by Jeff Strand
"_Let me go, Derek! Let me go! I'll tell!_"
"_Okay, Marcus, you can let go of her arms, she's learned her lesson._"
"_No, no, not yet._"
"_Derek, please ... they're getting in my mouth!_"
"_Then stop screaming, you little brat!_"
"_Shut up, Marcus! Let her go._"
"_No!_"
"_She's my sister! I said let her go!_"
"_They're stinging me!_"
"_Let her go!_"
"_They're stinging my face!_"
"_Marcus, stop it! We'll get in trouble!_"
"_Quit hitting me! She's just being a baby._"
"_Derek please it hurts it hurts it HURTS!_"
Screw Dr. Ruiz, screw Roberta, and screw Zachary Davidson and his poor little toothache. She was getting out of here right now, before it was too late.
She dug her car keys out of her pocket, looped the ring around her right index finger so she could still work the trigger of the fire extinguisher, picked up the extinguisher, threw open the door, and rushed outside.
The ants immediately started coming for her. God, there were thousands of them. She sprayed the extinguisher in front of her as she sped across the parking lot toward her boxy but ant-proof brown sedan, crushing several of the horrible things under her feet.
She reached the car and sprayed the door, knocking off the ants that were crawling all over it. She sprayed the ground in a circle around her feet, then lowered the fire extinguisher and slammed her car key into the keyhole. At least she tried to. Her hands were shaking so badly that it took several attempts to get the key in, but finally she did it.
Something stung her ankle.
"_My face, they're all over my face! Derek, please, make him stop!_"
"_Quit screaming, you brat!_"
"_They're gonna sting me to death!_"
Agnes stomped on the ant as hard as she could, violently grinding her foot against the pavement. She reached for the key, but there was already a new ant crawling along the door handle.
She put her right hand back on the trigger of the fire extinguisher and sprayed away more of the ants coming toward her feet. Then she raised the stream toward the car door ... but it quickly died, spitting out only a few useless spurts of the yellow foam.
Another ant scurried over to the door handle. Agnes tried to brush it away, but her hand froze before it could touch the insect. Instead, she used the bottom of the fire extinguisher to knock it off the car door.
_Ants all over her face, crawling up her nose, digging deep into her ears, stinging and stinging and stinging..._
Another ant stung the side of her leg.
"_Let her go or I'll kill you!_"
"_I'm just messing around!_"
An ant stung her wrist as she tried to turn the key.
_Suddenly her arms and legs start jerking around by themselves. She doesn't know what's going on. She can barely even hear Derek and Marcus anymore, although she thinks that her brother pulled Marcus off her. She can't even feel the stinging anymore. There's nothing but absolute, raw panic_.
Barely able to hear her own screams, Agnes began slamming the fire extinguisher into the car door, again and again, splattering as many ants as she could. She was dimly aware that she might be damaging the door to a point where she couldn't open it, but the only thing that mattered was killing these nightmare ants.
_Is she running? She can't feel her legs, or hear her own voice, but she can see that she's running. Derek has Marcus on the ground, punching his face with both hands. She hopes he gets a bloody nose_.
Agnes dropped the fire extinguisher and ran from the car, running to safety, running to anyplace without the ants.
_The front door opens. Mom steps outside. She looks mad at first, but she looks frightened as soon as she sees Agnes. Agnes rushes into her mother's arms, not sure if either of them are crying or not_.
The garbage dumpster.
It was safe. It had to be.
There were fewer ants over this way. She'd made the right choice. She raised the lid with one hand, then with agility she didn't even know she had she quickly climbed inside, letting the lid drop as she fell onto several bags of garbage.
The smell was horrific, but no ants could get inside.
There was a narrow stream of light coming from the lid. That was good. Total darkness would have been too scary. She didn't like the dark.
Wasn't a stream of light bad, though?
Didn't it mean that there was a gap?
Why was the garbage moving?
Something blocked part of the stream of light.
Then something else.
Lots of things were moving underneath her.
Where was Derek?
The light was flickering, like the light from a movie projector.
Things were crawling on her.
The smell was making it hard to breathe.
She needed Mom to rescue her.
The movie projector light was getting dimmer.
She could barely see anything.
But she could feel things all over her.
They were hurting her.
She bit down on one.
She tried to wipe them out of her eyes, but they were on her fingers, too.
She was covered with them.
There was no need to be a brave girl.
