Sci Fi

The Birds
I pull the sleeves of my hoodie back down as Matthew gets out the tablet to turn on the news. The chill came from the west. I don’t even realize there’s the roof is half missing. The small group gathers around while I lean slightly against the wall outside the circle. It passed. It had the president’s support and both houses. His Holiness was now the commander and chief.
By Heidi Fisher5 years ago in Fiction
The Instrument of Emanations
Nysa ran her fingers over the pitted silver of the locket around her neck. It had become a nervous habit. If she were playing a round of poker with the vandal kids in the mess hall it would be her tell. She’d kick herself after losing the few credits she had managed to hold on to and swear to never play another round with them again….but this wasn’t a poker game. She wasn’t in the mess hall, tucked safely away underground with the rest of the resistance and the stakes of this game were much higher.
By Helen Ward5 years ago in Fiction
Human Skein
Ash drifts across a broken landscape. The skein’s pearlescent, silk-seeming web below my feet shades the husk of our world pale white. Everything, now, is seen through the gauze of the skein, both protecting and muting. It’s like a hand across the throat, stifling; and like a mother’s breast, too. I love and hate it.
By Bradley McCann5 years ago in Fiction
Pillars of Sand
I still remember how hot it was that day. I was sweating as I stood in the middle of the desert in my turban and plain white robes, but I didn't think about it too much. I'd learned to live with it by then. In front of me, and beside me, and behind me to the edge of the visible horizon in the distance, were rows and rows of people that seemed to stretch all the way from one edge of the desert to the next. We were all adorned in the same turbans and plain white robes, and I could tell everyone else was sweating just as profusely in the heat as I was. But they learned to live with it. We all learned to live with it. Because that day, as we stood on the barren remains of what used to be inner city Seattle, we all knew we had no other choice.
By John Zhang5 years ago in Fiction
The Countdown
19 hours. The noise was always deafening. When the wires crossed, the other Pacers ticked so loudly it was hard to bear. But here, in The Facility, I am in the countdown to the final tick.
By Vice Virtue5 years ago in Fiction
Bursters
Author's preface: I originally published this in 2016, revisiting it with some upgrades and edits in 2019. Eerie the parallel's between the story and our ongoing Covid-19 crisis.
By Everyday Junglist5 years ago in Fiction
2025
“You staying alive out there kiddo?” He always seemed to know exactly what to say. Yet everything he sends leaves me guessing and hoping for more. My own personal Jesus. My secret cyber savior.
By Matthew5 years ago in Fiction
Endings are Beginnings
Summer 2025 Appalachia Mountains, United States The night air was cool on the mountain and rustled among the forest trees. David Meyers stood guard over the village against the animals as the rest of the town slept. Rubbing his hands over his rifle, he noticed the usual sparkling stars that hung above their compound were meticulously hidden by thick gray clouds. Gazing at the stars was one of the few things that reminded him of his old life. Life before the virus, the war, the giant mutated wild animals that raided camps, and life under the Resurrection.
By T Arlivia 5 years ago in Fiction
Forbidden
Finally! She’s asleep. Brynn grinned at her mother’s soft snoring as she slipped from her bed. She pulled the heart-shaped locket from around her neck and tucked it safely under the pile of rags she used as a pillow. Last night, it pinged against a metal pipe and alerted a nearby drone.
By Chloe Longstreet5 years ago in Fiction
THE FALLEN
Maybe it's the quiet, maybe it's his curiosity of the Old World, but Kyt can’t deny that he prefers the company of the dead. They don’t speak or judge him for his ‘childish obsession’ with The Fallen. Instead, invisible, mute ghosts wander the empty corridors. Giant metal spires with glassless windows jut into the sky like moss-riddled monoliths. Kyt walks amongst the debris, his deer hide shoes scuff atop the thick layer of dust coating the cracked cement floor.
By Zachary James5 years ago in Fiction
Scythe
Waiting Pale lilac eyes went dark. She didn’t need the display to stay live in order to see, but they made the patients feel more at ease. The waiting room was quiet and empty, which suited her just fine. She hummed softly to herself as she focused on the task at hand. Florence Model 1.9-10-000000 had been assigned report duty today, while her fellow 9-10-Gals aided the doctors in the back. This hospital, though in the heart of the city, was small and at times seemed over-staffed. Today she was glad that they had no pressing need of her. Her lips twitched into a secret smile since she knew the peace wouldn‘t last for much longer. She sensed that it would begin here soon, and she would be all too busy for a few weeks. She hummed to herself as she connected to her office computer, uploading the notes from the few patients she had assisted today. Her focus split between the task at hand and remembering how the increased workload she expected soon began with her first trip overseas less than a month ago. She had left her home for Moscow after Dr. Anthony’s funeral. The trip was brief, followed by her uneventful return to the United States.
By Katherine Hanson5 years ago in Fiction
The Silence
Recollection Log, Entry 2: I never thought that I would be here for this kind of post-apocalyptic B.S. but here I am accompanying a team of twelve to a rations zone. It has been three years, eight months and a day since the world changed. Some say it happened gradually at first, taking over the wildlife then spreading to humanity, but with no clear evidence, who really knows? At one point I believed we would have had a fighting chance if we caught it in time…I know now that it would not have mattered.
By Ryan Sam Fong5 years ago in Fiction