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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

“Vir Rabido” by Rac Relix

Submitted to Contest #60

“Man would I kill for some steak right now.” Brutus said as he stretched his arms while exiting his tent. “Would human steak be satisfactory for you?” Canelly shot while cleaning her knife. “If it’s yours then that would be very… very… satisfactory.” Brutus answered pervertedly. “I’m sorry but the only one that’s readily available right now is the Brutus Special.” She said as she threateningly stood up walking towards Brutus. “Alright that’s enough from the two of you!” Margaret shouted as she got between the two. “W...

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“Lucidutek ” by F Dacuag

Submitted to Contest #60

!!! ATTENTION!!! IF YOU OR A LOVED ONE WAS DIAGNOSED WITH COVID-19 YOU MAY BE ENTITLED TO FINANCIAL COMPENSATION. COVID-19 IS A VIRAL AIRBORNE DISEASE WRONGFULLY MISCOMMUNICATED, MISHANDLED, AND MISTREATED BY THE CDC DURING THE 2020 PANDEMIC. PLEASE DON'T WAIT. CALL 1-800-COVID-19 FOR A FREE LEGAL CONSULTATION TODAY!!! The narrator blares on and the screen blinks through medical images of CT scans, medical devices, and old women with coughing. 1-800-COVID-19 flashes across the screen, big and bold. All you want to do is wat...

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“Monster in the Storm” by Kat Night

Submitted to Contest #60

The sky above lit up with a great crash of sound. Momentarily blinded and deafened, Ciere groped around for the nearest object. Her hands landed on the soft material of a shirt, and that shirt was connected to the warm body of the one before her. The body was reassuring to her, knowing she wasn't alone. The very last thing she or anyone wanted, was to be alone during these horrid times. Her hearing came back before her sight, and although her vision danced with spots, she was able to make out the shout of the one she was holding on to. ...

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“When will people learn?” by Clary Fray

Submitted to Contest #60

It started calm, it was barely 9 in the morning, the rustling of the trees was relaxing, the sky was filled with clouds resting against the blue blanket and flocks of birds flew over your head as you snuggle deeper against your pillow, basking in the warmth the day brought, your alarm clock never bothering you today, you could hear muffled voices coming from behind your door, and you could clearly hear your little sister squealing in delight when the theme song to her favorite cartoon started playing. Oh how great it would've been to...

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“A Place to Escape” by Lee Montgomery

Submitted to Contest #60

Relax and let me take you to a place that doesn’t exist. Close your eyes and listen. The building is of stone, ancient bricks once lovingly laid to create a cottage with a thatched roof, that has been both a home and a place of work. The gable ends are home to house martins in the summer and the gap where time has parted the slates from the timber allow bats to hide in the attic, to roost and to raise their young in safety. One level is enough. A large low-ceilinged timber clad room with a four-poster bed tucked in the corner, the kitchen...

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“The tale of what won't happen” by Katttie Smith

Submitted to Contest #60

And in the spring something strange began. Anya's grandmother, who had lived in the village all her life, told her that something had changed. Anya brushed aside all these conversations that, say, the birds no longer sing in that grove near the pond, which as a child inspired her incomprehensible longing. She didn't often hear birds singing in the city either, so should she worry about that now? It was only five years after these words from her grandmother, when there was no longer any grandmother, no birds, no understanding of how to live o...

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“New San Francisco” by Cameron Diiorio

Submitted to Contest #60

The year is 2040 and San Francisco is trapped beneath a dome from the Bay Bridge to the Golden Gate. Dahlia and I are spread out on a picnic blanket, drinking coffee at a park. We have a wide view of the city. “How’s work?” I ask. I had to make a reservation to get through the checkpoint at the Golden Gate. This one I had to schedule three months in advance. Inside the clear glass, these people have found a way to survive. San Francisco is more alive than it’s ever been. When I first visited Dahlia at the dome, a month after s...

