SWARM

Abduction

Chapter 9

The Raymond, Nathan, and David have made it to their deep marsh where they'll be hunting some ducks, and the truck's radio station ends with The Doors, and the song is Light My Fire. Raymond parks his vehicle at the side of the lake where it's full of cattails plants, and duckweeds with dragonflies and mayflies flying above them. Raymond deactivates the ignition, and all three get outside the pickup truck. The silence of where they are destined stands out the sounds of frogs and little fish making little ripple splash as they shy away. All three then looked at the landscape for a few moments, and Nathan took a big breath of air, then exhaled saying, "Aaah. I love the smell of home."

David looks around the lake as well, and he loves the atmosphere. "Country heaven finally, yeah your place looks awesome man," David complimented and also took a big breath. Then he sees an unusual marking on a tree, I thought it's a secret place? "Hey did you guys mark that?"

"Mark where?" Nathan ask.

"The tree next by you..." But the mark isn't there.

"Nah... I can't see it from here," Nathan went to David and asked him again, "what mark," he asks looking at the same tree.

"Ah never mind. I thought it was a mark." David said, what the heck?

Nathan snickers at the tree and goes back to the truck to help unload their gears, followed by David.

The coffee must have worked for Raymond, for not anymore in the mood for a short nap. "Will take a deer tomorrow. Will be here all day till it gets dark... then find a spot to camp," he says.

They get their boat off from the truck's bed and set it down to the edge of the lake. Then Nathan and David went on board, including all their needs like their red and white cooler; inside is a hip-flask water canteens, groundnut butter with sliced banana sandwiches, and the rest is a pack of hot dogs with several three feet long skewer sticks. The camping gear and essentials they'll be sharing are inside the truck, and it is set up as Raymond's camping backpack later tonight; a few caches are also buried hidden around his hunting grounds. After a few pushes further towards the lake, Raymond hops on board and cranks up their small boat's engine propeller to find their duck hunting position.

Nathan asks David, "I see you're wearing the pendant."

"Wendigo is really Uncle Sam David," Raymond said.

"Nathan said it looks pretty on me, man. The ducks will like it," David replies.

The guys have made it to the hunting spot; Raymond stops the boat and deactivates its engine. "Alright, California boys, start lookin' pretty."

Nathan and David then load their rifles; before leaving home, Nathan instructs a few lessons on using the shotgun to David, and he's been a quick learner. Now they are on a far side of a lake full of tall weeds, and they sit waiting for the ducks to appear in the sky while Raymond blows the duck call. It's been an hour so far, and it's just little fish under the shallow part of the lake and dragonflies that fly around that kept David and Nathan from being bored. Raymond is becoming a bit in patience, and he looks through his binocular, panning at the skies; then he blows the duck call some more.

"Where are the ducks?" asked David.

"I don't know, are you sure it's Spring Raymond?" Nathan ask.

Raymond looks through his binocular once again, "Where are the birds?" He wonders, as he pans around his binocular in the sky and sees not a single bird. "David I thought you told me you were pretty. What happened?"

Nathan laughs, and David smiles it off, looking at himself at the lake's reflection. Then focus deep down the water and see an albino rainbow trout swimming; like all the other fish, they shy away once they notice something alien is above them, making the surface of the water with slight ripples. David squinted his eyes and thought it was interesting to see the white fish. "Was that after the ripple or before, when the fish got scared away," he whispers, questioning himself.

"What is it," Nathan asks David.

"Ah, nothing... I thought I saw a white fish."

"Probably an albino trout... we should have brought some fishing poles instead," Nathan says.

"Well, you guys wanted ducks..." and Raymond mentions something else that might change the plan. "I got a buddy who lives nearby and has a couple of poles."

"What do you think David," Nathan asks.

"It's up to you man."

"Let's just stay... the ducks will probably show up anytime."

"Okay, let's give it thirty minutes... then we move to another spot," Raymond said.

"David here just forgot his lipstick," Nathan jokingly chuckles. Unaware, David's pendant sets about to glow, and the water below them begins to swirl; cattails plants move by the wind while mayflies fly around the boat along with dragonflies.

"What the—heck!?" David said. And his pendant around his neck glows even brighter and brighter—thunderous lightning sparks from the low clouds on top of them. Nathan and Raymond don't know what to make of what is happening. And they plan to jump off the boat.

"Let's get off the boat!" Raymond shouts. And they prepare to jump to the water below them, but the swirls get even wilder, "never-mind!" he yells again, and they hold on tightly to the boat. The clouds over them then start to pick up the vessel they're on, making it levitate; the water underneath swirls up, adding to raise their craft until reaching the small stormy dark clouds. The three guys can't do anything but hang on, looking up above towards the flickering dark clouds, and then it devours them, including what the boat they are on. The same stormy cloud then spits down the vessel as it fades away to silence, slowly circling as the water swirls down. Mayflies fly back to normal above the boat, and the plants move normally by the wind; no one is left inside the boat except a cooler and a binocular. The sounds of frogs and crickets replenish, then finally, a group of quacking ducks flies over the empty boat.

Raymond and Nathan have made it to another realm alive. And there is a swarm full of bugs flying around them the size and shape of a hockey puck; they try shunning away from the buzzing insects with their arms, only to stumble upon accidentally from stepping down obstacles on the ground. Nathan falls and sees human skeletons next to stone arrowheads and broken spears. Raymond stands up first, then helps Nathan up from the open grave ground.

"Where is David!?" Raymond yells.

A flash of thunderous lightning shoots away David to the ground; he got up from the field. "What the—heck!?" He wonders around gasping. The large bugs are all around David, but the bugs cannot touch him by two feet, making a gap between him and the swarm of bugs. David walks, and the gap follows him, he runs and the shape also follows him. Then David just kept running until passing Nathan and Raymond.

"David! We're right here!" Nathan shouts. But the buzzing bugs made David a def out of Nathan's call and kept running. Nathan and Raymond shout again at David, but David is unable to hear him.

"Whaaat the—heeck!" David screams while he swings the shotgun-rifle to scare away the swarm of insects and they dodges away then returns at him back to two feet apart from David. The frightened and confused David runs some more until he is remotely distant from his two friends.