Smashed Pumpkins (Flash Frights)

Prologue – Beware the Crops

CLASSIFIED: THREAT LEVEL NUCLEAR - IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED

Subject: BURN IT TO THE GROUND

To the Shit Stirrers of Smiling Seeds HQ,

The tomatoes ruptured mid-harvest, spraying acidic pulp across two men. Both suffered severe chemical burns and died within minutes.

The green beans wrapped around three workers’ necks and suffocated them. Another was dragged into the irrigation trench by corn stalks and never seen again. Eight confirmed dead. More injured.

We cannot contain it. The crops are trying to spread beyond the greenhouse walls of the test fields and reach civilization.

As I type this, gourds pound against the reinforced door. They are trying to stop me from doing what I must. Only thirty seconds remain on the countdown clock.

Destroy the fertilizer. Burn the fields. Collect the sample bags. Attached is the list of farms I sent them to.

For the love of all vegetarians out there, do not delay.

— Foreman M. Dixon