章 97: So I sliced her Neck-ter...

Afton Karl's brief introduction of the Chem "Necter" the duo began systematically killing the Giant Ants. Two or three bullets to their heads would usually put them down, though some were tougher than others.

The soldier ants were generally around three to four times the size of the workers, but weren't as numerous. Their thicker carapace proved annoying to Afton as his weapons were just barely able to pierce it... Not to mention he only had so much ammo, he if had to waste four bullets just to put one down he'd run out eventually.

Fortunately, the dust-storm had allowed him to get close enough to the Giant Ants as to allow one bullet to finish them off. They'd killed almost two hundred when the winds started slowing, soon enough the storm had ended and they found themselves surrounded by a many Giant Ant corpses... All of which began to release a... Musky? Smell.

Karls pupils contract at the scent as he quickly looks to Afton, "Shit, the Pheromones!" he shouts, running towards a nearby billboard just as Giant Ants begin swarming the area, clacking their mandibles at their fallen allies.

Afton quickly follows the man as he scales up the side of the billboard. They hold themselves up by their thighs and look down at the Ants who're wandering around looking for whoever was responsible.

"They use vibrations in the ground to sense prey, their eyesight is dog-shit so we should be safe up here... I doubt they'd be able to climb up this anyway." he says.

Afton nods, the billboard was basically a steel frame with an aluminium backboard, making it impossible to climb up the back or front without slipping off... The sides were the right side for the duo to clamber up though.

[John Wick Style is in effect]

And so they begin firing their weapons yet again. Due to the distance, they were forced to use more ammunition than before, but they should have enough to clean this lot up.

An hour passes and they'd just killed the three-hundredth ant... By this time the Ants had used their pea-brains to put two and two together and fled into their burrow to avoid losing any more of their number.

Karl groans as he slides down the billboard, "Looks like we'll have to do this the old fashion way." he mutters.

"Any idea on how to get them outta their burrow?" Afton asks as they'd never be able to clear the roads if the ants could just flee like this.

Karl slowly nods with a grin, "I do... Let's go find the burrow entrance shall we?" he says as he begins walking into the dry-lake, his .44 Revolver ready in his hand in-case the ants try to ambush them.

They looked around the large empty crater that had apparently used to contain water, and eventually found a large mound with a large hole at the top of it. Karl explained that the ants still required oxygen, and thus this main entrance was connected to all other branching tunnels. Afton was about to ask how they'd deal with it when the man pulled out the plasma grenade he'd bought earlier.

Karl grins, "Your smart kid, think what happens when gas rapidly expands and replace that with plasma... Yeah, once I drop it inside we'll need to run."

Afton pales slightly and nods, plasma grenades had a huge explosion radius when compared to other explosives. If it happened underground then he couldn't imagine the amount of dirty that'd be displaced...

Karl signals a countdown and drops the plasma grenade into the mound at zero, immediately breaking into a sprint away from the mound, Afton doesn't hesitate and quickly follows, mentally counting down the time til the explosion in his head.

*BOOOOOM!*

The ground beneath them shakes as a huge amount of sand is thrown into the air, bits and pieces of the unfortunate ants that'd gotten too close to the grenade started falling from the sky as well.

Even after the initial explosion, the rumbling of the ground didn't stop. The underground tunnels made by the ants seemed to be collapsing all at once. The made that was the entrance had already caved in itself, blocking off all oxygen to the creatures.

The two eventually reached the highway and took a breather, admiring the carnage they'd caused... Bits and pieces of ants had flown quite far from the mound, and the large number of corpses still collecting dust made it look like an ant-graveyard.

"Think that did it?" Afton questions but can hear the trademark sound of sand being disturbed...

*Crash!*

A huge figure pulls outself out of the ground... It was ten times the size of a warrior ant and had almost comically small wings attached to its back. Its abdomen appeared to be incredibly swollen, and judging by the engorged oriface at its back, it'd been laying eggs. This, was the Ant Queen.

Karl takes his Stenton off briefly to wipe the sweat from his face, "Shit, never thought the Queen would survive the burrow crashing down on top of it..." he mutters.

Afton gives the man a sideways glance, "What? You scared or something?"

Karl just puts his hat back on and shakes his head, "Scared? No. Just surprised is all. Let's kill this thing and bring its head back to the Outpost, that'll be proof enough I think."

Afton nods and dual-wields Lucky and his other .357 Revolver, it was good that he did because the large concentration of Pheromones from the many dead ants seemed to have forced the queen int a frenzy.

It dashes to a nearby warrior ant and tears its corpse apart with its mandibles, afterwards turning its attention to the duo who were watching in morbid fascination. Once it moves a single leg in their direction Karl opens fire, unloading his .44 Revolver at its head.