Heat furnished the landscape, barren of life, except for the few plants and animals. This year's summer was merciless, blistering the land with hellish heat and blighting the desert with such glare.
Such things were expected in this part of the Saharan desert, where there weren't many dunes, but the lack of shade did encourage the few insects and critters to stay indoors during the daytime; instead, they would rather wait for the earth to cool.
Save one boy lying on top of a ledge, trying to get what little shade from the rickety old tree next to him. The boy unwrapped the scarf around his face and wiped the sweat and dust on his forehead. A dark brown complexion with dark eyes and curly brown hair looked somberly and adjusted his military khaki pants damped with sweat.
Hellfire..when is my round ending!
A warm breeze ruffled his hair as his face tasted heaven for a bit. His sleepy but sharp-looking eyes trailed downwards towards the desert below from the hill he was entrenched upon and prayed that there wouldn't be a sandstorm today.
Grabbing the canteen, he shook it before taking a sip.
The young man thought about the dwindling rations back at his camp; the more significant issue was the water tank running low.
He hoped that supplies would reach soon before things got worse. Discipline was going awry, and fights occurred between the men; even some officers were involved.
Ironically the men who fought and bled together for several years were spooked. With time, the boy understood that the unknown will always do that to the best of men, test their conviction if not their guts, but he couldn't blame them.
After all, it had been a nerve-wracking week. The camp had lost communication with the outside world due to an unnatural storm that hit them recently. What was worse was the humming sound he recalled before the sky raged. It wasn't loud or irritating. It felt pretty soothing, and it happened that early morning before all hell went loose.
He recalled the sound, it had come from deep within the earth, or that's what it felt like. Weirdly enough, there were no tremors or earthquakes of any kind.
When it happened, all the men nestled inside the extensive cave system within the hill stopped whatever tasks they had been doing; looked at each other in wonder as if to ascertain reality. Nevertheless, they had all heard the same thing. Some even knelt to the ground and put their ears against the earth.
HUM HUM HUM HUM
The sound had a rhythm and they ran for an hour before suddenly stopping. That climax ended and the officers quickly met up. They decided to contact the other bases in breach of protocol to affirm their sanity. Thankfully all the other bases responded with the same answer. "Yes, there was a humming sound, and no, we don't know where it came from but underneath their feet," the communication officer bitterly responded.
The worst part was that the same communication officer on the other side of the satellite phone continued that the whole planet seemed to have heard that same hum regardless of their location. During that period, the animal kingdom went nuts.
Birds in the sky flew in large flocks, predators and prey alike, as if they were escaping something while all manners of critters burrowed into the earth. Pets attacked their owners and fled their homes. They ran the street in packs leaving their cities for the countryside, frightening their owners and city inhabitants.
Even within their cave network, the camels they had penned up broke free and ran off toward the cave's exit. They either ran or died trying, harming themselves and whoever breached their path. Shots echoed within the cave as some of the camels had to be put down by their upset handlers.
Later that day, Zef met one of the handlers who said between sniffs, "Even with broken bones Zef..even with broken bones, they tried running and those awful wails. Creator, save us! They were frightened out of their minds."
Zef sighed at that thought, looked over the horizon to keep his mind busy, and watched for any vehicle movement. Yet, he only saw the shimmering of sand appearing at the far end of his vision. He blinked several times on purpose when the wind died down and wrapped the scarf around his dark face.
With all his camp's dilemmas. The last thing he needed was to suffer from heat exhaustion. Thus he reluctantly changed his position and sat cross-legged for a better view on top of the ledge he was on. The shade provided by the half-destroyed tree was awry as he kept changing position following the sun's movement for most of the morning. He was surprised the tree wasn't whisked away already with its dangling broken branches.
Zef watched for any distant dust trails produced by vehicles traveling in this forsaken land. Yet, forsaken or not, it was the land of his people.
An hour passed as the midday sun rose, and there was no hint of any supply vehicles coming soon. sweat drenched his back, and he realized it was time to change sentries.
He felt something walking on his thigh and looked below him and saw a tiny scorpion maneuvering left and right towards his crotch. "Looking for shade, friend," he muttered. He unsheathed his ceremonial dagger from his belt and used the flat edge to swat the scorpion expertly toward a rock. The scorpion's tail rose in agitation, clearly not happy at the rough treatment, and dug itself under the rock, disappearing into the darkness.
"You're welcome," he snorted.
He returned to his task and looked at nothing, just dry, cracked earth and lots of sand.
We should have left too.
Then his thoughts took him back to the hum's aftermath. The memory was still vivid as the sun.
When the anomaly concluded and their camels ran off, the officers tried to bring things back to normal—doubling the sentries and increasing rations for the day to calm the men. It was a good plan but all for all naught.
When dusk came, loud sudden booms and cracks from outside the cave rattled the earth. The earth trembled a bit; rocks and stalactites fell from the cave's ceiling, injuring some men. Next, their night equipment suddenly malfunctioned as machines sizzled, bulbs blew, and the world went dark.
Many of the fighters ran blind, guns loaded as they shoved and pushed each other towards the cave's exits, only to halt; even those in the back stepped back and watched as a lightning show of unimaginable magnitude rained down on the earth from outside the cave.
