Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Fiction.
Scavengers
I wake before the sun. It's the best time to scavenge. The beasts sleep at this time. They come out at night but they hide in the hills before the dawn. I sneak a quick glance out the window. It's dark and still. I throw my hair up and nudge Antoine sleeping beside me. "Leah." With one word, he sits up and rubs his eyes. He told me once that he liked to sleep late in his past life, before the change. Now we wake at the slightest noise, we are always on alert. We have to be.
By Alexandra Mullen Palacio3 years ago in Fiction
Cracks
I have a sick dog smell and my head feels barely attached to my neck stump, so when the tram lurches it swings from side to side. It feels like there’s cellophane over my eyes. Everything is filmy. Milky. But I can still see things. Just yesterday I saw Them beating a small woman with yellow hair, right out the front of Myer on Bourke Street. I saw them in their black vans taking children.
By Erica Williams3 years ago in Fiction
Great-Great Grandfather’s Locket
GREAT-GREAT GRANDFATHER’S LOCKET By Kathryn Page Shimkets What happens when life as we know it, the human connection is virtually non-existent - when our love of family is forced underground. It is the year 2200, few still had distant memories of actual human interactions. Most didn’t even know their surname, or the power that could come with the love of family. Several generations back, after the government forbid parents to allow their children to be homeschooled; and encouraged youngsters to report their parents for any activities that weren’t on the acceptable seven list; my great-great-grandfather designed a simple way to keep our family heritage alive and treasured. A plain heart shaped locket, no real value, except to the one who would hold it and treasure it and know the secrets it held.
By Kathryn Shimkets3 years ago in Fiction
James Swithinski: Enabler of Death
With a deep breath, James Swithinski left the wall he had been leaning on. It was dark outside, and James reached up to take his cigarette from his mouth. That was one of the few lights that shone in the alleyway the young man stood in.
By Tristan Palmer3 years ago in Fiction
In the Heart of It
This locket represents my oppression. All of the citizens of New Hope had to wear one, each with their own identifying number marking us as underclass peasants. We didn't have the money or the status not to be burdened with the organ made out of copper and painted red. Some say that pre-war was amazing. You could drink and dance and be with friends all day if you wanted to. Food and water were abundant, people weren't trying to rape and kill for pennies. Entertainment was an actual thing. I was too young to remember that world being only 4 at the time. I say that whatever had been before the Heart War of 2045 didn't matter because none of us were getting out of this existence alive. There was no nuclear war, there was no fighting on homeland or on peoples own soil. No, it was the body that raged a war and we as a humanity needed to figure why everyones hearts were stopping with no warning and no justification. Scientists tried to figure out what was happening, top leaders all over the planet desperately trying to find the "cure" before their time was up as well. Sooner or later we were all going to die but it was all from the same thing, the heart failure. Obesity, health issues, complications from childbirth, car crashes, or accidents it didn't matter. Our bodies were in amazing condition with the chance to heal at rapid speed. We were all strong, we were all more than able bodied at top physical condition and that applied to the young and old alike. There was one caveat though, no one lived past 70. People were losing their minds trying to figure out the cause and the solution but to no avail. Half the population died out within the first 3 months. After that, another quarter and when this mystery plague finally took it's last heaving breath, there were only 900,000 souls left. That was 60 years ago and no one is really trying anymore, it's just reality. A day to day fact that we live with and accept. We can still have children but it's difficult to conceive. Even drugs don't work to help with it. Most of us choose not to have children anyway. Why would we bring another being into this crap, miserable pain of an existence? The food and water is heavily rationed for no reason other than greed and power by those higher ups called the Archangels. Bottom feeders who use us as pack mules and slaves disguised by a fake smile and fake kindness. Archangels had one purpose and that was to control us. There was still enough left of the world in which we could all live by ourselves and not be bothered by a neighbor. We could live off our own land and raise our own food but humanity was corralled into a new territory, heavily watched and guarded. The idea came from one man, a lone survivor of his family who became hateful and cruel. Robert Pennington thought if humanity stayed together that we would have a higher chance of survival. Instead of letting us branch out and flourishing, our lives becoming full of meaning and success, community needed to come first. Pennington sold this farce to the rich and powerful and made allies. He was an average man with average dreams and resented the elite, wishing to be them. On paper it seemed genuine and good when in actuality it was a ruse drenched in hell. Only those deemed worthy by himself personally adopted the title and started running the show. Most of us willingly went because we had nothing and nobody. The false hope of community and humanity working hand in hand was too tempting. It was only after years of working the soil and being the Archangels maids, butlers cooks, servants, and slaves did we come to realize what New Hope really was, a jail sentence. They placed heart shaped lockets on us with numbers to keep track. What once was a symbol of love and peace is now another tool of destruction. Those that tried to fight were killed by the Archangels army known as the Followers. We are all equally strong but they have weapons and state of the art technology to bring us down. Our one saving grace through the days is the heavily alcohol laden swill we get. Just like the egyptians, we are lulled into the same drunken calmness each night and woken up by it. It consumes our lives and is a currency for the lower classes. I only have 6 years left before I'm taken down for good. I could go before that but my prayers were never answered of an early death. One day I hope someone sees through the haze to fight and win for a better life. Until then, I'm gonna keep drinking and keep my head down. I have no fight left in my soul, sometimes it's better to accept that which we cannot change and live another day. Really, that's all we have.
By Christine Patterson3 years ago in Fiction
How to use Satan.
