The Shearing
Myles passes me my knitted hat. He already has his on. We didn’t used to need to wear a hat to bed, but since The Shearing, everyone’s got to keep their head warm. Nobody’s got long hair anymore.
7 stories
Alien Apocalypse Stories
An alien apocalypse is an extinction or collapse scenario caused by extraterrestrial life, nonhuman intelligence, cosmic visitation, invasion, colonisation, or contact with forces beyond Earth. Some alien apocalypse stories imagine open warfare and planetary occupation; others are quieter, stranger tales of contamination, observation, abduction, ecological replacement, or the discovery that humanity is not the dominant story in the universe.
Read original alien apocalypse short stories on this page from world-class authors, selected from the Ash Tales archive.
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Phantasmagoria
Space split from time, the future began pulling away from the present, and tents appeared.
After I Watched Her Die
When the bright green light left her eyes, I had no idea of the pain that would come after. I held her body in the forest, on Planet GJ 357 in the Hydra constellation.
Where It All Began
I stifled a yawn as I pulled up in front of my last customer of the day and turned off the engine.
Jacob and Katy and the Building People
“We really shouldn’t go near that place,” Katy said as Jacob led her toward the dark building in the middle of the abandoned village. “You know who lives there.”
Tramp the Dirt Down
Every serial killer should have a good, reliable, durable shovel. Even accidental serial killers. My shovel, Betty, was under my nose the entire time festering at the back of the cupboard behind all those other household essentials and fetish gear.
The Outback
The sun rose over the mountains.