Of a Scare

I had a close call with death yesterday. I was walking home to my dorm when I decided to take a shortcut. This was nothing new. I always take the shortcut, it's about 10 minutes shorter, and it was really hot outside, so 10 minutes shorter is a pretty big deal.

I stepped onto the little path, which is really just a covered drain in the road, and began to cross over to the other side. To give you a sense of perspective, this drain is only about a foot wide. Everyone uses it here as a foot path, though I've seen the brave bike over it before. The left side is up against a fence and someone's house, where both have a significant green area. The right side drops off a few meters to a communal farm. People can grow vegetables, fruits, and flowers there. It only takes a couple minutes to cross over normally.

I got to the middle, and out of nowhere come three suzumebachi. I abruptly froze, thinking what on earth should I do? If I turned around, they'd chase me. They are predators after all, and secondly, they swarm, like bees. So, running would have caused those three to chase me, as well as possibly calling out the rest of the nest. If I stepped back, I might stumble on the path, and also, the stones move, which would have caused a decent amount of sound. These things are known for attacking bikers and such for being noisy, so that really wasn't an option either. I decided to stay still and make like a tree.

The hornets hovered there for a while, me looking at them, them looking at me. I felt like they needed some sort of your-imminent-death-is-approaching song. I could hear the sound of their wings as they fluttered in the air, and the stingers were obvious. I thought, "What do I do if I get stung?" It only takes twice and you're dead. It was only a few seconds I'm sure, but eventually the three suzumebachi decided I wasn't a threat and flew away. I waited a few more seconds just to make sure, and then I cautiously made my way to the other side. When I got back to the dorm, I realized just how dangerous of a situation I was in. Even now, I have no idea why there were three of them together. One alone is enough to kill almost anything. Either the things have moved on to killing bears, or they were returning to the nest. Either way, I'm glad I made it though, and I'll be on the lookout for more.