Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Fiction.
Chaos
Daylight came streaming in through the cheap metal blinds that were hanging in the narrow window. Chris laid still, watching the sunlit lines slowly climb across the quilt that covered his stomach and legs. Sleep had not easily come the night before. He knew the apartment was as safe as a place could be these days, but it was not soundproof. The screeching and banging had carried on until just before dawn, and even in his exhaustion, he had not been able to close his eyes for more than ten minutes at a time. “I should be used to this by now,” he moaned dryly. His back ached from the lumpy mattress he had carried over from the destroyed apartment across the hall. The small room he had chosen to shelter in was the cleanest he could find, but it was still garbage-strewn and the air was rancid. Sitting up, his muscles ached from the tense night. He had known better than to travel alone this far south, the woods farther north were almost untouched by the terror in the city. As Samantha had died slowly from cancer that came before the chaos, he had promised her he would find other survivors, that he would not be alone. “Bullshit,” he said gruffly, shaking his head, tears stinging his eyes.
By Kai Michelle5 years ago in Fiction
The Forest
The never-ending sight of trees surrounded the couple, turning left, or to the right; it was in no particular direction that their straining vision would capture any sort of landmark to point the way. The overhead branches blocked out what light there might have been, and they both longed for the brisk air of the mountains of Tulsiria that they called home. A perfect place with that familiar light always obstructed by rock and snow. The two days that led them here, and the thought of the days to come brought upon the feeling of hopeless dread and their minds, in a slow and unnerving quietness understood that they might never escape. It was, however, not for their own safety which concerned them; but for that of their infantile daughter.
By Gabriel Vargas5 years ago in Fiction
Our Own Terms
Mom always said to keep pushing, to keep moving. We were survivors. We survived when we lost the house. We survived when dad left. W survived when the world changed, and the schools closed. We even survived when the explosions started and it seemed like the lights would be out forever. The news would come on at night and would list the numbers of all of the people who had died. That’s all there was to watch, just a scroll of the dead until the electricity went out and all of the stations stopped running. I guess it was something nuclear. Mom never would give me a clear answer, she would just mutter something about how people would rather hate one another than live. I don’t blame her for being vague, she didn’t know what this would turn into.
By Samantha Slomin5 years ago in Fiction
Priceless
I can feel the sweat dripping down my nose. I try to stretch my shoulder to wipe it off, but the weight of the crate in my arms left little slack for such luxuries. In all honesty, even I was surprised at how much I had lugged in from The Wilds. I'm starting to regret trading my shopping cart for a portable stove. Who wants a hot meal in the middle of the damn desert? That's what I get for being cocky, I guess. A few good sales go to my head and I get swindled by The Mad Max equivalent of a used car salesman.
By Meghan Betke5 years ago in Fiction
Promise.
The fate of the world was strung onto a thin metal chain and tucked away in my robes. As the only surviving heirs of our line my sister and I each had a piece to guard; a solemn vow to protect the world re-shaped by humanity. Years ago our world was nearly desolated by pollution and greed; people were killing the one thing that could supply them with everything they needed. It probably would have continued on this way had people of the old faiths not intervened. The Oracles could feel the cry of the dying planet and felt the wrath of the old Gods bludgeoning through their veins. Notwithstanding the pain of their world they summoned as much of the magicks as they could and forced the human world and the unseen world to merge as one. Pure chaos can only describe what happened after that; whether this was their original intention or not its tremendous outpouring of energy sent shockwaves through the Earth. The ground erupted towering trees that pierced through homes and rose into the sky. People fell to their deaths as the houses fell apart and debris crashed down to the earth destroying streets and squashing unsuspecting people as everyone stared on in horror and awe. Places of unimaginable wealth and thievery burned to ash and towering skyscrapers fell to dust as the earth took back what should have been hers. Concrete and glass in clever displays of alchemy reverted to sand plummeting story after story ‘till nothing was left and people either crawled out or suffocated. The devastation of populated areas sent governments into overhaul as they tried to find some sort of recompense to get the Oracles to stop, but this only angered the old Gods further.
By Victoria R Mueller5 years ago in Fiction
The Locket
She found it in a muddy ditch. The sun caught the metal and shined just enough for her to notice. She bent and retrieved her treasure. This world was no place for girls or women. She wore men's cloths with her breasts bound flat against her. Safer. She was a thief, and a good one at that.
By Diane Poole5 years ago in Fiction
The Loom
She sat in the dank again, a cellar of unknown origin. She succumbed to the inertia waiting for him. The whole creation she had just spent months weaving and retrieving had grown it’s own wings and taken flight. So she waited for it’s return. A picture, an invitation, a breath of fresh, anything to summon her from the overwhelming stench of this decay.
By Melissa Eaves5 years ago in Fiction
It's in my blood
An eerie mist hung over the ransacked homes and blood stained streets as the smell of death loomed in the air. That was the scene after the vampires attacked Daken City. The Caloman sisters were dragged from their beds and forced to watch a vicious mob of hungry vampires feed on their parents. However, a perfectly timed blackout was all that was needed to give 16-year-old Veil an opportunity to escape. The creature holding her was barefoot, so she grabbed the poker from the fireplace and stabbed it through the top of his foot. The creature shrieked and instinctively grabbed at the poker in his foot, releasing Veil. Once she was free, she fled the house and hid in her father’s workshop, just as a group of vampire hunters entered the house. The screams and sounds of shattering glass and splintering wood echoed in Veil’s ears as she squeezed her eyes shut. Meanwhile, back inside, the creature holding 14-year-old Evanara slinked out of view of the hunters and pulled her into a nearby closet. He clamped his cold hand over her mouth and stared into her terrified eyes with a grin full of fangs, “I could kill you now and end your misery, but where’s the fun in that? It would be much more fun to watch you be killed by your own kind!” the creature hissed,sinking his fangs into her neck. Evanara felt a sharp burning pain in her neck, followed by numbness, and then everything went black…
By Kerrilee Zarrella5 years ago in Fiction
Havel The Vodnik
Every morning just before the sun rose, Danicka's father would gather together his fishing pole, bait, tobacco and the lunch her mother tied together in an old kroj ~ a faded headscarf that her mother had handed down for her. Danicka would run to the door, stand on her tippy-tiptoes and kiss her beloved otec goodbye. She would stand in the doorway waving as he walked down the path through the woods whistling an old Czechoslovakian folk tune, ere he disappeared from sight.
By Juliette McCoy Riitters5 years ago in Fiction
The End of the World Should not be Pretty
Handcuffed and forced to march into the city, I couldn’t help but feel let down by all the books and movies about the end of the world. The apocalypse was not supposed to be pretty. The end of the world was supposed to be gritty, chaotic, and brutal. Where were the gas masks, the piles of rubble, the radiation twisted beasts?
By Katie L. Oswald (BookDragon)5 years ago in Fiction
