When it comes to using animals as metaphors, is there one as universally widespread and repellant as bugs? Unlike other creatures who’re bounded by the terrain they’re living in, there’s no limitations imposed by minuscule insects who can slip through even the staunchest defenses and reside inside habitable and inhabitable homes alike. As a result, they can be found all over the world, despite all attempts at wiping their population out through rolled newspapers, flyswatters and roach sprays. Since scrubbing pestilence through sheer persistence was an impossibility (despite our best efforts), we just had to go on living with them, and as a result, they’ve gained notoriety through fables and earworm songs such as The Ants go Marching One by One, Flight of the Bumblebee, 100,000 Fireflies, La Cucaracha and the perplexingly popular I'm a Bug! I’m a Bug! by The Nostrils.
With such far-reaching influences making their awareness known despite remaining out of sight, it’s no wonder their presence looms largely in our minds. And when they show up in our sights, they intrude on our thoughts, being a nuisance much larger than in reality. So when any depiction of them appears in mass media, they’re given unflattering traits, stereotypical negative portrayals and being shown fatter for the cameras. And when bugs are made larger, their features are exaggerated to the point of otherness. Given the biased propaganda, is it any surprise that the general reaction to bugs is closer to Shoo Fly, Don't Bother Me than Ladybird, Ladybird, Fly Away Home?
The previous story isn’t the only story regarding gigantic bugs. In fact, there’s a shorter story that may be more to your liking. This being the trailer to a horror movie. Your millage may vary.
She wandered the complex complex that was lit with flickering light sources that could use an electrician to fix. It was a wonder anybody could even see anything under these conditions. She had no memory of how she arrived here, let alone what she was doing in this place. It had something to do with looking for something?
She crossed a corridor that was filled with hundreds of shed empty exoskeletons that got progressively larger and larger the further she ventured in. There had clearly been something living in them before. She passed them without paying much notice, being more concerned about her current situation.
Moving around was becoming progressively difficult. Apart from the numerous rudimentary barriers blocking the corridors, every room looked exactly the same. On the walls and floors were numerous dirty warning signs of barely readable text consisting of:
Genectic Experiments
Attracted to Humans
Find them Delicious
It was getting harder to concentrate under such undesirable conditions. The more she wandered, the hungrier she became. For a lived-in facility, there was very little source of leftover food. How long was it since the last time she ate? She couldn’t remember.
She rummaged through the piles of refuse, looking for something of substance, her actions drawing attention from those becoming aware of her presence. Dangling from the ceiling were crawling things wrapping bodies in cocoons that went by unnoticed.
She found an unopened container, and driven by some deep impulse, looked for a tool to open and cook it. It didn’t matter what was inside - anything tastes good enough if you deep-fry it long enough. It might even be possible to use one of the exoskeletons as a food source if there was any remaining meat. She was that hungry.
She’d somehow managed to heat up a pot of boiling oil and was about to dump the contents in when she became aware of being watched. Turning around, she found herself surrounded by hundreds of large bugs with glowing eyes. She didn’t even notice their presence. Had they been here the whole time?
She backed away, trying to keep her distance as they continued edging in, getting closer and closer. She could’ve left this place at any time, but right now, it was already too late. She threw the container at one, the can bouncing off harmlessly. Out of sheer desperation, she threw the pot of boiling oil at them to no effect. She was getting so tired and they were getting so close and she was so hungry, so out of sheer instinct, she reached out and bit into the nearest bug. Upon making contact, she swallowed and found the resulting fluid to be very tasty, and wanted more of the substance, which only caused consternation from the surrounding bugs.
They tried to bite the threat, but upon making contact, their mandible jaws fell away. With their mouths left wide open, she leaned in and started sucking out the interior fluid through the opening, moving from one hole to another.
She started gnawing away indiscriminately at whatever bug was closest, chowing down on the nearest bug, her body glowing with a luminescent light that attracted the wide surplus of food surrounding her that couldn’t run away, even as they wanted to.
This was the natural outcome of researchers trying to produce the perfect pesticide, which only resulted in more resistant breeds to the point that poisons no longer affected them. To combat this, they’d been doing progressively incremental Genectic Experiments involving gigantic insects to remove vermin, keeping the excessive population explosion under control. Somehow along the way, they’d unleashed large scale bugs that were naturally attracted to humans, eating unsuspecting victims from the inside before bursting out through their orifices, which was especially embarrassing at parties.
The problems kept escalating with every introduction of a new addition to the food chain, until they stumbled upon a simple solution - one single bug that would get rid of all the problems once and for all. A single bug that would feast on the remainder of the prior cumulative bugs, her internal digestive system modified for mass consumption, and would never get full, no matter how much was eaten.
They could figure out how to get rid of the latest solution later. It’d just require the creation of another nascent predator.
Assuming there were any survivors.
Now, this story might seem unconventional due to its sudden ironic happy ending, but that’s only because it’s an adaptation. In the original source material, it was the Humans who were Bugs, and the Bugs who were Humans. And the boiling oil was substituted for the fluid in a predator pitching plant. And the Deep-frying was substituted in place of another system that I can’t make heads or tails out of. It’s still not completely clear what species were being conveyed in the first place. Bugs & Humans were the closest equivalent to what I can figure. I only made substitutions so it’d be more relatable to our kind.
And this kind of story isn’t particularly original - there are dozens of variations told throughout the ages in numerous formats. So just remember - the next time a scary story is told, it may not necessarily cast you in a good light.
“Coming up - SEE the tragic tale of an experimental Fruit Fly who’s suddenly given awareness, combined with a foreign element and thrust into a body that’s not her own, her sense of perception and taste irrevocably changed. Despite her new powerful form, she struggles to live with new sensations, forced to live beyond her natural lifespan.
THE HUMAN. Her name doesn’t really matter. Coming to a Theater far away from you.”
–Don’t be afraid...
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