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"Scouts, move out!"

Liza's back straightened as they heard the command from the group leader. It had been weeks since they had been formally inducted into the colony, and the training for scout duties had been more intensive than they'd expected. Liza's mind had been filled with images of endless walking and inspecting and trail laying when they'd received the position from the Queen, and certainly there was a lot of that. But it was more grueling than they'd given the job credit for, and Liza found themself a little nervous about their first mission.

The older scouting workers moved in easy formation. Liza and a few other new scouts fell into line as they had been trained. This was to be a routine expedition to find any unmarked sources of food, then lay down a scent trail so that gathering workers could return to cart it back to the colony. It certainly wasn't a glamorous job, and Liza longed for the day they would be on a mission that involved enemy reconnaissance, but for now they would do what was placed in front of them, for the good of the colony.

The wide open world outside of the colony was breathtaking. Liza had never seen it before, and the stories had not prepared them for the sight of so much endless open space. It was almost vertigo inducing. With wide eyes they looked around as the scouting party moved out, each step taking them farther into a world they never could have imagined was so ginormous.

"Did you expect it to be so... big?" the young worker at their side whispered. Liza looked over. Kiltz, they thought their name was. Liza shook their head.

"I mean they told us it was but... it's really something else isn't it?" they said, understanding how their fellow felt. It was one thing to hear about it, it was quite another to see it.

The Sun was high in the sky, and it illuminated everything so brightly that Liza's eyes were having a hard time adjusting. Everything in the colony was so much darker, softer. This light was hot, and harsh. And space just seemed to go on forever and ever, never ceasing. It was like the central chamber of the colony, but so much more. Green grass leapt from the ground in giant flat blades that towered over them, higher than any ceiling inside the colony. And there were shorter plants with wider, round surfaces closer to the ground that Liza could step onto and walk across, a strange texture that was so much smoother than the pounded earth of the colony interior.

They made their way under the shade of the grass, and Liza focused on trying to pick up the scents on the air. That was another thing that was so much more in person than it was being told about- the sheer amount of scents outside the colony interior was overwhelming. Liza was used to being surrounded by the scent of the colony, the people of the colony, the earth of the colony, nothing that wasn't colony. Out here they could still smell the colony, but they could smell other things as well. The grass, the pollen in the air, the scent of other beings that roamed the same lands, the scent of running water in the distance. It was a scout's job to make sense of all these different scents and keep them straight in their minds so that they could find things like food, or invaders.

"Alright newbies," the group leader called out as they all came to a stop in front of tall plant, far taller than the blades of grass. It had a circular center part that had an almost spongy texture, and large leaves growing from it's base that jutted out around the center piece. Liza's eyes went up and up and up, almost toppling over backwards as they peered into the sky to see it's top, which expanded into a bright yellow fluffy looking head. "These are dandelions. They make excellent lookout piers. I want you both to climb up to the top to get a good look around."

Liza swallowed. Up there? They could hear Kiltz's mandibles grinding. "That's... pretty high up..." Kiltz muttered. That chased away some of Liza's own fear. They were the newbies, and this was a test of their fortitude. Liza knew that they had to act decisively- hell, they had wanted to be a soldier, and being a solider would have come with far more danger than climbing up high to get a good vantage point.

"I'm on it," they said, hoping that they seemed brave and nonchalant, and that their real nervousness wasn't showing through either in their voice or in their pheromones. One hand on the stock of the dandelion, a click of their mandibles, and they began to pull themselves up.

This isn't so bad, they thought as they climbed. Each movement came easier than the last. With the pads of their hands and feet pressed against the surface they let their claws slip out to grip onto it, just like they had drilled hundreds of times before now. Their claws sank easily into the soft organic matter, and they pulled themself up bit by up. The stock hadn't looked stable enough to hold their weight, but they found that it was sturdier than it had initially appeared. Before long they had reached the top, the soft fluff of the flower under their feet.

Looking up, they noticed that Kiltz had made it to the top of another dandelion across from them. With a smile they waved, and Kiltz waved back. Kiltz's grin was still nervous, and Liza could see the way the flower was shaking under them denoting they must be fidgeting with their feet, but they still set their sight resolutely outwards. They had a job to do, and they would do it.

Liza did the same, scanning the scenery that unfolded below them. The sight almost took their breath away entirely. If they'd thought the wide outdoors was something to behold before, it was a whole different thing from up here. The forest of grass extended impossibly far- Liza thought the grass was a larger area than the entire colony in fact. And beyond that in the distance they could see more, even larger plants, giant brown things that Liza thought must be the trees that others had spoken of but that they'd scarcely believed existed.

