11 Comments
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Liz Zimmers's avatar

The dwindling! The heart-aching push to survive one more day, even though it is (most likely) over. It’s that “most likely” that fosters hope…excellent storytelling!

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E.B. Howard's avatar

Thank you so much and thanks for sharing! I'm glad you enjoyed it, Liz.

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The Casual Writer's avatar

Ouch. What happened to all the men? And what happens to the boys after they've aged out?

Actually, maybe I don't wanna know.. 😥

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E.B. Howard's avatar

Originally, having a survivor group that didn’t allow men was just supposed to gesture towards the survival of the same attitudes that were unhelpful before the catastrophe, but with the story so short, that definitely got lost.

Hm. Maybe something terrible did happen.

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The Casual Writer's avatar

There's a lot of potential here, for sure!

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Hyun Woo Kim's avatar

This is more depressing than The Road.

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E.B. Howard's avatar

I’m flattered, thank you (whatever that says about me.)

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Joseph L. Wiess's avatar

What happened to the males over 10?

Forget the battery level, I want to know the other.

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E.B. Howard's avatar

Nothing good, I would presume. The female of the species is more deadly, etc.

Personally I don’t think this’ll work out for them in the long term, but I also come down on the side of “yes, I would rather meet a man in the woods than a bear.”

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Michael S. Atkinson's avatar

Oof; feelings on a Thursday, why would you do this?

But seriously, this is the sort of thing that keeps me up at night and haunts me whenever the power goes out. "Battery low": THE STUFF OF NIGHTMARES.

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E.B. Howard's avatar

I just couldn’t wait for Feelings Friday.

It’s haunting, right?? I seriously need to get my photo albums done if nothing else. Maybe print out some manuscript hard copies.

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