CHAPTER 57: CHAPTER 56: THE FOREST HOWLED

Good.

We continue.

No stylistic experiments.

Just clear language, emotional weight, action that moves.

I’ll write **Chapter 74 – The Collision** in **Part 1** (about 1,000+ words).

When you say **continue**, I’ll send Part 2 to bring the scene to the cliffhanger.

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### **Chapter 74 – THE COLLISION** *(Part 1)*

The moment before everything broke was strangely quiet.

Zza felt the stillness press against her shell, like the forest itself was deciding whether to breathe. Glowbeetles hovered in a slow, uneasy circle overhead. Scarabs lowered themselves to the ground, claws spread wide. The Centipedes formed a coiled barrier around the clearing, segments rising and falling with nervous rhythm. The Elder hung above them, strands of silk stretching out into the shadows like thin white lines of tension.

The humans stood across the clearing, their suits smooth, faces hidden behind their helmets. The leader held her hands open, empty. A display of peace. Or control. Zza couldn’t tell which.

She didn’t trust stillness anymore.

"Do not move," the Elder murmured. "The forest is on the edge. If we act first, it will react."

Zza’s claws curled. Every part of her wanted to rush forward, tear the metal from the human’s limbs, make them feel the fear she felt. But Buzz pulsed through the ground beneath her feet—unsteady, flickering, but there.

*Wait.*

She held.

The human leader spoke again. Her voice was calm, too calm.

"We detected an anomalous signal. High cognitive patterning. Emotional resonance. Something thinking, communicating, adapting. We believe this intelligence is central to the behavior shift in this forest. We are here to study it. To understand it."

Zza felt the words hit her like cold water.

They didn’t want the forest.

They wanted **him.**

"You’re not studying him," she said. "You do not get to classify him. Catalog him. Own him. He is not yours."

The leader didn’t flinch. "If he is influencing the environment, we need to understand the level of threat—"

A Scarab slammed its claw against the ground. "Threat? You came into our home with weapons and cages."

The human beside the leader shifted his stance. Not aggressive—but ready.

Zza’s eyes narrowed.

She could smell it now. Metal. Oil. The faint electric charge of devices hidden beneath their armor.

They hadn’t come to understand.

They had come prepared to **take.**

The forest pulsed again beneath her. Stronger this time.

Buzz trying to speak.

Zza pressed her claws deeper into the soil. "Buzz. We’re here. Talk to me."

And for a moment, she heard him.

*Zza—stop them. Do not—*

The pulse stuttered. Cracked.

Something inside him slipped, like a thread pulled too tight.

The Elder snapped its head upward. "His connection is destabilizing. The humans’ scanning disrupted his focal integrity."

Zza didn’t understand the technical words.

She understood the truth:

They had hurt him.

Just by being here.

The leader saw the reaction ripple through the coalition.

She spoke fast now, urgent. "Listen. The entity is in distress. If you want it to survive, we need to extract it from the network before the pattern collapses."

Zza’s breath stopped.

Extract.

Like cutting him out.

Like ripping him loose from the one thing holding him alive.

Her voice came out quiet, dangerous.

"You mean kill the forest to save what you think is the important piece."

The leader didn’t deny it.

Zza didn’t think.

She moved.

Not a leap. Not a scream.

Just one step forward.

The clearing shattered.

Scarabs surged.

Centipedes lunged.

Glowbeetles burst into bright arcs of gold.

The humans reacted instantly—shields snapped up, forming a curved barrier that flared with blue-white light. The first Scarab struck it and was thrown backward, skidding across the dirt.

Blinding sparks filled the air.

Zza tried to get to the leader, but a blast of compressed air launched her sideways. She hit the ground hard, rolled, and came up again, claws sliding through the soil.

The Elder swooped down, silk flying like ribbons, binding one soldier’s arm. The human sliced through the threads with a heated blade. The silk burned. The Elder recoiled with a pained hiss.

The Centipedes wrapped around another human’s legs, trying to pull him down. He planted one device into the dirt—

A shockwave detonated outward.

Segments flew.

Glowbeetles dropped from the air.

Zza staggered, her head ringing.

The humans weren’t overwhelmed. They weren’t panicking.

They had trained for this.

They were winning.

Zza’s chest tightened.

Where was Buzz?

The ground pulsed beneath her again—but it wasn’t steady. It flickered hard, like something was thrashing against its own thoughts.

Inside the network, Buzz saw everything at once.

The humans.

Zza.

The clearing.

The fear.

The pain.

His signal broke across the roots in jagged bursts. He tried to reach the coalition. To direct. To guide. But the entity inside the network held him back.

*Your emotional disruption is destabilizing the structure.*

"Then help me stabilize it!"

*You must relinquish singular identity control.*

It wanted him to let go.

To become the forest completely.

No boundaries.

No memory of "him."

"No," Buzz whispered. "If I lose myself, I lose her."

The entity paused, absorbing the meaning.

*Attachment persists.*

Buzz pushed harder, forcing the roots to move.

The forest responded.

Above, vines shot upward, wrapping around the nearest human’s leg, yanking him off-balance. The coalition surged again. Scarabs slammed into weakened points. Glowbeetles blinded the visor lenses. Centipedes constricted armor joints.

The humans faltered.

Zza felt the shift instantly.

"That’s him."

Her voice cracked.

"He’s fighting."

She threw herself forward again.

This time she broke through.

She tackled the nearest soldier, driving him to the ground. Her claws scraped against armor, sparks flying. She went for the breathing seals—she didn’t want to kill, just disable—but the soldier twisted, knee slamming into her ribs.

Pain shot through her side.

She didn’t stop.

Silk snapped from her hands, wrapping the soldier’s arm, wrenching it back. She pinned him to the soil, breathing hard. Her vision blurred, but she held him down, forcing stillness.

"Listen to me," she said through clenched teeth. "He is not yours to take."

The soldier didn’t struggle.

He said quietly, "If we don’t take him, the forest will collapse under the load of his mind."

Zza froze.

He sounded sincere.

Not mocking.

Not threatening.

Just telling the truth he believed.

Her grip loosened—

And in that hesitation, everything broke again.

The pool in the center of the clearing erupted upward as if something beneath the earth had been forced to the surface.

The water split.

Roots tore free.

Light burst through the ground.

Buzz was rising.

Not physically.

Not as a body.

But as a form of living light wrapped in the shape of memory.

The humans stepped back, shielding their visors.

The coalition fell silent.

Zza’s heart nearly stopped.

Buzz looked like he was standing there.

Not whole.

Not stable.

But unmistakably him.

His voice reached only her.

*Zza... don’t let them—*

His form flickered, rippling like heat off stone.

*I can’t hold this long—*

Zza took a step toward him—

A tranquilizer launcher clicked.

The human leader had moved.

Quiet.

Fast.

Precise.

The dart struck the ground beside Zza’s foot.

Not a warning shot.

A calibration shot.

They had locked on.

Zza’s eyes widened.

They weren’t just going to take Buzz.

They were going to **extract him now.**

Buzz flickered harder, his form collapsing inward.

*Zza—run—*

She didn’t move.

She reached for him.

And the forest howled.