Plant Food

“I’ve grown fond of both you little humans,” Flora murmured sadly.

Terry, finally awake, smiled tiredly at Flora. “We’ve grown fond of you too, Flora.” Rebecca smiled and nodded her head. “There’s no reason to feel sad about it.”

Flora arms encircled them both, pressing them to her cleavage once more.

“You don’t understand,” the plant-woman began bitterly, “I told you my mission was to replace humanity, right? In order to do that, I need to reproduce. My body is neither a full plant nor animal, so I can’t propagate my species through seeds or sex. In order to ensure my species and the world survive...”

The large flower-bulb began to open up again, but this time Rebecca and Terry noticed the inside of the giant pod. The white petals were lined with sharp teeth and a pool of green slime sizzled in the middle. Rebecca went rigid with fear as she began to understand the implications.

“You…you’re going to kill us for our DNA…”

“That flower bud is filled with digestive acid, similar to that of a human stomach’s. When I encounter human beings, I allow my tentacles to alter their bodies and produce desirable traits. Afterwards, I place them into the flower and they die. Once the flower has absorbed their genetic code, it will birth a child similarly as it did with me.”

“But, what about you?” Terry asked, “You were born without killing anyone! Why can’t you just grow your children like that?”

Flora smiled sadly, “I am no different from my offspring; in fact, I am a more extreme case. Haven’t you noticed that your neighborhood has been oddly silent lately? My tentacles are growing all around the houses in this area. Flowers similar to the one here absorbed their DNA so that I could live.”

Rebecca was floored at that revelation. Everyone else in the neighborhood…is dead?