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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

“CR:” by James Offenha

Submitted to Contest #60

     The humans always said we’d be the ones to survive the apocalypse and they were right.   There’s no more pesticides, which is good, but we’re the only ones left, so there’s little to no food, so we have to use the CAN method, which humans thought were vulgar, but they’re dead, which means they didn’t know better.       So, the CAN method.  I’m a male CR, so I find a female CR and we mate. She gets pregnant, has little ones a quarter of which grow up and...

6 comments 6
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“Post - (for some) apocalyptic.” by Len Mooring

Submitted to Contest #60

Post - (for some) - Apocalyptic.Donelle Trimp surveyed what she had wrought and thought it good. As the President of the Amalgamated Republican States of Earth - ARSE - she had thought to bring light to the people of recalcitrant countries by way of flattening all of their buildings to let the sun shine upon them. She had tried talking to them, albeit rather roughly, but that was the kind of talk they understood. Well, possibly they hadn’t understood the message this time, but the next time, if there was a next time, she felt sure they ...

7 comments 7
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“Taking a Chance” by Philip Clayberg

Submitted to Contest #60

The highway I was traveling on looked as someone had decided it was a worthwhile target for missiles. It didn't just have pot-holes; it had overlapping craters the size of large houses. The overpass ahead of us had mostly collapsed. All sorts of vehicles were scattered about. Some dangling over the edges of the overpass, others blown off the highway and into the ditches alongside it. Some animals were already searching through the wreckage, looking for food.I stopped the car near an elk and asked, “Is there a detour anywhere?”“My maps are ou...

3 comments 3
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“The Tommorows” by Unpublished Writer

Submitted to Contest #60

Skewed through the ashes, there was nothing but smoke and snow for lengths. No one knew what day, what time; they just existed. Slow and menacingly cold. Keeping watch had become a painful task, and was usually given to recruits. However, sometimes, seniors were cast off in a manner of severe punishment, second only to being in a coffin. That’s how Ira had found himself on the top, with Alysa and Dean. For Ira, the day had been irritating at best. He did refuse a direct order from a senior officer, and his friends paid the price too. “A real...

2 comments 2
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“Don’t You Cry” by Karen McDermott

Submitted to Contest #60

Even when I was a child, when this country’s surface was still cool enough to walk on barefoot, I didn’t get on with other children. Mother and Father’s friends, relatives and neighbours would pay visits, bringing with them their droppings, pudgy lifeforms incapable of moving in a straight line, that I was expected to entertain. To form immediate bonds with all, merely owing to being of similar ages. To host tea parties with teddy bears and dolls. To this day I am disgusted whenever I see a toddler trailing a doll behind her – evidence some ...

12 comments 12
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“Leftover” by Jeni Conrad

Submitted to Contest #60

The day the world ended I was immediately killed while standing in line at my favorite coffee shop. If you’re a bit morbid and curious like me, you’ve wondered how you’re going to die while you’re still alive. I never would have thought it was because a giant meteor hit a small town in Arkansas, wiping out all of America, Canada, and most of South America in a rolling cloud of smoke and debris. The rest of the world followed closely behind as planet earth reacted to the impact. Sure, a few lucky people survived in Russia and Australia, but I...

8 comments 8
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“The One-Man Army” by Fplldg Wakdwwdg

Submitted to Contest #60

( N.B: Levi Ackerman is a character from the famous manga 'Attack on Titan' written and illustrated by Ishyyama. It's just a fanfiction I thought up. It doesn't have any connections with the real storyline. I don't own the characters used in this story)"Hey.", Levi said with his ever dark tone.It wasn't dusk yet but still, the room was dark. Candles were illuminating the room. Supreme Zachary with all the commander was sitting before the table. But Levi couldn't care less."Hey, four-eyes!""Oh Levi, you're already here!", Responded Hanje, com...

16 comments 16
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“Food Report No. 321” by Kendall Defoe

Submitted to Contest #60

From the files of the Dark Hunters (Hudson Walter X’s Reports):Since the crisis occurred, I have kept as accurate a record as possible of the changes that have taken place within the greater society and the world as a whole. Notably, I have seen the worst possible behaviour in my neighbours and friends and responded by trying to bring a level of sanity and decency back in our lives, with or without assistance. Naturally, this has been a very difficult task, especially for a man who once was responsible for nothing more challenging ...

