Title: Cubs
Author: Steve Rasnic Tem
Date of First Publication: 2000
Place of Publication: Hideous Progeny
Type: Short Story
Characters: No Character
Themes: ANDROID; SYMPATHETIC MONSTER; POSTHUMAN
Critical Summary: Cubs is the story of a kid named Billy. It is time for Billy to go to camp. He does not want to go and his parents are not sure about it. Billy had an accident, one that changed his life forever. His mother has trouble looking at him and his father is more protective than ever before.
As per the contract, Billy has to go to the camp. He makes sure he has an extra energy pack so he refrains from low battery. At least he will meet other kids like him. All of these children have died from many different causes. When their parents choose to keep them some form of alive, they take on more responsibility than with living children. Bedsheets must be changed twice a day, their bodies are not warm, and sockets must be kept clean. Additionally, their energy packs need to recharge or the children will suffer. Scouts are what the place calls these revived children. On the bus ride, a Scout named Charlie points out another odd Scout known as the “dead kid.” The dead kid does not look like other Scouts and is outcast. At camp as Scouts gather supplies to setup, Billy ventures off to find firewood. He stumbles upon Charlie who has killed the dead kid. Billy hides the body so neither of them get in trouble.
Like the creature in Frankenstein, Billy and the other Scouts are the dead reanimated. Society still ostracizes them because they are not exactly human. This also comes in the form of the way parents treat their children after they become these battery-charged humans. Billy exclaims how his mother no longer treats him as if she loves him. Moreover, Billy and the other Scouts reflect on how all of their friends disappeared after their deaths and parents keep live children from interacting with them.
Similar to Frankenstein, there is also a murder. However, the murder in this story did not stem from an act of rage. Charlie feared the dead kid because all Scouts stayed away from him, but he touched Charlie. This leads to the story’s progression of Scouts learning to feel emotions again. When Billy is ready to leave for camp, he cries to his parents. The Creature understood life by watching humans; the only humans Billy watched were his parents. During the scene involving Charlie murdering the “dead” kid…Billy standing before his body is reminiscent of the creature over Victor Frankenstein’s body after his death.