Chapter 375:Treatment.

Chapter 375: 375:Treatment.

After changing into cleaner clothes provided through the post’s emergency supplies and washing enough of Death Row Valley from himself to look slightly less like he’d been buried alive, he was escorted toward the central command building.

He expected questioning or investigators but not the post commander himself.

The man waiting inside the office looked to be somewhere in his late forties, broad-shouldered and still physically imposing despite clearly spending more time commanding operations than participating in them.

Several screens covered one side of the room, displaying maps of Death Row Valley, highlighted sectors and aerial images Silver couldn’t immediately identify.

Senior Investigator Silas, the man who had identified himself on the road, stood nearby.

The commander rose.

"So you’re Silver Ruddington."

He nodded.

"That’s me."

The commander extended his hand and Silver shook it.

"Commander Elias Ward. Sit down before my medical staff comes in here and accuses me of trying to kill the survivor they just spent an hour treating."

He sat almost instinctively.

"Your medics are very protective."

"They have to be. Contractors are terrible patients."

"So I’ve heard."

The commander sat across from him. For several seconds he simply studied Silver, then he leaned back.

"I’ll start with the part nobody seems willing to say plainly. Congratulations, you survived something you had very little business surviving."

He smiled faintly.

"That’s one way of putting it."

"It’s the polite way."

Silas laughed quietly.

The commander continued.

"When the original collapse was reported, the assumptions were not favorable. Once we learned there was a Rank Six queen beneath the area, the chances became considerably worse. When the investigation showed that members of the expedition hadn’t returned through the registered route, we started treating the entire incident as both a beast emergency and a possible criminal matter."

His expression hardened slightly.

"Larry."

The commander noticed.

"You know the expedition leader’s name."

"I know considerably more than his name."

"We’ll need a formal statement from you."

"You’ll get one."

The commander nodded.

"We aren’t going to force you through a six-hour interrogation this morning. You’re alive, and exhausted, furthermore the immediate containment problem takes priority. We’ll take enough information to establish what happened and arrange the full statement later."

Silver glanced toward the screens.

"Containment problem."

The commander followed his gaze.

"Your warning changed the situation."

He became more attentive.

"How bad?"

Commander Ward stood and walked toward the largest screen.

Silver followed more slowly.

The commander changed the display, and an aerial image appeared.

He stared at the display, trying to understand it.

The eastern side of Death Row Valley was covered in movement. At first the image looked like smoke or a dark cloud spreading above the cliffs.

Then Silver realized what he was seeing. There were hundreds of wings, possibly more. The image changed to a closer view.

Sky-Borers.

They clustered around cliff faces, cave openings and exposed rock formations. Some moved in groups above the valley while others landed and crawled into narrow spaces before emerging again.

His expression became serious.

"There are more than I saw underground."

"A lot more."

"When was this taken?"

"Less than two hours ago."

He stepped closer.

"They’re spreading."

"Not exactly."

Silver looked toward the commander as he changed the image again to movement routes that had been marked across the map.

"That’s what we initially feared. Your warning specifically mentioned possible external spread, so our first assumption was that the evolved form allowed the colony to expand beyond the underground environment."

He pointed toward several marked regions.

"But once we redirected surveillance assets toward the eastern valley, we noticed something."

Silver studied the paths. Most remained concentrated around a particular section; the section he’d escaped from.

His eyes narrowed.

"They’re searching."

Commander Ward nodded.

"That’s our assessment."

He stared at the screen.

Silas stepped closer.

"They aren’t migrating normally. They’re circling specific cliff regions, checking openings and repeatedly returning toward the same sectors. We can’t prove what they’re looking for, but considering when the activity began and where your beacon emerged..."

Silver sighed.

"They were looking for me."

"That’s what we believe."

He stared at the image.

The queen had known; after realizing he’d survived, she’d mobilized the colony. Even after he escaped the underground network, the flying forms had continued searching.

He folded his arms.

"That’s unsettling."

The commander looked at him.

"You’re taking that surprisingly well."

"I spent several days with them trying to kill me. Finding out they’re persistent isn’t shocking... she holds quite the grudge unfortunately. "

Ward changed the display again.

"This is why your warning mattered. Before your transmission, we were preparing primarily for a subterranean Rank Six subjugation operation. If a team entered expecting underground worms and encountered this outside the cave network, casualties could have been severe."

Silver watched another recording.

A Sky-Borer crossed beneath an aerial drone, its wings unmistakable.

Ward continued.

"We now have confirmed visual evidence, containment teams are being redirected, nearby routes are being restricted and lower-ranked Contractors are being kept away from the affected sectors. We’re also evaluating whether the flying form can reproduce independently or whether they’re completely dependent on the queen."

"They were part of the same colony."

"You’re certain?"

"Yes." Silver looked at the screen. "The ones I encountered behaved like extensions of the colony. They weren’t independent predators. Their movements became more aggressive whenever the queen was actively searching for me. I can’t prove how direct the control is, but I wouldn’t treat them as separate beasts."

Silas immediately made a note.

"That’s useful."

He looked toward him.

"There’s something else."

Both men focused on him.

"The queen’s eyesight isn’t particularly good. Her smell isn’t impressive either. She relies heavily on vibrations, colony movement and whatever sensory network those worms create underground. If you’re sending teams inside, moving quietly matters more than hiding visually."

Ward nodded slowly.

"Anything else?"

"Don’t assume a collapsed tunnel is safe."

The commander raised an eyebrow. Silver’s expression remained serious.

"Those worms burrow. The queen does too. A collapse might slow them down, but if your team treats rubble as a permanent barrier, someone is going to die."

Ward looked toward Silas.

"Add it."

"Already did."

He continued studying the map. The commander watched him for a moment.

"Rank Two."

He looked over.

Ward shook his head.

"I keep coming back to that."

Silver smiled faintly.

"So does everyone else."

"I’ve seen Rank Four Contractors panic in less dangerous situations. You survived days beneath an active Rank Six colony, discovered an evolved parasite form, escaped the queen and then drove yourself away from the valley."

"When you list everything together, it sounds considerably worse."