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“Guiding Light” by Mikki Licu

Submitted to Contest #60

This was the last place I had seen her. You have no idea how long I've tried to come back to her. The lengths I've gone to find a way. The sacrifices. The deaths. The deck rocks beneath my feet and blood still stains the corners of my fingernails. My cheek throbs with pain but as much as I want to press my hands on it, I know any other movement would result in another strike to my face. The thin shirt and pants useless against the crisp ocean wind biting at my skin. The air tastes more than just salt now. It carries the stench of rotting...

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“Eternal White” by Rac Relix

Submitted to Contest #60

“Think we’re gonna last another year?”My partner Arisa asked me with tired, almost soulless eyes.We’d just gone through the last of our food and water supply and finally had no choice but to go out again after nearly three months of staying hidden inside an underground bunker in an abandoned military outpost.“We’ll manage… somehow.” I answered, not knowing what else to say.If we didn’t make any moves to stock up for the coming days, it wasn’t hypothermia but starvation and thirst that was going to kill us. None of those were appealing option...

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“The Last Sparrow” by Derek Bunce

Submitted to Contest #60

The brown earth underneath their boots was the embodiment of boredom. It was as though Mother Earth had run out of colour and could only paint the landscape in dull greys and browns. Green fields that had once stretched in every direction were no more than memories and the rivers were now polluted muddy trenches. As Norman walked, he tried to explain to his grandson what life had once been like. Of course, the boy knew the stories about how the world had ignored warnings about climate change and how towns and cities had been replaced by agr...

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“Tragic” by Sunny Skies

Submitted to Contest #60

Why am I here? “Your guardian didn’t tell you?” She doesn’t talk to me much, unless I talk first “Right, well, we’re here to talk about an important event that you’ve blocked out for a while,” I don’t know what you’re talking about “I understand that you don’t want to face these feeling and remember, but it’s a necessary part of our session” My parents died, if that’s what you’re referring to “How?” Car accident “Are you sure?” Yes, I’m sorry, what do you want to know? “I want you to tell me the truth about what you wer...

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“Fall of Venus” by Corbin O'Skinny

Submitted to Contest #60

“Start journal. Assigned parent #36,098,234,520 left me a message today. Humanity has killed off another planet and we’re moving again. I hate it. Months of risking our lives out in space. I can’t take another trip to another planet. Venus is fine and I’m staying here on Cloud City. Mars was fine before we blew it up. I never knew Earth, but I bet it was fine too before it overheated.” Killian kicked his robotic hover-dog. It sprung to life, out of sleep mode, fake-barking, and looking to play. “Go chase the cat.” A smaller shiny toy went ...

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“The Shaman” by Felicity Edwards

Submitted to Contest #60

The embers of the fire were still incandescent. Everyone had gone to bed, but he sat immobile, staring into the fire. Watching as small shadows of flames danced up and down the hearth. Soon, he knew, the spirits would talk to him. Soon they would allow him to glimpse the future, not as a fully formed image, that was not their way, but as shards. Never a coherent picture, only flickers, all jumbled up like a nightmare. His work was to interpret these fleeting images, to gain an insight into what lay ahead for his people. Now there...

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“How the World Ends” by Eleanor Grayson

Submitted to Contest #60

Everyone who thought the world would end in fire was right. Red, gold, orange burned on the horizon everywhere in the beginning. From coast to coast, north to south, people wandered along abandoned and cracked highways littered with rusting cars and spoiling humans. Sometimes, if they were too close to the fires, the air would burn through their clothes, burning their flesh, and their blood would boil in their veins, liquifying them from the inside out. In the beginning, it was so hot that all lips were cracked and white with dead, atro...

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“Flames Arising ” by Mackenzie Hebner

Submitted to Contest #60

Flames Arising By: Mackenzie Hebner Flames had been arising. The colors of the sun tainted into scorched humanity. We should have seen it coming, but curled up in our beds, books to our noses, glasses to our eyes, cocoa in our hands, and covers on our frail bodies, we didn’t see the world outside our window. We didn’t see the comforts we knew were slipping away. But just because we didn’t see, doesn’t mean it wasn’t meant to be, for it was, and it did. Flames had been arising for years. Each cycle of days bringing about...

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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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