It’s been far too long since I’ve written a short story. So, here’s one. I was inspired at the start of the month by popular science/pop culture site i09 and their weekly Concept Art Writing Prompt features. They choose a cool pic and encourage site readers to create a story based on the image. My entry needs some editing but I wrote it in about 20 minutes.

Below is the story, and original pic, and here’s the post from 109.

“They’re not beetles though are they?”

“What?”

“Look at the legs. They’re spiders. Obviously.”

“I was just trying to be funny. You know – VW Beetle, because they’re half car and half insect.”

“More like a third car, really.”

Davis rolled his blue eyes and sighed; a familiar response to his younger sister’s annoying habit of never laughing at his witty observations.

Molly was a genius though, and despite being a typical pre-pubescent girl in some ways, she was more like Albert Einstein or Stephen Hawking in many more. Underneath her freckles and pigtails was a brain that defied expectations. She purposely wore pink dresses and shirts with unicorns and rainbows on them to surprise people. She loved being the smartest person in the world, even more than she loved her hippy parents on the commune. Molly figured that she was either adopted, or a freak of nature; more a product of a daring genetic experiment than two unschooled hicks from the American backwoods.

“Here will do,” ordered Molly in her usual fashion.

Davis stopped peddling his rusty bike by the side of the only road to their sprawling farm complex and scratched his scrawny legs. Molly hopped out of the large basket on the front.

“They’ve stopped.”

“Of course they have Davis. They’re hungry.”

Davis took off his NY Mets baseball cap and ran his hand through his messy hair, looking around the silent brown and greens of their environment. “But there’s nothing here. They’ve eaten all the cows,” he said. “What else can we give them? Everyone at home already hates you for taking away most of their food.”

“That won’t be a problem for much longer Davis.”

Davis squinted and looked into her sister’s eyes, oblivious to the harsh calculations being made behind them.

“I don’t know why you made them like animals anyway. You should’ve just left them as sculptures or something,” moaned Davis.

“It was an accident. Sort of. A happy accident,” replied Molly with a feint yet crooked smile.

The so-called accident that created the pair of automobile monstrosities was a success in Molly’s eyes. After experimenting with toy cars and parts from a dishwasher, she found she was able to create life with parts of abandoned military hardware from the recently destroyed army bunker just outside of town. Finding two abandoned Volkswagens in Mr. Harris’ field, her and Davis dragged the struts of a fallen water tower, for the arachnids’ appendages.

As the two mechanical monsters lumbered towards the siblings, Davis noticed they were increasing their speed.

“Weird.”

“What is?” Molly asked with a knowing grin.

“Usually they stop when they see us. I thought they were scared of us.”

Davis looked behind him, awaiting Molly’s response, but she was at the bike, taking something from the basket.

“They’re changing, Davis,” Molly said as she walked towards him, carrying something heavy behind her.

Davis turned to look at the moving beasts. “Huh. Cool.”

“Indeed,” replied Molly as she put her hand on her brother’s shoulder and raised the greasy wrench as high as she could.

“Cool.” Molly brought down the grey weapon on to her brother’s skull three times, with increasing force. Davis collapsed, face first in to the bitumen, as his blood mingled with the grass.

Molly took a few steps back as the cars paused.

“Lunch time,” she said, fully aware that her creations couldn’t understand her. “See you tomorrow.”

September 25, 2012
Categories: My Serious Stories . Tags: sci-fi, Short stories . Author: Kris Bather . Comments: Leave a comment