With all the excitement about #TheLastOfUs I was a little disappointed to see they had used Cordyceps as the cause of the demise of humankind. Having never played any of the games or even looked at the story, there were some similarities to my early draft of book 8 #ArthursTale.
Set in the world of The Word Spider, it follows General Arthur Artilius from books 4 & 5, as he wanders the wasteland, without a colony to lead or a queen to serve, an Ant all alone in the world.
Book 8 is planned for release later this year, but for those interested in the idea, below is a small excerpt from the story, as Arthur comes across his first Cordycep infect creature.
Let me know what you think in the comments. (please keep in mind this is an early draft)
Arthur was now alone, no colony, no hive mind, he was truly alone, the first time in his life, and it hurt.
After the loss of his colony he had fled, running as far as he could go, no longer thinking about the safety of the colony or the Queen, but now all he had to worry about was his own safety, his own life.
The surrounding land changed, unlike the vast valley the colony had followed for as long as he could remember, the lands along the plateau were poisoned and barren. Life was pretty much non-existent. Everywhere he looked there were signs that insects had been here before him, but now all that remained were the ruins of houses, the odd tool left abandoned by its owners, Arthur hated to admit it, but he was scared.
He was out of food, and clean water was running low, if he didn’t find refuge soon, he would perish. The moon rose into the star filed sky, casting its silvery light across the land. Deep shadows lie around him, dark and full of hidden secrets. His mind played tricks, without the calming influence of the queen or even his troops, he started to fear unseen monsters and beasts.
“Aghhh” He screamed, waking from a broken sleep. Somehow, he had drifted off, but for how long he wasn’t sure. The sky was still lit by the silvery moon, his campfire was nothing more than dying embers.
Movement in the shadows caught his attention, “who’s there?” he called.
The shadows shifted again.
“Hello.”
Still no answer.
Without his sword he felt, venerable and weak, grabbing the remains of a burning twig, from the fire. He held it out towards the shadows.
“Come out slowly,” Arthur instructed the unseen creature.
Still no reply.
Arthur stepped forward; branch held aloft In front of him.
“This is your last chance.” Waving the burning stick side to side, whatever was in the shadows was hidden from him.
Then it pounced…
It’s face drawn and emotionless, where the eyes should have been just empty sockets, one of its mandibles was broken and oozed puss. Arthur swung the branch, catching the creature across its face. Swinging again and again, the creature took each blow and continued its advance on Arthur.
Rolling to one side, he jabbed with the stick at the creature’s side, the burning stick pierced the skin of the beast with ease, catching Arthur off guard, the stick continued in, and Arthur found himself tumbling towards the dried flaky skin of the monster.
What was this thing, pulling at the stick, Arthur found it to be stuck, he pulled again and again, but somehow the stick remained embedded in the beast’s side. As he gave it one more pull the skin tore, opening up the cavity inside, there to Arthurs amazement was an almost empty void.
The creature turned on Arthur, its movements slow and deliberate. How was this possible? Arthur looked for another weapon, anything to slow the beast’s advance.
Suddenly, strange tentacles broke through the hole he punctured into the creature’s side.
“What in tarnations,” Arthur looked on in shock.
Grabbing a handful of embers, the coals burned him, and pain shot up his arm, right now though he was out of options.
Throwing the embers at the creature, he watched on as the dried skin caught fire, the strange tentacles spasmed and jolted. Grabbing more coals, he ignored the pain and threw them at the creature as well. Its legs buckled and as it collapsed to the floor, Arthur watched on as it danced around back and forth, its back split open and the tentacles bust out, dragging itself across the floor towards Arthur.
“Don’t let it touch you.” A voice called from the shadows.
Suddenly three strangers ran at the beast, at the front was what Arthur could only think was a mouse, he had heard stories of them, small skittery and shy, but as far as he knew extinct.
Behind the mouse was a millipede, with half its arms carrying swords and the rest used to move, it was soon onto the beast trying to kill Arthur.
And at the rear was a small spider, covered in fur, it jumped from one position to another, fast and agile.
The three attacked together, the millipede taking lead, it rolled into a ball, its arms flailing as its weapons sliced and diced at the monster.
The jumping spider flew through the air. Landing on top of the creature, crushing one of the tentacles, and finally the mouse ran in, fast and deadly, ending the thing before him.
Arthur stood and watched as the trio made short work of the beast.
“Stay here, there may be others,” The mouse instructed Arthur, before running off into the shadows.
“Don’t worry, she will be fine.” The spider landed next to Arthur, making him jump.
“Erm…” Arthur was lost for words, what was happening.
The millipede rolled across the ground, pulling up in front of Arthur. Twice the ants’ height, Arthur looked up, not wanting to show any fear. He had taken down dozens of creatures during campaigns for the colony and wasn’t about to be intimidated by these three.
“Hi, I’m Antonio.” The millipede smiled, “My spider friend here is Horatio, and the crazy mouse has no name, or none she wishes to share with us.”
Arthur just stood and looked at the creature before him, what was he to do? He had to admit he was lonely out here on his own, but he was an ant, they didn’t need others, just the colony.
“I am Gen…” He was no longer a general, a general with no troops, was no general at all “I am Arthur, the last of my colony, thank you for your help.”
“We had been hunting nearby, when we heard your shouts” Antonio gestured at the dead creature before them. “Normally they are a lot stronger, but this one seems to be in its final stages. There is no way an untrained insect like you would have survived an attack by one in its prime.”
“Untrained…” Arthur went to shout. “I was a great soldier in one of the greatest armies in the land,”
“Well, you couldn’t have been that great, if you are now on your own.” The mouse said as it appeared back in the clearing.
“I didn’t mean any offence,” Antonio said. “We have been hunting these things for a dozen moons or more, they came from the poisoned lands to the north, and everywhere they go, death follows.”
“What was it?” Arthur asked, hoping to change the subject before they asked him further questions about his colony.
“It’s a Cordycep, they take over the host and get them to do their bidding, a walking corpse and then when the body breaks down too much, the parasite finds a new one, that is probably what it was planning for you.”
Book 8 in The Word Spider series Arthurs Tale will be published late 2023, if you haven’t read books 1-3 check out the buy books link for details
Chris Horn Author 