Chapter 34: Chapter 34 : A LITTLE RETREAT IS NEEDED
The battlefield was quiet now. Too quiet.
Buzz lowered himself to the scorched soil, muscles trembling, body still leaking heat and blood. The air smelled of ash and ichor, a metallic tang that burned his mandibles when he breathed. Somewhere, a branch cracked, a leaf fell, but nothing dared move. The forest itself seemed to hold its breath.
Zza crawled beside him, silk hanging in frayed ropes from her claws. Her eyes scanned the ruins, but not for the newborn. Not yet. For a moment, she just let the silence press against them both. Her chest heaved in short, uneven bursts.
Buzz rested a claw on the ground, tasting the ash with the tip. Gold flecks shimmered in the dust, leftover essence from the Queen’s collapse. His jaw clenched. He could feel it pulsing through him—burning, sharp, a ghost of her presence that refused to leave.
"You feel it too," Zza said quietly, almost a whisper. She didn’t move closer, but her claws twitched, ready. "It’s... different now. Stronger. Smarter. Not her—but worse."
Buzz didn’t answer right away. He stared at the spot where the newborn had risen, where the gold glow had cut through the haze of death and ash. The thing had eyes that burned—not with hunger, not with rage—but with a precision that set his shell on edge. Calm. Calculated.
"I know," he finally rasped, voice rough, almost swallowed by the silence. "It doesn’t move like her. It doesn’t scream like her. But I can feel it. Like a shadow sliding under your skin... and waiting."
Zza’s silk twitched, a nervous tremor that mirrored the tension running along Buzz’s shell. "So what now?" Her tone carried no hope, only the raw edge of survival.
Buzz let out a hollow laugh, bitter and ragged. "Now? Now we figure out if we’re fast enough... or if we’re already too late." He flexed his claws, rubbing the gold streaks across the cracked surface of his shell. The burn was familiar and terrible. "That... thing... it’s going to learn from her. From everything we just did. And it’s going to make sure we feel every mistake."
The wind shifted, brushing ash across the battlefield, carrying the faintest shimmer of gold. Buzz’s mandibles twitched. He could almost hear it whispering, a calm, cold voice threading through his thoughts.
Zza pressed her forehead to his shoulder. "We don’t let it scare us," she said, though her voice betrayed a tremor. "Not yet. We survived her... we survive this."
Buzz grinned, teeth clicking against each other, but it didn’t reach his eyes. "Yeah," he said, voice low, almost a growl. "But surviving isn’t winning. Not yet."
The forest waited. The newborn waited. And Buzz—buzzing, burning, broken—felt the weight of what had just begun pressing against him like a tide of ice.
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Buzz pushed himself to his feet, gold streaks glinting across his shell like molten veins. Every muscle ached, every joint screamed—but he didn’t dare sit. Not while that... thing watched. The newborn hadn’t moved, hadn’t struck, but the air around it shimmered with a quiet, calculated threat. Waiting. Calculating. Patient.
Zza limped beside him, silk dangling like torn banners. She didn’t speak, just let her claws brush the dirt, testing it, listening. Every rustle, every faint crack of broken branches, made her body tense.
Buzz crouched, claws scraping the ash. He scanned the horizon. Trees still stood in jagged silence, but he could feel the weight of unseen eyes. The forest wasn’t empty—not yet. Not with the newborn prowling somewhere beyond sight.
"We move," he rasped, voice low. "Slow. Quiet. We don’t fight yet."
Zza nodded, tight-lipped, and fell into step beside him. They didn’t run. They didn’t make a sound. Each step was careful, deliberate, claws pressing into ash and dirt, leaving marks that would vanish before anyone could track them. The battlefield stretched behind them, still smoking, still alive with the memory of the Queen’s collapse.
Buzz’s mandibles clicked softly. "It’s learning from her... from everything. Every strike we made, every wound we left—it remembers. And it’s not stupid. Not like her."
