by Mitch
A dragon ant, black as coal, crossed in front of Tayln, grabbing Bo`J. In a flash, Tayln leaped grabbing its throat with his bare hands and shouted, “I’ll teach you not to mess with my girl.” It tried turning to use its claws but Bo`J jumped into the fight with her knife, jabbing faster than the naked eye could see. She began shaking all over inside, not from fright but from what she heard Tayln say. When her eyes flicked to his, she heard a loud pounding, looking around, then realized it was her heart! The dragon ant took off, running away from the defenders. Without a doubt, it looked silly carrying its head like a lunch bucket. Five hundred people watched it run over a small knoll and out of sight.
Bo`J could not take her eyes off Tayln, his eyes locked on her. This sudden fascination for one another grew to awe. With that awareness, they yielded to each other, face to face. Her nerves were on fire! On fire for him. He had an overwhelming desire to know who this lady really was. The red flush on her brown cheeks told him all he needed to know. His heart missed several beats! He dropped his arms to her waist, lifted her off her feet, pressing her body to his. Her lips formed the words, “I love you!”
Something was out of adjustment, he couldn’t focus his thoughts and they were floating where they should not be, clawing at his discipline. Slowly, he searched her face, her cheeks, the color of a rose-hued sunset, and answered her with a warm passionate kiss. Her lips were warm. His arms tightened as her breast pressed against his chest. She heard the soft exhale of his breath he’d been holding far too long. She wet her lips and returned his kiss with a buttery-soft touch, sending shivers waltzing all over his brown body. They had touched each other’s heart! Their eyes were shining like a hued rainbow.
A blast on the Aqua’s horn sounded. Both knew it was time to move, but they refused to relinquish their prize. Another blast from the Aqua and they parted. She turned and stepped back, the crimson glow on her cheeks felt good. Nearby, an orgy of noises had hardly stopped when a loud chirp turned to rapid vibrating rings. Then an eerie silence held for a second. Suddenly, a deafening roar echoed ahead. A raging deep growl thundered through the valley. Then all Hades let loose!
The arcade ahead rang with exploding debris as it vanished. Out of nowhere, a deep bass laughter burst in the foul air. The Aqua came to a dead stop, as if frozen in the water. Not a ripple, not even a disturbance in the water. The Commander and the lookouts scoured the entire area. Everything seemed to be in place. He called the young warriors and asked if they had seen or heard anything. Ke`no answered the call, “We heard an ear-splitting ringing, then a loud roar, followed by a crazy chattering before it turned into muffled bass laughter.” Ke`no and Shyla rushed over a dry field, up a knoll, and looking down into a pit, saw a huge deadly poison green ant pulling a newborn baby, ready to sink its fangs into the baby’s soft neck. Ke`no leaped into the pit, reaching for the baby, but the green ant hit him with a backhand slap, sending him flying backwards. Springing to his feet, he vowed to get it before it harmed the baby. Shyla’s face flushed pale. She screamed, her eyes flashed back and forth, the rough fury scream seemed to act as the catalyst that turned the head of the green ant. It spit at her showing contempt for her.
With knife in hand Ke`no sliced at its head. It knocked the blade out of his hand and slammed him with the backside of its claw, sending him on a fool’s journey. By then, several sailors were there with their long sharp javelins. Not a word was spoken as they skied down the steep slope, lancing the green ant as if it had a bullseye on its chest for target practice. Another precious life saved, its mother probably an innocent victim.
Thick smoke hung low and heavy about the area. There was a slow creaking door which opened leading out into a well-groomed yard. The hushed sound of running feet over fresh cut grass hid its size. A large orange and white-striped ant having the features of a shrew female tiger was sneaking toward the nearest jeep. Its whiskers vibrated causing it to glance back at the darkened doorway it had come through. Satisfied that all was quiet, it crept on. It had in mind to destroy anything getting in its way. It smelled the familiar scent of something it knew and hated, human beings. She didn’t need an excuse for her temper, it was habitual, other ants tried to avoid her. Without being provoked, it stood up, screaming a harsh challenge, and headed in the direction of the jeeps. She was inflamed with the instinct to show no mercy. Her scowling face burned with tempered hate, ready to face any who challenged her.
