Wear It For Them

“We’re live!”

Brody and Lucas threw peace signs as they started their stream. Over 2,500 fans had already joined them.

“We’re taking a test drive!” Brody shouted into the camera. “We had a call from this wild guy inviting us here, wanting us to try the new Apocalypse A model.”

“It’s fully automated,” his sidekick yelled. ‘It’ll enable you to go to the moon!”

Brody pressed the start button, and the influencers laughed as the neon green car spluttered slowly into action.

“Houston, we have a problem,” Brody raised an eyebrow to his adoring audience.

Now 7,500 fans watched as the car suddenly accelerated, throwing Brody and Lucas around like rag dolls. The sleek vehicle quickly reached its top speed of 340mph, hurtling around the mysterious track in the middle of the desert.

At no point did they switch their camera off. The viewers watched, some in horror, many in delight, as Brody and Lucas screamed, puked, and cried for their mothers as the motor showed no signs of slowing down. Heart signs, laughing faces, thumbs up, and some thumbs down, flooded their stream as the furious journey continued.

The broadcast came to an abrupt halt when they were ploughed into the empty spectator stand. Brody died instantly, thrown out of the windscreen, whilst Lucas was pummelled into the dashboard, the car then bursting into flames.

From the final fiery shots, a message took over the screen.

“Don’t be stupid like Brody and Lucas. Always wear your seat belt.”

© Claire Tallentire, 2021

The ideas behind the story

'Wear It For Them' was originally submitted to Round 2 of the NYC Midnight 250-Word Short Fiction Competition in 2021, so there was a very tight brief in terms of word count but also in terms of the direction of the story. An enjoyable part of the NYC Midnight competitions is that you are given an assigned group with an assigned genre, action and key word for your story. Mine was horror, 'taking a test drive' and the word 'enable'. Lucas saying '‘It’ll enable you to go to the moon!” doesn't sit well with me as dialogue, but it was a way of getting the word in and continuing the story. I usually write about locations in the UK, but I was drawn to the idea of a test drive in the desert and a car that does something terrible to people, a modern day Christine as such. The story is slightly ambigious, who has hacked into Brody and Lucas' channel and sent them to their deaths? It's a dystopian vision of a 'Wear Your Seat Belt' awareness campaign.

Please do let me know your thoughts!