Seed

She is on the road again, listening to an AM talk show as she drives along. Frodo hangs his head out the window, tongue dangling. She is feeling better. She passes a sign that reads: OPEN RANGE, NEXT 10 MILES.

The topic of the radio program concerns human cloning and the problem of needing so many hosts to achieve a single successful embryo. As she drives along, listening, she passes a dead cow off to the side of the road. Through her rearview mirror, she watches it disappear behind her as the talk show continues: "I mean, where is this all going? Are we going to just keep birthing mutated babies until we finally see something we like? What of all the rejects? Do we just truck 'em to the baby dump?" She shifts her gaze back to the road.

There is a human body there.

She cries out, yanking the wheel. The tires of her car barely miss the body as she careens off the road and stalls. She collapses against the wheel. The radio program drones on.

Finally, she gets out, and Frodo follows. He meanders into the desert as she walks slowly toward the body, the breeze blowing her hair across her face—draws steadily toward the nude, broken corpse of a twentysomething year-old woman, lying face down in the gravel.

She looks after Frodo; he is out toward the horizon, sniffing at something on the ground. She halts near—but not too near—the cadaver.

It lies there in the gray light, flies buzzing all about it, its flesh bluish-white, its hair black and matted. It is bent back upon itself like a ragdoll. Beth peers both directions along the length of the highway, seeking help, but is utterly alone. The only sound is that of the flies.

Cautiously, she nudges the body over with the tip of her shoe.

The woman has been gutted of her reproductive organs—which causes Beth to leap back, clasping her mouth. Frodo barks in the distance as Beth realizes that she recognizes the woman. It is the attractive gal from the doctor's office. It is the woman she'd made special note of.

She glances toward the dog as he excitedly trots up. He has an umbilical cord in his jaws. He is dragging along a human fetus.

Beth screams as he drops it at her feet, and it spins like a top. The fetus is horribly mutated and appears to be only partly human. She backs toward her car, horrified, as he picks it up again and runs toward her. She screams at him, getting in the car, then starts the engine, causing the dog to drop the fetus and leap inside ...