Lazarus
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Hey Survivors, it’s Jarold, and I’m doing alright now. My mental state was deteriorating from the malnutrition, but I’m gaining my sanity back. Thanks again for the care package! Airdropped straight from a drone, can’t believe you guys still have those!
Spam to go with my corn. The Survivors managed to even send in some of their home-made butter and a healthy sack of salt. Most people don’t know that sodium is an essential ingredient in life; you can’t live without it. Perhaps that’s why the Romans valued it so much as a payment method.
And to think, thanks to these godforsaken Ants, human civilization is now trading salt and goods again… we’ve gone back in time. I’ve been starving the past few weeks; doing recon on these Ants is extraordinarily strenuous and caloric-intensive. So I’m going to camp here a few days and stuff myself with this delicious spam. I rarely enjoy meat, and when I do, it’s a squirrel. I’ve caught a deer a time or two, but most animals steer very clear when the Ants are around. And since I’m constantly doing recon on these buggers, the game is non-existent.
I did manage to learn a few things last week. I was in the cornfields harvesting when I saw one of their small transport vehicles land near the treeline. I stealthily crept to the cornfield’s edge and observed what happened next.
I watched as the blackish-blue Ants (known as Workers) got out and honed in on an Elm clearly suffering from infestation and disease. The bark was disintegrating, the leaves were discolored, and it looked on the edge of death.
Then another Ant (this one was yellow, and the first time I saw one in person) came out of the craft carrying some technological device. I couldn’t even begin to describe it. It was made of a super-reflective metal, almost as bright as platinum. He attached it to the tree, and I began to hear a sound. It was like music… but none I’ve ever heard. Strangely enough, it was beautiful… the best way I could describe it would be a mixture of humming (but not human, obviously) and flutes (or pipes). I suppose it was the Johann Sebastian Bach of the Classical Ant Genre.
I have a stash of M67s (grenades) back at the cave, and I always keep at least two on me when I’m out doing recon on the bugs. So I started fingering them loosely, getting them ready. The chance to finally kill one of the yellow ones was going to be a great story to tell the Survivors!
Then it started to happen… the Elm tree began to revive right before my eyes.
The leaves turned the brightest green I had ever seen, and the flowers started to bud. I couldn’t believe it; these Ants had some fantastic tech! To this very day, I’ve named that tree Lazarus.
But I didn’t hesitate, healed tree or not; this was my chance. In my mind’s eye, I could see little bits of thorax sprayed all over the Elm. Let’s sanctify the tree in their blood! So I grabbed the grenade, pulled the pin, and started making the motions to throw it right at their little group.
Then suddenly, the yellow Ant (the leader) with bright purple eyes made eye contact with me, and I stopped dead in my tracks. I don’t know what happened, but I froze. The clock was ticking. The yellow Ant pointed directly at me, and I knew it had control over my mind.
The terrifying fear of killing myself with my own grenade overwhelmed me, and I couldn’t break the spell. But, I had been in these near-death situations before, so the fear quickly abated, and I accepted my fate. Peace and calm came over me, and that’s when I realized I had regained my willpower and control and could move again.
I quickly chucked the grenade in their direction, and it didn’t get further than a few yards before it exploded in mid-air. However, I didn’t want to take second chances against this Mind-controlling yellow Ant, so I fled as fast as possible through the cornfields.
That was was then they came. A craft materialized 50 yards in front of me and flattened all the cornstalks underneath it. Then, out of it jumped three Red Soldier Ants (the most terrifying, imo), one with a plasma rifle, one with a ‘lightsaber,’ and another was unarmed. These are the ones that like to get up-close-and-personal with humans. And not to shake your hand.
Then they vanished. The game was on. I was the prey.
I looked to my left, and I saw a clearing. Nope.
I looked behind me where the Leader and Workers were. Nope.
I looked to my right to the edge of another tree line. Yep.
I’ve come a long way in just a year. I once weighed 200 lbs, I wasn’t fat, mostly muscle, but I did have a little extra.
Not now. You could see my ribs, and boy, let me tell you- I could run like the wind, call me Forrest Gump. I was gone and out of there.
I could hear the chittering behind me and the sounds of claws tearing through the corn, but this was my planet and my environment, not theirs.
I got away and into the trees. When I no longer heard anything, I started scanning until I found a nice pine at least 100ft tall. I began to ascend and wait them out. They did catch up, and I began to think I wasn’t “out of the woods” quite yet.
They materialized at the tree’s base and started to look up directly up and scanning, looking back and forth. I heard some chittering, and then one of the nasty red buggers began to climb up the tree. It got about 30 feet and then turned back around. I thought it was over for me, friends. I thought this bugger was on to my track and that I was a goner.
But nope, he turned around, and that’s when it hit me. Chris told me that the Ants’ primary sense is “Olfactory” (smell) and that their eyesight is actually not that good. So I think the aromatic fragrance of the pine tree disguised my own scent.
The Ants even looked at the ground and studied my tracks, looking back and forth. Then looking back up at the tree. They did this for a few minutes, then vanished into thin air.
Despite all of their tech, they clearly didn’t plan for these sorts of incidents. They probably should have done more recon on humanity before they started to invade. But, on the other hand, perhaps they watched the Kardashians on AntTV and thought the entirety of our species was that stupid. Can’t blame ‘em.
They weren’t ready for me. No, sir, buddy — not for ol’ Jarold! Hah! I stayed in the tree all night. Had a few cat naps and almost even fell off once or twice, but we made it through until Dawn.
Knowing what I know about Dawn (Ant sleepy time), I decided it was time to descend the tree and GTFOT. If they were waiting for me in ambush, so be it. Now was the time.
But, I got out of there and safely back to the cave. So, that’s why you’re hearing this story now!
So, as always; we learned a few things:
- Alien Ant Music resurrects trees.
- Leaders point, you freeze.
- Disguising your scent may keep you alive.
So yeah, my dream of finally killing one of the yellow buggers was crushed. Oh well, time to fry up some more delicious spam and corn.
We’ll get ourselves healthy again, and then we’ll do some more recon when we’re nourished. Once again, I can’t thank you guys in the Survivor Server enough. Without you, none of what I do would be possible.
Charlie, Chris, Victoria, and the rest of you guys are the bomb. I know Stephen is looking down on all of us with pride. May his death never be in vain.
This is Jarold, the “recon guy,”
signing off.
