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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#60: Face Your Fears

This week is a special edition of the Reedsy Prompts contest because our friends at IndieReader are taking it over with their own theme, prompts, and bonus prize! We'll let them take it from here...

Hi! Amy from IndieReader here. If you’re not familiar with IR, we’re one of the original (paid) review services for self, hybrid and independently published authors, providing professional book reviews since 2009, in addition to unique marketing and distribution solutions.

We know that 2020 has been a memorable (aka stressful) year for many. According to experts, one of the recommended ways to manage stress and anxiety is by thinking about what scares you most and then writing about it. So fittingly, this week’s theme is post-apocalyptic stories.

Don’t worry if that doesn’t sound like your genre, as we’ve written 5 prompts below that work whether you’re into that kind of thing or not. So pour a glass of wine, take a few deep breaths, and start typing. And we wouldn’t be surprised if, after you’re done, the world around you doesn’t look so bleak. At least there aren’t any zombies!

(As a bonus prize, the winner of this week's contest will receive a discount code for 20% off an IR Pro Review.)

This week's prompts

Write a funny post-apocalyptic story.

Funny – 110 stories

Write a post-apocalyptic story that features zombies.

Science Fiction – 178 stories

Write a post-apocalyptic story triggered by climate change.

Adults – 134 stories

Write a post-apocalyptic thriller.

Thriller and Suspense – 144 stories

Write a post-apocalyptic romance.

Dystopian – 196 stories

Stories

“A short in joint” by Philip Ebuluofor

Submitted to Contest #60

He was born on August, 56 years ago.when he was young, His education stopped at year two in secondary school. He joined retail business on his own after about three years of hustling, Looking for customers for other trades and taking commissions. Initially, lt looked as if he was making it but his show off life style wasnt helping his saving. He was living way off above his income. He was ladies man, training some girls in school with hope of future marriage. When his money finished, he was told by some of the girls he was catering for ...

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“Screwy” by Sam W

Submitted to Contest #60

When the end of the world panned out, I took my turn, burned the last corpse in the hospital driveway, and went to bed.I thought it was over.Today I wake up to the sound of my best friend bellowing at my bedroom door. Like he’s gone bonkers, batshit crazy, out of his overcooked mind.I thought it was over.Not by half.“YOU STUPID, CHICKENSHIT DEPRESSIVES, I’VE HAD ENOUGH OF THE LOT OF YOU! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU’VE DONE? YOU WANTED TO DIE, AND MAKE THE REST OF US DIE, AND THE STRAGGLERS KILL EACH OTHER? HUH? HUH?”I roll out of bed,...

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“Twenty seconds” by Lee Dohann

Submitted to Contest #60

Noah wakes to the sound of the siren. No one goes to the Minero suburb anymore. But just in case some teenagers try to show-off their running skills after sniffing the last fumes of a paint can, it will at least give them a head-start. The relics of an old diamond mine is the last surviving evidence of a forgotten underground mining world. The last time it was active, was in 2085, ten years before the big explosion. Now it still spews angry gases from the holes prior civilizations used to dig. It is out of those holes hot lava now flows. The...

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“Bathed in Fire” by Jamie Schmitt

Submitted to Contest #60

She was lying in the river when her world changed forever. The edges of the world crumbled in on itself like burning paper, and the sun turned dark. The Fire was born of the sun and quickly burned everything it could touch, including the sky—the blue changing to red. Then the flames caught the unrelenting breeze and took hold of the trees. The air above the trees became a hostage to the smoke that overtook it, but Adara floated in the current the same way she always did. Birds swarmed away from the flames and creatures of the forest ran cryi...

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“Revenant Uprising” by Mariam Michalak

Submitted to Contest #60

*WARNING! Violence ahead, read at your own risk* The humvee lurches as we drive over the decrepit, empty road. I keep my gaze wandering, never settling on one spot for too long. You never know what can suddenly appear in these dark times. As if hearing my thoughts, just ahead a revenant stumbles out from the parking lot of an abandoned convenience store. A bullet implants itself between it’s ghost white eyes before it registers us approaching. It slumps, unmoving as I lift the barrel towards the sky. A grunt echoes from my left, an...

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“Echo of Eden” by Arthur Tiberio

Submitted to Contest #60

Five miles above the surface of a barren Earth, Eden spun slowly on an axis of aluminum steel. The sun burned brightly on another day's rotation, and from the third auxiliary viewing deck, Adante Rells sipped gently on a steaming mug of pitch black coffee. He was up to watch the Song.The clock on the wall read half past six. Most clocks on Eden were digital, the numerals a calming shade of electric blue that contrasted nicely with the modernistic white of the walls, floors, and decor, but the third auxiliary deck was part of Rells' quarters,...

