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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 – 177 stories

Write a post-apocalyptic story triggered by climate change.

Adults – 134 stories

Write a post-apocalyptic thriller.

Thriller and Suspense – 143 stories

Write a post-apocalyptic romance.

Dystopian – 196 stories

Stories

“Ricky and Angie Walk Down West 57th” by Dave Bolin

Submitted to Contest #60

Ricky and Angie walk down the West 57th Street. Together, but not really. Friends still living can’t remember a time before they were a couple. Ricky and Angie were high school sweethearts. Ricky, the star quarterback, and Angie, the head cheerleader. He was the guy all the girls had a crush on, she was the girl all the guys dreamed of. Ricky and Angie. Angie followed Ricky to college, where Ricky played football on scholarship. When Ricky blew his knee out, Angie nursed him back to health. Everyone was blown away by Ri...

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“The Era of Isolation” by A.J Wise

Submitted to Contest #60

The end of the world arrived without so much of a bang, a blast of otherworldly forces, an asteroid exploding on impact, a plague obliterating the whole of Humanity.Rather, it arrived with a whisper, it arrived unnoticed. The end crept slowly into the collective consciousness of mankind. It nestled, nice and warm, in the endless cacophony of society, the dying screams of civilization.It lives in our minds, a virus. Unstoppable and incurable.And here's the rub: Not a single Human Being noticed the world when it ended. No one but me.I'm Kit an...

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“Forest rot” by Mario Perez

Submitted to Contest #60

The warmth of the day lingered like a dead stench. The air is still, and the land reaches for the clouds that only gave acidic tears in a desperate cry for rain. In a different time this day would be July. but the old world names no longer mattered, there are no animals left to care. The air is like soup, heavy and burning as it falls in the lungs of the grubs that litter the ground. In a forest that forgot its name lays the last of a fundamental part of the hunt. a lone predator and its final excuse for prey. In this nameless wilderness the...

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“Desolation” by Jeremy Johnson

Submitted to Contest #60

How long has it been? One year? Two years? There is no way to know for sure at this point. Does it really matter anyway? No one measures time anymore; calendars and clocks serve no purpose in this “New World”. The only remaining tool for understanding what time it might be was the ever-returning hunger in a person’s belly. The woman opened her matted eyes ever so slightly. Blinding light from the sun forced her to shield her face with her arm. It felt like she had just fallen asleep a...

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“The End of the Year” by Rachel Rozelle

Submitted to Contest #60

Sometimes things go as planned, but not always as you planned. Like maybe you planned to change careers and make a little bit more money. Maybe you planned to go back to school or move to another city. Or maybe your plans were more run of the mill, for instance you just planned a trip to wallworld to pick up a few necessities. Whatever your plans you expect to go about them unimpeded. For most this is true, but for me a plan isn't properly planned unless you have a back up (or two). Just like any other day my plans were simple, well simple e...

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“The New Reclaimers Almanac” by Emily Mandelbaum Lowry

Submitted to Contest #60

Thank you for picking up the sixteenth annual New Reclaimers Almanac: your personal guide to land and soil repair. We will help you navigate through the changes to the environment that have occurred since The Great Extinction: atmospheric composition and temperature, soil pH, and pest control, among many others, of course. You too can tame and reclaim your land, rediscovering its growth and harvesting potential! This edition has collected and curated dozens of new tips and tricks with that healthy dose of reclaimer humor and wit that you’ve ...

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“Out of Time” by Jacob Brown

Submitted to Contest #60

I was sitting on the couch watching TV with my younger brother Jason, when someone started banging against the front door. I got up and quietly walked over and looked through the peep hole. A guy was standing there his eyes blood-shot and his skin a greyish-white colour, I looked back at my brother. "It’s a vampire, he wants to suck our blood" I teased trying to scare him; he simply shrugged before looking back at the TV. “Aww no fun" I chuckled. Still smiling I open the door, the security chain on so only allowing a small gap, and ...

