Kiara ran with the other medical ants as they gathered in the hospital and were handed packs of emergency supplies.
"Everybody topside now! A grassfire has broken out!" Dr. Flora was saying over a megaphone. "Our other departments are working to get the blaze under control, but there are ants up there who need our help! Hurry!"
Kiara shouldered her pack and sprinted single-file with her group up the tunnels to the exit, passing other groups and fearful ants trying to take shelter. At the top, the area nearest the anthill was safe, but just beyond it thin columns of smoke rose. A faint heat rolled onto them with the breeze.
For a human it would've been easy to stamp such a small fire out, but the ants had formed lines reaching from the edge of the fire to the river, passing small buckets hand to hand.
The circus troupe were helping as well, the flying insects among them taking buckets and soaring above to upend their contents. From the thick of the fire, other rescue ants were leading or carrying the injured from the site of the disaster, giving them directions, or having them lay down a safe distance from the fire before administering aid.
Mr. Soil stood on a rock above the others with his own megaphone. "There are still workers caught in the area where the fire started! Not everyone has been accounted for yet! Be safe, but please do your best to find those ants and get them out of there! East quadrant has been confirmed for being clear, it's the West quadrant that we have to search for possible survivors who still need help."
Each group soon formed their own lines, one group entering the disaster zone at a time as another exited.
"Remember your training, stick together, and watch out for each other!" Mr. Soil continued.
Kiara took a deep breath as her own group took its place at the front, ready to run in. As a relatively inexperienced trainee, she knew she wouldn't be expected to do much except provide support to the others. The fire shifted and darted like an orange snake in the grass.
When the ants in front of her started moving, it took Kiara a moment to remember why she was there and follow. Her group avoided the hottest parts of the fire as it navigated an invisible path, a basic circuit. She dragged her arm across her forehead, sweat shining.
"Over there!" the group's leader pointed to where an ant sat huddled under a leaf, looking around with wide eyes at the fire around her. "Stay close behind me!" Reaching the straggler meant leaving the somewhat safer path they'd been forging. Kiara stepped lightly from foot to foot. Around that bend of grass, over a stick, and then…
Kiara gasped sharply as she jumped back, a piece of burning grass falling from above. It landed gently in front of her, but she reeled and retreated from the new source of heat.
When she looked up and was able to squint through the flames, the rest of her group had already collected the injured ant, and were hurriedly evacuating through the closest safe path. Away from Kiara.
"Crud," she whispered.