0 comments 0
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“Zombification” by Harken Void

Submitted to Contest #60

There is a pandemic going on. And it is worse than any kind of biological virus. In this document, I will try to record the world as it was on date 20.09.2020, for future historians to research - should there even be a future, that is. I’m not so sure. The world is plagued by zombies, and they are real. Not like those sci-fi ones from TV-shows or video games, where you see dudes wearing makeup and torn T-shirts, raspberry syrup dripping from the corner of their mouths. No, the zombies that are roaming planet Earth in the 21st century are hor...

9 comments 9
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“Dee's Gift” by Morgan McHose

Submitted to Contest #60

The blades of grass recoil from her bare feet. I watch with fleeting sadness as they blacken and shrivel. I follow close behind her trail of destruction. Our sisters will be waiting for us in the forest.Sure enough, at the fringes of the wood I glimpse Thunder, absently twirling a dagger on its point with a dainty finger. Her head has been shaved clean. She insisted its long raven locks would impede her flight. No one dissented, but I’m secretly mournful to see her head bereft of its usual midnight tendrils.“You two took your sweet time. Can...

2 comments 2
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“Where There's Water” by Iris Silverman

Submitted to Contest #60

Leeroy Altman was on his fourth Mountain Dew of the day. All he had to drink was that sickly yellow liquid. It dribbled down his chin and settled on his protruding collarbones, with a stickiness that could only be removed with a shower. Too bad that wasn't an option either.  He had the major hots for his neighbor, Fiona Royal, but he smelled too gross to approach her these days. He tried drenching himself in cologne, coating himself with a hefty layer of Fabreeze, and even rolling around on dryer sheets. But nothing can take the place o...

11 comments 11
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“How to Survive the Apocalypse” by Julie Ward

Submitted to Contest #60

HOW TO SURVIVE THE APOCALYPSE And High School at the Same Time By Remi Julian Here’s the thing about the apocalypse. It’s basically a giant game of dodgeball. Nobody really likes it but everyone has to play. If you want to walk away unscathed, you have to think strategically. At first you have to blend in, stay out of the way. Then, as people disappear from the playing field, you’ve got to be quick, ruthless and light on your feet. You have to know how and when to catch the ball and how to send it to the right target ...

6 comments 6
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“The Unforgettable Moment” by Warrior C

Submitted to Contest #60

"At night, darker lighting triggers the brain to make another hormone called melatonin. This hormone is responsible for helping you sleep. Without enough sun exposure, your serotonin levels can dip." This was the Google said when she tried to search why she couldn't sleep at night. Was it a trauma of the virus that took a lot of lives or just an insomnia that she couldn't bear while not being with her grandparents?The idle stars knew that the smiles had gone and the things left were fear and uncertainty. People all over the world were seeing...

6 comments 6
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“Panic, Schmanic” by Vanessa Kilmer

Submitted to Contest #60

I have two towels. I’m rich by today’s standards. Right now, they are pinned together to form a poncho that’s keeping me warm. It’s the end of spring. The first few generations after The Event, no one kept track of time, days or years. Heck, the world was so bleak and black that no one could keep track of the seasons. You couldn’t tell the difference between winter and summer. Someone in one of the larger settlements up north on the Upper Bay near Old New York, calculated the current year as 2520 OD (Old Date) or 500 ND (New Date.) They ca...

10 comments 10
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“The Unseen Terror” by Jia Kausar

Submitted to Contest #60

‘Great. We are stuck in this house and they will be upon us as soon as light begins to fade. There will be no more rescues today. What do we do?’ James asked, glancing around at the dejected faces of the people in the room. ‘We fight.’ Adam said immediately, curling his fist and grinding it in the palm of the other hand. ‘No, we run.’ Becky answered, as if this was the most obvious choice there was. ‘Where?’ Emilia said. ‘It’s better to stay and fight.’ ‘You all still think we have a chance, do you?’ James snorted, clearly mystified by the ...

14 comments 14
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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!

Prompts | Many Hands | 2024-09

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Prompts | Many Hands | 2024-09

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