… … … … … …
As the sun rose, the works of nature stood out more. There were open fields alongside the narrow creek of running water that lay below the hills. Beyond the forest trees, you could hear the communication of many living species. The bees’ nests hung from trees, burrows of prairie dogs scattered about, and holes in the ground had been tunneled by night crawlers, earthworms, and daredevils. Bloodthirsty mosquitos patrolled the area. Ant beds were everywhere. The smallest ant bed within the field was the Fire Lodge, ruled by Queen Lovely, built up and constructed by brown dirt, which couldn’t hold up to much of the bad weather that came year round. Therefore, the worker ants had to constantly rebuild and restructure throughout the year. Though there were warriors that dwelled within the Fire Lodge, it only had an army of 50,000 soldiers. The other surrounding beds had between 20,000 and 1,000,000 ants. The Mountain Top was the biggest ant bed ever built on these grounds, and it was built with the Hidden Red Dirt that only the colony of Mountain Top ants had sought out and discovered. The Hidden Red Dirt made their ant bed stand firm during the heaviest rain that fell. The Mountain Top was ruled by a queen the size of six ants… Queen Pincher.
Queen Lovely had a heart of dirt (belonging to all), while Queen Pincher had a heart of fire (danger to even herself). Queen Lovely had under her command Ant Big Dirt, who was over the workers, and General Red-Rum who was over the foot soldiers and flying soldiers. Ant Eggy was over the inside ants. The workers maintained the structure of the domain, keeping the ant bed upright and traveling out to bring back the kills and supplies of the foot/flying soldier ants. The foot/flying soldier ants patrolled the grounds across their territory, fought off threats to protect the colony, and hunted for food so everyone, especially the queen, could keep their bellies full. The inside ants fed the queen. They made sure all tunnels inside the ant bed stayed clear. They also took care of the eggs and young. Even mated with the queen.
There were three particular ants, Ray, Cash, and Red, who always wandered off from Queen Lovely’s colony, curious to see what was within the field, among the grass and beyond the perimeter of the Fire Lodge. The other two looked up to Cash, so he would always lead the way, in whatever direction they travelled. “Man, hurry up,” Cash said as they snuck away from the ant bed, dodging the soldier ants that stood guard. As they made it to the field of daisy flowers that separated the Fire Lodge territory from the Mountain Top, they all hid behind the stems of flowers. Peeking from around them, they tried to detect any unusual movement before running off into the flower field. There was none, so off they went.
Cash led the group, walking with his chest out. “I’m going to be the greatest soldier ant ever!” he yelled. Ray and Red laughed as they told him that he was far too small to work as a soldier for the queen. “That’s where y’all wrong at,” said Cash. “My bite is fierce, like that of a bee sting.”
“So is mines,” said Ray. “But it isn’t about your bite. It’s about making wise decisions and leading those who follow you in the right direction.”
“You two follow me,” said Cash. “So it must be something I’m doing right.”
“We follow you because we family,” Red said. “The queen said that two minds are always better than one.”
Out of nowhere, sounds of forceful wind were heard above them. Zoom… zoom… zoom… Red and Ray quickly scurried to take cover. Red dug into the dirt to get beneath a rock. Ray scurried into the grass to hide. After Cash ducked, he shook his head at the fear of Red and Ray.
“Calm down, you two,” said Cash. “They’re only Bumble Bees. They’re just collecting food from the flowers, as they do daily. I watch them all the time.”
“Woo,” Red exhaled. “I thought we were under attack or something.”
“Seriously?” Ray asked. “Man you know I got your back. I would’ve started swinging and biting, like I was the head of our army!” Ray shouted, while performing his techniques.
“Whatever. Let’s go,” Cash said. “And by the way… grass doesn’t fight back.”
Ray stopped in his tracks a split second, looking at the smirk on Cash’s face before continuing his pace. “Where are we headed to?” asked Ray. “It’s very dangerous out here in the wilderness by ourselves, you know. This could get us all in serious trouble.”
“Fear not!” Cash yelled out. “There are plenty of grounds for us to cover, and I want to see what else there is to be seen.”
“Wouldn’t we need an army to cross over others’ territories?” Red asked.
“NO!” Cash quickly responded.
“We are an army ourselves.” Red said. While standing with his chest out, head upright, and continuously clamping his pinchers together.
“Don’t be a fool of yourself,” Ray blurted out. “There are many creatures roaming these areas, which are threats.”
“Okay, okay, okay,” Cash said. “Maybe you’re right, Ray. But I want to prove that I’m a soldier.”
“That would only prove that you are disobedient, crazy, and selfish,” said Ray.
“How am I selfish?” asked Cash.
“Because, you’re not thinking of me and Red’s well-being. You’re only thinking of proving something to yourself. Which may cause trouble, injuries, or even death.”
“Okay, you know what?” asked Cash. “How about you two go ahead and walk back to the Fire Lodge. I’ll continue this journey by myself.”
“No,” said Red. “We would never leave you out here by yourself. If you stay, I’m staying.”
Ray clashed his pinchers together a couple times before responding. “Forget it, let’s just get this over with. But if we get in trouble for this… it’s going to be you and me, one on one.”
“If it was to come to punishment, it wouldn’t be no WE,” said Cash. “I would take full responsibility for our actions.”
Nothing else was said by anyone after that. They continued their journey. The sun was beaming high temperatures as they came out of the daisy field. Crowds of gnats hovered above them as they walked on top of the shoots of mature grass so that they could see the full view of their surroundings and the direction of their traveling. The sound of running water from the creek got louder and louder as they got closer to it. Fields of grass stretched as long as football fields on either side of the creek.
“HOLD IT RIGHT THERE,” a voice yelled from below them. The loud and unexpected voice startled the three ants. The rasping of Red hanging from the blade of grass made Cash scurry quickly to clinch onto Red to stop him from falling. “Oh no!” Ray thought to himself. From the top of three different blades of grass, the three ants froze at the sight below. It was as still as the sun.
