Henderson let go of the aphid’s underside first and rolled out from between the legs before they could trample all over him. Laura and Jesse went at the same time but weren’t as graceful. While they didn’t end up getting trod on by the bug, they did trip it a little and cause it to walk slightly off the path that the others were following. As if suddenly confused, it stepped aside to let the other aphids pass and began to turn in a circle like it wasn’t sure where to go next.
“I think you guys broke it,” Henderson said.
“It doesn’t matter,” Laura said. “We need to get moving.”
They started to make their way down the various halls and found that the bug, very much like Chicago had done, was now following them. However, whereas Chicago had almost seemed to be doing it with a true sense of purpose, the aphid appeared to be doing because it had no idea what else it was supposed to do.
“Okay, so now where are we supposed to go?” Henderson asked. “The whole ‘follow the glowing fungus’ thing worked to get us here, but I don’t think that would be the best way to find our way around inside this place.”
“Well, I’m going to start by heading toward the noise,” Laura said. “Don’t you hear that? It sounds like there’s a bunch of those ant things in one place.”
“Somehow that does not reassure me,” Jesse said. “Under normal circumstances, I would say that wherever there are a large number of giant mutant ants from another dimension, that would be some place that I don’t want to be.”
“Yeah, but these aren’t normal circumstances,” Henderson said. “Come on.”
There were a number of winding halls going every which way as well as rooms that held nothing and had no apparent reason for existing, but it was easy to follow the sounds of chittering and the clacking of ant legs on the hard surface. On occasion they had to stop and hide in some alcove when they thought one of the ant people were coming, but at no point were they discovered. Here, the aphid following them and bumping around into things seemed to be a sort of advantage, as its smell must have continued to mask them. Any of the ants that saw the aphid alone looked at it strangely, but apparently that wasn’t enough of an unusual sight to make them suspicious. Jesse lingered every so often behind them, obviously fascinated by the structure around them.
“It’s a shame we don’t have time to explore more,” Jesse said. “Imagine all the things we could learn from this place.”
“It’s a gigantic pile of hardened mud,” Henderson said. “What’s there to learn?”
“You just don’t have any sense of the academic,” Jesse said.
“What is that even supposed to mean?” Henderson asked.
“Would you two just hush?” Laura said. “I think we’re getting closer. There’s something brighter up ahead.”
They ascended a set of stairs with the same peculiar proportions as the ones they had gone down after going through the portal and found themselves on some kind of balcony overlooking a great hall. There were another set of stairs that led down from it into the main portion of the room, but none of them dared go down them yet. The source of the noise was obviously coming from down there, and none of them wanted to head right in without getting a better idea of what was going on. With the aphid still sitting behind them, the three of them got low and peered over the edge.
There was immediately no doubt that they were in the right place. The room contained every person from Kettle Hollow, although it took them a few seconds to really understand what was happening to them. Everyone was in some state of being covered by a resin-like cocoon. Some were almost completely covered except for their mouths and noses, while others only had the bare minimum needed to keep them from moving. They were lined up in long lines atop raised sections of the floor, and the ants were swarming around them, some poking the townspeople like they were checking if they could move and some continuing to add the resin substance on top of anyone still struggling. Many of the humans, especially most of the children, were crying and sobbing or begging to be let free.
“What are those things doing to them?” Henderson asked in horror.
“Um, guys? Take a look over there,” Laura said. She pointed at a farther point in the room where something similar was set up, but it was obvious that none of the humans that had been in that part of the room were alive. Instead most of the resin cocoons were broken and filled with bones and blood and gore. Multiple scraps of camo told them that this was where the rest of the soldiers that had been taken from Project Subterranea had met their fate. In a couple of spots some of the ants were still swarming over the cocoons and chewing on the remains inside, even though there wasn’t much left.
Jesse gasped and Henderson looked like he would be sick as they all realized what this place was. The upraised portions of the floor were the ant versions of dining tables. This was a banquet hall, and the townsfolk of Kettle Hollow were being prepared as tonight’s main course.
Chapter Twelve
Jesse started to stand up and head toward the stairs, but Henderson grabbed him by the back of his shirt. “Where the hell do you think you’re going?”
“Are you blind?” Jesse asked. “Don’t you see what’s going to happen? They’re going to eat them!”
“So? Most of the people
