Mandibles (4 page)

*-CHAPTER SIX-*
"Be careful," said Patricia.
"That's part of the plan," Joe assured her, carefully taking a step forward. As long as he didn't disturb any of the ant mounds, he should be able to just walk across the clearing, pick up Andy, and carry him back to safety without any problems.
"Is Andy going to be okay?" asked Michelle, sniffling.
"Of course he is," said Patricia, scooping her daughter up into her arms. "Daddy will get him."
Only fifty feet. Even if the ants launched an all-out assault on him, Joe should be able to make it fifty feet and back without anything bad happening.
"Why are they so big?" asked Andy, as Joe continued walking forward.
"No idea."
"Is it radiation?"
"I'm sure it's not radiation. Maybe they just have big ants out in the woods. I don't know much about them."
"Will they sting?" Andy asked, his voice cracking.
"I'm not going to let them sting you," Joe promised. "Now don't talk. We don't want to make them mad."
He was about halfway across the clearing. An ant scurried over his foot, but then went on its way. No problem. Soft steps, take it slow, don't freak out, and everything would be perfectly fine.
Another ant crawled up on his shoe, but this one didn't leave.
Joe's first instinct was to try to shoo it away like a dog, but of course that would be ridiculous. He stood motionless, waiting for it to crawl off his foot and go away.
It didn't move.
"What's wrong?" asked Patricia.
He glanced over his shoulder and quietly shushed her.
The ant crawled up toward the top of his shoe.
Very slowly, Joe lifted his leg, bringing it up close enough that he could swat the ant off with his hand.
The ant crawled off his shoe and under his pant leg.
Joe let out an involuntary whimper.
If he jostled it, the ant would probably sting him. He'd been stung by the regular variety of red ants on numerous occasions, and had absolutely no desire to discover what the sting of the deluxe version felt like.
The ant dropped off his leg onto the ground.
Joe wanted to stomp on it, but didn't dare. Instead, he resumed moving forward toward his son.
"It's going to be okay," he whispered, more for his own reassurance than Andy's.
He picked up his pace a bit.
Finally, he reached the far end of the clearing. Andy threw his arms around him and began crying.
"Shhhh ... shhhh ... it's fine now," said Joe, running a playful hand through the boy's hair. "C'mon, I'll give you a piggyback ride."
He wiped away Andy's tears with his thumb, and then crouched down to allow the boy to climb up on his back. Once Andy was in place, he headed back toward Patricia and Michelle.
"One safe little boy, coming up," Joe announced.
About ten steps into the clearing, he stopped moving. "Gotta loosen the grip, kiddo," he said. "You're choking me."
"I'm sorry," said Andy.
"That's okay." He stood there for a long moment. "You still haven't loosened your grip."
Andy relaxed his arms a bit. It was still kind of hard to breathe, but he couldn't exactly blame the kid for being terrified. He was pretty close to losing bladder control himself. At least this experience would be better for the kids in the long run than any safety lecture he or Patricia could give them.
"Daddy, be careful," said Andy once they'd reached the halfway point. "Some of them are coming."
Joe swiveled a bit to the right and saw that, indeed, several ants were pouring out of a nearby mound. Maybe it was time to just make a run for it.
With the next step, Joe's foot broke through the dirt and he fell face-first onto the ground.
He let out a loud _oooomph_ as the wind was knocked out of him. Andy and Michelle screamed at the same time.
"Let go of my neck," Joe moaned.
Andy let go of his neck. Joe rolled over on his side, felt a sharp pinch, and then let out a cry of pain as a stinging, burning pain tore through his arm. He lifted his forearm and saw one of the ants clinging to his flesh with its mandibles, its body curled up so its stinger could jab into him repeatedly. It stung him again and again, getting in at least four stings before he ripped it off his arm and threw it aside.
"Andy, get out of here!" he shouted.
Several ants were pouring out of a mound mere inches from Joe's head.
Screaming in terror, Andy got to his feet and ran across the clearing toward his mother and sister.
Another ant stung Joe in the side. Then the leg. Then the stomach.
And suddenly they were swarming him.
He struggled to stand back up, but the stings were so painful that he fell to the ground again.
This time, his face struck the anthill.
He immediately pulled away from it, with five or six ants already hanging from his face by their mandibles. He frantically slapped at his cheeks, chin, and neck, trying to dislodge the insects. He howled in misery.
The ants were stinging him through his tee shirt.
He rolled onto his back and desperately smacked the ants away, even as they began to sting his palms and the back of his hands.
"_Help me_!" he shrieked.
He felt a tight grip on his arm. "Get up!" Patricia pleaded.
