It all started with the old cars hidden in the woods. Mangled automotive machinery lay strewn amongst the trees, their once shiny surfaces now bare metal stained rust red.

A pile of scraps was all anyone ever thought of it. It lay undisturbed, stowed out of sight in the woods on the outskirts of town. Sometimes a weekend handyman playing at mechanic will go digging around for a salvageable spare part but for the most part the scrap heap was largely ignored.

Until it wasn’t.

Little Bobby Brown was the first victim of the unholy spawn birthed from that automotive hell. An afternoon of hide and seek turned into a weeklong manhunt that ended when little Bobby knocked on his own front door. Or what was left of him anyways.

The fist knocking on his door was flesh, but from it extended a bent axelrod jutting out from where the elbow should be. The metal shaft’s rust red now in stark contrast to the deeper crimson of blood. Dragging behind him across the asphalt were the rotting remains of intestines leaking what looked to be motor oil. Tire tracks run across the width of his torso from which you could hear the distinct hum of a diesel engine. On his face, an expression twisted in anguish. _Skin shouldn’t look like that. _Fractures radiated from a singular point, almost like a cracked windshield with each crevice caked in blood and pus.

He gave his mother a hug, Mrs. Brown stood there frozen — unable to push her missing son away. And then came a snap.

Sharp and clear, the sound of an animal getting run over, the sound of bones breaking under the weight of a full-sized automobile. And then, there were two.

The remains of Mrs. Brown lurched forward upon release from her son’s embrace. Bile and gasoline spewing from her mouth as metal rods begin to extend from the shattered remains of her bones and puncturing the skin.

It was a frenzy.

The roar of two engines drowned out by screams as friends and family flee in search for some kind of respite. I join them.

Eventually I find myself amidst the scrap heap, now two cars smaller than before.