OMG I LOVE IT!

I thought it was well written. I wanted to kick the kid, and I would have liked to hear more about the Cordyceps parasite. Pretty sure I saw that documentary, with the fungi growing from the insects' heads. Nasty stuff. It makes excellent horror story material. And the kid would be a great protagonist, mainly because he seems lazy enough to get himself into trouble and clever enough to get out of it.
So great idea, nicely written, nicely characterised, would read more of it.

Yay for fungus awareness in fiction. :)

The writing style itself is very clear and realistic, however, I don't think you've spent enough time on this topic—it's too short, in my opinion. There's vagueness as to who exactly is doomed (mother, son, or both). Without the summary or the author's note, this story would be all but meaningless to people that didn't know the significance of the title.

I can imagine this as being the first of 3 or 4 short "chapters" in a 2,000 to 3,000 word long story. ;)

CV