Sci-Fi Smack Down

“Stagger Lee shot Billy

Oh, he shot that poor boy so bad

Till the bullet came through Billy

And it broke the bartender's glass”

Lloyd Price’s crooning voice never failed to make Billy Bob shiver. Even with his head resting half outside his brother’s hopped up Chevy Corvette’s window the sounds continued to penetrate his buzzing skull. The only respite was that the lively music at least drowned out his older brother’s rant.

“Do you want another knuckle sandwich, twerp?” His brother pulled at Billy Bob’s orange hair with one hand while maintaining the other on his steering wheel.

“I only wanted to see the sky. I knew you’d drive whatshername to the make out point for some back seat bingo. It’s the highest point we got,” Billy Bob tried to reason.

“There was no backseat bingo cause there was a nerd already hiding in there. Good thing Tessa thinks you’re a big tickle,” Billy’s older brother sighed, “Why were you hiding in my machine, little monster?”

“Somebody’s got to keep an’ eye on the sky. Grandpa says one of these days the reds are gonna throw one of their space rockets on us and we’ll fry to death.”

“No commie’s gonna throw ‘em space machines on little ole Wisconsin. Grandpa’s been smoking his stash again, hasn’t he?”

“No, well yeah, but he’s not kookie. They say they’ve lost a satellite but they could be lying. It could be heading for us.”

Billy’s brother rolled his eyes while Billy went back to gazing idly through the window. Suddenly one star blinked and flickered erratically, catching his attention. It started to grow and glow, brightening up the night sky.  

“Look, up there, in the sky!” Billy pointed upwards with a shout. His brother looked in spite of his resolve to ignore him, “It’s heading towards us and we’re all going to die-”

“Gas it, germ,” The older boy hissed but his foot was already flat on the brake. At that very moment the road in front of them exploded white. The aftershock made the car do a near wheelie.

“Stay back,” Billy’s older brother hopped out of his car to take a closer look, “I can feel the heat even from over here.”

“Be careful, Jim,” Billy’s eyes were fixed on the burning and boiling, mangled wreck. He was feeling so hysterical he thought the shadows were moving. Billy blinked.

The shadows were moving.

“Get back, Jimmy, get back. They’re behind you.”

Jim too had sensed the shadows narrowing down on him. He threw a burning piece of wood in no particular direction and raced back to the car.

Billy could already feel the coldness drowning them so he decided to act fast. He moved the stick in reverse with a hand pressed down on the clutch. His brother punched the accelerator as soon as his rear touched the seat and the car screeched backwards, down the hilly road. Even with the wreck out of sight they did not stop until they were well out of the city limits.

 “Space monsters,” Jim exhaled as he finally closed his wayward door. 

“Y-yeah, what are we going to do?” 

“I have no idea.”

 _______________________________

"It was with much fanfare that the Soviet Union launched Korabl-Sputnik 1, dubbed "Sputnik IV" in the West, on May 14, 1960. But five days later, when its re-entry rockets were fired, something apparently exploded. Sputnik IV stayed in its useless orbit until September 5, 1962, when it fell screaming from the sky over Wisconsin."