Apocalyptic Rebirth: With a repairman system space, she rises again.

Her words were a lie, and she knew this. By the time they returned, the body would be buried under a pile of snow. She changed her mind as she made another realization. It would probably be carried off by something and munched on as dinner.

She could feel the other creatures in the forest, watching but afraid to attack them. They were probably afraid of the beetles. Or they were also wondering how the group was able to move about freely in such weather.

As they got closer to the colony, the snow muffled their steps yet to Sunshine it felt like the whole world could hear their breaths. Her mask fogged slightly, and she tugged back it back into place, eyes flicking towards Elio as he froze, hand raised.

"One meter," he whispered once again. "They have moved twenty inches since this morning and there are more in number." His eyes narrowed. "It gets worse, the watchers are already hiding in the trees and waiting. I guess we are the late arrivals to this slaughter fest."

The men's chests tightened.

"Fucking shit stirrers." Dwayne whispered. "It can't be good that they are here."

"How come we cannot see them, but he does...." One man was asking.

Hadrian hushed him. "You are not here to ask useless questions."

Thoughts swirled in Sunshine's mind. What are the watchers thinking? Why allow us this far undisturbed? Why not stop us sooner? The watchers had countless chances to attack them and yet, they let them be. What are they planning?

She did not have the answers to her questions and there was nothing to do but forge forward. It was the apocalypse. The reality was kill or be killed. Hiding was not an option, just a temporary measure.

Her voice came out steady, though inside it trembled. "We need the sonic disruptors planted at least a quarter a meter from where the bugs are."

Some of the men exchanged nervous gazes adjusting their grips on the heavy crates.

"We are close so we should move even more carefully now. Do not step even on anything that will make a sound. Not even a twig if possible."

They advanced, their movements even more cautious. When they reached what they deemed a safe distance, Sunshine signaled for the crates to be lowered. The men set them down with a reverence one gives explosives.

Sweat gathered under masks and a few even felt the urge to vomit. Those that had been to war thought this situation was even worse than war.

Wind rustled the leaves of a tree and many nervous eyes looked up. They noticed the claws first and saw a watcher. Not just in that tree but all the trees around, perched on branches high up.

Fear tripled like a stench that could not be washed off.

"We should shoot them before they attack us." A man hissed.

"No shooting!" Sunshine snapped, her voice as sharp as a whip. Her glare silenced the man instantly. "Turn back if you are afraid. If you get my people killed, I will come back from the dead and do things to you that are worse than what any watcher would."

The man backed away, turned around and started running.

"Idiot." Elio whispered. On his own, the man was just running to death.

Sunshine's chest burned as her gaze sought and found the watcher she was seeking: the pink one. Its glassy eyes were fixed on her. Its stare unblinking, invasive.

She could read the change in its body language. It wasn't simply watching anymore; it was daring her for some reason. What it was hoping to see, she had no clue.

Her stomach knotted. Why had pink piked interest in her? Had it marked her? Many predators were known for marking their prey or enemies. Mutant and mutated creatures had that habit the most.

She worried that they could be moving into a trap no matter how much they had prepared. Dwayne was right to call it a slaughter fest.

She forced herself to turn away and face the others. Her voice was low as she said, "Form groups of five. There are fifteen disruptors, carrying them was the difficult part. Now comes an even more difficult one. Dig shallow holes, plant a disruptor and pour hardening glue that I gave you on the ground so that it stands. Then, move to the next one, planting it where the first one stops. We are building a fence around the ants. Do not waste even a second. We must be done in just fifteen minutes."

The men obeyed and got to work immediately. Some dug the holes with careful strokes, others handled the disruptors, lowering them into place. Not even one person made a grunt of effort.

The watchers watched for a while, not moving. If anything, they were bored. Some tilted their heads with lazy disinterest. Pink neither blinked, nor shifted her eyes from Sunshine.

Sunshine was waving her hands, lifting snowflakes around them, using it as a cover while fooling the beetles into thinking that it was just wind picking up. "Almost there, only three left." She said in a low voice.

Hadrian encouraged the men once in a while. "Faster boys, we need to finish this before....." his words trailed off for he caught something at the corner of his eye.

The Pink watcher was shifting. Slowly, unnervingly, it swayed from side to side like it had run out of patience.

Sunshine's heart slammed. She locked her gaze on it, sweat rolled down her neck. Every instinct told her they were out of time even though they still had two disruptors to plant.

Then, Pink paused. She opened her mouth and raised her head.

"She is smiling." Elio hissed.

"Not good." Dwayne shouted.

Pink screamed.

The sound split the silence of the forest as if waking the dead. The team covered their ears, reeling in pain. Blood trickled out of a few ears.

The sound was not merely a call; it was a command. The beetles raised their heads in unison, then moved. The ground vibrated faintly as the beetles stirred, and the colony awakened.

"Fuck!" Sheldon whispered, he had been standing, doing mostly nothing except recording what was happening.

The beetles noticed them and then went into self-defense mode.

"Carson!" Sunshine shouted.

The man was already on the move, the moment he heard the shriek, he pressed the activation control for the devices which Sunshine had given him and the disruptors thrummed to life.

A hum built into a piercing vibration the sound pressed into their bones, rattling their teeth. Five men that were about to plant a disruptor jolted like they had been struck by lightning.

There was no time to check on them as the beetles had erupted into chaos, running to the only place without vibrations. Sunshine was building an ice wall to keep them inside the vibration area, on a mission to trap them.

The beetles were squealing, trying to expel gas from their butts to torch the intruders but their bodies betrayed them. The blasts backfired, ruptured their insides, they exploded.

Each time a beetle exploded, the stinking green gunk splashed, landing on the snow.

Elio and other men that were quick with their hands were shooting the largest beetles which showed signs of surviving the vibration force.

The watchers took the battle in with more interest, focusing on the disruptors and Sunshine's ice wall.

The battle looked like it was going in the favor of the humans until Tommy noticed some beetle trying to burrow into the ground.