A short story by O.J. Richards
30 June 2024
The bulky, shining Hercules Beetle wasn’t moving, and young Simon was growing impatient.
“Why isn’t it doing anything?” He moaned before impatiently rapping on the glass where it was stationed. His father quickly pulled his hand away.
“Simon, stop!” his father ordered, “This is a museum. Behave yourself, please.”
Simon moved his face closer to further examine the static Beetle in its small glass cage. They were in the insectarium in the New York’s Museum of Nature & Science. It was a modern, spacious building filled with light and boasting three stories and displaying hundreds of glass cages filled with live insects such as Beetles, Grasshoppers, Spiders and Scorpions and many others. It was a sophisticated arrangement, with each glass cage being a mini-ecosystem that was temperature-controlled and designed around the insect’s preferred habitat. Children just like Simon were pressing their noses up against the glass to try and catch a glimpse of a hairy Tarantula or an giant Centipede do something vaguely terrifying. But the creatures’ that were not hidden entirely remained mostly still, only occasionally adjusting their limbs to the delight of onlookers.
Simon, however, was vastly unimpressed with the Beetle he was stuck with and let out a loud groan of boredom.
“I thought it was going to move around and do something...interesting.” He sighed.
“It will,” His father said, “But just like people there are times of day for activity, and other times for resting.”
“I want to see bugs that, like, kill stuff!” Simon said, and his father let out a laugh.
“I’m not sure Beetles are actually carnivorous,” His father said, “But, over here I think might interest you?”
His father pointed over to an area which segregated into a dark hallway labelled ANT HALL. This hallway was darker than the rest of the insectarium, but far more interesting. The entire hallway was designed to house a giant ant colony. There were multiple glass cages, all connected, leading in every direction, even the ceiling. The ants had a water area, a leaf-cutting station filled with foliage. There were glass tunnels and tubes for them to travel in and at the end of the room there were huge glass cylinders where the main nest was. There was no part of this colony that was not filled with ants. Simon thought there must be millions of them, and a huge smile grew on his face.
“Wow!” He said, and immediately went up to one of the many glass containers and gawped inside at rows and rows of red ants, like big red dots, marching like soldiers. His father was reading one of the information boards nearby.
“These are Red Fire Ants, “His father said, “Some of the deadliest in the world.”
“They’re so cool!” Simon exclaimed loudly and his eyes lit up in excitement and he dashed over to a different section to observe them closer. He and his father slowly moved around the different areas of the hall and came to a stop at the area with the huge glass cylinders were, the nucleus of the colony. There were dozens of these cylinders, all interconnected by see-through pipes. The cylinders were filled with soil and fungus where the ants had carved out a home for the queen and her eggs. Looking at the cylinders at the bottom, Simon noticed that ants were crawling on top of one another, piles and piles of ants were folded on top of each other, and appeared in a frenzy, as if burrowing down into something. It seemed strange, but Simon knew so little about ants that he didn’t think anything of it. He held the safety bar in front of him and against the white painted shine of the bar he saw an ant, just one. Its hulking, blood-red body marching swiftly on the bar in front him. Simon took his hands off the bar and the ant marched by. Simon followed it with his eyes, its tiny stick legs moving in perfect rhythm as it scurried over and under the bar. It kept disappearing under the bar and Simon crouched down to look at it and followed where it went.
“What are you doing?” Simon’s father asked.
“One’s got out.’ Simon said. His dad looked over and seemed a little surprised.
“An ant?” his father said.
“Yeah, look!” Simon pointed to the red ant as it emerged on top of the bar. It appeared to move quickly and change direction often. Simon’s father leaned in closer to take a closer look.
“So there this. How'd he escape?” His father chuckled.
“Dad, there’s another one.” Simon said.
“Where?” His dad asked.
“On you.”
Simon pointed directly to his dad, who looked confused for a second before crying ‘Ow!’ and gave the side of his neck a massive slap. He looked at his hand and there was a red ant squashed into his palm.
Suddenly, a loud voice yelled on the other side of the room, like a yelp of panic, which was quickly followed by another, and another.
There was a sudden increase in activity as people in the Ant Hall began crying out and screaming loudly. Simon and his dad looked around them before jumping back in a fright. It appeared, almost out of nowhere, that ants were crawling on the outside of the glass and on the floor in front of them. Simon could even see a few of them on his clothes and he immediately began slapping his legs and kicking his ankles
“Go, quick!” His dad shouted as he grabbed Simon by his collar and began pulling him away. He too was quickly being overwhelmed by the ants crawling up his trouser legs.
There was an almighty scream, and someone was already in the floor. An older gentleman, dressed in smart tweed, was on the floor thrashing around wildly and screaming loudly. He begged for help. Simon could see the large red dots crawling all over his body, and the more he looked the more he appeared to see. In a matter of two or three seconds the man’s body was hardly visible as he was consumed by the red ants. Ants appeared to be going into his mouth and eyes and the man helplessly scratched his face and clawed at his skin. He attempted to tear off his clothes and the woman nearby him, presumably his wife, was thrashing at him wildly trying to remove the ants before they began overwhelming her as well. She too was bought to her knees and was trying in vain to protect her face. Nearby, a small girl was screaming ‘Grandma!’ as she was being hauled into her mother’s arms and carried away. The two elders were hastily abandoned and left to helplessly flail around as the ants continued to cover them.
Simon didn’t know how he and his father got out unscathed. He could feel a few bites on his legs, but at least he was alive. Simon could barely walk at the speed he was being dragged by his father, but looking back he could see a great wave of red chasing them. Just like the elder couple, other visitors were being caught in the wave and begun to be consumed by the large red dots. They clutched their faces and fell to their knees while letting out gargling screams of horror.
The security alarm had been activated now and there was a terrible ringing echoing around them. The only sound loud enough to match the volume of the alarm was the screaming of people from inside the Ant Hall. Simon’s father was racing toward a large exit doorway at the other end of the Insectarium. Simon saw the other insect cages being covered by the red ants, including the Hercules Beetle he was looking at a short while ago. Security guards were ushering people through in their dozens and there was a mad rush of people funnelling through. The security guard next to the door noticed the red wave of ants and reached up to hit a giant button and the thick, steel security door began to descend. It descended slowly so people still managed to get through, but the panic was desperate now and people shoved and pushed each other in order to get out.
The red wave was mere meters from them, and Simon had now been picked up by his father and was racing for the security door. The door was near the bottom now and Simon saw that they were not going to make it. There was not enough space.
“Dad!” He cried.
As Simon’s father reached the door, he flipped Simon around in his arms and dropped to his knees before quickly shoving Simon through the remaining inches of space. Simon and his father had a millisecond of eye contact before the security door closed. Before Simon could fully grasp what was happening, the door had shut and he could hear some short gasps followed by loud, agonising screams. The security guard attempted to grab Simon and get him away from the door, but Simon wrestled out of his grasp and listened in horror until the screams stopped.
“Kid, we gotta go before they get under the door!” The security guard begged.
Simon ears were ringing, and he barely acknowledged the screeching security alarm above him. The red lights were still flashing and the guard was still pulling at his arm. But he still just stood there staring the door with his father on the other side.
With tears in his eyes, he finally gave in and allowed the guard to drag him away. Still gazing at the door he saw an ant, just one, its hulking blood-red body swiftly marching up the front of the steel door in front of him.
The End.
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