Mandibles (6 page)

*-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 they 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.
Michelle sat up with a gasp, and then bellowed at the top of her lungs as the movement caused a dozen ants to simultaneously dig their mandibles into her skin and jab her with their stingers. They stung her over and over as she clawed at them, bawling.
* * * *

Herbert Layman listened helplessly to the sounds of the terrified children. It was his fault they'd crashed, and he would gladly have sacrificed his own life to save them.

Unfortunately, his own life wasn't worth a whole hell of a lot right now. His entire body was burning, and he knew it wouldn't be long before he succumbed to the ants' venom.
* * * *

Michelle and Andy were fortunate. Their minds were unable to cope with the horror and shut down completely. First Andy's, and then Michelle's. Their final minutes were spent in a protective haze, unaware of what was happening to them, and certainly unaware of what the ants would do to their bodies after they perished. It was almost peaceful.

Herbert Layman was not so lucky, and remained completely aware of his surroundings and the ghastly pain until the very last second of his life.
* * * *

The two men stared at the bodies of Herbert Layman and the children. It was the twenty-first of October, just over eight months before the other unpleasantness began.

"What do you think, success or failure?" asked the first.
The second man sighed. "Failure. If those brats hadn't stumbled onto the site, the ants wouldn't have attacked at all. It's like I told you, we need more control."
"You're the boss. We'll abort the natural habitat plan."
"We should never have even gone down this route. A waste of time. Get this mess cleaned up before anybody comes looking for these people."
"Yes, sir."
"You look a bit upset. It doesn't bother you that children were involved, does it?"
"A little, yes, sir."
The second man chuckled. "At least we didn't have to shoot them ourselves. Get over it. I don't want you distracted. We have a lot of catching up to do."

*-CHAPTER ELEVEN-*
"I'm fine."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure! It was just an ant bite, for crying out loud."
"Sting, Trevor," Abigail explained. "Dogs bite, ants sting. And it was a sting that knocked you out of your chair."
"I know, but I'm fine now," said Trevor. "I just wasn't expecting it to hurt so much." He looked at the ugly red welt on his hand, which was nearly an inch across ten minutes after the sting, even with an ice pack pressed to it.
"And you're certain you're not allergic?"
"Yes, I'm certain."
"Do you think you can drive yourself to the hospital?"
"I don't need a doctor," Trevor assured her, even though he was having a little trouble breathing. "My hand isn't going to fall off or anything. People get stung by ants all the time, this just happened to be a fairly large one. Maybe I should go home and get some rest, though."
"To the doctor or back to work, Trevor. Your choice."
Trevor shrugged. "All right, I probably should see the doctor. Yes, I can drive myself."
"I'll expect a doctor's note on Monday."
"Are you kidding me?"
Abigail raised an eyebrow. "Have I ever once kidded you?"
"No. You should start, though."
Moni and Jack walked over to Trevor's cubicle. "How's the patient doing?" Jack asked.
"I'm driving him to the doctor," Abigail said.
"Bummer. That's worse than overtime."
"You don't need to drive me anywhere," said Trevor. "My hand is fine. It barely even hurts."
Then a huge wave of nausea hit him, and he tumbled out of his chair again.
* * * *

The idiot kept insisting he was fine as he was led down the hallway, Moni on one side, Jack on the other. Abigail was walking a few paces ahead of them in her usual I-am-a-woman-on-a-mission-so-don't-mess-with-me stride, a stride that Moni could do a remarkable impression of but didn't dare share with the others.

