“BUG BOMBS”

The working guide for survival on Anomaly is to simply presume everything can and will kill you in some terrible way. It is a strategy that’s served us well. Only measured assurances by The People are any reason to consider otherwise... I originally thought the “Fire Wasps” were their own species of flying death, but was later told they are the younger version of the adult Flesh Digger!

Fully grown Diggers have well-developed “suction” mechanisms that can rip everything but bone from their victim. When they first take to the air, however, these muscles are not fully matured. To compensate for their new way of life, young airborne Diggers have a powerful protease that will melt all organics like acid, leaving the individual a bag of slurry for the Digger to sip at its leisure. Young Diggers also have heightened heat detection senses, making them skilled hunters of anything with a heartbeat.

“Fire Wasps” are an angry lot, insofar as bugs can be said to get “angry.” With the help of the Moncs, we snared dozens of these buzzing, hissing bundles of fury and packed them carefully into leather spheres with trap doors stitched into them. The result? Something we call “Bug Bombs.” Catapult or aerial deliveries are the only means to safely put a proper distance buffer between us and the bombs when those stitches break free. The Fire Wasps will lock into the closest living thing aside from themselves and melt their insides. But it gets worse…

The fully grown Digger is past its prime mating age. They mate when they’re in the Fire Wasp stage. Some targets of the bug bombs that are left alive will think they’ve miraculously escaped certain death. In two to three weeks, the eggs that were implanted in them will hatch and the larval Diggers will consume their hosts over the next two weeks before seeking an aquatic environment. The Diggers' acid chemistry, and the quantity used, is far less than the Fire Wasp's. It’s still lethal, but it takes a lot longer to die.