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“We Never Thought it Would happen in a Million Years” by Blane Britt

Submitted to Contest #60

Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Gore was Bill Clinton's running mate in their successful campaign in 1992 and the pair was re-elected in 1996. Former Vice President Al Gore called Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz a “climate hero” Friday the 13th. When Gore introduced the governor at a three-day event in Minneapolis tied to The Climate Reality Project (The Climate Reality Project is a non-profit organization involve...

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“Zombie Ahoy.” by Len Mooring

Submitted to Contest #60

Zombie Ahoy.He could feel the bulky end of the silencer pressed into his kidney area as he walked down the aisle. ‘They missed the A out of the ‘best man’s’ name,’ he thought. He had no doubt that Giovani accompanying him would not hesitate to shoot in spite of the potential number of witnesses present. They wouldn’t see a thing, Lorenzo would see to that.It wasn’t that his bride-to-be wasn’t beautiful, she was gorgeous, but she came with ‘fish-hooks’ as well as access to millions, maybe even billions. But, what price freedom? Aurora, his in...

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“The rain of destruction!” by Utkarsh Srivastava

Submitted to Contest #60

It was the most awful and nerve-racking view of the most beautiful island in the world. In a blink of eyes, everything shredded. The island was no more beautiful and the tranquility sickened. The breathtakingly made, the world-famous monument Donjon Emerald had mixed with the soil now. And left only the blanket of dust, destruction, and disaster. Almost two days had passed, the dust particles would come in every breath stroke, the wind was whipping up the eddies of dust, and the vision was a blur — the sky couldn’t be seen. Nothing...

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“Brandy and Riker Versus the Hurricane” by Jasmine Shouse

Submitted to Contest #60

September 15 The wind howled at the windows with the rain splattering over and over on the panes. Like the big, bad wolf, it seemed determined to blow the house down. Another rattle was all Brandy could take before she slipped out of bed, her toes momentarily curling in the soft carpet. Her dog immediately stood up, stretched, and walked over, tail wagging slightly. Riker's ears fell flat against his head as the wind hammered yet again, but they perked up when Brandy's hand scratched him. Picking up on Riker's unease, Brandy picked up her ...

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“Mr. Unknown” by Chandrika Menon

Submitted to Contest #60

What is love? Some say, “love is infinite”…whereas for some “love is life,etc”… Everyone have different opinion about love. But what is love exactly, which is still unknown to all of us. Based on the type of people, their thinking, circumstances, the definition of love is concluded by all of them. In short, everyone has got their own definition for love. Some often say, “mine was true love”….& wind up in sorrow. While some do just burst into laughing out, “no yaar, it was just an infatuation”…& go on enjoying in airs flirting for res...

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“Scones” by Sadie Black

Submitted to Contest #60

Author's note: This is one part of the Melted collection. These stories can be read individually or in any order.Hours before the birds began their song, a baker whistled to himself as he unlocked the front door of his shop. The air was crisp and cool, but only because it was so early. These days, one could reasonably expect the temperatures to soar to the upper 70s in January. It was weird, the baker admitted, but he was never a fan of shovelling snow anyway.Today, he shovelled flour into massive mixing bowls. First, he would start the brea...

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“Y2K - Awake in Circuit City” by Debbie Teague

Submitted to Contest #60

Jason’s eyelids moved. Slowly his eyes opened and focused on his surroundings. All he could see was stainless steel; even his bedding was a metallic grey. Suddenly he heard a voice. “Y2K - You’re awake. I’ll get you a coffee and let the others know, be right back.” “Huh?” “You have been in a coma since the beginning of the 2nd ice age when the sun exploded. The instant freeze sent you into a coma; we have had you on life support for 350 years.” “Where am I?” “Oh, you are in the infirmary/ experimental building in...

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“Are we destined to burn or will we last the night?” by Luz Andara

Submitted to Contest #60

When everything was brokenThe Devil hit his second stride(...)For fear of moments stolenI don't wanna say goodnightBut I'll still see you in the morningStill know your heart and still know both your eyes(...) Adam 531 could not remember when he first walked under the midnight sky and found these words buried in the rubble of something called a music store. All the piece of paper said was that it was part of song titled “Lost” by a human named Dermot Kennedy. “What is a song? What is music?” He remembered asking. He never got an answer. Its ...

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“A Final View” by Jessie Nice

Submitted to Contest #60

“Here,” Tats puffed, his breath wheezing through his lips as he grappled with the red stone and fought the invisible weight of the atmosphere to get to the top. One foot lost its gripping, unsurprisingly with the age of his leather shoes - but he managed to adjust his weight, and with complaining muscles he heaved himself onto the rough stone. He reached out his arm, palm outstretched, and Zhara’s dry hand clasped his. With a final synchronised grunt of effort, he wrenched her up to the top of the rock. They both collapsed onto their backs, ...

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$50

Prize money

762

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Sep 25, 2020 EST

Won by Ruth Midgley 🏆

Title: Unpaving Paradise

Submissions must be between 1,000 - 3,000 words and will be approved and published on Reedsy Prompts within 7 days of the contest closing.

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