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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 May 8, 2021

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✍️ 139 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...

169 comments 169 WINNER 🏆
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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....

81 comments 81
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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...

180 comments 180 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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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...

108 comments 108
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“...And that's how we met” by Moonchild Ezra

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...

25 comments 25
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“The Water-Riders” by Lani 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...

18 comments 18
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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 ...

54 comments 54
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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 ...

23 comments 23
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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...

65 comments 65
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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...

9 comments 9
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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 ...

4 comments 4
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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...

18 comments 18
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“Talking Robots” by Daniella Cressman

It was 2053. The aliens were here. Concrete jungles were all that was seen far and wide. Dead bodies scattered the area from a virus that had wiped out the invasive human species, leaving corpses scattered across the barren planet but the alien king, Aldwald, had found a way to “revive” them: He had put a chip in each one and used a remote so, really, he’d made robots out of corpses. He had stuffed each body so that it...

7 comments 7
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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...

9 comments 9
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“Climate Change's Meaty Grasp” by Echo Sundar

As I sat at the top of a ruined building I thought of what life used to be. When food wasn't hard to find and you could get water almost everywhere. When you had warnings  before, violent storms wreaked havoc everywhere they touched. Back when I despised the cold and wished it to go away. But things were different now, much different. Warm December winds blew trash onto the street, or what was left of it. It was...

5 comments 5
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Ended on 23:59 - Sep 25, 2020 EST

Won by Ruth Midgley 🏆

Title: Unpaving Paradise

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