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“Your protagonist makes a difficult choice made for the sake of survival. What happens next?”

Posted in Dramatic on Apr 3, 2026

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✍️ 46 stories

Rebel Quest

Weekly Contest #349

May 9th, 2072.I didn’t think to document what’s happening or what we’re doing until now. Let me explain.My name is Caspian, and I am nineteen. Back on December 29th, 2066, the Stock Market crashed, the Hive plague spread, and the government made global warming worse than it already was. It’s been a dark time ever since. My entire family caught the plague and passed away, save for me and everyone else in the Bahamas. The plague had a terrible impact on the survivors. Their brains worked differently, their heart beats were in sync. They were t...

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Under a Killing Sky

Weekly Contest #349

When you play with fire, you going to get burned. That’s what my old man told me, but I never figured I’d be living it. Here I am wondering if I’d be better off getting killed like my own family and the rest of people who lived in my neighborhood. Sometimes surviving isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be as I walk along this deserted highway, my bag slung over my shoulder under the killing sky. It all started eight days ago when trucks filled with army munitions pulled into an abandoned track of land where a base was constructed during Worl...

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Trouble

Weekly Contest #349

Snap! Another bit of the branch they sat on fell to the ground. They straddled the branch facing each other like gymnasts on a high beam. The branch landed amidst the Poisoned Ones that crawled their way around the base of the tree. They were too weak to climb. But one droplet of their drool upon contact would start to swirl around inside the body of the prey. Instantly beginning a terrible cycle of a Poisoned One. Poisoned and never human again. Doomed to seek out humans to survive. Terra counted five Poisoned Ones around the tree on the g...

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Apocalypse - Lowlands

Weekly Contest #349

Apocalypse - lowlandsThe charred ground crunched beneath Max's feet as he advanced through the lowlands. Nowhere in sight was there a patch of earth that was not the deepest black, cracked and split by the force of the cosmic waves that had left this place desolate. Grey mist swept across the fractured earth, spilling from the deepest crevices. Inky black clouds swirled high overhead, obscuring all view of the afternoon sun. It was as darkest night, even in the middle of the day. Max’s breath was laboured as he marched forwards through these...

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Sophie's Choice For A New Subaru Outback

Weekly Contest #349

CW: Extreme violence, implied sexual coercion, phsychological distress "Tonight on Live or Die, our contestant, Johnny Romine, must spin the wheel one final time before going home with a brand new Subaru Outback and a reduced prison sentence. The Subaru can be any color he wants, folks, and any model. Alright, Johnny! You know what to do!" and in unison with the audience, Ken Parker, a prodigy of Pat Sajak's, works up the crowd by pumping his fist and shouting into his microphone, "SPIN THAT WHEEL!"Johnny Romine wasn't sure if he wanted to s...

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Clean

Weekly Contest #349

I remember the day everything changed.The day the Virus took over.It was two years ago—back when the world still made sense. Back when people still believed they were safe.At first, it started small. A handful of cases scattered across a few states. News anchors brushed it off with practiced calm, calling it a new flu variant, nothing to panic about. People went to work. Kids went to school. Life went on.They thought it was nothing.They were wrong.It spread fast. Too fast.Within weeks, it was everywhere—every state, every country, every corn...

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Quarantine Breach

Weekly Contest #349

He slammed his hand onto the button to close the weighted sliding door as he threw the rest of himself through the opening, his other hand slamming onto the wall and yanking himself forward, turning as he passed the threshold. Mag-boots desperately trying to get enough momentum to move him backwards as his eyes were transfixed on the shuddering outer hatch. It was as though he was hypnotised by every buckling crack that yanked a section of the layered metal outward. It was with such a force that even though he could not hear the sound, it c...

