Chapter 5
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She yanked off her hair tie and dipped it in the spare fish oil can. "Cover your ears! Crickets detect infrasound—they're warning us!"
Kay's eyes widened with realization. He rushed to the driver's seat. "Buck! Get to the rear!"
The "Ark's" engine roared as it burst from the water tower's shadow.
At the rear, Buck jammed his dagger into the methanol fuel tank valve.
Pungent liquid gushed out, leaving a glistening trail across the fungal mat.
"Light it!" Kay bellowed.
Buck struck a match. Flames raced along the methanol trail, erupting into a ten-foot wall of fire.
The pursuing fungal swarm crashed into the inferno, popping and crackling like frying oil.
The immediate danger passed, but alarms still blared. Oxygen readings had dropped below the safety line, and Lila's lips were turning blue.
"Time to gamble." Kay snatched the ethylene oxide canister and rushed to the rear cabin.
Gray spots already covered the inner walls of the cricket breeding box. Several dead insects had golden light emanating from their eye sockets.
He twisted open the valve, and pale yellow gas hissed into the sealed box.
"You're murdering our protein supply!" Buck roared.
"Shut up!" Lila's eyes were fixed on the air detector. "Ethylene oxide breaks down formaldehyde... it'll temporarily boost oxygen!"
Before she finished speaking, Kay suddenly staggered, bracing himself against the cabin wall.
Ethylene oxide was seeping through cracks in the container!
Kay's vision blurred. Through the haze, he saw Buck tear off his prosthetic limb, revealing sharp alloy prongs at its end.
"Let me teach you something, kid." Buck jammed his prosthetic forcefully into the vehicle's circuit board.
As sparks flew, he roared: "When electronics fail—"
The miniature wind turbine on the roof suddenly spun wildly! The metal prosthetic generated static electricity, igniting the leaking methanol vapor with a WHOOSH!
The blast wave hurled Kay across the cabin.
In his last conscious moment, he saw the worn military identification on the burning prosthetic become briefly visible in the flames:
【82nd AIRBORNE—The 82nd Airborne Division】
It didn't match Buck's claim of being a "waste disposal worker."
