Night

Despite the nightmare, Gregory was able to sleep for about 2 hours. When he woke up he felt better, but still tired. That memory he saw in his sleep had taken a toll on him. The sun outside was now starting to set. It was afternoon.
Gregory felt an odd cold. The desert heat had turned into extreme frost, that's how deserts tend to work.
One of the kids in the room went up to him and offered a fur blanket. Gregory humbly accepted.
"Thank you."
In his mind that memory was still vivid, keeping him cold from the inside.

***

"Dinner!" A shout from the ground floor of the building filled the silence and the people around him started making their way down.
After arriving downstairs himself Gregory took a seat on top of an empty wooden stool next to a barrel of the same material that served as a table.
Joshua gave him a plate that consisted of a curious dried meat, boiled brown rice, fried insects, and a rather tasty looking fruit, accompanied by a ceramic cup of water.
"Ughh.. thanks!"
"No worries sonny, everyone's gotta eat right?"
The food was obviously quite the far cry from the delicious gourmet dishes that people ate in Nemesia but apparently this was a usual dish here, judging from the reactions of the people around him.
The door of the main building opened and he saw Atra come in. She did not look as energetic as when they first met, indicated by her yawning. Working all day under these conditions must be tiring.
"Oh, Gregory, hi there!" in contrast, her voice was as joyful as ever.
She started trotting over to sit on an empty stool opposite of him.
"How was your first day here?" Her curious yet playful scarlet round eyes were glued on Gregory.
"F-Fine, I guess..." He was blushing and stuttering. His embarrassment could not be hidden.
"I'm totally beat right now! I used up all the dried herbs to make medicine, we are running out of everything..." She put her head in her arms. Gregory started feeling exhausted just looking at her.
"Your job is tough huh? Are you the only doctor here?" Despite the circumstances, the people in this settlement seemed to be quite happy. Gregory thought that was the case due to the fact that they all were trying to make each other feel better by spending time together and talking to each other. He decided to mimic that behavior. After all, being sad doesn't solve any problem.
"Right now yeah, but I have a couple of apprentices in training!" Atra looked over to the kids who were eating on top of a big faded red couch in the corner of the room. Their expressions looked joyous and Gregory thought he could see a couple of tears coming out of Atra's eyes.
"Can you teach me as well so I can help you with the work?" He was trying his best.
"Hahahaha! Thanks for the thought but I don't think you're cut out to be a doctor!"
"What is that supposed to mean?" 

***

Eventually, everyone had finished their dinner, and they started leaving their plates on top of the bar counter.
"Hey, Joshua." Gregory was pleasantly surprised with today's menu, but he had one question.
"Hhm..? What is it boy?"
"From what animal was that dried meat made?" 
"Giant Eleodes sonny, it's really common around here and they got plenty of edible meat."
"And what's that"
"Beetles. You never seen one?"
"..!"
Nasty pictures filled Gregory's mind and he felt like throwing up. He did not try to hide that.
"Heh, it sounds bad but them suckers taste good don' they?"

After blowing all the candles and closing every window, everyone went upstairs to sleep.
"Is it possible for me to take a candle upstairs with me? I kind of.. struggle to sleep.. without any light...." Gregory was almost too embarrassed to ask that but Joshua answered completely seriously.
"They're attracted to light. We can't be leavin' no candle on."
"Who's attracted to light?"
"The insects."
"..."
"Ya know, when you told me you "got lost" and ended up here without remembering anything I thought ya just maybe had a loose screw, but now I'm starting to believe it, heh."

They all lay down and went to sleep. The fur blankets were not enough to keep warm in the unforgiving desert night but they were better than nothing. Despite that, the atmosphere was weirdly calming due to the silence that was rarely interrupted by the buzzing sound of some giant flying insect flying by. 

***

Leon Thaleus

"Goddammit...."
"How did it end up like this."

The expedition team leader muttered to himself.
He was sitting by himself inside a small sandstone cave while his comrades were sleeping tight in the settlement. That cave used to be the nest of giant cockroaches. He slayed them all, running out of ammo and injuring himself in the process. One of the roaches managed to bite him in his left shoulder with its giant toxin covered mandibles. His clothes were full of holes and his skin full of burns. Roach blood was splattered all over him. His sturdy face was sweating.
Leon used to be the leader of one of the expedition teams the settlement had formed. His handsome blue eyes had turned red, and his short brown hair was messy and greasy.
He started crying. Who wouldn't in his situation.
All of his squad mates were slaughtered by some wizard wanderers, and now he was stranded in the middle of the desert on his own. Injured and out of supplies.
Being outside in the desert in the middle of the night was practically suicide. That was the time where all the giant insects emerged from their nests and borrows. The wasteland turned into a warzone every night and any human unfortunate enough to be there was free food for the abominations.
Leon knew that well, and because he was way too far away from the settlement he had to find shelter somewhere, anywhere.

crack

A peculiar sound echoed in the cave, Leon barely heard it and he didn't know what to make of it. He drew his tactical knife out of its scabard while forcing himself to stop crying. Leon never cried. He was a natural born leader. This was new for him.

crack
click

Leon saw dozens of roach babies emerging from the darkness and jumped up out of fear.
A roach egg sack had burst open and the babies were starving.
The roach mother had hidden the egg sack in a dark corner of the cave, below a small sandstone, to ensure the survival of her younglings.
Each newborn was roughly the size of a human hand.
Their antennae were moving frantically, searching for chemical signals until they all eventually picked up on an incredible amount of fear pheromones, produced by the only human in that cave.
Fight or flight.
Leon had blocked the only entrance and exit of the cave with a boulder so he could try to sleep safely but it was now blocking his escape.
"AAAGHHHHH!"