This is the first part of a short horror story I wrote recently. Hope you enjoy!
She always wondered how the ants stripped the gristle from the bone. Were the mandibles so razor sharp that they cleaved through flesh? Their disproportionate strength let their jaws tear through muscle and fat? Or was it the total devotion of a singular mission, the power of an entire colony’s focus, need, and hunger, embodied in each as it was in all, slowly whittling down the connective tissue until tiny, grey-red chunks could be pulled off and carried away, marched back to the unseen nest?
She watched the black mass of bodies crawl over the remains of the chicken wings, reanimated by the mob as they marched up and down the oily checkerboard boat from 7-11, and wondered how long it had been there. Was it from last night? She rubbed her eyes and imagined a workplace safety sign flipping over somewhere: “it has been 0 days since Marissa had a fatal hangover”.
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