When the jeeps didn’t move, she leaped at them, teeth bared, fangs dripping with infected saliva as it lunged at Ke`no’s jeep. Instantly, Ke`no had the jeep moving in a circle with the tiger ant after it. Te`ro’s jeep moved in the opposite direction, hitting it broadside and knocking it over a hill. It scrambled to its feet, charging back up the hill for another attack. Ke`no stopped his jeep for a moment. He waited for it to attack again. The tiger ant’s scream vibrated the warm air, warning that this time it was going to be her day. Ke`no swung his jeep around, accelerated full speed and sideswiped it as Shyla hit its hideous face with a torch. In a way, it was funny, running away like a ghost figure, face ablaze as it disappeared into one of the burning buildings.
Without warning, it came out the side door close to Te`ro’s jeep. It was unafraid, anger burning in its eyes as it began to mutter. Softly at first, then each time a little louder. Its fangs dripping in hot lethal saliva. Eyes glued to the humans in the jeep, crouched low like a cat, crawling slowly toward the jeep, ready to pounce with only one thing on its mind, revenge. It rushed at Te`ro and Rayco. “Get this jeep moving Te`ro,” Rayco ordered, “or we’ll be its dessert.” The jeep zoomed past a building already on fire, ants fleeing the scene of destruction. The building exploded, sending large hot phosphorus balls of fire whizzing by their heads as they jetted into cover. Getting out of the jeep, they looked across the field from behind a large rocky mound.
Ke`no headed in the other direction to get under cover but warned, “Get your heads down, the glass plant is going to explode any second. In less than a second, they felt the shock of the explosion and debris flying overhead. Rayco threw his body over Te`ro, protecting her from falling debris. She realized this was a chance of a lifetime. She wrapped her arms around him, curled up close to his body and whispered,”I’ve been waiting for this a long time," and planted her lips on his!
Her soft kiss sent shivers waltzing over his body. Eyes flashing and lips moist, again he planted her warm lips on his. Her lips seemed to be on fire, but he was loving that kind of heat. The feel of her in his arms had awakened a fierce strange excitement. He wanted to stay there forever, holding a strange lady he had known all of his life. If it had not been for restraint, their bodies would have become one. He surmised, “Someone sure fell down on this part of my education,” And decided being self-taught is the best for this subject.
It didn’t take an optometrist to tell him his vision was perfect. His gaze locked on her, knowing the accuracy of his eyes never lied to him. What a sight, seeing one of the most beautiful creatures God had ever created. She eyed him with amusement, whispering, “You will never know how long I’ve been in love with you.” For the first time in his life, something was smashing the insides of his chest; every organ was in a rampage. He was sure he had stars floating out of his eyes, drifting up into the heavens. An enormous orange moon was smiling at him, following his every move. Looking up, he was more than puzzled, there was no moon that night; never did he dream this good fortune would smile on him. Smiling and blushing, he confided in her, “It may have been teenage love, but I’ve loved you the first time I saw you.”
“Why didn’t you give me a hint you loved me?” she questioned.
He turned serious and bellowed, “Are you kidding? Remember I was in the Midnight Shopping business. Your dad and brother would have booted me all over Hi-Why-O. Yes, and the outside country, that’s why.”
“Well I’m sure they will have no objection now.” She flipped him over on his back and, with a radiant smile, began drumming her fingers on hi
s chest.
“I can’t think straight when you do that!”
“I know,” she said teasingly. Giggling half sitting up, wrapped her arms around him again, saying, “One more kiss, Rayco, just one more and another.” Two lips and two hearts were sealed right there, forever. Both tried leaving their cover without expressions on their faces. But scarlet faces gave them away.
Ke`no grinned, knowing what had happened between Rayco and his sister, shaking his head as they headed back to see if the tiger ant was alive or dead. It was alive and well, standing now, facing Rayco and Te`ro’s jeep. The tiger ant charged toward them. Ke`no and Shyla’s jeep joined their jeep, both jeeps sideswiped it, spinning it like a toy top. It swaggered like a drunken seadog. A loud whistle pierced their ears before ricocheting off the buildings, confusing where it was coming from. Several burst of bottle bombs rained debris over the whole area—someone neglected to use them. The sonar sensor operator on the Aqua yelled in his mike, “Get behind that stone foundation. The soap factory next to it is going to go any second! It will destroy everything in its path in all directions.”
