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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 Axe And The Fawn” by Chelsea Nixon

Submitted to Contest #60

I lift myself over the concrete ledge of debris and perch above my city. I deeply inhale the cold air. The fresh air always puts me at ease. I can hear everything up here in my concrete jungle and see far beyond into the overgrowth snaking around the never-ending fallen buildings. I slowly rise when I gain my footing on the high perch. I clench my fists and broaden my shoulders towards the world that can’t help but destroy everything in it’s wake. I look down for a moment to the far away Earth before crashing down towards it. I scream and ...

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“The Baby Apocalypse” by Melissa Olivo Heller

Submitted to Contest #60

written by Daisy Olivo Heller (10 years old) Hello, my name is spring. Though everyone calls me DaDa. Let me catch you up. Right now It is the apocalypse, and I can't talk. You see, I was born one week ago, and That's when the apocalypse started. I’m sure you are wondering how it started. Well I’m going to tell you even if you are not wondering. It all started yesterday when I was get...

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“Doomsday Playlist ” by Beth Robertson

Submitted to Contest #60

To a certain extent living through the cacophony of explosions deep beneath the earth, huddled together for moral support should make you appreciate your family, but it’s a love that still ebbs and flows. Before the war to end everything, I’d gone as far away as I could from them so that I could get some piece of mind and build my self esteem instead of staying and deflecting the quips meant to keep me in that place. Once things started to get real and the carrot-toned leader with corn silk hair began to stir the masses in every wh...

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“A Late Night Ponder” by R.C. Sova

Submitted to Contest #60

The rat was back again. Derek clenched his teeth, back rigid and stiff on the cot. He could hear it clicking, its tiny feet padding up and down the kitchen, crawling on top of the pots and pans. He couldn’t even pretend it wasn’t there, because it was making more noise than the air filtration system. It was getting more daring, because the rat knew. They had lived in this constant battle for more than two years. The rat would clang around in the kitchen, rummaging for the non-existent rations, and he would lay rigid in bed rummaging for ...

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“Blackberries, Pillows, and the Problem with Unions” by Sarah Newton

Submitted to Contest #60

A lot had changed in the half-decade since the inevitable zombie virus swept through and decimated the world’s population, any semblance of centralized government, law and order, and decent television. However, after the metaphorical dust had settled, some still found themselves adhering to a daily routine that hadn’t changed much from their pre-apocalyptic ones. For Dr Adam Able, his day still started at a time that even the Cain Township’s resident rooster found irritatingly early. This early hour of awakening was due to one part...

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“The Apocalyptic Pepper Thief. ” by Ramore991 Amore

Submitted to Contest #60

“Good evening Mrs. Duvall,” said Adam, a tall, lanky man with blonde hair in his early twenties. Mrs. Duvall was a mannequin who had taken an unfortunate tumble out of an open department store window during the great quake. She was, more importantly, a great friend to Adam. “Mrs. Duvall you look ravishing as per usual” he said to the mannequin whose left arm was missing. He stopped for a second, squinted at the dummy and proclaimed, “I know what it is. You’ve had your hair done! How lovely. What’s that? Why yes, yes it has been dreadfully ho...

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“Siamese Man” by Drew O.

Submitted to Contest #60

What’s the one thing we all take for granted? Salt. You know those people who try to go on low sodium diets, and one day they’ve gone too long without tasting anything, so they cave and spend their retirement funds on McDonalds fries? But there were no more McDonalds, because the world was trying to recover from a nuclear war that decimated the planet. So where the hell was I going to get my seasoning? “Can’t I just drink some ocean water with my food?” “Sure. If you want to grow a third ar...

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“The Premonition” by Mike Perry

Submitted to Contest #60

Word Count: 2824 THE PREMONITION By C. Michael Perry PRESENT DAY The last few days had been scorching. The air was so heavy with humidity, you could barely breathe. “...

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“The New World (I never said it had to be good one)” by Emma Atterstig

Submitted to Contest #60

It's been many years now, and yet there hasn’t been a single small crack in the way the zombies own and rule the world. No one saw it coming until it was too late, of course they didn't, no one ever does for these kinds of things. Either that or no one gave a shit, wouldn't have been the first time humanity stared it's own destruction in the face and did nothing to stop it.It all started back in 2020, exactly 86 years ago. Rumor says it was a virus or some shit like that that started it, no one really cares about the details anymore, most of...

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“In the Snow Dusted Forest” by Mx Crane

Submitted to Contest #60

The Alister twins sit in the forest. They are waiting -- there is so much waiting, these days. Azzie is glaring at the map she holds, location scrawled on it in ballpoint pen. She seems to hold the belief that if she gives the map one of her patented looks, it will suddenly begin to make sense. Jesse is leaning against the same boulder as his sister, shoulder pressed against hers. They look almost the same, as if any onlooker (gods help them, the unlucky onlooker who stumbled into that forest) is seeing double, but Jesse is faded like an o...

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“Over the Edge” by Chris Gore

Submitted to Contest #60

Trigger warning: suicide Joshua was looking down from the roof edge. He watched the street so far below. It should have looked like any other street in the city. Broken and full of potholes. Instead, it looked like some sort of strange ameba, growing and blobbing itself along. If he stood and stared long enough, he could begin to make out the faces of some of the people shambling restlessly down there. Teachers, lawyers, and bartenders. Bike-messengers and nurses. Parents. Gang...

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“The remnant times” by Ephyunayne Arthur

Submitted to Contest #60

" Why are we going to the backwater planet anyway, it would be easier to just use the Tiash Lukius on them," Xhuli said, covering her obsidian coloured eyes with protective lenses. We had been warned that the sun in this particular solar system wouldn't be friendly to our eyes, not that we were supposed to stay there for long. The orders were to destroy all signs of remnant life and request for the Tiash Lukius if they even dared to put up a fight. "I've seen what the Tiash Lukius could do, and being blown to pieces was not a fate I would ...

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“Zombies are the Craziest Thing” by Thea Brown

Submitted to Contest #60

As bad as the day had been going, it really took a turn for the worse when the zombies started running. In reality, zombies had been around for decades. Mindlessly roaming the earth, waiting for someone to kill them again. Some of them actually kick it the second time around; some just regenerate. They do hunt us. It's just that nobody's worried anymore; a zombie, or cannie, as we call them sometimes, can't get into a house, they can't open car doors, and they are very slow. At least, all the cannies I've ever heard of are slow. At this ...

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“Flesh and Blood” by Jamie Tucker

Submitted to Contest #60

Stumbling over pot holes, she ran as if being chased by a pack of maggot-filled zombies spitting, hissing and groaning through decayed teeth, yellowed and full of pulpy bits of bloody flesh. Heavily, she breathed, panting like a wolf searching for her pack, as she took a quick glimpse over her shoulder. Red, black, white and green rotting eyeballs gazed back at Ellie (their dinner). Tattered clothes, ripped and worn, dragged along the floor, creating a scratching sound as they picked up cracked stones from the road. From out of nowhere,...

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“Farmyard Zombie Adventures” by Megan Snyder

Submitted to Contest #60

COVID-19 was just the beginning. By the end of 2030, 15 new viruses had ravaged the world and killed off almost half the world’s population. Since the early ‘20s, no one has been able to leave their state or country; all air and boat traffic was suspended. Traveling to another area became illegal. There were still those who did it, of course. The viruses still managed to spread. Americans had it the worst. Of their population of over 300 million in the early ‘20s, less than 50 million were left by 2030. Some residents tried to illegally im...

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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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