Joe tried again, and this time with Patricia holding onto his arm he was able to pull himself to a standing position. He shrieked again. There were ants all over his body, dozens of them.
He and Patricia stumbled forward, until she screamed in pain as well. She gave Joe's arm a sharp tug to get him to move faster, but this only caused him to tumble to the ground yet again, bringing her with him.
He could hear Andy and Michelle screaming and sobbing.
More ants swarmed over Joe's body, and he began to flail around, frantically trying to get them off. One of them was stinging his lower lip. His body felt like somebody had completely doused him with gasoline and touched him with an open flame.
Patricia writhed on the ground next to him, also covered with the stinging ants. Her arms, legs, and face were a mass of red welts. And more ants kept joining the others.
Joe made one more attempt to get to his feet, but this time he wasn't able to so much as sit up. He continued to beat at the insects, crushing some under his fists but barely making a dent in their numbers.
He looked over at Patricia, who was so heavily covered in ants that he could barely recognize her. She was on her stomach, trying to crawl to safety, but making virtually no progress.
Joe let out one last piercing, agonized scream as the ants completely overwhelmed him.
* * * *

As she watched her father's ant-ridden body go limp, Michelle grabbed Andy's hand and tried to pull him away.

"Let's go!" she shouted.
"They're killing Mommy and Daddy!" her brother wailed.
"It's too late! We have to run or they'll kill us too!"
It was true. Several of the ants were making their way toward them. More than several, actually. Maybe hundreds.
"We have to save them!" Andy insisted.
"We can't save them! We've got to _go_!"
She yanked on Andy's arm, as hard as she possibly could. Her brother let out a tortured cry, but then followed her as the children rushed back through the path toward the campsite, screaming in terror.

*-CHAPTER SEVEN-*
Trevor decided not to mention the ants to anybody as he returned to his cubicle. Best to just sit down, get his work done, and start enjoying his weekend. Maybe he'd stop by the video store on the way home and rent a copy of _Them!_
About ten minutes later, Jack Lacefield stopped by his desk. Jack was in his early twenties and tried to compensate for a naturally unattractive face with stylish clothing and attitude. The stylish clothing part he had down pretty well, but the attitude needed work.
"Hiya, Trev, how's it hanging?"
"Low and to the east."
"Good man, good man. Any big plans for the ol' holiday weekend?"
"Not really. Just working on my book."
"Ah, yeah, the book. I get an autographed copy when you're rich and famous, right?"
"Absolutely."
"Good man, good man. Hey, pull my finger."
"I'm not going to pull your finger."
"Come on, be a pal, pull my finger."
"Pull your own finger."
"I'm not gonna do anything, just pull my finger."
"No."
"I'll give you a buck."
"Fine." Trevor pulled his finger. Jack let out an obnoxiously loud belch, then burst into laughter.
"You thought I was going to fart, didn't you?"
"Yes, Jack, that's exactly what I thought. You sure fooled me."
"You need to put that in your book."
"Where's my dollar?"
"I fooled you there, too." Jack burst into laughter again.
"Here, pull this finger," said Trevor, flipping him the bird.
"Good one, good one. You got me." Jack's eyes widened. "Dude, don't move."
"Why, what's wrong?"
"I'm not playing around, but there's a big-ass ant on your chair."
Trevor leapt out of the chair and began brushing off his shirt. "Is it still there?"
"It's on the armrest. That's not a real one, is it?"
The ant crawled off the armrest and onto the seat.
"Wow, that thing is gigantic," Jack observed. "I wonder where it came from?"
"There were a couple of them outside," Trevor told him.
"Well, I'm glad you were generous enough to bring them inside to share with the rest of us. Jeez, that thing must have escaped from a zoo or something."
"What are you two babbling about?" asked Moni, stepping outside of her cubicle.
"Come over here and see this," Jack said.
Moni walked over as Jack pointed to the chair. "What is that, a toy?" she asked.
"It's a real ant."
"Yeah, right."
The ant crawled off the seat, fell to the floor, and crawled underneath Trevor's desk.
"Uh-oh," said Jack. "You may want to watch where you put your feet." Jack looked at Trevor more closely and raised an eyebrow. "Dude, what's with your socks?"
Trevor realized that his socks were still pulled up over his pant legs and crouched down to fix them, embarrassed. "It was because I was looking for the ants," he explained.
"Don't change anything on my account," Jack said. "I believe it's important to preserve individual fashion."
"Maybe I should get a custodian or something to take care of it," Trevor remarked. "They've got bug spray and stuff, I'm sure."
"They already sent the custodians home. We're pretty much the only losers stuck in this place. Anyway, for that thing you don't need bug spray, you need a rat trap," Jack observed.