They were only a few seconds behind the foundation as the sound of the blast came, followed by the wind whistling above their heads, gusts of fire streaked overhead like lightning. The earth vibrated, shaking the ground, soap and dust fell on them like snow. Rayco and Te`ro didn’t feel a thing but each other’s lips! Both knew their new experience must equate with checked desire. Trying to be calm, they headed to their jeep as he remarked, “You are like your mother and Tara, gentle, sweet, soft-hearted, and most of all, refined.”
She looked at him with a gleam in her eyes, “I know I am!” He reached out and both were in each other’s arms. She felt his lips on her lips, it was warm, sweet, and profoundly spell-binding. She had sent him on a high; that high was wild terror. His body was being attacked by strange emotions. It was only moments before they separated. He saw her much taller, although she was still five-eleven with a centerfold body, totally at ease. She felt this new passionate love for him, making her heart hammer as she murmured, “Something’s going crazy inside of me!” There was no trouble seeing his handsome face through misty eyes. They looked at each other, dumbfounded that they possessed such power over the other. Te`ro knew from watching her mother that this power she suddenly acquired should not be used carelessly.
Her mother had informed her girls are the holder of this secret energy that pulls, never pushes. They parted. Both turned, their arms stretched around each other tightly, as though afraid to lose their newly found love. She felt good in his embrace. Passionately, he seemed to try to absorb all of her. They had entered a new world of physical excitement. As they came out into the open, Ke`no, with fists on his hips, looked into Rayco’s eyes, shook his finger at his sister, and chuckled, “It’s about time it happened, I hope Dad agrees!” The men on the Aqua were all smiles and asked if everything was okay
Ke`no waved and went looking for the tiger ant. Not far from the blast area, he found it half-buried under soap and tangled in the twisted steel framework of the building. Its head was completely turned around, mouth open, tongue hanging down behind dangerous fangs and tainted blood dripping from its mouth into a red pool.
As Te`ro and Shyla came to where Ke`no was, they recoiled at the dreadful sight. Its eyes rolled several times, gasping, before its face was rigid in death. Everyone was drenched with sweat and blue soap dust, shuddering in spite of their courage. The worst was yet to come. The Aquarius plowed through the sea to join the convoy as its captain saw ungodly activity, calling over the loudspeaker, “Get those fires started and fast! There are several thousand big, ferocious slave-raiding ants heading your way. They are masters of tearing anything apart and carry the helpless away. They can travel mile after mile carrying three times their weight in scorching heat.” He strictly warned the young warriors, “Stay close to the beach and up to about one hundred yards from buildings, no further. Copy?” Ke`no waved recognition.
Less than a second later, a strange weird alien head came up over a sand dune. It had the head of a locust, set on a stout neck, hair, and mane of a lion. It had the horns of a goat, only larger. The body of an armadillo, six long legs, three each side, two arms with sharp claws. Its plate-like scaled legs and feet were like a Tyrannosaurus rex three-feet long, two-feet wide, equipped with large talons. It definitely was a huge engine of destruction, a tyrant king of its kind. Getting closer, the features were more visible, advertising a scarred face appearing to be more like old wrinkled leather. Not hiding double-edged yellowish stained teeth, two greenish brown fangs set out from each side, acidic saliva dripping as the mouth growled viciously. Eyelids half shut revealing one eye red and the other a bright yellow. There was no doubt it definitely was giving them the evil eye, winking like a lizard, boasting it was a hungry cannibal. The weird thing stood in full view on the sand dune top. The massive figure looked like it arrived out of the underworld.
Commander Glenz called the jeeps to report back to the Aqua as Ke`no turned to go and meet the critter. Glenz repeated the order, “Belay that and do not advance.” The critter turned, looking as if it was waiting for something else. It gave a cold flat gruff, tremendously loud. It began cursing while lumbering to the greenish-black field above the sandy beach. As the mysterious weird creature made its way down a small sand dune, the Commander saw it was going to take more than the young warriors in jeeps to stop it. Ants near the Di-no-Drag Corral had already been history when he called the Ekistics and the other ship.
Harpoons
He piped, “Battle stations for all ships. Come at full speed and harpoons ready to fire.” He ordered everyone to get closer to the ship, bellowing, “That is a Ne-far. I had an encounter with one many years ago on the outside. It has to be a leftover from the Adamic world. An unbelievable mammoth sub-human, wicked and vicious; they most rarely lose a battle.” It didn’t take long for the Ekistics and Aquila to pull up beside the two other ships. The Commander had his best men manning the harpoons, lines removed, as he wanted nothing slowing the harpoons down.
