can help.” Kim suggested. Lucas went around behind the lab and came back.
“We’re still in the middle of the woods. Looks like this lab wanted to be hidden.”
“Maybe they have something to do with the giant bugs.” Kim said. They looked again and saw pieces of the wall chipped and braking off.
“Looks like this has been here for a while.” Ryan said. They walked to two big, double doors and pushed them open and walked into the building.
“Wow.” Everyone saw the destruction. Pieces of the wall were crumbling down, chairs, tables, equipment, and other stuff were knocked over or broken, there was a few puddles of blood here and there.
“Whatever happened here, I think we missed it.” Lucas said as they looked around the first room.
“This place is huge.” Kim said. “There’s three floors and a whole bunch of rooms!”
They start looking through the mess for anything that could be useful-food, drinks, and information on the bugs.
“Look!” Julie pointed out. “An apple!” it was under an upside down table that was broken in two, jagged sharp pieces jutting out.
Julie retrieved the apple and held it up. It was all brown and moldy.
“Whatever happened here,” Julie said, throwing the apple away. “Happened a long time ago.”
They walked into another room, this one resembled a lab and on the second floor, a platform was there, with bars going across, looking in at the lab.
“This is some kind of lab.” Kim stated.
“For what?” was Ryan’s only question.
“Those bugs?” Lucas suggested. They started looking around the torn up lab for clues.

Half an hour later, Julie had a computer online. “Guys. Come here and take a look at this!” everyone rushed over and looked at the computer screen.
“Go to LOGS.” Lucas told her. She did and a screen came up. They all started reading what was written down.
This is what they found out:

The scientists that set up the building captured all kinds of bugs from the forest and did tests on them. They mixed some of the DNA with other bug DNA. They added different formula’s to them, so within a few years, they had mutated hybrid bugs.
The bugs were released into the forest, but when they were tested on, they were inserted with a chemical formula that interacts with the air currents and things like that, so the bugs could only go a little ways from the forest before they died. After a while, they learned that.
Once the scientists found out that the bugs could think, they knew they had some hoe given them some degree of intelligence. the bugs came back and started an attack in the building.

“That’s why everything is destroyed.” Kim said.
“No wonder these bugs work together.” Lucas stated. “They all have bits of each other in them. When they reproduced, they reproduced more of them, creating a race of super bugs.”
“Then where’s the queen?” Julie asked.
“What?” Ryan asked back.
“Some of the original bugs stay in existence because of queens. Bees and wasps are like that. So in order for some of these giant ones to live (probily all since they all have bits of each other in them) there has to be a queen right?”
“How big is this queen going to be?” Ryan asked.
“Much, much bigger.” Lucas said. “Queens are always bigger.”
“Maybe we can call for help.” Kim suggested.
“Good idea.” Ryan agreed.
“Let’s look for a phone or a radio or something.” Lucas said. They started looking around the lab and the room they were in before, but did find anything.
“Let’s check upstairs.” Julie said. They run up the stairs and walk down a hall. They brake off, Ryan and Kim searching all the rooms at one end of the hall and Lucas and Julie searching all the rooms at the other end of the hall.

Ryan and Kim walked into the first room, which appeared to be some kind of office. It was a small office, but behind the desk, in a wall, was a safe.
“Open it!” Kim exclaimed.
“How?” Ryan yelled back. “It not like I can just snap my fingers and poof. It’s open!”
“It’s already open.” Kim pointed out. The door was open by a couple centimeters. They walked over and opened it all the way and saw 3 machine guns and a few 9 MM.’s
“Here.” Ryan gave Kim a machine gun and she strapped it over her shoulder. She gave her a 9 MM. That she put in her pants. Ryan did the same. He grabbed the last machine gun and the last 3 9 MM.’s. On the desk was a phone. On their way out, Ryan lifted the receiver, but it was dead. He slammed it back down and they left.

