WebWorld
I was in the mood for an apocalyptic adventure story. This is what came of that.
- 471 reads
WebWorld (1.1)
Part 1: Global Warming 1. “It’s getting worse down there.” I didn’t need to walk over to the window and look down on the street to know that. I’d...
- Read more about WebWorld (1.1)
- 2 comments
- Log in to post comments
- 1256 reads
WebWorld (1.2)
2. So: the apocalypse. You don’t expect to be ever actually living through it. You don’t think it happens to real people. This happens to characters...
- Read more about WebWorld (1.2)
- 3 comments
- Log in to post comments
- 1022 reads
WebWorld (1.3)
Well, we bloody found out. And it all started out so small, so tiny. I remember walking home from work and just happening to glance down at the...
- Read more about WebWorld (1.3)
- 2 comments
- Log in to post comments
- 436 reads
WebWorld (1.4)
We probably shouldn’t have gone. But really, in what universe? And along with my misgivings there was that itching curiosity. What the fuck’s going...
- Read more about WebWorld (1.4)
- 1 comment
- Log in to post comments
- 394 reads
WebWorld (1.5)
Okay, so if I ever find out who cursed me to live in interesting times, I’m going to stick my foot so far up their butt they’re going to be able to...
- Read more about WebWorld (1.5)
- Log in to post comments
- 231 reads
WebWorld (1.6)
Burning it didn’t work. Poisoning it didn’t work. Trying to scrape it up with bulldozers didn’t work. Washing it away with water cannons didn’t do...
- Read more about WebWorld (1.6)
- 1 comment
- Log in to post comments
- 343 reads
WebWorld (1.7)
It was a sunny morning, just a little bloody, with the promise of later rain. I looked out on a horizon that was gold mixed with a truly grisly shade...
- Read more about WebWorld (1.7)
- 1 comment
- Log in to post comments
- 689 reads
WebWorld (1.8)
The Battle for the Ground Through Fourth Floors. That’s what I’ve been calling it in my mind. I suppose it was something that was always on the brink...
- Read more about WebWorld (1.8)
- 1 comment
- Log in to post comments
- 359 reads
WebWorld (1.9)
She threaded her way through the crowd, trying not to push, but hearing my voice and hearing its desperation, which added to her own fear when she’d...
- Read more about WebWorld (1.9)
- 1 comment
- Log in to post comments
- 371 reads
WebWorld (1.10)
The air-drops came. And then the air-drops stopped coming. I used to like this apartment for its view. That view went sideways during the apocalypse...
- Read more about WebWorld (1.10)
- 1 comment
- Log in to post comments
- 647 reads
WebWorld (1.11)
Getting the hell out was well and good. But we needed a plan. And since I’d been thinking about this pretty solidly for weeks on end, I’d started to...
- Read more about WebWorld (1.11)
- 2 comments
- Log in to post comments
- 720 reads
WebWorld (1.12)
Okay, not night exactly. Tail-end dusk with just touches of grey and red and turquoise still soaking into the air. There’s that thing isn’t there,...
- Read more about WebWorld (1.12)
- Log in to post comments
- 266 reads
WebWorld (1.13)
Well, I guess you know this is not the story of how I was jumped and killed – and eaten – by some gum-horror leaping out of the web. It was close...
- Read more about WebWorld (1.13)
- Log in to post comments
- 212 reads
WebWorld (2.1)
Part 2 - The Road North 1. I’d like to say it was an uneventful drive and we got to our destination without incident. Sadly, the truth gets a lot...
- Read more about WebWorld (2.1)
- 2 comments
- Log in to post comments
- 481 reads
WebWorld (2.2)
We were making good time. We’d made the decision – without really making it - to avoid the main highway, to avoid going through larger towns where...
- Read more about WebWorld (2.2)
- Log in to post comments
- 264 reads
WebWorld (2.3)
My home town. There’s just something about the place you grew up, isn’t there? Especially if you were born there, and spent your entire childhood...
- Read more about WebWorld (2.3)
- 1 comment
- Log in to post comments
- 770 reads
WebWorld (2.4)
We walked through unmitigated white. It was thick and everywhere. The town pool would be filled and bursting with it, ruptured and ruined. This ski-...
- Read more about WebWorld (2.4)
- 4 comments
- Log in to post comments
- 592 reads
WebWorld (2.5)
Sunset turned to night. Darkness made all the difference. We were driving through an eerie world of invisibility. A darker world than we were...
- Read more about WebWorld (2.5)
- Log in to post comments
- 190 reads
WebWorld (2.6)
“Zara…” “Nate…” I was having some trouble getting my bearings here. We’d just crashed. The windshield was shattered, I could taste blood, and my neck...
- Read more about WebWorld (2.6)
- Log in to post comments
- 198 reads
WebWorld (2.7)
Pitch black. There was a hollow in the hillside, just off the road, and in this spot, it was pitch black. I couldn’t see Zara, not even the outline...
- Read more about WebWorld (2.7)
- Log in to post comments
- 187 reads
WebWorld (3.1)
Part 3: Foggerty Family 1. “I remember this table, you know.” I was sitting at it, with my fingers tracing the semi-paisley pattern, which had...
- Read more about WebWorld (3.1)
- 1 comment
- Log in to post comments
- 335 reads
WebWorld (3.2)
There was a tiled courtyard with plants in big ceramic pots. Hopscotch and four-square games were painted across them in multiple colours. There was...
- Read more about WebWorld (3.2)
- 5 comments
- Log in to post comments
- 647 reads
WebWorld (3.3)
“I’m okay,” Tamsin insisted in her quiet, implacable way. “Well, you’ve been through some shit.” “You guys haven’t?” Touché . Zara put a hand softly...
- Read more about WebWorld (3.3)
- 1 comment
- Log in to post comments
- 292 reads
WebWorld (3.4)
Zara was going to make a life for herself as an artist; I was going to be something of a handyman and a librarian. We based this mostly on what we...
- Read more about WebWorld (3.4)
- Log in to post comments
- 220 reads
WebWorld (3.5)
They were Tristan and Greg. But we didn’t know that then. All we knew to begin with was that they were coming right at us, and they could be friend...
- Read more about WebWorld (3.5)
- Log in to post comments
- 184 reads
WebWorld (3.6)
Tristan and Greg arrived for breakfast the next morning armed with crates and boxes of food. I had to give them credit for ingenuity. I had to admit...
- Read more about WebWorld (3.6)
- Log in to post comments
- 196 reads
WebWorld (3.7)
Our family grew again three weeks later. We were just starting to settle into a pattern of sorts. Getting up in the morning and checking the traps,...
- Read more about WebWorld (3.7)
- Log in to post comments
- 215 reads
WebWorld (3.8)
I don’t know whose idea it was for an obstacle course Olympics. It was just one of those things that kind of grew out of a throw-away comment, and...
- Read more about WebWorld (3.8)
- Log in to post comments
- 205 reads
WebWorld (3.9)
It was the long night. The one that seems like it’s never going to end. If I thought I’d had nights like that before, this night was proving me naïve...
- Read more about WebWorld (3.9)
- Log in to post comments
- 196 reads
WebWorld (3.10)
Stay close. Don’t split up. And we’d never meant to. Just… in the heat of the battle… We all converged on Penny. “What happened? Where was she?” “She...
- Read more about WebWorld (3.10)
- Log in to post comments
- 191 reads
WebWorld (3.11)
We held a funeral on a cloudy day with a bitter taste in the air. It was two days later and we were all still in freefall. I hardly knew Dinah,...
- Read more about WebWorld (3.11)
- 2 comments
- Log in to post comments
- 765 reads
WebWorld (4.1)
Part 4: Supply and Demand 1. The trees were all turning summer-green. Small fruits were forming at the ends of branches. We had apples, plums, pears...
- Read more about WebWorld (4.1)
- Log in to post comments
- 224 reads
WebWorld (4.2)
We departed at dawn. Zara stood on the main porch, her hair tied raggedly back in what I think was the sleeve of an old jersey. There was something...
- Read more about WebWorld (4.2)
- Log in to post comments
- 241 reads
WebWorld (4.3)
Short answer: it was. Of all the places for a cake stall. But it was. It actually was. Tristan and Greg were stopping the car, and I stopped right...
- Read more about WebWorld (4.3)
- Log in to post comments
- 258 reads
WebWorld (4.4)
“‘Any chance I could meet this Karen?’” Tristan hissed at me as we were led through a series of narrow, wood-panelled hallways. “What?” “ Meet her?...
- Read more about WebWorld (4.4)
- 2 comments
- Log in to post comments
- 370 reads
WebWorld (4.5)
We didn’t talk about it at first. We had things to do. It appeared that the first thing we might have to do was to stay alive. We drove in over the...
- Read more about WebWorld (4.5)
- Log in to post comments
- 222 reads
WebWorld (4.6)
I don’t like to admit how long it took for me to gather up my wits – although in my defence I had a headache like nothing I’d ever had before, like...
- Read more about WebWorld (4.6)
- Log in to post comments
- 244 reads
WebWorld (4.7)
When the light came back, I just wanted to swim away from it. I was having crazy visions. I was swimming in a sea of light; but then the light became...
- Read more about WebWorld (4.7)
- Log in to post comments
- 232 reads
WebWorld (4.8)
“No, no, no.” Tristan whispered. “He doesn’t have to be dead.” His face was wrapped, covered, his whole hanging body was. Tristan grabbed my knife...
- Read more about WebWorld (4.8)
- Log in to post comments
- 184 reads
WebWorld (4.9)
Daybreak came harsh and in too much of a hurry. A white-gold sunrise dug at my shuttered eyes, until they couldn’t resist its prodding. Consciousness...
- Read more about WebWorld (4.9)
- Log in to post comments
- 218 reads
WebWorld (4.10)
I stood in front of the mirror and ran my hands over my skin. The scaly infection had all but doubled in size over the few days since I’d had that...
- Read more about WebWorld (4.10)
- Log in to post comments
- 203 reads
WebWorld (5.1)
Part 5 - Seth Underwood 1. It was somewhat before high noon, but we were facing off against each other as if a gunfight was imminent. Barring the...
- Read more about WebWorld (5.1)
- Log in to post comments
- 199 reads
WebWorld (5.2)
“He has a name,” Tristan was saying. At the same time as I was saying, “What do you mean, me?” “Nate, isn’t it?” “It is.” “We have a lot to talk...
- Read more about WebWorld (5.2)
- 1 comment
- Log in to post comments
- 510 reads
WebWorld (5.3)
And so began our time as prisoners. To say that it was weird feels like an understatement. And at the same time, it doesn’t. Because we did an...
- Read more about WebWorld (5.3)
- Log in to post comments
- 191 reads
WebWorld (5.4)
As we drove out, I allowed myself to hope that there’d be nothing there, that we’d reach the commune, and find that they’d all just packed up and...
- Read more about WebWorld (5.4)
- Log in to post comments
- 208 reads
WebWorld (5.5)
Seth and co took us down a rugged route into the bush. It wasn’t designed even for four-wheel drive vehicles, and we bounced around, jostled and...
- Read more about WebWorld (5.5)
- Log in to post comments
- 214 reads
WebWorld (5.6)
We were under water. Or it felt as if we were something like that. We were through the looking glass, out the back end of the wardrobe, on the other...
- Read more about WebWorld (5.6)
- Log in to post comments
- 193 reads
WebWorld (5.7)
Well, this isn’t the story of how I died. If it was, I wouldn’t be here to tell it. Maybe Zara would have told it from the best of what she knew, how...
- Read more about WebWorld (5.7)
- 2 comments
- Log in to post comments
- 631 reads