“Some days ago, Brooke started acting… weird.” Tiny said looking worried.

And then Bills other goons joined and started telling how the whole situation had led to this point.

“Yeah, he acted kind of strange. He would daze all of a sudden, then start groaning and one time he even bared his mandibles at us.”

“Then two days ago he… he disappeared.” The number two of the group said with tears in his eyes and trembling hands.

“No one saw him going anywhere. We all slept together and then in the morning… he wasn’t there. He had disappeared.”

Tiny patted his back and continued recounting how the situation had boiled so much that Bill had to leave the group to go find Brooke all alone.

“We waited for him to come for a while day, but, but he never returned. Bill waited for two days sitting at the door, but then he left yesterday, saying, ‘Don’t worry I will return and will bring him back with me.”

All four of them looked concerned about Bill, but they were more worried about Brooke’s safety. Because Bill had only gone to find him and would return in a day or two, but the same couldn’t be said about Brooke. Who had willingly left and somehow gone off the radar.

“When did Bill say he’ll return if he wasn’t able to find Brooke?” I asked Tiny and replied by nodding his head.

I knew he wasn’t an irresponsible child alright.

“Yes, he said that he would return by evening today, but it is already so late and he still hasn’t returned. I’m- I’m feeling anxious.”

The goons then held my hand and looked at me with their pitiful eyes. They didn’t stop at that and asked me together and in sync,

“Big brother, can’t… can’t you do something. I’m sure that if it’s you, then you’ll be able to find him somehow!”

To tell the truth, I wasn’t feeling good at all. First was that swarm, then team leader and now Brooke and Bill. It’s as if someone was deliberately targeting our colony. Things just kept on occurring and happening again and again one after another without stopping.

I closed my eyes and thought hard about the reasons because of which Brooke might have left the group. But because the penalty from [Overdrive] I couldn’t activate any of my intelligence related skills and in the failed to pin point anything.

The full week of stress from the war and the stay away was taking its toll on me. I needed rest, a long nap, but it was also important to find Bill, Brooke majorly.

Losing them too… I just didn’t want to think about it at all.

I looked up and at them to ask them to give me a clue; a place where they had last seen him, the direction he had walked in,, but then my perception caught something.

I heard someone sniffling outside the room. The sound started becoming louder and clearer as the person came closer to the door.

Understanding who it was a smile appeared on my face, seeing which my group tilted their heads. I looked and saw them looking flabbergasted at me.

“Big brother why are you…” Tiny asked me, but I told him that it was alright.

One of them asked me whether I had found some clue, but I shook my head.

Their excitement turned into disappointed at the same time, but I spoke up looking towards the door.

“We won’t have to go find Bill anywhere. He is already here.”

And we saw Bill arriving at the door with his eyes red and his face still wet from all the crying that he had done standing outside the room.

“Huck…!” Bill hiccupped when he saw us staring daggers at him and he took a step backwards.

Tiny and the goons didn’t waste any time and hurriedly sprinted toward Bill juts as he arrived. They didn’t care about him asking them to stop and jumped on him like he was their prey.

I didn’t know Tiny was so affectionate with Bill, but it was understandable. After all, he had stayed with the group day and night.

It would have been more confusing if even after staying with them for two whole weeks, he had still acted like an outsider.

On the other hand, Bill who had just entered the room stared on, as four extremely worried faces ran toward him.

Although from his body posture he looked about ready to run for it, but he didn’t go out and let them pounce on him.

“Where were you?”

“WE thought- we thought that even you had…”

“Don’t leave us too, leader.”

I saw Bill’s eyes getting redder as all four of his friends showed him how worried they had been for him.

He tried to control his emotions, but gave in to their warm and tearful reception and his return turned into a tearful group reunion.

I didn’t cry, but I did feel as if a pressure had been lifted off my chest.

But the smiles that had formed on their faces because of Bills return didn’t stay for long, because he in the end had failed to bring Brooke back. He had returned home alone.

He had failed in finding his missing friend.

Tiny and the others asked him if he had found out anything, and he simply shook his head.

His lips trembled and he apologized for being an incompetent friend.

“I’m sorry everyone.” Tears covered his face as he spoke, “I wasn’t able to find him. I tried everywhere. I asked everyone, but I still didn’t find him. It’s like he has disappeared from the mound.”

