Alive
Copyright 2014 Nathan Anton
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Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Alive
About Nathan Anton
Other books by Nathan Anton
Connect with Nathan Anton
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Amy Rose for the beautiful cover art. Stock image courtesy of Jake Gee from Photobucket.com. Thanks to the family for their support and Alex James for his expert proofreading and editing skills.
Alive
Tunnels as far as the eye can see; holes of blackness, sand constantly flowing with the tremors from above. A brave venture it is to wander into the insectoids territory uninvited. Sounds of scurrying can be heard all around; eyes glow in the deep before disappearing once vaguely seen by an intruder.
“Only a fool would come down to these caverns,” a fool or a peasant with no choice in the matter. This woman was the latter and sent down into these depths as an envoy to improve relations with the insectoids. The meaning behind this was a sick joke; the woman was never taught how to speak and given nothing to aid her in this endeavour.
The humans in the nearby desert city were too proud and selfish to consider the request to get along with this seemingly troublesome species so they sent the nearest peasant girl in their stead.
The woman in question was in fact lower than a peasant, a slave, not given anything but rags and a pathetic meal per day to ensure her survival. She didn’t even have a name to be addressed by; “Oi!” and “Wench!” were her usual callings.
The woman’s eyes were used to the dark by now and faint lines of the tunnels could be seen all around her. She was scared, confused, and only told to go down into these tunnels or face a beating again. Would the insectoids pity her, perhaps more than her “fellow” humans?
Pace by pace she walked with her hands clinging onto the muddy sand around her. Bones and rocks scarred her bare feet as she walked, and the dirt tainted her already uncared for body. Hunger struck like a thunderbolt, weakness and loss of consciousness was imminent as she trudged the endless darkness.
Thud, she collapsed on the floor and gripped the sand with a feeble fist. She crawled further down into the cylindrical tunnel before finally cursing her fate and losing consciousness…
Poke…poke…poke
The woman shifted in her deep sleep.
Poke…poke…poke
Her eyes opened weakly. The tunnel she was in had gone, a large cavern now surrounded her. A high underground ceiling stared from above and the dim light beside her was easing her unnaturally darkened vision. The woman’s thoughts were hazy and her body still weak but strange noises could be heard.
“What should we do with her?”
“Is she edible?”
“Not really, this one has been poorly treated.”
“That’s a shame.”
“She will die soon unless we do something.”
“Should we care?”
“That is something a human would say…”
The large creatures were in the corner of the room, communicating amongst themselves with vibrations and body language, an ant insectoid trait. They noticed the woman had awoken and advanced on her. The woman was too weak to move and was petrified at this new fate that had befallen her. Was she going to be eaten instead of just dropping dead? Such a sad end, but perhaps at least she would have been useful then...
“Perhaps we should use this opportunity to experiment on her?”
“In that state she’ll just die.”
“Then how about we extract human eggs from her, then we’ll have lots of test subjects…”
The ants peered closely at the human female. She was dirty and disgusting to them but held important research value. She wouldn’t be of use to them in this state but her children on the other hand…
“Ready the tools…”
The woman clung to the stone platform she laid on in terror, too frightened to even make a sound. A large needle was held by one of the ants and it was getting closer and closer to her. She didn’t move an inch as the needle pierced her abdomen and began to suck her future out of her. The pain was intense and she was blacking out again but an appendage from one of the ants was stroking her head in comfort as if trying to consolidate her on her sacrifice.
The woman was used to pain, but was on deaths door now and lived out her remaining minutes on the lap of an unknown insectoid in unknown tunnels underground. Her unfortunate death would bring about the life of countless others who would be subjected to mutations and experiments alike. The prospect wasn’t too charming, but maybe one of her children would see happiness. The merging of an insectoid and a human had never been done or thought possible; but these creatures are smart and more resourceful than any human or humanoid can imagine.
***
“Mummy, mummy why do I look so different?” The child asked.
“Because your special darling.” The mother replied.
After years and years of failed tests and unfortunate losses of subjects; one finally survived the birthing process. The child in question was arguably an abomination. She had the features of both an ant and a human but neither complemented each other and she turned out to look hideous to most insectoids. The child would play innocently in the tunnels, even venture miles and miles but return as soon as called. This child was able to communicate with vibrations like the ants but had nobody to teach her how to use her human mouth or other appendages that looked like they’d been stuck on.
The child unfortunately only lived a few years and left her foster mother hopelessly depressed. It’s true the child was different and had been birthed under the best insectoid scientists but a loss to a mother is the same regardless.