When would they stop hurting her?
The movie projector went dark.
* * *
*-CHAPTER TEN-*
Fire ants covered the dead bodies of Joseph and Patricia Ketchum. A line of the insects returned to the nest, some of them storing liquid they'd ingested from the bodies, which they would share with the other ants within the colony. Others used their sharp mandibles to tear solid chunks from their prey. These would be carried back and placed in front of the oldest larvae in the nest, which would vomit digestive enzymes onto the food until it was liquefied. After the larvae sucked up the protein, they'd regurgitate it to the worker ants, who would then pass it on to the rest of the colony.
It was a quick, efficient process. The corpses would not go to waste.
* * * *
"Andy, get up!"
He'd fallen three times already as they ran down the path back toward the campsite. Michelle wasn't sure if the ants were following them or not, but she did know that they had to get help, fast. Maybe their parents weren't dead yet, and the police could save them, or somebody else at the campsite, or anybody. They could still be alive. It was possible.
Yeah, right.
Michelle pulled Andy to his feet again. He was going to get them killed, just because he couldn't run. She was scared, too, but you didn't see _her_ falling all over the place.
"Will you get up?"
Andy got to his feet and wiped his eyes. "I don't want them to eat me!"
"They won't eat you if you just hurry! Come on!"
They sprinted down the path, finally reaching their campsite. There were ants all over the camper.
"How'd they get here already?" Andy shrieked.
"There must be another nest, somewhere close!"
"But how did they _find_ us?"
Michelle screamed at him to shut up, even though she wanted to know the same thing. These weren't monsters, like the kind she used to think lived under her bed and in her closet. These were just bugs. They were big and dangerous, but they weren't really _hunting_ them, were they?
"What do we do?" Andy wailed.
"Get in the car!"
They rushed over to the car, which was parked right next to the camper. There weren't nearly as many ants at their campsite as there were back where Mom and Dad got ... got hurt ... and Michelle was able to brush the ants away and open the car door. She shoved Andy inside, his elbow accidentally honking the horn, and then jumped in after him and slammed the door shut.
They both sat there for a moment, shaking and trying to catch their breath.
Several ants were crawling on the windshield.
"Are th
ey gonna get us?" asked Andy.
"No. We're okay. They can't get inside the car."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, of course I'm sure. You've never heard of ants that can eat through metal, have you?"
"I've never heard of ants that big." Andy buried his face in his hands and began to cry again. "They're going to eat us."
"I promise, they're not going to eat us. We're in the car and we're safe. All we have to do is drive to someplace where people can help us."
"You don't know how to drive."
"I've watched Dad millions of times," Michelle informed him. "It's easy. Don't worry. I won't let them get you."
She reached for the ignition, and then let out a sudden sob.
"What's wrong?" Andy asked.
"We don't have the keys."
"Oh no!" Andy turned around and frantically looked in the back seat. "Maybe they just dropped them! Maybe they're on the floor!"
Michelle shook her head. "I saw Dad take them when we went out to get you." _This is all your fault!_ she wanted to scream, but that would do no good. She had to protect her little brother, not make things worse.
"What are we going to do?"
"I don't know. Somebody will come looking for us. Maybe we should crack the windows a bit and scream as loud as we can."
"No! They'll get in!"
"We'll just do it a little bit."
"No!"
"Then what?" Michelle demanded, slamming her fist against the steering wheel.
Andy was silent for a long moment. Then his eyes lit up. "I know! I know where a key is!
"Where?"
"Under the car! There's that magnet box that Mom bought!"
"That's right!" Michelle said, almost giddy with relief. "Which tire was it next to?"
"Ummmm..." said Andy, biting his lip. He pointed to the front right tire. "That one, I think."
"Are you sure?"
"I think so."
"No, not you think so, are you _sure_?"
"I don't know! Mom put it there, not me!"
Michelle sighed with frustration. "Okay, trade me places. I'll have to get it."
"What if the ants get in?"
"What do you want us to do, just sit here and die?" Michelle shouted. "Do what I say."
The children silently switched places. "Scoot as close to me as you can," she said. "I need you to brush them off if any of them get on me."
Andy nodded.
"And kill any if they get inside." She glanced around the car for a moment, and then picked up two coloring books off the floor. She rolled up the first one, handed it to Andy, and then rolled up the second one for herself. "Are you ready?" she asked, grabbing the door handle.
"Uh-huh."