Having eaten from the tree of knowledge with my wonderful wife, I soon became aware I had to be careful around the owners of the trees and their fruits. We thought it wise to allow them to think they had fooled us so we could keep our lives so played along with their stories of having cultivated that area, but we would never be free to leave what we had thought was like a paradise - we are sorry if you have not understood what is written between the lines of the records we wanted to keep as a warning, but the cultivators have censored everything we tried to keep.
By Donald Joiner3 years ago in Fiction
Heart Stowed Against the Chest
A shrill, piercing, echoing cry stops the mother short. She knows it did not come from either of her eighteen-month-old twins, but she glances down at the cover of her sturdy jogger anyway, listening for sounds of their stirring. Their quietness has been a blessing since having to leave the truck behind days earlier. Its engine was too loud and rumbling and had left her feeling exposed, even with her dog Marble, an extremely well-trained, cookies-and-cream coloured pitbull, sitting vigilant in the passenger’s seat beside her as they drove.
By Rooney Morgan3 years ago in Fiction
Chaos After Worlds End
The flash was what everyone called the ending of the world as we had known it. The flash killed almost everyone no one was ready except the ones who were paranoid. Like the Williams family the father was paranoid and had a shelter in the house. When the flash started in east the news freaked out. People said it was fake news and went on with their day. Something Mr. Williams did not he gathers his daughters and sent them to the shelter. He went to grab more supplies for him and his daughters. He had told his daughters before leaving shut the shetler to be safe. Little did he know the flash was hitting the rest of the world quickly. He got to the store and started shopping. Thats when it happened the flash hit everywhere above ground. The Williams girls in the shelter lost their father. The flash was a mixture of nuclear radiation and an unknown chemical that was produced from a meteor hitting a nuclear plant causing a large flash. The chemical from the meteor spread across the world at unimaginable speeds causing anything nuclear to blow up and spread radiation. The Williams shelter was safe from all the radiation and chemicals. There is a sensor to tell the girls when they could safely return to the surface. Four years goes by and the girls are down to one girl. The two daughters didnt wait for the sensor. They left the shelter and didnt wake it. Now the sensor is telling the remaining daughter its finally safe to leave. There was enough food in the shelter for 6 more years for just four people. Elisia the remaining daughter packs a good bit of food and water. She was nineteen with strawberry blonde hair and beautiful jade green eyes. She wore leggings and a black tanktop with an oversized thin purple flannel top. She left her shelter locking it behind her since she knew the code to enter. She gets above ground and is shocked by the desolate world. There was new things growing plants she had never seen. She gripped the silver heart shaped locket. This locket has a picture of her family inside including her mother when she was alive. Elisia walks and starts exploring while the sun was up. She made sure to make landmarks so she can get home. She didnt find people nearby as she had hoped. She heads back to the place she knew the town to be. The buildings looked realitively okay for the fact they went through the end of the world. The sun was starting to set that was when all hell broke loose. Elisia heard screeching and moaning. soon as it got darker she saw awfully mutated people and animals. They were charging at her and they looked hungry. She turned and ran away in a panic terrified for her safety. She ran into a building and shut and locked the door panting. She slides down to the ground tired and she sees the glint of someones eyes and she panics. "shh if you scream they will start trying to break in." a young mans voice whispers out. He comes out more so she can see him. she nods "sorry I havent left my shelter in the last four years so I had no clue what was going on here." he looks at her surprised. they didnt really talk more after that. They couldnt risk the mutants hearing them. The night went on peacefully and when day broke they both woke. "Good morning sir thank you for letting me stay here but I must head home." Elisia says and stands to leave. "My name is Derrick and mind if I join you this place isnt safe." he gave her a gentle smile. "Follow me then i have a good bit of food and water." she starts walking not bothering to think twice. They go to her shetler and Derrick had a his group following out of sight. They get to the shelter and Derrick carefully watched as she put in the code. They head inside and she gave him the tour holding her locket the whole time. She missed her family dearly and was quite sad. After the tour she sat down and she was looking at the locket letting Derrick be free. Next thing to be heard was a gun shot and Elisia fell over dead bleeding holding the silver heart locket. Derrick laughed evily letting his group in and they raid the shelter of everything they could carry to their base. Elisia's body lay in her own blood her locket held close to her heart now her family is one again and in peace.
By Destiny Shifflett3 years ago in Fiction
The Blaze
The first generation after the Blaze had more life skills than a boy scout with all his badges. Their geographical knowledge put Google Maps to shame. They could give you turn by turn directions on how to get from the sunny beaches of Siberia to the tundra of India or from the snow covered Morocco to the prairies in Hong Kong. Everyone living spoke seven languages with perfected fluency, but there was one word they didn't know in any language: drought. The children had no knowledge of the world their parents lived in or of the event that killed ninety-five percent of humanity. They had not a single clue as to what happened during the decade rain didn't come. None of the survivors could ever bring themselves to relive and envision the smell of the burnt terrain or the stench of faceless bodies decomposing on dry land, or about how every single day they learned of another death and another uncontainable fire.
By Megan Weidle3 years ago in Fiction
4 Wars Old
The scariest dystopian aren’t the ones built off imagination, but history. Doomsday isn’t some new idea; Doomsday isn’t something that snuck in on the small family. Doomsday was something they lived with every day. Sometimes they say the oldest child is four wars old, lived through a bombing on their first day of life, a mass murder on their fifth birthday - at that time the child was only minutes from meeting me. The next war defined the child’s future.
By Lex Colwell3 years ago in Fiction