Chapter 65: B3 — 7. First Contact?!

AuthorSME

POV Change: Scarlet Clementine Johnson

Recap: Rachel sent Fiona to find some info and she rescued our bird family from a deadly snake the size of a school bus and a swarm of dragonfly-like insects (electrifying!).  She found out some news on the crystals and is returning.  In this chapter, we go back to Scarlet's POV and follow her adventure to explore the insect hive!

Scarlet has some fun.  =))  She's getting better at dealing with her negative image, but it's a bit easy when she's like this.  Poor girl has self-esteem issues.  D=

Scarlet smiled as she teleported through the jungle, activating Fear Aura to scare off the rhino-like bugs; she couldn’t believe how much better she was feeling.  Moving locations to guide the stampeding animals and insects away from the campsite.

Once the panicked bugs had been dealt with, she sat on a tree branch, scanning the area while bobbing her head back and forth while humming Youth by Glass Animals.  Her hair getting in the way didn’t bother her much since she could just filter it out.

Trees vanished within a mile radius as she studied the animals and insects; their bodies were a lot different from humans, and several had blood that was mixed colors.  Some animals traveled in small groups, but the other predators around the jungle were picking them off like flies.

How could some of those things survive with all these reptiles and insects around here?  Poor things, but that’s the circle of life. Huh, it’d be the same if humans were never here; it’s just the same thing … everything needs to eat.

Leaning back a little, Scarlet held herself up as she kicked her legs out, watching the frenzied ecosystem flee from the mountain, but they were heading right for sections of the black sand.  Her fingers rubbed the hard bark beneath her as she studied everything swapping to Things in Life by Nameless Warning.

The sight of all the creatures floating in midair or running along invisible branches made her giggle.  She didn’t know why her mind kept flipping between songs she liked, but it was a nice change of pace from all the worry she’d been feeling.  There was something about being in the jungle that resonated with her and curbed her anxiety.

She vanished in shadow to appear above a group of Red Panda-like creatures, watching them release high-pitched squeals before freezing.  The scene made her swap to Heathens by Twenty One Pilots.

Several seconds passed with them quivering as they stared up at her, and the snakes that were trailing them quickly retreated, moving to the southeast.  “All my friends are heathens, take it slow...” Scarlet softly sang, body bobbing with her hair as she observed them.

After thirty seconds, she sighed, motioning for them to run off.  “C’mon, you just can’t go this way.” She pursed her lips to the side as her vision penetrated their bodies; their hearts were pumping frantically, obviously scared out of their minds.

“Alright, alright,” she muttered, desiring her Fear Aura to drop to a lower tier level.  With the sudden decrease, the Red Pandas dashed to the west.  The fear in the air drew her notice, and it suddenly clicked.

It’s the panic, the dread … that’s why I feel so good.  Huh … it’s not the jungle that smells so intoxicating but the fear pheromones.

The realization didn’t dampen her mood; in fact, the knowledge made her feel alive.  She licked her black lips as the song in her mind changed to Fear the Fever by Digital Daggers, vision following the pandas; their blood pumping through their bodies, releasing the sweat that carried with it their fear and an itching pulse ran down her spine.

It wants to kill you.  It wants to tear you apart.  It wants to thrill you. This vengeful love that I’ve got wants to consume you, then spit you out.  I fear the fever…

The blood that had wet her mouth quickly dropped down her throat as she swallowed, and she closed her eyes, taking a deep breath.  No … maybe a little, but … later.

Trying to distract herself, she started humming Toluca Lake by Tep No while casting her focus around.  She found a few more creatures heading for the crystal and quickly diverted them.

Not finding any more creatures willing to go that way, she turned off Fear Aura and teleported a few miles toward the black sand.  She released a soft moan as she appeared on a branch, leaning up against a purplish-colored tree trunk.

Eyes closed, she lightly hit her head back against it, fighting past the urge to go after something.  Mass panic brings out this crazy urge in me!  What’s so scary? I guess Rachel’s on that; she’ll figure something out.  I need something to pick me up, but not heighten my bloodthirst … what song?  C’mon, think, think … wait, why do I need to curb it?

Her eyes snapped open as one of her favorite bands popped into mind with a particular song, The Reckoning by Unsecret.  The white in her eyes was replaced with the void as she hummed, vampiric vision returned.

I’m supposed to be a nightmare.  I keep holding myself back and worrying about what others think of me, but no one’s around … this is the jungle on a completely different world.  No one’s going to judge me … it’s just me. Rachel and Tom want results, and they need me to instill fear. Fear, I can do.

