# **A LOCUST STORM IN WEST TEXAS – AND THE HOUSE WITH THE RED LIGHT THAT NEVER TURNED OUT**
## **1. A storm unlike any other**
September in West Texas is usually so hot that the air feels like it’s on fire, but this year, the weather was strange.
That evening, **Dustwill** was bathed in the dull orange light of dusk when the ground began to shake slightly. At first, people thought it was army trucks passing by.
But then the *clacking* sounds of the insects pounding against the windows, like heavy rain.
And within minutes, all the residents saw it:
**A storm of black locusts came from the horizon.**
They covered the gas station, the mini-mart, the cotton farms, and clung to the windows like a living carpet. Children screamed. Adults threw towels, threw water, blocked doors—but to no avail.
In his 40 years as Dustwill Police Chief, **Eli Turner** had never seen anything like it.
He yelled into his walkie-talkie and used a stick to hit the insects.
> “Everyone stay inside! Lock the doors! Block the vents! Don’t turn on the outside lights!”
But then came the strangest thing:
**The locusts weren’t spreading all over town—they were gathering in one place.**
They were forming lines, flying in coils, as if drawn by some invisible force.
Their destination: **The house at the end of Walker Road.**
The only house… with a red light shining through the window all night.
—
## **2. The House of the Freak**
That house belonged to **Jonas Hale**, 34, a meteorologist who used to work for a company that operated weather satellites. After his sister – **Lena Hale** – disappeared on a hiking trip in Big Bend, Jonas quit his job, moved back to Dustwill, and locked the house.
Since then, everyone had seen the red light flashing in the small lab in the backyard.
But no one had ever wondered.
Until tonight.
> Locusts from all over town were descending on Jonas’s house – as if someone had flipped a switch.
Sheriff Eli started his car and headed straight for it.
The town’s crops were done for.
But if Jonas did this—Dustwill would not forgive him.
—
## **3. Red Light**
When Eli arrived, Walker Road was covered in dead locusts. They pounded against the windshield like pebbles.
The red light in Jonas’s lab flickered — but not just any light. It *pulsated* rhythmically, like a heartbeat.
Eli banged on the door:
“Jonas! Open the door! Now!”
No answer.
Eli broke the lock — as soon as he pushed the door open, a blast of heat rushed out like from a furnace. The acrid smell of burning electronic components mixed with the smell of burned locusts.
The living room was dark. But from the laboratory, a red glow lingered like blood.
“Jonas! Are you still alive?”
He turned on the flashlight.
And then, he stepped in.
—
## **4. Hell Lab**
The room was filled with homemade equipment:
– A giant red LED projector
– A climate sensor array
– A set of speakers that generated low-frequency sound waves
– And in the middle of the room was **a stainless steel hospital bed**, on which sat a woman.
Eli paused.
On the bed, two skinny arms were immobilized, her head was shaved, her face was sore from the strong light.
The woman stammered,
“Don’t turn it off… don’t turn it off… the locusts…”
Eli recognized it immediately:
**Lena Hale.
Jonas’s sister.
Missing for 11 months.**
“Oh my god…” Eli grabbed the walkie-talkie. “We’ve found her! Send an ambulance right away!”
A voice behind him said,
“Don’t take my sister anywhere.”
Jonas Hale stood in the corner of the room, his face pale, his eyes red from lack of sleep. His hand was clutching a control device.
“Jonas?! The whole town’s been attacked by insects! You just kidnapped your sister—”
“No!” Jonas screamed, choking as if his lungs were about to burst. “I saved her!”
Eli stepped forward, keeping his distance.
“What are you doing, Jonas? Tell me!”
—
## **5. The Horrifying Secret**
Jonas said, his voice trembling as if he had just emerged from hell:
“Lena… isn’t missing. She’s… infected.”
“Infected? What do you mean?”
Jonas inhaled sharply, his hands shaking so much that the remote control fell to the floor.
“We were hiking in Big Bend when we encountered a locust storm. Hundreds of thousands of them covered Lena.
I managed to drag her back to camp… but from that day on, she changed.”
Eli frowned.
“Changed how?”
Jonas looked at his sister—who was twitching slightly under the red light.
“They… left something on her.”
The air in the room seemed to freeze.
Jonas continued:
“Her skin cells emitted an unusual pheromone. A scent only locusts can detect. No other species reacts to.”
“Wherever there is no red light, they will find her and surround her.”
Eli took a step back.
“You mean… the locusts tonight… are looking for her?”
Jonas nodded:
“I kept her alive for 11 months with a 670nm red light—the only thing that made them lose track.”
“Tonight… the wind changed direction. They picked up Lena’s scent. They came here. And if the light went out…
”
He looked out the window.
“The whole town will be wiped out.”
—
## **6. Twist – The Unexpected Truth**
Eli tried to calm down:
“You have to let me call the CDC. The CDC will know how to handle this infection.”
Jonas looked at him with dead eyes:
“It’s not a disease.”
Eli frowned.
“What do you mean?”
Jonas pointed to the sample analyzer on the table.
“I took a piece of tissue from Lena’s skin… and a sample from the locust’s abdomen.
Their DNA… is 86% the same.”
Eli was stunned:
“It can’t be—”
Jonas shouted:
“IT’S POSSIBLE! Because they didn’t just leave a trace! They *implanted* Lena with a biological spore! An integrated transformation! A… transformation!”
Eli stammered:
“…You said that… your sister… is becoming…”
Jonas collapsed.
“Don’t make me say it…”
But Lena, on the bed, opened her eyes.
The blackness almost took over her entire iris.
She looked at Eli… and whispered:
> “I hear them.
> They’re coming.
> They call me… Queen.”
Eli’s spine went cold.
—
## **7. Climax – When the only choice is impossible**
Suddenly, the sound of shattering glass came from the lab window.
The locusts poured in like a black wave.
Eli pulled out his gun, Jonan turned on the red light to MAX — the room was lit up like fire.
The locusts retreated.
Lena screamed:
“DON’T TURN THE LIGHTS OUT! DON’T—”
The whole room shook.
The main electrical panel exploded with a bang.
The red light went out.
A second of silence.
Then—
**The whole house was engulfed by the shrill screech of millions of locusts.**
—
## **8. The End – Final Twist**
Three hours later, the rescue team reached the scene.
The house was almost completely destroyed. Jonas, Eli, or Lena were nowhere to be seen.
But amid the rubble, they discovered:
**A long tunnel leading out into the western fields — as if dug by millions of creatures at once.**
Four miles farther, a farmer reported seeing:
**A thin, dark woman, her hair mostly gone, walking among the locusts.
The insects made a path for her.
She walked toward the desert.**
No one dared to follow.
The next day’s news called her by the name name:
### **THE LOCUST QUEEN – THE LOCUST QUEEN OF TEXAS**
And the locust storm that night…
It wasn’t the wind.
It wasn’t the weather.
They came to **welcome the one who had spawned from them**.
