60
It had been a little while since Trace had initially shown up on Doug's front door. Since then he had almost become one of the family. He had adjusted well to this life. At first, he treated their requests like taking orders from a superior. Always coming to attention at the slightest demand.
Over time Trace had learned how to treat others more like equals. It was a bit of an odd feeling. Even in his squadron days, Trace had always been a superior officer or a subordinate. The whole idea of being on the same level as someone was still new to him. However, Trace did find that his personality was more geared toward same rank interactions.
Doug and Clover had been slowly preparing Trace to go out in search of his colony. Trace always felt nagging guilt during those times. He still did not have the courage to tell Doug the truth about how he was not truly a lost ant. Trace had no idea what Doug would think of him after discovering the truth.
So Trace went along with it, what else could he do? Telling Doug the truth would be an immense break of trust and Trace's biggest fear was letting Doug down. He couldn't bear the thought of making a permanent rift between them. Doug was his first real friend and though Trace enjoyed Clover's company it just wasn't the same.
Even as Trace was thinking these thoughts, Clover was making preparations for his leave. He wanted to tell them everything, but what if they made him leave anyway? This made Trace feel more depressed than ever and he resigned himself to the fact that he was leaving no matter what. It was just best to leave them without betraying their trust.
.
.
.
Everything happened so quickly, the goodbyes, the promises to return in the future. Trace didn't truly come back to his senses until he was halfway down the fence post with his pack of nectar-covered sun-dried leaf pieces. By the time he had made it to the ground, regret hit him like a raindrop, hard, fast, and cold. There was nothing he could do to change it now.
Trace had decided from the very beginning that if he left Doug's place he would head for the humans' shelter. He had heard from sugar ants that there were lots to be had there. It wasn't like he could stay in the garden, not without staying away for quite some time anyway. The locals would ask too many questions.
A plan was already forming in Trace's mind as he walked. He would cross the garden, take a rarely used ant tunnel to go underneath the Rocky Desert, and reach the humans' shelter by nightfall. He was unsure of what he would do after that. But it didn't matter, he'd figure it out when he got there.
.
.
.
The trek to the humans' shelter had been uneventful and rather boring, much to Trace's disappointment. Humans' on the other hand were never boring though, and he had heard that many species of insects secretly lived in their shelters. After snacking on a small nectar-covered leaf piece, Trace proceeded to climb up to a cracked window and crawl through it.
He landed on cold slick stone and nearly fell into a nice big puddle next to it. Walking on the surface was like walking on ice and he nearly fell over the edge multiple times. Thankfully he soon found a stick angled against the surface he was walking on and was able to climb down it. Trace found it quite odd that it had grass attached to the end of it.
The ground below was not as slick and had seams that ran in straight lines. Finally, Trace made it around a corner and found something very familiar looking ahead of him. It looked similar to grass but wasn't. Its texture was completely different and none of it looked edible.
Trace wandered around aimlessly, he had all night to figure out where to hide for the day. It was very tempting to hide behind a table leg and catch a nice nap. He took stalk of his surroundings first though. There was a big rectangle that left a crack underneath it, there was a table beside it. Trace also noticed that there was a dent in the wall where the table leg stood.
It was just big enough for him and very protected. Trace couldn't help but try the spot and found it very comfy. He decided to take a short rest there unsure of when he would be able to catch another. This was foreign territory, he needed to scope it out, but a little rest wouldn't hurt anything. Trace's antennae kept drifting down, closer and closer to his face until they were completely still.
.
.
.
When Trace woke up he was unsure of how much time had passed and had to peek out of his little crevice and look at the window. He was shocked to find out that it was moon high. Trace incredulously thought to himself how that was probably the longest nap he had ever had in his life! It did help that he hadn't been able to catch a nap all day.
Trace stretched and pulled his pack together. It had taken him a while just to learn how to sleep for the last few hours of the night. Only queen ants slept for long periods and even those lasted only 6 minutes. Trace took on some worker ant habits and was used to only taking 1-minute naps. He hadn't run on a day-night cycle and instead took 250 of those 1-minute naps over the course of 24 hours.