"What do you see up there, scouts?" The scout leader called from the ground, their voice traveling on the air. It was faint, and Liza had to strain to listen. Their eyes tracked to underneath the trees, where they could see large round shapes of varying shades of red. They would need to get up closer to get their scent before they knew if they were food or not, but from what they knew they suspected they were apples, which would have to be broken into smaller pieces by gatherers and brought back to the colony.

"Apples!" Liza called down. "..I think!" they added, because it was very disorienting looking at something so far away that they couldn't smell it. They all relied more on scent than on sight, and the trickiest part of a scouts job by far was in learning how to use sight without scent. Liza's antennae wavered in the air, taking in the smell of the dandelion flower, the pollen present on it's petals, the sap in the stock. The dandelion was so much more real to them than the trees and apples in the distance. They squinted their eyes to try to concentrate on sight.

"I think I see... meat?" Kiltz called, also squinting hard. Liza's eyes swung around to where they were looking and they could just make out what looked like the body of a large animal, perhaps a mouse, but they couldn't be sure.

"Good job, kids!" the scout leader called back. "Come on down, now. We'll go check them out to be sure and then lay a trail down for the gatherers if it's food."

Liza and Kiltz began their downwards climb. Slowly the disorienting feeling of being so high lessened until they were finally on the ground once more, both feet feeling the soft earth beneath their soles.

"Alright scouts! We'll check on the sighted meat, past the apple grove."

Liza blinked. "You already knew about the apple grove?"

The leader slapped them on the back with a friendly grin. "Wanted to make sure you could spot it yourselves, both of you. Think of it as a test."

Liza wasn't sure how they felt about that. They smiled good naturedly, but internally they were disappointed. They'd wanted to contribute, and had only managed to find something the scouts already knew about, while Kiltz had spotted something new. Logically of course Liza knew that the leader had sent them up there specifically to see if they could spot the apple grove, and since they had they had passed the test, but it still rankled a little.

Liza took a deep breath and clicked their mandibles as the party began to move out. 'For the colony and the for the Queen' meant that it didn't matter who found the meat, just that it had been found, Liza reminded themself. Liza as an individual didn't matter as much as the survival of the group, the conglomerate. The colony. The group came before the one.

"The group before the one," Liza muttered under their breath, and moved to follow the line of scouts, to take their place in the group of scouts.

"Alright, now the apple grove is a little ways outside of North Colony territory, so keep your eyes, ears, and antennae alert. We're vulnerable outside but especially outside of our scent markers. Let's look alive, scouts!"

As they walked Liza took in deep breaths, antennae waving around in an attempt to take in as much information of their new surroundings as they could. It was strange being in this much open space, but it was becoming easier with every step. Unlike in the colony when you could hear the patter of feet on earth and the sounds of people talking and the vibrations of movement in the walls and in the ground, out here there were the sounds of other beings in the distance, the breeze moving through the tall blades of grass overhead, and the calls of winged creatures in the sky. All of them new sounds to Liza.

They came out of the grass field, and the ground was covered in leaves and other detritus, big wide smooth surfaces that stretched out the length of a colony dining room, and big sticks that put the training obstacle courses to shame. As the scouting group walked over top of these Liza tried to get a feel for how they felt under their feet, the texture of them, how much weight could be placed on them before they shifted. The earth here was softer than the interior of the colony, not packed down or sculpted but raw and rough, breaking off into large pebbles in their hands if they stooped to touch it.

The scent of the earth and the apples wafted to them, and their stomach gave a rumble at the sweetness of the scent of the apples. Their antennae waved in the air as though they could ingest the food just by smelling it. It was intoxicating, and reminded them of being a pupa in the nursery. But they weren't here for the apples. They were here for the meat, which had a very different kind of scent, pungent and savory, a scent that made Liza feel antsy inside, anxious to get it back to the colony where it could be gorged upon without threat of being stolen. They walked right up to the large, towering thing, covered in fur and with a long bare tail. Liza's mouth watered. It was still smelled quite fresh, but it would need to be checked over to be sure it hadn't begun to be spoiled by maggots.

Liza began the climb along with the others this time. Their claws dug unto flesh and hair as they began to scale the gargantuan creature. It's flesh was soft and gave under their feet in a way the dandelion hadn't, almost squishy as they climbed the wall of meat. With each step and pull of their arms they let their antennae drag over it to get it's scent, to make sure it still smelled good to eat, and the exersize was driving Liza half crazed with hunger. It wasn't for the scouting party to bring this back, just to evaluate it and report to the gatherers, so they didn't let themselves begin to saw into it with their mandibles, despite desperately wanting to.

They could picture it, picture the way their mandibles would sink easily into the giving flesh, would cut and tear pieces off, blood and meat bursting across their tongue. They would bathe in it, cover themselves in the gore, fill their bellies to bursting with meat and fat and connective tissue. The entire thing would be taken in chunks, carried on the backs of gatherers and brought back for the colony to feast upon, and Liza wanted nothing more than to do it now, to sink claws and teeth and surround themselves in the taste and the smell of the flesh.

