“The hell’s with the weather?” someone complains. “So windy all of a sudden.”

“I can’t wait to get the fuck out of here and throw out all the baggage.”

“Baggage?” His companion turns his head around, stares at the three frightened gatherers and the one white-collar researcher in the far back corner of the car, zoned out with a notebook in his hands. “Ah yeah, these cocksuckers. Unit 1’s gonna pick ‘em up and we’ll and go our merry, separate ways.”

“Unit 1, eh? Isn’t that the unit led by what’s-his-face, that Asian colonel? Tall, sexy, the face that all the ladies like, probably has a huge co—"

“You’ve got guts,” the other person chortles. “If Sergeant Adams hears you talk like that, you’d be a dead man.”

“What’s the matter with a little compliment? He’s gonna kill me ‘cuz I find that colonel better looking?” The man snorts. “Just ‘cuz Adams and he aren’t on good terms doesn’t mean I can’t think he’s a good-looking fucker. The motherfucking stud of a man—”

“The fuck, man? Are you gay?”

“Didn’t hear you complaining when you were sleeping with that male omega last month.”

“—Shut up you idiots,” a soldier rolls down a window and peers his head out. He sees that their second vehicle is foggy on their tail. “Someone tell Adams to hurry up, tuck his dick back in and drive faster.”

“Close the windows, you—”

A powerful gust of wind smashes against the alloy door, causing a mini earthquake inside. The passengers are taken aback as they hold their balance. There’s no amount of rain or hail that would lead to this heavy of an impact – they don’t get to ponder on it because when the soldier looks below the windowpane, he opens his mouth to shout coarsely.

“O-Oh shit!” He throws himself back inside, but not before a pack of crimson-winged insects latch onto his face, wildly biting on his skin and sucking his blood. The man screams, brings his hands to madly scratch at his face, and turns around in a frenzy, seeking help. “Flies! They’re on my face, a-ah—help me!”

Horror flashes into his companion’s eyes. The first person to take action was the driver, Luther, who grabs the rifle by the front compartment and shoots the soldier critically in the head. The 641^st Unit immediately spring into action. Despite how disgraceful and vile they are, they are still soldiers who’ve experienced the dread of the battlefield countless times.

Someone quickly grabs the still-standing corpse and lunges it outside the window. Another person reaches over to close the opening. Everything happened in less than five seconds. The gatherers and the researcher, still in delayed shock, couldn’t breathe at all.

“Drive, drive, drive!”

“Come on! Get outta here!”

“Turn off the lights!”

Orders are barked out one after another. The vehicle turns completely dark but no less hectic – everyone in here is tense and the rookies are extra panicked, latching onto any surface they can find. The female gatherer brandishes her knife and starts to scream uncontrollably.

In the darkness, a small bug-eyed creature whizzes past her face. No one but her had noticed yet. During the earlier chaos, a few of them had gotten inside the vehicle, squeezing through the gap of the window, the small crack by the door latch. The pitch darkness makes it even more foreboding. She knows they’re in here and the gatherers, the soldiers, the researcher – they’re all prey.

She ducks, screams again, and covers her ears.

“Shut the fuck up!” the man next to her barks. “Can’t fucking think straight ‘cuz of you!”

“N-No!” She reaches out and frantically unlatches the door bolt, hoping to escape.

“What is wrong with you, bitch?!” The man to her right restrains her back. “I’m going to put a bullet into your head, you—”

“They’re inside! They’re inside!” She scrambles to the front compartment and madly pushes all the buttons on the cockpit. The gatherer is in hysterics, hurling herself at the steering wheel, blindly turning the gears, pushing the doors unlocked. “Let me out! A-Ah, let me out!”

“You little—” The man suddenly stops mid-yell and then begins to scratch the back of his neck, slowly at first, but then his fingernails start to dig into his reddened skin. The realization hasn’t dawned in him yet. “H-Huh… My neck is itching…”

---

The truck ahead of them spins three rotations, crashes brutally into spruce tree, rolls and flips over to the side. Sergeant Adams is sitting manspread on the backseat when he hears the harsh collision outside.

“The fuck’s going on?” he asks gruffly. The woman kneeling in front of him pauses in her movements and slurs out something incoherent. The effect goes straight to his nether region and he readily grabs her hair, sinking her mouth downward. “None of your concern, filthy slut. Continue what you were doing and do it well.”

“Yo Adams,” another man is holding her from behind, his eyes crazed and his forehead dripping sweat. “Think something’s happened with the rest of ‘em?”

“What? Found a hot chick on the road?”

“—Adams!” The driver gets closer to the scene and looks slightly appalled. “N-Not a chick, but a pack of butterflies.”

“…Butterflies?” The man looks angry at being interrupted. “Are you serious? Those cocksuckers got into a car crash because of some insects?”

“No… take a look.”

The freckle-faced man turns his head slightly. His eyes widen and then, jolted by both shock and surprise, he instantly finishes inside her. He has half a mind to pull himself out and stagger backward limply. “What in the world…”

The young omega woman is burning through the last of her heat. She’s slightly more conscious now and she tilts upward, her hazy eyes scrunched to see Adams looking slightly panicked.

In front of them, the swarm of black insects is so massive it looks like a black cloud. The analogy is not much off – the insects condense like water vapor, piling up into grotesque, cancer-like blobs. The driver wasn’t thinking when he turns on the headlights, directly shining it onto the pack.

The three soldiers see their companions crawling out of the overturned vehicle. They’re struggling with the weight on top of them, but before they make it out, the butterflies swoop right towards them, consuming them flesh and all.

The men outside are yelling and shouting, all of them running off into different directions. Gunshots are going off as well – they’re not shooting at the insects, but at each other, trying to contain the infection.

Then the ringlets dive toward them.

“We can’t move!” the driver shouts loudly. “There are too many! Fuck! What the fuck should we do?”

There are enough of them to even move the heavy, three-ton car, and the men feel themselves being lifted off the ground. The ringlets come in hoards and packs from all directions now – it’s truly terrifying how quickly they multiply.

The young woman is unaware of the chaos. She’s too drugged and post-heat high to know what’s happening and so she continues to wrap her hands around Adams, pleasuring him like she was ordered to.

“You horny slut!” Adams pulls her and roughly throws her against the door. “Don’t you know the situation? I’ll toss you out the fucking door!”

“N-No… I’m…” She starts sobbing, overwhelmed by his anger. “No, please… I didn’t mean to… I only wanted to help…”

Adams pauses, stares at her naked body covered with fluids, and says slowly, “You want to help? Then…”

The sergeant smiles cruelly and gets up from his seat. He doesn’t hesitate when he grabs her, unlocks the door, and throws her out.

The woman widens her eyes in horror and then begins to scream uncontrollably. She drags her abused body to the car, desperately crawls forward and tries to pull the latch open. It’s too late – the door is locked again. The insects around the vehicle all turn their sights onto her, the new fresh prey, too weak to run or hide.

She’s still screaming and crying when the vehicle rolls away, leaving her soon-to-be deformed body on the ground.