Things were different now and Trace had to force himself to adjust to the new sleep schedule. The fact that some insects slept at night was still a revolutionary concept to him and he wasn't sure if he would ever adjust.
Trace took a moment to take in his surroundings and was glad he did. Not far away from the door was a spider two of them actually. The one closest to him was a male jumping spider about his size. In a fight, Trace would have won easily. The other spider, however, was at least three times his size in the abdomen, and Trace's only chance would have been if his squad was backing him.
Choosing between fighting and keeping cover, Trace thought that keeping cover was the most logical solution. He couldn't take on two opponents and even if the jumping spider had been on Trace's side it looked rather defenseless. The bigger spider laughed and Trace noticed a look of fearful recognition in the smaller spider's eyes. Anger bubbled up in Trace, the spider furthest away from him was the resident bully and Trace couldn't stand bullies.
The thing that angered Trace the most was that even if he was added to the equation he would be of no help. The jumping spider raced under the crack in the door with the larger spider hot in pursuit. With the two spiders out of the way, Trace decided to head for the top floor. He'd heard most insects lived there.
.
.
.
After making his way into the attic, Trace walked straight into a spider's web. He'd always hatted the webs spiders wove, they were practically invisible and very sticky. At least the spider wasn't home yet. Trace struggled, which only got him more entangled. Frustrated, he tried to cut himself loose, which only got his jaws stuck to the web.
Trace jumped as an unfamiliar voice cried with horror. He could hear it fretting as it freed him. Trace was surprised once more as he recognized it was the jumping spider from earlier. The poor spider told Trace his name was Greg and incessantly fretted over him until Trace forced him to stop. He was fine and would just have to take some me time to get all the sticky off.
Greg stared at Trace a little while longer like he didn't really believe Trace was okay, before going up into his web. Trace on the other hand retreated to a corner behind Greg's web to start cleaning himself off. Trace decided that Greg wasn't too bad, after all, he had freed Trace and managed to get himself out of quite a pickle. It was final, Trace was going to stick around for a bit.
Hope you enjoyed the story, and have a nice day! :D
Over time Trace had learned how to treat others more like equals. It was a bit of an odd feeling. Even in his squadron days, Trace had always been a superior officer or a subordinate. The whole idea of being on the same level as someone was still new to him. However, Trace did find that his personality was more geared toward same rank interactions.
Doug and Clover had been slowly preparing Trace to go out in search of his colony. Trace always felt nagging guilt during those times. He still did not have the courage to tell Doug the truth about how he was not truly a lost ant. Trace had no idea what Doug would think of him after discovering the truth.
So Trace went along with it, what else could he do? Telling Doug the truth would be an immense break of trust and Trace's biggest fear was letting Doug down. He couldn't bear the thought of making a permanent rift between them. Doug was his first real friend and though Trace enjoyed Clover's company it just wasn't the same.
Even as Trace was thinking these thoughts, Clover was making preparations for his leave. He wanted to tell them everything, but what if they made him leave anyway? This made Trace feel more depressed than ever and he resigned himself to the fact that he was leaving no matter what. It was just best to leave them without betraying their trust.
.
.
.
Everything happened so quickly, the goodbyes, the promises to return in the future. Trace didn't truly come back to his senses until he was halfway down the fence post with his pack of nectar-covered sun-dried leaf pieces. By the time he had made it to the ground, regret hit him like a raindrop, hard, fast, and cold. There was nothing he could do to change it now.
Trace had decided from the very beginning that if he left Doug's place he would head for the humans' shelter. He had heard from sugar ants that there were lots to be had there. It wasn't like he could stay in the garden, not without staying away for quite some time anyway. The locals would ask too many questions.
A plan was already forming in Trace's mind as he walked. He would cross the garden, take a rarely used ant tunnel to go underneath the Rocky Desert, and reach the humans' shelter by nightfall. He was unsure of what he would do after that. But it didn't matter, he'd figure it out when he got there.
.
.
.
The trek to the humans' shelter had been uneventful and rather boring, much to Trace's disappointment. Humans' on the other hand were never boring though, and he had heard that many species of insects secretly lived in their shelters. After snacking on a small nectar-covered leaf piece, Trace proceeded to climb up to a cracked window and crawl through it.
