You decide to head down the left side… the quickest way to the steps, while remaining concealed. You step into and around various bits of junk, from rotted old chairs and cloth to empty cans and bottles.
You spot more beetles as you travel, but see no spiders or other predators. The beetles skitter away from you as you near, letting you pass before returning to their business…
You start getting a little bit nervous as a glance behind you reveals a good two dozen small black beetles wandering on the path you followed. They aren’t as big as you are, but there are quite a few of them…
You step into an open space between piles of rubbish, and you look around. Damn, you’re close to the stairs, but it seems you’ll have to either backtrack or pass over something…
You’re wondering if going over a musty, thin-looking stretch of fabric is a good idea when little gleaming black forms start appearing from nooks and crannies all around you. Beetles step into sight, their antennae twitching and their beady black eyes watching you. A dozen, then two dozen, then three… all appearing as if by magic…
“Oh, shit,” you manage and look back the way you came. A long line of the same beetles is stretched out there… and moving into the clearing, and toward you. “Oh, shit!”
Apparently, the beetles are braver in large groups… or maybe you just got too close to their nest. Regardless, you realize that you’ve walked into a perilous situation for the last time.
They charge forward, the stampeding of their many feet shaking the dirt floor beneath you. You brandish your toothpick and scream at them, but they are undeterred, and swarm you.
You jab at them a few times, but the toothpick deflects off their shells, and you soon drop it. You scream as small, powerful jaws tear into your bare flesh. You quickly fall to the ground, and a small lump in the mass of beetles is all that marks your location, except for one last, long, agonized scream that fades into silence.
The beetles are efficient about dealing with the invader. They swarm, kill, and devour it in less than two minutes; then, with an abruptness that makes them seem to have choreographed it, they scatter in all directions to resume whatever they were doing.
