Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Fiction.
Intervention
Intervention Chowchow, nicknamed for the cabbage relish he dearly loved, kissed his good luck charm, a silver heart shaped locket that had belonged to his wife, now deceased some seven years. He powered up the shuttle Moonbeam and prepared for liftoff. Whatever his load was, it must be pretty damn important to get him out of bed at midnight, moon time, and pay him triple his normal wage to ferry whatever it was to the space station circling the earth.
By Cleve Taylor 5 years ago in Fiction
To Feel Him Loving Me
They modified the brains of the murderers first. That was the basis of the whole idea. If they could rewire people’s brains to feel the emotions of those around them as strongly as they felt their own, if they could feel the terror of their victims, could feel their pain as they hurt them, maybe they would stop.
By Megan Irwin Harlan5 years ago in Fiction
Feral
I lost track of how long it's been since the world ended. I just wander from ruin to ruin looking for food and anything else I can use. I was lucky enough to find a Zippo lighter, shotgun, and Army MREs in some former militant's home. I also stumbled across some weird silver locket shaped like a heart that was in one of the bedrooms. The locket shined brightly enough that it also blinded me. I realized that something like that could expose me in the hellscape I'm stuck in. I don't know why, but I felt compelled to hang on to it regardless.
By Adam Wallace5 years ago in Fiction
The Shutdown
The voices were loud – harsh whispers of frantic panic drilling ragged holes into Avery’s thoughts – but her footsteps were louder. The heavy click of her ugly, leather school-shoes on the glossy tiled floor echoed all around her, bouncing off the walls of her skull like a game of Pong.
By Alyssa Potter5 years ago in Fiction
Walking in LA...
Georgana adjusted her pack as she walked in the direction she hoped would lead to the only water source within a 50 mile radius… at least, according to her half moth eaten map. It was missing some chunks, but still served her purposes most of the time. Georganas’ shoulders were strong but not yet accustomed to the pressure and roughness of the straps. She wistfully remembered a time when her shoulders were free to feel the sun and the wind instead of the sweat and accumulated dirt between her skin and the pack, which held all that she owned. Shaking off the memories of a sweeter time with the reminder that she needed all her senses alert in this new world, she made a fist with her hand and peered through the tiny hole made between the curl of her fingers and her palm. Her self-made tiny telescope gave her a clearer view of the horizon. She scanned left to right, a habit she had acquired to watch for dangers. If she spotted people or animals far enough off, she had a chance of dropping to the ground to hide before they saw her. In the scrub brush and scattered rocks, she could still make herself scarce… even in the flat, desert terrain of what used to be Los Angeles.
By Anah Reichenbach5 years ago in Fiction
Beyond Symbiotic
Today was the day. Today they would meet. Scott sighed, looking out at the seagulls in the river as they stood on old pilings, with sea lions going up and down in the water on the upriver side of the pilings. The different animals cared nothing for one another, yet they both seemed to show up in places that had pockets of fish.
By LP Steinbeck5 years ago in Fiction
With a Pop and a Click
There it was again. A pop and then click, soft and subtle, but absolutely a man-made noise. Where was it coming from? What was making the noise? Liv inched around the burnt-out shell of the iconic blue Wal-Mart building in her small hometown of Waterloo, Illinois. A place that used to be the only box store for miles around was now just an open wound reminding everyone around of what they had lost. An empty bright, blue carcass of the American dream left torn and shattered, amongst the landscape of the corn and soybean fields. What was once a quintessential small Midwestern town, born from German settlers migrating out of big cities, was now just another mar on the map of this new world.
By Stephanie Lewis5 years ago in Fiction
Humans Only
“Sorry ma’am, I’m afraid your pet is going to have to wait in your ship,” An armoured security officer said as Sheila and Robert, an old anthropomorphic tiger, approached the gates to a human only compound. One that had a reputation for anthropocentric and specist ideals. The pair had been enlisted by a nearby community of anthropomorphs. Loved ones had been going missing, including a young deer named Waashkeshi. His parents had given Sheila a photo of him, a simple heart-shaped locket hanging around his neck.
By Kelsey Reich5 years ago in Fiction
