Flash! of the Week: "The Blight Seed"

It looked like a half-buried shell, but as she dug through the sand around its edges, she found it was something completely different, something she'd never seen before and only existed in stories. She had to be imagining—it simply could not be a piece of Star Wormwood. The government had warned people that it was possible, though highly unlikely, that remnants of the living asteroid might survive the detonation and entry through the atmosphere. Only three specimens have been discovered, all devoid of life.

She poked the grayish entity with a small branch she had picked up while beach combing. It was hard like a shell, and it did not give to her prodding. She paused for a moment, debating whether to call the police or to run to the lifeguard stand that was half a mile up the beach. If she called the authorities, they would take it to a lab with the rest of the specimens. Someone else might claim it as their discovery if she went to the lifeguard. After all, the reward was still $1,000 for any found pieces that may have landed.

Instead, she decided to dig out the piece and take it home. Maybe she could negotiate a better price. Her family was still struggling since her father died, so the more she could get, the better off they would be. As she extracted it, she thought she felt a strange sensation running through her body. It was brief and unexplainable, neither a feeling of touch nor a sensation of temperature or texture. Paying it no mind, she removed the piece and held it in her palm. It was roughly 4 inches across and about an inch thick. Firm like stone, it was light in her hand, about the weight of a piece of bread. She placed it in her backpack and hurried home, observing if anyone witnessed her theft of an artifact punishable by imprisonment.

That night, she pulled the piece from her backpack and examined it. It appeared darker, but she figured it was due to the lighting in her room. It also felt heavier, but she figured that was because she was in a hurry to leave and didn't pay attention to it. After examining it for a few minutes, she placed it on her nightstand, turned off the lamp, and fell into a deep but restless sleep.

---

In the middle of the night, an eye opened in the piece, which had now taken the shape and color of the original abomination, though it was no larger than a softball. It turned its body to look around the room and finally gazed upon the girl. It stared at her as the eye glowed a sinister yellow, radiating a sense of death and decay in its leer. One of its tentacles slithered forward, slowly wrapping around her neck. It squeezed.