Short Story
Why a Zombie Apocalypse Is Inevitable
In the famous game and television series, The Last of Us, humanity is on the verge of ruin from a fungal infection that turns people into zombie-like creatures. This situation might appear to be from science fiction, but it has frightening beginnings in the real world. The real-world fungus Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, which is also called the zombie-ant fungus, demonstrates the scary abilities that foreshadow a possible future danger to humans.
By Amine Oubih2 years ago in Fiction
Bad Boy. Content Warning.
I don't know what I am. I shake, to get the mad off me. When I've been a good boy, I have two legs and drink coffee. I drive to a tall place made of glass, and nod seriously in a smart suit. The females wear paint, smell strongly like chemicals, touch my elbow, grimace wide and red. I eat dinner at the table. I'm allowed in the bed. She lets me mount her. When I've been a bad boy, I have four legs. I eat dinner on the floor, sleep in the kitchen. We go for walks. I put my head out of the car window and laugh into the wind. I went for a run in the park. There was a female I wanted to mount, so I chased her and did it, right there. People looked away, or laughed or scowled. My mistress scolded me, marched me home. Bad, she said. Bad boy. Yesterday, I went for a run in the park. There was a female I wanted to mount. They all screamed. Someone hit me in the side of the head. Now I'm sitting in a bare room on a hard chair and people ask confusing questions. Mistress will give me four legs for this. Or maybe leave me here, stranded on two. Everything's too loud and scary. I want to tuck my tail, but I have no tail. On four legs too long, now everything's mixed up. He stands up, leans on the table between us. I flinch back, drop my eyes, turn my head. Glance that way, this way. No escape. I look sideways at him, hard, to make him ease up, back off. My mouth twitches a warning he ignores. He presses. I'm pulled tight like a string. It snaps. I unravel. He's shaped wrong, and so am I. My silly teeth miss his throat and only graze his face and jawline, but I power into it and bite down anyway, hard enough to draw blood. He's yelling, and I'm full of fire, shaking, every part of me lit up in too-bright colours. My vision is clouded. Something is pouring out of him, should be bright red, but it's not. I don't know what I am! I howl.
By L.C. Schäfer2 years ago in Fiction
Shadows of the Past. AI-Generated.
In the curious town of Willowbrook, settled in the midst of moving slopes and rich vegetation, mysteries murmured through the stirring leaves like apparitions of the past. Among its inhabitants was a young lady named Emily, whose life was snared with secrets holding back to unfurl.
By Sujon Hossain2 years ago in Fiction
Vale Perficientur. Top Story - May 2024.
"My tears need a minute to find the edges of my face. If you'll please excuse me." The sarcasm stabbed into Juliana’s heart. Antonia glared at her from the pit of the Lyceum as her student fought to hold back tears that had nothing to do with the pain in her fingers. “You’re better than this, again.”
By Matthew J. Fromm2 years ago in Fiction
A Walk in the Woods
The wide open spaces were calling to her. The linear orderliness of blocks with their rectangular form and regimentation were starting to literally box her in. She felt cramped, encroached upon, her colour bleached by the drudge and the drain of city living.
By Rachel Deeming2 years ago in Fiction