"On the count of three. One ... two..._three_!"
Michelle threw open the door and hurriedly leaned over the side. She could see six or seven ants up close, and batted at them with the coloring book while she reached under the car and tried to find the magnet box.
"It's not here!"
"It has to be!"
Michelle swung the coloring book from side to side, knocking away the ants that were coming at her. "It's not!"
She leaned back up and pulled the door shut. An ant had crawled onto the ceiling, and she slammed the coloring book at it, missing twice before finally squashing it.
"Did any more get in?"
"I didn't see any!"
Michelle scooted back over to the driver's side. Once Andy had moved next to her, she opened the door and leaned down again.
An ant crawling along the underside of the car ran right at her face. She screamed and leaned back up.
Andy smacked at an ant. "Is it there?"
"I don't know."
Michelle took a deep breath as if preparing to dive underwater then leaned outside again. The ant was still there, but she could see the little black box. She swatted the ant away and wrapped her fingers around the box. But it wouldn't pull free.
She felt something crawl on her shoulder, then a blow as Andy smacked the coloring book against it.
Michelle yanked as hard as she could.
An ant crawled onto her arm, but she didn't care. She just kept tugging. The magnet had to be strong enough not to fall off when the car went over bumps and stuff, but it couldn't be _that_ strong.
Andy smacked her with the coloring book again.
Then Michelle remembered that she didn't need to pry the whole box free. She slid the lid off and the key dropped onto the ground. She scooped it up and leaned back into the car.
She pulled the door shut, but several ants had already gotten inside.
It took a few minutes for them to hunt down the ants, Michelle crushing five of them with her coloring book, Andy crushing four.
"Did we get them all?" asked Andy when they were finished.
"I think so. But keep your feet on the seat."
Andy obliged, leaning back against the door.
Michelle put the key in the ignition and started the engine. Dad had never even let her _pretend_ to drive on his lap, but she'd paid close attention on several occasions, and she knew the basics. She pushed the button on the center shift and pulled it back to "R."
The car instantly jerked backward. She slammed her foot on the right pedal, and it shot back faster. She quickly pressed down on the left pedal. The car screeched to a halt.
"Put on your seat belt," she told Andy.
She very slowly released the brake, and as the car began moving she turned the steering wheel until the front of the car was facing the exit to the campsite. Then she stepped on the brake again and set the center shift to "D."
She took a moment to compose herself, and then pressed the gas pedal. The car moved forward in jerky motions, but as long as they were making progress she didn't care if the ride was uncomfortable.
"Where are we going?" Andy asked.
"I don't know. We'll find somebody."
A bunch of ants were on the windshield. Michelle spent a moment trying out different things until she found the windshield wipers, which knocked most of them off.
"Try to squirt that cleaning stuff on them," Andy suggested.
"I'm not sure which one it is."
"I think it's the one with -- _Michelle watch out_!"
A man staggered out of the woods, dozens of ants crawling on him. Michelle screamed and tried to slam on the brake, but in her panic floored the accelerator instead.
The car shot forward, narrowly missing the man, but slamming into a large tree. One of the branches burst through the front windshield, spraying safety glass all over the children. The hood of the car bent almost in half as it struck the trunk of the tree. Michelle struck the steering wheel and slumped backward in her seat.
"Michelle?" asked Andy, trying to unfasten his seat belt. "Michelle? Are you okay?"
She turned toward him, but her eyes were only half-open, and she fell over onto her side.
"Michelle, I can't get the seat belt off!"
Ants began to climb in through the broken windshield.
"Michelle, _please_! They're getting in!"
Andy looked outside. The man with ants on him had fallen to the ground. He was still alive, but he was screaming and rolling around.
Andy pressed the button on the seat belt again and again, but it wouldn't release. As one of the ants began to crawl on Michelle, he tried to squirm his way out of the seat belt. It was much too tight.
Ants continued to pour in through the front window. Some of them crawled on Michelle, but others went after Andy.
He smashed at them with his fists. One crawled up on his knee and stung him before he was able to kill it. It hurt so bad he could barely stand it.
"Michelle! Wake up!"
She had nine or ten or more ants on her now. Ants kept coming in, way too many for Andy to kill with his bare hands. He grabbed the seat belt and pulled as hard as he could, as if he'd be able to break the material with super-hero strength, but it wouldn't give. He cried
out as another ant stung him. And then another.
