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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write a post-apocalyptic story triggered by climate change.

Posted in General on Nov 25, 2020

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✍️ 146 stories

“Unpaving Paradise” by Ruth Midgley

Imagine how hard it is to break up asphalt with a pickaxe. Now imagine it's not even a very good pickaxe. And you've been doing it for days. The sun, hotter now, makes the sweat bead on your face, itchy like a bug landing on you. Sometimes enough water escapes your pores to form a little stream that carves a path down the black dust on your face. And it tortures you that your body is letting such a precious resource just drip onto the ground. Unretrievable.   This has been my existence for almost a full moon. Me, my p...

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“That Is Earth” by Ai Jiang

The Mountains look shorter today. Perhaps this means hope, but maybe not."Grass."I look to my left and see my friend tumbling down a Hill nearby."Grass," he calls again as he climbs the small Hill which I am sitting on top of."What's the matter, Tree?" I ask the tall figure that now looms over me."Look what I found," Tree says and holds up a circular object covered in vibrant greens and blues, and flecks of white."What is that?" I take the object from his hand and hold it up to take a better look....

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“Fall From Grace” by Laura Clark

As Rishi plummeted to her death, a wordless shriek filled her mind. A tiny rational voice pushed the panic to the side a little, and whispered that perhaps she should have double checked her equipment. The soot covered walls of the high rise blurred to grey streaks while the speed of her descent stole the scream from her throat. Fingers, once nimble and quick, splayed in rigid claws as they tried to snatch at handholds that couldn’t save her. Her safety rope, which she would have considered ir...

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“Letters to My Children” by Robert Grandstaff

Letters to My ChildrenFirst Letter,I watched the wind blow over the land one more time before I stopped the video. This is the last video before wind destroyed the camera’s above ground. We are a small group of survivors, maybe two hundred of us, rushed underground before “Doomsday” hit us. There’s nothing left outside now, trees, buildings, everything recognizable has disappeared. One video I see in my dreams shows a building made to withstand a nuclear blast but it’s obliterated by a storm several mil...

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“Ask Akeem” by Abigail Airuedomwinya

My father was a soldier who came from a long line of warriors. He was a soldier so skilled in the simple act of violence that he earned my mother's love. They were married in July above blue clouds and green grasses. He practiced a lot: shot watermelons and oranges and let them stay in the sun to rot. It was simply magic and my father practiced every time. He was perfect.Or so it seemed.The night before his next practice, my brother and I made a pact. Since he was leaving for college the next day and I ...

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“...And that's how we met” by Pranati Chavali

James rubbed his eyes. His wings were nearly drooping. It had been a long day. He looked around him. His bedroom was always a comfort. He sank back into the plush pillows which he had just got up from. He stretched his arm in front of his face, examining his palm. “What am I even doing?” he mumbled to himself. He hadn’t signed up for this in the first place. It was all his parents’ doing. Meet J...

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“Forevergreen” by Rayhan Hidayat

This again.Water, cradling me like a newborn. So soft. So soothing.So suffocating.Every time, as solemn heartbeats accompany my descent, I search the blueness. And every time, like a pair of ghostly wings flitting through the dark, my gaze lands on the lights dotting the surface.The surface that is a million lifetimes away, blurred by eternity but nevertheless… there. Call...

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“The Water-Riders” by Leilani Lane

My arms burn, but I don't stop pushing.Forward, back, forward, back.The rowboat inches toward the beach, barely missing the skyscrapers that peek out of the waves.“We need to go faster,” says Cyrus.“Do you want to do it?” I snap.He holds up a hand in apology and I grit my teeth. I had to cut off his left arm last year, when a rogue fishing hook ripped it to shreds. It was a close one; he’d lost enough blood to alert every shark in a ten-mile...

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“The aquarium and the submarine” by Safiya Tahseen

A tiny yet sophisticated periscope peeped from the surface of the sea to monitor day and night. Hundreds of high resolution cameras, across the bubble like sharp mesh fencing zoomed in and out to check the proximity of any fierce water animal '.Safe seismic range and optimal water conditions', reported on the computer screens. ”We can survive for yet another day,” rejoiced a home guard.  ...Overwhelmed to present ...

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“Lullaby on Fire” by Scout Tahoe

“I don’t understand,” is what he whispers into your ear, his fingers locked into yours. There’s no key for the chest of secrets you’ve created—you know that much already.  He is the man from your nightmares with eyes that are mood rings. They shine like the stars and their court; today they are black and deep. Reminding you of midnight swims in that pool you used to own.  You know he understands. He ...

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“An Oasis in the Wastelands” by Andrew Krey

As we walked over to the trap, I saw we had caught something by how low the branch framework sat in the water.  “Looks like I won’t have to eat you today ready meal.” Cyril looked up at me like he understood, but I may have been imagining that. When I lifted the trap out of the water there were fish on all four lines. The river was full of fish and was why we’d stayed here so long. We should have ...

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“The Damage was Done” by Mustang Patty

I wrote the date in my journal, but it may as well have been the same date since December thirty-first of 2021. The world hasn’t changed, and, in many ways, it feels like it no longer turns on its axis. The skies are steel gray. They never change, and the sun never breaks through. I saw this coming, and I ordered cases of Vitamin D. Still, even vitamins have expiration dates, and I wonder if the synthetic...

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“Dream of Snow” by Harken Void

I still remember when my grandfather first told me of snow. It was during one of the firestorms when the whole family was gathered, and grandfather would tell stories to ease our minds. He’d often do that, tell us tales of life before the Wipeout. It was all fairy tales, of course. I doubt that any of them were ever real as the reality I live in seems so utterly different. Still, the stories helped. And even thoug...

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“The Apocalypse is a Great Opportunity to Become a Pirate Captain” by Lily Kingston

“Honestly, you can’t just not ignore global warming for years to let companies increase their profits, let the oceans rise and devour all of the land except for the tippy tops of high corporate buildings, and expect me not to steal a rich person’s cruise-size yacht and become a pirate.” Ash said as she twirled her tiki cocktail in her hand, reclining on a five dollar beach chair on a five million dolla...

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“Here We Go Again” by 𝕄𝕖𝕘𝕒𝕟 𝕊𝕦𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕝𝕒𝕟𝕕

AUTHOR"S NOTE- read 'Life and Death' before this one to have a better understanding! Thanks, and I hope you enjoy! Lipa and I were thrilled to be together.  Unfortunately, good things can’t last forever.  Three years after we had been together, there were rumors going around that everyone in the forest was starting to die. The plants and prey suffered too, until finally, after about one year...

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Contest #60

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This week's theme: Face Your Fears

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Ended on 23:59 - Sep 25, 2020 EST

Won by Ruth Midgley 🏆

Title: Unpaving Paradise

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