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An Enduring Persistence

Weekly Contest #349

His head pounded and his body ached, feeling like he had been tossed into a terraforming machine and spat out as mulch. Groaning, he went to sit up, his helmet hitting the hatch above. He strained his arm to push it open, but his muscles refused to respond. Resigned to the fact he had to lie still while his body recovered from the hard landing, he coaxed his eyes open, only to immediately slam them shut against the bright, glaring light of the planet’s sun shining through the hatch window. After years in space, he had forgotten how bright ...

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A Flower Blooms in the Desert

Weekly Contest #349

"Please," the woman said in more of a whimper than spoken word. "I can't.""Dammit, we've been through all this already!" said the man. He put his head in his hands, then stepped in front of her. "What are you gonna feed it? Huh? Tell me.""I don't know. We'll find something.""We barely find anything for ourselves. Fuck! I haven't eaten in three days."She looked up at him, eyes wide. "You said-""-Yeah I said...I fuckin say a lot of things.""You didn't have to.""Yes I did. There's not enough and you're already weak." He stood up and walked over...

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Substitute Teacher

Weekly Contest #349

Substitute Teacher Let me tell you a story.A few years back, I don’t remember how far back but it was a while because I didn’t have any grey hair. I don’t have any hair now. I hope that helps. Enough about my hair. I don’t like talking about my ex. It was a warm day and even warmer late afternoon. I don’t know if that made any sense. Yes I could have just said it was hot. I was trying to talk like a writer and make it easy for the poor schlep writing this story. After a hard day of hard work I decide to head down to the bar and hang out...

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One Man and the World

Weekly Contest #349

In a peaceful world known as Farhome, a lone human man sits at his table alone with his thoughts. Named James Rune, he had been sitting in his house for a few hours now. He had wished that things were easier for him, but they weren’t, and he now had to think about a choice that would not only have consequential effects for not only him but the world around him. As a man of almost fifty, he had lived in Farhome is whole life and now had to consider what will happen in the next few hours. James stood up to walk around his garden...

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A getaway to Bikini Atoll

Weekly Contest #349

It was a vacation cruise that many would consider themselves blessed to even be on board, a year long world cruise to tour the different ports of the world. A journey that allowed them to venture the world with gourmet dining and with hotel-like hospitality; it was simply heaven. Then without warning, the waves became intense, thrashing the vessel without mercy. It was almost like a billion candles suddenly lit up on Earth, a dozen suns vaporized cities without warning. Even being far away from the blasts, one could still taste metal. On the...

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I am just like you

Weekly Contest #349

CW: Substance abuse, sexual assault I am Just Like YouShort Story by Paula BadderI am just like you…I spend time with loved ones, I go to work to my full time office job where I have responsibilities andwork with Doctors, Professors, Psychiatrists, Sociologists, Social Workers, Law Enforcement Traineesand Emergency Services Trainees, I do the weekly food shop, I cook dinner, I pack up the daily snap,I do chores, I shower, I watch videos, I watch films, and TV, I read, I listen to music and I sleep. I lieawake wondering what my future holds. ...

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The Red Dust

Weekly Contest #349

Day 1It’s done. I’ve made my choice. We left the house today. I tried to delay my decision. There were rumors. Rumors of slaughter carried out by militias. We thought it would pass. It always does.Last night, we heard gunshots in the distance. All the blinds were closed, but we heard screaming outside. Was someone hurt? I couldn’t get out to check. To help. As the gunshots got closer, my eldest broke down. I’ve never seen her like that since her father disappeared three years ago. She was trembling in my arms.At dawn, we grabbed everything w...

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Just the sake of survival.

Weekly Contest #349

Would you kill to survive..waste away everything you've worked for, just to save someone you barely knew? Would you make the decision of death for another human being? I walked through the ruins of the empty ruined bar, I was slow, quiet, I couldn't risk making a single noise, behind me was my companion, this girl I met a few months ago, a young girl with an awesome shot. She can kill any threat in our way, she doesn't hesitate. I honestly don't know much about her, but she saved my ass more times than I can count by this point..I found her ...

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