The Night of the Antkrieg: vol. 1
This is Stephen. It’s been approximately one month after the Antacalypse began. Some people say it should be spelled “Antocalypse,” but I’ll spell it my own way, thank you. I don’t know if anyone will ever read this. But, still, I’m uploading it to what’s left of the “Cloud” maybe some future survivors will read it someday, so they know what happened if the Story gets lost. Hell, perhaps even another Alien species will replace the Ants that “repurposed” us and read our Story. But, on the other hand, maybe this has already happened a million times over on the Earth?
It seems like the natural order of things. Perhaps you’ve eaten chicken, the chicken ate some Bugs, and then when you die, the Bugs will eat you (provided you’re buried naturally). Biological lifeforms are always struggling (and eating) other biological lifeforms to sustain this engine known as LIFE. I’ve not seen any proof yet, but I think we might just be food for these Aliens.
I remember sitting on the porch that night shortly after dusk. I was sitting there, smoking a joint and drinking a 40oz beer after coming home from work. This was my usual night-time routine to help me relax for bed after work. My job was stressful; I briefly went to school for art but never moved out of Smalltown, USA. I was forced to work as a cook at a local restaurant to make ends meet for Victoria and me. I sometimes sold my paintings to local galleries, and that was how I met Victoria, of course.
Anyway, it was an odd day. Something was off, and something was eerie. It was during the late part of winter when it started. Perhaps it was something in the way the wind was blowing. The “Winds of Change,” they say. The weather was mild for that time of year. I distinctly remember all of my neighbors being out and about earlier, checking mail, taking out the trash, playing with kids, taking walks, etc.
When it happened, I was the only one that saw it (at first). It looked like a giant asteroid coming down from the heavens, ready to obliterate the Earth once and for all. It was huge, and it was fiery. NOT like your typical meteor! It also came straight down out of the sky perpendicular to the horizon, not at an angle.
I figured I had a minute or two left of life to live, so I quickly ran inside and yelled to Victoria, her parents, and her brother, who all lived with us at the time. But unfortunately, Victoria was taking a shower, so only her brother, mother, and stepfather witnessed what happened next.
The “asteroid” split into many smaller “pieces” that did not disintegrate, flame out or fall to the ground. No, these “pieces” became glowing orbs or crafts, the same kind you’ve seen in the videos on Youtube. They began to maneuver in ways no earthly vessel could ever move. It was almost as if they were dancing with one another at first. Then suddenly, they darted off in a hundred different directions at what seemed like the speed of light. I panicked immediately and screamed for Victoria.
Her family stood there in shock, and I had to take action, so I ran down the street to see if any of the neighbors had just seen what happened. It was so odd because 15 minutes prior, they were all outside! Now, there was not a single one in sight. So I went back to my house and watched as a multitude of these spacecraft appeared to “land” below the treeline in the distance (I lived in a somewhat rural area at the time).
Based on the sudden and aggressive entry into our atmosphere and the landings. I did not think these were friendlies. My instincts took over; I jumped into action and told everyone in the house we needed to get in the car and leave right away. Victoria was in the shower and didn’t see it, so I counted on her brother, mother, and stepfather to explain what happened, and they did, but rather nonchalantly. For some reason, they did not seem to grasp the seriousness of the situation. Those extraterrestrial beings ‘invaded’ our planet in less than 30 seconds and less than 2 miles from home. If there was ever a time to panic, it was now. I didn’t have time to argue with them, and I told Victoria we had to go. She didn’t believe any of us first, but she saw the pleading look in my eyes.
She said, “Fine, I’ll go with you wherever, and when you calm down, we’ll come back in a few hours.”
For a brief minute, I thought perhaps I was freaking out a little too much. Maybe it was a military drill? Maybe they were friendly Aliens? But, no, the risk was too significant. I wasn’t going to chance it, and the clock was ticking.
“Okay, babe, let’s just be safe and get out of here for a little while.”
I spent about 5 minutes trying to convince her relatives to come with us, just in case, but they wouldn’t listen. I grabbed all the bottled water, food, tools, and whatever I thought might be helpful into a backpack. I left out the door, dragging Victoria behind me. You could say I “Bugged Out.”
That was the last time either one of us saw any of them.
We pulled into an old backwater gas station about 10 miles down the road and a few turns off the beaten path. I stopped and grabbed a few more things for my pack, and Victoria bought some bubble gum. I filled up the gas tank, and we ventured further down a dirt road that I knew of where we could camp for the night.
Not many people even knew of this spot, so I figured we would be safe from whatever it was that I saw fall from the sky. I started to sip a hot coffee I picked up from the gas station because there was absolutely no way I would be able to sleep anyway. Within 5 minutes of parking the car, Victoria was asleep. I still don’t know how she sleeps so calmly when disaster strikes to this very day.
I cracked the window on the ol’ Mazda and lit a cigarette. That would calm my nerves, of course. I turned on the local radio station to see if anyone called in and saw the same thing that I did. There was nothing, just the same old songs as usual. Slowly, though, I began to drift off to sleep…
Then all of a sudden, it began. The screams were terrifying. At night, and in the country in this area… you can hear for miles. And these were blood-curdling screams, the kinds I’ve never even heard. Whatever was happening to those poor souls in those farmhouses, I certainly did not want to happen to Victoria and me.
Of course, Victoria was sound asleep. I don’t know how she does it.
I immediately woke her and said, “We have to get out of here!”
She groggily awoke and asked, “Why? What’s going on now?”