"No, what you need is to stop being such a wuss and be a little more proactive," said Moni, picking up a ruler from the edge of Trevor's desk. "I'll get it."
"Watch out, it might spit acid," Jack warned.
"Ha-ha."
"Here, give me the ruler, I'll get it," said Trevor, reaching out to Moni.
"Are you sure? I wouldn't want you to get acid on your glasses."
Trevor took the ruler from her. "If I die, I don't want any part of my vast estate going to Jack."
"You sure are stingy with twenty bucks," Jack retorted.
Trevor got down on his hands and knees and looked under the desk. There was no sign of the ant.
"Do you see it?" Moni asked.
"Nope."
"Try an ant call," Jack suggested.
"Try shutting up."
"You know, dude, you're going to lie awake all night tonight wishing you'd said something more clever than 'try shutting up.'"
Trevor thought he saw some movement on the underside of his desk, so he lunged forward with the ruler, but didn't hit anything.
"See it yet?" asked Moni.
"Nope."
"By now it must be on your chair," Jack informed Moni.
"Why don't you go sit on it to find out?"
"You could sit on my lap."
"That's sexual harassment."
"No, it's space conservation."
"It's hazardous duty."
Even with Moni's sultry voice, this conversation was getting on Trevor's nerves. "Both of you, be quiet," he said. "I'm trying to find a really big ant."
"You should check out JoAnn who works in human resources," Jack said. "She's got the biggest damn ... oh, you said _ant_."
"I'm not kidding anymore, be quiet."
"Yes, sir."
Then Trevor saw the ant. It was next to the surge protector, and looked like it was nibbling on one of the cords. He began to carefully crawl towards it, the ruler clenched in his fist like a serial killer wielding a butcher knife.
When he was within striking distance, he raised the ruler and prepared to slam it down. He almost got the sense that the ant was trying to stare him down. He scooted just a bit closer, and then without warning brought the ruler down as hard as he could.
And missed.
The ant scurried up the wall. Trevor cursed under his breath.
"Lose something?"
Trevor jerked upright at the sound of Mr. Kamerman's voice, bashing his head on the underside of his desk. He cursed again, softer this time, and crawled back out from under it.
Winston Kamerman ("Mr. Kamerman" to his face, "Winnie" behind his back) stood there with Abigail. As usual, Mr. Kamerman was dressed in full business attire, even though his job required no contact with actual customers. He held himself with a poise and dignity that belied the fact that he was something of an ignoramus.
"Just looking for an ant," Trevor said, standing up and brushing off his pants.
"One ant?"
"One very big ant." Trevor held his thumb and index finger two inches apart. "It was under my desk."
"Then I'm glad that's where you chose to look for it," said Mr. Kamerman.
"Thank you, sir."
"Did you catch it?"
"No. It crawled up the wall."
"Well, I'm sure it will still be around once your work is complete. Remember that you're on overtime now. Lavin Incorporated doesn't have unlimited funds, you know."
"Yes, sir."
Mr. Kamerman walked back toward his office. Abigail rolled her eyes and followed him.
"Guess I won't be getting that big promotion, huh?" asked Trevor. Moni smiled and returned to her cubicle. Jack had already left, probably at the first sound of Mr. Kamerman's footsteps.
Trevor checked his chair thoroughly, then sat down and resumed his work. It was difficult to concentrate, though. He wasn't scared of bugs, but it was still a bit unnerving to know that such a big ant was crawling around near his desk. He wondered if it would be possible to get an exterminator to come in over the holiday weekend.
He willed himself to focus, so that he might leave this hellhole sometime in the next six hours. The next transfer was for sixteen thousand, two hundred and eight dollars and seventy-seven cents. Now _that_ gave him a sense of real power.
Maybe he'd have a killer bug movie marathon this weekend. In addition to _Them!_, he could rent _Tarantula, Food of the Gods_ with its giant mosquitoes, that movie with the giant killer locusts, and a couple of others. Or maybe he'd narrow the focus to killer ant movies. _Phase IV, Ants_ with Susanne Somers, and ... what else? Maybe that computer animated one with Woody Allen's voice, _Antz_. They weren't exactly killer ants in that one, but --
He yanked his hand back from the keyboard with a yelp. The ant, dangling from his wrist, stung him again. He grabbed it with his other hand and crushed it, ant guts squishing through his fingers. The head remained in place, its jaws still fixed on his wrist.
The pain was a thousand times worse than any bee sting he'd ever suffered, and a massive wave of dizziness struck Trevor as he tumbled out of his chair and fell to the floor.