Chapter Text
A small, lithe predator crouched between two jagged rocks. It overlooked a large underground chamber that was absolutely chock full of prey. Troll grubs. All over the place. Tasty little morsels in comparison to the hunter’s size. Keeping low to the ground, it took a few long strides forward, focusing on one individual slightly separated from the rest of the mass.
Snap. Caught one.
It then focus it’s attention on the next nearest grub, which was well aware of the danger now, and had begun to chirp loudly. Another one joined in, and within a moment, there was a whole chorus of tiny larvae making a fuss over the intruder.
The predator hissed in annoyance, and snapped at a grub near one of its long legs.
CRACK.
It didn’t even get a chance to know what had hit it. The brooding drone’s powerful beak had already snapped its neck. The drone, at least twice the size of the predator it had just killed, wasted no time in dragging the carcass out to the center of the chamber, and using her sharp beak to slice the dead creature open, from the throat to the crotch, and left it out in the open.
It was now a feast for the tiny creatures it had been hunting.
The commotion was noticed by almost all of the grubs in the chamber, who began flocking toward the center in a sort of feeding frenzy. Only a few chose not to join in the feast. A runt-sized red grub favored the safety of a little crevice between two stone slabs, which was just the right size to provide a cozy little shelter for him. For the past few days, he had been living off of his favorite snack, millipedes, which crawl between the rocks he liked to hide within. However, there were suddenly no more millipedes, and a grub’s metabolism was fast. Hunger certainly urged him to join the feeding frenzy, but he was at great unease. He had been attacked by other grubs before. He had learned to keep to himself whenever possible.
Hunger eventually won. Tentatively, the red grub moved away from his shelter and toward the crowded center of the chamber. He could already smell the blood of the carcass and it teased his empty stomach something awful. It was starting to get a bit too crowded for his comfort, but his hunger would not let him turn back until-
HISSSSSS! The red grub’s fears had come true once again. A much bigger grub, the color of tarnished gold, had spun around and gave a very aggressive hiss. The poor red could hardly back up fast enough, and the gold lunged forward and bit down hard on the red’s nose, and shook its head side to side mercilessly. The red squealed in terror and managed to squirm free from his aggressor’s grip, and turned to retreat, only to get one more bite on his backside. The message was clear: get lost. Runts don’t grow into adults.
He crawled back to his crevice, bleeding and even hungrier than before. He lay down just at the entrance, and watched the feast from a distance, with the hopes that possibly the commotion would die down and he would get his chance to eat. Eventually, the other grubs did disperse, only to reveal a clean-picked skeleton in the center of the chamber. Giving up on food for the time, the red grub retreated back into the crevice too nurse his injuries. They were more severe than last time he had been in a fight. He lay down to rest, too exhausted to do anything else. He didn’t even try to get up when he heard the distinctive scuttling sound of a millipede behind the rocks. He fell into a deep sleep in a last effort to regain his strength.
Chirp.
The sound was close enough to cause the red to wake up, albeit rather disgruntled. Chirp chirp chirp. It was coming from right outside of his little hidey-hole. The red became alarmed but was too weak to get up and investigate. He just pressed himself into the corner and silently hoped the intruder would lose interest and leave.
After a moment or two of silence, the red began to relax. Seemed like it was just a passerby. Ignoring the hunger pains, he closed his eyes and resumed sleep.
CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP!
The red jolted back awake, scrambling and hissing. Now, he found himself face-to-face with another grub that managed to squeeze through the tight crevice. The teal female was no bigger than he was, in fact, and she seemed quite intrigued by the little red. She gave another friendly chirp, and nudged the red, who responded with an annoyed chatter.
But when he looked closer, he noticed a scab over the teal’s brow. It seemed she had been attacked by a bigger grub as well, for being tiny. Part of him couldn’t really blame her for wanting to take shelter. He wasn’t pleased about it, but decided to at least try to tolerate his guest for a while. Even if she was being overly friendly.
The little teal didn’t understand why the red wouldn’t get up. She wanted to play. Her chirps moved from a cheerful sound to a more worried sound, as she repeatedly nudged the red. He looked at her with annoyance, but his eyes were dull and lifeless.
Oh! He must be hungry. Starvation was a common death for undersized grubs. The little teal gave the red a reassuring purr and a nuzzle and bounded out of the crevice, leaving him very confused and disgruntled.
After a while, it seemed the teal wasn’t coming back. The little red wasn’t sure whether to be relieved that he finally had peace and quiet, or despairing that his possible chance to survive was gone. From the looks of it, he wasn’t going to live to see the next feeding frenzy anyway, let alone have the strength to compete for food. Giving up quietly, he closed his eyes and prayed that the pain in his belly would go away soon.
Only once more, he found himself rudely awakened from the sweet embrace of death by the little teal, who was nudging him and whimpering pitifully. She just refused to let him die. The red opened his mouth to chatter at her, but at that moment, the teal shoved something in his mouth. All at once, the red’s senses came flooding back to him. Was that a piece of meat…? No, it was even better- a piece of liver. The little red could hardly snap and gulp the piece down fast enough before he was sniffing around for more. The teal purred in delight and moved to the side to reveal her treasure: a chink of liver a little more than half her own size. The red didn’t think of questioning how she got the food. He tore into the meat and feasted, as his eyes began to shine with life once more.
He ate about half of the chunk before settling down to rest. Starving or not, he didn’t want to get a cramp from eating too fast. He noticed the teal was still there, watching him eat with a pleased grin. Now, he noticed that she had some fresh, new wounds on her. She must have gotten them while bringing him food. After all, liver was the most nutritious part of a kill. It was likely coveted by every other grub in the brooding chamber. It was hard for him to imagine a runt like her fighting off other hungry grubs, but she somehow managed to do it, and was sitting there with a big carefree grin.
This was a new feeling for the little red: gratitude. Another grub he’d never seen before nearly got herself killed saving his sorry butt. He looked at the remaining piece of liver, and then pushed it back toward the little teal. She blinked in surprise, then tentatively took a bite. The red chirped softly, moved around her and began to lick one of her wounds. It wasn’t long before both of them were nestled side by side, sharing food and purring to one another. The little red couldn’t help but think that this was a lot nicer than he was expecting it to be. She had already fallen asleep, chirring as she nestled closer to him.
This…
…really was nice.