Reactivating her aura, she let it radiate at its maximum output, breathing in the horror surrounding the forest.  Her tongue slid over her fangs as she smiled, taking a deep breath. The jungle vanished within a mile radius as she studied the creatures fleeing from her.

What mysteries are hiding here?  There must be a reason why the crystal brought us to this place, and it’s somewhere in this dome.  The bugs seem to be a major player, and I only looked a bit into their hive.

The ground began to fade as her eyes penetrated the earth, following hundreds of tunnels; the ant-like creatures had created many openings to conduct hunts, but it appeared as if they all branched off three primary shafts.  A few of the more prominent warriors stood guard in those areas.

Will they run if I show up?  Time to do my own testing.

Shadows enveloped her, and she appeared in front of five of the massive creatures.  They didn’t have the camouflage that the worker ants had. The animals froze as she looked around, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth.

The tunnel was relatively large, at least ten meters wide and tall, lined with the black gravel, and the rugged texture was easily recognizable as she rubbed the bottom of her flats against them.  There was some kind of adhesive that kept them in place that almost looked like mud.

She pursed her lips as she put her hands on her hips, staring up at the frozen insects; turning her head, she looked at the blue blood of the workers that were too close and had found themselves unable to run.

What kind of effects does my maximum Fear Aura give … Fear and Horrify; there’s only a chance of each affecting a creature, and it increases its potency the higher tier I use.  Everyone has their own resistance level to each status effect; so, I guess that’s why some of them just froze in place.

Scarlet hummed softly as she walked forward; it was then that she realized that it was a little hard to breathe.  “What’s this?” She mumbled, touching her throat.

I’m having a hard time breathing … I suppose it would be difficult to breathe in certain areas as we get further underground.  I’m only like two hundred feet under, though.

“Huh.”  She looked back up at the tank-like body of the creature with its massive, powerful legs and jaws.  Up close, she found that it had five eyes. Their skin was shiny metal; she slid her hand over one of its legs; it was as thick as her torso and smooth to the touch.

“Well, aren’t you things strange,” she mumbled.

Looking further into the tunnel, toward the black sand area, she frowned.  Groups of soldiers and workers were scuttling her way, but once they reached a certain distance, they quickly ran back the way they’d come.  After retreating a bit, they tried to return before repeating the process.

They’re not that smart, or are they being compelled by some queen, like Rachel theorized?  Either way, I need to put the fear of Vampires in them.

Patting the side of the scary insect next to her, she vanished in shadows.  Skipping past several more groups of rushing guards, she finally made it to the primary hive.  Her eyes narrowed as she teleported to where she’d seen the equipment before; only scraps were left against the black gravel.

What in the world?  Where’d they take it... 

It took a moment to filter through the layers of dirt, looking for the possible workers that had moved it.  In her search, she found a few points of interest.

There were the sanitation caverns, which were a bit disgusting; it looked like chunky green ooze that was being continually filled as workers carried the goo on their hands, dropping it down the holes.  Several more pockets were currently under construction.

Several large caverns were lined with eggs, from the top of the ceiling to the floor with strange winged ants that moved from egg to egg, seemingly fertilizing them.  Workers could be seen running around the area, cleaning up the shells, and feeding newly hatched ants from their mouths, regurgitating nutrients into their mouths.

She watched the shells brought by the worker ants to a large area with patches of liquid veins that bubbled up through the soil, where smaller ants with wings and no stinger drank it, ate the shells, and regurgitate it after some kind of chemical reaction happened in their stomachs.  The workers collected the black paste and brought it back to the tunnels, lining the edges and spreading the black gravel across it.

Scarlet tucked her lips under as she finally found the queens by following the movement of the eggs.  There were over twenty of the fat creatures, each in branching caverns. The queens were over ten meters wide and five meters tall; it didn’t look like they could even move, requiring the workers to roll each one to clean them.

The whole process was a bit disturbing to watch, between their waste, birth, and inner workings as the winged males, she assumed, injected their stingers in specific places on the queens’ bodies.

Well … they certainly are energetic … wait, do the males die after a single seeding?  What’s up with … the queen’s blood mixes with their body when they impregnate her, and it poisons them.  They’re cannibals. Crazy...

She watched the males stumble into what she could only describe as a processing plant, where workers cut them into pieces and smashed them up, draining their liquid into an underground water stream.  After which, they chewed up the remains, neutralizing the poison with some kind of chemical in their stomach, and then threw it back up to give the workers to feed the babies.

