“Hey,” he said. A young guy. Unshaven. Wild hair. I could smell the street on him. His teeth were yellowed and chipped. Looked to be blackening in places I saw. His tongue continuously licked at his cracked lips. I couldn’t speak. Wouldn’t have known what to say if I had been able to, and I was having a very hard time keeping my eyes open. The lights were too bright.
“Hey,” he said again. “I didn’t know you would be naked… In a bath tub… He didn’t say that… I’m sorry…. I really am sorry.” His hand swam into view as I watched. Normal except a black lump seemed to be fused to it. A black lump with a blacker hole in the end of it. Fire spat from the blacker hole. The lights went out…#Audio #Book #SamWolfe #DreamTravel #Readers #Listeners
The collapse had been a swift, brutal amputation. The surge, a cataclysmic event that had not only silenced our digital world but had also plunged vast swathes of the planet into darkness and disarray. The immediate aftermath had been a blur of panic, of desperate attempts to comprehend the incomprehensible. The abstract threats of cyber warfare or economic collapse had been replaced by the terrifyingly concrete realities of starvation, disease, and the primal struggle for survival. In the early days, the focus had been singular: survive. Find food, find water, find shelter. My technical skills, so vital in the old world, were largely useless. I learned to scavenge, to ration, to move with a stealth born of necessity. I learned the silence of the wilderness, the language of rustling leaves and snapping twigs. But survival, I was discovering, was not an end in itself. It was a means to an end, a precarious foundation upon which something more must be built. It was a recognition that to truly survive, I needed to do more than just exist; I needed to be.
Before Candace could speculate, a low, guttural growl echoed from the far end of the depot, followed by the distinct sound of heavy boots crunching on gravel. It was a sound of human origin, but there was an aggression to it, a territoriality that sent a prickle of alarm through Candace. “Someone else,” Elara whispered, her hand tightening on her pipe. Candace nodded, her gaze fixed on the source of the sound. “And they don’t sound friendly.” She could see them now – a group of figures emerging from the gloom, their silhouettes indistinct against the muted light. They were armed, their weapons glinting dully. Their movements were coordinated, purposeful, suggesting a trained unit rather than a disorganized band of scavengers. #Dystopian #Apocalyptic #Epic #Survival #Amazon #Kindle #KU #Horror
Chronicles from the Wastelands 03
The world ended not with a bang, but with a sickening lurch. One moment, Mike was wrestling with a stubborn garden hose, the scent of cut grass and impending rain filling the air. The next, the sky ripped open. Not with thunder, but with a silent, violent tear that bled impossible colors across the horizon… #Dystopian #ApocalypticFiction #Horror #DellSweet Dell Sweet, Apocalyptic, Dystopian, horror
Chronicles from the Wastelands 04
As they were bagging their meager findings, a sudden sound echoed from the front of the store – a faint scuff, like a boot on loose gravel. Both men froze, their bodies tensing. Mike slowly raised his rifle, his finger hovering over the trigger. Ben drew his machete, his knuckles white. The silence that followed was deafening, stretching out, each second an eternity. Then, another sound, closer this time – the unmistakable creak of the store’s front door, the one they had pried open. #Dystopian #ApocalypticFiction #Horror #DellSweet Dell Sweet, Apocalyptic, Dystopian, horror
A crash came to his ears, but he could not tell if it was from the downstairs hallway. At least he hoped it was the downstairs hallway, not the stairs outside of their apartment, or, God forbid, even closer. He jumped from the tangle of blankets, started to pull his shoes on, and then reached for his machine pistol instead as another noise came from the hallway. #Horror #Series #Dystopian #Apocalyptic
The gritty concrete pressed against my cheek, cold and unforgiving. A dull, throbbing ache pulsed behind my eyes, radiating outwards to claim every muscle, every fiber of my being. My body felt heavy, leaden, as if anchored to the ground by unseen chains. The air hung thick and cloying, a miasma of decay and something else… something feral, something primal. I coughed, the taste of blood metallic on my tongue, a coppery tang that clung to the back of my throat.
My eyes flickered open, focusing slowly on the blurry shapes around me. The first thing I registered was the stench – the overwhelming stench of rot and garbage, a symphony of decay that assaulted my nostrils. #Horror #SciFi #Epic #Thriller #Drama #Kindle #Audible
The nightmare would begin insidiously, with the faintest whisper of a sound, a familiar vibration that would build, slowly at first, then with terrifying speed. It was the hum of the engine, the low thrum of the car carrying them towards an unseen precipice. He would feel the familiar press of the seat beneath him, the faint scent of Ann’s perfume, a scent that would soon be overwhelmed by the acrid stench of burnt rubber and fear. Then, the unmistakable sound, the prelude to chaos: the high-pitched shriek of tires desperately seeking purchase on asphalt, a sound that ripped through the fabric of the night and into the very marrow of his bones. #Horror #SciFi #Epic #Thriller #Drama #Kindle #Audible
Beth levered her arms down to scoot up in the bed and nearly banged the stump of her arm against the side of the bed before Cammy stopped her. “Honey… Honey… Your arm. You have to be careful,” Cammy told her. “Oh God,” Beth whispered through her dry lips as she stared down at the stump of her arm. #Horror #Series #Dystopian #Apocalyptic
There were four of them outside the vehicles talking or keeping watch on the parking lot. Bear and Beth, Mac and Billy. When the first one dropped, Billy spun around and clubbed it to the ground. But the rest came so fast that they could not hope to easily and quickly pick them off.
The gunfighter’s words hung in the air, a harsh dissonance against the low groans that emanated from just beyond the barricades. Sheriff Brody, his face a mask of bewilderment and burgeoning terror, stared at the gunfighter as if he’d sprouted a second head. #Dystopian #PostApocalyptic #Apocalypse #Survival #Horror #Trilogy #GeoDell
Gary, a man forged in the unforgiving crucible of the frontier, found himself at the unsettling nexus of these divergent beliefs. He had seen firsthand the horror that the plague wrought, the way it stripped away humanity, leaving behind only a hollow, ravenous shell. #Dystopian #PostApocalyptic #Apocalypse #Survival #Horror #Trilogy #GeoDell
“Beth!” Billy screamed from behind her. “Right. Your right!” She had been just about to fire at the two zombies attacking Mac, and so even as she turned, she did not turn her pistol completely, but kept it aimed to the front towards Mac and the two zombies. By the time she registered how close the three zombies were to her, there was no time to turn the pistol and fire. #Horror #Series #Dystopian #Apocalyptic
