We went deeper, and I fell asleep during the drive. I was jarred awake by an incredibly loud noise, lasting at least a minute. It was a deep, bassy tone that shook the entire truck. We looked outside to see if we could find the source of the noise, but we had no luck. We kept going, all of us arguing about what could have made the noise. After the usual 20-ish minutes pass, the truck stops completely, and the wind starts picking up. I’m voted to go investigate. I put on my mask and open the door to an Ashstorm. The grill of the truck is covered in a thick layer of hot ash, as it always is, and I perform the standard cleaning routine. As I finish and turn around, there is an abnormal pile of ash about one and a half meters in front of the truck. I squat down and search for a rock, not moving my eyes from the bulge. I toss it and hit the target dead-on. Instantly a large insect-thing burst up from the ground and lunged at me. I fire 3 rounds. One misses, but two bullets find their mark, tearing through the bug's head and midsection. It lay dead on the path. Upon closer inspection, it’s a slightly bigger version of the insect we found at the village.

The wind picks up even more, the ash reducing visibility significantly. The ash was smoldering now, and the few patches of my skin that was exposed began to burn. I climbed back into the truck and told the driver to press on. After about ten minutes we heard the sound again, only much closer and much louder. I feared that my eardrums might burst. I looked up through the cloudy window and saw a figure through the dusty wind. It stood at least twenty feet tall, with long, skinny arms ending with powerful clawed hands that nearly dragged on the ground. It made the sound again, and all I could do was look up at it in awe. I couldn’t even see the whole thing through the truck’s windows. It only occurred to me that we were in trouble when it reached for the truck. A squadmate told the driver to floor it, and it miraculously didn't give chase.