Before the Adamic creature got close, the Commander barked, “Are the harpoons ready?”
“Aye aye, Commander,” responded Kenz.
Each ship got into position as the rogue came threatening, gazing defiantly around as it advanced. The fugitive from Hades was out of its environment. Even though the intruder moved forward, as if walking on air, its pride was in its strutting. Bo`J remarked, “Someone ought to do something about its pride.”
The Commander answered her with a broad smile, “I think we’ll put some contempt on its pride, just to keep it from becoming prideful.” Watching it with guarded interest, his order was clear. “When the Ne-far is in range, fire!”
At blinding speed, the Ne-far moved toward the Aqua. The skilled harpooner, calm as a mother singing to her sleeping baby, began to sing softly, “Rock-a by baby, come to daddy, daddy has something for you.”
As the weirdo neared, Kenz whispered, "Just one more sacred second…one, more," as he pulled the trigger. In an instant, the harpoon holder ruptured its fearful, pressured-steam, controlled-by-electric-over vacuum, and thrust the harpoon out the tube, nearly invisible. The discharge of the sound echoed across the lake several times before it disappeared. Harpoons make very little noise in flight, but not in this case, the whirr and whoosh of the harpoon whizzing through the air was evidence of no resistance on its way to the target.
Ne-far’s face paled as it opened its big abominable mouth in fright and watched the harpoon enter and exit its chest, hearing a crazy whomp, then twanging, half turning around and seeing the harpoon sticking halfway through the tree behind. As it fell, it turned to look in the direction of the sailors and mumbled something like “Why, you jerks,” then hit the ground dead. Two more harpoons, one from the Aquila and one from the Aquarius, erupted, ending the lives of two other Ne-far freaks. No one saw the hidden target, masked by its loud scream echoing from hill to hill. The
Ekistics let loose one of its two erect harpoons. Nothing moved except the slightly invisible educated missile, zipping several feet above the ground, lashing the air, plowing a path a foot deep in the hilltop. The elite harpoon having its own intelligence acted like it was supposed to, ignoring all other objects, hunting its target. As it came out of the sandy ground, it found its target impossible to miss. A larger hideous Ne-far, probably the mate of the other three, watched the strange object coming. It tried dodging the missile, but the elite harpoon followed its movements. Within a second, the intelligent harpoon projectile exploded, white flames wrapped it, inhaling as though it was its favorite, a barbecue diet. The brute opened its mammoth mouth, screaming in pain, and plunged headfirst, burying its oversized nose into the ground.
This was the first time the Ekistics fired the experimental harpoon and it proved successful. Hearing the explosion, everyone stood speechless. All eyes were on the Ekistics. The Commander had the seamen get the spent harpoon and bring it back to the ship. This advanced harpoon was made because the “Grog,” a sea monster, an offspring of the Troll, learned to evade the regular harpoons. Being larger than the amphibian ships, if it caught the ships by surprise, it would have no trouble crushing them. Somehow, the Ne-far’s got in from the outside sea. The Ekistics stayed at the Aqua’s side the rest of the ant war. Commander Glenz reported to La`no what had happened. He said, “With all of the upheaval, I forgot about the Ekistics having the two smart experimental harpoons, later called torpedoes. There will be more built and other defensive weapons, I guarantee it.”
La`no called the Aquila to head full speed to Cover Cove. Millions of cur ants were heading for a hospital. Reports came in and the horror was beyond description. Panic and apprehension were replaced with assurance of the future when the Aquila came into sight. The Aquarius starboard lookout spotted a glowing blimp on the horizon that came from behind a mountain coming in their direction. He thought, “Am I mistaken, or do I see the thing is for real?” As he called the bridge, it grew larger by the second. The radio echo specialist verified the sighting and gave the direction within a second. It turned out to be a massive horde of flying white jingoist ants swarming toward them. The captain sounded the alarm for battle stations! Without hesitation, the ships turned 90 degrees starboard. The Commander ordered the Aquarius to get the young warriors onboard. A ramp shot out from the Aquarius to the beach and the jeeps were raced aboard and secured. Everyone was ordered below, and hatches locked. Each captain of their ship expected the Commander to have the ships submerge! Never fighting a war before, the Commander had to rely on his intuition. He called the captains saying, “Now hear this, the enemy thinks it has us in the clutch of their tentacles. We will have a surprise waiting for them, keep your crew calm.”