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“"THE NECKLACE"” by Lets Fly High

Submitted to Contest #60

She is wondering bizarrely about her father. She remembers the day when he left for Korea with a sweet, warm kiss on her forehead ,which still has its essence in the place. Now, she wonders if he is alive or… "Ursula, come on!, I have a surprise for you!" Ursula is a girl who lives with her father and mother in the U.S.A , but she accounts that she astrayed her father. She is in the safe zone with her mother and all the other unknown people. She ponders over the call and ran out Is that dad,mom! Mom smiled with gloom...

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“LOVE THAT CONQUERS” by Sarah Chimombo

Submitted to Contest #60

Bronze Daniels, a handsome young man in the prime of life. The only surviving soldier out of five a hundred of soldiers who invaded an alien hill land forest occupied by zombies, a crowdof humans who once died and came back into existence.Unfortunately, it was assumed and declared that all the soldiers died after six months of research.On the contrary, Bronze Daniels survived and got stuck in the forest, for the only possible exit was to pass through the territory of the zombies.Bronze Daniels lived one year and two months in hide outs from ...

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“Screams and Claw Marks” by Makhaila Tillman

Submitted to Contest #60

No one saw it coming. There was no sound, a cloud of red rolling out of the forest and into the clean and quiet town of Eden. In a few moments all of the green trees, lush lawns, pristine houses, and barking dogs, would be consumed by the sound of wailing sirens, screams, and panic. The blue sky would be covered in a blood red smoke. The smart inhabitants of the town would take shelter, but others stayed outside of their homes to watch the red smoke roll in and over everything. At first it seemed to have no effect, so parents went to retriev...

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“Excerpt from the Diary of Dr. Y. Smith” by E. Christian

Submitted to Contest #60

The first reports of a novel rabies virus came out of China in December. It was a handful of cases, all linked to a wet market in the north of the country, and the descriptions of the disease seemed farfetched and designed as clickbait: a mysterious wasting disease, a brain eating virus, uniform fatality. Skeptical, I chalked up the descriptions in the popular press to a combination of hysteria, xenophobia, and greed, and waited for the medical literature to set the record straight. The first case series was publishe...

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“Distorted sounds ” by Millie Spence

Submitted to Contest #60

Everyone had thought the virus would be the thing that would wipe out mankind. Besides, it did kill millions of people and bring the whole world to almost a stand-still. That was why it was needed so badly. The vaccine, that is. Everyone was asking for it. Begging, even. That way, they could control the virus and everyone could go back to work. They didn’t expect this to happen. You’re probably wondering what ‘this’ is. Due to the fact that so many people needed the vaccine, the government must have put too much pressure on scientists becaus...

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“Darkness” by D J

Submitted to Contest #60

These brambles made her face itch. They always did. She hated them, but so did everyone else. That's what made them the perfect place to hide. Well, that was a part of it. They also happened to be in exactly the right spot. The bramble bushes overlooked the derelict, half collapsed old building from the top of a rise. They grew between the tall trees, wrapping their tendrils around them as if pulling them back down to earth. Perhaps they were jealous of the sun the trees could reach? Not that there was much sun to boast of today. The dar...

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“A tale of two doors” by Scotty Warpten

Submitted to Contest #60

They call him boss, 'cus that's what he is. The boss. Five years ago the meteors fell and brought with the the alien microbes which would bring society to it's knees. Humanity is already dead and gone, us survivors are just it's final swan song. That's what I am, a survivor. I fancy myself a pretty good one to. They call me Roach on account of the fact that I'm apparently very hard to kill. Sure I'm a little worse for wear. I lost my left hand to a zombie bite and one ear to a bullet which is still stuck in my skull if doc is to be believ...

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“The Remains of Earth” by Love & Peace

Submitted to Contest #60

In the year of 2027 World War lll broke loose and as America was on the brink of defeat the military and their leaders gave up hope. but a sole person launched all the missiles in America's arsenal causing an all out nuclear war destroying the earth as we know it. That man’s name was Bakugou and he was my grandfather. After the war most of the survivor’s slowly died one by one from sickness and those who were left behind only mourned the deaths of loved ones lost. It's been 50 years since the war ended and most of the world has become uninha...

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$50

Prize money

760

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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