Bodies were scattered across the synthetic grass field. They were arranged in tight rows, and ants were walking back and forth among the corpses. Thousands of human corpses with unnaturally bulging bellies. More piles of cadavers could be seen on the sides of the field, many with limbs torn off and decomposing. Those that were piled up became food for the ants.
Elijah felt his stomach churn, so he squatted down and spit out his intestines.
It was horrible and disgusting.
Isaac came crawling over and looked worriedly at Elijah.
"Is it bad out there?" he asked.
Elijah nodded weakly. "Terrible."
Curious, Isaac stood up and peered through the crack, then hurried down when he saw it. The young man was silent, saying nothing, just staring blankly at Elijah, who was sitting limply after vomiting.
"What have they done with the bodies?" Isaac's eyes were filled with horror.
Elijah only gave a weak shake of his head.
"Before, when you were in Orb, was it like this?"
"I only saw the bodies piled up and partially eaten. They weren't lined up like this."
Both were silent for a moment. They did not know what to do after that. Their minds were completely stuck.
"We better get out of here," Isaac whispered.
"You're right."
[Warning]
Suddenly, the voice rang in Elijah's ears, as did the screen that suddenly appeared before his eyes. Elijah jumped to his feet, grabbed the jerrycan, and became more alert. Peering over the wall at the narrow corridor they had come from, he heard the echo of a clucking sound.
"Damn, there's ants."
Isaac snorted. "What are we going to do?"
"Let's find another way," Elijah said and took off running.
Knowing there was danger, Isaac nodded quickly and followed Elijah to the other side of the road. From behind them came the sound of scuffling, as if the ants realized there were people under the stands. The ants were chasing the two young men.
"They must smell vomit," Isaac hissed.
"Focus!" snapped Elijah, annoyed.
[Warning]
From the direction of the path ahead, Elijah heard another scuffle. The young man stopped running. They were stuck. Elijah jerked his head up to look at the steel bars that held up the seats in the bleachers. There was no way he could use his strength and break through to the top, the only way was to break through the wall. But behind the wall, there were many ants guarding the field.
The clucking sounds came closer.
Elijah closed his eyes and opened his palms.
"No, Eli!" Isaac howled.
The wall in front of them collapsed like snow, opening a gap for them to get out. Elijah pulled up the ground on either side to block the ants' path into the corridor under the stands.
"I thought you were going to blow up the wall with fire and gasoline in jerricans," Isaac said.
"And risk us getting toasted? Don't be stupid, Isaac."
"Okay, Master of the Elements."
They went out into the field to prepare for the ants' attack. The ants immediately noticed the two young men at the edge of the field. They ran furiously to attack. One of Elijah's hands grabbed Isaac's collar from behind, then darted up into the stands.
Isaac coughed from a few seconds of choking. "Eli! You asshole!"
"We'll take them from up here."
Elijah created a wall of ice to hold back the dozens of ants while Isaac threw fireballs, incinerating every ant he hit. Elijah was confident they could take out the ants, as many had already died from their attacks.
Suddenly, Elijah saw the bulging bellies of the corpses burst.
Ants the size of an adult cat emerged. The tiny ants were furiously devouring the hosts in which they had hatched.
"Shit!" Elijah shouted.
Even though they were cat-sized, if there were thousands of them, Isaac and Elijah would have died there. They had to get out, both of them, because it was impossible to fight a swarm of ants.
"Distract them, run as fast as you can and find a way out!" shouted Elijah.
"What?"
Elijah opened the jerrycan lid. "Hurry!"
"What are you going to do?"
"Burn the little ants!"
"Are you crazy, Eli?"
"Just do it!"
"You bastard!"
Elijah hurried down from the bleachers and took out the ice so he could skate easily. Meanwhile, Isaac ran in the other direction, trying to distract some of the ants from chasing him.
Elijah focused his mind to make the jerry can float and move toward the field. A stream of gasoline came out of the canister's mouth, wetting the corpses being eaten by the little ants. Some of the little ants noticed that there was a figure running around the field. Their little antennae swayed, then moved quickly toward Elijah.
As soon as the gasoline ran out, Elijah immediately turned his attention to finding Isaac.
Isaac had trouble running over the chairs while throwing fireball attacks. Since Isaac's strength is limited, he can't attack the ants to the fullest. Meanwhile, Elijah was quite far from Isaac, and it was impossible to use the power of telekinesis to pull Isaac's body.
Elijah pulled out a fireball and aimed it at the bodies, where the flames instantly crept up and grew. He ran around the field, trying to get closer to Isaac. Behind the chasing ants, small ants came from the side to pounce on Elijah.
Elijah's hand sent a burst of fire to the side as he continued to run. He knew that using telekinesis would drain him of a lot of energy. He might pass out without being able to get out safely.
In the opposite direction, Isaac had lost a lot of energy. While his attacks didn't do much, the ants kept coming. The young man lost his balance while running on a chair and fell.
Isaac didn't stop firing fire from his palms, but the ants were almost surrounded. In the meantime, Elijah ran as fast as he could to reach Isaac's position.
The ants were closing in on Isaac, ready to tear at the young man's flesh...
A bolt of lightning from the roof of the grandstand struck the ants pressing on Isaac.
In an instant, the ants were roasted. Attack after attack came from above as Isaac moved backward. Once Isaac was on his feet, he unleashed his fire attack on the remaining ants chasing him in the stands.
Elijah jumped into the bleachers and ran over to Isaac. Down below, the fire had consumed most of the bodies along with the little ants.
Isaac nodded, then pointed to the roof of the stands. Someone was waving at them in the air ducts.
"Can you help me? I can't get down!" she yelled. A young woman screamed.
"Just jump!" Elijah shouted back.
"What?" The young woman's voice sounded uncertain.
Elijah waved his hand. "Jump! I'll catch you!"
From up there, a girl in a Deformity uniform with short black hair jumped. Elijah used his telekinetic powers to make her land safely.
"What about them?" asked Isaac.
For small ants began to move across the field while the fire had not completely consumed it.
Elijah ran to the entrance and exit to the stands. "Close the stadium exit, quickly!"