Eaten Alive by Dead Sunflowers

6pm.

“I don’t know how you found this place, but it looks like it’s the perfect set for a horror film. You did check for serial killers before bringing me here, right?” Ashta offered a nervous chuckle as she knelt to unzip her tripod from its case. She was doing her best to shake the ominous feeling that they shouldn’t be there. It wasn’t a feeling she was used to and she didn’t like it. But, she promised Jenica would do the shoot for her latest “little blog of horrors” as she liked to call it. A promise is a promise – no matter how much she wanted to pack up and sprint the half mile back to the car.

“Serial killers?” Jenica’s laugh sounded pensive as she recalled her conversation with the field’s owner, “No, but wouldn’t that be a perfect addition? A photoshoot for a short horror story blog interrupted by serial killers chasing us through a field full of dead sunflowers. I may have to write that as the second installment of this series,” she mused. Ashta just rolled her eyes as she continued setting up, waiting for her to continue. She had absolutely no desire to be a character in one of Jenica’s stories, real or otherwise. 

“But I did have an odd conversation with the farmer that owns the property. He freaked me out a little. He was friendly enough, I guess, but there was just something weird about him – like he was allergic to people or something. He was fine until I asked about the sunflower field, then he was all gruff and shifty when I asked to borrow it for a shoot. Like he didn’t want to say yes but couldn’t find a good reason not to. He said we have until 6:30pm to shoot. We need to be back in our car by 7pm or his livestock dogs will think we’re trespassing when he turns them out for their rounds. He said that would be unfortunate for everyone involved.”
Jenica paused for a moment, her green orbs taking in the expanse of dead sunflowers in front of her. It had to cover at least 20 acres or more which, to a girl that lived on only one, felt endless. She smoothed her fingers over her black ruffled tafetta dress she purchased for the shoot. She had scoured every thrift shop within 50 miles until she happened on the perfect one to match her latest story. Her fishnet tights disappeared into black-patent combat boots that were a triumph when found. She brushed her lace gloved hand through her thick blonde strands, trying to get her hair to stay put just the way she wanted. She had a specific idea for this shoot and with one chance to get it right. She wanted everything to be perfect.

Jenica finalized her latest horror short story earlier that day. With eager readers waiting for her next installment, she didn’t have a lot of time before the post needed to go live.

“Strange. Guess I better work my magic quickly.” She smiled as she held up her camera, shaking it a little with a proud smile. It’ll be dark by then anyway so we’ll be done either way. You ready?” She turned toward the field, checking her lighting with some practice shots before pointing to a large stand of brown drooping sunflowers. Each one was tall, easily over 6 feet, with brown drooping heads. They’d lost their bright yellow leaves weeks ago with the season change and now stood like they had lost all hope. Which, supposedly, they had because they were all dead. 

Jencia moved to the spot, looking up directly into the face of one of the flowers while gingerly reaching up as if to touch it in her first pose. The time was 6:07pm.

6:32pm. 

As they worked, the sun moved quickly dropping below the horizon leaving behind a bright orange glow that seemed to set the field ablaze. “One more and then we’ll go. That background is too much to pass up. Step into the flowers a bit so the glow looks like it’s above your head.”

Jenica backed into the first row of lifeless flowers, examining the tall brown stalk and drooping leaves while she arranged herself next to the deceased plant. She’d never been this close to a dead sunflower before, and suddenly being surrounded by them unnerved her. The way their faces held hundreds of pointy black seeds that looked like sharp weapons ready to eject at any moment provoked a feeling of dread she didn’t quite comprehend. These were just dead flowers. So why did she feel panic creeping up her spine?

She made a mental note to add them into her next horror short story later. Ashta called out to her, “All done! I think these came out great! I’ll start breaking things down. We went a little over time so we’ll have to jog back to the car to make it by 7.”

As she worked, Jenica turned to stare at the flowers once again. The sun was almost gone now replaced by a dark hazy glow across the field. As she stared, Jenica thought she saw a seed move. She blinked. “Just a trick of the light,” she thought. Her eyes hadn’t fully adjusted to the twilight yet. Then she saw again. This time she was staring directly at the offending seed watching it wiggle its way loose from its host. “Definitely not the light….” she whispered to herself. Jenica’s eyes followed the see as it fell then jumped as the seed started to writhe in the dirt. Her imagination immediately conjured up an alien lifeform bursting forth to lung at her face. She shook her head, regaining her composure for a moment, but she still took one step away from the offending seed.

“Maybe some kind of bug?” she thought. “Plants are home to all kinds of nasty creatures – especially after they die.”

