Beginning of the End - Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Near Bowling Green, Kentucky, USA



She paused at the final bend leading to the exit from the cave. It was a tight squeeze. She was forced to bend her tiny waist, or petiole, to make the sharp bending turn. She was incredibly hungry and the small creatures and few seeds she had managed to feed on thus far only made her hunger more astute.

She stopped at the entrance to the cave to gaze out at the dark landscape beyond. The compound lenses of her eyes displayed a gray shadowy world broken up by darker images among the softly breathing forest. She ran her antennae through her strigil, or comb in the notch of her front legs, to clean them.

Sight was not a useful sense to her. She relied more on her antennae to tell her what was going on around her. She sought the smell from pheromones emitted by other family members, but there were none to be found. Except for her two growing sisters, she was alone, the first of her kind to live in millions of years. These scents would warn her of danger, help her to identify friends or foe, assist in finding food and following a trail, they played an important role in the daily life of the family.

She was acutely aware of her two sisters’ waiting down in the deep bowels of the cave. They were just now evolving into adult stage and they too would be ravenous. It was up to her to find food to assist them in their initial development. She was also aware that a third sister existed because she had caught her scent on the wind, but she did not know where she was.

She was not a picky eater. As an omnivore she would eat almost any plant or animal material, including other insects and ants, ground-nesting animals, mice, turtles, snakes, and other vertebrates, young trees, seedlings, plant bulbs, saplings, fruit and grass, anything that her senses told her was digestible.

She moved from the cave and headed into the dark forest. She was not large because she would not fully develop until she had time to produce workers to help feed her. At her present stage, she weighed two hundred pounds and was about the size of a small deer. Later on, after she had established her colony and produced workers, foragers, guards, and other essential family members, she would blossom into a two thousand-pound queen and be the size of a small sea elephant.

As she moved among the dark forest she left a scent trail to guide her back to the cave entrance. Movement caught her eye but the small creature was fast, it was gone before she could react. This place was strange to her, not at all like the land her instincts told her should exist, but she was adaptable, very adaptable.

She continued on, stopping occasionally to move her antennae around to taste the dark forest. An unusual smell flowed to her and she abruptly came upon a smooth black ribbon of land. She could smell a lingering scent of prey along the smooth black surface, combined with other, unpleasant acrid smells.

A few moments later, she heard sounds like creatures struggling through the thick brush. Harsh vibrating sounds also emanated from the animals and their footsteps were drawing nearer. She stopped in anticipation, her saliva glands vibrating from hunger. Two creatures suddenly appeared on the edge of the smooth black surface. They froze when they spotted her, and she could smell the primal fear emanating from them. They were emitting loud screeching noises that distracted and annoyed her.

The creatures turned to run, but she was faster, much faster. With her powerful legs there was no possible way these creatures could escape from her. She reached the first one and grabbed it with her deadly sharp mandibles. A quick scissoring motion and the animal lay twitching in the dark. She quickly ran down the second animal and grabbed it with her powerful mandibles. She enjoyed both kills; they were soft and juicy and did not fight back. She didn’t have to use her sting to subdue them.

She took her time and chopped the second animal into small pieces with her sharp mandibles then chewed the pieces until she could squeeze the delicious juices out. She swallowed the wonderful juice. She continued to eat until both her stomachs were full. Satiated, she went back to the first kill, it was still moving but she could detect no offensive action.

Without effort, she picked up the kill, which weighed almost as much as she did, and headed back toward the cave. The hunt had been a success. Upon entering the cave, she could smell the eager anticipation from her sisters waiting for their share of the kill.

She felt wonderful. Her spirits were high as she regurgitated the liquids from one of her stomachs to feed her sisters. Just like her, they could not eat solid matter, that’s why their food was cut up, chewed, and the juices swallowed for digestion. As she exchanged this gift of food, she could detect the pleasure and gratitude her sisters felt, she could also tell that both were healthy and would soon be able to hunt until they left to found their own colonies.

She returned to the chamber where she had left the wounded animal. She had regurgitated most of her food to feed her sisters so she would dine on this delicious creature to build her strength to hunt again another day. Her eyes caught sight of a gleaming object lying in the soil which was mixed with the creatures blood. It was a black object, emitting strange noises. Her senses told her it was not edible. The creature had revived and held up two soft mandibles to fend her off. She sliced through the soft mandibles and then the hard bulbous head to let the rich smelling juices flow.

Food was plentiful.

Life was good.