Zza’s silk twitched across her forearm, a nervous reflex. "Then we don’t give it a fight it wants. We fall back. Survive. Plan."
Buzz’s grin was sharp, almost feral, but it didn’t reach his eyes. "Yeah. Plan. Survive. Maybe figure out how to turn that... calm little nightmare into something it doesn’t expect." He glanced over his shoulder, feeling the forest press down around them, the weight of unseen power brushing against his shell.
The farther they crawled, the more the battlefield changed beneath them. Gold flecks shimmered faintly in the dirt, lingering like warnings. Every broken wing, every charred segment of the Queen’s body, seemed to hum with memory.
Finally, Buzz crouched behind a fallen tree, chest heaving, gold streaks still burning along his shell. Zza pressed close, silk dangling, claws trembling but steady.
"We’ll need more than claws and silk for this," Buzz muttered, voice low. "Something bigger. Something smarter. That thing..." He let it trail off, letting the silence fill in the weight. "It’s not a Queen. It’s... something else."
Zza pressed her forehead to his shoulder again, tighter this time. "Then we survive, Buzz. That’s all we do for now. Retreat. Live. Learn."
Buzz nodded, letting his claws sink into the earth. The forest was quiet again, but he could feel it pulsing—watching, waiting.
And somewhere, just beyond sight, golden eyes followed. Patient. Cold. He could almost hear the calm voice threading through the air, promising that nothing would be simple ever again.
They moved. Slow. Silent. Wounded. Alive. But hunted.
The first step of retreat was never easy.
Buzz and Zza slipped through the forest, careful not to disturb a single twig. Every step left a mark in the ash, but they moved like shadows, bodies low, senses sharp. The world felt heavier now, weighed down with the memory of fire and gold, of the Queen’s collapse, of the newborn’s gaze that seemed to pierce even the deepest shadows.
Finally, Buzz spotted it—a shallow hollow between two ancient tree trunks, hidden by hanging moss and broken branches. The soil was soft, damp, untouched by the golden residue of the battlefield. He dropped into it with a soft grunt, Zza immediately curling beside him.
The hollow smelled of earth and decay, simple and grounding. The forest outside groaned under the weight of wind and ash, but here, the air was calm. Almost safe. Buzz flexed his claws in the dirt, gold streaks shimmering faintly, still pulsing with heat.
Zza pressed her silk against her claws, inspecting the damage. "We can’t stay long," she murmured. "It’ll find us. If it’s smart... it’ll know the battlefield isn’t the end."
Buzz leaned back against the tree trunk, mandibles scraping softly as he exhaled. "I know." His eyes drifted to the faint shimmer of gold across the leaves, the way light caught in broken branches. "It’s... different. Smarter. Patient. It doesn’t strike like her. It watches, learns, and waits. We can’t fight it head-on yet. Not like this."
Zza’s silk twitched, brushing across Buzz’s arm. "Then we survive. Breathe. Heal. Plan. That’s all we can do." Her eyes caught the faint trail of gold across the forest floor, and her claws twitched. "But it’s not just following us—it’s learning. And it won’t make a mistake like the Queen did."
Buzz’s grin was bitter, teeth clicking together. "No. It’ll make new ones. Ones we won’t see coming." He flexed his claws in the dirt, letting the burn of gold pulse through him, reminding him that the Queen’s essence hadn’t fully left. "We need time. And I don’t have much patience left for waiting."
Zza leaned her head against his shoulder. "Time is all we’ve got. And each second we survive, we learn more about it. Each second we retreat... we’re not losing. Not yet."
Buzz let the tension seep into his shell, into the hollow, letting the silence stretch between them. The forest groaned around them, alive, aware, and watching. Somewhere beyond the trees, golden eyes glimmered, patient, cold, calculating. They weren’t safe, not by far. But for this moment, they were alive.
And sometimes, alive was enough.