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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

“The Calamity” by Emma R.

Submitted to Contest #60

3 years ago, the world was perfect. The entire human population had finally come to their senses and made a change to the harmful way they had been living. Phones, computers, TVs, and other electronic devices were donated to local ‘Environmental Improvement’ storehouses to be used in other ways to benefit the ecosystem. Weapons of any kind were made illegal and destroyed, getting rid of drugs, alcohol, and other toxic items as well. Instead of cars, people walked or rode bikes to get from place to place. Animal species that had once been nea...

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“Masked” by Yoma Dickson

Submitted to Contest #60

Hunted by fear has been my order, I wished life had been so fair to me. If I'd choose another life after this, I'll choose never to be me at all. Ever since I was a kid, I hadn't been such a happy kid, either I was into one trouble or the other or I was jealous that I'm not like other kids. I ended up covering my face with my hoodies that way I won't feel that I ain't beautiful like other girls. Lee, my twinnie use to believe I was just been silly by covering my face but I didn't really care, cus none of his words ever mattered to me ...

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“Love can save all ” by Nicole Jalonen

Submitted to Contest #60

Love Can save all Nicole jalonen Nakira Roman was the surviving member of her family of five . The twenty two year old had just watched her house with her mom and dad and two siblings inside blow up after a number of asteroids hit it , causing it to blow up and burn! Falling to her thin jean covered knees and crying hysterically the blonde haired spot covered woman hardly noticed as someone picked her up off the dead charred grass and held her close to him . Whispering , “ I know it’s hard but you’ve got to get out of here the drui...

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“Proof Through the Night” by Tom McGuire

Submitted to Contest #60

STELLA Aldrin gasped for breath. Tedd Armstrong, her co-pilot and lover, checked her pulse and then opened the oxygen valve to max capacity. Their Scrambler, Rocinante they called it, was nearly depleted of its oxygen supply, and time was running out. With a second wind, Stella mustered the energy to check the Holographic Pinpointer. “Tedd,” she said excitedly, “Look! An object buried near Luna Sector II!” Their awareness perked and they high fived one another, though they continued to be mystified by the incomplete message inscr...

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“I Tried To Protect Her” by Juliette Prior

Submitted to Contest #60

The road home was long and winding, giving me time to think. Sulfur filled the intoxicated air and there were still a few fires; aftermath of the most recent attack. My worn converse kept my bare feet inside from being ripped to shreds by all the glass covering the sidewalk- you had to be careful here. If you were hurt, you were dead. The thought made me think of Annie- what would become of her?She wasn't strong, or brave- but she was smart. Yet, deep inside of me, I felt that it wouldn't be enough. Her body was failing, she was dying- and t...

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“BASHIR” by Hope Jummy

Submitted to Contest #60

(The Central Market)Drizzling rain pleated the corrugated sheets with resounding echoes, shops extensions were drawn in; wares unable to be brought inside were covered with tarpaulins, young men selling on wheelbarrow huddled together for warmth after securing their goods to a safer place. Peppers and tomatoes seemed to be the only commodity enjoying the rain, as they were laid on trays, water cascading on them.Orente looked towards the ever busy dual carriage road that demarcated the stalls in the market; the street was forlorn as erosion w...

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“Credit” by Alex Stone

Submitted to Contest #60

I am jesus of the credit cards. This is what I do: I give away money – or at least I try to. I give away credit cards to those I deem worthy. I find these people on my daily strolls through the city, this sad city, the first in our previously overconfident world to begin being abandoned. A city that will become deserted soon. Dire predictions. So I figure a wee spending spree is in order. A final fling of irresponsibility. The cards are Visa Gold cards with a $150,000 limit. They are fresh and new and viable. True story! All my reci...

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“A New Pair of Boots” by L.A. Reed

Submitted to Contest #60

I was walking up the off ramp that used to allow vehicles to exit the Interstate bypass onto Minnesota Route seventy-seven, when I heard the gunshot. I hadn’t heard a gunshot in…at least six months. Knowing that bullets wouldn’t be manufactured again anytime soon I had quickly found alternative armaments. Specifically a crossbow and a machete. At the top of the ramp I could see my destination. The Mall of America. I really needed a new pair of boots. My current pair had seen better days and were literally being held together with duc...

