Hi there, my name is Brad Thomas. I’m thirty-seven and from a small town in the west midlands called Tipton. I have lived there all my life; this is my home. I’ve been in the butchery industry for twenty years now, but my dream is to write. I’m a huge fan of the horror genre and would love to be a part of it. I have always put writing to the back of my mind until I met a man, I now consider a friend, Boris Bacic. The advice and information he’s given me is amazing and I can’t thank him enough. I would love to succeed as an author, only time will tell.

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THE UNDISCOVERED COLONY

by

Brad Thomas

Shaun looked up, he could not see James or Jonah anywhere. It had all happened so quick, but Shaun did not realise that he had fallen at first. Years ago, when they were teenagers, the three of them friends agreed to travel the world together. They had already visited Mexico, as James wanted to see Chichen Itza. They had also visited Machu Pichu, climbed Mount Kilimanjaro and Petra, this was their fifth time traveling away from home together. The three of them had been friends since they were five years old, they were stuck together like glue and did everything together. Now all in their twenties, still single and loving life, they loved exploring. After all the years of travelling together Shaun was now all alone. Where were his friends? What had happened?

James and Jonah were miles away now, they knew Shaun was a joker and expected him to jump out on then at any moment. “Where is that idiot? we told him to stay close to us this time.” James angrily said to Jonah. “He is probably watching us bro, laughing at us.” Jonah answered while looking around.

“James?”

“Yeah bro?”

“You know, over eight thousand people have gone missing in the amazon rainforest over the years, right? Do you think Shaun may have lost his way in this untouched paradise? Scared? or even……. dead?” Jonah replied now worrying.

“Nah bro, he is just messing with us. We will all be on a flight back to the states in two days.”

Shaun opened his eyes; pain ran through his whole body. The last thing he remembers was going to pee. Now he was laying at the bottom of a steep hill, surrounded by dense green surroundings of the Amazon rainforest. He then remembered he was walking along a trail with his friends. They were all told to stick to the trail and hire a guide to take them through the Amazon, but they did not hire a guide.

"JONAH!!! JAMES!!!" Shaun shouted but received no response. He heard rustling in the bushes, was it was his friends? He called out again, "GUYS, I'M OVER HERE." yet again no response. He could not move, the pain in his legs were excruciating. He knew he had broken his legs because he had broken his left leg before playing football in college. The bushes started rustling again, "What the hell is that." Shaun asked himself.

He then heard little tapping noises, just like the sound a small dog would make on laminate flooring. Shaun turned his head, looking around while laying down. He could not see anything; it is just my imagination. He thought to himself, he must have hit his head on the way falling because the crimson red of blood stained his bright blonde hair. What shall I do? He was so confused and scared now. Then he heard the skittering sound again.

He saw something out the corner of his eyes run past him to the right. “WHAT THE FUCK!” He screamed loudly. He grabbed a small tree branch that lay to his right and threw it in the direction of the thing he had seen. Whatever this thing was, it had gone. What was that? Shaun thought to himself, I hope whatever that was does not come back. He tried sitting up, the pain was unbearable, but he could not just lay there.

He heard the fast-skittering sound again and slowly turned his head in the direction of this sound. His hairs stood up on the back of his neck as an ant liked creature the size of a chihuahua, came into his view. "What the fuck!" Shaun mouthed, his words would not come out, his wide blue eyes gazed upon this thing. "OH SHIT." he shouted, finally finding his tongue again, as the thing came towards him, that looks like a bullet ant, he thought to himself. The thing is, bullet ants were only an inch in length, this creature in front of him was about foot long, black as coal and a head bigger than a baseball.

It began walking towards him again, Shaun’s heart was beating so fast now, his eyes were full of fear and his breathing was getting faster. Bullet ants give a nasty sting, it could potentially kill a human from multiple stings. This on the other hand was not a bullet ant, this was a much larger insect, which is if you could call it that. Shaun then heard more rustling in the bushes, the sound of skittering legs again as he looked over hundreds of these ant-like creatures began to exit their colony and run towards him. He began screaming but no one would hear him. He turned back in the direction of the first one he saw, as he turned it jump at him at him landing on his chest, knocking him down again. the creature began to bite him so hard that you could see the opening of his chest, exposing his rib cage.

He was at the mercy of these creatures as they began eating away at him. He could not move, the bites from these giant insects had paralysed him, but he could feel everything. He tried to scream out, tears rolling down his face, but there was no hope, he knew he had met his end. He had fallen into a colony of an undiscovered species, no one would ever find his body, hopefully no one else would fall upon this colony.

That night his friends, James and Jonah reported Shaun missing to the Brazilian police. The police assured them that they would do everything possible to find their friend, but one police officer told them, “The colossal formigao-preto have him now.” Both James and Jonah looked confused. “What you mean sir?” the police officer replied “they are just a myth my friends. I am sure your friend is fine.”

Shaun’s body was never found.