I stepped in a hornet's nest.

[Gerbil]

About an hour ago my sister and I went on a hike, and at this point in time, I regret nothing more.

Firstly, I loath hornets, wasps and pretty much anything that can sting and fly at the time, now doubly so. Ever watch one of those tv shows where they show the swarm of bees just going crazy? Now tick them off about ten times more and put yourself in the center of it. It was a very large nest and I pretty much waltzed right on top of it.
I can't believe I didn't see them. I also don't believe I have ever run that fast or that far in such a short period of time, ever. Pfft, I probably broke some sort of record, or the sound barrier or something.

It was scary as all get out, I knew as soon as I set my foot down what I had done. And of course, as soon as I yelled for my sister to run, I turned away and fell. Omg. It was exactly like something out of a horror movie. I felt just like that girl must have just after she trips and sees the masked dude attempting to impale her with his rusty kitchen knife. I was back up and running before my brain could comprehend the situation. I had plenty of encouragement, though, in the form of numerous pain pricks pretty much everywhere on me.
I actually can't remember much of the running after that, just that they followed me and every time that I stopped and thought they were gone, they set me straight pretty fast.

My sister survived fairly unscathed, she was behind me far enough and beat most of them to the house. My jeans and shoes saved me a bit, but those suckers can sting through pretty much everything apparently, and ooooooooooooowmygoodness they hurt. I don't know exactly how many stings I have, but aside from my fingers everything hurts, itches and burns, Ugh.
And no worries, though, I am currently on enough benadryl to take a horse and a half down.

Tell me I am not the only one oblivious enough to the surrounding world to step on a mine filled with vicious little winged-ant vermin.

 

[sourland]

Been there - done that. Those stings are like liquid fire.

This time of year the nest is filled with young queens that will be next years colony founders. The colony becomes extremely protective at this time of year because of this. When I worked at a veterinary clinic this was the season when we saw a lot of hornet attacked dogs.

 

[Gerbil]

Yes, liquid fire. That is the perfect definition!
That might help explain their very unneighborly reaction. I have stepped right next to a hornets nest before and aside from giving me a heart attack, they didn't swarm like this! This was like Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds, but very much so worse.

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

My son rode his 4 wheeler over a yellow jackets nest once. They had a large rock at the entrance and he got hung on it. Rather than ditch the wheeler and run for it, he decided to try and free it first, then when he got stung he started panicking. Long story short, I had to run into the swarm of angry yellow jackets and save him. And that was a very unpleasant thing. Very unpleasant indeed

 

[Glenmar]

That is one of my biggest fears. Sorry that happened to you.

 

[theoldchick]

You ain't the only one! I was mobbed by yellow jacket wasps while working on a fence. Not nice. Not nice at all.