“You didn’t hear those screams?”
“No, what screams?”
“God, Victoria, this is serious. You need to be alert; something is going on.”
“Fine, fine, where should we go, then? We have nowhere else to escape.”
She was making a good point. This spot was far removed from civilization and was the safest bet. However, running into the woods blindly at night was going to be a surefire disaster. So I thought of a quick plan.
“There’s a hatch to the trunk, we can sleep in there, and we’ll be quiet. Then, in case we’re being invaded, they might not see us in there.”
Little did I know at the time, sight was not the immediate sense that these invaders would use…
It got stuffy in there, and our oxygen was a bit limited, but we could breathe. Staying warm was no longer a concern either; both of our body heats combined in the condensed space made it quite toasty and comfortable, I might add.
I tried to stay awake for another couple of hours while Victoria passed out right away. I didn’t last long either, the stress of the day having overtaken me. I still remember the dream I was having before being awakened by one of the most terrifying things I’ve ever endured.
In the dream, I saw my mother sitting by a fireplace. I was happy because I knew that she had been dead already for quite a while. I was glad to be reunited with her and in her company. There was a warm, cozy rug on the floor, and I felt invited to lay down upon it while she tended to the fire. She proceeded to tell me how proud she was of me and how I was destined to make a good father. Of course, I had no idea what she was talking about since neither Victoria nor I had any children. She told me that I needed to be strong and have courage in the days to come.
Then the dream started to shift and morph into something much more dreadful. My mother’s face and form began to take on a dark and demonic shape, and she turned into a zombie. She began to come after me with claws for fingers and began ripping and shredding my flesh. I kept screaming and pleading for her to stop, and I ran to the back of the dream cabin and grabbed a shotgun off the rack.
I told her to stop and to come no further. Still, my mother’s zombified corpse kept ambulating until I felt fear of my own life and shot my Zombie-Mom right in the face.
That’s precisely the moment I awoke and felt Victoria’s hand over my mouth.
“Shh, she said. You were having a dream. Be quiet; I heard something.”
Immediately my survival senses kicked in, and the hair stood up on my neck. Victoria is never one to overreact or panic, so this admonishment from her was to be taken seriously.
A moment later, I heard it too. Footsteps? It was hard to tell, given that we could also hear the sounds of light rain outside of the Mazda’s confined trunk. I was starting to get light-headed and seriously needed a breath of fresh air.
“Maybe it’s some people,” I said, “I can go check it out. I can’t breathe in here anyway.”
“NO!” she said in the most silent shout possible.
“Those aren’t human footsteps, Stephen.”
“How do you know,” I asked?
Victoria grew up on a farm before moving to the city, she was a country girl, and I was a city boy. So when it came to animals (or lack thereof), I would trust her.
“Because they’re moving too rapidly. They’re moving in short bursts, and they’re not on two legs.”
My skin began to crawl again, “Well, what the fuck is it then?”
She responded by putting her hand on my mouth again. I got the message.
I started to hear what she was talking about. Somewhere, probably 30–50 feet from where the car was parked, I could hear rustling in the woods surrounding our little clearing. I also listened to a strange, I don’t know how to describe it… chittering sound? It kind of reminded me of the sounds that grasshoppers make, but louder and more… ominous.
As I continued to listen, and the minutes went by like hours, the chittering and “footsteps” got closer and closer to the car. That’s when it got deathly quiet.
I heard what sounded like a “sniffing” sound, and the chittering started to get a lot more excited. Finally, the amplitude and frequency of these sounds increased to an unbearable level; until it literally was causing pain to my eardrums. Then all of a sudden, something made contact with the vehicle, and there was a sudden shift in gravity when I realized that we were in mid-air.
Whatever was out there was lifting the car with Victoria and me inside it. I couldn’t even conceive of what it might be, and I didn’t want to find out. Then the car hit the ground, and the impact was jarring. Victoria let out a little whimper of pain, and then the chittering stopped. It got deathly quiet again. What seemed like an eternity passed in this absolute silence in the dead of night, and then they left. After these excruciating moments passed, we heard them start to chitter again and scurry away.
And that was it. Victoria and I didn’t leave the trunk of that car for at least another 12 hours. It began to become unbearable as the sun was baking the vehicle. When we left the trunk, we grabbed our water bottles and sucked them down in record time while simultaneously taking in deep, refreshing breaths of air.
That was our first day after the Night of the Antkrieg (some prefer Night of the Long Claws), and I’ll never forget it. I’ll never forget the nightmare I had of Mom, either. That would be the first of more to come. Of course, I now know what the creatures are. Extraterrestial Insectoid “Ants”. They’re not like earth Ants at all, really. But based on all available evidence, the sightings, and behavior, that is the best comparison we have to any creature we might have here on Earth.
Victoria and I eventually went on to find our first Survivor base camp and then joined the Survivor Server and helped with the communications (codes). We got along well with the other Survivors, using our expertise in arts & craft to make various tools, clothes, accessories, etc.
Believe it or not, there’s a market for jewelry post-Apoc. Men and Women always want to decorate themselves. Some men have even taken to dressing in animal skins and bone necklaces to look tough. It’s really amazing how much has changed post-Apoc. How much we’ve been rendered back down to the status of just another Animal on this planet.
It’s ironic, really. We exterminated and eradicated hundreds of different species here on the Earth with our own greed and hunger. Now, it appears that we are no longer at the top of the food chain.
I guess you could call it… the Planet of the Ants?
-Stephen
2/22/2023
