The group went down into the tunnels. The tunnels were by this time huge. There was several feet of clearance over the tallest human. The ants were comfortable walking in side by side.

“You think we’re in trouble sarge?” Winnie asked.

“Shut your hole private.” Sergeant Napier replied.

Kendra laughed at their display.

“You find something funny civvy?” Sergeant Napier asked.

“Yeah, you.” Kendra replied. “The world is ending and you’re clinging to your discipline like rats on a sinking ship.”

“Discipline is the key to survival.” Sergeant Napier replied.

Kendra shook her head.

The group continued deeper into the tunnels. They came to a fork in the tunnel that Kendra was not familiar with. Shidel pointed to the left. “This way, fleshbags.”

“Ha, fleshbags.” Kendra laughed. “You just mean them right?”

“Sure.” Shidel chattered back.

The group came out into another cavern. It was almost as large as the grand cavern. There were a mix of blue and red ants milling about. There were little purple ants tending to pods that lined the perimeter of the room. On the far side of the room was an enormous wooden head.

“Is that a Gundam head?” Specialist Garris asked.

“You fucking weeb.” Private Winnie replied.

“Shut up pooh.” Garris replied.

“Gawddammint.” Napier growled. “All of ya, shut the fuck up.”

As the group walked across the cavern, all the ants slowly stopped what they were doing and lined up along the path leading to the giant head.

“So you are the idiots bringing more monsters here.” The voice intoned. Kendra recognized it as Tree’s voice. The little bastard had done it. He had made himself a new way to talk. Kendra started thinking about how Tree managed it. Did he have speakers inside? How was he creating the sound vibrations? Kendra was super curious.

“We aren’t idiots.” Captain Kingsley angrily retorted.

“Dumbass says what?” Tree spoke.

“What?”

“That’s what I thought.” Tree replied with a twinkle in his eye. There really was a twinkle in his eyes. The eyes on the head glowed a muted blue.

“Did you or did you not purposely run here with monsters on your tail?” Tree asked again.

“It was an accident.” Captain Kingsley said.

Tree was silent for a while. The ants were motionless as they stared at the group.

“Tell me captain. Do you like centipedes or earwigs?” Tree asked.

“What?” Captain Kingsley asked. It was such an off the wall the question he was taken aback.

“Still a dumbass, I see.” Tree replied. “Just pick one. Centipede or earwig.”

“What difference does it make?” Captain Kingsley found his voice again.

“The difference is, the centipede crawls in your earhole and the earwig goes up your peehole.” Tree said.

Everyone human in the cavern winced. The men looked especially pained.

“The fuck is wrong is with you?” Captain Kingsley managed to ask.

“Shidel, if you would.” Tree continued on. “The good captain seems to have chosen both. Not my preference, but here we are.”

A group of blue ants walked up to the captain. Pinned him to the ground with the graspers on their front claws. Two jars were brought out. Captain Kingsley kept his cool right up until his clothes were ripped from him.

The screams echoed in the cavern. Some of the soldiers vomited. Everyone looked shaken. Once Captain Kingsley was done screaming. Tree told Shidel. “Put him in the pod.”

Tree’s gave shifted to the next soldier. “Right, who’s next?”

The three remaining looked at each other. Sergeant Napier stepped forward. “All right we did it on purpose. We were scared and thought you could help us.”

“I know.” Tree told him. His face hardening into a frown. “He got that for lying. I can’t stand liars. Hmmm. I want to know something else. Why do you idiots keep trying to sneak people into the camp?”

“We just want to make sure it’s safe to move here. We keep hearing that survivors are coming this way. Crafts are coming out of this area that don’t dissolve.” Sergeant Napier explained.

“You know I can tell when you’re lying right?” Tree asked. “The negativity associated with your lying mouth twists the mana around you in the most unpleasant ways.”

“I did not know that.” Sergeant Napier suddenly looked very uneasy.

“Would you like to try again?” Tree asked.

“Uh, We wanted to know how you worked. We hoped we could learn from you and implement your solutions on a wider scale.” Sergeant Napier replied.

“There you go.” Tree said. “The truth is always better. The answer is no. It won’t work on a wider scale. As far as I know, whatever it is I am doing. It has to be done on a local scale.”

“What does local scale mean?” Napier asked.

“It means, wherever I happen to be.” Tree told him. “I can accept your refugees. I am willing to help. On one condition though.”

“What’s the condition?” Napier was a little hesitant. The tree scared him. Centipedes and earwigs? Who does that?

“You must swear to never betray me.” Tree replied. “Something about the mana in the air makes swearing especially potent. A swear once sworn cannot be undone. Breaking your oath will have consequences. The least of which is an earwig up the peehole.”

“You can’t do that.” Napier replied. “This is America. We don’t treat people like that here.”

“We don’t?” Tree asked. “My time as a tree has changed me, Sergeant. Both literally and figuratively. My memories come and go but I remember what I was in the before time. I too once served in your military. Would you like to know what I remember? Might makes right. The violence always comes in different forms. But might always makes right. Everything you own and are is protected by actual or perceived violence. Your country was born in fire. Preserved by fire. Stand your ground laws threaten violence. If you don’t conform, you get ostracized. If you don’t have the strength to protect your own, you lose it. In the long run, it is the only winning move. Only the strong survive. If you are unwilling to use violence, those who are will take everything from you.”

“That’s not true.” Napier replied. “That’s a gross simplification.”

“Then why did your superiors not ask nicely?” Tree replied. “They simply grabbed.”

The room was silent. Nobody moved.

“I will keep your two dumbasses here.” Tree continued on. “You go back and communicate my displeasure and my terms to your superiors. Can you handle that?”

“What choice do I have?” Napier asked.

“You have many choices.” Tree answered. “Centipede or earwig, for example.” Tree smiled. It wasn’t a nice smile. “I will not weaken myself to save a few when it will doom everyone else to death.”

“Ok.” Napier said. “I’ll do it.” He had the look of a defeated man about him.

“Shidel will accompany you.” Tree nodded his head towards the blue ant. “She will represent my demands and make sure you don’t do anything more stupid. Also you need to eat this.”

“What is this?” Napier asked as another ant brought out a large seed.

“It’s how I’ll keep track of you once you leave my domain.” Tree said. “Also you can use it to grow stronger. It will gather and purify mana for you. Probably at a higher rate than you can manage on your own.”

“Do I have a choice?”

“You always have choices, Sergeant.” Tree replied.

Tree watched as the soldier swallowed the seed. He nodded. “Take them out of here.” Tree said to Shidel.”

“Lorelai, please stay a moment.” Tree told Kendra.

“Yes, Tree.” Kendra was very subdued. Kendra was rattled by everything Tree had said and done.

Tree waited until the other humans had left. “So uh, there are people upstairs trying to steal parts of myself.” Tree said. “I need you to go up there and gather all my broken parts. I don’t want pieces of me leaving.”

“I can do that Treebo.” Kendra replied. “Do you have any way of showing me where the pieces are?”

“Yes, I do.” Tree replied with a smile. “I have another set of seeds that can be used to communicate with me at a distance and it will also make you stronger in the same way as the other seeds.”

“How’s it different from the seed you gave the soldier?” Kendra asked.

“This one allows two way communication.” Tree said. “The other one just lets me observe.”

“Very well.” Kendra said as left.

“Galyn.” Tree called out another blue ant. “Go with her and make sure nothing happens to her.”

A large blue ant chittered in response and left to follow Kendra.