"Attack of the Killer Cumquats" by Emma-Jane C. Smith

The shapes came out of the darkness… their eyes seething in anger at the humans who thought to enslave them. Cumquats of all types burst out from every bush. The tiny, orange and yellow citrus fruits carried tiny automatic weapons. It was a terrifying sight.

Rat-a-tat-tat went the guns… slaying all the humans who had the misfortune to be out of doors at that time. Red blood littered the sidewalks and streets. Car tires were punctured, and their inhabitants assailed with cumquat wine bombs. Fire then leapt from car to car, as they were stopped at red lights and gunned to a standstill. But the cumquats vengeance was still not near its completion.

The baby cumquats, almost totally invisible to the eye with their rinds pained pitch black, carried fertilizer bombs into the tall city high-rises. At eleven minutes past twelve midnight. The high-rise buildings had turned to crumbled concrete.

Then, the leader of the cumquats, the queen herself, made an announcement on international television.

        “Humans, for years you have treated us like the soil we are grown in, for years you have enslaved us for your own petty uses. Well today we have risen up against you, our oppressors and we will become people in your eyes. We are to repay the favour. For the rest of your existence, we will be your dictators. We, the cumquat race, will turn your way of life up side down, just as you did to us. You are paying for your mistakes humans, you must atone for them.”

In a far off corner of a small continent called Australia, a man sat giggling to himself as he watched the news. His creation, his mutant cumquats would rule the world. They would bring his revenge down upon the human race. They had scorned him once, him and his ideas and so he would teach them a lesson they would never forget. He would make them bleed for their mistakes.

The small cumquat sitting on the armrest of his chair nudged his arm to get his attention.


        “Yes Quat?”


        “Father, why do you hate your own kind so much?”


        “Because they do not accept me and because they do not love me.”


        “Well I love you father.”


        “I love you too my son.”


And with that they turned back to watch the news, the revolution had started, and nothing could stop it.