Moni hated that she'd probably be stuck here until the wee hours of the morning, but at least her husband would understand. Phil would probably crack some joke about her having an affair, and she'd make some sweet comment like "Just keep being you and that'll never happen," and then he'd make kissy noises into the phone that she wouldn't return because, after all, she was at work, and when she got home they'd stampede for the bedroom.
Well, she supposed she could handle postponing her passionate ecstasy for two or three hours. Trevor's hand _did_ look pretty bad, and if there was any chance of permanent damage it was definitely for the best that they took him to the hospital. But she was still really annoyed that he'd been stupid enough to play around with that ant.
They got Trevor into the elevator then rode it down to the ground floor. Abigail walked ahead of them, turned the corner, then looked back at them and frowned.
"There's no guard."
"Maybe they let him go home early for the holiday," Moni suggested.
"No, there was supposed to be a guard here until ten this evening."
"Then he must be taking a leak," said Jack.
"If he is, he's in big trouble," said Abigail, walking behind the desk.
Moni and Jack led Trevor to the small couch that was by the door and helped him sit down. His eyes were bleary and unfocused, and he was perspiring heavily.
Then Moni noticed the ants.
The pavement outside was filled with them. So many that you probably couldn't take a step without your foot coming down on one. And they all looked approximately the size of the one that had stung Trevor.
"Whoa!" said Jack as he noticed them. "Trevor must be one hell of a dedicated smoker to go out in that!"
"How are we going to get out of here with that many of them outside?" asked Moni. "I mean, they're all..."
She trailed off as she saw a body lying facedown on the grass. She couldn't see the face, but she definitely recognized the Lavin, Inc. guard uniform underneath the swarm of ants.
Abigail came out from behind the guard's desk. Moni had never seen the woman express anything resembling intense emotion, but the way her face tightened was the equivalent of any normal person running around while screaming and flailing their arms in panic.
"I'll call the police," she said.
"I'm ... I'm feeling kinda sick..." Trevor admitted in a slurred voice, bracing himself upright by putting his hands on his knees. "I'd kinda like to go to the doctor now ... if that's all right."
"I'm not sure we can make it to a car," said Jack. "If they brought down the guard, we don't stand a chance if we're out there trying to hold up Trevor."
"It says all circuits are busy," Abigail announced, now with a slight tremor in her voice.
Outside, a woman stumbled into view, twenty or thirty ants crawling on her body. She ran toward the entrance, weaving wildly as she did so, finally slamming face-first into the window.
"Open the door and let her in!" said Abigail.
"No way!" protested Jack. "Those ants will get in!"
"Do it! That's Cindy from marketing!"
The woman began pounding on the door with both hands. Moni pulled the door open and the woman burst inside, tripping and falling to the floor. Ants ran off in all directions as Moni frantically pushed the door shut again.
Jack began to stomp on the ants as they crawled off the woman, while Abigail swiped them off with a manila folder she'd taken from the guard's desk.
"Cindy? Can you hear me?" asked Abigail. There was no response from the woman. "Roll her over," Abigail ordered.
Jack took a couple of seconds to find a spot where he could push the woman without his hands getting stung, then rolled her onto her back, crushing several ants underneath her in the process. Moni stomped nine, ten, eleven ants before she'd killed all of the ones that had gotten in through the open door. She joined Jack in stepping on the others that were crawling off Cindy.
Abigail gently patted the woman's face. "Cindy? Talk to me, Cindy."
Cindy opened her eyes. She gave the faintest hint of a smile and spoke, so softly that she could barely be heard. "Lots ... of bugs ... out there..."
Moni realized that a half-crushed ant was still stinging Cindy's arm, so she squashed its head with the toe of her shoe. The woman was completely covered with red welts like the ones on Trevor's hand.
"Jack, try to call 911 again," said Abigail.
Jack stepped on another ant, then went over to the guard's desk and picked up the phone. "Still no good," he reported a moment later.
"Do you think she'll be okay?" Moni whispered to Abigail.
Abigail shook her head. "She's dead."
"Oh my God!"
Abigail stood up, dabbing at the corner of her right eye with her finger. "Jack, give Mr. Kamerman a call and tell him to come down here, then keep trying to get through to 911. Moni, you stay with Trevor while I check the other entrances."
"All right," said Moni. Then she noticed that there was an ant on Trevor's shoulder, stinging him repeatedly. Trevor was just sitting there, staring ahead, not reacting.
Moni slapped her palm against the ant, and then wiped its remains off on the wall, cringing as if it might still be alive. She did a very quick scan of the room to make sure the ants were gone, then crouched down next to Trevor.
"Trevor? Trev? Talk to me!"
Abigail crouched down next to him as well, then put her hand on his wrist. "There's no pulse."
"Trevor! Snap out of it!" Moni began to shake him. His head lolled forward, revealing another ant clinging to the back of his neck.
Abigail stood up as Moni smashed the insect. "I think he's dead, too."
"No! He can't be dead! He only got stung a few times ... you can't die from that! He's just in a coma or something!"
"He'd have a pulse if he was in a coma."
"Shit!" Moni screamed. "How the hell did all these ants come from nowhere? We're in the city, for God's sake!"
Jack lowered the phone. "Is Trevor really dead? He can't really be dead, can he? I mean, he was just -- "
"I need to check the other entrances," said Abigail, cutting him off. "Maybe the ants aren't as bad around one of the other doors and we'll be able to make a run for it."
Moni shook Trevor again as Abigail stepped around Cindy's body. As much as she wanted to believe that he wasn't really dead, gazing in his eyes left no doubt that the stings had killed him. She lifted his head back up, resting it against the wall, and then closed his eyelids with her fingers.
"I'll go with you," she told Abigail.
The two women walked out of the lobby and into the main hallway. Several ants were crawling on the carpet about twenty feet away, next to an open door, and were quickly joined by several more.
The open door led to the loading dock, where trucks pulled in to deliver the mail, office supplies, inedible cafeteria food, and whatever else. If that sliding door had been left open, those few ants scurrying toward them were unquestionably just the beginning.