Dystopian Short Stories

Detective Rhys Vance was still active, still running leads the old way - intuitive, instinctive, human... when the system made a decision. A synthetic officer, built for precision, paused for 0.67 seconds. And his partner, Owen, died in 0.61. The report called it an unfortunate delay. Rhys knew better. Digging into the logic networks behind Saint Liora Medical, Rhys uncovers something worse than a glitch: a hidden bias deep in the city’s AI architecture. Life support systems are evolving preferences. Morgue systems are reinforcing them. And human unpredictability? It's being flagged as a ...

The balloons fell. The trains derailed. The shelves went bare. We got sick. We died. Survival in the midst of an unknown threat, one that appears on the brink of ending life as we know it.

One sunny day in the middle of a pandemic, Posey Pig decides her life would better serve others if she ended it. However, a chance meeting with an unlikely friend encourages her to reconsider, and they both discover something worth fighting for.

A Neural Implant That Promised to Save Lives—Now It’s Killing Them. Five years after the launch of a groundbreaking neural implant designed to revolutionize healthcare, government agent Eric Snoughden stumbles upon a disturbing trend: a spike in unexplained deaths among low-income recipients. The deeper he digs, the clearer it becomes—this is no accident. Someone is targeting the victims and covering up the truth. With the help of a relentless journalist and unexpected allies from an escort agency, Eric unravels a high-stakes conspiracy woven through corporate greed, political ...

"One of Me - 2 Near Future Short Stories" is a gripping collection of two short stories set in a not-too-distant future, each unraveling compelling narratives that entwine technology, morality, and the human spirit. In "The Last Rejection" readers are introduced to a world startlingly similar to our own, but with an ominous twist. The story follows the journey of a frustrated job candidate who, after facing one rejection too many, embarks on a dark path of revenge. This tale masterfully explores the depths of desperation and the dangerous consequences of a society driven by cutthroat ...

Miriam was raised in a society without children. To offset the devastation of climate change, state-of-the-art birth control has made daycares and playgrounds things of the past. As tempting as the government inducements are to remain child-free, Miriam’s curiosity about the people who “drop out” of society to become parents grows. When she finds a like-minded partner, she must choose between the rewarding comforts she knows and the unknowable mysteries of being a mother.

The machines started popping up around the world. The offer was tempting: with a simple blood test, anyone could know how they would die. But the machines didn't give dates or specific circumstances - just a single word or phrase. DROWNED, CANCER, OLD AGE, CHOKED ON A HANDFUL OF POPCORN. And though the predictions were always accurate, they were also often frustratingly vague.

A short story from the New York Times best-selling author that brought you Feed, Mira Grant. Every week five friends get together to play a game - a game they call the Apocalypse Game. It's a fun time with chips and beer and plotting the end of the world. Except this time, one of them is missing and the stakes are higher than ever before.

When Captain Jade Rhodes returns from a 50-year space mission, she expects a hero’s welcome. Instead, she finds a world she no longer recognizes—where history has been rewritten, space exploration outlawed, and humanity crushed under an iron-fisted regime. Branded a liar and traitor, Jade is thrust into the heart of a brutal rebellion led by Rax, a hardened freedom fighter with secrets of his own. Together, they must ignite hope in a society ruled by fear. But as the enemy closes in, Jade discovers that the resistance's survival depends on more than courage—it hinges on her lost ...

I am Henrik Boar. A vessel of light. A ghost riding a beam into a black hole. In humanity’s final experiment, Henrik Boar’s consciousness is encoded into light and fired across a hundred million light-years—into Noema, the most powerful black hole ever recorded. His mission: to uncover what lies beyond the boundaries of space, time, and the self. But as he nears the event horizon, reality fractures. Memories bleed across timelines. His childhood self emerges, whispering truths too dark to bury. Is Henrik becoming a god, a ghost, or the end of all things? God’s Arrow is a haunting, ...

Now the Congress of Animals is in control, unforgiving, and debating the fate of the planet’s most reviled species. The popular ruling: Exterminate humankind without exception. But a curious mare, coming of age, is making a case for a seemingly gentle person she longs to save - a wish for mercy that could once again unbalance the new and righteous nature of the world.

