Stories — Page 5

A golden tree illuminated against darker forest, interrupted by broad digital fragments and small coloured blocks.

Dreams in Soft Focus

I am thirty five years old. Two candle flames dance, reflected in Linda’s pupils. I brush her hair. “It’s all right, Jonas. You’re right. We needed the money.”

A weathered wooden cabin half buried in deep snow, interrupted by broad digital fragments and small coloured blocks.

I crossed the boundary line, entering familiar space as each breath of morning air drew knives into my lungs. The entire trip had taken three and a half days, less than I thought, but more than I would have liked. Most of the access roads were now obsolete, either blocked with rusting, snow covered cars, or patrolled by packs of ferals where nature thrived. None of that mattered now, as the last of my world depended on the few things I brought back with me.

A torn wire fence framing an empty expanse of ground, interrupted by broad digital fragments and small coloured blocks.

Autophagy

Tyler S. Harris

A human can survive twenty-one days without food. A snake can survive months, a crocodile a year. I’ve heard some animals, in order to maintain the fuel source they need to continue living, digest their own body tissues.

Barren red mountains beyond an empty desert plain, interrupted by broad digital fragments and small coloured blocks.

God Is Dead

Hannah Myers

This will be the last time I speak to you. As we stand here, the sun beats down; we have not seen night for months now.

Pale, dry ground with scattered clumps of vegetation, interrupted by broad digital fragments and small coloured blocks.

Ends Meat

Adam J Smith

There it was again – that smell. Barrick glanced at his father. He had his eyes closed but he probably wasn’t asleep, just too exhausted by hunger to keep them open.

An ochre desert plain beneath a red rock escarpment, interrupted by broad digital fragments and small coloured blocks.

The Outback

Kirill Grushevich

The sun rose over the mountains.

Green rolling hills beside a dark evergreen forest, interrupted by broad digital fragments and small coloured blocks.

Old World

M.J. Sutton

Bare coastal rocks and sand beneath a grey sea horizon, interrupted by broad digital fragments and small coloured blocks.

Escape from L.A.

Lorin Robinson

Cuervo Jones to Snake Plissken: “You might have survived Cleveland. You might have escaped from New York. But this is L.A., vato. And you’re about to find out that this fucking place can kill anybody.”

Soft green folds in a quiet hillside below a forest, interrupted by broad digital fragments and small coloured blocks.

Earth Day 2117

Lorin Robinson

Joss McIntyre sat on his favorite knoll and looked down at The Camp spread below in the small steep-walled valley. Though early Spring, the tree under which he sat was fully leaved, providing welcomed shade against the heat of the bright sun.

An empty stairwell with pale walls and wooden steps, interrupted by broad digital fragments and small coloured blocks.

Heat and Darkness

Edward Rubin

When the impending heatwave was announced, with a warning that people should plan to stay inside their homes for at least a week, my first thought was that this would be an opportunity to move in with Dahlia. Given her health problem, she was likely to need help.