Giant Burrowing Insect

**Giant Burrowing Insects** are a species of large but unnamed carnivorous burrowing insects seemingly evolved from mole crickets. They are large, measuring between 7 and 10 feet long, and like mole crickets have their forelimbs adapted into large shovel-like legs (making them very impressive burrowers, though they are unable to burrow through concrete); the six back legs are more crab-like in nature and indicate that some form of polydactyly has occurred in their species at some point in the past and likely hinting that in their time they could no longer properly be classified as insects; however, due to a lack of scientific study they are still referred to as insects for the mere convenience of the matter.

Also unlike insects, the giant burrowing insects (henceforth referred to as "GBIs") possess 2 mandibles attached to a small mouth and a pair of plates in front of their faces. Their backs are protected by an armadillo-like armored plating. This armor plating is resistant to both bullets and EMD shots, though this protection does not extend to their face and leaves this area vulnerable.

Other features include a pair of antennae and a white fleshy face.

GBIs live in colonies consisting of approximately fifty members. They burrow large networks of underground tunnels and use the large excavated space this network connects as their nest. They are known to hibernate during the winter similar if not exactly like the action taken by some modern day insects, remaining dormant until weather heats them back up. The first GBI to awaken is responsible for leaving the nest on a recovery mission and enter the various tunnels to collect food for the rest of the colony.

## History

### Pre-2011

At some undesignated point in time before the year 2011 AD, an anomaly in London released a nest of these creatures from a sterile alternate reality to our then-present day. At this point they immediately burrowed underground and formed a colony before slipping into hibernation in a supermarket that was currently under construction at the time.

### 2011

In the spring of this year the first GBI awoke and proceeded with its recovery mission. When a human construction worker fell accidentally and created a hole in the street that inadvertently opened up into the GBI tunnels, the scout attacked and subdued him, taking him back to the colony and leaving him cocooned as future food.

Three individuals of the ARC team eventually arrived on the scene to investigate by climbing down into the exposed tunnel—Abby Maitland, Hilary Becker and Matt Anderson. The same scout seemingly sensed their arrival (likely using its antennae) and emerged before them. Though they attempted to use their EMDs to subdue the creature its armor simply led to it only being slowed down, forcing the investigators to flee back to the surface to avoid capture.

The scout was next reported surfacing at a backyard barbecue, where it attacked one of the attendants and dragged him, like the worker before, back to the nest. With this attack, the trio of investigators returned, with Matt using vibrations from a lawnmower to successfully draw the creature back out. Though the plan was clever, another human named Connor Temple showed up at the worst possible moment and was quickly dragged underground with the GBI, though not before several shots from firearms pierced into its unprotected face. Though the GBI scout made it back to its nest, it perished of its wounds before successfully cocooning Connor.

Seeing that the rest of the nest remained in its hibernation status, he turned on the building's gas in an attempt to kill them all. However, this action disturbed the nest and they began to awake. Matt arrived at the colony at this point, and he and Connor retreated back to the shopping center's underground level with only one of the GBIs in close pursuit. Despite its attempt to capture the human interlopers, the ARC team detonated explosives, igniting the gas and wiping all known GBIs out.

However the species presumably remained alive and well in their own time.