I watched the others pack their things from my place against a tree. Once in a while, one of them would watch me back. I would have helped, if it weren’t for the ropes tying me against the tree.
“I wonder if there is a way to keep your mind when you’re infected.”
“Don’t be stupid,”
Prompt by: u/whizkeylullaby You are the last soldier on earth. Nobody died or anything, war has just been unanimously replaced with virtual reality simulators. Drunk, angry, and out of a job, you say, “Fuck it. I’m taking over the world” While calling it world peace might be a tad overzealous, ever since the creation of the World Wide Virtual Reality Web, nation-wide wars were fought not with bombs and guns and armies, but online. At this point, no nation in the world even had an actual army left. Of course, crime and mobs and even some terrorists still existed, but even the general population was content to move all their violence to the virtual realm. Mackenzie Miller hated it. While the word ‘soldier’ wasn’t quite accurate anymore, what with her not belonging to an army, she was not content to sit around playing video games while her glock was left to gather dust in her attic. Drunk, angry, and out of a job, she finally said, “Fuck it. I’m taking over the...
[18-11-19] Prompt by u/Alpha_Trekkie: After an apocalypse you are the last human alive. travelling the country side in your increasing age you slowly stumble into more and more things before realising that magic is returning to the world. today you spot a village of elves, the first intelligent things you have seen in over 30 years. I stomp out the last embers of last night’s fire. I have to be careful. The grass around me is dry, it hasn’t rained for weeks. I wouldn’t want to set fire to my surroundings. There would be no firefighters to save me then. I smile sardonically. I haven’t seen a firefighter in more than 4 decades, maybe even 5. I’m not entirely sure. A pang of loneliness stabs my heart, but I brush it off without much effort. I haven’t seen anyone in more than 30 years, you would think I would be used to it by now. But no, humans are social creatures, and I will always be one of them. Most of those 30 years I’ve spent travelling, hoping to find even one fellow...
[01-10-19] Prompt by u/jpeezey: While cleaning, you move a carpet in your basement and find a hidden manhole cover. Curious, you open it with a crowbar, and surprisingly the air coming from it doesn’t smell nasty. Actually, it smells… fresh. Under the carpet was a manhole cover. Eliza had no idea why it was there. The carpet had been there before she moved in. She pried the thing open with the crowbar she’d just found under a shelf. She turned up the brightness of her headlamp. Tiny metal ladder steps lead into a dark abyss. There couldn’t be anything really dangerous under the house right? Her shoes clanged on the rungs of the ladder. One creaked, but it didn’t fall. Finally, she felt the ground again. Now fully engulfed in the darkness, she could actually see by the light of her headlamp. She adjusted her breathing cap. There could be extra dangerous toxins down here. She inhaled. Weird. She breathed again. Could it be? She didn’t take off her cap, she wouldn’t be...
[25-09-19] This is the original version of my answer to this prompt by u/RealityScribe: There are five fatal illnesses discovered across the world. Each only may infect only one person at a time and until the illness takes the life of the afflicted, nothing else can kill them. To your horror and amazement, two of them have chosen you as their host, and neither can run their course. I made an improved version 5 days after this one which can be found here. It was finally on the news; two of the Illnesses hadn’t been sighted in months. This had happened before of course, but in this day and age, where almost everyone was connected to the internet, it was still a newsworthy event. The last time had been when The Runner was plaguing a small village in some rainforest, and The Fever had infected some poor monastery up high in the mountains. Back then, people had talked about the Illnesses being gone for good, only to be disappointed not long after. This time… Edward...
[30-09-19] This is an improved version of an earlier answer to this prompt by u/RealityScribe: There are five fatal illnesses discovered across the world. Each only may infect only one person at a time and until the illness takes the life of the afflicted, nothing else can kill them. To your horror and amazement, two of them have chosen you as their host, and neither can run their course. I originally answered it five days before, but wasn’t quite happy with how it turned out so I rewrote it. In the safety of his own home, Edward allowed himself a proper cough. He blew his nose long and hard, relishing in the way his airway cleared. It’d been a long day. He turned on the television. The newslady looked grave as she continued her story. “It’s been two months since the last Infected died. We urge everyone to report any sightings of people showing the Symptoms. It’s a matter of national security.” So it was finally on the news. Edward would have to be extra careful from now...