He let go of the medallion. It flopped against his chest. “Imagine that. I actually thought all this would be over back then.”
Wawa laughed and raised an imaginary drink in the air.
“The second thing that happened was that I forgot how to spell the damn thing,” he said.
“You’re kidding.”
“No. I forgot if it had that e or not. So I put it in parentheses when Culdesac asked.”
“So your weirdo name comes from bad spelling.”
“No, no,” Mort(e) said. “The name fit. Because I could go either way, depending on how things sort themselves out. I could be the normal person, reuniting with my friend. Or I could become Death. I’m trying really hard to avoid that, but I guess I’ve developed a habit.”
Wawa chuckled. “Thank you, Mort(e),” she said.
“Now can you get to sleep, or do you want another bedtime story?”
“I’ll sleep,” Wawa said, rolling onto her side. Her tail wagged a little before coming to a stop.
A minute later, she said, “Don’t worry about me, Mort(e). That business won’t happen again.” He caught it in her voice — the slow crumbling of another one of her beliefs.
“It’s okay,” he said. “I understand.” He sat under the stars and waited.
THE MESSAGE FROM the Vesuvius was short and to the point. It gave a set of coordinates, followed by a simple, persuasive word: Run.
Mort(e) found the coordinates on his map. They intersected in an open field at the edge of an abandoned town. It was a perfect rectangle, probably a football field. He understood the instructions well enough. Driving a car was out of the question, even if they could find one that still worked. They would have to leave the road, and taking a vehicle through the dirt would create so many vibrations that the Queen herself would hear them. So they would have to do it on foot and hope that they were not too loud to attract attention, and that there were no bird patrols passing through the area. Calculating the time needed, Mort(e) figured that if they began moving now, they would reach the field by dawn.
Wawa gathered up the remaining water bottles. Using a discarded belt, she fashioned a strap for her axe, which she wore over her shoulder. Moments later, they were running across the dead fields, leaping fences, hopping over craters.
Their journey took them across another highway, this one with an even more bizarre sight than the last. Instead of being lined up in a traffic jam, the vehicles were piled haphazardly in an artificial mountain, a pyramid, the faint moonlight shining through the windshields and reflecting off the paint.
More running. Past trees. Over a shallow stream. The sky above changed. Soon, they were sprinting under a purple canopy that brightened to red. And then, finally, the sun rose in the east. They were behind schedule, but the town was in sight.
The place was virtually untouched. An exit ramp curved onto the main street, toward abandoned shops and church steeples. Though the buildings blocked the view, the map showed that the field was on the other side.
Mort(e) picked up a scent and sensed the vibrations in the ground. Wawa, whose hearing was even more acute, noticed it as well. She sniffed, then let out a whine to indicate danger. They stood still. Something moved in the soil under their feet.
Wawa was about to speak. Mort(e) raised his hand to silence her. He tossed a bottle of water so that it skimmed across the dirt, away from the ramp. It went about twenty feet before the earth around it ripped open. The armored skull of an Alpha soldier squeezed out of the fissure. Three others emerged, along with a churning river of smaller ants.
Mort(e) and Wawa broke for the ramp, vaulting the barrier and landing on the asphalt. Behind them, the earth tore open. The air was thick with the smell of freshly plowed dirt, and the sound of clicking jaws and skittering feet.
They would have to run through the town. They were safer on cement than the dirt, but there was no telling what was inside the buildings. If there were humans waiting at the field, they were probably already dead.
A row of cars on the side of the road overturned as the Alpha soldiers burst through it. A cherry-red convertible tumbled into their path. Mort(e) ran around the vehicle while Wawa bounded over it. Alphas poured over the barrier. Ants rose from their underground tunnels, sending up geysers of dirt.
They approached an abandoned military roadblock. A burned-out army truck was parked beside a row of sandbags and barbed wire. Seconds after jumping over, Mort(e) heard the ants explode through it.
The first building they passed was a post office. A sign on the front door had a drawing of an ant, with a message underneath that said, INSECT BITES TREATED HERE. At the intersection, to his right, the street was filled from sidewalk to sidewalk with Alpha soldiers. All of them completely still. Same thing on his left. The soldiers came to life, their movements synchronized, an undulating wave of armor and claws. Wawa yelped.
The glass storefronts shattered outward. Alpha soldiers spilled onto the street. Others emerged from second-story windows and rooftops, dropping to the ground and aiming their antennae toward the two fugitives. Dozens of Alphas now cut off their escape.
They had been lured right into a nest.
Mort(e) pulled the gun from its holster. Wawa unhooked the axe from its strap and ran with the blade over her shoulder.
Mort(e) picked out the closest Alpha and fired. She kept coming at him, shrugging off the gunshots. Mort(e) emptied the clip until he hit the base of her neck, cutting off the ant’s brain from the rest of her body. The Alpha stumbled forward and landed hard on the pavement, part of her jaw breaking off. Mort(e) jumped onto her back and grabbed one of the claws. Placing his foot on the joint, he snapped it off. Now he had a club. Another Alpha drew close. Mort(e) swung the claw and connected, caving in the beast’s compound eye. A second later, Wawa’s axe chopped off the ant’s antenna. With the ant prostrate before her, Wawa swung again, severing the vulnerable neck. Bits of carapace flew off as the creature collapsed.
Two more Alphas charged at them. Mort(e) crouched and lifted the abdomen of the dead one. He squeezed until a blast of acid shot out, catching the two ants in the small explosion. The monsters clawed at their melting eyes. In their confusion and agony, the ants crashed into one another and fell over. The others stepped over their writhing bodies and continued to advance. Mort(e) slashed at them with the broken claw to slow them down. He could sense the rest of the swarm closing in from behind.
Suddenly the ants stood still, their antennae pointing straight up.
A great shadow blotted out the sun, spreading over the entire street — a gigantic silvery whale swimming above, ready to swallow up the entire town. The Vesuvius. Painted on the bottom of the command gondola were a massive black cross, a crescent moon, and a six-pointed star. Cannons extended from the windows. When the guns opened fire, the Alphas standing in their path burst apart. Heads, limbs, and antennae skittered along the ground. Several Alphas were cut in half. They tried to crawl to safety as their organs spilled from their ruptured abdomens.
Letting out a high-pitched whistle, the ship fired rockets at the buildings. A fireball engulfed the row of shops, the shockwave knocking Mort(e) to the ground. As debris rained down, he felt Wawa grab his arm and pull him to his feet. He spit the dust out of his mouth.
They kept moving. An amputated claw grabbed Wawa’s ankle, and she hacked it away. The ants gave chase, even as the cannons cut them to pieces. They stepped over their dead sisters, ignoring the gore coating their armor.