Thunderous sounds cracked and boomed as they drew closer to the exit, which made their ears numb. Some supposedly sturdy men wet their pants. Never in their wild dreams had they imagined a day like this. The night sky was filled with azure and violet lightning. Bolts blasted the ground, and thunderous clouds clashed against each other like two fierce combatants. It felt like the sky was breaking apart.
Winds reached up to 75 miles per hour, and every sentient life that could walk or crawl died horribly, either blasted to ashes or carried away by the fierce wind to god knows where including the sentries situated outside the cave seen again.
In front of the pack, Zef recalled how the storm clouds had a dark red sinister hue expecting a shower of blood that would flood the earth.
Many of the men in front of him saw the spectacle and cried out in fear, dropped their weapons, and rushed back, shoving men aside to find shelter back in the cave, even at the risk of stalactites falling and crushing their bodies.
On the other hand, Zef crouched at the entrance and dug his fingers deep into the crevice until they bled. He watched as gales of wind rustled his cloak and almost pushed him back inside, blinking tears with every lightning stroke that cracked the earth. His ears bled slightly and turned numb with the accumulating booms of thunder.
He looked in awe at the sky and wondered if his enemies felt the same dread.
His scout leader, a sensible enough man, dragged Zef towards the back, where huddled men were stuck together at the safe corner in the cave. He then took Zefs scarf and wrapped it around his head, covering his eyes and ears, then did the same to himself with his own. Two hours later, the terrible storm ended, and finally, a tired and disheveled 16-year-old boy walked back to his bedroll deep in the cave and slept like a log.
At dawn, the men got up, except those unlucky with crushed heads from felled stalactites, while others only ended up with broken bones or bruises. Luckily the comm officer was alive and tried to contact the other bases and realized all their electronic appliances had stopped working, including the generator and satellite phones.
After hours of discussion, the officers met again and concluded that yesterday's storm probably unleashed an E.M.P that screwed up all the electronics. Their captain, frustrated, ordered the scout leader to take his squad, scout out the nearest village, and find a way to contact their superiors. That trip would take a week for the scouting team to reach there.
Since the vehicles weren't working and their camels ran off, they had to walk the rest of the way and needed enough supplies from the quartermaster to make the trip.
Even though it was a risky mission, it had to be done as information was critical to their survival. The captain then ordered Zef and his few remaining scouts to take sentry duty outside of their caves on top of the hills and watch for any movement type. Zef was happy he didn't have to bury the dead though he didn't mind scavenging for new shoes.
It had been a week since they last saw the scout team.
Finally tired, Zef was about to get up when his eyes picked up a dust train in the corner of his vision. He picked up his binoculars and hoped it was the scouting team with supplies. A few seconds passed, followed by a shiver running down his back, dropping the binoculars.
He scrunched his face, mumbling about the heat finally frying his mind. Again he picked up the binoculars and adjusted the dial for a better view. Another second passed before a gasp escaped his mouth; a gigantic dark being was running in his direction.
The horror was humongous. It had four legs or what seemed to be three, as one was missing. It looked like a praying mantis but was unreasonably huge, about the size of a truck. It also looked somewhat injured, with one broken antenna on its head and cracks along its coal-like skin. There was a grey liquid seeping from its wounds.
Yet what also astounded him were five enormous wolves chasing it. They were in a wedge formation. Their fur had an ashy red color. Each wolf had a large red horn on its forehead, and they were gaining speed.
Zef quickly hugged the earth for cover and watched the black Mantis rapidly run on three legs. Yet the wolves were relentless in their chase. Suddenly a fireball detonated the mantises' left hind leg, which quickly ignited, making it trip and slide, throwing dust and sand into the air.
When the dust settled, the Mantis was already in a defensive stance, raising its scythe-like forearms, which Zef hadn't seen earlier, facing the wolves head-on. The injured leg had charred marks and grey matter seeping from its joints. The wolves quickly surrounded it, except for the more enormous-looking wolf as it faced the mantis head-on. The leader, or the alpha wolf, had two horns on its forehead, and faint scars littered its body.
The wolves suddenly attacked. One side would unleash fireballs from its horns, while the other would quickly try to catch the Mantis's attention by drawing near it and biting down or clawing its rear legs. The Mantis, on the other hand, with the skill of an acrobat, dodged and swayed, trying to get close to the wolves, but the wolves themselves were dexterous.
They would jump back to their initial positions, wary of its scythe-like forearms and pincer-like legs. Roles kept switching as they bombarded the Mantis, waiting for it to tire out. Zef admired the wolves' intelligence. Their attacks were similar to his platoon's guerrilla tactics when attacking enemy convoys.
Thinking of the convoys, he realized he needed to alert the men. The hole a hundred yards behind him had a ladder that led back to the base within the cave, but curiosity got the better of him. Minutes quickly went by as the wolf pack lost one of its members. A mantis's leg pierced it through its head.
Regardless the relentless attacks by the wolves wore the Mantis down. Suddenly, the alpha wolf growled, and all four wolves rushed together and simultaneously attacked the tired monster bug.