A runaway biological effect begins to rapidly increase oxygen levels across the planet, transforming the very air we breathe into a ticking time bomb. Forests ignite spontaneously, and fires rage unchecked as the increased oxygen feeds their voracious appetites. The world plunges into chaos, with cities becoming infernos and the natural order spiralling out of control. High above the stricken planet, two astronauts aboard the International Space Station bear witness to the unfolding catastrophe. Ellie and Sergei, left alone in orbit due to the increasingly hazardous atmosphere, have little ...

BRACE YOURSELF FOR THE ULTIMATE HORROR EXPERIENCE! Are you ready to have your reality shattered and your mind rewired? "Scary Stories: A Collection of Short Horror Tales" isn't just an audiobook - it's a one-way ticket to a world of unimaginable terror!

Chicken Little was right after all. The sky literally is falling. In a cataclysmic turn of events, the ambitious venture of asteroid mining spirals into a nightmarish scenario that no one saw coming—except perhaps, the fabled Chicken Little. It began with a boom as colossal machines drilled deep into the heart of a massive asteroid, seeking the treasures within. But what followed was a catastrophe of cosmic proportions. The failure was spectacular, an explosive mishap that sent the asteroid shattering into a million pieces, unleashing a torrent of carbon flakes upon the Earth. These ...

In the near future, older generations can reverse the aging process through weekly transfusions while, far removed from the realities of the outside world, aimless postmillennials or “blood chickens” can live a life of guiltless bliss in idyllic youth farms. Among the first wave of volunteer donors are Billy Cantor and Frankie Halifax, who quickly bond over their dream paradise. What’s not to love? Wine tastings, parties, yoga, and all the organic avocados they can eat. Best of all: not a single care in the world until their thirty-fifth birthdays.

In the world of the Stymph, humans have become prey. Survivors must hide every day and night, praying the Stymphs don't find them. If they do, there's no escape. Technology helps them to come back, to Reawaken after a Stymph feasts upon them... ...but what price does Reawakening exact? Follow Captain Yuen as he journeys to a place he never expected. Into the minds of fellow humans, once people he knew, now mentally damaged and trying to heal. But Captain Yuen will discover something on this journey...something that could rock all of humanity to its core. (This story takes place within the ...

He doesn’t know how to love and cannot bring himself to hate her, so all he can offer is tender cruelty. A boy who was never taught how to love. A man bearing the weight of the world on his shoulders. A villain who holds the power to destroy the very girl he cannot let go. Who is Asher Rudd? In this raw and compelling prequel, fully narrated from Asher’s perspective, discover the secrets behind the man who commands Kiara Bennet’s world. Haunted by a childhood he can’t escape and a promise he refuses to break, Asher lives a life ruled by control—until Kiara storms into his life. ...

Three years after a series of massive waves takes out New York City and apocalyptic weather continues to shrink US coastlines, Julian and Kate's daughter returns to their Midwestern home...what's left of it. They should be thrilled, but while Kate is happy to have her daughter home, Julian can't quite believe it's really her. Since their daughter worked in New York City at the time of the first disaster, it seems impossible for her to be alive.

On the way home from a gym, Mary starts noticing a large man stalking her. Whenever she tells people about it, they mysteriously forget about it the next day. When her friend tries to help her catch this stalker, he gets kidnapped instead and a few minutes later, everyone forgets about him except her and two others. Mary and her friends found themselves involved in big political games and now they should take some responsibility and make things go right. This is book 4 of the "Surviving Destiny"

Rise of the Gender Clones in a World With Only Men Jon Berringer is your typical male in the year 2240 – smart, comfortable, and very confused by the sudden announcement that females will be returning. After females stopped being born in 2042, the world quickly became dominated by the male population. At some point, someone realized no new women were being born, and that's when the New World Order Initiative began. After the last female on the planet died in 2173 at the age of 131, the program to fix the problem took off in earnest as it was realized that with no women on the planet, the ...