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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

“Nuclear Horses” by S. Closson

Submitted to Contest #60

Back when I was a kid, I would always hear all of these excitingly horrifying anecdotes about the apocalypse. It was like some lonely writer was crouched over their computer just typing away as they concocted the zaniest theories that one could imagine, then they spread the theories throughout the lunch room in middle school to both entertain the students, and freak out their parents.For the most part, it was a lot of fun, trying to figure out how humanity would kick the bucket. Everyone had their own ideas of what would happen, but we all p...

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“There’s a Zombie Outside Your Door” by Aisa M

Submitted to Contest #60

I never imagined that I would ever be at a time of Zombie Apocalypse, let alone be stuck with a Parakeet in an unprecedented time like this. Of all the animals in the world, why a Parakeet? It could be a dog, who can help me fight the bloody zombies, or a cat, who will just sleep in one corner, or a Gold Fish, that won’t make a single sound and a potential meal should I starve in case of food shortage. Before the outbreak happened, my neighbor brought home this noisy Parakeet one summer night. He placed the cage on his ...

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“Apocalypse No” by John K Adams

Submitted to Contest #60

Uncomprehending, Alex looked down the hazy street. Smoke drifted lazily from the storm drains and cracks in the street. People walked, as if in a dream. No one seemed to have a purpose. Did they await a sign? A flood of humanity vomited from the subway entrance into the bleak, mid-day sun. They walked aimlessly, reaching ground level and forgetting why they’d come. Their motivation appeared to come only from the press of the crowd emerging behind them. The red sky absorbed their shadows. Had their souls been stolen too? Alex looked about h...

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“Undead Rejection” by Sarah Kreiger

Submitted to Contest #60

The candle burning in the middle of the small table had about an hour's worth of wick left, but Alyssa was only vaguely aware of the flickering light. Her attention mainly focused on the man sitting across from her and the belly laugh currently overtaking his entire body. Tristan was a jokester, always laughing at his own jokes. She loved him with all her being. This man had been by her side through thick and thin, showered her with all his affection and endless amounts of corny jokes. She never had to worry or have any doubts that he ...

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“An Arm and a Leg” by Lina Oz

Submitted to Contest #60

They stare at me.It’s unsettling, their gazes. I walk slowly through the small dilapidated town, my eyes focused on the dirt road, glancing up occasionally to see if their eyes remain transfixed on my image.They still are. All of them.Even more unsettling are their bodies.Every single villager retains only three limbs. Two arms and a leg or one arm and two legs. Something missing from every one of them.When I first arrived here, to this strange place––when my car broke down after hours upon hours of driving aimlessly––I saw a woman with one ...

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“Romance, Grey and Desperate” by Inkstained Introvert

Submitted to Contest #60

I can’t do this. We’re only seventeen. I pull back the covers, swing my legs over the side of the cot, and stand up quietly. I grab my pistol from under my pillow and slip on a jacket from the hook at the door. I unbolt the door quietly, slip out of the bunker, and lock it behind me. I move slowly up the steps to the world’s surface. I look at the moon. It’s paper-thin and grey. Probably around four in the morning. I glance around. Everything, of course, is flat. Shattered remains of glass, concrete, wood, barbed wire, metal, bricks, and hop...

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“Man Down” by Cynthia Prokarym (Scott)

Submitted to Contest #60

Twilight was melting into a few twinkling stars when Aiden radioed the others for help. His stomach lurched at the stench of both human and creature carnage. If evil had a smell, that would be what it was like.Aiden' sinewy chest was bare, but the fire kept him warm. A few moments before, he’d ripped his shirt into three parts to bind his best bud's wounds the best he could. He wasn’t sure his friend would make it until help arrived.Several coyotes were staying in touch with their quavering howls and yips. He and Daniel had fought off f...

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“When Roses Cannot Cry” by Aveena Bordeaux

Submitted to Contest #60

We stepped over the debris and shattered glass, looking at the homes and buildings that were now strewn chunks of wood on the ash-encrusted ground. I inhaled the dingy air and wrapped a scarf around his nose and mouth, bending down to meet his eye.“Everything’s going to be okay, Elliott.” I squeezed his shoulders and planted a kiss on his forehead.He looked at me through his wavy overgrown hair with wide fearful eyes. “I don’t like it here, Rose,” he said, lips quivering.Hearing that was a stab in the soul. Who brought their five-year-old br...