He landed on cold slick stone and nearly fell into a nice big puddle next to it. Walking on the surface was like walking on ice and he nearly fell over the edge multiple times. Thankfully he soon found a stick angled against the surface he was walking on and was able to climb down it. Trace found it quite odd that it had grass attached to the end of it.
The ground below was not as slick and had seams that ran in straight lines. Finally, Trace made it around a corner and found something very familiar looking ahead of him. It looked similar to grass but wasn't. Its texture was completely different and none of it looked edible.
Trace wandered around aimlessly, he had all night to figure out where to hide for the day. It was very tempting to hide behind a table leg and catch a nice nap. He took stalk of his surroundings first though. There was a big rectangle that left a crack underneath it, there was a table beside it. Trace also noticed that there was a dent in the wall where the table leg stood.
It was just big enough for him and very protected. Trace couldn't help but try the spot and found it very comfy. He decided to take a short rest there unsure of when he would be able to catch another. This was foreign territory, he needed to scope it out, but a little rest wouldn't hurt anything. Trace's antennae kept drifting down, closer and closer to his face until they were completely still.
.
.
.
When Trace woke up he was unsure of how much time had passed and had to peek out of his little crevice and look at the window. He was shocked to find out that it was moon high. Trace incredulously thought to himself how that was probably the longest nap he had ever had in his life! It did help that he hadn't been able to catch a nap all day.
Trace stretched and pulled his pack together. It had taken him a while just to learn how to sleep for the last few hours of the night. Only queen ants slept for long periods and even those lasted only 6 minutes. Trace took on some worker ant habits and was used to only taking 1-minute naps. He hadn't run on a day-night cycle and instead took 250 of those 1-minute naps over the course of 24 hours.
Things were different now and Trace had to force himself to adjust to the new sleep schedule. The fact that some insects slept at night was still a revolutionary concept to him and he wasn't sure if he would ever adjust.
Trace took a moment to take in his surroundings and was glad he did. Not far away from the door was a spider two of them actually. The one closest to him was a male jumping spider about his size. In a fight, Trace would have won easily. The other spider, however, was at least three times his size in the abdomen, and Trace's only chance would have been if his squad was backing him.
Choosing between fighting and keeping cover, Trace thought that keeping cover was the most logical solution. He couldn't take on two opponents and even if the jumping spider had been on Trace's side it looked rather defenseless. The bigger spider laughed and Trace noticed a look of fearful recognition in the smaller spider's eyes. Anger bubbled up in Trace, the spider furthest away from him was the resident bully and Trace couldn't stand bullies.
The thing that angered Trace the most was that even if he was added to the equation he would be of no help. The jumping spider raced under the crack in the door with the larger spider hot in pursuit. With the two spiders out of the way, Trace decided to head for the top floor. He'd heard most insects lived there.
.
.
.
After making his way into the attic, Trace walked straight into a spider's web. He'd always hatted the webs spiders wove, they were practically invisible and very sticky. At least the spider wasn't home yet. Trace struggled, which only got him more entangled. Frustrated, he tried to cut himself loose, which only got his jaws stuck to the web.
Trace jumped as an unfamiliar voice cried with horror. He could hear it fretting as it freed him. Trace was surprised once more as he recognized it was the jumping spider from earlier. The poor spider told Trace his name was Greg and incessantly fretted over him until Trace forced him to stop. He was fine and would just have to take some me time to get all the sticky off.
Greg stared at Trace a little while longer like he didn't really believe Trace was okay, before going up into his web. Trace on the other hand retreated to a corner behind Greg's web to start cleaning himself off. Trace decided that Greg wasn't too bad, after all, he had freed Trace and managed to get himself out of quite a pickle. It was final, Trace was going to stick around for a bit.
Hope you enjoyed the story, and have a nice day! :D
| Tags |
5473433
6
mega7
MMGplays
Ravn
OrderWithoutBorders
kingthebest888
IGEBM
Cornbread_Alphanumeric
ThatOneIdiotNamedGhoul
IcedPenguin9808ALT
Skugi_Graffiti
Deryn1
Create an account or sign in to comment.
I can think of nothing nice to say, I'm sorry I'm so tired...