Instead they simply joined the rest of the scouting party in smelling it only, looking for signs of too much decay, sussing out the sweet odors that might have meant it wasn't good enough to bring back to the colony, looking for the telltale scent of flies and their maggoty young. They were in luck as far as Liza could tell- the meat was good, it was untouched by others, and smelled ripe for the taking.

"All clear!" the leader shouted when every inch of the dead thing had been scoured. Liza found they were almost lightheaded from the scent of blood and viscera. "Let's get to laying down some scent markers! We'll refresh the trail to the apple grove too, since it's rained since the last time we set those markers down."

Liza climbed down from the beast, making their way over it's large face, feet skirting around the wide globe of it's eyeball and then bringing them down the snout to the ground.

"How can you tell? About the rain I mean," they asked. Leader pointed to the ground.

"Simple. You can see the explosion divots the rain made in the ground. See these?" Liza looked where the leader was pointing with interest. There were indeed holes across the ground, though Liza wouldn't have known how to tell them apart from other arbitrary shapes in the earth. They supposed that must come with experience. "There's also the smell of rain on the air- means it rained recently. You'll get more and more adept at telling these things as you go," they said, as Liza busied themself scenting the air with their antennae, looking for that smell that the leader was describing.

One by one the rest of the group began to use their hands and feet to lay down pheromones that the gatherers could follow to reach the meat. They would continue in this way all the way back to the colony, creating something concrete to follow, and they would stop off by the apples as well to complete the job. Liza began the task, feet releasing pheromones where they stood, when they heard something from the distance, a sound like marching feet that immediately got their hackles raised, exoskeleton buzzing with some instinctual apprehension.

Their head jerked up to follow the direction that the ominous sound was coming from. The vibrations in the ground traveled up their own soles. Liza felt their heart clench in fear as their antennae belatedly picked up a scent on the air, the scent of foreigners- non-colony people. Their eyes darted around for the leader. They weren't inside colony lines which meant that they were likely in for a dispute over the meat. As they looked, they could just see them in the far distance but getting closer- it was indeed a group of people, traveling together much like the scouting party- another colony's scouts?

As they drew closer, Liza could smell them on the air more easily. South Colony. The group of them began bigger and bigger, the red of their carapaces visible now. Liza turned and ran, feeling their heart racing in their abdomen, their guts curling inwards as they went for the scout leader to sound the alarm.

"South Colony! We have South Colony Scouts, incoming! From the right!" Their voice carried to the other scouting party members, who were all instantly on alert. Swords drawn from scabbards that hung at their sides, the scouts immediately ceased their efforts at scenting a trail to fall into line, faces grave and serious. They were in for it now.

"Nobody panic!" the leader shouted. Liza was already joining the line of scouts, who were lining up to barricade the previous store of meat behind them. They had to win this, or they would cede this ground to the South Colony, and it would be harder to recapture later. "This is just a minor skirmish. You've all been trained for this, now stay in formation. Nobody move until my word!"

Liza could feel the sense of dread spreading through their exoskeleton now, vibrating through their body and turning their insides to mush. They had always wanted to be in a battle, had wanted since they were old enough to want anything to be a soldier. But as the approaching line of red figures drew nearer they found that it didn't feel anything like they had ever imagined. It felt like choking, like rotten meat on their tongue, like a crushing weight on their thorax.

The intruders set upon them without hesitation, no parley, no negotiations. One moment they were in the distance, and the next the group of red carapaced South Colony members were at their throats.

Liza screamed as they threw their sword arm up, a defensive posture the only thing that stopped them from being barreled over by the rushing onslaught as one of the aggressive Southerners leapt at them full tilt. They didn't carry weapons, but Liza knew they didn't need to- their own blade caught the attacker's mandibles in mid-bite. These people had far larger mandibles and claws, and as the enemy scout bore down on them Liza watched in horrified fascination as a bright green substance rose up from the pit of their throat, spewing from their mouth at them with a wave of pungent odor, followed by an intense burning sensation.

Acid bit into Liza's exoskeleton and they drew back with a scream of pain. It was eating them alive, and Liza could do nothing but roll into the dirt to try to get the acid off of themself. They didn't have time to recover before mandibles were clamping down on their ankle, and more hot pain rushed through their body. The attacker yanked at them, pulling them on their stomach across the dirt.

All around them were the sounds of pain and rage as their fellow scouts fought back against the enemies. Liza forced down the terror they felt, that cloying dread that felt like it was dragging them down, blackening their vision and creeping through their mind. Their racing heart beat out a drum beat of pure distilled fear, but it did not matter. They needed to cope, to force themself to rise above it, to act without thinking. Blanking their mind entirely they screamed a gutteral shrieking sound of raw anger and slashed at the mandibles that had their leg in a lock. Blood poured over their feet as they hacked the mandible clean off of their attacker's face, and the enemy scout reared back in pain.