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“Bread, Milk, and Eggs” by Regina Perry

Submitted to Contest #60

“Ready?” “All set, sir. Everything’s in position.” “On my command… three… two… one… NOW!” A set of explosions rocked the earth. When the dust settled, there was nothing but rubble. “You can’t still have that garage!” Simon wrenched the offending object away from his little brother and started smashing it. “Maaaaa!” Manny wailed. “Simon’s smashing my garage!” “I have to!” Simon insisted. “It’s the end of the world! There’s nothing left but rubble.” He pulled large chunks off of the garage and started strewing them about what was l...

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“Underwater Whispers” by Candela B

Submitted to Contest #60

Where we live, night is all-consuming. The darkness can be treacherous, which is why we are sure to sleep with tethers secured around our waists, attached to the poles that line the old streets, safe beneath the waves. According to my Great Aunt Sophie, in the Dry Ages there were ways of lighting up the dark. Every house was equipped with these lights, every room and car. The only cars I’d ever seen were rusted and far from magnificent. It was hard to imagine them moving at all, let alone fast and bright like she described. You can’t commu...

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“A Gravestone” by Dustin Softman

Submitted to Contest #60

Laying down on the dull patch of ground by your headstone, I can’t help feeling guilty. It’s not an easy thing to visit the grave of someone both so young and to who you have been so cruel. Maybe you feel the same way I do. Feel the same justified disappointment at our pairing. Of all the people who could have survived to come and visit you, I would be low on your list – but then if you could feel that, you’d know why I come. You’ll be glad to hear they didn’t have Fat Hoggy...

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“Love in Rubble” by Chris Buono

Submitted to Contest #60

I first saw her as she stalked out of the shambles of some old house with a torn-up backpack slung over her left shoulder. Noticing me and unsure of whether I was friend or foe, she paused, wide-eyed and ready to pounce like a lion in defense. I slowly raised my hands with open palms to show that I did not mean harm before she relaxed. The stranger must have been part of another tribe or I would have known her from my sanctuary of seventy people. Her dark brown hair was brushed but greasy as if she hadn’t washed in in at least a week, her fa...

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“Laughing All The Way” by Bareera Samra

Submitted to Contest #60

Dr. Fatsber was busy in his giant Laboratory working on a project when Dr. Solomon entered. He glanced around and saw upturned test tubes on the white floor of the lab. Beakers stood empty and the usual clean and neat lab was reeking of a noxious smell. Dr. Solomon turned in surprise to Dr. Fatsber and saw the worst of him. His normal tidy hair were standing on his head and his white coat was now multicolored. He was busy adding fluids to a flask, so engrossed in his work, not noticing the presence of Dr. Solomon. ‘Doctor?’ Dr. Solomo...

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“Hunted” by Claire Lindsey

Submitted to Contest #60

I have learned that it’s not about what’s left behind when the dust settles, but who is left. There weren’t many of us to begin with after everything that happened, and those of us who made it still aren’t sure exactly what exactly caused the end of the world. Sure, we all have our theories, but honestly, it doesn’t matter. At least, it doesn’t to me. I’m a bit more concerned with the fact that my heart’s still beating. I’d like to keep it that way. Now that I think about it, I haven’t seen another human being in at least a week. In anothe...

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“The Flight of the Butterbies” by Deborah Mercer

Submitted to Contest #60

I was working in the insect house at the East Counties Zoo when the asteroid hit. Now let’s get this straight. I wasn’t, and had never been, afraid of insects (fair enough, maybe low-level arachnophobia, but pedant that I am, I can’t help but point out that spiders aren’t insects) but nor was I a massive fan of them. I knew they were incredible creatures, and the most populous on the planet and also a vastly under-tapped source of protein, but unlike some colleagues, I couldn’t wax lyrical about them. Well, apart from the...

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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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