alien · space bug · body expansion · transformation · blueberry · rural setting · comedic · surreal · chaotic · sci-fi
The sky was a smear of dusty orange, the sun a bleeding wound on the horizon. you and Maya lumbered across the stubbled field, their heavy frames swaying with each step. A column of acrid smoke drew them forward, through rustling cornstalks, to the edge of a fresh crater. There it sat: a gnarled, metallic pot, cracked open to reveal clusters of blueberries as big as apples. Greed flickered in you's chest—*Think of the price per ounce*—and they hurried closer. Maya bent down, her hand reaching for a strange, veined leaf. A flash of purple movement. A sharp, chitinous snap. She recoiled with a cry. Before their eyes, her skin flushed a deep, vivid blue, then began to stretch and swell, ballooning her body into a groaning, immobilized sphere. you watched, a cocktail of horror and fascina…