Scarlet Moth

On board the truck driven by one of the tin soldiers, we entered the Zone. The sensation of change upon entering is almost indescribable, it is as if something was wrong and that something is absolutely everything, from the earth to the plants and not to mention the animals, here is practically another planet and we are invading it and this planet is going to defend itself.

Yet remnants of what was once a prosperous city remained, houses, cars, even parks somehow withstood not only the passing of the years, but the "Flash" and the horrors it eventually brought.

But our target was on the outside of the Zone, at least according to the data the Scout relayed to us.

"Hopefully the fucking Scout gets it right this time, last time I almost lost my arm dealing with the fucking Fangs, and all because the Scout didn't deign to walk another forty yards" ranted Dave, for once I also agreed with he.

The last hunt was for a rare artifact called eternal cold flame, it only appears in a specific sector that is practically next to the sector that we call "the meat grinder" because of the creatures that exist there, although it was not long that We were there, it was long enough for some of its pleasant inhabitants to appear to us, a pack of Fangs, beings that were once stray dogs or coyotes, turned into hairless monsters, completely blind and toothy, many teeth in their jaws similar to rows a sharks toothed, with aberrant teeth beginning to protrude from the snout, they communicate similar to bats using clicks to locate their prey. And they are a pain in the butt to get rid of. In the end, in that extraction, Dave received terrible scratches on his arm and I had a deep injury in the back of the thigh. I still haven't recovered well from that moment, I feel slow and I hope that this doesn't work against us in this entry.

Ah, almost forgot Atlas came out intact last time, sometimes I feel quite useless compared to the old man, the pack of fangs almost struck us down but for Atlas it was like a walk in the park and I'm sure Dave shares the same feeling. It still doesn't justify his attempts to fight for any reason, but oh well.

"Shut up Dave, in my day we didn't have Scouts even when Lemuria decided to sell Artifacts. So for once stop complaining and use your damn instincts for once," Atlas scolded.

"Yes, sir" Dave said, it was clear that he wanted to argue with Atlas but arguing with someone who spent so much time in the Zone and survived doesn't make sense, it was the best option.

Someday I'm going to work up the courage to ask him why a veteran of his decided to team up with nobodys like Dave and me. That will be later, now the truck has stopped, at the edge of the end of the safe part, our signal to start our work.

We say goodbye to the soldier who will be waiting in the truck for the moment of extraction. That's why we don't make fun of them so much, because your ass can be saved by them at the last moment, so the Strike Force doesn't have to come in. We lose a huge bonus payment when we have to be rescued, that's why you always respect your logistics soldier.

With our boots on the arid land on the outskirts we set off, according to the Scout's data, the target is approximately 10 clicks away from the safe zone. No anomalous fields were reported on the trail at the time of triangulation. Creatures ectopic to the biome were also not found, which is good news. Unfortunately, the "common" classification of red gum is because it can be found scattered in the outskirts. But since we need at least 4 units (4 liters or 1 gallon) of it, we're going to have to do some dirty work.

According to what the Lemuria Tech research department told us, the red gum is produced by a creature known as the Scarlet Moth, but it only produces it when it ingests the eggs of its own species. What a common event in the horrible world of insects. The gum is secreted about 4 hours after ingestion, usually while it is flying for food.

Since nothing can be harmless in this cursed place, Scarlet Moths are naturally carnivorous and range in size from 1 to 2 meters tall and a wingspan of at least 7 meters horizontally.

They are fast for their size and their main offensive mechanism is to catch the prey with their serrated legs and apply a poison that turns the inside of its victim into its juice that the insect then consumes.

The Scout reported a lonely nest, near a dilapidated suburb. Again, good news because trust me we don't want to deal with more than one of those things at the same time.

About 4 clicks on the way Atlas ordered us:

"Ok Rat Boys, the client expects the Artifact to be 2 days, so that means we have to extract that shit before the sun goes down in 12 hours from now, understand?" He asked to reinsure.

"But sir, we have 2 whole days to extract why don't we take more time?" I exclaimed in confusion.

"Ah fuckin hell, I forgot that you were only in short extractions with us and in your previous team." Said Atlas taking his head with his hands

"Oh well, let's hope your nickname doesn't affect us today, because from what I see we're going to have to do some extra work" Dave said as he looked through his binoculars.

"Why do you say that Dave." Asked Atlas puzzled.

"The damn moth is alone." Dave said as he passed the binoculars to Atlas.

"Shit". Atlas grumbled.

"Wasn't the fewer moths the better?" I asked for it.

"Yes and no" Dave said.

"These moths live in pairs, when one goes hunting the other stays to take care of the nest and the one that stays to take care of the nest would never eat its own eggs." Dave explained

"It probably had a fight with his partner defending the eggs and killed the other." Added Atlas.

The plan had changed, usually the procedure to get the red rubber is simple:

1. Wait for one to leave the nest.

2. Throw the pesticide grenade into the nest, eliminating the nest guard.

3. With no one to protect the nest, upon arrival the other moth begins to feed on the eggs.

4. Finally, incapacitate the creature by shooting mainly at the wings before it takes flight, for the required 4 hours and extract its contents before 30 minutes pass, after 30 minutes out of containment the material becomes useless.

But since the defender is the one that remained, she was going to be more aggressive and a simple pesticide grenade was not going to be enough to bring her down, we also had to find a way for her to eat what she is defending.

For these things we are the Rat boys I suppose. We achieve our goal with few resources and are usually at a disadvantage. I think Atlas is amused by the thrill of the hunt.

Dave so far up his own ass so he wouldn't say anything that painted him as weak.

Me, I'm terrified, I've already been to several extractions but many at my beginning nothing happened that put me in potential danger and in the last one I was before joining the Rat boys, my entire team was massacred by a low priority creature.

2 clicks in, I could already visualize the moth cave. And at that moment I saw it take flight.

You know, when they tell you the description of a monster whether it's fictional or real. One feels a certain degree of indifference. But when I see an insect the size of a helicopter through the binoculars.

You realize how small one really is in this world.

Continues...