An angry ant reacted to our assault, charging.
But blasting back was one of us, brandishing a bazooka.
Crystalline chert chipped and crumbled.
Down drained dirty ooze from the wound.
Eventually, every enraged ant engaged us.
For four fiery hours, we fought.
Gruesome golden gobs of hardened fluids filled the battlefield.
How hope holds the lost to act.
Inside, inches into the hold, we battled towards.
Jumping, just jutting our limbs behind in a reckless backward dive, we fell.
Kinetic killers knew neither friend nor foe, but they would often stick around.
Long laser lances were just as ruthless without any of the same pleasantries.
More mad, marching bugs flooded the horizon.
Not now, no.
Outside, our options were grim.
Plentiful potential permeated the stone halls behind.
Quiet quests quenched our fear with curiosity.
Round rocks rolled down, blocking the door.
Slick shaped stones filled dim the corridors we began to stalk.
Two tunnels took too much stress from above.
Unluckily, under unimaginable weight, two-thirds of us perished in an instant.
Valiant volunteers vetted us through to safety, at the expense of their own lives.
Wherever we went, we had to survive.
Xenoliths x-rayed xenon radicals into us as we walked further into the black.
Young youths, yet all of us were doomed in the dark.
Zealots zoomed, zoning in on us, a tasty meal on their way home to their queen.
18 October 2018
