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29.8.24

BUNKER

 

BUNKER

We won our places in the nuclear bunker in a lottery. Five thousand people who’d bought the right to live and, eventually, re-populate the world.

After ten years I was too busy raising our kids to worry about the anarchy – no-one had thought to stock birth control pills.

The building contractors hadn’t followed the specifications either, and things were always breaking down.

Ted and I were, naturally, the maintenance team, so we were first to spot fungus growing through the skylight.

“Get the kids,” Ted said, “I’ll grab some guns.”

If outside was breaking in, we wanted a head start.

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It's a whole month since I last wrote any flash fiction - life has been busy with family visits, a damaged ankle, and working on my next novel. I've kept my short fiction and poetry going with frequent posts on Twitter - @young_liz if you'd like to follow me.

Meanwhile, thanks to Lisa Fox for the photo prompt and to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields for encouraging us to join her select group Friday Fictioneers. 

Next month I've been invited to join a small group of local poets to read our work at an Arts Festival, so my next job is to decide which poems to choose from my recently published book: Footprints, which you can find on Amazon along with my other books. Be aware that I'm not the only Liz Young out there!

21 comments:

  1. You've come back with a bang! A great take, Liz

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    1. I guess any dystopian story will be chilling. Thanks for reading.

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  3. I love “if the outside is breaking in”.

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  4. Great take on the prompt, and interesting story!

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  5. Oh I do like that one Lizy.

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  6. Interesting idea - this feels like the start of a great longer story too!

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  7. Intriguing use of the prompt.

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  8. Great story in 100 words. When you said grab the guns I thought they were going to shoot it down lol. I hope they get their outside job done safely.

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  9. To end up in a anarchic, shoddily built world with a bunch of kids is bad enough, but then fungus! And clearly not just the kind you can fix with a squirt or two of bleach. Lots of fascinating hints in this about the bigger story, untold. Good one.

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    1. Thanks for such a detailed comment, Marg!

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  10. Dear Liz,
    I laughed at "no on thought to stock birth control pills." Well done. I'm sending healing thoughts to your broken ankle.
    Shalom,
    Rochelle

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