They turned just in time to see another enemy getting ready to spit another globe of acid, and only just managed to roll to the left. The strike of green left a stinking hole in the dirt right where their body had been.

"Kiltz!" They cried as they watched two enemies surge on their fellow new initiate. Kiltz screamed as they threw their blade in a diagonal downward slash, straight through an enemies thorax. The ichor and blood that washed over them was not enough to stop the one from behind that had gone for their throat with their mandibles snapping, and in a mere second Liza watched in stunned horror as Kiltz's need was snapped clean off, entrails following in it's wake as it fell to the ground.

The area stank of blood and viscera, mingling with the scent of the dead creature the two groups were fighting over. Liza's vision swam for a moment before they heard the scout leader call out.

"To me! Don't break formation, damn you!"

Liza was limping but managed to get to where the leader was standing on a pebble above the carnage. "You, over here! You, get on their flanks!" Liza tried to follow their directions as best as they could, watching as their leader directed each of them that were still alive- three, not counting the leader, while the enemies had five- into positions that would be more advantageous.

The Southerners were brutal in their violence, not pausing for a damn moment as they clawed their way through them. Liza's mind had retreated now, all emotion ceasing as they took in the damage all around themself. They could only act, they could not think. And that was good, because if they had been able to think they might not have been able to function.

"Come and fucking get some!" the leader screamed, rushing the nearest enemy with their sword. Mandibles opened wide, like the Southerner wanted to devour them whole, and their scout leader went directly into thaw gaping maw, sword first. The blade went down the enemie's throat just as acid was being vomited out, green coating everything even as they sliced their way into that body, down the throat and stomach and out, mandibles snapped down around their arm. The done for Southerner screamed in agony as blood and acid exploded from their thorax in a deluge that coated the ground and Liza's scout leader.

Panting, the leader stood in the guts of their fallen enemy, feet coming down on top of their abdomen until it burst under their weight. The stink of it was enormous.

Liza was fighting off their own assailants as well, blocking acid spray with their arms and sword as best as they could, but the pain still seered into their exoskeleton. It was distant, sectioned off into a far away part of their brain so that they could continue to fight, but it was still ever present. With a last anguished cry they ripped their sword right through where their enemies thorax met their abdomen, slicing them in half with a viscous spray of stinking liquid.

Panting, they turned to their scout leader, who was looking around the suddenly still landscape with expressionless eyes.

Only three of them stood there. The enemies had been killed, but most of their scouting party had been killed as well. The scout leader looked grim as they looked to Liza and the one other surviving member of their group. Liza noticed that they had lost their right arm to the enemy, and in their left they held a hanging entrail, which they brought up to their own mandibles and sank their teeth into.

Liza quickly did the same. It was an important ritual, and one they shouldn't take lightly. They had to consume their enemies, both as an act of dominance and of reverence. The circle of life demanded it- the dead to always feed the living. That was the way of things. They brought the meat of their fallen attacker to their lips and let the wet guts burst over their mouth, dribbling across their chin.

"Gather our dead on your backs," the leader instructed when they were done. "They will feed the colony."

"For the colony," Liza repeated dully. Their emotions still felt distant, inaccessible in the wake of that sudden onslaught of violence. Was this what it was to be a solider? Violence and death and pain all the time? This had only been a skirmish over a food source. What must all out war be like for the soldiers who dealt with it at all times? Liza wondered why they had wanted to be a soldier so badly.

They hoisted Kiltz and another fallen scout on their back, after fastening them together with twine and spit. They would, as their final act of service to the colony, go into the communal food supplies, as all colony members eventually would upon their deaths. In this way the colony was a single unit; all for the colony and the colony for all.

When they got back, they would report the attack. Southern Colony was clearly getting bold to be scouting for food so near to North Colony borders. Their soldiers would have to be more vigilant, and so would the scouts. Soon, Liza knew, scouting parties would be looking specifically for signs of South Colony activity, and not just for food sources.

Liza felt as though something big was on the horizon. They had dreamed of war and the glory of battle since they were a pupa, of being a hero that protected the colony and saved the lives of everyone in it. Now they realized bitterly that that had been a foolish, pupal dream.

A dam seemed to break at that moment, as they trudged along beside the only remaining scouts from their party, all three of them laden with their dead companions on their backs. Their emotions came back in a rush, the pain in their body surging to the forefront. But the physical pain was the easiest to deal with- as Liza felt their emotions coming back, the fear and the terror and the memory of screams and the stink of blood and gore, they felt their eyes fill with tears.

They were silent about it, but for the rest of the trek home to the colony, they wept.