I couldn’t see them crying like that anymore and walked to them.

Stopping in front of Bill, I pated his head and said with confidence, “Don’t worry. I’ll find him. That, I promise you.”

Hope returned to his lost eyes and he hurriedly stood up.

“You’ll really help me. Ev-even though we… we once…!”

I placed my hand on his mouth and didn’t let him finish his sentence. What he wanted to say had become irrelevant by then. He had apologized for his behavior and we had made up already. He didn’t need to bring the past between us and I didn’t want him to either.

I smiled at him to bring down his nervousness, which kind of worked, and told him, “Don’t you consider me your friend. Family comes first after all.”

At that time I noticed the two patrolling officers looking at us.

I smiled at them and they nodded their heads. Both of them looked at each other and slowly walked toward me.

I could see their awe filled eye looking at me like a vulture wanting to take me apart and take home as a trophy to bag to their friends. I shuddered at the possibility that this thought of mine might really come true one day.

But I who had already been through quite a lot of dreadful stares and the like, didn’t budge and stared back.

Both of them were your regular black soldier ants, without a single bit of mutation. One of them looked slightly older than the other, and I could hear him calling his partner junior.

The junior shivered excitedly and kept on whispering something into his senior officers ears, which I could easily hear.

They were just trying to stay calm in presence of a hero and not disturb him or should I say me.

I found their antics cute, but thought that they should act more according to the duty they had been given. I wanted to tell that them, but thinking that it was not possible for every ant to act like a soldier, I let it go. After all if they had that much discipline then they would have joined the army instead.

“Thank you officers for your time, you have helped us a lot today.” I spoke on behalf of my group.

And seeing my bowed head they got flustered. “No, no, please don’t say that. It’s our duty.”

But behaving like a real patrolling team they didn’t forget to ask, “Say is this the ant who had been reported to be missing?”

‘So they reported it? Good job they did.’ I thought and replied to the patrols men.

“Actually, there were two ants missing. One..” I pointed at bill and said, “Bill has come back, but the other is still missing.”

They asked me where he had gone to and I replied saying that he had simply gone to find his missing friend and because he didn’t return on time Tiny and the others had filed a missing persons report.

“Shit. That’s a very commendable friend to have.” The senior officer spoke and I nodded my head.

And seeing that they were already here I asked for their help. “Yes he is. Actually, I would like to ask for your help in finding our other friend who is still missing.”

They pumped their chests in response and agreed saying that it was their duty. They asked me how missing ant looked, his age and the time he went missing and I recounted all the information which Tiny had told me.

“Brooke… He is a normal male black ant, with a square face and slightly bigger eyes than normal. About his height…” I looked around and then pointed at Tiny before saying, “He is slightly taller and wider than him.”

But their faces became stiff when I said that he had gone missing about three days ago when every else was sleeping and they mumbled…

“So he is also from the first night missing cases.”

I asked them what they meant by first night cases, and the senior officer replied with after taking a deep breath and sighing, “Actually he is not the only ant missing in our colony.”

“What?” was my honest response, which automatically came out from my soul and onto my lips.

“Yes, I don’t actually know how many ants have been filled to be missing, but by yesterday the number had already climbed up to five hundred. Then there are those who will file the report today and also those didn’t file any person missing at all.”

The news came as a shock to me. I felt a odd sense of danger looming over our heads knowing that the situation was more serious than I had thought it to be.

I asked them if the headquarter had come to any decision on who is kidnapping all the ants and they said, “We actually don’t know anything yet. But our captain has come to two possibilities. Either an ant predator has entered the mound without us having any idea, or every ant is disappearing on their own. And both of the possibilities are bad news.”

I was going to reply, but then both of the officers became stiff like a statue. I who had seen something similar to this happen before knew that they were getting a report, and seeing their faces turning spoiled, I knew that something wrong had happened somewhere.

“What?” Both of them shouted at the same time and the junior mumbled, “How could this be? That is impossible.”

But his senior reprimanded him for his slip of tongue.

“Stop! Don’t say anything else and follow me. The place is near to our current position. We need to move.”

I asked them what had happened and they didn’t tell me at first, but they couldn’t hide it from me either.

The senior officer looked behind me and then whispered into my ears, “Actually, there has been a murder.”