Julie and Lucas were in some kind of bedroom. It had a bunk bed and pictures of different kinds of insects ranging from Bees and Flies to Ants and Praying Mantises.
“Bug freaks.” Lucas said as they searched the room.
“Guys!” Ryan came in and passed the machine gun and a 9MM. To Lucas and passed two 9 MM.’s to Julie. “You just turn the safety off and hold down the trigger.” Ryan said.
“We found a phone.” Kim stated.
“But it was dead.” Ryan finished.
“Guns aren’t going to do a whole lot of good against bugs.” Lucas said. “Sure, they’re bigger, but even in a swarm, it’ll be hard to kill them.”
“Better then nothing.” Ryan said. “Hey, where’d you put the tent to?”
“I laid it down in the lab downstairs.”
“Ok. We won’t need it because we’ll just spend the night here and leave first thing in the morning.”
“That’s what you said yesterday.” Julie said.
“Yeah, will, things have changed.” Ryan yelled back. “We got ourselves a building to hide-out in.”
“With the windows broken.” Julie said.
“Hey, we haven’t seen the bugs for a long time. Maybe they gave up chasing us.” Ryan said back.
“Enough!” Lucas yelled. “All I know is that there are giant bugs out there and if they want to, they can get us. Let’s just leave as soon as we can.”