Workers continued to bring back more food to be processed, and it was taken down to the food plant where they did the same process of draining any liquid the animal or insect had.

Quite the system they have, but the real interesting thing is that…

Her eyes centered on two specific spots, the waste holes and a tunnel running below the queens.  Glowing orange crystals were slowly growing from within the earth, feeding off the waste, and she couldn’t see into it.  Several other areas had the same crystal, except that they didn’t glow, and she could penetrate them with her eyes. The stolen parts were nowhere to be seen in the hive.

Shadows enveloped her, and she stood at the entrance to the cavern, glowing orange crystals releasing a soft light that made her think of Halloween.  Folding her arms, she glanced back as the queens released a murderous shrill scream that sounded like a dying cat. However, they were the only ones that even moved with her Fear Aura radiating around the area.

Scarlet wanted to sigh, but the air was so thin down here that she couldn’t even do that.

I’m glad I don’t need to breathe air; still, it feels uncomfortable.

The workers and male suitors were frozen in terror, and she could see a swarm of insects lining the tunnels further up, trying their hardest to reach her before being forced to flee.

Yeah, something tells me that these guys aren’t masterminds.  It doesn’t matter if I fear them, they’ll just run right back at me.  So, they’re just following protocols and commands, but is it from the queens?  There’s also this…

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She glanced back at the orange crystal, and paused in her thoughts, vision falling to the hard black soil.  It hadn’t been noticeable so far away, but from this distance, she saw scattered fragments of glass and plastic.

They brought it here?

Her halo-like red irises lifted to the impenetrable crystal wall.

No … a secret area?

Scarlet’s eyes narrowed as she glanced back around the queen’s dome-like cavern, noticing the same glowing crystal creeping through the dirt and running back to the massive crystal structure that appeared to extend as far as she could see underneath her.

This thing is over two miles under the earth … what in the world?  It just keeps going too, and if I filter out everything within a mile radius, it has what looks little crystal tentacles that keep growing up all around the place.  This isn’t suspicious at all … if I didn’t know any better, then I’d say there are aliens behind those walls. It just screams aliens.

Walking up to the bright structure, she waited for something to happen, expecting her blood to protect her if things went south.  From this distance, she could hear a low resonance that almost seemed closer to something she’d expect from Dubstep; there was silence, then a high to low drop that came at different times and appeared to have short patterns before changing.

Have I entered an alien rave world?  If I go behind this crystal, will I find aliens getting down on the dance floor, going ham?

She tensed as the sound of the screaming queens, and the beats came together in a strange mix that made it all too unnerving; it was like Horrorstep, and not being able to take a breath only increased the pressure in her chest.

Well, time to dive in headfirst.  This stuff makes it hard to even think … it’s like twice as loud as a normal rave, and the bass ripples through my body.

Her blood spiked out of her hands, digging into the crystal; it was surprisingly durable, but her blood burrowed into the structure, finding weaknesses.  Cracks appeared in the wall as the liquid continued to tunnel. Sections fell off, not breaking when they hit the compact black gravel, and her blood soon punctured to the other side.

Scarlet tensed, eyes widening before leaping back as her blood retracted to shield her; orange fumes released from the opening as chunks of the wall continued to crumble with the liquid’s swift return.  A partial barrier surrounded her, but she didn’t sense anything wrong with the smoke.

Her frown deepened as a sharp hiss came from the other side; the horrorstep continued to play while she waited.  Licking her black lips, she glanced back at the still screaming queens and tirelessly attacking and retreating ants.

Do you guys know something I don’t?

Her focus went to the ceiling as the orange smoke rose, collecting along the black gravel.

Well, okay, I guess we continue.  I mean, it’s usually a bad thing in movies to open something you have no clue about, but hey, I’m a vampire, and I don’t need to breathe.  Of course, what if this thing melts my bones?

She pursed her lips, vampiric vision returning to the cracked crystal wall, penetrating her blood.  A pulse of light was gathering around the damaged sections.

Flip, what would Rachel do?  Probably study it for like … ever, no, probably just punch a hole through it and see what happens.  Fiona? She’d probably do the same. Maria? Likely complain about the noise … yeah, that’s about it for her.

Stretching out her hands, she cracked her neck before moving her blood around her body.  It floated close to her skin as she used Blood Manipulation, visualizing what she wanted, a protective barrier.

She walked forward and told it to gather.  The liquid formed into a ball at her face before extending, smashing into the structure; crystal shattered everywhere as her blood battering ram created a massive hole.  Smoke exploded through, but the gathering light increased, glowing brighter.