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“Finding Safe Haven Together” by Jacquelyn Perkins

Submitted to Contest #60

The land had been riddled and left a vast wasteland from the war between the revolt of creatures. Long ago their had been peace among creatures such as vampires,werewolves,elves. However humans feared such things so riots and fights broke out. War had begun between species. Humans fearing the things they could not understand set off nuclear war heads. Leaving the world in ruins only few structures stood now. Survivors fought for recources keeping their own territories while some were mutated from the war and nuclear blast. Creatures kept to ...

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“Into my arms.” by Larissa B.B

Submitted to Contest #60

I can't go on anymore, my right leg is bleeding, I cut myself when falling from a building when I was running away from three creatures. I managed to carry myself with one leg until now, but the cut is open and I keep bleeding. The hunger is beaten me, for days without eating properly, my last bottle of water I kept as if it were a more precious commodity, in a lost world it is. I lost back then. That nightmare started a year ago when the world started to turn into chaos, people dying and coming back to life-like monsters. At first, I didn't...

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“FEELINGS” by Sandra Claros

Submitted to Contest #60

I had a funny dream last night - said grandpa to me – that we were fighting in pyjamas! - almost crying of laughter. - But grandpa – making him remember - we are just going out from a war, that we lost due to the government policies. And too many people have been killed under the terrible enemy's motto : “ kill them as if they were your prey in a hunting “ . - Yes. I know. But this holocaust has not finished yet. Not completely. - It’s true. But many others are supposed to come bac...

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“Angie” by Leslie Phare

Submitted to Contest #60

Maybe it was the pandemic, or the SCOTUS vacancy, or the election itself, but I think at some point all of us wished we could go back. Back to the life of venti nonfat lattes, weekly manicures, designer dresses, public transportation. That’s what my life was. I had a stylish apartment in downtown New Orleans that was way overpriced but worth it. I woke up at the same time every day to go to the gym then styled my long blond hair perfectly. Then I picked out the perfect outfit, walked to Starbucks, then across the to the bank where I wo...

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“The last lover's on earth” by Ashley Loftin

Submitted to Contest #60

5 years. It had been approximately 5 years, 8 months, 6 weeks, and so on and so on, I had stopped listening when she had stated the amount of weeks too. It didn't feel like 5 years at all, it felt like more. It felt like it was my whole life, as if I were born into this inescapable hell that is isolation. Like I was just born, the last person on earth. But that wasn't really the case. The case was it felt like I had knew Her, since birth. I wish that were the case. I knew that was what made it feel like the world had ended as soon as I was b...

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“Love me not” by Ricky Mae Sutphen

Submitted to Contest #60

My hand flew on its own right to my boyfri- ex-boyfriend’s face. His head tilted to the side, indicating how hard that slap was. “You bitch how dare you!” The woman clinging to his arm like a monkey lunged at me. I didn’t back down and slapped her face hard. “Thank you for calling me a bitch. A bitch is a dog, a dog barks, bark is part of a tree, tree is part of nature, and nature is beautiful.” I smirked at her because my hand left a trace on her cheek. “Thank you for calling me beautiful, indirectly.” I looked at him again. “And you, ...

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“Liz and Socks” by Michael Fitzpatrick

Submitted to Contest #60

When I woke up, Liz was curled into me and was clutching my arm for all it was worth. But she always did that. She was really soft and warm, and I really liked it, but I had to piss so I gently tugged my arm free and sat up. I slipped my feet into my boot-boots. I called them that because they didn’t match. I got the left one from a Macy’s in Cincinnati, the one at the Tri-County Mall, and the other from a thrift store outside of Chicago. I think it was a St. Vincent De Paul in Kankakee. The Macy’s boot used to be part of a pair, but I lost ...

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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.

Read the full terms & conditions or check out the FAQ if you have any questions!

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