Write a post-apocalyptic story triggered by climate change.

Posted in Adults on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 134 stories

“Unpaving Paradise” by Ruth Midgley

🏆 Winner of Contest #60

Imagine how hard it is to break up asphalt with a pickaxe. Now imagine it's not even a very good pickaxe. And you've been doing it for days. The sun, hotter now, makes the sweat bead on your face, itchy like a bug landing on you. Sometimes enough water escapes your pores to form a little stream that carves a path down the black dust on your face. And it tortures you that your body is letting such a precious resource just drip onto the ground. Unretrievable. This has been my existence for almost a full moon. Me, my pickaxe, and the pav...

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“That Is Earth” by Ai Jiang

Submitted to Contest #60

The Mountains look shorter today. Perhaps this means hope, but maybe not."Grass."I look to my left and see my friend tumbling down a Hill nearby."Grass," he calls again as he climbs the small Hill which I am sitting on top of."What's the matter, Tree?" I ask the tall figure that now looms over me."Look what I found," Tree says and holds up a circular object covered in vibrant greens and blues, and flecks of white."What is that?" I take the object from his hand and hold it up to take a better look."I asked Owl and she said that it's Earth. It...

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“Fall From Grace” by Elle Clark

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #60

As Rishi plummeted to her death, a wordless shriek filled her mind. A tiny rational voice pushed the panic to the side a little, and whispered that perhaps she should have double checked her equipment. The soot covered walls of the high rise blurred to grey streaks while the speed of her descent stole the scream from her throat. Fingers, once nimble and quick, splayed in rigid claws as they tried to snatch at handholds that couldn’t save her. Her safety rope, which she would have considered ironic had she any space for any such tho...

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“Forevergreen” by Rayhan Hidayat

Submitted to Contest #60

This again.Water, cradling me like a newborn. So soft. So soothing.So suffocating.Every time, as solemn heartbeats accompany my descent, I search the blueness. And every time, like a pair of ghostly wings flitting through the dark, my gaze lands on the lights dotting the surface.The surface that is a million lifetimes away, blurred by eternity but nevertheless… there. Calling. Signalling. Beckoning.More than anything I want to kick upwards, to tear the surface open, to have the lights and all their secrets wash over me.But my questions drown...

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“...And that's how we met” by Authoring Studio

Submitted to Contest #60

James rubbed his eyes. His wings were nearly drooping. It had been a long day. He looked around him. His bedroom was always a comfort. He sank back into the plush pillows which he had just got up from. He stretched his arm in front of his face, examining his palm. “What am I even doing?” he mumbled to himself. He hadn’t signed up for this in the first place. It was all his parents’ doing. Meet James, a devil-in-training…. In his teens. His parents had been assistant devils, and they wanted him to carry on the legacy after they retired and th...

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“The Water-Riders” by Lani Lane

Submitted to Contest #60

My arms burn, but I don't stop pushing.Forward, back, forward, back.The rowboat inches toward the beach, barely missing the skyscrapers that peek out of the waves.“We need to go faster,” says Cyrus.“Do you want to do it?” I snap.He holds up a hand in apology and I grit my teeth. I had to cut off his left arm last year, when a rogue fishing hook ripped it to shreds. It was a close one; he’d lost enough blood to alert every shark in a ten-mile radius.“We’ll get there…when…we get there,” I say, panting. Water-Riders are allowed to stick our boa...

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“An Oasis in the Wastelands” by Andrew Krey

Submitted to Contest #60

As we walked over to the trap, I saw we had caught something by how low the branch framework sat in the water. “Looks like I won’t have to eat you today ready meal.” Cyril looked up at me like he understood, but I may have been imagining that. When I lifted the trap out of the water there were fish on all four lines. The river was full of fish and was why we’d stayed here so long. We should have moved on from our oasis by now, but it felt good to have something between my skin and bone for the first time in months. We needed to...

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“Lullaby on Fire” by Scout Tahoe

Submitted to Contest #60

“I don’t understand,” is what he whispers into your ear, his fingers locked into yours. There’s no key for the chest of secrets you’ve created—you know that much already. He is the man from your nightmares with eyes that are mood rings. They shine like the stars and their court; today they are black and deep. Reminding you of midnight swims in that pool you used to own. You know he understands. He has to. Your throat aches and you head into the kitchen. As you pour water and dump an uncountable amount of grounds into the...

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“The aquarium and the submarine” by Safiya Tahseen

Submitted to Contest #60

A tiny yet sophisticated periscope peeped from the surface of the sea to monitor day and night. Hundreds of high resolution cameras, across the bubble like sharp mesh fencing zoomed in and out to check the proximity of any fierce water animal '.Safe seismic range and optimal water conditions', reported on the computer screens. ”We can survive for yet another day,” rejoiced a home guard. ...Overwhelmed to present the antique glass bowl with a wire, in a discrete society, strongly connected by high generation internet, Kabeer joined the ...