What’s it…

Spikes flared out, filling the hole.

No, you don’t!

Scarlet visually filtered out the smoke, saw the floor on the other side, and teleported.  The area she entered wasn’t that large; it looked more like a hallway than a room. Her vision became nothing but a wall of orange fog as she deactivated her vision’s filter.  The horrorstep sounds were surprisingly gone, and the only noise left was a dull hum.

Filter on, it is.  Geez. At least this stuff doesn’t seem poisonous … well, at least to me.  Who knows since I don’t have to breathe.

The wall swiftly closed up, but she wasn’t concerned.  Her focus shifted to the floor where a ton of crystal pieces were scattered around like glass.  The rigid design of the hallway intrigued her, pulling her attention. She walked up to the wall and stroked the side; an imprint of bright orange light followed the motion.

Crazy.  Too bad I can’t see through the walls.  I guess my vision isn’t a high enough level for these things.  It runs along the entire underground, though. What’s up with it?  It’s miles underground, too.

Glancing to her left and right, she folded her arms.

Left or right?  Right will bring me closer to the team.  I suppose we can start…

Her thoughts froze as she caught sight of two glowing orange jack o'lantern-like alien creatures walked down a hall.  They didn’t seem to notice her since their heads were turned toward each other; her mind went into a panic.

Do I have any hiding abilities … Shroud of Darkness, that’s right!

She activated it; blackness obscured her body; she almost wanted to slap her own head.  The creatures paused as they caught sight of the impenetrable black space in the hallway before looking at each other, then shattered crystals scattered across the ground from the hull breach.

Their arms and three claw-based fingers made strange motions as they communicated, glancing her way every once in a while and gesturing to the shattered pieces of their wall across the floor.

They both wore a white banner-like shirt and some kind of close-fitted stiff-fabric pants.  The one to her left had a black crescent shape with a cross running through it on his shirt-front while the other had a blue line through the black crescent shape.

The one with the cross walked to the side of the wall and slid his hand in a complicated design; Scarlet’s eyes widened as a sigil appeared, and a holographic sphere came into existance.  The alien began playing with strange symbols that floated inside, moving them around as new lines of shapes and designs came into being.

This is straight out of a Sci-Fi film!  These are like aliens; they even look kind of like orange Martians!  Who needs to go on an Area Fifty-One run when you’ve got them in Montana?  Should I talk to them? Can I even speak in here? Maybe I can use gestures, but would they even understand that?  Oh, they could have made the crystals in the first place!

Think … what did they do in that one Arrival movie?  That one was about learning how to communicate with aliens … I think?  Crap, I don’t know if I have the time to do that. I also have no clue how to really even do all that stuff.  Well, I guess I can wing it … but I mean, if someone just showed up in my home, unannounced, and I looked like them … I’d flip the crap out.

Their emotions are more curious and concerned than angry, but that could change really quickly.  I can’t just keep hiding in here, though, and who knows what they’re doing—probably checking some kind of scanners or something?  Maybe … or what if they’re checking to make sure their … oh! Is this orange fog like their atmosphere? It was like that in Arrival.  They need this stuff to live? Maybe, and that’s why they’re seeing if there’s a malfunction in this area? This is so cool!

What if they have lasers or disintegration beams, and the like … yikes … that could be bad.  If an alien showed up in my room looking kind of scary … I’d shoot first, ask questions later.  They’ll eventually do something else to figure out what this random black spot is in their … is this a ship?  Snap … okay, can I breathe, good, okay, breathe, breathe, first contact is always important. I get to make first contact!  They seem super intelligent, too!

Her vision centered on the first alien’s claws as it danced around the hologram, catching three-ring like devices that she hadn’t noticed before, and her mind flashed back to tons of alien movies where they have crazy weapons.

Eh … maybe I shouldn’t.  I could be the moving black shadow walking around their ship.  They’re trying to figure out what I am, and I’m trying to figure out what they are.  That’s cool, too … no need to rush things. If I’m not hostile, then they shouldn’t be hostile either.  No need for crazy space weapons, too … let’s test the waters and look around.

She swallowed a bit of blood that had gathered in her mouth as her nerves acted up.

We’ll go down the opposite way and see what they do!  Time to explore an alien ship … if it’s a ship … man, this is awesome!  Kind of eerie, but cool.

Turning around, she carefully walked down the hall, glancing back to see the two aliens make more gestures toward each other before hurrying after her.  The hologram followed them along the wall as the creature continued to play with the symbols.

If I wasn’t a vampire, this would be so much scarier.

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