Feast

Draco's entire group was left speechless when they saw what was inside of the armored bus. 

"Draco, who are all of these people?!" Amber asked him. 

"These are prisoners, those men tied up in the middle over there are slavers." Draco explained. 

Snow pointed at the chained up prisoners, "These people look terrible! Why would they do something like that?" she asked. 

Draco sighed, "I don't know. Money, I guess?" he shrugged.

"We have to untie them, this is horrible." Snow said. 

Draco shook his head, "No can do. They might be dangerous."

Snow didn't understand, but she reluctantly nodded her head. She trusted that Draco knew what he was doing. 

After Draco's people had loaded into the vehicle, the already cramped bus was so full that the group had to stand over the prisoners to make space. 

Amber spoke up, "What are we going to do with all of these people? There's no room in here." 

Draco smiled lightly, "Don't worry. I have plans for them." he said. 

Draco didn't elaborate further, and he walked up to the front of the bus to sit down in the driver seat. 

There were two other seats next to the driver seat, and Snow and Amber sat next to him. 

"Buckle up." Draco said with a laugh, starting the vehicle up. 

The vehicle promptly started up, and Draco headed South. This was the direction they had just come from, and Amber seemed to realize this. 

"Don't tell me.. Draco, are you doing what I think you're doing?" she asked. 

"You'll see soon." Draco said, ending the conversation there. 

In only half an hour the bus came into view of several bone spurs sticking out of the sand. 

The bus had arrived in front of the slumbering form of Formica, the progenitor Draco had previously encountered the night before. 

At this point, even Snow realized what Draco was planning to do. 

"Draco! You can't possibly be doing this right now." she said, clearly disturbed. 

Draco said nothing as he left the front of the bus, walking towards the group of slavers he had tied up. 

All six of them had regained consciousness, and they were struggling as they fought to break free from their restraints. 

"Easy, now. This is your final stop." Draco said to them. 

They didn't understand what he was saying, but they still shouted curses and obscenities at him. 

Draco paid them no mind as he grabbed the end of the rope and began to drag them through the bus. 

He opened the back door of the bus and dragged them outside, dropping them onto the sand below. 

Draco then came back to the bus to look over all of the chained prisoners. 

Draco counted thirteen of these prisoners, and he only recognized some of them from Hassan's bandit camp. 

The prisoners were made up of men and women, but Draco was only interested in the men who were the most physically able. 

He rounded up all of the women, as well as the men who were particularly scrawny and malnourished. 

Draco broke the chains of the people he had chosen, and began to drag them out of the bus two at a time. 

When Draco was dragging a woman out of the bus, a man who was still chained up became enraged. 

He thrashed against his chains, and shouted something in an Arabic language. 

Draco called over to Amber, "Amber, come over here and tell me what he's saying."

When Amber walked over she had a perturbed look on her face, "H-he's saying that you're taking his wife. He's begging you to leave her with him." 

Draco sighed, "Why does this have to be so complicated?" he asked to no one in particular. 

He shook his head, "Alright, I guess you're coming too." Draco said. 

Draco broke the man's chain off and dragged him out of the bus as well, throwing him down onto the sand next to his wife. 

'I originally intended to keep him, but if I took his wife away he'd definitely hold a grudge against me. We can't have that.' Draco thought to himself, going back into the bus to drag out the remaining prisoners he had chosen. 

When Draco was done he only had seven prisoners left in the bus, and he intended to recruit these people to his cause. 

There were twelve people outside of the bus, and this included the slavers he had stolen the armored bus from. 

While Draco was rounding up the prisoners, Snow rushed out of the bus to confront Draco. 

"Draco, stop this! You can't really be serious, right?" she asked, tears building up in her eyes. 

"Snow, look at these people." Draco said, motioning over to them. 

He continued, "They are all criminals and undesirables. Scum of the Earth." 

"How do you know that for sure? What if they're good people deep down?" she asked.

Draco sighed, "These people are rapists and murderers." he lied.

Draco grabbed a random prisoner with a scary face, "Do you see this man? I saw him back in the city of Sabha. Governor Saalim sentenced him to death for raping a child." he said, lying through his teeth. 

Shock crossed Snow's features, "He is?! How terrible." 

The man watched all of this with confusion. He had no idea Draco was dragging his name through the mud. 

Snow's concern turned to anger, and she spat on the man's face. 

"You scum!" she shouted at him. 

The man became enraged, and he started to thrash against his restraints. 

"You see? He's nothing more than a rabid dog." Draco said, throwing him next to the other prisoners. 

Draco continued, "Go back in the bus my dear. Tell Addo to drive the bus away from here, don't look out of the windows for the next ten minutes." he instructed. 

Snow timidly nodded her head and got into the bus. In just a few moments the bus began to drive off towards the distance. 

Now, Draco and the prisoners were alone in the desert. 

They all looked at him with fear in their eyes. They didn't know what Draco planned to do with them, but they still pleaded to him in a language he couldn't understand. 

Draco simply shook his head, he was glad he didn't understand what they were saying. 

He walked over to the bone spurs in the sand, they were only a short distance away at this point. 

Draco stopped before he reached them, for he knew better now. 

After all, he now knew what was below these imposing bones that stuck out of the sand. 

Draco cleared his throat, "Lord Formica! I have brought gifts!" he shouted out, not knowing how to properly summon the progenitor. 

Draco stood waiting there for a long minute, and he began to wonder if the progenitor was too deep asleep to hear him.

However, the sand around Draco began to shake. 

Draco took a few more steps back for good measure, and he watched with bated breath as Formica's towering form began to rise out of the sand. 

After Formica had risen, he shook the sand from his monumental frame.

Formica then turned his huge head and looked down at Draco's form with his four, blue eyes. 

The pressure from this gaze sent chills down Draco's spine, and he felt like a thousand pounds of weight had suddenly pressed down onto his back. 

**Hello, little ant.** Formica said, his voice reaching into Draco's mind.

Draco still wasn't used to hearing this overpowering voice in his head, and it made his entire head throb.

He pushed the pain aside and addressed the domineering progenitor in front of him.

'Lord Formica! It is good to see you again. I have come to make good on the promise I made you earlier.' he said mentally.

**Already? Wasn't that just a second ago? I haven't even had a chance to fall asleep yet.** Formica said.

Draco laughed, 'I work fast my lord.' 

Truthfully Draco was surprised by Formica's words. It made sense though, for the progenitor had likely lived for thousands of years. 

A few hours had passed for Draco, but to Formica it was as if Draco had only just left. 

Formica's massive head turned to look towards the group of people tied up just a short distance away. 

**I am pleased.** Formica said, his tone betraying his eagerness to feast on human flesh. 

'Indeed, Lord Formica. A feast, as promised.' Draco replied.

The progenitor clicked his mandibles together in elation. He then began to walk over towards the group of people, who were now screaming in terror and trying to break free. 

Each of Formica's footsteps shook the ground, and in only a few steps he was before the prisoners. 

Formica paid no heed to the prisoners' screams and cries for mercy, and he scooped a handful of people in a single hand and tossed them into his huge gullet. 

The sound of bones crunching could be heard even from where Draco was standing, and he winced as he watched the horrifying sight. 

Soon, Formica went on to eat the next batch of prisoners.

By the time the progenitor had eaten everyone, blood dripped down from its mandibles and onto the sand below. 

Formica then turned to look at Draco, his four eyes appraising him in a new light. 

**Well done, little ant.**