Chapter 4 - War.
He opened his eyes just enough to see out and waited for the Health child to turn away. When she finally did he rolled off the bed and ran from the small area. His eyes shot open and he gasped in agony. He slammed out of the spiders globe and found himself in unfamiliar territory.
Turning in confusion he looked around the room. They had moved the colony, Now they were somewhere completely different. He walked forward and jumped as something touched his shoulders. He flipped around and found himself face to face with the Health child.
"Human child You should rest." It said as it examined his leg.
"My friends are being attacked, By your Nest children." He paused as he looked into two of the Health childs eyes. "I need to be there to help them."
"Your Nest group is in trouble?" She asked, "You must help your Nest group." She turned away and started off. "My Name is Ruby, I will take you to your Nest group."
"Thank you Ruby, I am indebted." She stopped suddenly, Before turning to face him,
"No!" She spat through her Mandibles. "My Nest child starts this, I help to end it."
They walked through a dark corridor and turned off into a brighter room. He shivered as a breeze passed over his leg. He looked at Ruby questioningly, when she stopped in the middle of the room.
"Patience Human child, just wait." She turned back the way they had come and hissed a word he didn't know. Instantly the floor began to shake, and the ground sighed a little portion of the ground growing up.
He widened his stance and held out his hands for balance as the platform ascended into the air. The ceiling above them opened up casting a small ray of light down onto the platform. He gaped in astonishment as they came right below a pool of water.
"This is right below the main fountain!" Ruby looked over and seemed bemused as she watched him admire the placement of the elevator.
"Help your Nest group."
His small group crashed through one side of the wheat farms, and crashed out the other side into a maelstrom of blood and screams. His small group held up makeshift wooden swords and charged into battle mowing down several of the rebellious army.
"Nest rebels! Come to me!" He yelled out. The fighting humans fell back into the residential buildings during the quick respite.
"Nest rebels, We are here to face death. If we return to our Nest, then our Nest groups will mow us down themselves, or they will hand us to the blood thirsty Warrior children." Several of his group unburdened their backs of the makeshift swords and tossed them out into the mob of writhing spiders.
They turned in unison and marched on the residential areas. The doors opened and Achilles blanked as he saw the flash of TNT. "DUCK!" The first row dropped to the ground as the TNT missiles rocketed over them and smashed into the second row. The screams echoed over the blast and the humans slid the doors shut to block out the blast.
The rows of spiders flew up, flashing red and screaming as they died. He felt the blast waves wash over him and watched as it blew the wheat from its plots. He turned back and screamed in defiance.
"Attack while they repair their cannons!" He singled out a group of his favored Age mates with his mandibles, "Go around and smash through the windows!"
The small group scuttled away as the rest of the army stormed the front of the residential complex once more. The doors didn't pop open, instead the spiders at the front were bathed in lava. They screamed as they ran away rolling in their comrades blood, and searching for water.
Windows smashed and arrows flew from the darkened building, bestowing curses on the spiders. One that had finally doused the flames on his body by rolling on the bloody ground, combusted into flames once more. Another fell as green drops exploded from the arrow embedded in his skin and seared into his flesh.
Still more fell just from the normal arrows, an enormity of which were flooding the air. A few spiders had evaded the archers and the lava, and were now beating down the glass doors. As they finally smashed through the glass, Iron doors slammed shut, relieving several appendages from the spiders.
Finally the out poor of arrows slowed, and the iron doors eased open. Two cut and bloodied spiders remained of the original seven of the group.
"They are hiding in iron safe rooms." the first one coughed out in obvious pain. The second leaned against the wall.
"We can't get to them, they have the ability to blow this globe sky high from in there. They use some sort of wireless tech, so we can't even cut their power." Achilles waded through the dead bodies and raised his torso in a salute to the two spiders.
"You have done well, Nest rebels." He turned back and faced the surviving army. "We have failed. Our deaths are assured." He lifted his front appendages skyward, "Look around us." The group looked around and fell closer together as they found a large army of Warrior children had surrounded them.
"Tally Deaths!" The War leader called out as he breached the front line. After a moment a group of the warrior children stepped forward and began scouring the bodies. They noted positions, and numerated them as they walked through the field of corpses.
He shook himself off as he climbed out of the pool and glanced back down into its murky depths. Shaking his head he walked away, and started jogging towards the residential center. He ran up the path and threaded through the farms. He turned a corner and found the ground covered in wheat and dirt. He blinked in surprise as his eyes traveled upwards following the path of destruction.
His eyes widened in shock as he caught sight of the Warrior children scouring blood and corpse laden ground in front of the residential area. He blanked as one of the Warrior children glanced up and pegged him.
"Human watcher!" It shrilled to the others. Andrew dropped to his knees and waved his hands over his head.
"Human friend! Know Nest leader! Human friend!" He felt the spiders probing at his mind and he dropped his gates. "Human friend."
"Human friend," one of them murmured. "War leader! Human friend!"
The familiar large spider walked over and raised his torso till he was looking him in the eyes.
"So far we have found no human remains. Humans incumbent warlike nature prevailed in this fight. Only the Nest rebels died."
The large spider dropped his torso and turned away. A slightly luminescent patch of liquid falling from its face. "Noone died?"
A Warrior child turned towards him.
"All of the Nest rebels died." Andrew nodded and ran down towards the Residential area.
Achilles rolled his head and gasped as his ducts freed up and dropped hissing acid down over his eyes. He blinked and looked around. The remainder of his army was bound with unbreakable solvent around him. He turned around and rolled his head forward as his ducts freed up again. The acid dropped down onto his bounds and dissolved his bonds.
He looked around in disbelief. Had it been that easy? He rolled to the lower edge of his body and clutched at the ground as he righted himself. None of his army stirred. He crept across the floor picking his path around his dormant army.
He forced his way through the side wall and blindly made his way towards his bent. After several moments, he slid into the warm and dimly lit vent. Along the side of the room there were several gliders. He breathed out as the gliders lifted up into the air and flew around the room. He chuckled as one flew down and grabbed a leftover bone. It flew up and dropped it on his head.
Light lit the room outside and he dropped backwards, the gliders moving ahead of him. He heard human voices echoing as the room got brighter. A shout of exclamation echoed as they moved closer.
"We found them! They're sleeping!" Angry screams echoed out and the clash of metal on carapace cracked into the air.
He ran out into the open, his gliders lighting up the air ahead of him. A human looked over from the butcher and called out.
"Hey, ones awake!" A group ran out and chased after him. His glider angled towards a wall that he remembered being thin and the first one flashed white before it blew a hole in the wall. He jumped out the hole and fell for a couple of seconds before the gliders caught his appendages and lowered him down towards the ground.
After what seemed like an eternity his gliders set him down on a soft patch of grass. Then tucked up around his front appendages. He unsquinted his eyes and watched as a group of spiders faded into view and surrounded him. They picked him up and he faded into the darkness as they carried him away.