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“The Damage was Done” by Mustang Patty

Submitted to Contest #60

I wrote the date in my journal, but it may as well have been the same date since December thirty-first of 2021. The world hasn’t changed, and, in many ways, it feels like it no longer turns on its axis. The skies are steel gray. They never change, and the sun never breaks through. I saw this coming, and I ordered cases of Vitamin D. Still, even vitamins have expiration dates, and I wonder if the synthetic sun will do me any good next year. Of course, I also wonder if I even need to worry about next year. That’s a sobering thought. I’m on...

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“The Apocalypse is a Great Opportunity to Become a Pirate Captain” by Lily Kingston

Submitted to Contest #60

“Honestly, you can’t just not ignore global warming for years to let companies increase their profits, let the oceans rise and devour all of the land except for the tippy tops of high corporate buildings, and expect me not to steal a rich person’s cruise-size yacht and become a pirate.” Ash said as she twirled her tiki cocktail in her hand, reclining on a five dollar beach chair on a five million dollar yacht she stole. The sun glinted over her head as she adjusted her feathered old-fashioned pirate captain hat that matched her bikini to bl...

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“Climate Change's Meaty Grasp” by Echo Sundar

Submitted to Contest #60

As I sat at the top of a ruined building I thought of what life used to be. When food wasn't hard to find and you could get water almost everywhere. When you had warnings before, violent storms wreaked havoc everywhere they touched. Back when I despised the cold and wished it to go away. But things were different now, much different. Warm December winds blew trash onto the street, or what was left of it. It was funny how Climatologists had been warning about this for years, and yet when the inevitable happened because no one was brave...

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“Dream of Snow” by Harken Void

Submitted to Contest #60

I still remember when my grandfather first told me of snow. It was during one of the firestorms when the whole family was gathered, and grandfather would tell stories to ease our minds. He’d often do that, tell us tales of life before the Wipeout. It was all fairy tales, of course. I doubt that any of them were ever real as the reality I live in seems so utterly different. Still, the stories helped. And even though I didn’t always believe grandfather, when he spoke of things like plants and animals, living on the surface, or things like rain...

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“Penny, Asha, and Dying Love” by Genevieve Taylor

Submitted to Contest #60

“You know, when this whole thing started, and I mean way back, at the very beginning, when most of it was just rumors and small little accidents blown out of proportion, I Googled the actual definition of an apocalypse,” Penny tucked her hair behind her ear, her dark roots now as long as the bleached section, “And it’s actually ‘an event involving destruction or damage on an awesome or catastrophic scale.’” Asha didn’t turn to her, staring up at the hazy orange sky, straining to see the moon through the smoke, “Okay, and?” “I’m just saying...

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“Salty Tales From Seaview Terrace” by Howard Halsall

Submitted to Contest #60

On the first floor landing, Sammy and G.G. pull on the hoist ropes while Pops pushes the canoe up the stairs from below. A paraffin lamp in the stairwell casts flickering shadows of three figures on the flyblown plaster walls. The rising waters have compromised the coastal flood defence across the road. A furious storm and high tides have caused a surge of water during the late afternoon. It’s a perfect storm or, as Pops would say, “an imperfect storm” depending on which way you look at it. In the morning, Pops had told Sammy that they wer...

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Ended on 23:59 - Sep 25, 2020 EST

Won by Ruth Midgley 🏆

Title: Unpaving Paradise

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Write a post-apocalyptic story triggered by climate change.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 134 stories

“Unpaving Paradise” by Ruth Midgley

“That Is Earth” by Ai Jiang

“Fall From Grace” by Elle Clark

“Forevergreen” by Rayhan Hidayat

“...And that's how we met” by Authoring Studio

“The Water-Riders” by Lani Lane

“An Oasis in the Wastelands” by Andrew Krey

“Lullaby on Fire” by Scout Tahoe

“The aquarium and the submarine” by Safiya Tahseen

“The Damage was Done” by Mustang Patty

“The Apocalypse is a Great Opportunity to Become a Pirate Captain” by Lily Kingston

“Climate Change's Meaty Grasp” by Echo Sundar

“Dream of Snow” by Harken Void

“Penny, Asha, and Dying Love” by Genevieve Taylor

“Salty Tales From Seaview Terrace” by Howard Halsall

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a funny post-apocalyptic story.

Write a post-apocalyptic story that features zombies.

Write a post-apocalyptic thriller.

Write a post-apocalyptic romance.

Contest #60

Enter our weekly contest!

$50

Prize money

762

Contest entries

0

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: