The Quiet After

Nine years after the world ended, a survivor has to choose between her hard-won solitude and a community that needs her help.

• Post-apocalyptic story of a hard-won peace on an isolated farm
• A survivor forced to choose isolation or community again
• Quiet, character-driven sci-fi about rebuilding after collapse

“Nine years after the collapse, June Okafor still woke before dawn out of a habit her body refused to unlearn, the old rhythm of a world that had once needed her alert before sunrise for reasons that no longer existed. She lay in the loft above the barn for a few minutes each morning, listening to the particular silence of the farm — no traffic, no distant hum of the interstate two miles east, nothing but wind moving through the windbreak trees her grandfather had planted three decades before anyone had a reason to believe the grid would ever truly fail.”

Format: Instant PDF download after purchase.

Length: A full short story — about 25–35 minutes to read.

Works on: Any device with a PDF reader — phone, tablet, e-reader, or computer.