Numerous subjects lived and died, causing an untold amount of stress as to why these creatures weren’t living.
“We’ve been at this for years, why are we doing this?”
“Hope.”
“?”
“Hope that one day this child can live among humans and humanoids and show the world that we mean no harm.”
“But isn’t it natural to kill humans when they approach?”
“Maybe, but our former queen had thought of the future, she was wiser than any of us. The queen foretold of unlimited happiness from one of the children we created. The child would grow to become strong and lead our species to great heights in the world.”
“Truly?”
“Indeed.”
“Then we must prosper and try other willing insectoids.”
The decision was made to invite one of the few scorpion insectoids among the colony to become part of the research. After much convincing and pleading, the scorpion gave a small nod indicating he understood.
***
“It…”
“…Worked.”
The child of the prophecy was born. The child was actually more of a woman, and had skipped those earlier stages of her life. She was tall and bulky for a human. She had the sharp stinger of a scorpion on her back, the black eyes of death, and a pincer of intense crushing capabilities. The woman looked disappointedly more human they would have liked and she had a major flaw but she was alive and in a stable condition not thought possible.
“Can she…?”
“Hello, can you hear us?” The ant vibrated in greeting.
>
The woman looked up in her protective tank; she had heard the call of her creators.
The ants were hysterical with excitement; they buzzed loudly at their success and forgot to watch their subject.
The woman examined her own body and saw her scorpion features. Her eyes dropped in self-pity and she caught sight of a pile of bodies in the distance. Men and women of strikingly similar characteristics were piled on masse in the corner of the room and the woman felt both angry and scared at the same time.
Although considered a new-born, this woman had been given the progressive data of her predecessors, so she could understand insectoid language and should have a fully developed human brain. Death, pain, life…all was obvious to her, and her brain right now was telling her that she was in danger.
Bang…bang…crash!
The fluid filled tank was shattered in seconds by the woman’s hard pincer. She dropped to the sandy floor and struggled to rise as she wasn’t used to moving.
“What? Stop! We mean you no harm…keee.”
The giant ant was grabbed by the woman’s pincer easily, held up high and pierced with the terrifying stinger on her back. The ant was then dropped like a ragdoll on the floor and lay lifeless with green blood seeping out.
The other ant advanced and tried to nip the problem in the bud. He snapped his pincers in a threatening motion and then jumped on the woman, tiny to him in comparison.
Thud…Thud.
The ant’s pincer hit the ground hard multiple times as the woman dodged skilfully. “Keeee,” the ant was cut clean in two from the abdomen and showered the poor woman in his disgusting entrails.
The woman dashed herself with her human hand and looked at the carnage she had created. The dead ants flooded the room with blood and the pile of bodies looked diseased and sickly. The alien devices that kept her alive were smashed and broken with glass; there was no turning back now.
The woman stumbled through the underground tunnels, and easily found her way thanks to her horrid insectoid heritage. She came across many foes that crossed her path and passed many fearful ants that hid in the dark tunnels, clutching their young; but there was no stopping her. She wanted out, out of this disgusting hellhole. She was human, she wanted to be human, these arachnid features were horrible and her mouth felt dry and strange but she couldn’t tell why.
Tears flowed from her black eyes as she fought her way to the exit. Her life was forged on a whim and her existence felt like it had no meaning. Why? She repeatedly thought.
Light could be seen ahead and the woman rushed to see the paradise. She fell numerous times in both excitement and fatigue but finally surfaced into the bright desert…
***
The sun burnt her eager eyes, distorting her vision, and her skin almost melted from the unnatural exposure. The woman held her body in comfort but none came. She knelt in worship on the hot sand and preyed she could find peace in this foreign land. She could finally see at last but it was utterly pointless, the desert was barren and vast, and the sand blew into her face and down her throat against her will. She felt her mouth and cried again because of her unnatural features.
It was time to walk…and walk she did, to the very ends of the earth it seemed; until finally buildings were in sight, a human settlement. A massive city with bright structures and large intimidating gates stood before her. She walked forwards confidently but desperately, as she was on the verge of dehydration from her journey.
“Halt who…goes…the-.”
The guardsmen stopped their usual speech at the newest visitor to their city. The woman they stared at blankly was naked and looked abnormal and vile to them. She would surely eat them all if she was allowed to enter.
