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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

“Mr. Hoover's Nephew” by Itay Frenkel

Submitted to Contest #60

Ron Hoover’s love of classical music didn’t fit well with his rough-around-the-edges persona, but he didn’t care. He woke up early in a dark room on the second floor. Waddled out to the hallway, past the empty guest bedroom, into the bathroom. Turned the light on, groaned in pain as his eyes shrunk to raisins. Why do they sell such damn bright light-bulbs? He brushed his teeth, shaved, and went back to his room. Got dressed in the dark, always a plain t-shirt and jeans. Skipped breakfast, it didn’t fit well with his lanky figure, then headed...

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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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“Coach, the Cockroach ” by Amanda Meireles

Submitted to Contest #60

My body didn't want to answer my brain anymore. The fact that I couldn't think nor sleep was making me very distressed. My swollen floppy legs were failing on me — they weren't moving. My mouth was dry (I desperately needed to drink some water, any kind of water. I would even drink pee). My mind was confused and anxious. My head was aching a lot, and my concentration difficulties were finally really annoying and disturbing me. I never thought that I'd die in that way and in that place. He was going after me; he was chasing me. I'd die beca...

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“Just One Yesterday” by ♥☪ᙏҽɬσɳყ Ƒɾҽ𝓶σɳԃ☪♥

Submitted to Contest #60

Bang."God help us."Bang."We're going to die."Bang."Guys, they're going to eat us."Bang."When I die, watch, my cat. You know... what's rest of her."Bang.We-"Wow. Even in a post-apocalyptic world you still find a way to be overly dramatic. We are fighting for our lives, and you are breaking into a monologue, Maya, truly amaze me. Do I even want to know what the sound effects are for this time?"Oh, Aaron, my darling, sweet, stubborn friend. Only you can try to make everything so dark. Come on! You know what they are this time.""No, I'm afraid I...

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“The Long Walk Home ” by Stephanie Albright

Submitted to Contest #60

“I’ve brought water in, put new bedding in the chicken coop, and set out some big rocks to warm up to put in there tonight. I put more wood in the greenhouse yesterday so I think we’re good. The only thing left is to move Lucy and her eggs and we can do that just before dark. So unless I forgot something….” “Wow, my brothers are working their asses off over there, and I get to hang out over here with you. Suckers,” he said laughing. His mama had sent lunch and dinner with him, so we ate a picnic lunch by the pond. As we were cleaning...

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“Sanctuary’s end” by Louise Coley

Submitted to Contest #60

Wilbur was having a pleasant apocalypse. The chickens were finally laying again, the roses were coming on nicely and- if anything- the neighbours had become much more reasonable since succumbing to their sudden penchant for brains. They were certainly quieter. He perused his record collection, looking for something suitably bombastic for a Friday evening. Wagner, maybe? Mahler? No, Beethoven. His fifth. A cliché choice, perhaps, but he didn't have to worry about snobs any more. It was famous for a reason and he was going to enjoy it at ful...

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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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“Love” by Bailey D.

Submitted to Contest #60

Love is a strange thing. Love can pull you apart. Love can put you back together. Love can change the way you think. Love can dislike you. Love can like you. It all just depends, I guess. It was 2023, and the coronavirus had finally settled down that it was like the flu. There was a season for it, but there was also a vaccine. Nothing to worry about. The economy and stock market were building itself back up, and things were starting to be pre-corona normal again. I was at my normal job, not wearing a mask, and not working from home. It w...

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“When God Closes A Door” by Gip Roberts

Submitted to Contest #60

It. That's the only fitting label for what this has become. It's alive, yet isn't. Walks, breathes, hunts, and eats. Walks more like a machine than a man. Breathes more like a beast. Hunts more like a cannibal. Exists more like a deity. And it's the only living being walking on two legs left on this earth besides the one intact human it pursues. It's gaining on him. His chest burns like his heart has burst into flames, pounding rapid drum beats. His lungs can't keep up with the hopeless demands this game of survival keeps belting out. His ...

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“Disoriented” by Jorja Orne

Submitted to Contest #60

I woke up to an explosion out my double-glazed window, it was like a real life horror movie. People ran down the street, I had no idea why. It seemed like they were running from something, or maybe even multiple somethings? Not knowing what was going on, it ate at me. People's screams and cries corrupted my mind as I ran into the living room to get Nadine. My stomach hurt horribly, but I cared more about her. I found her on the floor crying. She stared out the window as tears fell. “Nadine?” I said as I ran over and hugged ...

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“Fire of the Hill” by Amanda Meireles

Submitted to Contest #60

There was no one left. The zombies have transformed everyone that I knew in one of them. It was only my five-year-old sister and me. She was afraid, so was I. I tried to stay calm and maintain the posture that "everything would be just fine" to avoid freaking her out. But I didn't know if everything would be fine; I didn't see the answer for the first time in my life. Celia looked giant in the small and airless room that we were. There wasn't light nor ventilation. It was so dark that the only visible light was Celia's shining sneakers. It...

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“Recollection” by Lani Lane

Submitted to Contest #60

They say your life flashes before your eyes when you’re bitten.How would they know? How could I believe them? Frivolous, uneducated guesses by people trying to make sense of a world that can no longer be controlled.They were wrong. It’s not a flash after the bite. It’s a slow dream.A recollection.I’m in the hospital where Davy was born. He’s squeezing my pinky in his tiny hand. His grip is surprisingly strong.“He likes you,” whispers Mom, hugging us tight to her chest. I listen to her heartbeat and melt into its slow rhythm.She fades into so...

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“So Long” by Lani Lane

Submitted to Contest #60

I sob when I see her.I’m not a crier; I didn’t shed a tear during the Great War, not even when my girlfriend died in my arms. She was neither the first nor the last.But I just spent the last decade peering into every corner of the continent. I stopped thinking the words “what if” around year five, and I started drinking my way through the looted liquor stores around year eight.So, when the girl appears around the corner of the half-bombed grocery store, I fall to my knees and cry until there isn't a drop of liquid left in my body.“Um—hi.”She...

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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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“The Cockroach and the Crumb” by Lani Lane

Submitted to Contest #60

Roach scuttled along the street, sidestepping the chunks of broken buildings and shattered glass. The pads on the bottom of his six spiny legs could have easily helped him climb the debris, but he barely had the energy to even hold his antennae up after a long day spent hunting.A long, futile day. Just more decaying bodies and dead wood, a few bits of cardboard here and there. They weren’t terrible snacks, but Roach longed for the days he scratched through the kitchen walls, stealing bits of cheese off the table. Once, he even had the pleasu...

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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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