As she watched, the seed abruptly stopped writhing then slowly began to spread apart. A tiny clawed hand thrust its way out of the pointy end of the seed followed by an arm and then a head. Jenica stared in disbelief, her mouth hanging open in awe. She had read about creatures that looked just like this one. What she hadn’t read was anything about them emerging from sunflowers. “Is that a pixie?” she wondered. Before she regained her senses and therefore any sense of self-preservation, the tiny creature fully emerged from the seed slowly looking around until its black beady eyes met hers. It wasn’t cute. It was menacing. The gray color of its skin paired with those black eyes, long clawed fingers, and needle-like teeth screamed this thing wasn’t friendly. Anything built like a weapon couldn’t be, could it? It watched her with an eerie calmness she didn’t like at all. Then in a moment she almost missed, it arched its back producing wings akin to a dragonfly’s.  It fluttered its wings as it stretched its tiny arms into the air getting used to its newfound freedom, then slowly hovered over to land at the top of Jenica’s boot-covered shin just below her kneecap. It took one long inhale of her skin, then bit down fiercely into the flesh of her knee. 

Jenica yelped, dislodging the pixie’s fangs by kicking out her leg then slapped it hard sending it flying back into the field. No longer entranced, she limped over to Ashta grabbing any stray pieces of photography equipment Ashta hadn’t packed yet on the way.

At her shout, Ashta’s head snapped up immediately on alert. “Are the dogs out already?!” she all but yelled, a heated urgency clouding her tone. Jenica shook her head frantically. “No, worse. We don’t have time. I’ll tell you in the car.” Ashta looked down to see blood now dripping from Jenica’s kneecap. “Jen! What happened!?” Before Jenica could reply, they both heard a rustling in the field behind them. As if the sounds possessed them they both froze in place. They glanced at each other then slowly turned in unison toward the field. 

“We have to go….now,” Jenica urged. Each flower was raining sunflower seeds. The ground was alive with thousands of black seeds wiggling on the ground until they all stopped at once just as the first seed had done. Slowly, each seed began to hatch. “What the hell-…?” Ashta whispered.

Jenica felt nothing but abject terror as she grabbed Ashta’s hand, snapping her out of her shock and dragging her toward the car. “We have to move. Leave the stuff.” 

It was now 7:02 pm. The women raced through the field toward the safety of their car. A loud hum could be heard behind them, getting louder as the pixies gained momentum. They were freshly hatched and ravenous. They advanced like a swarming army of wasps landing on both women from all angles, biting anywhere they could reach. 

Ashta screamed as one pixie landed on her shoulder taking a small chunk out of her ear lobe. She slapped it away, adrenaline pushing her legs as fast as they could go. Her smooth brown skin was now covered in blood and teeth marks. Jenica wasn’t faring much better. She too was dripping blood from every inch of exposed skin. As they got closer to the car, the pixies became more aggressive. They started attacking their eyes hoping to blind them to prevent escape. Ashta waved her hands frantically in front of her face as she ran, squinting through her lashes to see the car. Jenica put an arm above her eyes, ducking her head to barrel through the pixies. 

“I see the car! Get ready to jump!” Ashta yelled. They hurdled toward the drainage ditch separating the car and the field diving over it to get to the other side. As soon as they landed, the two women were up and sprinting to the vehicle when they stopped. The pixies were no longer chasing them. They stared at each others’ blood covered faces, then turned to see the pixies fly directly at them, then fall as if they’d hit a wall on the other side of the ditch. A shrill high pitched shriek permeated the air as the pixies vented their frustration at missing their meal. The girls sagged against the car, blood dripping everywhere. They looked like they belonged in one of Jenica’s horror stories. 

Ashta dug in her pocket and held up a small memory card case between her index and middle fingers. Her head lolled over to look at Jenica, “I’m still using these,” she said, a crooked smile that looked more gruesome than intended played on her face. 

Jenica leaned her head back against the car, “And I’m still writing about this. But what happens to them?” She pointed at the still furious pixies who now looked like a giant wall of angry black eyed insects trying to claw their way through air.

Ashta shrugged, “Tell the farmer his livestock “dogs” did their job.” She slowly stood and unlocked the car. I say first, we go get cleaned up, then get drunk, then tomorrow we go shopping.”
Jenica walked to the other side and looked over the car at her, “Okay. But why shopping?”

“Because I now need a new camera and tripod. I’m definitely not coming back to get those,” she said as she climbed in the driver seat.

“Touche,” Jenica conceded as she thought about the silent agreement they had just made to never mention pixies again.

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