Before the woman could try to communicate, the guardsman charged her and thrust their spears straight at her. She managed to block one with her pincer but her intense fatigue and utter shock at being attacked at random by fellow humans caused her to lower her guard.
The spear went straight through the woman’s shoulder and she winced in pain. Red blood flowed onto the spear and dripped onto the floor. Jab, Jab, the woman stabbed the men in their faces with her stinger and they fell to the floor like rocks. The spear was snapped in two easily by her pincer and thrown aside but her mind was slowly fading. She stumbled into the small town door and was thankful that nobody was around at the time.
Narrow streets indicated slums and poor areas littered the place but no one took notice as another person walked among them. Rotten food and maggot ridden rags were easy to come by in the shadows of the slums but pain and dehydration was still strong in her mind. A nice comfortable place to die was what she seeked; no further salvation would come her way. The woman collapsed in a random vacated alleyway and shut her eyes, not expecting to open them again.
Posters of an upcoming tournament kept the natives busy and the woman’s presence was unnoticed by all but one.
“Come with me child.”
An insectoid hidden in the city plucked the limp woman up in her mouth and whisked her away to a hidden building on the outskirts of the slums…
***
Water was fed mouth to mouth, food too. The sharp spear that tore her flesh was ripped from its source and the wound was bandaged quickly. The woman eventually awoke, dizzy but alert at the presence of the insectoid nearby.
“Put that pincer down, I saved you child,” The insectoid said.
The woman couldn’t argue and lowered her hostility. The insectoid was a small ant, only about a child’s size. It had a pitch black colour and extravagant ridges around its body. She introduced herself as “Mother” and assured the woman that she meant no harm.
“I had a child that was similar to you and she passed as a humanoid in this city, I think you can do the same.”
Humanoid? Such things in life were never taught to her and she didn’t even have a name to go by.
“Hmm, Scorpiona? Scorporella? Ahah, Scorpina.” Mother had heard the woman’s thoughts and given her a name but Scorpina couldn’t communicate back to her. Mother had fed, healed and now named her. Was she wrong to break free of those insectoid scientists? No, they were selfish and immoral, she knew that much, but mother is different.
“I think you should look in the mirror here my child…” Mother advised.
Scorpina slowly got up and stumbled to the corner of the shabby room. She stood looking at the mirror and a mixture of sadness, regret and anger, flooded her mind. Tears formed involuntarily as she held the missing piece to her face.
It’s hideous.
Scorpina’s lower jaw was practically non-existent and her skin seemed to crawl up her neck and to her face in an effort to hide the mistake. Her razor teeth were intimidating and poorly hidden behind her upper and only lip. Chewing was impossible without a lower set of teeth and her long useless tongue was difficult to control as is flopped about wildly.
Scorpina held her face in shame and quickly pulled her long black hair forwards in an effort to hide.
“Scorpina…its true people may find it hard to accept you but not everyone will shy away from you. One day you’ll see, one day somebody will come along and accept you for who you are, I am a former hive queen you know, I can see these things, keehee.”
Life was hard as a humanoid/mutant insectoid. It took time but the community around her in the slums accepted her and were even grateful to her on a number of occasions. Heavy lifting, protecting the weaker ones from poor treatment, Scorpina was nothing short of a resident hero in her district; but she wanted more. Scorpina was relatively shy because of her face and scorpion features but was interested in a tournament that spreads your fame across the land.
Months of rehabilitation and training passed until Scorpina was ready to set out for this tournament to decide the ruler of the land. She couldn’t care less about ruling, but she wanted to be noticed and let people judge her fairly.
I want the world to accept me.
###
Th
ank you for reading my book! I hope you enjoyed it and it would be awesome if you were to review this at your favourite retailer.
Thanks!
Nathan
About Nathan Anton
Nathan Anton is a fantasy author currently studying Japanese to sate his love for the most interesting place on the planet. Apart from writing novels and short stories, Nathan is an avid video gamer and connoisseur of Japanese anime. Inspiration for his vast universe is everywhere, be sure to get sucked into it!
Most of the stories Nathan writes about are set in the same universe and are sometimes linked to one another discreetly. Deeper meanings are everywhere in Nathan’s novels, keep that in mind the next time you read one.
Other books by Nathan Anton
Please visit your favourite eBook retailer to discover other books by Nathan Anton:
Other available books
Another Tiring Day of Magic (Short story)
Upcoming books
Revenge (Short story)
Leros of the Underworld Series – The Tournament (Full-length novel)
Connect with Nathan Anton
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