They stayed in the building for the rest of the afternoon, searching and exploring. Once nightfall came, they all met back in the main lab.
“Over here!” Julie called out to them. They all ran over and there was a door in the lab that they missed. Julie opened it and stone stairs leading down were there, twisting down, going around a corner.
“Wonder what’s down there.” Kim said. Then they heard really loud buzzing and they let go of the door, looking at the widows. The door slammed shut behind them.
“They’re back!” Ryan shouted, shooting.
“Ryan!” Lucas yelled, shoving him, stopping Ryan from shooting. “Save you’re shots. They’re not in here yet.”
“But they well be!” Kim panicked. Suddenly, some of the glass shattered as a big black and yellow bug zoomed in. it was a giant wasp! Three more zoomed in along with a fat bee.
The people fired, except for Julie, who was behind everyone so she couldn’t get a clear shot. She raised her two 9 MM.’s anyway.
When the people stopped firing, they saw they had killed the bugs.
“Here they all come!” Ryan shouted as a door was literally flung off its hinges when the swarm of giant bugs rushed into the lab. The people started firing.
Once they saw, they weren’t doing much damage, they threw down their empty guns and ran.
Kim was too slow, and before she could even turn away, a misquote wrapped it’s legs around her and rammed it’s spike into her face! It began sucking her blood out, making her face go squishy.
“No!” Ryan shouted. He took out his 9 MM and fired three shots, killing the bug, causing the blood it just sucked, to splatter.
“Come on!” Lucas urged Ryan. They all ran when the other bugs rushed at them. They ran up the stairs and got to the upstairs hallway. They turned into the closest room and closed and locked the metal door, just as the bugs flew into it, denting it.
“We’re screwed!” Ryan shouted. “They got Kim. They’re going to get us!”
“Ryan!” Lucas shouted. “They’re going to be in here in a few minutes and we need you to be willing to fight to the death!”
“No!” Ryan shouted. He fired a couple shots at the window, shattering the glass. He then jumped out.
“Well he has a good idea.” Julie said as her and Lucas followed, also jumping out the window.
They landed next to the building, close to their ruined truck.
“Ryan?” Lucas shouted.
“You better get away too!” Ryan shouted back. They turned and saw him running through an open field, heading towards some trees.
“Ryan, come back!” Lucas shouted. Ryan ignored him and continued running across the field. Suddenly, he stopped and looked around, scared.
“What’s he doing?” Julie asked. Ryan took out his gun and aimed at the ground and fired until the gun emptied.
Suddenly, a whole swarm of baby bugs rose from the grass. They were the size of regular bugs, but they were only babies. They all rushed at him, covering him completely.
Julie and Lucas heard Ryan scream as the bugs killed him. Soon, the bugs flew off him and back to the ground. Ryan’s bones and a tiny bot of skin, fell to the ground as well.
“Oh god!” Julie screamed. Just then, the swarm from inside the building rushed out the broken window.
“Come on!” Lucas shouted as he saw holes in the ground. “I know where we can go.”
He grabbed Julie’s arm and they ran back inside the building, the swarm of bugs, right behind them.
They got inside the lab and ran across to the door they discovered and flung it open. They rushed inside and it slammed shut.
The bugs hit it, denting it.
“This door is stronger then the others. It’ll hold.” Lucas said as he led Julie down the stairs. When they got to the bottom, they gasped.
Giant fireflies lighted up the room. The room was bigger then the entire lab and when they looked up, saw holes in the roof above them. That’s when Lucas realized that the roof above them was the ground and those holes where the ones he saw just seconds before.
They looked and saw larva and eggs. But what amazed them the most, was the mutant hybrid queen.
It was huge! It was as tall as the room, and even then had to bent down a little. It had wings, even though it couldn’t use them, it had the body of a bee, the head of a misquote, the eyes of a fly, and extra limbs and little small things from other bugs.
“Holy Crap!” was all Julie could say. The queen screeched and a few seconds later, the entire swarm of bugs rushed into the nest from the holes in the ground.
Julie and Lucas closed their eyes, waiting to die. Then after a couple minutes, opened them. They saw all the bugs were surrounding them, in a circle, and not attacking.
“What are they doing?” Julie asked.
“Obeying orders from their queen.” They looked harder and saw cocoons. Inside these were people.
“My God.” Lucas said. “These are the people who used to work here. They’re keeping them alive.”
“For what?”
“Food.” And he looked around and saw that the walls were plastered with skin. “And their hive.”
Suddenly, the queen reached over to a cocoon and ripped it from it’s spot. She ripped it open and held the human with two big powerful hands.
“The person is unconscious.” Lucas explained. The queen brought its head back and rammed it forward, it’s giant misquote spike, ramming into the person. It sucked some of the person’s blood out, when it brought the spike back out. Then, with it’s hands, it ripped the body in half as it shrieked. The other bugs flew over and started sucking up the blood that fell, while the queen ate the two halves of the human.
“We got to leave.” Lucas said. He reached and pulled out his 9 MM. Julie took out her two, as well.
“Got a plan?” Julie asked.
“Just fire and run.” Lucas said. They raised their guns and aimed at the queen. The fired, the bullets ripping into the giant bug.
It screeched again, only this time, in pain. All the other bugs flew into the air and rushed at the two people. They fired some more, one shot hitting one of the queen’s eyes, shattering it.
Then Julie and Lucas turned and ran back up the steps, the bugs right on their trail.
“Duck!” Lucas yelled. Julie obeyed and just as they ducked, the bugs flew over their heads. The people turned and ran back down the stairs.
They fired their last shots at the queen, weakening it, but not killing it.
“If we kill it,” Lucas said. “The others will die off. So well the species. These hybrids take orders directly from the queen so if the queen dies, the bugs become so confused as to what to do, they’ll just drop dead. I read it in the Logs.”
The buzzing got louder as the bugs came back down the stairs and flew at them. The two people dodged.
Lucas came up, holding a knife that he found on the floor. He rushed at the queen and jumped in the air. He grabbed hold as he landed on the queen. He raised the knife, and brought it down, right on the queen’s stomach.
He climbed higher and found the neck.
“Look out!” he heard Julie scream. He rammed the knife into the queen’s neck, but then a giant fly hit him, sending him flying through the air and landing among larva. The larva began crawling all over his arms and legs.
He stood up and brushed them off. He ducked just as a giant wasp went for him. Then, when it came back, Julie hit it with the but of her gun, sending it flying into the wall, splattering.
Lucas got up and jumped onto the queen again. He climbed up to the neck, and while the queen was screaming, and bugs were rushing at both him and his girlfriend, the took the knife out and pulled back. He brought it forward as hard as he could, cutting off the head.
The head fell to the floor and crushed some of the eggs. Lucas let go and also fell, landing next to Julie.
They stood and watched as all the bugs just started flying around like crazy and hitting the walls, splattering. Soon, all the ones that were still around just started dropping to the floor dead, their brains fried.
Lucas and Julie were hit by a couple that fell, but they ignored it. In fact, they laughed.
“It’s over.” Julie said as they walked away and up the stairs. Once they got back into the lab, they walked outside and saw that the sun was rising. They smiled as they walked through the forest, hoping to get back to the highway.

THE END

BUGS

By: Jeff Long