Take Cover
Cli-Fi Horror | Earth Day
At first, it looked like clouds, but low and dark.
Too uniform.
Unnatural.
Black horizon on the ocean's far edge. A living barricade taller than a skyscraper. Tall enough to block out the sun.
It crawled forward like it was hunting.
The sky within it pulsed with lightning—brief strobe flashes revealed shapes inside the mass, smaller fingers spinning madly in tandem, orbiting a silent core like demonic satellites.
It wasn’t one tornado. It was many, braided into something biblical.
Birdsong vanished. The insects stopped. Even the wind held its breath.
Silence.
It was upon us.
We took cover and prayed.
Inspired by , Macabre Monday.
With Earth Day on the horizon this week, we invite you to dip your toes in the climate fiction pool and treat us to your best cli-fi horror tales. Choose from drabble-sized (100 words), postcard-sized (250 words), or sudden fiction sized (251 to 750 words) and share your best nature-themed horror with us.
Take Cover is a 100-word drabble. I have a feeling the scene will end up in one of the Sadie Wilkins stories. My experience with tornados originated in Arkansas, where the tales take place.
Recently, I experienced a tornado on the Washington coast, which is pretty unusual. This little drabble made me realize that I have a lot of fodder for new stories in the cli-fi/horror genre.
