James Turnbow

In nature, these fungal spores come into contact with an ant and hijack the insect's body through a series of roots in the muscles and chemicals in the brain.

These chemicals prompt the so-called zombie ant to seek out an ideal place for the parasitic fungus to grow.

Once the ant reaches this destination, it will clamp down on the tree or branch with its mandibles.

It will remain there, the fungus killing it as it grows, eventually sprouting out of the ant's body and developing spores to start the whole process over again.

Kate had developed a strain of cordyceps that prompted the ants to spread the spores throughout the whole colony.

But during his experiments with the isolated lab colonies, the spread had taken weeks.

We didn't have weeks.

My hope was that, by adding the mystery pathogen, I had sped up the process considerably.

As I watched in awe, it quickly became apparent that my gamble had paid off.

Chaos spread back through the river of ants like dominoes toppling.

The orderly uninfected were quickly turned as the infection swept through their numbers like wildfire on a windy day.

Philo?

I asked, walking toward the door, feet crunching on the ants.

You okay?

Holy shit, holy shit, it worked!

I breathed a sigh of relief at the sound of his voice.

By the time I stepped out into the sunlight, the next phase of the infection had started.

Instead of seeking an ideal place for the cordyceps to grow and develop more spores, the insects were marching back to their colony.

They moved drunkenly, the fungus damaging their bodies irreparably.

I saw Philo step out of the trailer.